Ever since we mounted the TV on the wall we knew that we were going to need to replace the stand that goes beneath it. While its in surprisingly good shape, it was just no match for the monster of a new tv that we now have. We did some research to get ideas and starting searching for pieces of furniture to buy that would work. We searched for credenzas, buffets, entertainment centers, tv stands, etc, etc, etc. Practically none of what we saw we liked, so we finally gave in and decided that we may have to give in to a trip to Ikea. I don't think either of us had been to Ikea in years, so the adventure was on. Going to Ikea is a project in itself, then add in that we live on the complete opposite side of town. It was a fun adventure though and we found the perfect entertainment center for our new tv and new living room. We spent the rest of the weekend trying to assemble the cabinets. It wouldn't be an Ikea adventure if at least one thing didn't fit together the way that it should and we soon discovered that the front of the drawers we bought were the wrong size and we were going to need to exchange them. Once we did get the right drawer fronts it was full steam ahead :) We've almost completed one room and I'm looking forward to our next project :)
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Friday, January 4, 2013
New Year, New Adventures!
We're a few days into the New Year now and I'm already finding it a challenge to stick to my New Year's "Resolution"! I don't know if I'll be able to stick to one post per day, but I'll try not to go longer than a few days without posting.
Since our NYE painting and tv mounting project, we have gotten the chance to enjoy our new surroundings. We rented the Dark Knight Rises to fully utilize the big screen and surround sound, and it was awesome! We're open to movie recommendations if anyone has any :)
Yesterday I finally registered for the PF Changs Rock & Roll Half Marathon on January 20th. Jamie motivated me to sign up again, it's been about 5 years since the first and only time that we ran it before. It turns out that because of Jack's previous employment with PF Chang's he is "done" with the marathon and wants nothing to do with it! He ran it once and volunteered passing out water for a few other years. I'm hoping that at the very least I can beg for a ride to the beginning of the race and his presence at the finish line, even if he's had a few beers and we have to drive him home! The last time I trained with my friend Rachel and she had us on a full training schedule, this time I've been much less disciplined. I think success for Jamie and I will be just finishing the race. Depending on how this one goes I may even register for a summer Triathlon! We'll see though ;)
Since our NYE painting and tv mounting project, we have gotten the chance to enjoy our new surroundings. We rented the Dark Knight Rises to fully utilize the big screen and surround sound, and it was awesome! We're open to movie recommendations if anyone has any :)
Yesterday I finally registered for the PF Changs Rock & Roll Half Marathon on January 20th. Jamie motivated me to sign up again, it's been about 5 years since the first and only time that we ran it before. It turns out that because of Jack's previous employment with PF Chang's he is "done" with the marathon and wants nothing to do with it! He ran it once and volunteered passing out water for a few other years. I'm hoping that at the very least I can beg for a ride to the beginning of the race and his presence at the finish line, even if he's had a few beers and we have to drive him home! The last time I trained with my friend Rachel and she had us on a full training schedule, this time I've been much less disciplined. I think success for Jamie and I will be just finishing the race. Depending on how this one goes I may even register for a summer Triathlon! We'll see though ;)
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Happy New Year!
We hope that everyone had a wonderful and fun New Years celebration and wish everyone a happy, healthy, and successful year ahead!
It's been a month since the wedding and we're readjusting to regular life. We've especially been enjoying our free time, sans-wedding planning ;) now that we're settled in, I'm going to make a New Years resolution, which I don't normally do. I don't think that one should have to wait until the new year too make positive changes or use it as a way to procrastinate making changes until the next year. That being said, I started this blog to communicate with friends and family better and I resolve that moving forward I will do my best to post more regularly.
To do a quick catch up: We had a very fun and festive holiday season starting with Hanukkah, our work holiday party, cookie making with friends, the Bears game here in AZ, and a Christmas meal with the Grady's at our home.
For NYE we were very productive :) We decided on a paint color for the living room, which we'd been talking about for a while. We bought all the painting necessities to do the job ourselves and made the last minute decision to get started on Monday after work when our dinner plans fell through. We were most nervous (or maybe it was just me!) about the taping and doing that part straight. It took a while to get everything taped off and ready to paint before the actual painting could begin. We finally finished around 11:30 just in time to relax and ring in the new year :)
On New Year's Day it was time to mount the tv to our newly painted wall. First we too the tape off the paint and were pleasantly surprised to see how we'll we had done with our taping job! Nice clean lines with minimal bleeding :) Now it was on to the hard stuff. Jack broke open the mount and began trying to figure things out. We had a minor hiccup discovering that the stud finder needed a 9 volt battery, which we did not have in the house. A quick trip to the grocery store then we were back on track. The most nerve racking part of the process was walking away from the tv at the end and trusting that it wasn't going to come crashing down off the wall!
The room looks great with the tv mounted and the walls painted... And I'm pretty sure I've caught the decorating bug!!!
Enjoy the before and after of the living room as well as some photos we took at the SGA Holiday party!! :)
Love,
Mollie and Jack
It's been a month since the wedding and we're readjusting to regular life. We've especially been enjoying our free time, sans-wedding planning ;) now that we're settled in, I'm going to make a New Years resolution, which I don't normally do. I don't think that one should have to wait until the new year too make positive changes or use it as a way to procrastinate making changes until the next year. That being said, I started this blog to communicate with friends and family better and I resolve that moving forward I will do my best to post more regularly.
To do a quick catch up: We had a very fun and festive holiday season starting with Hanukkah, our work holiday party, cookie making with friends, the Bears game here in AZ, and a Christmas meal with the Grady's at our home.
For NYE we were very productive :) We decided on a paint color for the living room, which we'd been talking about for a while. We bought all the painting necessities to do the job ourselves and made the last minute decision to get started on Monday after work when our dinner plans fell through. We were most nervous (or maybe it was just me!) about the taping and doing that part straight. It took a while to get everything taped off and ready to paint before the actual painting could begin. We finally finished around 11:30 just in time to relax and ring in the new year :)
On New Year's Day it was time to mount the tv to our newly painted wall. First we too the tape off the paint and were pleasantly surprised to see how we'll we had done with our taping job! Nice clean lines with minimal bleeding :) Now it was on to the hard stuff. Jack broke open the mount and began trying to figure things out. We had a minor hiccup discovering that the stud finder needed a 9 volt battery, which we did not have in the house. A quick trip to the grocery store then we were back on track. The most nerve racking part of the process was walking away from the tv at the end and trusting that it wasn't going to come crashing down off the wall!
The room looks great with the tv mounted and the walls painted... And I'm pretty sure I've caught the decorating bug!!!
Enjoy the before and after of the living room as well as some photos we took at the SGA Holiday party!! :)
Love,
Mollie and Jack
Living Room Before:
Living Room After: 
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
St. Lucia - Day 4
We had another beach day full of drinks, sun, sand and pool and beach bars. We did work for it a little bit taking some time to kayak out into the bay... Almost to the other side! Jack was a reluctant co-captain but I coerced him into it and dragged him across the bay. He did get a kick out of the jet skis and we both had some jealously towards the sail boats that flew buy us in the water leaving us in their wake, literally. We soon found out that the sail boats are a hot commodity and that we were really going to have to work at getting a ride on one. Later that night we attended the concierge cocktail party and again met up with some of our excursion friends. This led to one of our latest nights out, shots at the English pub, and a dance party with a newly wed Canadian couple just married on the beach, good times :)
Monday, December 10, 2012
St. Lucia - Day 3
We got up nice and early for the excursion and went to meet the group in the lobby. When we got there we recognized a couple that had arrived around the same time we did and started chatting with them. The tour got started and we were led down to the pier and on to a speed boat. The boat took us down the west coast of the island and the tour guide described the various parts of the island along the way. Rodney Bay, Maringo Bay, the oil drums, Castries, lots of tiny villages and coves, etc. On our way down the coast we made a pit stop in front of the Pitons, a duo of peaks that are famous on the island and even have a beer named after them! we were able to get a photo op in front of the mountains but also opted out of the two hour hike to the top ;) In one such cove we parked and did some snorkeling. We donned our snorkel gear, posed for a picture as we jumped off the dock and got to exploring. We saw lots of fish, dove down and got a close up view of the reef and even discovered a spotted lobster!! We were the last people out of the water and were promptly greeted with some rum punch back at the boat. The next stop was the volcano. It was steaming and smelled of sulfur. The locals told us that people used to be able to walk over the volcano until a man named Gabriel fell into a thin spot. Now people stick to the volcanic clay/soap and hot springs, which is exactly where we were headed. We made it through the stinky sulfur steam and down to the springs and painted ourselves in mud. The hot spring was much much hotter than we both anticipated and we foolishly agreed to dip in and walk through to the other side risking what felt like second degree burns! We did make it through only mildly scathed and with super soft volcanic mud exfoliated skin :) the next stop was to a waterfall just to make sure we got all the mud off. It was both beautiful and effective :) we finished the trip with some authentic island food: jerk chicken, banana ketchup, rice and beans - delicious! We had a great time on the excursion and made some fun friends while we were at it.
Saturday, December 8, 2012
Happy Hanukkah!!!
We'll take a quick break from the honeymoon updates to say Happy Hanukkah!!! Tonight is the first night of Hanukkah and we're celebrating the opportunity to use and display two beautiful gifts that we received as wedding presents! We are so thankful to have friends and family that fill our lives with so much love and joy! Unfortunately we don't get the opportunity to celebrate with everyone so we wish everyone a Happy Hanukkah and Happy Holiday season, near and far :)
Friday, December 7, 2012
St. Lucia - Day 2
Tuesday: we slept in Tuesday morning recovering from the previous days travel and evening of drinking and then got up and headed to the concierge orientation. We figured that whatever tips they had to offer might be helpful in the long run. During the orientation, we got recommendations about the excursions and the restaurants, and got a tour of the property. We also found out about a special hike that was only offered to concierge guests, which later turned out to be a really good thing, look forward to the Friday post! After the orientation, we headed out to explore :)
We found the restaurant on the beach, Mariners, and refueled with some beachy food. One of the harder things to adjust to, even more so than the time change is Island Pace. 45 min after ordering, we were almost certain that our meal order had never been put into the kitchen and that our waitress had gone snorkeling. It turns out that it was just a "little" busy that day. It didn't take us long after that to discover that there is one towel hut and when they run out it means today, you air dry. Even though on our orientation tour they told us the that we could also ask the front desk for towels, the front desk staff just laugh and say, we don't know why they tell you that. Once we got to the beach we found a beach tent and posted up. There were also some ocean floats that were anchored to the sand so that they don't drift off into the ocean, these were much coveted seats. We kept a watchful eye on said floats until one opened up. a quick run and swim later we were relaxing in a floaty circle in the ocean with delicious drinks in hand. Throughout the day we made some friends, watched the water sports, and basically did nothing!! :) there were some very entertaining 20 somethings flashing a guy in a motorless rowboat in exchange for some straw hats and coconuts, lol. once we tired of the beach, we scheduled the highly recommended "Simon Says" tour and then headed down to dinner at the baysiders restaurant. The Baysider is the main restaurant at the resort and doesn't require reservations. It's buffet style for breakfast and lunch but sit-down for dinner and is described as "International". The menu was broad and we both found some good options that we enjoyed. We made it an early night to prepare for excursion the next day.
We found the restaurant on the beach, Mariners, and refueled with some beachy food. One of the harder things to adjust to, even more so than the time change is Island Pace. 45 min after ordering, we were almost certain that our meal order had never been put into the kitchen and that our waitress had gone snorkeling. It turns out that it was just a "little" busy that day. It didn't take us long after that to discover that there is one towel hut and when they run out it means today, you air dry. Even though on our orientation tour they told us the that we could also ask the front desk for towels, the front desk staff just laugh and say, we don't know why they tell you that. Once we got to the beach we found a beach tent and posted up. There were also some ocean floats that were anchored to the sand so that they don't drift off into the ocean, these were much coveted seats. We kept a watchful eye on said floats until one opened up. a quick run and swim later we were relaxing in a floaty circle in the ocean with delicious drinks in hand. Throughout the day we made some friends, watched the water sports, and basically did nothing!! :) there were some very entertaining 20 somethings flashing a guy in a motorless rowboat in exchange for some straw hats and coconuts, lol. once we tired of the beach, we scheduled the highly recommended "Simon Says" tour and then headed down to dinner at the baysiders restaurant. The Baysider is the main restaurant at the resort and doesn't require reservations. It's buffet style for breakfast and lunch but sit-down for dinner and is described as "International". The menu was broad and we both found some good options that we enjoyed. We made it an early night to prepare for excursion the next day.
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