Happy House Anniversary!

Today is the anniversary of our house! We moved in on this date in 2009. You can read the saga with us purchasing this house here, and here, and here. But the bottom line is: We got the house!

This is a photo I took when Chris and I first saw the house. I think we were talking about what an amazing chandelier we would hang there one day. 

This is me on move-in day with our key. Note: those are the denim shorts from here. 

This is a photo of me with our SOLD sign. 

The day we moved in, we had incredible friends, Sarah and Charlie, who drove from North Little Rock and Matt and Laura, who we had not met until that day. Everyone helped us move in and then went to dinner with us at Gus' World Famous Fried Chicken. Shockingly these people are still friends with us. The dirt, grim and sweat from moving did not deter them. Good peeps.

This is move-in night, and the first time Chris sat in his Man Chair in its new spot. 

Porter discovered he loves carpet. Even though this is blurry, you can see he loved his new home. 

This was our first weekend in our house. A fancy brunch on our balcony.  

I can't believe all of this was three years ago! 

Dear House, 

We love you. We have taken our time working on you (mostly because Air Conditioner has been taking all our money) and making you ours. We especially like your balcony and fenced yard. And your kitchen and your high ceilings. Thanks for three great years. 

Love, Allison, Christopher, Porter and Grace

Ode to old friends

So long old friend. 

You've been with us for six years, and you've held many an important person. 

But recently, you've given out a little, and that's okay. You're getting older. 

And, truth be told, you and your friends never really fit in well with our new house. I'm not saying it was a color issue but...

And, so while we're sad to see you go, we'll remember you like our friend Charlie did: "I've never seen a table foster so many long conversations." So true, my friend. 

As you and your friends are leaving to go live in the attic (except your truly broken brother who is out by the trash), please pass along some wisdom of the ages to the new folks.

We want to be sure they keep your memory alive and host lots of long conversations and delicious meals. 

We think they'll fit into the family nicely because it appears we found a long lost cousin of Coffee Table. They both seem to have similar features.

So here's to you, six-year-old dining room set from Sam's. May the attic treat you kindly, and may your replacements uphold your honor. 

Six years ago

What were you doing six years ago?

Me?

I was getting married!

I Still Tear Up

June 11th, 2010, was Chris and my 5th-year anniversary. Sadly, Chris is traveling for work, and so we spent our anniversary apart. But, we've pegged next Saturday as the day for celebration!

With a few days to myself, I've begun to pull out my box of wedding items and go through them. One of the first things I found was a video our photographer made for us as a surprise. 

We've watched it every year on our anniversary, and it makes me cry every time. There's no telling what kind of wedding I would plan today, but looking back, I loved our wedding. 

Here is our video. 

 

Are you a little teary eyed? I think what makes the video so touching is the song. I love the lyrics, and I think it tells the perfect story of a marriage.

Stained Glass Window

I'm singing a song to you. All day long if you want me to. 'Cause I wouldn't be who I am if I wasn't your man anymore. Your love is the rain in spring. Brings new life into everything we do.

If it wasn't for you, I'd be lonesome and blue that's for sure. So please don't ever replace me in your heart. Perish the thought of living if we should be apart. I'll give you my love completely and indiscreetly and tell the world who you are.

I'm singing myself to sleep. All my dreams will be yours to keep. 'Cause I wouldn't know what I know if I wasn't your man anymore. Your love is the sunshine too.

A stained glass window I'm looking through. It's true, if it wasn't for you, I'd be lonesome and blue that's for sure.

So please don't ever replace me in your heart. Perish the thought of living if we should be apart. I'll give you my love completely and indiscreetly and tell the world who you are.

-John Davis

I definitely wouldn't be who I am today had I not married Chris, and that makes me pretty happy.

Stay tuned to see what else I find in my wedding box!


**Also, for my nerds out there, my CD was an auto-play, and I couldn't save the files, so I used Camtasia to record it playing on my computer**

After Five Long Years...

After five years of marriage, I deserve a treat. I deserve a treat that I had been talking about for a while, but it was quite a splurge. I deserve a brand new, fancy camera!!

Christopher and my five-year anniversary is actually June 11th. However, two weeks ago we were traveling to my folks' farm for a long weekend, and Chris really wanted me to have the camera to play with there. (See the results here!). Chris had been secretly stashing away money for my present, and Wednesday before we left on the plane, he told me to set aside two hours of the day. He told me we had to run an errand, and when we got in the car, he said we were going to get my anniversary present. 

Usually, I'm very traditional about presents. I like presents on the day of the event; I don't like any hints; I LIKED to be surprised. But when we pulled up to Wolf Camera, I knew I'd be okay with getting my present early. 

I was really happy with the guy we worked with, and he listened to what I wanted. I know there is plenty of discussion between Cannons and Nikons, so we'll leave that alone. I decided on the NikonD5000 because it had high-definition video (really wanted this feature because my little point-and-shoot has video, and I use it all the time), vibration-reduction interchangeable lenses, lots of automatic scene-specific settings, and the swivel screen is nice if you're taking photos of very low items and very high items--the latter is especially good for short folks like me. 

So far, I am really loving it. I'm pretty much sticking to the different automatic modes on it, but along with our purchase, we got several free camera classes. I'll definitely be taking part in those.

 

The 55mm lens came with it, and we also got the 200mm lens.

Here are a few more of my favorite shots so far.  

Thanks, Chris!