Hi, my name is Jamie. I just rode the fail-boat.

Ugh. Our rent was due yesterday and they only accept check and money order. Scott doesn't have checks (he just ordered some and they haven't come in yet) Well, he tried to get a money order from W@lmart yesterday on his way home from work. They only accepted cash (not his debit card). So, he drove to the post office. It was closed. So, first attempt at paying rent failed. Not a huge deal... he was just going to get to the post office today and hope it was still open by the time he got there. This morning I remembered they take checks and I have some. So, I was just going to transfer the money between the accounts, write a check and walk it up to the office because I have no car here at the moment.

It was time for Nani to go out anyway, so I layered up, put on my big heavy snow boots, wrote the check and put the check book in my pocket just in case any of the information was wrong. I let Nani do her thing, then we started the trek. I thought I was taking the shortcut when I decided to go through the field rather than along the road which circles around the grounds. Nani was in my arms because she was cold, I had my 5lb snow boots on, and I'm trudging through snow that is up to my shins. Exhausting doesn't even begin to describe it. I swear the field was never going to end. Finally got up to the road at the other end of the field and it was easy going from there. Got to the office, paid the rent (nothing wrong with the check), and headed back home via the road this time. Got back in, unloaded my jacket pockets and was just about to strip the winter wear off when I realized I didn't have my check book. Seriously?!

So, I started retracing my steps which meant I had to go back through the field... at least I had already done all the hard work. Nani was no longer in my arms and I already had footsteps to walk in. Got up to the road, walked another minute or so toward the office and thankfully found my checks. You better believe I took the road back home again. The whole ordeal took about 45 minutes. Now I don't feel so guilty about not Shredding this morning. Now, excuse me while my body temperature returns to normal and I let my legs return to a solid state.

Happy Musings

Things making me happy today:

It's Friday, which means:

Tomorrow hubs and I can sleep later than 5AM.

We can have coffee together in the morning.

We can go sledding in Thompson Park.

We can, hopefully, go explore more of our new home.

We are one week away from getting a pay check again... which means we can start having a date every now and then... I have missed those terribly!

This beautiful sunset after yesterday's snow storm:

Him:

He makes my heart smile.

This marina less than a mile from our apartment... in our community:

More snow than I've ever seen in my life:

This is after the crazy 30+mph winds started up... this is the deepest drift we found.

My sweet, sweet puppy:

This beautiful view from our apartment:

Happy Friday everyone! May your weekend be full of little joys and blessings.

Any advice from those who have dogs...

... and have lived in states that get pounded with snow. I have an itty bitty shih tzu. Today I took her out to use the bathroom and the snow was as high as her back. I had a little coat on her, but when I brought her in, she looked like the Michelin man because she was covered in mini snow/ice balls stuck in her fur. Has anyone else dealt with this? Is there any good way to prevent it? I feel so bad for my baby girl! :( She keeps looking at me like, "why did you do this to me?"

Sad day!

It's a horrible picture, but the best I could do one handed while trying to keep her still.

A picture post (completely out of order because I'm too lazy to mess with rearranging them)

Well, we are officially connected to the world again. Neither of us have cell reception in the apartment... I can get a roaming signal in certain places, but that's about it. So for the first several days, we really felt disconnected from life. The cable and internet were hooked up yesterday afternoon, though, so expect to see more of me around now. I'm currently waiting for the snow to start today, so I thought I'd upload a bunch of pictures of the apartment/surroundings. I might have a more substantial post soon, but for now this is all I've got! Happy Hump Day everyone!

The once itty bitty creek directly behind our apartment building (compare to the next picture) turned into a raging river because of Sunday night/Monday's rain

The "itty bitty" partially frozen creek

The next several pictures are of the other buildings that our community has turned into apartments/town homes and the beautiful grounds

Our living room... we couldn't afford to bring half of our stuff with us. Our couch is currently in storage back home in SC... hence the air mattress set up. That is a queen size mattress to give you some scale.

Our bedroom. Our bedroom furniture is also still in storage, but at least we have our mattress! :)

The view of Lake Ontario from our bedroom

Our kitchen... it has double the amount of counter and cabinet space than our apartment in TX... it makes me incredibly happy and I can overlook the color of the cabinets because of it!

This is my backyard... be jealous! We took the 2 minute (or less) walk across the lawn to the lake the other day. It had rained all day and finally the sun started to come out. The once frozen harbor had mostly thawed out. The sun was just starting to set... and it was simply beautiful.

Another view of the harbor at sunset

Our view of the harbor when it was frozen

Right after we walked through the apartment. We drove around Sackets Harbor while Scott tried to decide if that was really where he wanted to live (it's a bit of a drive to work and he wasn't completely sold on the apartment)

I just love the contrasting colors here... the red barn, really blue lake, green grass and stark white snow... it just made me really happy

Big Sigh of Relief

I am breathing a big sigh of relief because we found a home yesterday afternoon. HUGE thanks to Katie for helping us find this place! We have a wonderful apartment right on Lake Ontario in the most beautiful setting there is. We will hopefully be upgrading to a 2 bedroom when one comes available, but for now this is all we need. We are supposed to have internet installed Tuesday, so expect to see very little of me around until then!

Live from the new hometown

Well, we arrived in Watertown safely around 4:30 yesterday afternoon! I. am. in. love. I realize I might be eating my words in about a month, but right now I absolutely love it! I also really enjoyed the 2 day drive. There was so much more to see (mountains and rolling hills... farms every where you looked... be still my heart) than on the drive from TX to SC. At the end of that drive I was ready to shoot myself in the foot.

My favorite parts of the drive up to NY: riding through the countryside of Virginia as the sun was starting to set while listening to Bob Dylan and shortly after we crossed into NY seeing 3 deer chilling on the side of a hill/mountain in the snow literally feet from the interstate. Sooo beautiful!

We still have no where to live, so for the next several days we are going to be looking all over town. I don't know that I'll be the best blogger, but I'll try to keep y'all posted!

And for the record: I tried my first NY style pizza last night... it changed my life. Hubs and I couldn't even finish half because it was so large!

One of these days I'll post more pictures. The internet in the hotel room is incredibly slow, though!

The best part about being home...

... these people:

My sweet daddy, sister Chrystie, Ana (brother's gf), brother JP, me, Scott, mom, and step-dad Chuck

We haven't been home since the wee hours of November 6th. We left in a big hurry that morning. I didn't even get to say goodbye to anyone. I hadn't even seen my brother or my sister while we were home that trip. Needless to say, I have missed the crap out of these guys. Tonight, I managed to get them all together at my mom's house where I cooked them dinner. My family hears all about my cooking through facebook, but had never once seen me cook. I didn't start cooking until I moved to Texas. So far, we have only had one epic fail in the kitchen (Christmas Day we took steaks out of the fridge to cook and they were bad... talk about a bummer). Somehow, it has just come naturally. They have enjoyed hearing about my meals and my experiences and I've even passed some recipes on. But, tonight they got to taste first hand. I'd say it was a success for multiple reasons: a) there was nothing left when all was said and done, b) somehow, on this one night, all of our schedules allowed us to get together in one place at the same time. This is huge, people! This really happens 2 times a year... Thanksgiving and Christmas (both of which I missed). So, this was my Christmas. It was such a good night... I'm still on cloud 9.

Here are a few more pictures from the night.

Chrystie with my mom's 2 dogs

my love and me

JP and his wonderful girlfriend, Ana, goofing off as always