Boxes and boxes and boxes......

Hugh and I are moving!

For the past year and a half Hugh and I have been going back and forth about moving. We would like to live in a different neighborhood but we essentially have no clue WHERE we want to go. We tried to sell our house last year for six months. We were unsuccessful and once the contract with the realtor ended we simply took it off the market. In the past few months we'd tossed around the idea of leasing our house and leasing one for ourselves. It seemed like a good solution since we aren't really sure where we want to live other than we're ready to not live here. Our pseudo plans took a backseat for our Europe trip, so we tabled the discussion until we got back.

A few weeks after we got back a great opportunity came to our attention. An aunt and uncle of mine had purchased a house and then after 3 weeks they changed their mind. They moved back to their old house and were looking to sell/rent their "new" house. Hugh and I went to look at the house and we both really liked it. It's larger than our current house, it's a one-story, the neighborhood is excellent and it's on a half-acre lot. We immediately put our house on the market for sale/lease and now.....two and half weeks later we have renters. We move out in two weeks and there's a TON of stuff to get done. We spent this evening packing up our books and game room. We've hired movers that work by the hour so our plan is to have all of the boxes ready to go in our dining room and only to leave the big stuff upstairs. Hopefully it'll work out to our advantage.

I know this may sound silly but one of the reasons I'm so excited is the size of the backyard. Our dogs aren't going to know what to do with all the room they're going to have. Hugh will be about 15 minutes from work instead of an hour and I know he's going to really enjoy that. Since I'll be the one with the commute to work I'll get my car back full time. Currently we switch vehicles everyday since Hugh carpools. It'll be nice to not have to take everything out of the car or truck each evening. :)

Alright, Hugh's been watching t.v. (he's actually sleeping) for an hour so I think it's time to put him to bed.

Have a great weekend!

Jenn

Happy Anniversary!.....Belated, that is.

I realize that it’s almost two months late, but I wasn’t exactly in a location where I could blog on the actual date. So…..here’s to “Better late than never.”

June 11, 2010

Hugh and I got married in Rincon, Puerto Rico. We’d vacationed there a few years prior and fell in love with the place. Rincon is considered to be the lazy side of the island. It’s full of hippie-type locals and wealthy Americans that no longer want to pay U.S. taxes. Hugh and I stayed at a wonderful B&B called Tres Sirenas. It’s a gorgeous two story white stone house that seems to have been taken right out of the fictional Pottery Barn: Caribbean Edition. It’s literally right on the beach, has a great pool and best hosts that anyone could hope for. We talked often about how we’d love to get married there someday.

Fast forward to the night Hugh proposes. We’d been eating an incredible dinner (prepared by us) of grilled filet and homemade mashed potatoes when Hugh jumps up from the candlelit table and says, “I’ll be right back.” He then took off upstairs bypassing the downstairs restroom. I recall thinking to myself, “Really?? Why do men need to poop so often?” A few moments later, he comes downstairs where he proceeds to get down on one knee and asks me to be his wife. We celebrated by opening an expensive bottle of wine that we’d been saving and in our excitement, we drank the whole thing. To this day, that was the best wine I’ve ever had. As we were sitting on the floor in the living room that evening we talked about how all both of us really wanted was to get married at Tres Sirenas. We knew that it was unconventional and that people might think we were crazy, but it was how we wanted to get married.

Hugh and I knew that we wanted a small, informal wedding. We were ecstatic to be joined by our immediate families, two of Hugh’s aunts and uncles, and his Grandpa John. We asked Hugh’s Aunt Anna if she would be willing to become ordained and officiate the ceremony. She not only agreed, but she did the best job that either of us could ever imagine. We found a photographer online, and were referred to a private chef, Chef Pedro the “Organic Surfer Chef” by the owners of the B&B. Hugh and I met with the chef two days before the ceremony and hammered out a final menu. We rented tables and chairs on our own, brought our iPod with a great playlist, purchased alcohol at Sam’s in P.R., and located a woman to do hair for me and my sister, Chelsey. Hugh and I did all of the planning. We bought three dozen roses at Sam’s and my mother wrapped the stems for us to use as bouquets. My mom and I took a trip down to Harwin and bought tablecloths and chair covers. We cut Michael’s coupons for weeks so we could buy vases and such to use as centerpieces on the tables. My sister got her dress at Dillard’s and I paid just under $400 for mine. I guess what I’m trying to get at is this: We did all the planning on our own and it worked! We didn’t need to have a so-called “Platinum Wedding”. This was what would make us happy. Even when Mother Nature decided to play….

Now, where was I? The day of the wedding dawns and preparations start being made. At breakfast, the proprietor of the B&B approaches my mother to let her know that there’s been a death in their family and that they are going to have to leave the property. It was a sad situation, and the poor woman was worried that I would be upset. (Seriously? Who am I? Bridezilla?)  Around noon, the power goes off. With Puerto Rico being an island, they tend to get random power outages. Typically, they last no more than 10 minutes. Well, I was supposed to get my hair done at 2:00, but at 1:45 the lady calls me and says that she doesn’t have power at her place so she can’t do my hair. She tells me not to panic (I’m not panicking, I promise!) that we can wait until 4:00 and she can still have my hair done. Then, it starts to storm. NO BIG DEAL. It’s the tropics in summer. This is a common occurrence. Usually it rains for about 30 minutes and then it’s nice a cool afterwards. Um….this time….not so much. At 3:00 the stylist calls me back and says that she found a place with a generator so she can do mine and Chelsey’s hair. We leave and go get prettied up. In the rain. The pouring rain.

Chelsey and I arrive back around 4:30. Note: The wedding was supposed to take place between 5:00 and 6:00. We were aiming for around sunset. The rain is coming down and the power is still off. The chef has arrived and is confident that the power will come back on. However, he had brought a large wok that connects to a propane tank as a back-up plan. He tells me to relax. I’m relaxed and not worried at all. I simply walk on by and upstairs to the room where my mom, sister and I were going to get ready. My sister did my make-up for me, and she did it in the breakfast nook with only sunlight. Oh, did I mention that it was over 90*?? And that Chelsey was 7 months pregnant? The photographer was there taking pictures non-stop and suddenly, it stops raining! The sun was peeking out from the clouds and I can hear Hugh and everyone else running around like crazy downstairs on the pool deck setting up chairs and tables. My Dad was all dressed up and squeegging off the patio. Hugh might have been yelling a little. Not really at anyone in particular, but I recall hearing him say “THIS IS GOING TO BE PERFECT DAMNIT!!”

I ended up getting dressed in the semi-dark, my poor mom lacing up my dress while her hair is still wet from her shower. My brother Brandon comes upstairs asking where we’d hidden the scotch because all the people downstairs have decided that Hugh needs to relax a bit. You see: Normally, I’m the high anxiety person in our relationship. I freak out about everything. Yet, on our wedding day when all of this crazy stuff is happening I’m the relaxed one and poor Hugh’s attempting to have a stroke. He was so worried that I was going to be upset, and he wanted to make sure that I had my “perfect wedding day”. That makes me smile as I write this. You see; to me none of the trappings make the wedding day. It’s simply the part where you stand up and pledge your love to each other. That’s all that matters. The rest is simply icing.

All at once it’s time to go. I walk down the stairs and wait with my Dad as everyone else runs down to the beach. I’m perfectly calm and ready. My dad has a tear in his eye, but he’s smiling and telling me that I’m beautiful. We step out onto the beach (and around the corded off nest where the sea turtle decided to lay some eggs) and begin the walk down aisle. The rain made everything look bright and beautiful and the sun was peeking out through the clouds. Hugh was BEAMING at me. I felt so beautiful and loved at that moment. I cried during the ceremony and Hugh got a little teary eyed. Aunt Anna pronounced us married and we were both so happy.

After we took pictures we had some appetizers and drinks. The chef made a four-course meal for 19 people on a WOK attached to a PROPANE TANK. Can we say amazing chef?? The lights stayed out and we actually ate in the dark. Ok, it was pretty dark but we did have some candles and we played pass the flashlight. The food was delicious, and right about the time dessert was being passed out the lights came back on! Everyone cheered and then immediately took off running for the rooms to turn on the a/c’s.

Hugh and I have a great wedding story. The best part happens to be the part I left out. Our vows. We wrote them ourselves and I know that I was touched beyond words. We live out our vows to each other every day. This doesn’t mean that we don’t fight, but we do love each other dearly and we are genuinely friends. I feel like this makes our relationship very strong, and I know in my heart that Hugh is the one for me. 

I do want to say that there would have been no wedding at all if everyone hadn't pitched in an helped. Hugh and I are so grateful to have such wonderful family. Everyone worked on some aspect of the wedding. Decorating, Cleaning, organizing, etc. It was wonderful because we had such great people helping us.

                Aunt Anna and Uncle Paul gave us a wedding scrapbook that they prepared for us before they came. She had typed out the ceremony on beautiful stationary and she’d even included the cute reading that my brother Jordan read and the poem that my brother Brandon read. Everyone at the wedding wrote a small card to us and she included the small papers that we’d written our vows on. It’s the most precious gift and I’ll cherish it always.

 Makeup by sunlight!

 Too may laces, too much heat! Thanks Mom!

 I loved my hair. The orchids were from a plant hanging by the door of the B&B.

My dad and I starting to walk down the aisle. Notice the turtle warning sign. :)

 Wedding kiss! So romantic. 

 My parents, crying.

 Walking back down the aisle as husband and wife!

 Group photo!

Grandpa John. He's 93!

Hugh- I love you.

Love,

Procrastination Posting

I’ve been a big procrastinator with blogging about our vacation so I told myself that I couldn’t blog about anything else until I finished that first. Well…nanny nanny boo boo, I’m going to do what I want! So there!!

Wow…can you tell it’s midnight and that I’m a little tired? I couldn’t sleep so I gave up and came downstairs to do some work. Toby decided that he loves me and accompanied me downstairs. Cassie is most likely in the bed. In my spot. On my pillow. Pretending that she’s deaf so she won’t have to move when I get back up there.

I just want to post a little something explaining what all we’ve been up to lately.

Hugh and I came home from Europe and had a bit of hard time adjusting back to normal life. We had such a great time and discovered how much we truly love to travel. I know we could happily make a home somewhere overseas and I’d love to have the opportunity some day. 

Hugh and I have been debating for MONTHS about what we should do with our house. We’re ready to get out of the house that we currently own. Hugh’s commute to work is a minimum of 45 minutes when he’s carpooling to an hour and 15 minutes when he’s by himself. It’s just silly. Anywhere we move would require me to have the longer commute, but the hours I work wouldn’t put me in rush hour traffic. Right after we got home we found a house that we’d like to rent that would put Hugh about 10-15 minutes from work. It would make my commute about 30 minutes. We talked and decided to put our house up for lease and sale at the same time. We’re giving the option of owner-finance, so hopefully that will open up a few more doors. We’d really like to be out by the end of August, so keep your fingers crossed for us! 

One thing about having your house on the market: It has to be 100% clean, all of the time. It’s crazy. Hugh and I are both tidy by nature, but this is a whole new level of crazy clean. The house has to look “staged” perfectly every time we leave, just in case it shows. I don’t think I’ve ever made my bed this much ever. Or, maybe I did but my bed was smaller. Or, maybe I did and just did a craptastic job and my mother looked the other way. Whatever. All I know is that it’s almost like we’re pretending to live here right now.

I took a short little trip up to Dallas with my baby brother Jordan. He’s 22 and 6’3, but I’m still going to call him my baby brother. He really likes it best when I refer to him as “JORDIE”. Just ask him. Anyways, Jordan had a job interview that required an overnight stay so I volunteered to go with him and keep him company. We had a great time even though we only had one meal that included gravy. We stopped at the Russell Stover factory in Corsicana and pretty much embarrassed ourselves with the amount of chocolate we bought. In fact, we actually had to get a bellman’s cart to haul all of it into the hotel room. The hotel we stayed at was nice, but they were hosting several baseball teams that were competing in a local tournament. Let’s just say that Jordan and I both decided that children should not be allowed in hotels. Ever. Jordan looked great in his suit and tie, and I know he did well at his interview. We decided that the area was nice, the traffic sucked, and it wouldn’t be worth it to pay extra for a canal view apartment. 

Ok. I should probably go to sleep so that I don’t feel the need to nap tomorrow. I skipped going to the gym and ran outside today. Apparently I felt the need for a heat stroke with a side of sweat. Mistake noted: back to the gym tomorrow. 

Toby has decided that we need to go to bed. He's currently looking at me with judgement in his eyes.

I thought I'd share this completely random picture of me and my brothers. I'm on the left, looking bug-eyed and possibly crazy. Brandon is in the middle looking either surprised or high (he's neither, just being weird) and Jordan is on the right looking forlorn or perhaps confused. We're highly intelligent and amazingly photogenic.

Epic European Adventure, Volume 3

Castle Neuschwanstein

As much as I thought about spelling Neuschwanstein differently every time it cropped up in this post I restrained myself. J

Castle Neuschwanstein is about an hour and forty five minutes outside of Munich. It’s less than a mile from the Austrian border in the middle of the Alps. Hugh and I elected to use Mike’s Bike Tours for the day trip instead of renting a car and attempting it ourselves. The full day trip included a coach bus ride to the town where the castle is located, a bike ride through the area with a stop at Swan Lake, and then a 45-minute hike up the backside of the castle that cuts over a waterfall gorge and a trip over Mary’s Bridge. The day concluded with the castle tour and a ride back home. Our guide was named Brad and he was from South Africa. He’d been doing this trip for twelve years and he gave great insight to the history of the castle.

The castle was built by King Ludwig II of Bavaria. He was a considered to be an eccentric and he bankrupted the country building his collection of castles. Castle Neuschwanstein was his crowning glory, and the interior was only partially finished before he died. The government owns the castle and they give a very simple “politically correct” version of how they acquired the castle and what happened to “Mad” King Ludwig. I’m going to spare you the boring government version and tell you what you can find out on the History Channel. Apparently Ludwig was a homosexual that had no concept of money and how it worked. He and his brother were not exactly brought up in a loving household. In fact, they were banished to their own section of their family castle and were not seen for years at a time. Apparently he managed to put the Bavarian government into such great debt that they had him declared insane by a psychiatrist that had never met him. He was arrested in his own home and he died “mysteriously” 3 days later in 3 feet of water, along with his psychiatrist. There’s a large amount of conspiracy theory surrounding the King and his death, but let’s be honest: He wouldn’t have been the first king to be killed by his own government. The government opened the castle up for tours exactly 6 weeks after his death. Since 1886, they’ve been making serious money from giving guided 25 minute tours year-round.

Now, enough of the history lesson. The day of our tour, the weather was a little rainy. We persevered and made great use of our rain jackets that we bought at the Eddie Bauer outlet two years ago. The bike ride was incredible. We drove down one lane that had trees on either side that had grown over to form a canopy over the top. I felt like we were actually on the set of The Sound of Music. I may have even hummed a little bit, Julie Andrews style. Swan Lake was beautiful, and some VERY brave (translate: stupid) people in our group even decided to jump in and swim for few moments. 

The hike was a ton of fun. We actually started our behind the castle and hiked up the back part of the mountain. There’s a river running down the backside of the mountain and the water was rushing by us as we walked. Several parts required us to walk on metal walkways that hugged the side of the mountain while the water was rushing below us. It was absolutely breathtakingly beautiful. After about 45 minutes we made it to the castle entrance. We then were given 30 minutes to relax before our castle tour or told that we could continue hiking up to walk on Mary’s Bridge. Mary was King Ludwig’s mother. She loved to hike, and she had a bridge built over the waterfall gorge so she could cross over more easily. We decided to make the extra effort and we were rewarded with some of the most memorable views of our entire vacation. The pictures can tell the story themselves.

The castle tour itself was neat. King Ludwig spared no expense in his castle building. There were mosaic tile floors and every fixture we saw was made of gold. His bed was made of wood, and it took 14 wood workers 4 years to complete it. His bedroom was the most ornate, gaudy room that I’ve ever seen. The German government doesn’t allow any photos to be taken inside the castle, but several have leaked online. Feel free to google away!

I’m including a few of our favorite photos from this trip. I’m uploading the rest to shutterfly, and if you’d like me to send you the link please just ask!

The castle, from one of the biking trails.

This is where I was feeling very "Sound of Music-y"

Swan Lake. See that ripple way out on the right side? That was one of the crazy people that decided to swim.

Hugh and I at Swan Lake.

Here we are in front of one of the waterfalls.

Rain biking. Gotta love it. The castle is WAY in the background.

Hugh, braving the rain for a picture.

Hiking up the waterfall gorge. This is where they divert some water to allow for a crossing. Don't worry, it goes right back after.

The walkway here is made of metal. You can see through it and it's actually a little steep. And wet.

Apparently it's very popular to stack rocks at the riverbed. Kinda cool.

That's Mary's Bridge. This picture was taken about halfway through the hike.

It's really worth clicking on these pictures to see the detail. This is the valley, with Hohenschangu Castle.

Castle Neuschwanstein

The small village in the valley. Just gorgeous!

One side note: There was this one woman on our trip that we gave the nickname “Kim Kardashian”. Everyone that signed up for this tour new that there would be a bike ride, and hike, and the possibility of rain. This girl actually shows up for this excursion in white skintight leggings, 5-inch stiletto riding boots, and attempts the bike ride. She held the group up quite a bit and THANK THE LORD that she finally decided to bow out of the hiking. I was worried that some members of the group were going to go all Lord of the Flies on her and start calling her Piggy and stoning her to death. Sometimes, I really wonder what goes through people’s heads.

One more side note: We did this trip on my birthday. Not a shabby way to turn 31!

Epic European Adventure Volume 2

Munich- The home of Maximilian

Munich is a great city to visit. It’s very clean, the people are nice and there’s tons of food and beer! Since Munich is considered one of the most bike-friendly cities in the world, Hugh and I decided to take a half-day bike tour around the city to get acquainted with the area. We chose Mike’s Bike Tours from all of the positive feedback on Tripadvisor. We spent 24€ apiece for a 4 hour bike tour. Our tour guide was named James, and he was from Australia (this was the greatest vacation for an accent lover). The bikes were called “cruisers” which really means hybrid, and they were quite comfortable. This tour was incredible! We saw all sorts of landmarks and interesting areas. James was very knowledgeable and pointed out several different points of interest and suggested places to see and eat while we were on our trip. We biked through the English Garden which is Munich’s version of Central Park. It was gorgeous! Trees everywhere and a large stream crossed through the park. We stopped and ate lunch at the Chinese Pagoda Beer Garden, and it was scrumptious. Hugh had sausages and I had pork schnitzel. Oh…and we each had a beer. A very large beer. These are actually liter glasses, and I indulged in the dark beer while Hugh had the lighter one. One thing to remember: we still had another two hours to go on our bikes. 

This is the Chinese Pagoda. There was a band playing in the middle of it.

This is the beer I drank at the lunch during our bike ride. Hugh had one as well, and the bike ride was LOVELY after the beer.

One of the bridges over the river in the English Garden.

On one end of the English Garden is where you can find “the surfers”. It literally is an area where a bridge and the concrete bottom of the stream have managed to form a large wave that can actually be surfed on. It was really cool! There were several guys in their wetsuits taking turns surfing in the stream. It was awesome to watch, and it looked quite dangerous. Our guide informed us that at one time it was illegal to surf there, but people kept doing it anyways so the local government finally allowed it with the idea of, “If you’re stupid enough to do it, you’re stupid enough to take responsibility for it.” It was definitely a great thing to see.

Action shot of one of the surfers. Good job Hugh!!

This is the surfing area. The water is moving VERY fast.

Just about everywhere we looked, there were signs with the name “Maximilian” on them. We discovered from our guide that there was a King Maximilian of Bavaria (way back in history) and that he ruled from Munich. Munich’s answer to 5^th Avenue or Rodeo Drive is called the Maximilian Strasse. There were streets, beer gardens, museums, universities, etc. all with the name Maximilian on them. Why am I mentioning this? Well, Hugh’s middle name is Maximilian and it’s spelled the exact same way. So, every time we came across a Maximilian in our path we managed to take a picture of it. Needless to say, this did not help my suggestion to Hugh that we not continue the name Hugh Maximilian McCrea IV to any children we may have in the future. Hugh was pretty happy to see his name everywhere. Sadly, there were no instances of the name Jennifer anywhere to be found. 

Hugh in front of one of the Maximilian signs.

Another Maximilian Street sign.

The Maximilian continues....

No trip to Munich is complete without visiting the Marienplatz to witness the Glockenspiel. The Glockenspiel is over a hundred years old and it’s beautiful. It’s essentially a huge cuckoo-clock that has dolls that perform a dance and act out a story that dates back to the 16^th century. We climbed the steps of St. Peter’s Church to watch it. The church steeple is over 300 steps to the top, but you’re rewarded with incredible views of the city. We also had a beer and pretzel at the Hoffbrau House which is the oldest Bier Hall in the world. I personally think it also happens to be the loudest, the rowdiest, and the most crowded. 

The Glockenspiel. There are two levels of wooden dolls that move.

One of the views of the city from the top of the spire at St. Peters.

Me at the top of the church.

Hugh and the top of the church. It was very narrow and quite crowded.

Another great city view!

The Hoffbrau House. Good thing I workout or I wouldn't have been able to pick up the beer.

This is Yzir river that runs through Munich. It's beautiful!

 To be continued.....