The Last of Winter

Yesterday the high was 80...the highest temperature this year.  Before these temperatures decide to stay around for a bit I thought I'd share a few photos from "Snowpocalypse 2014" and "Snowmageddon 2014" as Atlantans called it.

You all may have heard about the snow that Georgia received this year.  SNL even did a skit about it.  The first time it happened was when all of Metro Atlanta ended up on the road at the same exact time (1:00 pm) because all businesses and schools closed at the same exact time.  My normal hour long commute home turned into six hours.  I could have driven to Orlando in that amount of time!  The problem in GA is that we aren't used to getting this type of weather, and our snow usually turns into ice...black ice.  Ice is not cute nor is it fun to drive on especially when we aren't used to driving on it.  Many people were stranded on the interstate for 24+ hours or just had to abandon their cars on the side of the road because they either ran out of gas, could not pass certain roads due to the ice or could not drive ahead because 18-wheelers spun out and blocked up the interstate.  A woman even gave birth in her car and a lot of kids had to stay the night at their schools.  Simon didn't come home that night because he would have been sitting in the traffic if he attempted it.  Luckily his brother lives around the corner from where he works so he was able to crash there.

At any rate, a week and a half later after this fiasco we got even more snow with accompanied sleet.  This time people stayed home.  It was like...if school is closing then so are we!  The city was shut down for two days.  During the time off and because I'm a picture fiend, I shot some photos of the snow.  Looking back at the images it's hard to believe that this was only three weeks ago.  I'm not a fan of winter, but I love a good photo op.

Images from the first snowfall-

Can't even tell where the house ends and the sky begins.

Simon had to salt the driveway.

The neighborhood cat got in on the action.

Ice!

Images from the second snowfall 1.5 weeks later-

Right outside of our front door.

The snow was deep!  About 5-6 inches.

There was ice on top of snow on top of ice.  That's mostly ice on the street behind Simon.

We made a snowman :)

He got a little chilly so Simon lit the fire pit for him.

Enough of this cold business, bring on the spring!

2014

Amazing.  We have started a new year already and I am so thankful for that.  In fact we all should be.  2013 was a year that I will never forget.  There were ups and unfortunately downs.  The ebb and flow is a part of life though, and the way we handle it is what matters most.

I'm not one for making resolutions because I don't tend to follow through.  I just look ahead with optimism and usually feel excited for what the new year holds.  So on that note, I wish you a happy new year and many happy encounters and situations to come!

p.s.  We put these party horns to use on New Year's Eve!

A Day to Reminisce

We bought our house again this morning!  We decided to refinance since the rates were so low.  This was a part of our plan to cut costs, and we're excited about the results that we will soon see.

Today I decided to dedicate this post to our house and how it looked before we moved in.  These are the pictures that I took while we were house hunting.  Our house hunting ended up being a one day event.  We looked at two other houses before reaching ours.  Simon had to work that day, so my mom, sister, my agent and I did the hunting.  I showed Simon the pictures of the two houses that I liked the most, and we decided on this one :)

 Looking in from the front door

 

 The downstairs guest bedroom (the first door to the left in the image above)

The guest bathroom downstairs

 The Kitchen

View of the Kitchen and Dining Room from the Great Room (the image below is actually the house next door, but our house has the same layout.  The only differences are the backsplash, the granite color and the style of cabinet).  Oh, and my Mom, Sister and Agent are below :)

The Great Room (and my sister :) )

 The hall upstairs

Master Bedroom and Bath

The first guest bedroom upstairs (AKA my Office)

Didn't get pictures of the second guest bedroom upstairs...but...it's a room!  Oh, and the guest bath upstairs looks exactly like the one downstairs, so no point in posting it twice.

One of the things that I was most excited about, the back yard.

A lot of new homes these days do not have enough yard space, so seeing this made me smile big!  The only thing I wasn't excited about was the kudzu.

So, the top five reasons why I loved this house-

5.  As I just mentioned, a back yard that we can actually use.  Run around, build a garden, do whatever.

4.  A guest bedroom and bathroom are on the first level.

3.  The open floor plan.  I love the two story great room, it opens everything up even more.

2.  A wood burning fireplace.  Many newer homes have gas logs, but I love fires with real wood (a lower gas bill is an added bonus!).

1.  The kitchen!  All of the cabinets, the deep sinks and the counter space.   In fact, whenever I think about our home, I remember the first time I saw the kitchen.  My eyes widened and I smiled so big!  We were living in an apartment before and it was no fun trying to prepare meals on tiny counters with the two of us in there together.  For fun, here's the kitchen in our old apartment-

Excuse Simon, he was snacking on something and doing some last minute packing on moving day, lol!

Now it's your turn!  What are the things that drew you to your home and what were you so excited to see for the first time?

2012 Wrap Up // Part Two

Hi there!

On to the final days of 2012.


Christmas Eve and Day (note, my Mom made a delicious rum cake for Christmas eve, and my sister decorated the dining room and table for Christmas dinner.  Since the tree color scheme was green and purple, she used those colors.  I told her she should start a blog because just about everything that she did for the table was DIY even down to the place mats)

New Years Eve (I put together a burrito bar and made my world famous guacamole for Simon and I.  We also had a mini bottle of champagne left from our anniversary so we popped that open at 12)

So comes the end of 2012 in the Myers world.  We are looking forward to the wonderful, happy, positive things that 2013 has in store!

*Lucky you, I'm double posting today!  See you back here in a few...