Home Sweet Home... Finally

Sorry for the delay in details... and to have left you all hanging. It's been crazy busy here for us. So as you can guess from the title of this post we are in the midst of "new home owner heaven"! Our loan was approved earlier this month and we closed on our house on May 10th. We've been moving stuff in and moving stuff around and unpacking like crazy ever since! It's still not ALL done yet but we've got most of it under control. It's huge and lovely and it feels so nice just knowing it's all yours! Having military base housing for the past 7 years really can make you appreciate having your own home and realizing you can do what you want with it is even more priceless! It's a bit awkward at first because you hesitate at throwing away those cardboard boxes or your tv box or your crock pot box, and then you realize this is it! Final destination found! No more moving!... yes, you really can throw that box out LOL! Along with that goes... yes, go ahead... nail that picture to the wall... remember you won't have to worry about the hole until you take it down to change the theme not to move! Or... it's ok... go pick out that paint color... you can paint whatever you want now... no more standard issue military white walls! It's a new found glory I tell ya! The neighborhood is amazing too, It's only 14 houses but we have found our neighbors to be really amazingly nice and very welcoming. About two weeks ago we went out for dinner because we had such a long day of emptying our pack rat container and we came home to find a pretty flower arrangement and a card sitting by our front door. It turns out it was from our neighbors right next door to us, they just wanted to welcome us to the neighborhood, along with the flowers was a gift card from the family for home depot. I thought to myself how incredibly nice of them! I don't know people who even do stuff like that anymore! I feel like I should go bake cookies for everyone and go door to door with them (and I might just do that after I find my baking stuff!) Everyone we've met so far has been very nice and very friendly, and it's so great to finally live somewhere where you actually love your house, have neighbors that care and look out for you and feel welcomed. We have been truly blessed!

And because I know you all want to see it... I'll post some pics of the house here for you... Welcome to our home! :)

On the day of our closing! May 10th 2013!

Come on in y'all.

Flower bed in near the front steps.

Living Room

Living Room

Formal Living Room

Formal Living Room

Foyer

Main Floor Bath

Library (Oh yeah.... can't believe I have my own place to read!!! In Nerd Girl Heaven!)

Formal Dining Room

Leading into the kitchen from the dining room.

Kitchen (please excuse the mess)

Kitchen (and hubby hard at work)

Kitchen

 

Kitchen

Kitchen

Hall (Stairs to the right lead to upper level and stairs to the right lead to lower level and garage)

Laundry room

Hall/Work Center

Guest Bedroom 1 of 2

The kiddos room!

Jack and Jill bathroom

Hallway

View from guest room # 2

Hall leading to master bedroom

Master bedroom

Master bath shower

My favorite... Master bath with spa tub!

My vanity... don't worry he has one too... LOL!

The kiddo checking our "mommy's swimming pool" tub LOL!

Basement/Rec room

Basement/Rec room

Living room fire place.

Kitchen

Mud room/ Garage area 

So there you have it! I'll update with more pics as we move stuff in and decorate a bit more. Hope you've enjoyed the tour! :)

Book Review: Buried in a Bog by: Sheila Connolly

Honoring the wish of her late grandmother Maura Donovan visits the small Irish village where her Gran was born-though she never expected to get bogged down in a murder mystery. Nor had she planned to take a job in one of the local pubs, but she finds herself excited to get to know the people who knew her Gran. 

In the pub, she's swamped with drink orders as everyone in town gathers to talk about the recent discovery of a nearly half century old body in a nearby bog. When Maura realizes she may know something about the dead man and that he might be connected to another, more recent, death she fears she's about to become mired in a homicide investigation. Maura has a sinking feeling she may really be getting in over her head... 

Shelia Connolly is a well established author and this new series has the potential to be a great success much like her other cozy mystery novels, I can't wait to read the next addition!

Buried in a Bog is not your typical cozy mystery... no this one has a story within it. One that was set long ago, it's only now how Maura Donovan has discovered the truth behind it. It has great Irish charm and plays out exactly what one would think the typical Irish lifestyle would be like.

So I pretty much loved it! It was a little slow at times and didn't have the climax I had hoped for but all in all it was a great read. I am excited to see what's in store for Maura next and Sullivans Pub
and you'll see its no secret that even Officer Sean Murphy has a bit of a crush on Maura... let's hope she might not stay out of trouble for his sake... ;)

Book Review: Trouble in the Tarot by: Kari Lee Townsend

Lately Sunny has been experiencing a period of big opportunity: her business in Divinity, New York, is thriving, and Detective Mitch Stone has finally agreed to take Sunny on a date. But thanks to her clairvoyant abilities, Sunny knows better than anyone that life deals out bad cards along with good. 

When Sunny agrees to read tarot cards at the annual Summer Solstice Carnival, she meets her Granny Gert's "arch nemesis" Fiona Atwater, and is overcome by a vision of Fiona in a violent argument. Sunny knows trouble is brewing when Granny and Fiona start having squabbles all over town. But the fighting comes to a head when a local backer gets run over by a big white Cadillac and Granny and Fiona are found at the crime scene. 

Sunny knows she should step aside and let Mitch handle the investigating, but she's not about to ignore her visions and leave her granny's life in fate's hands... 

Oh Sunshine Meadows... you might have actually outdone yourself this time! What a great book! This mystery kept me guessing from start to finish! I had an idea of who I thought did it but in the end.. I had no idea how deep this mystery really went! I also loved the mini sub plot involved too, it gave it a lot more twists and turns than your average mystery! Sunny's Granny & her "nemesis" Fiona had me cracking up at just about every hair brained idea they came across... and once again Morty, Sunny's "special" kitty steals my heart! I also can't wait to see how Sunny & "Detective Grumpy Pants" turn out... big steps in this book... hopefully even bigger ones will happen for them both in the next! :)

A Fabulous Weekend at the Zoo in DC!

We had one of the best weekends this past weekend! It's been a long time since we've been able to "let our hair down" and actually enjoy doing something... we've been so strung out with all the move and all the house details and stuff... aside from last weekends hour of walking around Leesburg with the Flower & Garden Festival... but even that was too short to enjoy fully. We also got to spend the day with our good friends or what my hubby likes to call his "brother from another mother" and his extremely adorable and awesome daughters!

We took the metro in early that morning from Vienna station all the way into the Woodley/Zoo station and the kiddo LOVED to ride the metro! She almost didn't even want to go to the zoo because she loved the "train" so much! We hung out at the zoo from about 10am till about 4pm and it was just awesome, there was sooo many cool and awesome exhibits and get this... its all FREE!!!! That's right just about everything that is put on by the Smithsonian Institute is absolutely free! And how can you argue with fun when its free! :) Here's some pics of our day!

Look at the Otters!!! Aren't they cute!!!

My little champ trying to arm wrestle the chimp LOL!

At her first Metro Station! LOL!

The two parts of my heart... LOVE them!

Looks complicated right?! It's not after about the 3rd of 4th ride LOL!

Living the NOVA life... enjoying the locale!

This weekend was our first outing as a family in our new "home" town. It was also the Leesburg 25th Annual Flower and Garden Festival. It was great to get out and enjoy the town and see some of the beautiful sites. I don't know if the locals dressed up the town for the festival or if it always looks this nice and charming but either way I LOVE it!!! Everywhere we went we were greeted by friendly people, and beautiful scenery. Walking the streets of old downtown Leesburg reminds me a lot of the days I spent in Germany. Strolling up and down little hilly sidewalks and seeing tons of hanging baskets and window planters full of bright and cheerful spring flowers, I nearly got choked up. I know my mom would have loved seeing it all. In fact as soon as we got back I called her up and told her to plan on coming up here next year during the time of the festival! LOL!

It was a beautiful day despite lasts nights rainy weather. We had a high of about 57 degrees with a little breeze in the air, not enough to be cold but just right to be lovey. We got some GREAT ideas on how we want to decorate the backyard and how we (eventually) want to build a deck/patio area. We had some yummy Gyros for lunch and the kiddo even had cotton candy. We received some free seeds to plant and all in all had a great time! Here's some pics from our day out. If your ever in the area this time of the year I highly recommend it! I know I wouldn't mind going back tomorrow to do some wine tasting!

As you can tell.. the streets were pretty busy with people.

The kiddo and her daddy enjoying her lunch.

I just LOOOVE this building in the background... I tried getting a pic of it without the pedestrians but it just wasn't gonna happen... but, never the less it is just beautiful! Love that old colonial style!

I really love this water sculpture of this Japanese Maple! The water flows up the trunk and then flows down the branches to make it look like its raining! How cool is that!

In front of the Light Foot restaurant, from what I understand this place is nice and pretty much a favorite of the locals.

The kiddo and her HUGE cup of cotton candy! She couldn't be more happy! LOL!

Ahhh Leesburg... I think you and I are going to have a fabulous relationship!