The Graduate

I finally have my Masters degree! YEA! It has been three long years, and I still can't believe I don't have to go back to class. My mom, stepdad, grandma & 2 brothers came up for the event. They also helped a lot with the deck and the party.

The school had a reception showcasing the graduate portfolios and final projects.


Here I am sitting at my table with my wine labels.

And here we are just after graduation. I look so silly in a cap and gown. Sorry it's a blurry photo, that's all I have right now. I'm pretty sure my parents took about a hundred pictures, so I may post one of those when I get them.

Thank God for Spring!

Bye-bye Comcast

I did it. I finally called and cancelled our cable. We have been cable free for 5 days now! Soon, we will be totally Comcast free. We are switching our internet over to Verizon, which all together will save us $110 per month! We also signed up with Netflix. We ended up saving so much money by getting rid of Comcast that Netflix is a drop in the bucket. Plus, we get to see lots of great movies! If you have any recommendations, let us know.

The deck continues to come along, and the flowers are blooming. I'm sure we'll post a 'flowers of our yard' blog at some point soon.

I am "unofficially" finished with my masters degree!!! I had the last class and presentation on Thursday night. This weekend my family is coming into town, Monday is a reception for the Publications Design master degree students, and Wednesday is graduation. Hopefully the deck will be completed by the next Saturday for our graduation/deck-warming party. I am so looking forward to all of the free time to read, sew, enjoy the deck, and plan a wedding. By the way, the next time I tell any of you that I'm thinking about going back to school, feel free to slap me. :)

So, all in all, we've been pretty busy, but not much else to report.

Hope all the mama's had a happy Mother's Day!

Deck Blog II

Rose cutting balusters on the chop saw.

New posts for the awning.

Almost got my arm ripped off here.

out with the old

Proper hydration is important when working in sunny weather. I swear I didn't drink the beer while using the saws, I made Rose hold it. ...sorry Shaun.

hanging stair stringers

Done enough for chairs.

Almost there

Deck Blog!

Deck Blog!

This is pretty self explanatory. The main platform is 19'x11' and it's about 36" off the ground at the door end. Railings and pergola will be up next weekend, and the decking should be installed after that. Then you will all visit us.

It's Official!

Yes, we're engaged. Nick proposed on Easter. The ring was in a golden egg in my Easter basket. Very cute. And very surprising. I was hoping for it on Tuesday, our two-year anniversary, but he surprised me by popping the question a few days early.




So, for our two year anniversary, we went to the Chameleon Cafe
It was amazing. Here we are all dressed up. :)

2008 Catch up

So... Other than squirrel mania, we have had a fairly uneventful year. Until recently. My new job has been going really great. It has been a slow and long training period, but now one of the senior Print Production Managers is going out on maternity leave, so I will be put to the test by covering all of her accounts. I am looking forward to having something to do during the day!
School has been going okay. I have two more months and a TON of work to do. Luckily, it's all fun work with a rewarding finish of graduation.

Cleo has had a nasty eye infection. 7 trips to the vet and $600 later, her eye is looking much better.







Apparently, Cleo drank too much... No, she just likes to drink out of the toilet.

Nick's friend Jordan (and his band) came down from New York to play a show in Shaun's building. What a coincidence! We ended up being out until after 4am!