Absence does make the heart grow fonder....

Flashback to Wednesday....(when Ronnie came home after his 16 days in Asia)

I finished my work at school as soon as possible.....

Drove home in a hurry.....

Waited patiently by the front door....

Heard his "sound" .....the Mustang pulling into the driveway....

My ears made me SMILE.....

I couldn't wait for him to come to the front door....

So, I ran outside and hugged and kissed him a few steps from closing the mustang door.....

My heart...was so happy and relieved....

I've never missed him quite that much....

I fell in love with him all over again.....

What a feeling!!!!!!! :)

updates

Hello friends! I always feel so bad when I neglect our blog. I am so sorry! But you can imagine the craziness my life has been lately. However, all great things! A lot of things are working in our favor. So we are very happy about that. Here are some updates!

1. Ronnie was in CHINA (yes, on a totally different continent!) for 2 weeks on business! I was freaked out most of the time. I was so nervous about him flying for so many hours, what he was eating, how he was feeling, hoping and praying we packed enough for him to wear, etc. What can I say? I love him so much and I'm always making sure I am the best wife possible. But he's back (in atlanta, though) and is safe back home! Good news is that he's coming to NC TODAY! That's a whole day earlier and will work and be here through the weekend. This is the most we've been apart since we've been married. I dreaded it. But he will be back home soon!

2. Our paint job in our new home is DONE! Just minor things need to be retouched. But the house got a total paint job. The amount of the cost KILLED me, but it will be worth it. I love how it looks. Pics soon, I promise!

3. My brother Mike has been visiting me and keeping me company while Ronnie is away. It's been great. Some moments I want to kill him, some moments I am so thankful for his help....but overall I am relieved I haven't been alone. It's been a lot of work keeping the house "show ready" as prospective buyers are lurking in almost daily. Lots of laundry, organizing, cleaning has to be done daily! Mike has been a lot of help.

4. I told my principal about us relocating. She was not happy about the news. But she's very supportive. She had such nice things to say about my work. I do love my job! I sure hope I can find another permament position quickly in GA! Please pray!

5. I don't know when I will be back in GA again. But I am tired of living out of a suitcase. It seems like I have for months! I've been working really hard, as well. We have testing in about 3 weeks! But the good news is...SUMMER IS ALMOST HERE! So, things will eventually settle down before I know it.

6. We haven't sold our home on our own. But we are planning on selling it to Ronnie's company who will then in turn sell it on their own. This is great news! They are giving us what we paid for it, so we are not losing anything.

So, yes, we are busy. But everything is falling into place. I hear American Airlines is offering a fantastic deal to travel to Atlanta from Miami until November. The rate is $78 each way. So, we are looking forward to having friends and family visit us in our new home! *hint, hint*

Sneak Peek: Our Master Bedroom

One of the things I got most excited about our new home is choosing to paint our master bedroom in a color of "my" choice. In our first home, the room was painted in green and since it is my hubby's favorite color, it was VERY HARD to convince him to change it. So, I had to settle. (OK! more like compromise. ha!)

Our friends Jose and Maritza in Miami recently remodeled their entire home. When I visited them and saw the color of their new master bedroom, I totally fell in love with it. It was the perfect baby blue, but not juvenile. Very soothing, relaxing, which is the feel I've always dreamed in a master bedroom. So, the color stuck and that is the color I decided to go with. The paint is from Sherwin-Williams and the color is "Iceberg". I can't wait to see the room furnished! Thanks Maritza!

The picture qualities aren't great. But I wanted to give you an idea. :)

There's been a change...

Hey guys!

I decided to change the domain name of the new blog that I will use when we move eventually. Head on over to

Our Happily Ever Afters in GA

-E

Our Georgia Peach

Hey everyone!

I hope to merge my blog into this new domain name. I just haven't figured it out yet, and I hope I can do it. Moving takes so much work! I won't be using this new blog spot until I am officially moved into our new home in Georgia. Either way, please save it into your bookmarks.

New roots in Georgia. Still can't believe it!

-E

dining room

Work begins next week painting our grand dining room. It is currently painted with the color of the rest of the house ("Relaxed Khaki" by Sherwin Williams), but we picked out "Coffee" by Lowes. The color will be on the walls and the center of the tray ceiling. Sad thing though... we don't have furniture to put in there, yet! But I am not complaining. One day....

The dining room appears as soon as you walk into the home past the main entrance hallway. Take a sneak peek. I can't wait to fill this room with family and friends, laughing, smiling, eating, talking and lots of LOVING! (oh and furniture, of course! ha!)

iPhone pic below:

Clearer pics below:

updates

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

Some updates:

1. Ronnie left this morning to officially begin work in Atlanta tomorrow. He's staying in a hotel by our new home, so he can begin to adjust to his new schedule. We are about 20 miles North from his office. So, he hopes to get a feel for the traffic. We hear it's pretty bad. But if he leaves a little before 6am for work, and around 4pm to get home, he should be looking at a 25-45 min commute. (we hope!*)

2. I will be joining him on Friday. We close on the house then! Can you believe it!? We are sad and excited at the same time. I guess we are just pretty anxious, too.

3. Painter should begin working on the house on the 20th. I can't wait to see how our dining room and master bedroom turn out. We picked out a "milk chocolate brown" (but not too dark, more in between) for the dining room. And a perfect "iceberg powder blue" for the master. I can't wait to see how it looks against our mahogany furniture and white linens.

4. I will continue working through the school year. Ronnie will be coming to NC on the weekends, or I will drive to GA, etc. Hope this time goes by quickly! I don't do well at home without him. I tend to get very unmotivated. I guess it's understandable!

5. We have interest in our home in NC. So, we hope to get some kind of contract within the next 2 weeks or so.

Our feelings about everything vary from hour to hour, day to day. Some moments we are sad, some moments we are hopeful. But for the most part, I have the bible verse above (Jeremiah 29:11) in my mind and I keep reminding Ronnie of it, too. We are just anxious for it to all to fall into place. We know deep down this will only make us stronger. We are anxious to see what else our future holds. We know we are blessed. :) We are so grateful to the Lord.

new home: new blog

But not just yet! Believe me when I say that when we learned about relocating my heart sank when I thought about our blog! (I know..of all things to worry about!) I love the name "Nesting in NC". So, I go to thinking on how to top it. So, since Ronnie and I began our "fairy tale" at the Magic Kingdom in Cinderella Castle, I decided our blog should symbolize that. So, introducing our new blog home.....

LIVING OUR HAPPILY EVER AFTERS @ http://livingourhappilyeverafters.blogspot.com/ and eventually I want it to be a ".com".

Obviously it is empty, but as soon as we are settled in our GA Peach, I will decorate and make our new blog a "home",too. Stay tuned!

family room

Just got back from my best friend's Janelle's wedding in Miami.

Janelle got engaged while visiting us for New Years 2009. It was a wonderful, surprise engagement on top of Grandfather Mountain in Boone, NC. It was very important to me that I was able to be a part of it. (I took this picture below) Jay is a GREAT man who LOVES her so much. He did a great job planning his engagement to Janelle.

I helped her plan this wedding. Planning lasted a year and we were so anxious for it to all come together. Janelle is like my sister. Being her Matron of Honor was very special for me. She was my Maid of Honor for my wedding. I even let her borrow my veil for her something "borrowed" and I couldn't have been any more proud to do so. I will blog more about the wedding later, but I just wanted to say how very happy I am for her and Jay. I just think about the wedding and tear up....it was very emotional and special. I was happy to be able to visit my family, as well. It was hard to leave Miami this time. I guess its because I don't know when I will return. Either way, the entire weekend was very special for me and I will treasure it forever!

The weekend before returning to Miami, Ronnie and I went to GA to meet with the painter to get an estimate. We got a great deal to paint our master bedroom, dining room, and some repairs around the house. We hope the painter to get started sometime after we close this month. Things with our current home are going smoothly. We get visitors practically daily, so we are praying everything is successful in the end.

Meanwhile, I'd like to share with you with what our new family room looks like! I am in love with our brick fireplace and built-ins. It's a BIG open area attached to the kitchen. I love the wood floors and I really like the carpeting for those cold winter nights snuggled on the couch. We plan on having our TV set on the wall over the mantle (like we have in our current home). I LOVE the windows that look out to the patio and backyard. And lets not forget the ceiling. I wish I knew what that kind of ceiling is called right now. But I think it makes the room! Here are some pictures.

The only thing that gets us is the fireplace....sorry folks...it's a total FAKE! But it looks pretty! We'll live... :)

View from the laundry room to the open area of the kitchen to family room.

my magical home

The day after our friends Jackie and Lino were married in Disney World, we met up with my mom, stepdad and my brother Mike to spend the day at the Magic Kingdom. I have not been to the parks with my mom in about 10 years. She was really looking forward to Disney World and seeing me, of course, since we couldn't spend the holidays together. We took it slow most of the day and just really enjoyed the park and luckily for us, it wasn't crowded, even it being MLK weekend. After a long morning and afternoon in the park, we went back to her room at the Contemporary resort and rested in hopes to watch the fireworks over Magic Kingdom on her balcony! It was magical to see them from a distance and without the massive crowds. It was even chilly. Later that evening, we went to dinner at Ohanas at the Polynesian resort where we feasted on a family style meal. It was so good! I don't have any pictures of that because my camera battery died. Here are just a few of my favorites and 2 of them I took using my iPhone!

Like mother like daughter! Enjoying a sundae, even after a HUGE lunch! Do you see my mother's pirate mickey ears?! She had these already on when I met her at the park! She made me laugh so hard! If you know my mother, you'd crack up, too!

Watching the fireworks from my mom's room at the Contemporary resort balcony! MAGIC!

And let me tell you that I've purchased a ton of Disney merchandise in my lifetime, and trust me, I don't need anymore! But check out these ADORABLE mugs I had to have that I found at the WDW store in our airport terminal. Tell me they aren't the cutest ever!? These will definitely be displayed somehow in my new kitchen! :)

Peek into our new kitchen

Take a peek into our new kitchen!

Pinch me! I can't believe we own such a kitchen! This is my favorite part of the whole house. What I love the most is that I have a great open area to entertain. I love to host! Now I can cook, chat, drink my wine, and watch TV in one major area. (I will show you the rest of the living space soon.) The builder really paid attention to detail with this kitchen. I love my stainless steel appliances. We still need to purchase a fridge, however. That is the only appliance in the kitchen that is missing. Keep in mind this was a former model home, so it has several upgraded details you wouldn't otherwise get unless you pay for it. I love the cabinets and granite. I can't believe I have GRANITE COUNTER TOPS! The faucet is even an upgrade. I love the vintage farm house type sink. Do you love it? I am still dreaming. This can't be mine. No way! I can't wait to cook my first Cuban meal here! :)