Just Married!

Last Saturday, we were in Wilmington for the wedding of Andrew's sister/my sister-in-law Nicole and her fiance (now husband!) Robbie. The wedding was absolutely beautiful, and Nicole was completely radiant. It was wonderful to see everyone, and we had a great time. We were sad our visit was so short but luckily we'll be back down for the week of Thanksgiving :)

Sorry this post is pretty long - there's a bunch of pictures.

Nicole's hair being "dressed" by Sarah

The beautiful result

Sarah works her magic on Sydney

Nicole getting ready

Such a beautiful bride

The whirlwind after the "I do's"

A nice-looking group of people - wonder who they are :)

The gorgeous cake Michel made

It tasted great, too!

Dragonflies just for Nicole

Cutting the cake

The father-daughter dance to "Sweet Child O' Mine"

All dressed up

Good ol' Kevin - always debonair

With the soon-be-famous Sydney

First dance as Mr. and Mrs.

Congratulations to the bride and groom, and welcome to the family Robbie! We love you!

Halloween

This year, Andrew and I had a Halloween party to go to, so we decided to actually put some effort into our costumes. What could we be as a couple?

Well,

2 pieces of colored foam

1 giant roll of foam

1 huge pile of red felt (turned into a poncho)

some hot glue and burned fingers later....

Voila! a giant can of Raid and a ladybug:

(we even won a prize!)

Andrew passed!

So, this posting is a little late but last Friday (Oct. 24), Andrew passed his Master's thesis defense at NC State. He gave his exit seminar and then defended before his committee. He did a great job and we're all very proud of him!

Of course, I forgot my camera - thus, the picture of a "fence" - the closest thing I had to "defense."

It was wonderful to be in NC again and feel warm weather - although a tad cruel since it was freezing when we came back!

Blue light special: Two Seasons for the price of One!

Fall has been beautiful here.

The leaves have been a mix of gold, crimson, & auburn - very New England-y.
So, we've been enjoying the gorgeous scenery here.... but it comes with a cost - cooold. We had kind of adjusted to it, then BAM - it snowed this week!

GO WOLFPACK!!!!!!!

Today 3-0 Penn State played Temple at noon and 1-2 NC State played ECU at noon. Both games were televised up here. Which game did we watch? NC State, baby! We got to see a NC State quarterback actually throw TOUCHDOWNS (imagine that), NC State defense make a goal-line stand against ECU and succeed AND force a fumble in overtime, then top it all off with a hard-fought touchdown to win the game. It was an awesome game, way more exciting than watching Penn State steamroll their fourth team in a row. We wish we could have been there with our fellow Wolf-packers but it was enough to see NC State actually PLAY an entire football game. I'm so proud of our team!

A penny earned...

Today, Andrew and I have embarked on a makeover of our finances. We have never been very good with money and are not financially fit. So, we are starting our money makeover. We have a book that we've been reading (by Dave Ramsey if anyone's interested) and it gave us the kick in the seat that we needed to make a change. So, we sat down, drew up a budget, and made a plan. Then we cut up every single one of our credit cards. It felt so great! I did not realize just how much I despise Capital One until I took the scissors to that evil little card. THEN (drumroll please) we paid off one of our credit cards and now that debt is gone completely. Of course, there's other debt ready to step up to bat and it will be a long process to paying it off, but we're committed to getting debt free. Since we truly are poor graduate students, that is the lifestyle we will have. So, please, if anyone has any tips or advice on how to save dollars here and there, we welcome the comments! Also, encouragement will be greatly appreciated. It's never easy to admit that you've made mistakes, especially when it comes to money but enough is enough. Hopefully, one day, we will be a success story about getting out of debt.

Mount Nittany

Last Saturday we decided to hike Mount Nittany. It was a beautiful, clear day and was actually fairly warm out. When we arrived at the beginning of the trail, there were no maps left to take, so we tried to memorize the one posted as best we could.

There are two trails that go up the mountain and then kind of loop around at the top, sometimes running together, sometimes diverging. The bulk of the hike was on top of the mountain as the trail went to various scenic viewpoints of the surrounding valleys. Since the trees all still have their leaves, the views were a little obscured and the sky was a little hazy but it was still very pretty. It should be gorgeous in the fall when the leaves put on their autumn color.

Our hike ended up being - really just seeming- a tad longer than we thought it would because we weren't entirely sure where the trail was going when we got to the top. The hike itself was very nice - there weren't very many people out so it was quiet and peaceful. It was a somewhat different experience walking among so many hardwood trees after being in North Carolina where it seems like every 2 feet there's a pine tree.

While we were hiking, Andrew got hungry and decided to eat a protein bar he had brought with him:

His professional opinion:

Luckily for Andrew there were lots of wild blueberries along the trail, and he was able get some tasty antioxidants:

August = Autumn in PA

The other day we came up with this great plan to visit one of the local lakes and go swimming and canoeing. So we packed up a lunch, put on our bathing suits (with fleece jackets on top of course) and headed to Black Moshannon Lake just a short drive away. When we arrived, the temperature was a steamy 60 degrees (approximately). So, we decided to go canoeing first, in hopes that the clouds would part and maybe, just maybe, the sun would add 20 degrees. So we rented a canoe and paddled around the lake for about an hour. It was very quiet, very peaceful, and very black. It was pretty much just us and about a billion lily pads. When we returned the canoe to the rental shop, the temperature had indeed warmed to a tropical 64 degrees. So, we headed over to the beach area and ate our lunch, with Andrew sitting with his knees up to his chin so that his fleece jacket covered all of him. We stared in amazement at the poor saps swimming in the black water in, gasp, swimsuits, NOT wetsuits. This outing, while very nice and peaceful, made us miss the heat of North Carolina. We've been told it gets hot here...yeah. Based on the fact that we wake up shivering most mornings, we just don't quite believe that. Allegedly it will be 80 degrees on Saturday - one can only hope!

Extreme Makeover Hunt Edition - Part 1

We've been working on the house (it seems like constantly) but this weekend we shifted our focus from working on the house to working on the yard. So here's some before and after pics.

Before: lots of untamed ugliness along the fence

Andrew working hard

After: We planted black-eyed susans, coreopsis, asters...

lavendar, purple fountain grass...

Delphinium, hostas, pink coneflowers, and New England Asters.

The dogs were kind enough to keep us company and keep us amused:

Sherlock has deemed this paint roller his new favorite toy- he carries it everywhere.

Sawyer loves to jump up and snatch apples off of the apple tree. It's hilarious and I promise I will post video of this soon.

Greetings from Pennsylvania

Sorry no pictures this post. We have been in Pennsylvania for over week and a half now. We are still trying to put stuff away and give our house some order. Hopefully next week I'll have some pictures up.
We managed to make the move up here without too much trouble. We loaded up the moving truck, and against all odds, fit everything except one item of furniture in the truck. We got a fairly late start out of Raleigh that Saturday night and pulled into our luxurious accomodations at Days Inn in Ashland, VA. A warning to all: please do not EVER go to this motel - it was a dump. When we arrived at 3 am, there were quite a few people just kind of milling around outside which didn't exactly give it that safe and secure vibe. That Sunday we rolled out of there and pulled into State College, PA in the early evening. On Monday, we closed on our house and started moving in. My mom and Andrew's dad were with us to lend their helping hands and I honestly don't know what we would have done without them.
While they were here, Andrew and I got our Pennsylvania drivers licenses - it took FOREVER! You don't have to take a test; you basically just trade your old license in. But it took a ridiculously long time. Now Andrew and I are official PA residents and registered voters. Andrew's dad flew out that Wednesday and my mom left the next morning. We were pretty sad to see our last links to home leave.
We're adjusting to life here though. So far, every single person we've come across has been really nice. And it's beautiful here. Everything is so green and lush. The grocery store here is awesome - they have everything. And we're pretty sure that we live in The Land of Ice Cream. The grocery store has this ice cream (only $2.50) that is unbelievably good. Then the school has a creamery that is absolutely delicious. And we've heard there's a place that has ice cream even better than the creamery. We're trying to pace ourselves.
The only flaw we've found is that people have lead feet here. It's ridiculous. The speed limit on our road is 25 and I know there are some people going at least 45 on it. It's a very residential area with a school and a church and kids - you'd think they would slow down. Oh well.
We miss everyone back home and we definitely miss the beach, but we're liking it here. Of course we'll like it more once we're done with all the little projects around the house.
Our project for today is to put a shed together whose instructions included a warning "Do not attempt unless you have many hours." Wish us luck!

Come Sail Away

Before we move to "The North" this weekend, we're trying to get in all the beach time that we can since it will probably be a long time until we can go again. So yesterday we took my kayak and Sydney's Sunfish (small sailboat) out. I went kayaking while Andrew sailed. The ocean was really calm and it was a great day to be out on the water. We're both going to miss the beach a lot, and it's been so nice to have this mini-vacation toward the end of our stay in Oak Island.