The house

Most people know we bought a house in late March in Falls Church. We'd been renting a house for 2 years in Arlington, and though we hated to leave our neighbors, we couldn't pass up the house. We got a lot of Home Depot and Lowe's gift cards for the wedding, and we can't begin to tell you how much they've come in handy!

We got lucky when unusual storms came through our neighborhood while we were in Aruba. Imagine our shock at the beach when CNN reports tornadoes just a few blocks from your address! The house was unscathed, but a row of houses about a 100 yards behind us were not so lucky. Before we left for Aruba, we'd had some moisture in the basement during storms. Carpet got wet, but it wasn't a major disaster. The basement was still dry when we got home. We weren't so lucky with tropical storm Hannah -- not by a long shot!

The weekend after Labor Day, we were hoping for a peaceful weekend, but we got several hundred gallons of water poured into our laundry room window courtesy of Hannah. The backyard looked like the Tennessee River raging, and water overpowered the drainage channels in the yard and the window wells. Thank God for the wet-dry vac! I took it outside while Joe caught as much water as he could in buckets and tubs and dumped it in the deep sink and washer. I had been on the couch with a migraine, but the adrenaline rush of seeing all that water cured it pretty quick. What a disaster! Our former neighbor, Rick, came to our rescue with shovels (we own several now!). Chris helped us dig out the window well and journeyed to the HD to get supplied I personally never thought I'd be buying. Joe ended up throwing out his back digging after Chris left, so Erin and Eamon came over and helped finish it up. By the end of the "peaceful" weekend, Joe had thrown out his back and caught a cold, while Rachel sprained her shoulder and got poison ivy. We both had so many bug bites we couldn't count them all!

We went to work on the yard to avoid any future drainage problems. The guy Joe had hired to mow the lawn took the job of replacing all the other window wells, , regrading the yard and adding top soil. Oddly enough, we haven't seen those guys since. Hmmm. All new beds, shrubs. All sorts of good stuff. The house looks great! The basement has a couple of new walls, and Joe has become an expert in waterproofing. Pretty sure the house would float down the street before water gets in again. We got new windows since the ones down there were original to the house. Joe has installed a high-def projector and 100" screen in the basement, so if we do float down the street, we'll at least be entertained!

Aruba

We spent 10 days in Aruba for our honeymoon. It was beautiful! The people are so nice, and the place we stayed was amazing. We also discovered Aruban cornbread with white cheese and the best strawberry daiquiris on the planet. The Carribean is the rum capital of the world afterall. Here is a link to the full album, but be warned the pics are not really in any particular order.

Highlights of the trip included a romantic dinner on the beach courtesy of Lyndsey, a sunset cruise, massages at the spa, a butterfly farm, off roading in a jeep a couple of times (one of them including an adventure in digging a jeep out of A LOT of sand!), 3 movies (bunch of new ones came out, and we rarely treat ourselves to the movies), liquid fireworks set to Abba, oh, and did I mention the ostrich ranch!?

Aruba

The beginning

So maybe we picked the hottest day of the year to get married -- outside, none the less, but looking back at that day, I don't remember sweating off my make up. I remember the love and joy and pure bliss of marrying my best friend and partner for life.

It's been six months since that day, and though we've been thrown our share of challenges, life is good. The house we bought in March is our home. (Just don't tell Henry that because he thinks it's his!) Even in a bad economy, our jobs are secure, if crazy. Our families and friends are doing well. What more could we want? Someone to write all the thank you notes, maybe?

In addition to the thank you notes, which have taken us a while, but not for lack of being thankful, we thought this blog would be a good place to give people a bit more detail about how we've put all the generosity to good use and let you all know what we've been up to in our first six months of this lifelong adventure. So, enjoy. Leave your comments and even advice for the happy couple. Perhaps our stories will give some back. We can all use all the help we can get, right?