"The Tree House"

Many of you are aware that I now live in a "Tree House." It is a rather nice tree house, if I do say so myself. We are living in Matt's parent's backyard above his dad's workshop. His parents own several acres of land in the woods (hence the term tree house). There are some pictures below of our home that several of my family members have been waiting patiently to see!

View of our deck from the front door

View from the front door/kitchen entrance of our Dining Room/Living Room/Den/Office/Family Room/etc...


Kitchen looking out towards main room

Another view of kitchen

Main room looking in to kitchen

View from fireplace looking towards front door/kitchen

Matt's favorite spot

From Matt's favorite spot looking towards dining room table and door

View looking in to the main room with our bedroom door in the corner

Hallway of our bedroom looking in to the main room. (Our closet is the door to the right.)

View from hallway in to our bedroom

View of our bedroom

View of our bedroom from our bathroom door

Bathroom entrance from our bedroom

Bathroom

On Sunday, June 19, 2011, Matt and I celebrated our 1 Year Anniversary! We spent the whole day together doing whatever we wanted. We decided to do a fancy dinner at home instead of going out to a nice restaurant. (Any dinner at home is fancy to us if it isn't thawed from the freezer or thrown on the grill.) Take a look below to see pictures and what we had for each course! Thanks for all the cards, calls, texts, and well wishes you sent us for our first anniversary. It is hard to believe it has already been a year!

Appetizer: Tomatoes Crostini (Marinated Tomatoes on Sourdough Bread)

Salad: Shrimp Ceviche

Shrimp Ceviche


Main Course: Beef Wellington and Grilled Corn and Chipotle Peppers

Inside the Beef Wellington

Dessert: Creme Brulee

Popping the Dom Perignon

The 2nd "Not So Good" Dessert

The flowers were still fresh a year later!

The cake on the Cake Plate that belonged to my grandparents.

I'm back...

Well a lot has happened since I last blogged in January. My apologies for not sticking to my New Year's Resolution (It's not the first one I have not stuck to.).

A quick recap of some of the highlights of the past few months:

January 15 - Went with some friends to the mountains for Martin Luther King Weekend
February 4 - Went with some other friends and the boys to the mountains for a great weekend
February 19 - Hosted a bridal shower for my almost sister-in-law
March 12 - Wedding Shower for another friend
March 25 - Outer Banks with the in-laws
April 1 - Bachelorette Weekend at Holden Beach
April 8 - Pony Mom Weekend at Holden Beach
April 18 - 22 - SPRING BREAK 2011

The next few weekends will also be really busy for us as we are out of town for the next three weekends for two weddings and my G'ma's 90th Birthday Party!

Through the eyes of an eight year old...

(For those that did not know...I taught Science last year as a specialist for Pre-K through 5th Grade.)

On Friday, I was sitting with a group of kids and we were discussing the phases of the moon. They had different pictures of the different stages and they were trying to put them in order starting with the "new moon." They would watch a short video clip and then make changes to their cards.

After several tries and still not getting it quite right, one boy looked at me and said, "Mrs. Currin, how do you remember all the phases?" Before I could answer another child said really enthusiastically, "Because she is a scientist!" Another child chimed in and said, "Yea, don't you remember she taught us all of that science stuff last year!"

In the eyes of a few eight year olds, I am right up their with Einstein!

(If only they knew that most Sundays last year Matt was explaining to me the science behind my experiments for the upcoming week!)

And while I have your attention, please join me in a "No Snow/No Ice Dance." I am not interested in having any ice or snow this week because I would really enjoy a spring break.

My New Year's Resolution for 2011...

is to blog more! I PROMISE!

And after lots of consideration and a great conversation with my super smart, Jeopardy Champion of an Aunt...I have also decided to eat my black-eyed peas and collards on New Year's Eve from now on.

Rewind to New Year's Eve and New Year's Day morning:

We had a great New Year's Eve with several of our best friends in Raleigh (Matt's never ending of a job and snow prevented us from going to the mountains). Pictures to come later!

I cooked a delicious New Year's Eve dinner and we pregamed at the house before going over to a friend's house and heading out to Glenwood Avenue. The ball came and dropped and it was time to head home.

Finding a taxi on New Year's Eve proved to be a difficult task. Well we found one (or so we thought). We made it from Solas to Mellow Mushroom (for those of you that don't live here...that is about two blocks) before getting kicked out of our first taxi. So here we all were again standing on the side of Glenwood. I was still having a blast though. We found another taxi and managed to make it back to our house where we all decided to have a slumber party and continuing bringing in the new year.

The next morning we all woke up and were reminiscing the previous evening. Then Matt came in from the other room and told me he couldn't find his wallet. I wasn't too worried because my tiny tree house isn't but so big so I knew we would find it. Well we looked everywhere. We looked all out in the yard, driveway, and street. We didn't find it.

I asked him to tell me what exactly was in his wallet and I went in to PANIC MODE. His response was: his license, my license, his credit card, our joint credit card, his debit card, our joint debit card, his corporate credit card, concealed weapons permit, about 100 dollars cash and his social security card! I was okay until we got to the social security card part. I am thinking, "SERIOUSLY, HAVE YOU LIVED UNDER A ROCK!" Me trying to not sound like a nagging mother nicely asked him if he was trying to get his identity stolen along with all of our money!

I tried calling every taxi company I could google asking if anyone had found a wallet. After having been kicked out of the first one and not knowing which one we got in the second time, I wasn't so sure we were getting this wallet back. I went back to lay down and he canceled all of his cards and we tried to put it behind us. Our friends left to go home for a little while before coming back over for our traditional New Year's Day dinner.

I got up, showered, and started getting ready to cook dinner for all of our guests that were coming over. I went to put on my clothes and opened up my underwear drawer (sorry if that is TMI but it is crucial for the story) and there it was! His wallet laying right there on top with his pack of gum, receipts from the previous evening, and our New Year's Eve tickets. I began screaming with joy! He had gone outside to take out the trash and I opened up the windows and yelled outside really loudly, "We still have our identity. I found your wallet!!!"

Of course, Matt said I stole his wallet and stashed it in that drawer. But of course I believe my thinking. What I believe to be the case is me opening the drawer up to get ready for bed and him not knowing what year it is emptying the contents of his pockets on what he thought was our dresser (like he does every night) only except this time, he placed in on top of my underwear and closed the drawer. He still likes to tell me that if I had gotten ready before 6:30 that evening, he wouldn't have had to cancel his cards.

So next year, I am eating my black-eyed peas for luck and collards for money before New Year's Eve happens!

Happy New Year's to everyone!

Happy Halloween!!

The pumpkin at the beginning!
Matt drawing the design. (My perfectionist husband made me get goo-gone and erase the lines that I had drawn. Needless to say, I didn't draw the eyes with the correct proportions.)

Matt carving away. (I wasn't allowed to use the sharp knife.) My poor future children will have no part in this tradition.

Our first married halloween!!

(We even baked the pumpkin seeds!)

It's been a year since we got engaged!

This time last year, this is what changed my life!

October 29,2009: I informed Matt that we had gotten our first red tomato on our tomato plant (we had planted them in June).

October 30, 2009: I was waiting for Matt to arrive in Raleigh from Sumter, SC. It was late and we were going to head to Moe's to grab dinner. He gets home, puts his stuff down, and then:

Matt: Let's go see the red tomato.

Me: Okay, let me grab my stuff and we can just go straight to dinner.

Matt: We can come back in and get your stuff.

Me: It makes more sense if I just get my stuff. We can see the tomato and then get in the car and go.

Matt: Okay...it's up to you.

We walk outside to the tomato plant. (I have my stuff.)

Me: I didn't realize it was so cold out here. It looks like there is ice on the plant.

I look closer...realize what it is...turn around...Matt is on one knee...and the rest I don't remember.

We get engaged, call all our family, and then he says...

Matt: We aren't going to Moe's. We have reservations in 30 minutes.

Me: Whoaaaa...(still on cloud 9).

I am dressed for Moe's and I have to quickly get ready for Second Empire.

We have a wonderful night and don't have a clue how much planning is ahead!

Fastforward to October 30, 2010:

We are now married, homeless, living with his parents, working opposite schedules, and still in love!