A to Z Survey

A – Age: 25
B – Biggest Fear: Getting blood drawn. Yuck! Ok maybe this isn't my biggest fear, but I definitely don't like it. 
C – Current Time: 2:04pm
D – Drink You Had Last: Plain old tap water
E – Easiest Person To Talk To: Dan
F – Favorite Song: I don't know if I have just one. "Don't Stop Me Now" by Queen is a solid choice, since it catchy and reminds me of my dad.
G – Grossest Memory: Uh... probably cleaning up after my dog when he got sick? That smell definitely made me gag a few times, but I'd do anything for that little guy.
H – Hometown: West Windsor, NJ
I – In Love With: Dan and Scout! My little family <3

J – Jealous Of: People with air conditioning. It's been unusually hot in Portland.
K – Kindest Person You Know: That's a really tough one. I'd have to say my friend Allison. She's the oldest of 4 and she has a heart of gold.
L – Longest Relationship: With Dan! It depends on when you start counting- we've dated 7 years consecutively, but we dated a little bit in high school (picture of us this weekend).

M – Middle Name: Perret. Yup it's a weird one. The ending 't' is silent, kind of like the word ballet. It's my grandmother's maiden name on my Dad's side, who happened to be from the French speaking part of Switzerland. Fun fact- my dad had a French accent when he was a little kid! Apparently he knew some French as well, but lost it when he got older.
N – Number of Siblings: 1 older brother, unless you count my parents dogs who they treat like humans.

O – One Wish: That our wedding next year will be awesome!
P – Person You Spoke To On The Phone Last: My dad
Q – Question You’re Always Asked: Well today it was how was your 4th of July? In which I respond emphatically that I saw USA win the women's world cup!

R – Reason To Smile: A short week :)
S – Song You Last Sang: Someone like you by Adele
T – Time You Woke Up: 6:00 am 
U – Underwear Color: Black
V – Vacation Destination: This is a tough one. Dan and I are currently trying to decide where we want to go on our honeymoon. Australia? Hawaii? Chile? Fiji? Who knows.
W – Worst Habit: I have this terrible tendency to get want to get things done RIGHT NOW. I have very limited patience and will sometimes jump into something too quickly. This is a fun one for the fiance. Sorry babe. 
X – X-Rays You’ve Had: I've broken a bone in my foot (a hilarious story for another time) and my middle left finger that I got x-rays on. Oh and I had some dental x-rays as well. 
Y – Your Favorite Food: I have so many! Probably freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. Speaking of which, one of my close friends has a recipe up for chocolate chip cookies that I'm dying to try! They look so good! My friend's awesome blog
Z – Zodiac Sign: Cancer (I never really understood why cancer is one of the zodiac signs. I'm sure it means something, but it always is a bummer when people are naming cool zodiac signs and mine is the same word as a disease that kills millions of people. Great.)

That's all for now!

The First Couple of Weeks

Saying that the past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind is an understatement. We moved all of our stuff, bought a bunch of new furniture (thank you Ikea), cleaned out our old place, and started settling into the new home.

My parents came to visit for a couple weeks, which has been a huge help. My dad is amazing when it comes to home improvement. He is literally the best. I can't thank him enough for all his hard work! To be fair, I did sign him up for a massage for Father's Day, so I'm not completely taking advantage of him. I know deep down that he loves being able to help me out in my new journey of home ownership.

Anyways, back to all the activities. We closed on a Monday and started moving the small stuff into the house over the week. I bought a dolly (this one) and some packing supplies from Home Depot, and it was a a huge help. Then we had professional movers come on Friday to take care of the furniture.

Once we got all of our stuff into the house, we began unpacking and planning how we wanted the rooms to look. Luckily, we didn't have too much stuff coming from an apartment, so there was more than enough space for everything. We ended up doing a trip to Ikea to get some nightstands, kitchen shelves, this kitchen island, and 2 chairs to go along with the island. I was actually really impressed with the quality of the island. It's nice because it has storage shelves on one side and another open side to put bar stools or chair under. Definitely a good buy!

And don't forget the Ikea Swedish Meatballs! I love going to Ikea, and these are a big reason why. 

                         

We also did a trip to Bed, Bath & Beyond for some new sheets, hand towels, and curtains and a couple trips to Home Depot. One random aside- apparently you can bring your dog to Home Depot! A lot of the sales associates have dog treats in their aprons. How cool is that! Anyways, when we were at Home Depot we bought so much stuff. Seriously, if you know someone who is moving into a home, get them a Home Depot gift card. You really can't go wrong. 

Since Dan and I had previously lived in an apartment, we didn't have very many tools or any garden supplies. Over the first couple of trips we bought a couple of hoses, a watering can, a stand for the hose, a shovel, grass seed, a sprinkler (for the grass seed), a new kitchen faucet, a jig saw, new door locks (it's always a good idea to change your looks, in case the previous owner gave their keys out to anyone), and a load of other things. It's kind of crazy how important Home Depot has become in my life. 

We are having a general contractor help take a look at a couple of things on our inspection form. Apparently knowing a good general contractor is super helpful for homeowners, so be sure to look into that when you are moving/buying a new house. Our real estate agent actually gave us a couple of good recommendations, which was super helpful. First on the list- building a new fence for Scout! Our current one is definitely short enough for our dog to leap over if he really wanted to, so we decided to get an estimate on that first and get our first project off the ground. I'll let you know how it turns out. 

That's it for now! I'll leave you with some other random things that I discovered as we moved into our new house. 

Random Tips:

• USPS Change of Address- When you go online and officially change your address (so that your mail is forwarded from your old residence) you get a cool welcoming kit full of coupons. They are pretty good deals for a lot of different places you will soon be visiting (think Bed Bath & Beyond, Pottery Barn, Lowe's, Pet Smart, etc). 
• Give your cable provider a couple weeks notice that you are changing addresses. This will help make the transition a bit smoother.  
• Ask your real estate agent what utility companies the previous tenants used (gas, electric, water, sewage, garbage collection, cable/internet, etc). 
• You can usually get some free moving boxes if you search for them. I got some from my office, but I heard Craig's list is another good place to look. Also, liquor stores have good boxes for glasses that you might be able to snag. 
• Go through your clothes/stuff- this is honestly the best time to purge all the old junk you don't want. We went through everything and came up with a couple boxes to donate (we just dropped it off at Goodwill, but there are lots of other organizations out there). 
• Check to see if any fruits/veggies need to be picked. We found a bunch of blueberries and golden raspberries that were ripe!