Eli Young Band-Jet Black & Jealous-Always the Love Songs
Okay folks, I think that we all know the promises to be better about blogging have been empty thus far. Therefore, I won't even apologize or say we are going to do better. For those who haven’t given up all together on our attempts to inform our friends and family of our activities, we thank you. That being said, I think everyone who has been following either Jodie and I through email, texts, Facebook, Twitter or whatever other electronic medium I may have forgotten, knows that we have some pretty good excuses for “being out of the loop” this time.
So I guess the only way to do this is to give a rundown of some of the things that have been going on in our lives, throw in some pictures, and attempt to keep up with this a little better.
March started out like it does in Minnesota, cold. Winter attempted to keep a stranglehold on upstate New York nearly all the way through the month. However, the snow slowly melted and we could feel spring coming.
After returning from a previously blogged about trip down to New York we got a call we had been waiting for from our realtor. After the disaster that happened with the first house we tried to buy here, it was always somewhat unnerving to answer those calls. However, this time it was good news. The seller had accepted our final offer on a house we picked out in Saratoga Springs, NY. We chose between a brand new empty house in a somewhat inconvenient location, that was in a different school district than we were looking for, and a older home in the town of Saratoga Springs, that needed a little updating, but we would be a great school district in an amazing town. We chose the latter, and we are extremely happy we did. So, once again we were headed for our second house, and we couldn't be happier.
That being said, New York seems to have a littler bit longer closing period than Minnesota, so we had some waiting to do. In the meantime, I headed to Syracuse and New York on some work trips, while Jodie headed south to Hotlanta on another. Work remains steady and busy for us both, which is a relief and a blessing in this current economic climate. You will not find me complaining about my workload while so many around us cannot even get a paycheck.
In Mid-March, we went to see Craig Ferguson, of Late Late Show and Drew Carey show fame, perform stand up at the Proctors theater in Schenectady. Proctors is an amazingly beautiful historic theater right downtown, of which GE is a sponsor. This allows Jodie to sometimes get some great deals on plays, comedians, musicians etc. We went with our friends Ed and Julie and were able to enjoy a meal at a nearby restaurant and a night of laughter.
April was a much busier month. We spent the first week and a half packing to move. But we did take a day to celebrate our birthdays, which are only a few days apart. We had a nice dinner at our favorite local sushi place and went to a newly opened authentic German Biergarten in Albany for a beer and bratwurst/sauerkraut.
Our home closing was slated for April 8th, so we had to get on the stick and get ready. The closing went fine and the move...well it was a move. We could not have done it without Joyce and Dale and we managed to get 90% of the house IG’d and everything moved there with multiple trips in one weekend. I am not sure how we accumulated so much stuff, but it makes one not look forward to any future moves.
The house, as previously mentioned, needs some work. It was empty for about 6 years, but most of the needed repairs are cosmetic, and with a little TLC it will be great. Our neighbors have all gone out of their way to introduce themselves and offer a helping hand. Here is a photo of the front of it before the snow melted, which a was yesterday...just kidding.
The new home feeling had to be put on the back burner almost immediately as I needed to head back out to Syracuse for a two day work event. We also made a day trip down to Pine Grove, PA for our nieces birthday party. Although we are much closer to Jodie’s family than we were in Minnesota, it is still 10 hours of driving to do it round trip so snacks, drinks, and some mix cd’s are a necessity.
Jodie and I closed out April and began May with a weekend trip down to Harrisburg, PA to attend a wedding of one of Jodie’s good friends. Jodie was a bridesmaid and looked great as always and I was the awkward guy flying solo, but once the ceremony was over we were reunited and we had a blast together at the reception. There were unconfirmed reports of some of my rarely seen dance moves. We were at a Bed and Breakfast called the Milestone Inn right on the Susquehanna river in Harrisburg.
All in all, a beautiful, fun, but long weekend that concluded with the 5 hour drive home, which we were able to break up a little bit, by stopping in and having a nice breakfast with Jodie’s parents.
We continue to work on the house and unpack boxes. Hopefully, we can post some updated pictures (snow free) in the next blog post. We look forward to having visitors again and to continuing our exploration of our new hometown. Hope all is well with you and yours!
