You know it's been a busy year when you have to look back at your facebook photos and your google calendar to see what you've been doing for the last eight months... it's been a really big year so far and it's still not over!
It was another rough winter in Lexington. That's almost laughable to say, especially considering the location of our new home, but the city of Lexington is not equipped to deal with snow in any capacity. Our street didn't get plowed so I was off of work for three days, and Alex had to get his car towed out of the snow for the first time in his life. That was quite the adventure! This year I upgraded my trusty Corolla to something a little bigger with AWD so I'll be prepared for the real snow coming my way. I love my Santa Fe so much, I pinch myself every time I get in {I'm totally enamored with the sunroof, it's the little things}.
 |
A little winter fun, a Murder Mystery Dinner with James and Kate
at Equus Run Vineyards. Alex really embraced his character! |
 |
| Not to be repeated next year. |
In February I attended the Women's CRHP - Christ Renews His Parish - Retreat (the same thing Alex attended in October). It was one of the most memorable experiences and Alex and I have continued to be blessed by our fellow CRHP brothers and sisters as we've met with our groups throughout the year. Alex will be on the "giving" team for this year's men retreat in October and will be sharing a Witness about his life and his experiences. I'm so proud of him and am so touched whenever I can hear him speak about God's hand in his life and how his calling is being revealed to him.
Another life changing experience happened in February when my mom retired after 35 years with the Public Library of Cincinnati & Hamilton County. It's given us a great excuse to celebrate throughout the year! Congrats Mom, you deserve to enjoy your retirement, you've been in so much hard work and have been such a devoted Children's Librarian.
March was very busy with RCIA and the approach of Easter. On Easter I officially joined the Catholic Church after a year of RCIA classes. Alex acted as my co-sponsor and attended most of the activities with me so it was a little bittersweet for it all to come to a close. Our weekly classes brought us closer and encouraged us in our faith together. By that time we both had our separate meetings for our CRHP groups and were still serving breakfast once a month at the Catholic Action Center so we weren't lacking spiritual encouragement!
 |
Our annual Girl's Weekend in March.
MJ we missed you this year! |
 |
| The Brichlers came to visit! Love little Jack! |
 |
| Alex and I before the Easter Vigil |
We decided we hadn't had enough retreats so in April we attended a Marriage Encounter Weekend in Cincinnati. It was held at the hotel where we had our wedding reception, so it just seemed meant to be with our five year anniversary coming up this October. It was another great retreat experience and quite different than our separate men's and women's retreats. We were even able to renew our vows!
At the end of April we took a little vacation with some friends in Ft. Walton Beach, FL. It was an amazing trip, but definitely not long enough! Luckily we had a family vacation to look forward to still.
 |
Chrissy and Pete Steele with Alex and I on Ft. Walton Beach.
We missed the rest of the LDP Group, but we still had a blast. |
 |
| The view from our condo. Yes please! |
In May I spent a weekend in Columbus with my best friend and Alex and I also went up to Cleveland for the first wedding of the season! It was a busy month and with summer fast approaching it started to go faster and faster.
I gave my work notice that we were going to be moving to Cleveland and we wrapped up a few projects to get our house ready to put on the market. We had always planned on finding our way back to Ohio, we just never knew quite how it was going to work out our when. It was quite surreal to finally be putting everything in motion. In looking at houses online for research, we found one that we were interested in. During Memorial Day Weekend we walked through it and decided to take a leap of faith and put an offer on it {You'll understand when you see the pictures...}
 |
| Emily and Mike Kowalski's beautiful wedding! |
 |
| The Janesz Clan, minus Eileen, all dolled up! |
In June we put our house in Lexington on the market. Our thought process was that it would be great to have some people walk through the house while we were gone on vacation. However, it didn't quite work out that way. The first day we put the house up we had a few walkthroughs and were told we were going to be getting an offer. The second day we had some more walkthroughs and knew we were going to get a few offers. It was a little crazy because it was in the midst of us packing up for vacation and hosting some of our family at our house! On the first official day of our vacation we had three offers and ended up closing the deal. The plan may not have worked out exactly the way that we envisioned it, but we really got to enjoy our vacation then!
We traveled to Myrtle Beach with Alex's family and my mom. My dad couldn't join us unexpectedly and we certainly missed having the whole family complete. It was a really fun week and there were plenty of activities (and lounge time) to keep everyone happy. Alex and I realized the impact of taking a full week of vacation. For the past five years we've had so many weddings {30?!?} that we haven't really had the vacation time or the money to take a full week's vacation. I forgot how different a weeklong vacation is from a long weekend! Immediately after our trip we started a vacation fund so we can always be looking forward to our next vacation. If you don't plan things time has a tendency of getting away from you.
 |
| Barb and Linda at Brook Green Gardens |
 |
| A romantic dinner at Gulfstream Cafe in Garden City, SC |
 |
| Myrtle Beach! |
 |
| Our first helicopter ride! |
July mostly consisted of packing and prepping for our move, but we also had a nice weekend in Toledo for my cousin's wedding. On the last day of the month we closed on our house in Cleveland.
Earlier this month I had my last day at my job. It was the close of another interesting chapter in my career. I was so blessed to have been led to that job at the time that I was. It was quite the learning experience to work for a non-profit and it was so uplifting and almost therapeutic to work for a religious non-profit. The entire experience and the people I was surrounded with brought a lot of peace to my life. I will miss it, but there's a time for everything in our lives.
 |
| Alex and I at Tami & Jake's Wedding |
 |
| My Grandma Wagoner looking good at 90! |
Early last week Alex and I moved all of our stuff into our new house in Cleveland. When I say "into the house" I really mean the garage and the dining room. There are a couple rooms upstairs that we are going to have renovated first so we have somewhere to work and sleep. The next project this fall/winter will be the kitchen and then slowly the whole place will start to take shape! It's liveable right now (except the lack of appliances), but the cosmetic shape of the house is pretty horrendous.
We've flipped three houses within the past year so I've seen (and smelled) the befores and I know that we have the vision to make a house beautiful, but this is the first house I'm living in while it's being renovated. This will be a whole new one for the books! For more pictures and to watch the progress of our reno visit my
Organize + Design facebook page.
 |
| Our new home, a 1930's fixer upper by the lake |
Over the next month or two the craziness continues. We'll be celebrating both my parents' 60th birthdays, Alex's 30th birthday and our five year anniversary {as well as my 29th birthday, but that's not quite as impressive}! I love a good excuse to plan a few surprises.
 |
One last dinner with our next door neighbors, Len and Katie Harper.
An appearance by my buddy Penny too! |
 |
A little binder for the new homeowners of our first house.
I hope they love it as much as we have! |
 |
Thank you to our lovely Lexington home for all of the friends and
family you hosted over our four years. |
 |
| Last day ever at our first home (Aug 14th) before our closing! |
Although, we've sold our house in Lexington and have our home in Cleveland, we're not quite ready to live there yet so we're currently living with friends in Lexington. {James and Kate you two are such amazinig friends, thank you for helping make this transition an easy one}. We're also living like nomads a little bit with all of our traveling between Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Lexington {and Tennessee for Alex as he transitions his current work accounts}.
In October Alex will be starting a new division of his company in Cleveland that will service the surrounding areas. In an interesting twist, I will also be working with his company part-time to help get the territory established. When I'm not working from home with Alex, or on our home, I will be working on other people's homes with my father-in-law {not literally, but figuratively}! I will be joining his team at JFE Remodeling & Home Improvements as administrative and design support. I am really looking forward to working with two men that I really admire and ones that will both challenge me in their own ways. I am also beyond excited to get some more design experience under my belt and hone my passion.
I am so excited for the new challenges that will be coming our way and we look forward to finally being settled in a place that we can't wait to call home. We've missed you Ohio!
