Honeymoon

I thought I would share some of our favorite pictures from our honeymoon! (In no particular order...) There were 2 peacocks that roamed the resort! This one was right in front of the gift shop one day. We never got it to open it's feathers, but it sure was pretty!
This is a view of the resort from the Caribbean Sea. The building we stayed in was the blue one on the far left. The resturants are the buildings on the far right, so we had a bit of a walk to get to the food! Speaking of food...it was incredible! I'll have to do a post just on the foods :)

There were 2 chess sets on the resort...we never played (neither of us know how to), but they sure looked neat!

Our bedroom :)

We saw this crab on the sidewalk on the way back to our room one night.

We got to go snorkeling! We saw some colorful fish, sea urchins, and a ton of coral!

One excursion we went on was to Appleton Rum Estate. It was really neat to see how rum is made! Mike got to use a machine to get sugar cane juice from the cane.

We took a private taxi to Negril one day to go shopping. Our driver bought us jelly coconuts. We first drank the milk, it was an interesting taste, and then they cut off the top and we could scrape the "jelly" out to eat it. Neither of us cared for that part, but it was a neat experience!

It rains almost every day, only for about 25 minutes, but it just pours buckets. I took this picture as the rain was heading our way!

Post 400

So this is my 400th post. I told Mike today that I need to do better at posting more often. It's been like 20-some days since I last posted!

We're well on our way to getting settled in our house! Our office still has a few things that need unpacked, and our guest room has become a "catch-all" for the time being. If only I had 1 extra day each week to get stuff done!!!


Life has been crazy since the wedding (and we actually thought it would slow down--silly us!) I got back from the honeymoon to find out that the office I work at had about 1 month to find a new building, move, and get back up and running. Turns out our main water supply was getting shut off, leaving us with no water, and of course you can't run a business without flushing toilets! So that has been crazy! We just found out that we got a building we bid on. It needs a bit of work, but we're hoping to move in the week of Thanksgiving! So that has added quite a bit of stress!


Yesterday, my best friend got married! You might remember a few posts ago I told the story of Alecia and Ovi...well, yesterday their dreams came true! The wedding was gorgeous, and I am so happy for them! Here is a picture of the bride and myself!

Quick update

Life sure has been busy since I last updated!

We got married on October 9th. Everything about the day was perfect!!!

We also went on our honeymoon to Jamaica...it was incredible!

When we got home, we started the large task of settling into our house and unpacking.

I will elaborate more on each of those items as time permits. Right now I am soaking my fingers in acetone in an attempt to remove my fake nails. I'll never get them again!

For now, here is a link to our wedding picture preview!
http://www.marc-photography.net/mike-melissa-kloosterman/

Getting closer!

Before
After
I think it looks so much better now that it is black!!! (Actually the before picture is our garage door, the after picture is our front door...I forgot to take a before first!)

And here is a sneak-peak of our kitchen...more to come later!

Whoo Hoo!

On Monday, I went to a Saving Addiction coupon class...It was 2 hours well spent! I was so excited to go grocery shopping this week after hearing about the deals I could get! I don't really buy many groceries, but I thought there are some things I could pick up for Mike and I (since we'll be needing them pretty soon!) So tonight, armed with a few coupons, I headed to Meijer and got this:

If I had paid the normal store prices for all this, it would have cost me a whopping $44.79!!!

But after the sale prices, my coupons, and CATS, my grand total was just $15.15!!!

So, here is a run-down of some of the deals I got today!

Best Life Margarine= FREE!

Smart Ones= 30 cents each!

Scrubbing Bubbles Toilet Cleaners= ($3.62+$3.85=$7.47 sale price)-($3.82 from BOGO coupon)- ($1.00 store coupon)/2 items=$1.33 each!!! BUT WAIT! Then, I got a $2 CAT back for buying 2 Scrubbing Bubbles items, so I basically paid 33 cents each!

I am so excited about these deals and can't wait to build my pantry!

It's about time!!!! (But well worth the wait!)

After a looooonnnnnggggg time of waiting...Ovidiu is here!!!! Ovi is engaged to my best friend, Alecia. They met 7 years ago when Alecia went on a mission trip to Romania. After many years of trying and waiting, Ovi was able to get a fiance visa and he and Alecia are getting married in November!

See him waving?

They just can't stop smiling!


Alecia's parents also went to Romania to "get" Ovidiu

This was his first time meeting Alecia's extended family

I'm so glad Ovi is here!!!

Completely painted!

I really feel accomplished now! Our whole house is painted!!! And yes, in this picture, I really was painting, not just posing! All of our walls needed a second coat, so I had Mike take a picture of me finishing the last section of this wall!

Mike and Brett ripped out the sink so I could paint behind it!

We have flooring!!!

We finally have flooring in our bathrooms! Last weekend, my friend Brenda's parents came and helped Mike lay tile and grout. It was hard work, but they had fun and it looks great!

Mike learned how to use the saw and cut the tiles

Mary laying the tile after Mike cut it

Mike putting in the grout

Yay! The grout is in! After this picture was taken, it had to dry a bit so that we could scrape off the excess grout. After that, we had to clean off the tiles. This Saturday I will seal the grout and then it will officially be done!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In exactly 1 month from today...I will be a married woman!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chicago

Last Friday, Mike and I drove to Chicago for pizza. Yes, all the way just for pizza. The whole point was to rent a cool car (supposedly a cool car...we ended up with an Impala...oh well) and just enjoy the drive. We had a good time, just talking with no distractions, and enjoying each other's company as well as a day off of work from both our jobs and the house!

This is a bench right outside the restaurant, I thought it was really neat!

And this is the restaurant we went to. We went to the Lou Malnati's in Lawndale. Whenever our youth group would go to Chicago for our mission projects, we would always get pizza at Malnati's on Saturday night. Here is a quote from the website describing the uniqueness of this particular restaurant: "Carrying on Lou's vision of providing great food at reasonable prices, Lou Malnati's has grown to include 21 family-owned Chicagoland pizzerias. In recent years the Malnatis have felt blessed by their success and wanted to do something to give back to the community. In the fall of 1995 the Malnati's opened a restaurant on the West side of Chicago in an effort to help rejuvenate a neighborhood that has not had much success in recovering from the riots of 1967 that ravaged the area. Lou Malnati's Lawndale Pizzeria is unique in that all profits will be given back to the community to benefit children's educational and recreational programs."

Notice anything different about the sign below the green light? ;)

There was a traffic cop directing the traffic, specifically the pedestrians...we don't see them around little ol' Allendale!

If we weren't so full from delicious pizza, we probably would have stopped to get food from some of the many street vendors! We saw people with ice-cream, popcorn, hotdogs...all kinds of stuff! There was even someone walking down the median before the highway selling cold drinks!

All in all, it was a fun trip, and great to just get away for the day!