Letters on a Thursday.

Husband, this time next week we will begin a road trip to the west coast. prepare to be dominated in all car trip games known to man. Upset Tum, because of you mark and i will be getting our soup on tonight. please feel better soon. Dearest Reader, mark and i do not wear adult diapers nor do we have a little on the way (see picture). we do have great friends who give us free boxes...and who have littles. you are wonderful, steinbachs. U-Haul, why are your boxes so expensive?! thank you mark's company for reimbursing us for said moving expenses. And other half..even though you can't climb in the gym tomorrow night...i know you're still the strongest, most hard-core, climber there. Please heal fast finger pulley. Midnight Lightning is waiting for you to conquer it.

Frame It!

And the countdown continues...8 days.

Wow.

We are in the midst of moving hysteria here at the Felder house. It isn't too hectic seeing as we don't have many things...but I have definitely had my fair share of taping boxes today. While boxing up our belongings we noticed that some things are just too tough to move.

Example.

My bouquet from the wedding day. 

It has served it's purpose as a cute decoration in the dining room, but moving that thing will result in dried out flower petals everywhere. 

Mark was a bit more disappointed that it had to go than I was. It's easier for me to get rid of things because of moving so much as a kid. So, to appease Mark (and myself...I definitely like the idea of keeping things from our wedding day!) I did a little project to keep bits of the bouquet with us forever. 

Did anyone else say FOOOOR-EEEVVV-ER? Oh Sandlot, how I love you. When I was a kid I may or may not have had a crush on Benny "The Jet" Rodriguez. 

Back to what I did today (besides packing boxes).

Now we can take it with us to California.

Or at least part of it :) 

I used the same burlap that was wrapped around the bouquet as the background, and then chose 3 of the flowers to put in the frame. 

This would have been much easier if the flowers weren't completely dried out. Regardless, it was still super easy and required zero tools except some hardback books to press the flowers in. 

If you like the idea of pressing flowers and framing them, I love this idea found on DesignSponge!

{via}

Back to packing up this apartment...

a place to call home

This last week Mark and I got to take a trip, all expenses paid by his company, to our soon to be "hometown" to look for a place to live.

While we were there we made a little day trip to San Francisco, which is about a 30 minute drive away.

Mark's sister, Amanda, took us on a full out hike around the city. Little Italy, Chinatown, Ghirardelli Square, and many other places... My calves are still aching from the pain of all those hills. Despite the pain, it was definitely worth it. We even got to have some amazing dim sum at this joint called Hang Ah. 

Result: We'll be back soon.

That same day we went into Berkeley. I decided this is the only place Mark is allowed to ride his fixed gear bike at for the next 2 years due to it not having as many hills as Benicia...

Just joking, babe. You can ride it in Benicia. 

Just not in San Francisco.

While in Berkeley we went to another amazing restaurant and had some of the best pizza I have ever eaten. If you're ever in the area, check out the award winning restaurant called Zachary's. There were hundreds of awards on the wall declaring they had the best pizza...and I would have to agree with each and every one of them. 

Zachary's has proven that cheese on the bottom and sauce on the top is definitely the way to go with deep dish pizza.

We (of course) had to stop by the infamous In-N-Out Burger as well. I know Fort Worth/Dallas folks have this place within driving distance now, but Houston is being a bit slow on this one...

And the whole reason we made this little trip out to the Bay Area...

our new home!

Mark and I were so blessed to find this great 2 bedroom/1bath bungalow to rent with a pretty awesome gal as the landlady. It has an incredible backyard with tomatoes already ripe for pickin', room to put more plants, a perfect concrete slab for a fire pit, and loads of space for back yard get togethers! And the inside is just as great...

 

In only 9 days {insert ashlee's freak out mode because she just realized she has so much to do} the moving van will come to our little, yet great, apartment and we will begin the trek to California!

I can't wait to share more pictures with ya'll...just one issue.

i need to get in the habit of taking more pictures.

it'll happen. promise.

Letters on a Thursday.

 

Groom, this week after i was lovingly being your helpmate by being a back seat driver, you decided to let me know that you were a professional drive.  my response? you aren't in nascar....and then you made known that indeed, you are not one who only knows how to turn left, but you are a true professional who can turn left, right, reverse, u-turn, brake at the right time, and take care of me. thank you for your wit, charm, and keeping me safe in the car. i think this means you should be the driver all the way to california. agreed?

Dear Amazon, the other half and i are oh so thankful that after 4 months of patiently waiting, you finally sent the first issue of bon appetit to us. thanks to you we have a handful or restaurants to hit in the next several months!

three day weekend, i am so excited for you to get here. first friday, maddens brunch, lake cabin, new life, and seeing good people will make this weekend one to remember. please come soon.

Sweet Husband of Mine, thank you for loving me despite my inability to love you back at times. those times i do love you are only evidences of God's grace in my life... oh, how great is He, to save a sinner such as me!

I hope everyone else has a great three day weekend...or regular ol' two day weekend! 

Check out this rad blog  for the inspiration behind Thursday's letters...