Our Newest Addition

My dad pointed out to me that it's been awhile since I updated this, so, Dad, this one's for you ;-)
3 1/2 weeks ago Aaron and I added to our little family. We adopted a boxer through a boxer rescue organization. Her name is Gracie and we think she's about 2 1/2. She was picked up in some rural area as a stray and was taken to a shelter. She was then transferred to the Humane Society in Columbus where a worker notified the rescue organization about her and then we found out about her and went to visit and Zoe and I fell in love (it takes Aaron a little longer, but he's slowly becoming a softy).
After 3 1/2 weeks Zoe and Gracie have become best friends. They follow each other everywhere and are constantly playing or snuggled up together napping. For being a stray, Gracie is incredibly well behaved. She is potty trained and can sit and we're working on lay down, come and stay.
Sooo.. here's our new little lady:

The girls on the way home from picking up Gracie. At this point Zoe is not so sure about her new sister....

Such a *happy* dog!

New apartment!

At the end of July Aaron and I moved into a townhouse in Kettering. We've pretty much got everything unpacked and in their places so I thought I'd post some pictures of our new place.

Kitchen

Kitchen leading to the laundry room

Zoe enjoying our little backyard

Dinning room looking into the backyard
(the kitchen is off to the right)

Looking from the dinning room into the living room
(1/2 bath to the right and huge closet on the left)

Living room (and Zoe's toys strewn about the room)

Standing at the front door looking through the living room to the dining room
(At the top of the steps is another huge closet)

Bedroom

HUGE (it spans the whole length of the wall) master walk-through closet

I'm slightly ashamed that I don't have enough clothes to fill the whole thing

Bathroom

Guest bedroom/office (with another big closet)

I've been living here with Zoe while Aaron's been staying with a friend's parents in Columbus during his internship. He has two weeks left of that and then he starts his final semester at Miami. My first day of work is Monday and I'm pretty nervous, but I've been meeting with the schools and talking to some of the classroom teachers so that's exciting. I am excited to start making money and doing something that (I think) I'm going to love.

Same old, Same old...

Not a lot has happened in our lives since the last time I blogged..

We helped two of our friends celebrate their wedding

Congrats to Sara and Todd!!!

We celebrated Aaron's 25th birthday by going out to dinner.

We've both started working... me with a part time job just to make some cash this summer and Aaron's doing an internship at Nationwide in Columbus, which he's really liking so far.

We just signed a lease for a townhouse in Kettering starting at the end of July, so we're both looking forward to moving in there...

Other than that our life has been pretty average... which is 100% perfect for both of us right now!

One Year

Yesterday was Aaron and my first wedding anniversary! I can't believe it's already been a year, it went by SO quickly!
A lot has happened in the last year:
We started off the summer living apart while I was in Dayton doing an internship and Aaron was in Oxford working and taking summer classes.
Aaron's parents and brother moved out to Oklahoma.
We made lots of road trips to Lexington to visit Noah and Mel.
Aaron drove out to Oklahoma to visit his family (I was still in school so I couldn't go).
We welcomed our first child (aka Zoe the boxer puppy) for my birthday in November.
We celebrated our first Christmas together with my parents (it was also our first Christmas not celebrating with Aaron's family :-( )
We rang in the New Year in Lexington with Noah, Mel, Isaac, Leanne and the girls. We left the following day for a cruise around the Caribbean with my family.
I found a job I'm extremely excited about starting this fall.
And I GRADUATED from Graduate School!

We didn't really do anything exciting to celebrate. We ate the top layer of our wedding cake, went on a nice long walk with the dog and helped one of my closest friends from grad school move out of her apartment :-( But we got to spend the whole day together and that's what counts!

It's been a wonderful year and I'm excited to see what the next year has in store for us!

Graduation

On Saturday, I am officially done with my college education! After 5 years of year-round classes, lots of hard work, and some tears I will have finally earned my Master's degree! I have worked so hard for this degree and I'm not one to "toot my own horn" but I am extremely proud of myself!
There are two ceremonies on Saturday (one for just my department and one for the entire university) and I have a lot of family coming into town to help me celebrate this exciting occasion! It should be a good time!
I have the summer off (Aaron and I hope to get a few vacations in) and then I start working mid-August. This will be a much needed and well-deserved break!
Now we just have to get Aaron graduated in December! ;-)

This past weekend my Aunt Jenny came into town from Michigan. On Saturday my mom had a brunch/tea party for all of her sisters (all 5 of them), my grandma and a few of my cousins so we could get together and catch up. We had lots of "girl food" quiche, fruit pizza, spinach salad, french toast and muffins. It was nice to talk with everyone and see what's been going on in their lives and with the rest of the family. My mom, her sisters and my grandma started reminiscing about when they were growing up. It was funny to hear the stories and how each of them remembered things differently (or didn't remember it at all!). It was a great day filled with good food, good company and lots of laughs!

Good News!

Yesterday I had an interview with Warren County and I was offered a job on the spot! She told me to take a night and think about it and let her know today. Well, Aaron and I talked about it and decided to take the job. I'm really, really excited because it's a position I'm actually interested in. I have had a few other interviews for positions to be a speech therapist in the schools, but none of them were what I wanted and I felt like I'd be settling, but then this came along and it seems like a perfect fit. The caseload hasn't been 100% decided but it looks like I'll be working in 3 classes across Warren county: one preschool class, a classroom that serves emotionally disturbed kids, and a social communication classroom which works with autistic kids. This seems to be the job I have been waiting for!!
Aaron had an interview today for a summer internship at Nationwide in Columbus. Aaron said he thought the interview went really well and they hope to have everything finalized by the end of April.
So it seems as though things are coming together nicely for us and there's a HUUUGE weight lifted off my shoulders. :-)