Our First Home!

We're officially homeowners!

I don't think I could be any more excited! We weren't planning on looking for a house until October, but one day, on a whim, we decided to check out a neighborhood my friend recommended (thanks Sarah!). Little did we know that we'd be putting an offer on a place the next weekend. One home inspection, multiple trips to the mortgage broker, and a closing later, it's all ours!

Our house is in a section of town called Old New Castle, and goodness is our house old (well in U.S. terms anyway...I'm sure my friends living in Europe would have different expectations :0) ). Exactly how old is it? Well, it's older than the civil war, older than The Scarlet Letter, and older than the first U.S. postage stamp. From what we can gather (a couple records differ), the house was most likely built around 1844.

Luckily the house was renovated in 2001 so that it has central air and closets. Closets you say? Yup, no one back then (in this area anyway) had closets. All I can say is I am so very very thankful for for renovations.

Even with all of the new updates, our house still has lots of old charm. The hardwood floors are original, and we found about 7 different skeleton keys above the doors when we went for inspection.

I am in LOVE with our house (I'm just hoping it isn't haunted).

These are the keys to the back door and basement.

We're planning to try and get in and paint a bit this weekend, and then officially move in the 19th after we get back from a short vacation. I'll be sure to do lots of updates with pics!

365 Pt. 3

Here is the final part of the anniversary re-cap. For the last part of the day, we went out to dinner at Limoncello . The food was so good! I had some reservations about going to an Italian restaurant since I can't have wheat or dairy, but they made me the best fish meal ever! It was so wonderful to be able to go to a restaurant and not have to have a piece of grilled chicken and steamed veggies. I'm pretty sure there was absolutely nothing left on my plate :0)

Here are the last of the re-cap pics! 

Yup, I re-wore my wedding shoes. I was so excited to have a reason to wear them again!

365 Pt. 2

Thanks for all of the kind wishes everyone! I also loved that you all loved the VT blanket. If I can get him to sit on it by our 1st anniversary, maybe I can make him a fan by our 50th? Hmmm, that may be wishful thinking, but one can always hope!

Up next on our anniversary day....Ryan & I go to the ballpark! 

A South Jersey Housewife guessed right! We went to go see the world champion Phillies (whoot whoot) play the St. Louis Cardinals, and it was such a great time.

Ryan & I heading to our seats. 

Pic in front of a wall of baseballs

I heart citizens bank park

Ballpark & city skyline

Chickie's & Pete's crab fries. So yummy!

 Ignore the massive amounts of ketchup. I'm a ketchupaholic. 

Chase Utley hitting a home run. 

And the light up liberty bell ringing afterwards

And the absolutely best part...dum dum dum...

For $25 we were able to get this announcement on the scoreboard, 

and a picture frame that plays "take me out to the ballgame" 

I definitely recommend doing this if you have an anniversary taking place during baseball season! 

Hope you all have a wonderful day!

365 Pt. 1

For the first part of our anniversary day, we decided to have a picnic at the state park where our reception was held. 

Of course you can't have a 1st anniversary picnic without some year old cake! I'm pretty sure we cut the smallest piece of cake ever. However, that didn't stop Ryan from getting it all over my face. 

I was so excited to see that Ryan had ordered some delicious gluten and dairy free red velvet cupcakes so that I could have some cake to eat too!

Hanging out in the gazebo 

Us with Bellevue Hall in the background

Ryan cutting into the cake

Payback. 

Love him. Toasting with our toasting flutes....because really, when else do you get to use them?

Cute toasting flute, yummy cupcake I can eat, and getting my husband to sit on a VT blanket= anniversary perfection

Delaware may be small, but it has such beautiful parks

This is a spinoff of one of the best pictures from last year (will show later). For now, you can call my husband sweet buns. Bahahahaha. 

Pretty Gazebo

Ryan in front of the mansion

Pic in front of the pretty flowers

Year 1. 

Random cardinal that came by to visit us. This is a lil foreshadowing of what we did next...any guesses? 

Have a great day!

Our McReception Part 1: Some Bride & Groom Moments

My goal is to get all of these recaps up before our first anniversary (which is just a little more than a month away...whoot whoot!). So here is the next installment!  These are pictures of Ryan and I in some different locations around our reception location. No re-caps needed for this post...I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. Enjoy!

Previous Recaps: 

Getting Ready: Part 1

Getting Ready: Part 2

Getting Ready: Part 3

Our McWedding: Part 1

Our McWedding: Part 2

Our McWedding: Part 3

All photos courtesy of Kate Leigh

Our McWedding: Part 3 Bubbles & Beer

We had made it through the ceremony. Whoot Whoot! I was now married to Ryan, had not fainted, and no one had heard my growling stomach. All in all, quite a success :0) 

I took a moment to relive everything with my bridesmaids. I love their faces in this picture.  

Laughter is much more our style...

Ryan and I then got to walk out into a sea of bubbles. Since the state park where we held our reception wouldn't allow sparklers, we decided bubbles were the next best thing. I think they made for some pretty pictures

Our flower girl shared 99% of her bubbles with the ground

I just like this picture because the back of my dress looks fluffy and it makes me think of icing and sweet and yummy things. No idea why. 

 Having an "oh my goodness we're married" kiss in a vintage car. But where are we going? 

How about an Irish pub? Since our ceremony ended at 3, and our reception started at 5, we invited guests to stop by my family's restaurant which was conveniently exactly 1/2 way between the church and the reception site.

We decided to stop on in for a drinks (a Guinness for Ryan and a Blue Moon for me)

And some fun pictures :0) 

We weren't sure how many guests (if any) would show up. We were surprised to see about 80 people there. It was so wonderful to catch up and share some laughs with everyone in an fun laid back environment. Plus this meant less running around for us at the reception. 

There were lots of hugs and big smiles

And then we were off again! 

Next up some beautiful bride and groom pics!

Recaps

Getting Ready: Part 1

Getting Ready: Part 2

Getting Ready: Part 3

Our McWedding: Part 1

Our McWedding: Part 2

All photos courtesy of Kate Leigh