Marking A Milestone

I have reached a milestone in my life - and it has gotten here faster than I thought it would; but then time flies when you're having fun, right? As of tomorrow I will have been living in my house for a whole year! I remember this time last year when I thought that I'd never get in my house - everything seemed to be taking forever. And now a whole year has passed. So much has happened in that year...so I thought I'd post a look back at my first year in my house with some pictures....

Officially a homeowner - this was sometime in late June.

A whole lot of dirt...a sign that things were moving right along.

What a giant mess - getting all this in the house made for a long, hot day. Moving in July in MS. Blegh

Getting into my house was eventful for sure. We had to move out of our house by June 30th & since my house wasn't in place yet, all my things went into storage. While it was only 19 days from one move to the other, it seemed like an eternity...but then, it usually does when you are waiting on something exciting. It seemed like such a slow process waiting for the truck to bring the dirt...and then the house...and then get power hooked up. Once we got that done, we had to move everything in. And I have a ton of stuff! I never realized that I had so much stuff until I had to move it from one place..to another..to another! Thankfully I had some great family members & a friend that helped my Mom and I; we were able to get everything into the house in one day - and even had time left afterward for a nap & a 3D showing of "Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows". All in all, it was a pretty good day. It did make me anxious to have the AC turned on so I could get down to getting things organized & put in place - I love organizing my space!





Watson quickly discovered his favorite space on the couch was still available.

Still in the early stages - but so happy to have my new porch courtesy of my Dad, Uncle & cousin!

The first major home purchase - a table! I had been using a card table, so chic!

I was lucky - I had pretty much everything one needs to just move in & keep right on going with life. I was able to spend my money making my house look cute & since I had Momma with me for a few months, she was happy to help with that! So...the year progressed on.



Autumn arrived....

I turned 27....

The Holiday season began...and I decorated accordingly.

The week after Halloween, my Mom got the news that she would be starting her new job in Winchester, VA & so as of the first weekend of November I was not only living in my own house, but I was living in my own house alone! Once you start living alone...you really begin to learn some life lessons; such as how to catch mice or move your fridge to fiddle with it all on your own. They may not have been lessons I wanted to learn, but they sure have come in handy!

Hosting our families' Thanksgiving in my house - awesome!

I think I was most excited for Christmas - I have always loved Christmas & had oodles of decorations for Christmas, but when you only have a bedroom to decorate, you can only do so much. I was raised by a woman who loved to decorate for every holiday possible, so I got the decorating genes honestly. We used to have 7 Christmas trees in our house -so I'm pretty proud to say I scaled it back to 5 in my house. And even though I already have tons of Christmas decor, I'm always looking on Pintrest to see if I can't find something new for this year!

Christmas lights on my porch - I'm loving this!

My Christmas table setting - courtesy of my Nanny!

Continuing a Summerlin Christmas tradition - this time in MY kitchen!

My first Christmas tree! I loved it!

I rang in the New Year shooting fireworks with McKenna & then began a long stretch of chilly days & nights; which caused a mouse or two to think that my house might be better than their burrow in nature. They learned their lessons & I got tougher with with each mini-crisis I learned to handle on my own. My friends came to visit in January, my Mom came to visit in February & my Dad came to visit in April...

Because my blog is acting up...I guess I'll write the next paragraph here, seeing how it won't let me put it below the pictures. Crazy computer. Anyway - it has certainly been an interesting first year living in my own home. There have been ups & downs, I've learned a lot about myself in the process & I'm excited to see what year 2 in my house has in store.


 

Spring showers = my yard becomes a lake!

Learning to weed eat - which proved dangerous for me...

The Easter Bunny still finds me...even when I live all alone.

I discovered in May that maybe I had a little bit of a green thumb...

My guard dog - happily at home on his front porch!

Always working on my house - I finally got the kitchen to my liking a week before I'd been in the house a year.

My parents said it was an early birthday present - but it arrived just in time to be a one year in my house present!