Patty Cake, Baker Man

I realize it may seem that all I do is brag on my hubby, but I can't really help it -- he's pretty awesome. :)

These days, I'm not the only one baking up homemade bread goodness in our kitchen. That's right, my one and only decided last week to try his hand at my honey whole wheat bread recipe. (Note: This is after he already cooked up a beautiful -- from scratch! -- pot of delicious soup for dinner.)

On his first try, my husband scored a home run. Not only did his bread rise, but it tasted delicious as well. That's right ladies, your husbands no longer have any excuse to avoid the kitchen. It can be done, just ask my hubby! :-)

Moving Progress

With one week to go before the move, I thought I'd share an update on the current state of our home. (To see before photos, click here.)

Being the neat 'n tidy person that I am, I wanted our move to be as organized and orderly as possible. We spent three straight days cleaning and sorting through every drawer, closet, nook and cranny in our home. This process resulted in us getting rid of/selling a slew of items. Below is a photo showing just a fraction of those items. (When I say clean and de-junk, I mean business.) ;-)

Items ready to be picked up by happy buyers. Thanks to Facebook and CraigsList, we sold 95% of our posted items within two days!

The room that once housed our office has now become "moving central" and holds items ready to be boxed by our movers. (Yes, we have professional movers coming in, but I couldn't help giving them a head start by neatly organizing our belongings to make it easier for them to pack.)

As per usual, Bear wanted to be in the picture.

It's a little sad to see our (once cozy!) home so barren, but it is all toward a good end.

Finally, our kitchen. We sold our island, pantry, and spice rack earlier this week, and are now living out of boxes.

And the work continues. Tomorrow's agenda includes a lot of putty and spackle. Can you guess what we'll be doing?

Navy Salute

As you might assume, life has been a tad crazy for us lately, as we prepare for the "big move" and a new life in Charlotte. Amidst our packing this week, we joyously celebrated Chris's final day as Active Duty Navy. Arriving home from work Monday evening, Chris was all smiles. After four long years at the Naval Academy, followed by six years of dedicated service as a U.S. Naval Officer, God is now leading Chris in a new direction -- an adventure we are only too excited to journey on together.

Through long days and nights out on the ship, to before-dawn mornings and overnight graveyard shifts, Chris has gone about his work faithfully and without complaint, striving to make a difference whenever he saw the need and opportunity.  I am beyond proud of Chris and how hard he has worked throughout his Navy career. He is truly a man of great dedication and honor, and has served his country (and our family!) well. While we look to the future with great anticipation for all that God has in store for us, we will always treasure the moments we shared in this first phase of our marriage, living the Navy life.

On this special occasion, as we mark the end of Chris's Active Duty Naval service, I thought it would be fun to share a few pictures of Chris from his Navy career, beginning with his graduation from the Naval Academy in 2005. How adorable is he? :)

And a few photos from his final deployment where he served as an (extremely handsome) XO/Boarding Officer for PC Crew Charlie in the Middle East. To answer your question, why yes, I feel extremely safe knowing I'm married to this guy! Bad men beware. Chris has moves! ;-)

And finally, one of us together taken last summer in front of his most recent command here in Norfolk.

Due to my scattered brain (moving will do this to you), I completely forgot to snap a photo of him in his uniform on his final day of work -- something I'd planned days in advance that I would do. Sigh. (Yes, I'm that sentimental.) However, in lieu of no Chris-in-uniform photo, I decided I'd still take one of his uniform, captured where Chris had left it that momentous evening.

I admit, after a year and a half of seeing him in this uniform every day, it's going to be a little strange to see him arriving home in normal business wear. What can I say, I do love a man in uniform -- and if I do say so myself, you just don't get any more handsome than my man in uniform. :) However, being the "glass half full" type of person that I am, I do admit that I am rather excited to go to town shopping for a new work wardrobe for him -- watch out Banana and J.Crew, I'm coming.

P.S. More to come on the progress of our move.

Celebrate!

How do you celebrate a new job? If you're a McLean, you celebrate with a mimosa and a special brunch. :) After receiving the wonderful news the night before, we decided a trip to Citrus -- our favorite local breakfast spot in Virginia Beach -- was in order.

Now for something funny: we paid for our brunch by hawking gold. Shady, I know.

The story:

While we were still dating, Chris purchased a set of 22 karat gold hoop earrings for me as a gift for my 25th birthday.

I loved them.

Now fast forward.

On the evening of our engagement in 2009, I happened to be wearing these earrings. While sharing kisses on the "I do" bridge, one of them managed to fall out. Hmm. I can't imagine why! ;-)

Fast forward even more.

I've had the lone earring sitting in my jewelry box for months now, and it finally hit us that we may as well sell it as the pirate look probably won't be coming back in style anytime soon.

So, on our way to Citrus, we made a pit stop into the local jewelry store (where Chris purchased my engagement rings and wedding band.) One extensive form and two ID checks later, we had $30 of cold, hard cash check in our pockets. Yes, we're high rollers.

You just can't beat a free (celebration) lunch brunch. ;-)

Co-op your way to savings

As you know, our family sticks to a pretty strict organic food diet, which as you also know, can get quite expensive. In addition to our passion for eating well and taking care of our health, we also enjoy being thrifty and adhering to a reasonable budget, so when I have the opportunity to save money on the produce and products we enjoy, I take it. 

For a while now we have been regular shoppers at Norfolk's Organic Food Depot, and more recently started taking advantage of their co-op member discount. Not only does it allow me to place my grocery order online, but it also knocks an extra 30% off of our total. Not too shabby!

This is our week's supply of veggies (minus a few):

Through their online catalog, you can create a custom catalog of items you want to order on a regular basis, and then each week submit your shopping list. Orders are placed each Tuesday morning, and pickup begins Friday after 5 PM. 

If you live in Norfolk or Virginia Beach (they have two locations) I highly suggest you sign-up through their website and take advantage of their online discount. Not only are their prices on organic products (produce, hair care products, dry goods, etc.) fantastic in comparison to the bigger chain stores in the area, but they try and offer as much local produce as possible. Plus, for special needs shoppers, they offer a large variety of dairy free, vegan, wheat-free, and gluten free options!

Regardless of your location, it is worth the effort to look into which speciality shops in your area may offer co-op ordering for the amount of money you can save each month.

Happy shopping! :)

Our new home: The location is revealed!

Thank you to everyone who participated in our little "where are we moving" quiz. Since we are a family of great mystery and suspense (or just melodramatic) I thought it would be more fun to draw out the reveal a little bit before sharing the good news. After all, haven't shows like American Idol and The Bachelor made their millions by turning a 20 minute reveal into a epic mini-series, as nail-biting fans wait anxiously from behind their TV screens? Of course, I personally don't watch lame reality TV like that. And you don't either, right? ;-)

Before I tell you where we are going, Like a great TV host, I'm going to start by eliminating the cities we will not be moving. Fun fact: with the exception of one, every location listed in the quiz was the home of a company that Chris had the opportunity to interview with during his job search.

Quick disclaimer: no offense is meant to anyone who loves, lives, wants to live or used to live in any of the locations listed below. :) We believe our nation is full of incredible people living outstanding lives in every state of this great union. Us McLeans just didn't care to move to some of them. :)

Now on to the fun part...

The very first location I'd like to eliminate (can you blame us?) is....Green Bay, Wisconsin! Before we even started the job hunt, we both agreed we had no desire to move anywhere cold. Virginia is cold enough for me, let alone moving to the blizzard capitol of the nation. No thank you. Not for the McLeans.

Next up, Little Rock, Arkansas. If you've known me for at least ten seconds you'd understand immediately why Arkansas just isn't the place for us. Although, we were certainly impressed by the living communities. ;-)

Boulder, Colorado. Beautiful? No doubt. Full of happy, outdoor enthusiasts? Definitely. Variety of options for healthy eating? You bet. The future home of the McLeans? Sorry. I mean, there is a lot going for this area of the country, but we weren't too sure about having to navigate the falling boulders every day like these brave folks. ;-)

Charleston, SC. While it's true we absolutely adore the gorgeous, southern charm of this historical city, and we were just certain we could "fall" for a lovely home in the area....we just couldn't seem to hold on to our dreams of actually moving there. Something about it just seemed, well, "shaky."

I really don't think anything else need be said about the rockin' city of Memphis, TN. However, we prayed, and Jesus said "no." Elvis gave us an "uh huh." Sorry, Elvis, we had to go with Jesus on this one. :)

While admittedly, it would be quite flattering to see our name plastered on everything around us every day, we ultimately decided to shut the "gates" on McLean, Virginia.

Chicago, IL. While gusts of wind, freezing temperatures, and heavy rain do sound delightful, we were pretty sure we couldn't handle walking around like this everywhere. Sorry, Chi-town, that's a no.

 Having no humidity, toasty-warm temperatures year-round, and the ability to fry your morning egg on our driveway all made Phoenix a top contender. However, the last time I lived there I was only two, and I was pretty sure my "old friends" wouldn't remember me anymore. That heartbreak was too much to take, so we tearfully crossed Phoenix off of our now-dwindling list.

Photo from Flickr

Construction had already begun on our new pool in Nashville, TN, when we realized that our road to fame wasn't going to begin in the legendary city of country music. I mean, we like a good karaoke session here and there, but it's probably just not enough. Or is it? ;-)

(Drum roll)

And then there was one...

That's right, if you've been keeping up, only one location remains on our list. The city where we shall begin to build new dreams, soar to higher heights...and hopefully, have a driveway to call our own. Ah, the little things that come to mean so much. :)

Here are a few images to give you an idea of what awaits us (and we are thrilled to pieces about!) in our new city:

Big yay!

This looks like a blast!

http://usnwc.org - Photo via Flickr

That's right, even a new Whole Foods is being built here, to open the spring of 2012!

This is where the guessing gets real easy. 

Yes, that's right, we're moving to...

Charlotte, NC! :)

We are just thrilled to pieces at how much God has blessed us throughout this process. God really gave us the desires of our heart. Not only are we still within driving distance of our East Coast families, we love the idea of having big city (love my shopping!) meets open green space and plenty of opportunity for outdoor recreation.

As we take this next step in our married lives and leave the Navy and military community of Hampton Roads, we think Charlotte is going to be the perfect place for us. Stay tuned for many more fun updates about our journey ahead in the weeks to come.

Special thanks to everyone who has been praying for us through this process. It's been exhausting, but God is faithful and has provided for us yet again -- above and beyond what we could have hoped for. 

So, how many of you guessed correctly? And, who in the world was it that guessed Little Rock??? :)

The McLeans take on V Day - Part 2

In lieu of the fact that my hubby had work on Monday night, I decided a special "Bachelor Valentines Event" was in order.

I know what you're thinking....The Bachelor? Really? I know, I know... But I'm pretty sure I'm not alone in this. ;-) Be honest. You watch it too.

By no means do I believe that reality TV is the ideal format to find your soul mate/marital partner, but this sappy, drama-ridden show has served as a wonderful excuse to gather an awesome group of ladies into my home each week to de-stress with outrageous laughter, yummy treats, and constant commentary. Men, beware! ;-)

It is a fact that females need girl time, and the Bachelor (centered around young ladies in a constant state of emotional breakdown) somehow fits the bill. ;-) Plus, it also serves as a constant reminder to me of the "one-in-a-million" man I married. That's right, Brad, you have nothing on my Chris. 

Before he left for work, my hubby presented me with these gorgeous flowers (he knows me well, I'm not your typical roses kind of gal) and beautiful card:

My gorgeous tulips displayed on our mantle in some of my milk glass vases.

Now, back to the Bachelor and our VDAY ladies night...

Homemade, dark chocolate-covered organic strawberries, organic raspberries, and white chocolate covered pretzels were the evening starter. Homemade veggie pizza was the main course, with strawberry cheesecake and dark chocolate ice cream waffle cones as our dessert. Keeping with the theme, even our plates were rose china -- a special gift passed down to me from my mother after my wedding.

 Each guest who attended received a Valentine's Day goody bag of special treats.

No Bachelor party is complete without a rose ceremony.

Each beautiful lady present received a rose.

Raspberry water.

In honor of this special occasion, pink champagne was served.

Not just any champagne, mind you. "Sweet Rose" champagne! :)

Sara and Jen helping me dip the last of the strawberries.

My neighbor, the "eat-and-run" guest. Megan is a medical student, busy with loads of homework, but my promise of goodies urged her out of her study hole for a few moments to visit and grab her VDAY package. :)

 Bachelorettes for the night: Laura, Jen, Sara and I.

Bear getting a talking to for sneaking a chocolate covered strawberry off of someones plate.

Much love to all my dear friends for gracing me with their presence and keeping me company on VDAY while my hubby was away. It's true what they say, "Girls just want to have fun." ;-)