We adopted a dog!

James and I recently made the decision to expand our family and adopt a dog.  We thought this would be an easy process, especially considering how many dogs there are out there that need a home. Little did we know, the dog adoption process is pretty intense.  We actually attempted to adopt two different dogs before we had success.  With the first dog we got flat out denied (apparently we were not fit parents because we planned to crate the dog while at work) and with the second dog, when we showed up to the shelter and the dog we were interested had been adopted 45 minutes before we got there. We did get a little discouraged, but now that we have our sweet pup, we know that this he was definitely the dog for us.

After we made up our mind to get a dog, I stalked pet adoption websites like it was my job. Early last week, I found a two year old cavalier king charles/cocker spaniel mix named Royce on the Atlanta Pet Rescue website.  He wasn't available for adoption until Saturday (yesterday), so James and I decided we would show up right when the shelter opened so that we could meet him.  On the way to the shelter we made sure we were on the same page that we wouldn't try to force it with the dog. We really just wanted to check him out, see what his demeanor was and then make a decision on whether he would be a good fit for us or not.  Afterall, this dog wil be a part of our family for the next ten years or so.

When we walked in, he was in a pen with about five other dogs.  We walked over to the pen and all of the other dogs started going crazy, jumping up and barking at us.  He just calmly looked up at us with his sweet eyes and let us pet him.  We decided right away that he was the dog for us.  We started filling out our application and then learned that there was someone else there who was interested in the same dog.  We sat down in a separate room and were interviewed to get a feel for why we wanted a dog and te type of environment the dog would be living in .  The staff at Atlanta Pet Rescue told us that whoever was going to be the best fit for the dog would end up going home with him. It was kind of nerve racking, but apparently they thought we would be the best fit and told us that if we wanted to take him home, he was all ours.  After filling out all of the paperwork and asking a million questions (we've never had a dog before), we got to walk out with our little guy. We ended up changing his name from the name the shelter had given him.

Introducing Buford Beauregard Ostenson: 

Trying to get a good picture at the shelter before we took him home

Finally! Our little family of three

Before we got Buford home we had to make a few pitstops at Petsmart and City Dog Market.  And after spending our life savings waaay too much money we finally got him home.  

At Petsmart

Riding in the car

First walk around the neighborhood

He's not supposed to be on the furniture, but how can you resist that sweet face?

Y'all, he is such a sweet dog.  He doesn't bark, he doesn't jump up on you when you come in the door, he is house trained, he walks pretty well on a leash, he slept through the night in his crate and he doesn't require much attention. He just kind of follows you around the house and will nuzzle up against your leg when he wants you to pet him. James and I keep looking at each other and being like, "we have a dog". We love our little Buford and he is the perfect addition to our family!

1 Year (and 1.5 months)

On April 30th James and I celebrated our one year anniversary.  I can't believe it has already been a whole year (and one and a half months) since we said "I do"! This last year has just flown by, we have been keeping busy and enjoying married life.  We are reading a book in our small group that keeps talking about what a disaster many peoples first year of marriage is.  But luckily, year one has been smooth sailing for us. Yes marriage is an adjustment and huge commitment, but it's also an awesome adventure and we have enjoyed every moment thus far.  To kick off our anniversary, we celebrated with dinner at Horseradish Grill with our parents.  It was great for the six of us to catch up and the food was delicious.  I had been dying to eat at the Horseradish Grill and this was certainly a great occasion to do so.

My parents on the left and James' on the right

We also planned a little weekend getaway for our anniversary  We both took a Friday off work and headed east of Atlanta to Madison, GA.  We have always heard good things about the city of Madison, but neither James nor I had ever been there.  It is an adorable little town with lots of antebellum homes. Madison, GA was one of the few towns Sherman spared during his March to the Sea. We stayed at The James Madison Inn which was within walking distance of downtown.  I literally did not want to leave our room at the inn it was so nice and beautiful decorated. I kept asking James if we could just transplant the room into our house.  

After James was able to convince me to leave our room we enjoyed a couples massage, some delicious meals, antiquing, and strolls around the city.  Here's to year two!

Long Time No Blog

I have honestly been putting off blogging over the last couple weeks because I'm so embarrassed on how long it has been since my last post.  My last post was BEFORE Christmas.  So I figured I'd update all of the 3 people that actually read this thing on whats been going on in The Ostenson household.

Our first Christmas as a married couple was great.  We spent lots of time with both sides of our family and a new nephew was added to the ever growing Ostenson family.  James' sister, Julia, and her husband, Andy,  welcomed their third child into the world on December 23rd.  His name is Rhett and he is so precious and perfect.

A little before Christmas, I actually started a new job. Which is a huge life change that I have neglected to update the blog world on.  I am still doing Financial Planning, but now working for a larger firm headquartered in Buckhead.  I'm enjoying the new job, and loving being closer to home (less than 5 miles from our house!).

James has been in busy season for the last month or so.  Which has been zero fun for either of us.  Luckily, he can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and will be working more normal hours come May.

You may ask, if James has been so busy, why haven't you had time to update your blog?  Well, I too have been working longer hours than before.  Not to mention when I get home, I have really serious things to attend to.  Like Pinterest, or watching any of the following combination of shows: Modern Family, Happy Endings, Revenge, Swamp People, The Voice, House Hunters, House Hunters International...the list goes on.

On the horizon we have a few home-realted projects to tackle (once James is actually not working on Saturdays again), my big brother is getting married in about a month and a half, our 1-year wedding anniversary is coming up (wow, time has flown), and we have some fun trips planned.  So clearly, I will have some material to blog on soon.

Tyler & Julie's Wedding

On Saturday morning, after our Friday adventure in NYC, we headed to New Jersey for our friends' Tyler and Julie's wedding.  James and Tyler went to grad school together at The University of Virginia and both still work for Ernst & Young. The wedding was in Basking Ridge, New Jersey.  We took a train out of New York and then drove for about 30 miles (?) possibly... am I the only one who doesn't pay attention to how far things are on vacation?

We checked into our hotel  around 1 on Saturday and Tyler and Julie's wedding ceremony was at 2:30pm.  The ceremony was beautiful and the bride and groom had a receiving line after the wedding to visit with all of their guests.  To be honest, going into this weekend, James and I kept wondering if a Northern wedding would be different than a Southern wedding, as neither of us had ever attended a wedding up north.  The receiving line was different, as well as the break between the ceremony and reception, but it seemed to work out well.  Shuttles picked all of the guests up from the hotel at 5:00 to bus us to the reception site.  The reception was at Natirar, a mansion set on a hill that looked out over sprawling hills and beautiful scenery.  Apparently, the mansion used to be owned by the King of Morocco.

There was a cocktail hour, while the guests enjoyed the sunset, and then a plated dinner.  The wedding decor was beautiful.

Tyler and Julie had a wishing tree where guests could leave comments and well wishes

Before dinner, we headed back outside to take a few more pictures.

James with his friends from UVA

Ahna and I, the only girls in the group for the weekend.  Ahna is engaged to James' friend Anthony

The dinner was amazing.  In true married people fashion, James and I ordered one of each-- chicken & steak, so we could try both. Tyler and Julie were announced during dinner, and then the speeches and dancing ensued.

The wedding was so much fun! Especially when the DJ started playing rap music and all of the old people got up to dance (definitely a polar difference from a Southern wedding... key words...DJ... and Rap Music). All in all, it was a successful weekend! We had a blast!  

New York City

Last weekend, James and I traveled to The Big Apple.  We were heading up North to attend the wedding of one of James' grad school friends.  I have so much to say about both New York and Tyler and Julie's wedding, so I plan on separating out the two blog posts.

We took Friday off work, and to take full advantage of our time in New York, we booked a flight leaving Atlanta at 6:30am.  We set our alarms for 3am so that we could shower and get out the door by 4:30.  Needless to say, I was falling asleep a little exhausted by the time 9 o'clock rolled around Friday evening. Our flight landed in NYC around 9:30 Friday morning, and the adventure began.  We were staying at our friend Brent's apartment in the West Village but as soon as we got off the flight it dawned on us, we had no plan and didn't know how we would actually get to Brent's place.  Keep in mind I had never been to New York and James went once... in 7th grade.... on a safety patrol trip... with chaperones.  Yeah.

So we ended up getting an airport shuttle to Grand Central Station and then navigated the subway to Brent's apartment to drop off our bags.  By the time we got to Brent's we were starving (hello, we ate breakfast at 6:00am) and sweating. New York was unseasonably hot and muggy, as it had been sprinkling on and off.  This girl only packed jeans, boots and sweaters.  Needless to say, after we ate lunch we had to go shopping.  Those of you who know me well may think that I planned that little coincidence, but I promise I didn't!  James was very patient while I stopped off in a store and bought a dress really quick.

After we ate lunch, we headed down to the World Trade Center.  We didn't buy tickets beforehand, so we couldn't go on the official tour of ground zero, but we were able to see the construction of the new Twin Towers.  It was a bit eerie to be down there, and think that  just a little over ten years ago that whole area was covered in dust, chaos and fear.

After ground zero, we headed towards Wall Street.  We were hoping that we would see the Occupy Wall Street protesters so that we could take pictures and heckle them, but they were at a private park somewhere else in the city.

Of course, I had to get a picture outside Tiffany & Co. It's a girl thing...

After Wall Street, we headed down to Battery Park to see the Statue of Liberty.  Unfortunately, they weren't offering crown tours that afternoon, so we couldn't go up into the statue, but we did hang in Battery Park for a bit to take it all in.  We happened to sit down at a bench that had this carved into it:

I swear we didn't carve that ourselves.  Such a coincidence though...

We left Battery Park around 4pm when some of James' friends were starting to arrive in town.  We ended up going to get pizza with friends and hanging out Friday night.  Saturday morning we were up early to head over to New Jersey for Tyler and Julie's wedding.  More to come on that next...

Nashville

This past weekend, James and I met our friends Lindsey and David in Nashville for the weekend. Lindsey & David are good friends of ours from college. They moved up to Indianapolis after they got married, when David's job took them there. We are still dying to go to Indy one weekend, but Nashville is actually the halfway point between Atlanta and Indianapolis, so we decided to meet there for the weekend. Rachel and her husband Brad were supposed to join in on the weekend fun, but unfortunately they could make it! We missed The Davidsons, but we definitely enjoyed our stay in Nashville. We ended up staying right downtown within walking distance of everything, which was really nice!

Both couples arrived in Nashville on Friday night, around 7:30 and we were famished, so we headed to a Mexican place that our concierge recommended. Queso and Margs? Yes please! After dinner we headed straight out to they honkey-tonks... yes, thats right... honkey-tonks. Since I had never been to Nashville before, I literally laughed out loud when someone suggested we go to the honkey-tonks. But I definitely enjoy country music, so I was down for a little boot scootin' boogie.

James and I enjoying some live music at Tootsies

On Saturday, we had a lazy morning and then headed to lunch at Puckett's, which was just a few blocks away from our hotel. A friend green tomato BLT and diet coke definitely hit the spot. After lunch, we did a little sightseeing.

The Ryman Auditorium

James and I outside of the country music hall of fame

The rest of the day and night on Saturday we found ourselves back in the honkey-tonks, taking in all of the live music.

We had a blast in Nashville, and are getting ready to pack our bags again to head out of town again this weekend. We are headed up to Big Canoe for an Ostenson Family weekend trip!

Whats for dinner?

Ever since James and I got married, I have struggled a bit with what to cook for dinner. I wouldn't say I was a terrible cook before we got married, I just never really had a lot of time to practice. I mean, lets face it, dinner before marriage was a salad or a lean pocket on the couch while watching E News with my roomies. While a big salad would definitely constitute a meal for myself, James on the other hand needs something more substantial to fill up. So the first few weeks of marriage went a little like this: 4:00 strikes at work and I suddenly realize I have absolutely no idea what I am making for dinner--so I spend the next hour looking for menus online---finally decide on one that looks easy enough--stop by the grocery store on my way home--spend $35 on all of the ingredients--we eat the dinner and its good, but the remainder of the carton of whipping cream or bunch of parsley we needed for that specific recipe goes bad and we end up throwing it out. Not super efficient, a waste of money and food.

A few months ago, some of our friends told us about a website called E Mealz, which plans out your meals. They have family meal plans, as well as meal plans "for two". We thought it sounded interesting, so we checked it out. Basically, you pay $15 for three months, which comes out to $1.25 per week, to give you access to their meal menus. The best thing about the E Mealz menus is that they plan the menu around what is on sale for the week and they incorporate the ingredients into a few different meals (ex. This week sweet corn was on sale for $1.19 for 4 ears of corn, so you buy 4, and use it for two meals).

They have grocery lists centered around Publix, Kroger, Aldi, Walmart, and they also have non-grocery-store-specific menus. We found out about E Mealz right around the time our swanky new Publix opened up around the corner in Town Brookhaven. I am seriously obsessed with the new Publix, its huge, so neat and organized, and the people are extremely helpful (but that's a blog post for another day). So, naturally we decided on the Publix For Two meal plan. James was a bit skeptical about shopping at Publix at first. He has always been a Kroger shopper because he thinks Publix is too expensive-- gotta love him, always trying to save a dime :) Each meal plan, which provides dinner for five nights averages out to $35-$45 per week. Thanks to E Mealz I won the Publix vs Kroger debate.

We honestly think the $1.25 per week is a great investment because we have been saving so much money. We generally go to the gorcery store once a week and leave spending under $100 every time, which includes dinners, lunches, breakfast and any snacky foods, cleaning products etc. I went to my happy place today... I mean Publix... and spent $86.50. We are definitely going to keep using E Mealz just because it makes our life so much easier, we may try switching to a low-carb or low-fat meal option next.

4.30.2011

James and I were married a little over a month and a half ago, and these last six weeks have just flown by. It's been a whirlwind to say the least. I only have the best memories when looking back on our wedding day. It's kind of funny, because the last few weeks leading up to the wedding, I was just so ready for it to be here, that I actually even said a few times that I was "just ready for it to be here and over". Not that I was ready to "get it over with" or anything like that. I was just ready to get married and settle into a sense of normalcy. Now that the wedding is over, I wish we could go back and relive the day over and over again. James and I didn't see each other before the ceremony, which made the pictures a little longer after the ceremony, but it was well worth it. I loved seeing his face watching my dad walk me down the aisle. All of the details of the day just turned out perfectly, the band at the reception was so much fun. I remember looking around the dance floor at one point when the band was playing "Shout" and literally every single square inch of the dance floor was full of our wonderful family and friends, dancing, singing, waving their arms in the air. It was a snap shot of our wedding that I will never, ever forget! Many more pictures are coming to facebook soon, but for now here are a few of my favorite pictures from our wedding day

Yes, just a few pictures. Lately, everyone has been asking me, "so how's married life?". It's really hard to sum up in just a few words. A few things I know for sure: I absolutely love coming home every day and getting to spend time with my best friend. James is the perfect match for me because he is so enthusiastic and encouraging about everything. We have been learning a lot about each other. You would think after dating for three years before getting married, we would know pretty much all there is to know, but living together has opened our eyes to many, many more things we didn't previous know. Since I love lists, here is one of things we have been learning about each other:

Things I have learned about JRO:

1. He loves a good thunderstorm

2. He likes his undershirts and t-shirts folded in two different ways, neither of which are the way I fold shirts

3. He likes to listen to music when hes getting ready for work—I’ve never experienced this one, but I get home from work a lot and the ipod player is all set up. I wonder if he sings in the shower?

4. He will always say yes if I suggest we go to yoforia

5. He stays up LATE- I’m talkin 11:30/12 people!

6. He likes Kroger brand Peanut Butter...okay so he likes Kroger brand everything.

7. He loves a good project, fixing things, mowing the yard, blowing the driveway, building things, taking apart locks to figure out how they work and then putting them back together, he loves DOING

Things JRO has learned about me:

1. I like to watch the Today Show in the morning while getting ready for work, and while he is still sleeping (I get up at 6:45, he gets up at 7:45)

2. I like to be in bed by 9:45/10:00.

3. I exaggerate on what time it is (ex: Clock says, 9:15. “Babe, we better get in bed! It’s almost ten!”)

4. I’m still learning how to cook, and even if he offers to help, I like to do it all myself because I enjoy doing things for him

5. I get cranky when I’m hungry (okay, so he already knew this, but he is experiencing it more frequently now that we are living together)

6. I procrastinate on working out

7. I highly dislike when there are droplets of water or pieces of hair on the bathroom countertops and am constantly wiping them down

8. I like to grocery shop at publix because it is clean and all the shelves are organized

9. I drink a green monster for breakfast every morning and while its really just a smoothie with spinach and flax seed oil, I insist on calling them green monsters (just because it sounds cooler….James still calls them smoothies....)

10. I get stressed out over little things sometimes, but I can just as easily be hit with a giggle attack and just think everything is hilarious- am I bipolar?