Monday, September 29, 2008

Home

Well folks, we have finally moved into our place! After looking at 8 different apartments, we chose the first one we had seen. Our furniture arrived on Thursday with minimal damage (a few cracks) and nothing was lost. It is so wonderful to be able to sit on our own couch and sleep in our own bed after exactly 2 months of being homeless.
The apartment we ended up renting is really neat. It is part of an old mansion that has been broken into 6 seperate apartments. No one is certain of the exact age of our place, but it is over 100 years old. Our guest room on the first floor used to be for the horses , therefore has 4 old stone troughs, a brick ceiling and tile walls. Such a cool room. Guess you will have to come see it! The rest of our place supposedly was half for the servants, half for the rich people. It is 3 stories with lots of stairs (which will be interesting with a baby). We love it.

Prior to our stuff arriving, we had a brilliant idea to paint the bedrooms and bathrooms. We did not factor in to our home decorating excitement that neither of us really know how to paint. Shane hadn't painted since high school. I had helped my dad paint through the years (turns out, he did all the hard work) and did some painting with Habitat for Humanity. The project took WAY longer than we ever could have guessed (doesn't it always happen like that). After 5 trips to the local equivalent of Home Depot, we are done with the painting! SO, if you ever hear either of us say, "I think I want to paint half the house in one weekend," use whatever it takes to change our minds!

An added bonus to our new home is that another American family lives across the courtyard. Mark works with Shane at the Citadel while Kelsey stays home to take care of the baby. They have been a tremendous help in making everything here go semi- smoothly! AND Kelsey is an excellent source of info for all my baby questions. Lots of questions! They even threw an American BBQ this weekend so we could meet the rest of the neighbors. It was funny to see French people try to put together a hamburger- it proved to be a tricky task! We feel very blessed to have Mark and Kelsey so close.



Off our mini balcony- 33 weeks!


Our door is the one to the left and the second story is ours



Our fancy living room prior to our stuff arriving




Not the greatest pix, the horse trough room


6 comments:

Valerie Abrahamsen said...

What a happy baby Kayden must be with such a big smile! Your Old World apt. looks quite attractive and is surely even better with your expert painting. You and Shane are fun-loving parents-to-be.

Anonymous said...

Awesome- Looks amazing! Love you! Tam

Tyler & Cathie said...

Welcome home friends...just wish "home" was a little closer to our home! Pictures are great and Karen you look radiant!!!

Chris & Amanda Dufour (a.k.a. Topher & Blondie) said...

Hello Baby...

Kim Day said...

Painting may have been tough, but you will be so glad later that you got it all done pre-furniture and pre-baby! (Just think of our house....) I just started painting the kitchen this weekend, and it will probably take me a month to finish it!

Anonymous said...

Hey Karen:

I have had so much fun reading about your adventures in France and Belgium! Then I realized that one year ago today we were at your lovely wedding in Connecticut. So Happy Anniversary to both of you. Karen, you look fabulous and just radiant!
Love, Joy T.