Counting Down the Days...

Only 9 more days till we have those keys in our hands. We are so excited and can barely stand it any longer. The anticipation grows daily as we just cannot wait to finally call the place our own. I got word from our realtor yesterday and the builder is going to switch out the kitchen cabinet knobs on all the cabinets and drawers for us free of charge! The ones they had on there to begin with I was not too fond of and so my realtor asked if the builder would not mind switching them. Peter and I went over to Lowe's and found beautiful aged bronze knobs to match perfectly in the kitchen. It really made my day...the small things are really fun and exciting.

Peter and I went shopping this past weekend for more things for the bathroom and bedroom. We are considering re-doing our entire bedroom for the 3rd time (just the colors) and the bathroom as well. Our 2nd bathroom is going to be so cool and I cannot wait to get pictures up. There were some things that we had to get for the bathroom like the towel racks, toilet paper holders, trash cans, etc. We also had to make sure the 2 armoires we are getting for the 2 upstairs bathrooms were the correct size to fit where we needed them. They will work perfectly. We are going to wait till the week we move in because our apartment is pretty overloaded at this point. With me being such a clean freak it is hard to see all of these piles and bags to be taken to Goodwill, etc. We are taking a TON of stuff to Goodwill that we no longer want or need anymore. That will just eliminate a good majority of the stuff we have to move that we do not need to.

I have to teach in a few training sessions today, tomorrow, and Friday and need to go get prepared to speak. Have a great Tuesday everyone!

Baby It's Cold Outside...

Well, the temperatures outside feel like a normal Michigan winter. My mom emailed me and told me that her car read -7 degrees outside this morning. Lynchburg is about that cold and on top of that, the schools here are closed because it is too cold for the kids to stand out at the bus stop. So my thought to this is...why is VA different than Michigan or Minnesota when it is in the negative temperatures and they are still going to school? That is just my question of the day. I didn't even know schools were closed till I looked on the news and saw that about every school in the county and city are closed because of a cold temperature advisory...just not something I am still not used to even though I have lived in Lynchburg for 6 years now.

I am thankful it is Friday even though I don't know where the week has gone. I have been so busy with meetings and my new responsibilities at work. Just a lot to do. Working 7am-5pm does not hardly give me enough time in the day to get what I need done because there is so much to do. When you are getting a totally new program started at a huge school, there tends to be a large amount of work involved. I love it though and would not trade it for the world. I am thankful that my job and Peter's job allows us to work overtime and actually get paid for it. That is such a blessing!

Two weeks from yesterday and we close on our new home. I cannot wait to feel the keys in my hand for the first time and know that we have a place of our own! We had a lot of paperwork to get submitted yesterday and everything went smooth for that as well. Everything seems to be falling into place and for that, we are thankful to God. Buying a home is a big 'to do'...those of you who have gone through this process know exactly what I mean. It is not something that should ever be taken lightly and there is a lot of reading involved and definitions that you want to make sure you know the in's and out's of before you sign your name. Thankfully, we have a realtor and mortgage company that knows exactly what they are doing and are able to relay things in an easy manor where we can understand completely. My type A personality kicks into gear during times like this because I am so visual, hands-on, and need to know down to the penny what we will owe for this, that, and the other. Peter and I could not feel more ready for buying this home and cannot wait to move in.

My mom and brother bought plane tickets yesterday to come see Peter and I. My mom is coming in February and my brother is coming in March. My mom is going to help Peter and I get all set up and organized and of course, GO SHOPPING:) Cannot wait for that! I have to sit back and think about how much my mind has switched gears from shopping meaning clothes, to shopping meaning things for our house. Of course, there will always be room for clothes, but now our main priority is getting everything set up for the house. My brother is coming for his Spring Break in March. He found an unbelieveable ticket from Indy staight into Lynchburg. We are very excited to have him come visit us. Peter loves having my brother around and is good for them both.

Have a great weekend everyone! Stay warm and bundle up!

What a Great Weekend!

Well, it is Monday...again...funny how the weekend goes by so fast and the weekdays go by so slow. Oh well, it was a great weekend without a doubt. Pete and I had so much fun spending time together. We watched the Steelers vs. Chargers game and of course, Steelers won:) That put my husband in a really good mood, then we watch WFU beat UNC and that put him in a GREAT mood at that point. Sports are his passion so we always have to make time for multiple game days at our house. This is usually a lot of what our weekend consists of. We also worked on 6 loads of laundry on Saturday morning and headed to the gym while they were in the dryer for an hour. We both commented that the next time we do laundry it will be with our OWN BRAND NEW washer and dryer. Not something Liberty's campus has used or our neighbors have used, just ours! We have never had our own washer and dryer so it will be nice to be able to do our clothes the way we want them to be done and keep them nice at the same time.

On Saturday night, we went to see 'Bride Wars' with Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson. It was such a cute movie and a definite must buy when it comes out on movie. The movie theatre was absolutely crowded as it was a dreary and rainy Saturday night. I have never seen so many pushy and anxious women to see a movie!!! It was insane. Prior to the movie, Pete and I walked around the mall and saw the sadness of many stores going out of business. The mall in Lynchburg really needs an updo with bigger and better shopping. People are sick of the old mall and ready for something different...at least I am:)

I began my search yesterday for our 1 year anniversary vacation destination. We were looking to go somewhere like the Atlantis in the Bahamas, or a cruise, or Hawaii. I began looking for Spa & Resorts in California since we have always wanted to go there and let me tell you there is an abundance of phenominal luxury resorts to choose from. I think that is where we will end up and Pete is so thrilled about that. We absolutely love spas and always have enjoyed being able to get massages together over the years. It is the most relaxing thing to be pampered all day and I am excited to have a 7-10 day pampering:) If any of you reading this have been to a specific resort in Cali that you would recommend, please pass along. We have never been there before and do not want to do the Hollywood aspect of it quite yet, that is our next trip, but just something relaxing with really great food, a top of the line spa, and warm weather:)

Well, we are officially on a countdown of 2 weeks till we move in our new townhome!! We are soooo excited. It has been so much fun being able to get little things here and there to decorate our new home and make it ours. We have things that reflect who we are as a couple and also individual things that make us who we are. My mom is going to come see us as well when we move in, which I am SO excited about. She is thinking of coming the weekend after we move in so that she doesn't feel in the way (like she ever could be:). I understand though she wants to still be able to spend time with Pete and I without the busy time of moving. We have everything pretty much set up to be taken care of the day after closing on the 29th so we feel in good shape. The only thing that always makes me nervous is the apartment inspection. I hate those things and wish we didn't have to go through and clean our apartment or worry about any of it. Oh well, I guess it has to be done. I told Pete that I want to just hire someone to come clean the entire apartment once we move out because we are going to pay that in all the supplies we will have to buy in order to get it in good shape. We will see if that happens or not...

Tonight is another episode of The Bachelor! I cannot wait to see what happens and I am so ready for DeAnna to make her appearance back on the show. I have to say that I love shows like this along with the Hills, The City, Sex & The City, etc. All of the drama is just too good. Pete is always a good sport and watches them with me. He actually enjoys it basically because he can make fun of the people on TV because of all of the drama in their lives:) Well, I am going to get back to work here. I came in at 6:45 this morning and will be here till 5 today...long day ahead. Happy Monday everyone!

Happy Monday!

I cannot believe that it is already Monday again. It is crazy to me how the week goes by so slow sometimes and the weekend just flies by. I am back to work again this morning trying to get students completed for their Financial Check-In process and dealing with all of that craziness. A lot of the leadership came back this weekend and starts their training this week for another semester so the campus will start to get busier and busier. I really loved winter break because it was so quiet and tons of parking spaces. Come next Monday they will be few and far between:(

This weekend was very productive and we found a lot of great deals for the house in terms of decoration and necessities. Peter and I have been looking to do the 2nd bathroom upstairs in a deep red as previously blogged about. We went to Kohl's because they have great towels and usually they are always on sale. The towels this weekend were "Buy 1 Get 1 for $1"....who can beat that????? We, of course, bought the towels. We decided against the red and he chose a green color that is really cool. We are going to do all white rugs as he loves the cleanness of the white. For all of you reading, yes Peter and I share a bathroom, however he wanted to participate in the decorating as well so he wanted to decorate the 2nd bathroom, which I was definitely not opposed to. Peter has amazing taste and style and I trust him completely with his choices. They did not have all the rugs in stock so I am going to order them online today and have them shipped out while they have that great sale going on. We also ventured over to Lowe's and bought our Electrolux washer and dryer in white. We have looked and looked at those for weeks now and just kept putting it off and putting it off. We finally decided to 'bite the bullet' and get the washer and dryer since they had free delivery, hookup, and installation, $75 mail in rebate and they both were $100 off. As expensive they are you would think that $100 really would not put a dent in the price, which it really didn't but every little bit helps. I am so thankful we were able to get a nice washer and dryer. It is something I have wanted ever since we moved into our apartment, but unfortuntely there were no hookups. I am so excited!! They are going to be delivered the weekend we move in and hopefully all will go well. I am excited to do my first load of laundry in my OWN washer and dryer for once. Peter and I have been going to Liberty's Dorm 33 to do our laundry for the longest time or whenever we go to his parent's house in Greensboro we do it there. Talk about a hassle!!

Well good news! The gym opens back up today for longer than 8am-5pm. They are finally going to be open till 8pm now. Peter and I are headed back today and are so excited. It has been a long month of not being able to go to the gym and we are so thrilled we can go back now. We both have always loved being able to workout together and be each other's accountability partners. Peter has been my 'trainer' for as long as I can remember and he does a great job because he challenges me to do different things daily, which takes the routine out of working out. We, of course, have different goals in mind when going to the gym. He wants to get bigger and I want to get more toned. My goal is to have Kelly Ripa arms:) She has got such amazingly toned arms.

Well, I am going to start work now, but I hope you all have a great Monday!

Happy New Year 2009!

Happy New Year 2009! I hope everyone had a great and fun-filled New Year's Eve. Peter and I stayed at home last night and reflected on the New Year's Eve last year when we got engaged. What an exciting time and I remember so vividly every part. I could not have been happier!

I am here at work today, by choice. Yes, I am a workaholic that loves to work on holidays because no one is here. I like the overtime and I love being able to get a lot of work done that I cannot get done in a normal business day because either my phone is ringing off the hook with students who somehow got my direct line or I have other things to tend to. I have been so blessed with a great job and wonderful people to work with. I have a lot of added responsibilities that I have vowed to make sure to do correctly as I love the challenge. My dad emailed me this morning as he decided to go into work as well. My dad is someone who will BARELY take 1 day off work during the year. I guess I get the personality from him, which I do not mind. I know that I have good work ethic and actually enjoy what I do, unlike a lot of people.

Tonight Peter and I are going on our first date of the New Year. I came up with the idea of going over to Barnes and Noble, having a huge cup of Starbucks, and reading house decorating books together. He, of course, did not pass up that idea. We love our time together and good majority of that is found in the isles of Barnes and Noble. In addition to that, we have to start getting boxes packed for the big move coming up soon! Only 28 days and we will sign our life away to be 1st time homebuyers. Honestly, we could not be more excited and thrilled!! We finally have a place to call our own. It is going to be a great investment for us as we plan to upgrade even more than it already is and of course put our special touch on it. We are so excited that we can have dogs at this place as well. We are looking at purchasing 2 championship bred Brittany's from an absolutely beautiful kennel in Georgia. Hopefully soon we will have 1 or 2 puppies running around.

I am starting a new Bible study this year with myself and God. I am doing a Beth Moore study on the Life of Jesus. I figure why do a study on a character of the Bible when I would really like to get to know God better? I have been really off and on in my devotionals and have started and stopped a few here and there. I have made a new 'resolution' to actually go from start to finish in this book. Let me know if any of you are interested in starting another Beth Moore study once I am finished with this book. There are a lot of great ones out there---David, etc. It would be fun to have a women's Bible study once a week so let me know if you are interested.

Well, I just got back from lunch so I am going to sign off now. I have started to be a consistent blogger, for once:) Happy New Year 2009 from the Reich's!!!

Almost New Year

Happy (almost) New Year 2009! I cannot believe that this year has almost come to a close. So many amazing things have happened this past year that are unforgettable. To start off the year, I switched departments here at Liberty down to Financial Aid. I absolutely LOVE what I do and wouldn't trade it for anything. There is an old saying that says, "If you love what you do, you will never work a day in your life". That is exactly how I feel. The people are amazing and I love being challenged daily.

Peter and I were then married on June 7, 2008, which was the best day of my life:) We are so happy together and exciting about how the Lord has worked in our relationship and molded us as one. I graduated with my Bachelor's on July 4, 2008 while working 50 hour weeks and planning a wedding...needless to say, I am pretty impressed with myself for that. Then Peter quit his job at Lowe's and got a job at Liberty as well. It has been nothing but a blessing to have him in the same building. We are able to each lunch together every single day and we work the exact same hours and are able to get as much overtime together that we need. Peter absolutely loves what he is doing and is thankful for all the wonderful guys in his office. I was able to start my Master's in October as well. I am currently in the MAT program going for my degree in Secondary Education-Mathematics. Yes, you heard right..Math:) My job currently is a lot of accounting and working on taxes so I have developed a strong love for numbers and math in general.

We were also able to spend Thanksgiving with my family and Christmas with both sides of the family, which has not happened in a LONG time. One of the things that is a close 2nd to getting married is being able to purchase our first home! Peter and I have been looking for a while, but had not quite found what we were looking for until about a month ago. We are so excited to move in after the New Year!

Another big milestone in our life is that we have been able to be financially stable and have only been married 6 months. I think for any married couple, that is quite an accomplishment to be almost debt free or debt free. So many Americans live outside of their means, hence why we are in the crisis we are in now, and expect to be 'bailed out' because of their own mistakes. We are just going to continue saving money from here on out and putting it away for a rainy day. If you have not read or gone through Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover...do it! Especially, if you are a young married couple. There is no better place then to be debt free and not have the worries of having bills due every month. It is something that Peter and I have worked very hard on over the past 6 months and it has paid off. Thank God for His provisions during this year.

Well, tonight we are headed over to measure the home for blinds. We are looking at the Levelor faux wood shades at Lowes. They are the most durable and last a long time and of course look nice:) We also got a really cute hallway table at Lowes last night that came with two lamps and is perfect for the entryway. Amazingly enough it was on clearance for $39 for $88! What a steal! We looked at the washers and dryers there and are going to go for the Electrolux front loaders. We absolutely love the style and are very energy efficient. We will order those in a couple weeks to have sent to the house and installed the weekend we move in. Peter and I went to Target and Kohl's last night to look at colors for our 2nd bathroom. Our 1/2 bath downstairs we are doing in white and khaki for sure just because it is off the kitchen and I wanted something more neutral. The master bathroom we are keeping our robins egg blue and chocolate scheme for sure, just added a couple shelving units that we did not have room for in our apartment bathroom. The 2nd bathroom Peter decided that he wanted to do something a little more 'manly' so we are going to do it in a winterberry red. We will do some darker wood shelving units and use red towels. It is so fun to look at colors and get different ideas for decorating. We have so many great thoughts and cannot wait till it is ours to start moving things in.

I am back to work now from my lunch break so I better sign off. Have a great Tuesday everyone!

Back to Normal

Well, the week of families, Christmas, chaos, and fun is over. As many of you know, this was our 1st Christmas as a married couple. It was an amazing 1st Christmas, but also makes you realize the responsibility of being married and sharing families with one another. Peter's family is one that we see often throughout the year so it is not a rarity. My family, on the other hand, is different because we only see them 1-2 times a year on holidays. This year we were able to see them for Thanksgiving and they came down for Christmas! Two holidays of seeing my family is something I have not done since freshman year in college. We really enjoyed being able to see both of our families and having some time of rest and relaxation.

As some of you know and the rest of you have been asking...we bought a new house! We actually bought it about 3 weeks ago, but had not told our parents until yesterday. We had it all planned out that Peter's parents would come up to go to church and have lunch with us yesterday since my family was in town. We took them by the house after lunch and completely surprised them! They were so thrilled for us and of course, my mom wanted to start decorating right away. The house is absolutely beautiful and it could not have worked out any better for us. It definitely was cool to see God's hand through every detail of looking and purchasing our 1st home. Peter and I are so excited to be able to get going and making the house our own. We close on the 29th of January and will be able to move in that day. We are in the process of purchasing a washer and dryer and a few other things that we do not have in our apartment now, but have the luxury of having in this home. The thing I love the most about it is that it is brand new. No one has lived in it to mess it up or have something go wrong with it. The other fun thing is that we can have a grill and have pets!! Stupid Lynchburg apartment rules say we cannot have grills...I know, I know there are many of you reading this in Lynchburg with a grill, but you do not have our landlord:) She would kick us out of there in a second. Peter's dad actually surprised him with a brand new grill yesterday so we are excited. I will post pictures later on this week. We have to go in and measure for our new blinds, curtains, etc. A month from today and we will be homeowners!! Thank you to all of you that knew and had prayed about this with us, it meant more than you know.

My parents left this morning around 7am to go back to Michigan. I was so happy to have them here and be able to spend some real quality time with all of them. On the other hand, Peter and I are excited to spend time together and get back in a 'normal' routine. I am back at work for the rest of the week and then we start a new year. I cannot believe how fast this year has gone by. So many exciting things have taken place, but that is for later on this week for my New Years post. Have a great week everyone!