Monogrammed Life By The Sea: Happy Anniversary...We are Wired!

Well, it seems like an eternity since I have written and updated y'all on the progress of the home. Things have been crazy busy with the home and work and I just returned from a medical mission trip in Mexico followed by the always accompanying post travel sinus infection. However, things are getting back to normal here and the house is progressing quickly again so expect an influx of posts in the near future.

Yesterday was Adam's and my 3 year wedding anniversary. We could never have imagined that we would have already accomplished so much in our first three years of marriage. Since saying "I do," Adam started a new career in finance, I switched jobs and have traveled abroad on dream medical mission trips, and now we are building our dream, and hopefully forever, home. We have been on a tight budget lately trying to prepare for the numerous and apparently inevitable surprise expenses that come with building a custom home, so we did not want to do anything too extravagant for our anniversary. In fact, we didn't really want to go out to a big fancy dinner. With that in mind, we decided to do one of our favorite things... pack up the picnic basket with a homemade meal, grab a bottle of wine, and dine under the stars. To make it extra special we chose to dine and celebrate on our new back porch. I guess you could say we officially had our first meal in our new home together. It sounds funny considering the fact that there is not even any drywall up yet hehe.

Anniversary picnic dinner on our back porch....I see many of these in our future!

My happy place

We have ben somewhat stuck in the same stage for a few weeks now: electrical, plumbing, and roofing, that I did not even realize how much progress has actually been made since the last time I posted, right before my trip. Since then, the second plumbing rough in has been completed and the tub installed, the duct work and HVAC are in, the roof and metal mustache are completed, windows have been installed, the outside fireplace is in, the electrical has been completed (after several meetings and Adam and I making numerous changes and add ons - it just seems like this part is never truly perfect), and the gas lines have been run. In addition to gas to the cooktop and outside gas grill, we decided to run lines to each fireplace. We still plan on them being wood burning but it was recommended to us to have gas available for a quick start. Then, once the fire has been started and the logs are lit, the gas can be turned off and the wood logs are free to burn and crackle. Check out the progress...

dryer, washer, and laundry sink hook ups. We later had the dryer electrical receptacle (black box) moved down to be even with the vent so that the dryer will fit flush against the wall when plugged in.

Master shower plumbing. It is 7.5 ft so that Adam has plenty of room to stand tall and shower. The plumber also put the on/off lever just to the left of the door so that the shower can be turned on/off at the door rather than having to walk all the way in and getting wet before the water is nice and hot...brilliant idea!

Guest bathroom plumbing and tub installed. I had to purchase a special drain for the plumber to install (a decision that received a great deal of scrutiny from the plumber and our builder) so that all of the hair I shed as a girl will be caught and not go down the drain. My days of digging out the hair with a wire hanger (I know, gross) will soon be over.... hallelujah!