This whole getting married gig is starting to really hit me.  Within the space of two weeks Andy and I have signed the lease on our house (1/2 double, actually), finished up most of our essential wedding plans, and purchased the major furniture pieces for our new house.  It's hard to believe that in four months and a few days from now I'll be living with a boy. Crazy. 

The half-double is really pretty nice for a near-campus rental, and pretty cheap too.  It has three bedrooms, all hardwood floors, a decent sized kitchen, a pretty bathroom with a claw foot tub (my personal favorite attribute of our little house), a fake fireplace, and a backyard with a pretty wooden fence and some really nice trees.  The best part is, our landlord has agreed to let us get a puppy!  I'm so excited!  Andy and I have already begun the deliberation process on the breed of the dog.  I have a feeling it will probably be the first one we see.  We're supposed to get the keys to the place in the next week or so.  Andy will be moving in right away and then I'll be joining him in October.  I can't wait to get started painting and decorating.  That's my favorite part of moving.

Shopping this weekend was a bit intense.  We started on Friday night in Columbus, woke up the next morning and drove to the Pittsburgh IKEA, and then finished registering on Sunday back in Columbus.  Registering is an exhausting process!  Who knew? The favorite purchase from the weekend is our new dining room table.  It's a really nice dark wood table...and it's square.  I really like square tables for some reason. 

We stopped by the Inn where we'll be getting married on our way back from Pittsburgh to show Katie what the place looks like (www.brownsvilleschool.com).  Everything is looking so pretty!  They have all the flowers planted and the vines are starting to turn green.  It's such a cute little place. 

I promised a friend of mine that I would post our engagement photo as well as a picture of the ring, so here they are.

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I finally found my Prague pictures from March.  I've been looking for those guys for weeks now. 

Miss Tascita Mae working on a plate sized wafer in Karlovy Vary as we visited the famous mineral springs...believe me, they are that big for a reason, you need something to get the awful taste of the springs out of your mouth 

Some teenagers from Prague on a country field trip.  Becherovka is an amazing Czech liquor known for it's medicinal qualities...I think it is the only alcohol I've met that I actually like the taste...from the looks of it, these girls are fans as well

The shop of a little Russian dress maker who HATES Americans and Karlovy Vary in the reflection

A smuggled picture from a Russian orthodox cathedral

Tas and I looking a little green from the fluorescent lights of the metro tunnel

Oh, there are so many more but xanga won't let me post them and frankly, you are probably tired of looking at pictures of someone else's vacation. Perhaps when xanga remembers that I'm a premium member I'll post my airport collection.  I missed a couple connections on this trip so I ended up with a lot of time on my hands in a few different airports. I even found a Dutch woman with golden shoes!  I bet you can't wait ;).

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Andy and I got the keys to our place this weekend (finally!), and my dad came up on Saturday with our IKEA purchases.  Andy put our dining room table together last night, which indeed came with a hide-away leaf so his hopes were not up in vain (Andy does not respond well to disappointment so life turns into one big game of managing expectations).  All the other furniture will probably remain in their boxes until the painting is finished.  I have a love-hate relationship with painting...I hate to paint, but I hate all white walls more.  Here are some photos of the place:

The view from the front...we are the door on the left

The living room and dining room

The kitchen

The back yard (shared with our neighbors)...in need of a little grass

The front porch...the side without the random junk is ours.  We have a hanging plant :)

Andy will be moving out of his office (long story) and into the apartment sometime in the next few weeks and then I'll be joining him in October. 

So far, I have not met either of our neighbors, although, I have made the acquaintance of their two cats through the window.  One is a really cute, rather large tuxedo cat, and the other is a sweet little tabby with a skull hanging from her collar.  There is also a rather large Elvisish cut out in the front window and you can't see it, but there is a hospital potty sitting next to the chair on the porch...I'm really curious about these people.  These are only a few of the visible quarks of our neighbor's belongings.  I would take pictures of the rest(such as a headless naked woman statue nestled in the grass by their stairs), because they are interesting if nothing else, but if caught, I don't think sneaking around taking pictures of their stuff would make the *best* first impression. 

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So,  I've been slacking a little bit on the blogging, I know.  One day you're clipping along then boom, a month passes and you've written nothing.  To catch all those interested up on the latest events, I have provided a little picture story for your viewing pleasure. All pictures have been taken with my phone, so the quality is, at times, not so good. 

About a month ago I moved out of my apartment that I shared with Katie Napolitano and into 220 E Duncan.  For those of you who are keeping track, Andy was, indeed, originally scheduled to take up residence in our new place and I was to join him in October...well, then a bunch of scary things started happening in my little sketchy neighborhood, punctuated by the most recent fire-bombing of my neighbors house (ok, fire-bombing is a bit of an exaggeration, someone threw a molotov cocktail inside the house and it burned down).  Either way, it's still scary.  So Andy , being the gracious and kind individual that he is, agreed to allow me to move into the new house and he moved in with some guys from our church for the next few months.  If you're wondering about Katie, so am I.  I have pleaded with her to leave, but she insists it's fine.  Katie, if you're reading this, GET OUT!!!

I also took a little trip to Chicago and met up with Erica Frazier and Liz Napolin for a little weekend of fun.  We had a great time filled with Chicago-style hot dogs, pitchers of sangria, and an impromptu Mass  
in a really pretty church.  I've never attended Mass on a non-Sunday day.  It had a completely different feel.  The priest gave a great homily on the passage in Matthew 9 about old and new wineskins.  Also, the girls got me a deep-tissue massage at a fancy spa for an engagement present.  It was hands-down the best massage I've ever received.  If you're ever in Chicago and needing a massage, you should give Charmaine a call at the Joseph Michael's Salon. 

Another highlight has been the addition of a new kitten to the future Newbanks-Soell household.  Samantha (my cat) and her sister Abigail (Katie's cat) were recently separated as a result of my move.  Sam and Abby actually are sisters
and have been together since birth so I have felt like a bit of a cruel bastard separating them, but I couldn't give Sam up and I'm sure Katie feels the same way about Abigail.  Recently, I've had a very lonely kitty roaming around my house randomly crying out as she searches for her sister.  It's very sad, really.  She has been exhibiting many signs of separation anxiety. Truthfully, so have I.   So after many days of begging, Andy gave in and let me get another kitten.  We brought her home last Thursday.  Her name is Francis, but we call her Frankie.  As you can see, she is absolutely Adorable!  Sam isn't sure she likes her yet...there has been a lot of hissing, but little Frankie is not phased.  In fact, she has taken to attacking Sam pretty much every chance she gets.  Against all odds, Sam is slowly warming up to her. 

All in all, things are going well and I'm getting settled into the new place.  We will be moving the rest of my stuff in tomorrow and most of Andy's belongings are already moved in.  I'm getting anxious for October to get here!

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