Carrie’s Blog

We have officially started the home-buying process: today we submitted our application to be pre-approved for a loan.  We are planning on getting in touch with some realtors this week so we can start viewing some houses!  Ideally, we would be able to make an offer before we are off on our honeymoon.  At the same time, we don’t plan on rushing such a big decision - we just want to be ready when the right opportunity presents itself. 

I have enjoyed experimenting with some new recipes lately – or making up my own recipes.  Today I created a potato casserole with corn and beef, flavored with a few cloves of garlic.  Over the weekend, I made my own homefries with breakfast.  I also love making tunacakes on nights when I don’t know what else to make.  And today, I made a yummy chocolate-coconut dessert with a graham cracker crust.  I accidentally burned it some around the edges, but the middle was quite tasty! 

Sid and I ran for an hour on Saturday.  It felt pretty good; though progress seems slow, I feel like my endurance is there.  I can’t keep up a good pace for the life of me, but I can keep going for a long time, and usually feel better after the first 20 minutes.  The run really took a toll on me afterwards, though.  We went down to Denver to help a friend move, and by early evening, I was totally pooped and trying to shut out a mild but resilient headache.  I was relieved to have Sid drive on the way back! 

The wedding continues to creep closer and closer!  Most RSVPs are in, and we are working on settling final details.  Our rings were finished today and are being shipped tomorrow – I am excited to see them!  Sid and I are also getting more and more excited for our honeymoon in Chile.  It will be quite an adventure, and we are definitely looking forward to the warmer weather!

Yesterday was the one-more-month-til-the-wedding day.  I finally booked a DJ, and things are really picking up as we start to finalize all the details.  It’s going to be such a busy week, but a joyous one with plenty of friends and family and love. 

In other news, Sid and I are trying to get back into a regular running routine (which will undoubtedly be disrupted by the wedding and honeymoon, but hey, we have to start somewhere!).  We ran 25+ minutes on Monday and 35+ minutes yesterday.  We are learning how to dress appropriately, although we both need something to cover our faces – it really stings when you go running in 5 degrees or colder with nothing covering your face!  My lungs have been burning at the beginning of the runs, so I am hoping something to cover my mouth will help with that as well.  Hopefully I am not doing any permanent damage to my lungs! 

I am absolutely loving working from home.  It kind of makes me wonder why more people don’t do it.  It’s good for companies, because I can work even on snow days, and I also end up being much more productive.  It’s good for workers, because there’s no stress of being stuck in traffic, you don’t need to dress up, and you can create a workspace to your liking and comfort.  I also like the aspect of being able to work on east coast time – I basically roll out of bed and get to work by 7:00am (9:00am EST), which means I am done by 3:00-3:30pm (5:00-5:30pm EST).  This will come in very handy when I start taking classes again. 

I also met with two different mortgage consultants this week.  Both had very good news, as Sid and I will be able to be pre-approved for much more than we are even looking for.  We are looking forward to moving along with the process of finding a house!

Now that Sid and I have made our big move West, I thought it was good timing to start up another blog. It seemed a useful tool for keeping in touch throughout college, and my hope is that this, too, can serve as a way to keep family and friends in the loop on the day-to-day happenings in our lives here in Laramie.

So far, we are really enjoying Laramie. We’ve met lots of great people – smart, open-minded, friendly, athletic people – and we have been getting involved with various groups here, such as a Wyoming Adventure Running Team (more of a club than a team really).

It’s quite cold; I think the lowest temperature so far has been -10 (which does not include the wind chill!). But the beautiful mountain views out our bedroom window help to make up for it. With mountains on the east and the west, we get some breathtaking sunrises and sunsets.

Though Sid’s job got off to a slow start, it seems to be taking off now. His coworkers are all very excited to have him (as they should be!) and Sid seems to be enjoying his work. Though I am still working with Westat, telecommuting is quite a change. The first week was a bit rough because our internet wasn’t set up yet, so I was working out of coffeeshops, the library, or anywhere else I could get free WiFi. However, now that I am settled into my home office, I absolutely love telecommuting.

That’s it for now, but stay tuned for more!

Carrie