BIG Announcement

Jonathan and I will be moving the end of May 2013!  After almost 8 ½ years in the DC metro area, we will be returning to our favorite little corner of WNY…..Panama, New York!

I [sadly] gave my notice at work 3 weeks ago, and have just 3 short weeks remaining while Jonathan only has 2 weeks of his student teaching internship left!  3 weeks from today my parents arrive in town (extra hands to finish parking, and enough adults to drive all cars back to NY).  3 weeks from Tuesday we pick up our U-Haul, the movers arrive by 9 a.m. and hopefully by 1 p.m. on May 21, 2013 we will driving 2 Jeeps, 1 convertible, and 1 U-Haul the ~400 miles HOME!

The house that we will be moving into is on the property of Jonathan’s parent’s tourism business, Panama Rocks Scenic Park.

This, truly, life changing and exciting move has actually been in the works for almost 18 months now.  Conversations about whether or not it would ever happen probably starting as far back as the summer of 2007…so to say that we are ready would be an understatement.  In 2011, while in the final stretch of wedding planning we were faced with the decision of where Jonathan would go to school for his Masters – Maryland or New York.  Obviously, we chose staying in Maryland where Jonathan attended Johns Hopkins University while we continued to work and save every penny possible. 

Back in January we took our nextbig step toward the move; we started remodeling the house.  FOLLOW THIS LINK to read about how in 1885 the park was founded, how a farmhouse became a summer hotel, and a bit about the work that has been done by my in-laws since they purchased the property in 1979.  If your cup of coffee (or glass of wine) is big enough to keep you reading the History of Panama Rocks, you will read more about how half of the hotel was winterized in the late 1980’s.  This is where Jonathan and his sister, Jessica grew up, where my in-laws currently live, and where we got married. 

The process that we began in January 2013 was to winterize the 2^nd half of the house that has been unused (other than for storage and guests when the extra space was needed). 

The work that we have done so far is depicted in the “before, during, after” pictures below.  Many hours have been put in by an amazing team that demoed the original horsehair plaster walls, wood lath and electrical wiring from the early 1900s.  Our Master bedroom, my craft room, [half of the bathroom], one future kid’s bedroom (2 small hotel rooms where we took down the divider wall to create a larger bedroom….will be used for storage for the time being), and the upper stairway/hallway have been rewired, insulated, dry-walled, and primed.  Our Master Bedroom also has been painted an amazing light blue that changes color depending on the time of day and level of sunlight coming in from any of the FIVE windows.  While Jonathan and I were home in early April we started work with my Dad to build frame for the doors to our closet, which as you can see below is still a work in progress ;-)

Starting on Monday the final stage of hooking up the electric to our side of the house will begin, in hopes that we will have power [and lights] when we move home.  First on the list for June is to finish our closet and replace the wood floors in the Master Bedroom and my craft room.

We have A LOT work ahead of us but are so very excited by the outlook of making this home our own:

***don't forget that you can click on each of the pictures below to make them larger***

Hallway walking in our Master Bedroom

Master Bedroom Closet Area

My future CRAFT ROOM - one day will no doubt be my favorite room in the house!

2nd Bedroom - A.K.A. "storage central"!

Upper Half of the Stairs 

***don't forget that you can click on each of the pictures above to make them larger***

I’m sure the next question that most, if not everyone, is asking is “what will you do in NY?”  Well, we are hopeful that Jonathan will be able to find a teaching job; putting his hard earned Master’s degree to good use.  I have been job searching, applying and in the beginning stage of interviewing as well.  This summer we will also be learning the ins and outs of running the Park, and enjoying a much needed change of pace that only a village like Panama can give you.

For now, I think it's time to get back to packing - we're MOVING IN THREE WEEKS!!!