5310 - New Windsor, NY

Day before the move when I finally accepted the fact that I needed to take pictures off the walls. While they look just like the original futon, this couch along with the matching love seat, came from our downstairs neighbors for free. Greatest gift ever! 

Ahhh, sweet bliss. This (almost-for the sake of new tenants) address is and forever will have a special place in my heart. This was the apartment address that Honey and I first moved into just after getting married. We went from two "kids" being high school sweethearts and having a long distance relationship across the country to two "grownups" with an apartment and bills and our own paid off vehicles. The apartment went from a bunch of white walls and almost no furniture in our living room to frames, quotes, decor and an abundance of furniture that we didn't realize how much we had. 

Anyhow--before I cry loud enough to wake Honey up, check out some fun pictures from over the time that we were living in New Windsor. A lot can change in the blink of an eye

At the beginning, I complained that "this wasn't home". Matthew was working 18+ hours a day and would sometimes just stay the night because he'd be home so late and have to get up so early the next morning. I went from living at home with my family to having an entire two bedroom apartment (on the third floor of our building!) basically to myself. At the beginning, I didn't have a vehicle yet so I was stuck at home for days with the dogs until Annika would take me to run an errand or Hon would come home early enough to go buy groceries with. Needless to say, it was hell and I hated it. It wasn't until I went on Craigslist and found a car for sale that was in amazing condition. fairly new and in our price range. Things headed up from there. The apartment went from empty walls to our home...

When we first moved in, we had NO couches besides a white chair. We had $200 for Target and used it to buy this futon. It was perfect for just us two and went into an extra bed. 

Honey finally, after a month and a half or two, became more available and we were able to spend time together, have real conversations and actually sit down and he was able to watch a Netflix show with me every now and again. We went to football games together on the weekend then stayed in after that. We had our friends coming in and out all the time. (it got to a point that if our "doorbell" rang, we just opened it. Rarely would I ever ask "who is it" because I knew it was always someone we wanted to have and the guest would just walk in and join us.) We had our pup-babies that we'd have sleepovers with in our guest bedroom. We had friends come stay over some weekends just to get out of the barracks and take pass. It became our sanctuary. We became major home bodies. We never wanted to leave when he had a chance to be home. It was every girls dream. We were the real life FRIENDS show. I had a home, a husband, a baby on the way!! Who would have thought?!

Our dining room table that seats four just perfectly was custom made by my brother. The top is made from old fence that at Matthew's parents house. Notice how few pictures were on the wall at the beginning.

I remember when we first moved in because Honey was SO BUSY just the first day getting there that he was only able to help move our dresser and mattresses into the apartment. Everything else was moved by Alee, Annika and myself. I made it a point to take a picture in front of the door though because as I sent in the text, "we finally owned (rented) our first home (apartment)!" It was the greatest moment of my adult life aside from our wedding. And then the move came...

This was the very first day we moved into our brand new, just made apartment with our very first apartment keys! We knew it was going to be the start of something great...

It was time for West Point to end. I fell in love with every town around, including the one we lived in. I loved the scenery, the people, the mountains, the snow, everything!!! How could one not? We started a life in the apartment that we originally hated. I knew the time to leave would come, but as it got closer, time basically stopped and I felt like I didn't have to worry about it. We started packing way too late and were still packing the day of the move. We had to leave our keys behind when we moved out so it was a total Friends moment from the day we moved in to the day we left. When we left, we had Annika and Gervon living with us so we ALL had to put our keys on the counter to turn in and all I could do was cry. (Mind you, pregnancy hormones were killing me along with the fact that saying goodbye is not my forte and the idea of leaving my home and amazing neighbors KILLED me). It got so bad that the days leading up to the move, as Annika was helping me try to deconstruct my apartment, she'd offer "should I take frames down" or "should we put this away" and all I would do was cry and tell her "I'm not ready for that. Please don't take it down". I was never ready to say goodbye. 

The very last picture we took at our apartment. I had been bursting into tears all morning without warning and as seen in the cover photo, only composed myself long enough to take this. We thought, "When we moved in, it was just us two. Now we have a baby growing in me". Next home, we will start with a bump and leave with a baby. How would we not love life? *tears streaming down face*

Well, we moved to freakin' Georgia. We had to. We had to leave these amazing people that Matthew only knew how to be with. He had never had to leave Gervon, Xavier, Alee or even Annika! He only really knew life with them probably more than he did with me. He'd gone to school with them for five years and spent almost every day with the guys. I knew it wasn't easy on him. But the girls!! They went from the guys girlfriends to my best friends--all in seven months! Leaving them was the hardest thing I had to do since leaving Matthew (when he went to WP) and my family when we had to move to NY.  

mk