well...we are almost two full months into living here in Dundalk, at our beloved Emberly home :)
after all the initial changes were made of painting and moving in/unpacking, we have finally settled into a way of life and a schedule. i've got to say right off the bat: i LOVE my house. i have little moments daily where i pause and just can't believe this is my house. it's beautiful...it's bright...it's got more space than i know what to do with.

yet, we have had some funny moments. we bought an abandoned century home after all.
one day meadow was crying at what seemed to be the ceiling. turned out to be a bat, just flying around in the kitchen. good times.
another day scott walked up the stairs to our third story perfectly timed with a patched hole in the ceiling falling out onto the floor. it was pouring outside and this is how we learned we have a nice leak in our roof! we stuffed the hole with an old pillow and brushed it off...c'est la vie.

but there have been some fun discoveries and exciting developments too. we finally met a neighbour, a very nice woman, who told us the previous owner of our house had discovered a secret room when she was moving walls around. now i am left to wonder which room had been a secret room! funny enough, when i was a kid one of my favourite books was called Samantha's Secret Room. i also was OBSESSED with Casa Loma because of the underground passageways and hidden rooms and stuff. i have always loved that element of "mystery" in homes. so i was very excited to find out that my lovely home has some mystery in its history.

making my life much easier, the doggy door is now fully functioning. i have gone from having to WALK my dogs each time they needed to go out to not having to move at all. it's pretty awesome. nate, our BFF and renter, has a room on the third floor that overlooks the roof. two nights ago i went upstairs looking for him and couldn't find him. turns out he has a new hangout spot on the roof that he can access from his window. the light from his bedroom creates this perfect beam that hits right where he would be sitting and holding a book at night so he can read/write without a flashlight. the stars are also incredible here at night! i love just laying out on the grass staring up at them.

one of the absolute best parts about our house is that we can entertain guests so much easier here than at the old Coughlin place. guests aren't all up in our space and we aren't all up in theirs. Emberly has been serving as a little time-out spot for our friends where they can get away from their cities and chillax here. every week it seems friends are texting me asking if they can come up for the night! this summer is gonna be awesome. we are hoping to get a firepit put in so we can hang outside a lot.

another third story bedroom has been assigned as a work out room. it's been put to good use too! we are all enjoying some level of fitness each day, although scott already works 9 hours outside lifting walls...so he is already getting a work out lol. but we are all conscientious of our health and want to be fit this year. moving out of the city has really helped relax me and get me into a better state of mind to focus on stuff like this :)

well that's pretty much all to update so far. the rest of our time is spent watching Parks and Rec, editing photos, sitting outside in the sun, and going for neighbourhood walks. life has finally settled down into a "norm" and we are really enjoying our peace and quiet in Grey County!