Farewell, Google Reader.

I knew Google Reader was on it's way out, but frankly forgot about it completely until I tried to access my feed this morning and found it blank. Oops. Nothing like waiting until the last minute - or more like missing the last minute completely and scrambling in this new Google-Readerless world to get myself organized.

Feedly is my first choice, but as some of you may have noticed, it is buggy at the moment. So until they get their kinks worked out, I'm playing around with Bloglovin'. We'll see which one wins in the end. In the meantime, you can follow me on Bloglovin' here : Follow my blog with Bloglovin. (This also validates my blog so others can find it and add it to their feeds.) 

We are in our new house, but don't have Internet access yet. Trying to blog from my phone is supremely annoying. So more to come once we are fully hooked up and crushing the information super highway once again!

The Great Clem Family Re-boot

Since my last post (yes, in February) we made the decision to leave New Jersey. Kevin had finally reached his limit with the 3 hour round trip commute in and out of New York City. Thankfully, his end-of-his-rope moment coincided perfectly with his company's need for someone to help build their West Coast presence. So our long-time dream of living back in California came true years sooner than we had anticipated. On March 4 we spoke with our agent in NJ and started getting our house ready to show...and on June 4 we loaded a truck with all our earthly belongings (where did all this crap come from?!?) and tearfully said good-bye to our first home and dear friends.

Since June 4th, we've been living in a furnished apartment while our stuff made it's way across the country and we closed on our house here. And today we finally get to move into our brand new place! Woo Hoo!

Since we've been here in San Diego, I've been thinking a lot about routines...and ruts. There are very few times in life when you get to make a true fresh start. Sure, New Year's tends to be our time to re-think our habits and consider changes. But I find it's hard to make real changes when my daily life looks exactly the same - same food in the pantry, same classes at the gym, same carpool to drive - all the same obstacles that kept me from making changes on December 31 are still there on January 2.

But here we have a true clean slate, a true fresh start. Our routines (ruts?) have been completely derailed and we have the chance to re-boot. I'm still working out how to best take advantage of this - but we are excited about the opportunity to change our health, our habits, all those things that we would love to transform, but often find impossible against the current of our daily lives.

Ok, off to pack the rest of our clothes in suitcases and clear out this apartment. We'll be sleeping in our new house tonight!

Come on over...

I'm writing over at Doodlebugheart this morning. Come on over and visit!

A little piece of heaven...

Just my own personal piece of peace on a Tuesday afternoon.

Hoping you can find your own corner of comfort...

Celebrating 5 years!

Ok, I'm not going to get into how long it has been since I blogged. Onward and upward. This weekend we celebrated Cameron's 5th birthday in full superhero fashion. Superheroes have been a predominant theme around our house for over a year and a half. Last year Captain America was the hero of choice. This year he has been outpaced by Spider-man.

We held his party at a local indoor playspace filled with inflatables called Screamin' Parties. This place is kid heaven - bright colors, loud music, bounce houses and inflatable slides. The perfect place for energetic 2-5 year olds on a chilly January day. He was one happy kid...and little brother was pretty jazzed too.

 

Progress and Play Time

The kitchen is moving along now. In the first month there was so much done, but not a lot of visible progress...well, apart from an entire wall disappearing. They did electrical work, plumbing, insulation - important stuff that doesn't look very dramatic. But in the last week they've done new hardwoods, finished the coffered ceiling, and are in the process of installing the cabinets! So exciting!!

Here is the kitchen at the beginning of the day yesterday. Coffered ceiling is done - it's amazing!

 (Cameron is in the corner inspecting the work.)

By the end of the day, here's what it looked like...

And here's the wall with the fridge and pantry...

And since the weather is beautiful and we are tired of being stuck in the basement, the boys and I went over to the Saddle River to do one of their very favorite things...throw rocks in the water. We picnicked there for dinner and then grabbed ice cream before heading home to scrub off lots of mud and chocolate. Good times!

Stalling

So it has been weeks since I last posted, and I have a lot of really good reasons why. Since the last post we went here...

And saw this...

 And this...

And this...

 

 And met her...

Then we came back home for one night, frantically unpacked, repacked, and then left the next morning for Texas to visit all kinds of family - grandparents, great grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins - it was fantastic!

While we were there, this is what they were doing to my kitchen...

So we're home now, and our house is in complete renovation chaos - but it is going to be so awesome!

Here's the most recent photo of the renovation - walls are up, floors are done and they're currently installing the coffered ceiling in the kitchen to match the dining room. More photos - and blog posts - to come!