I was telling some friends tonight that I thought it had been about one year since we came and looked at the house that has become our home. I went to my facebook and sure enough, we first came to see the house on March 29, 2013, which was Good Friday last year. We weren’t necessarily looking to move, but I had been keeping my eye on a couple of neighborhoods near campus when this one popped up. We liked it the first time we saw it, but when we saw it the second time, we fell in love. The wall coming down the stairs that Shane could hit his head on went from being a deal-breaker to something he could live with. (I don’t think he’s hit his head yet, so that’s good.) This is the first picture (left) I took of the house when we came to see it. I don’t remember saying it, but Shane swears I looked around and said, “this is a great house for parties.” And I was absolutely right.

We’ve already created many memories in our new home. We’ve celebrated back to school, football, baseball, basketball, Christmas, Thanksgiving, birthdays, anniversaries, Fridays, movies, tv shows, and friends. We need very little reason to get together, drink, eat, and laugh. We realized early on there’s wasn’t enough sitting in our family room, so Shane and I moved an extra sofa in to watch the World Series last fall (even though it looked ridiculous). By Thanksgiving, I had my Dad and brother moving things all around to have more sitting, and it looks great. I am reminded of how you might think you will use a space, but until you live in it, you don’t really know. I’m really glad we’ve waited on furniture for some of the rooms because I think we will make different choices now.

I really love when friends and others refer to our home as E2 (pronounced e-squared), which for those who don’t know stands for Eble-Ernst (since I kept my name). A very funny, close friend started calling us that and addressing cards to us as E2. We loved it and the manor part is a reference to Batman (although it’s not quite Wayne Manor (not even close), Shane does have a man cave.)

Thanks to all who have helped us make cherished memories at E2, and a special shout-out to Andygator, who’s been helping me making the outside of E2 manor beautiful as we move into spring.