Sunday Morning Ride Through High Park

This morning I decided to rent a bike and ride through High Park.  What a beautiful Sunday morning for a bike ride!  There are so many paths along the lake with great views.  The area is very accomodating to bikers, runners....and even rollerbladers!  I was surprised to see the number of people who rollerblade.  I'm not sure I'll join that group just yet; for now, I'll stick with biking :).  The weather was perfect for a bike ride.  I think I rode about 10 miles, maybe a little less, but it was a good work out for someone who hasn't been on a bike in a very long time.  I think this ride prepared me for my first spin class - which I plan to go to on Tuesday!

Below are a few pictures I took while biking through the park.

Happy 93rd Birthday Nanee!

My grandmother Nanee turned 93 today!! It seems like yesterday that all of my dad's side of the family joined at my aunts house to celebrate her 90th birthday.  I tell you, Nanee is doing so good! She is one determined woman!  I called her tonight and said, "How are you feeling Nanee?"  She responds with, "I'm feeling great, I'm just a little slow!"  God Bless her.  She is so sweet.  And she is right, she sounded great on the phone but I think it bothers her that she doesn't move as fast as she used to.  Nanee is wonderful and I'm so glad she is feeling healthy! I hope we can visit her next time I'm home visiting. 

Andrew and I were very fortunate that she was able to come to our wedding in May.  Below are two pictures of Nanee, Andrew and I.  She was the light of the party and I know she had a great time!
 

I am so blessed to have my such a happy, heathly and wonderful grandmother (1 of 2 actually, my other grandmother is 90!). I LOVE YOU NANEE! 

Welcome to the Echols' New Blog - New Chapter, New Town, New Beginning!

A big thank you to my hubby for starting this blog!  This is something I have been wanted to start and he mentioned something to me yesterday about starting one - great minds think alike, huh?

Anyway, welcome to our blog where we hope to share our adventures and memories with our family and friends!

I purposely titled this post New Chapter, New Town, New Beginnings because we are going through a lot new and exciting changes....

I'll start with our "New Chapter"...

As many of your know, Andrew and I got married on May 14, 2011.  We will celebrate our one month anniversary tomorrow! Yey!  We got married at Smith Mountain Lake, VA.  It was our picture perfect wedding!  We were so lucky to have our friends and family join us for our special day.  These are just a few pictures I wanted to share...when I get my personal computer (Andrew is bringing it to me at the end this month) I will post more pics! Here is a glimpse of our wedding day:







This one is my favorite photo!

We hope you enjoy our pictures as much as we have! I'll be sure to post some pictures of our honeymoon as well!! 

Our "New Town"...

In the midst of wedding planning earlier this year, I also accepted a job transfer to Toronto!  That's right, we were wedding planning and relocating, all at the same time.  It was crazy busy time for us, but we knew it was the right time.  I moved after our honeymoon and got us all settled.  Life, though, won't be complete until Andrew moves in December - yes 6 more months of long distance!  We can do it!  He will move after graduation.  He is so anxious to be finished with school.  While he is in school, he is also doing an internship with a building firm in Atlanta.  He loves it!  It's so exciting that he has a job he enjoys!

We love Toronto!  We thought since neither of us have really lived the "city life" we would take advantage of this great opportunity and life in a high rise in downtown Toronto.  We are a block from the subway, easy access to the sports areas and within walking distance to several restaurants - who could ask for more! :) We explored the city on our home finding trip and chose a condo that over looks Lake Ontario. Here is a view of our condo:

Believe it or not and contrary to popular belief, it actually is warm in the summer.  The weather has been great so far - of course I moved a few weeks ago and missed the winter months. 

Although Canada is 90 miles, or should I say 145 kilometers, from the US boarder, there are several things that I have had to get used to and noticed are different from the US...more on that in a future post...

Lots more to come on our adventures in Toronto...Right now I can't wait to spend July 4th weekend with Andrew and my family.  They are visitng for the holiday weekend! 

And "New Beginnings".... 

As Andrew and I begin our new beginning as a married couple, we are looking forward to new adventures and lots of more memories!  We have had so many fun times together since we met in 2008, that I can't imagine what is in store for the future!  We are so excited to begin our life together and kick off our new beginning as "The Echols Family" 

Good afternoon everyone!

Welcome to the blogging antics of myself, Andrew, and my wife, Meredith. Meredith originally had the idea to create a blog and I was totally on board! Anyone who knows me knows I love to talk and I have far to many random facts that a normal person should ever know. So what better place to have a voice than on the internet. This is also a product of a second failed attempt to try twitter. Twitter is just not for me. I don't like it or get it. It makes no sense especially when there are stupid spam "followers" asking you to check out their "pics" on their website. Some of you will know what that means. I will now turn the blogging efforts over to my wife Meredith. Of course she is at work and won't be able to post until tonight which is why I got the ball rolling for both of us. Reporting live from the Atl, this is andrew signing off.