October 15, 2011

Home Tour

8:00 AM 3 Comments
I have had lots of family & friends asking to see pictures of the new house! These are the pictures I took during our inspection, and now that we actually own the place, I feel ok sharing them now!
Down the road, I would love to take a picture of each room as we work on it as a before & after. For now, here is the general idea! (You asked for it-every detail!)

Front of our home!

Front Porch

Sitting room

View from sitting room into the dining room (front door is on the left)

Dining Room

View from the front door

View of the front door (love that space on the left-perfect for a canvas!)

The office-only room in the house that was painted...unfortunately

Powder Room

Living Room

Kitchen

Laundry Room

View from the kitchen (2 doors are office & powder room)

Cut through from kitchen to dining room. Basement door on left

Down to the basement!

Future bathroom and bedroom

Future man cave

Future kitchenette and outdoor storage space

Future craft room/office

Future Nursery (upstairs)-I know, the name is misleading. It will stay empty until we need it! : )

Our bedroom

Our bathroom

Ben's closet

My Closet

Shower

My vanity

Ben's vanity

Potty room

Bathtub! (please notice the window above...curtains ASAP!)

We have a 2 story family room-I love this!

Maya & Laurel's room

Guest bathroom

Guest shower/tub

Guest bath again

Guest bedroom

Back deck
There you have it! I can't wait to begin posting picture of our before and after, as well as 'future plans'. I have to remember that we have a long time to get our house just the way we want it...we are taking our time!

October 14, 2011

Closing and Moving Day(s)!

3:15 PM 0 Comments
I have found that Ben and I can't do just one thing at a time. It's not our busy, hectic life that we love unless we have multiple things going on at once. In the past few weeks, we closed on our house, bought appliances, MOVED, went out of town twice, played hostess to our out of town family, and stood beside Ken & Amanda as they tied the knot. Whew!
Let's start from the top!

On September 21, we got up early to make some more progress in packing up the house before heading to the attorney's office. Fast-forward to 11am, and we were proud new owners of a home!
Here is the tricky part: Our closing was delayed about a week due to an unfortunate tax error made by our CPA. We had lots of help lined up the week before, but here we were on a Wednesday with only 2 days off together. Ben looked at me and said, "Honey, we are going to have to move by ourselves".
I would have never imagined the type of strength I had in me: moving dressers, beds, mattresses, couches, entertainment centers...up and down stairs!

We collapsed into a makeshift bed and got up early on Thursday to do it again! We moved the entire contents of a 3 bedroom townhouse in a little over 24 hours.

We used our front sitting room as a staging area...this was a few days before closing. 

I guess we did have some help

Our sitting room on moving day!

Ready to load!

Bye house (trip 1 of 3)

Rowen is "checking things out" in the new house

New washer & dryer!

And yes, we are still married : )

September 17, 2011

Birthday Fun

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I woke up on the morning of my birthday determined to follow Ben's instructions to "relax, and NO CLEANING!" But after my 2 cups of coffee, I got a little stir crazy and decided it would be a great idea to work on packing the house! Needless to say, when the hubby got home at 11am and most of our office was in boxes, he was a little irritated, although impressed with my progress. I think I would have been miserable sitting around staring at empty boxes-I'm much happier when I'm productive!
We planned a dinner at La Parilla with close friends and family. I had a great time celebrating with these folks. I also had the honor of sharing a birthday with Rowen! (and her brother Jack). After dinner, we moved the party to our house to celebrate with the four-legged kiddos.

Laurel made me a "bouquet" of flowers-'nilla wafers with peanut butter, dipped in chocolate and decorated. She put them in a "vase" of jelly beans. So creative!

Sister & Brother-in-Law (and future niece/nephew!)

Ugh, these people and gorgeous olive-toned skin. I look ghostly!

                              BFF's Dad and sister-I have grown up with these people!
    
First picture together...love!

My birthday cake with the pumpkin vine  Happy 25!

My wish came true!

Jack & Rowen's cake: ground beef layered with mashed potatoes. : )

They loved it!

Playing with their new toy!

We have celebrated so many birthdays together!

He did such a great job coordinating it all!


September 16, 2011

Best Wishes for the Soon to Be MRS!

10:07 PM 0 Comments
Over Labor Day weekend, I had a great time celebrating with my BFF and soon to be MRS! We kicked off the weekend with a bridal shower at Olde Blind Dog Irish Pub, a nod to Christa's heritage. Although a bit warm, we enjoyed the outdoor patio area and some delicious food! Our hostesses did an awesome job with decor and fun games, including a Spanish multiple choice quiz (Christa taught middle school Spanish).

                                                  Picture board of the bride & groom

Our beautiful bride-to-be. We were served champagne with ROCK CANDY in it-yum!

I had to capture the feather boa

Christa with her Mom and future Mother-in-Law

Ok, it was GameDay...I had to capture my UT spirit!

After the shower, we dropped gifts off, then headed to Lake Lanier for a bachelorette weekend! A few months ago, I asked Christa what type of bachelorette party she wanted, and she described a relaxing weekend on the lake with good music, food, and company.
I dedicated an entire post to the details just because I loved putting it all together!
I must admit, I was a terrible photographer that weekend. I intended to use my Mom's Nikon D90, but soon realized she needs a better flash for indoors, and my camera battery died...so I did the best I could!

                         Ok, long day and sans makeup (can't believe I am posting these!)

                                                                      Cheers!

                                                    I don't think she liked it

                                            We were singing MmmBop. Yup

Christa opted for a "Spice Up Their Night" shower rather than a lingerie shower...it was fun to see everyone's interpretation of the theme!

                                               Breath drops? ...something like that!          

                                                               Fun indeed

Her special blanket

 
We had such a fun & relaxing weekend. Christa said it was perfect and just what she needed to help her unwind and spend some quality time with the girls before the big day. It will be here before you know it!

Bachelorette Details

9:43 PM 0 Comments
I had SO much fun planning the decor and food for Christa's bachelorette party. I just had to document all of it!
Invitations: via Paper Affair


Thank goodness for stencils!




I made a picture banner that stretched the whole length of the house

                                         All pictures of the bride with her bridesmaids!

We discovered Kendal's hidden talent-baking! She made these cupcakes!

What Bachelorette party would be complete without bride & groom bottle covers?!

A picture frame with some pretty scrapbook paper behind it-instant dry-erase board
(Thank you Pinterest!)


So, coming from someone who can barely draw a stick person, this was a stretch, but I'm pretty happy with how our details turned out, and I think Christa loved the decor!