It's my birthday weekend!

I turn 26 on Sunday!  I'm pretty excited about my birthday this year.  I don't have any big plans or anything, but just excited for the day in general.

To kick off the celebrations, last night Bill took me to see Bridesmaids.  I've been bugging him to go and see this since it came out, and let's just say, it didn't disappoint!  I loved it.  It made me laugh, made me cry.  All the necessities of a good movie in my opinion. 

Tonight we are going out to eat with my family.  I have a cousin home from California so it will be good to see her, and then my parents are taking me out for dessert.  Yum!

No other big plans for the weekend, but the weather looks like it is going to be pure perfection on Sunday.  Maybe a bike ride and picnic will be in order to celebrate my big day. 

Have a great weekend everyone!
xoxo

Lookie what we did!

She's all ours!  Currently trying to name her...

This summer just got 1000000000 times cooler (or hotter when you think about baking in the sun with no roof).  I'll take it either way!

Anyone else trying their best to help the economy these days???  I'm also headed to Express on my lunch break.  Hopefully the damage is minimal.

It's Friday, Friday!

For a short work week, this week really seemed to drag on.

This weekend I'm hoping to start working on a dresser I bought off Craigslist.  I want to start the sanding and painting process!  We'll see how it goes, or if I even get up the nerve to get started!

Other things I'm looking forward to this weekend:
1.  Florist appointment for the wedding.
2.  Possibly buying a Jeep!
3.  Watching my sister's dog Mesa.
4.  Cleaning up the garage and getting ready for garage sale next weekend.

Here's to hoping it is another great weekend!

Cheers!

Brooklyn Turned 2!

I can't believe Brooklyn is two years old!  It seems like yesterday that we got to pick her up and call her ours.

Prepare yourself for Brooklyn overload.  I just can't help myself!

Happy Second Birthday Brooklyn!  Your momma loves you!

Back to school...

photo courtesy

I was originally very excited about starting school again.  The idea of continually learning as I get older is something that is very important to me.  After two weeks of class though, I've realized that I highly romanticized going back to school. 

I imagined studying in the student union, feelings of accomplishment, and I even seem to have better time management when I'm busy.

While the time management thing is working out, the actual class part stinks!  Now, instead of studying in the student union, I study at home.  Studying at home is hard.  I see everything I am missing out on.  Hanging out with Bill and Brooklyn, keeping the house clean, and quite frankly, just enjoying my down time. 

The class I'm taking is neither easy nor hard.  So far I've been doing pretty well; however, I have a test tonight that I haven't quite studied for so we will see how I feel tomorrow.

Is anyone else considering going back to school?  After this class, I'm not sure if I really want to sign up for the whole masters program.  I like having my nights and weekends to do as I wish.  At least I will have this prequisite done if I ever do decide to apply to grad school.

Happy Wednesday!  Wish me luck on my test!

School and a Purse

My first night of class went well last night.  Although, I realized that three hours of class two nights of the week might start to feel really grueling...

In honor of my first day of school (do I still get back to school clothes??) I bought myself a new purse!

nine west

Can't wait for this beauty to show up on my doorstep!

Also, Bill is home, and all is right in the world again!  Brooklyn is infinitely more happy, as am I!

Can't wait for the weekend! Maybe I can convince Bill I need to go back to school shopping :)

I miss him...

Bill's been traveling for work a lot lately. 

I miss having him around.  And I know Brooklyn sure misses him.  I'm not nearly as much fun.

Can't wait for him to get home tomorrow.

Sorry for the long blog silence. 

With Bill traveling so much, my life consists of wedding planning, hanging out with the dog and cleaning...not much else.

I do start school tomorrow though (what??). 
That's right, I've decided that I might apply to a program to start my MHA, but I never took microeconomics in undergrad. 
Therefore, I start micro tomorrow night for the first summer session. 
Depending on how this goes, I might consider graduate school...

The thought of homework is terrifying though.

Happy Tuesday all!

Dutch Door Inspiration

I'd really like to have a dutch door off our kitchen, leading into the backyard.  We currently need a new back door because the one we inherited has a big crack down the bottom. 

Dreaming of turning it in to something more like this though.

via

via coastal living

Dutch doors just seem so inviting!

Extreme Couponing Craziness

Has anyone else seen this show?  This is by far one of the craziest shows I've seen in a long time.  I love to coupon, but this is quite out of control. 

I don't even think it is possible.  All of the stores near us have policies that would prevent the savings these people are getting. 

For instance, most manufacturer's coupons will only be doubled up to 50 cents, and only on the first two of the same items.  If you buy more than two of the same thing, the face value of the coupon is only given after the first two.

Also, who needs more deodorant than they will ever use in their entire life?  Or diapers for kids you don't even have.  If these people can really get all of this stuff for free, I hope they are donating the excess things. 

I'll stick to clipping my one insert of coupons a week, and be happy with my $20 savings, thank you very much!

Loving this

I came across this lovely store through another blog recently, called the vintage pearl.  There is so much on their website that I am loving. 

Especially these earrings.

photo courtesy via

I also really like these baby spoons...I think I have the perfect couple to gift this to later this year!!!

photo courtesy via

I just might have to remember this come my birthday. 

Happy Monday!

This morning we woke up to thunderstorms.  It would have been a perfect day to stay in bed. 

Brooklyn is terrified of thunderstorms.  So we snuggled her on the couch...she loves/hates when I do this to her...I couldn't resist!

This past weekend seemed like pure perfection.  Bill and I got all of our cleaning/chores out of the way Thursday and Friday night so we wouldn't feel guilty about not doing them over the weekend 

The weather was perfectly in tune with the beginning of April.  We ran a few errands Saturday morning, got both cars cleaned, and then my sister Deanna and I went to visit our cousin in the hospital.  It was so nice to see our cousin Brandi, and we are wishing her a speedy recovery, and praying for answers.

After the hospital, Bill and I made pizzas for lunch and then jumped on the Butler bandwagan.  You see, we live about a mile away from the Butler University campus, so there is a lot of bulldog pride going on around us (since they are going to the NCAA championship game).  So before Saturday night's game, we went over to Butler's campus and walked around a bit.  It is just beautiful.  We even bought some lovely t-shirts to sport during the game. And what great game it was!

Sunday was one of those days you never want to end.  I got to sleep in, eat yummy cereal, do a bit of laundry and then have lunch with my man.  Following that, we spent about an hour or so at the dog park with our favorite pooch.  With the weather so nice, it was hard not to be outside.  We finished the night off with BLTs for dinner and then ice cream with my family!  Pure bliss!

Tonight will be spent cheering the Butler Bulldogs on in the NCAA championship game.  Here's to hoping they can pull it off. 

Happy Monday!

Same Time, Last Year

Last year, on March 31, 2010, Bill and I were signing a bunch of documents for our first house.  That's right, it's been exactly a year since the house was officially ours.  How crazy is that?  Time flies so fast.

So in honor of our one year anniversary, here are the top ten reasons I love our house:

1.  Location, location, location.  We are walking distance to local bars, restaurants, and hang outs.

2.  The history of our house.  It was the first house built on the block, a small farm house.  The river rock on the front was hand carried by the original owner's three daughters from the local river.

3.  I call it a love house.  Bill proposed on the front porch last July, carrying on the tradition of love.  The original owner's three daughters were all married in the house in front of the fireplace.  He even widened the stairs for their dresses to flow down.

4.  The front porch.  Some nights I love nothing more than sitting on the front porch enjoying the evening.  We light candles, watch neighbors pass by, and even get to watch the occasional thunderstorm coming in.

5.  The half bathroom.  It's so nice to have a bathroom downstairs that guests can use.  Especially when ours is a mess upstairs (which is most of the time, who are we kidding).

6.  Our brand new driveway.  When we bought the house, it was gravel.  Now it is a lovely asphalt drive and my tires now longer spin when going up it.

7.  The fireplace.  There's nothing better than on a cold winter night, snuggling up on the couch and having a wood burning fire.

8.  The removal of a few of our trees. 

9.  The hardwood floors!  I love them!

10.  Just the fact that it is our real first place, and we get to call it home.  It is our little oasis, that belongs only to us...as long as we continue to pay for it!!!


And here are a few things that made our first year a bit rough.

1.  Large branches falling out of trees, hitting the gutters and narrowly missing our cars.

2.  Water from our bathtub overflowing into our dining room below.  This was a very bad day for me.  The sound of rushing water into your house is not a good sound.  We ended up having a hole in our dining room ceiling for about a month...

3.  A lovely root ball in our main sewer line that cost us quite a bit of money and required ripping up part of that lovely new driveway I mentioned earlier...ouch!

4.  The hardwood floors!  I know I put this on the above list, because I do love them.  But I also fear for them.  Brooklyn's paws and nails are not easy on them, and I am consistently worried about them getting scratched.  They are also so hard to keep clean!

The good definitely out ways the bad!  We definitely feel like we've been initiated into home ownership this past year, but we still wouldn't change any of our decisions.  We love this house!

Right now:

Current happenings going on around me right now:

*Listening to the Avett Brothers' "The New Love Song" on Pandora.

*Sitting in my cubicle at work...the joys of life!

*Stressing about a job interview I have later today...eek! 

*Day Dreaming of warmer weather so Bill and I can take bike rides that end with ice cream!

Happy Tuesday! 

Did I Ever Tell You...

We were once in the newspaper?  Well, we were.  It was last September.  About two months after we moved in, we were approached by the local housing association about having our house on the local historical tour.  We couldn't say no to that!

So we spent the first six months of living in the house just getting it full of furniture and atleast a few things hung on the walls.

About a month before the tour, our house was selected to be featured in the Indianapolis Star.  The article turned out fantastic!  It was the front page of the home and garden section (we were completely in shock!) and they even included our favorite pooch!

The article is no longer online, but the picture gallary is.  Click here to see.  I'm not allowed to post the pics myself as they are protected by copywrite.  Side note:  the first eleven photos are our house...it goes straight into the next gallery after that (although the next house looks amazing, I can't claim it as my own).

I'll try to scan the article and post tomorrow.

Happy Wednesday!

Our House

I think today would be a great day to show you what the inside of our house looked like while we were in the early stages of purchasing it.  I have to admit, the house was/is in really good shape, and we are lucky we don't have to do a lot of upgrades as first time homebuyers.  Therefore, most of the changes we've done to date have been for personal reasons.  Although, I maintain that removing the big tree in the front yard helps curb appeal, which will some day help in property value!

So, here is the house as we saw it when we first drove by.  

The property did not show up on any of our listings, we just happened to be driving down the street it is on to go to an open house for a house that was on our list.  When I saw the for sale sign, I couldn't help but get excited.  It was gorgeous!  It looked like a warm, comfortable lodge.  We thought, if we loved how it looked in the winter, that we'd probably love it in the summer as well!  We've since had the driveway paved as well, which makes it look so much nicer and also helps with the value of the house.

The first room you see is the living room.  The front door opens up right into the middle, which can make it pretty difficult when it comes to decorating.  I immediately fell in love with the hardwood floors (which were newly sealed after this pic) and the fireplace.

The house has all brand new windows which was a huge selling feature to us.  In most of the older houses we looked at, a lot of the windows were painted shut!  Such a shame.  The front door is also the original door to the house.  I guess I should mention that the house was the first house built on the block. It was the original farm house (our local historical society even has some old pics of it) in the area built in 1918.  We love the history of the house!

Here's a view of the other end of the living room  So many windows!  Gotta love the natural light!

Next is the dining room.  It right off the living room.  The swinging door in the back left goes into the kitchen.

Here is a small glimpse into the kitchen.  I can't seem to find all of my pictures right now of the kitchen, but I can update that later.  This is the small addition that was added on to the house in the 40s and serves as a breakfast nook.  Again, I love all the windows and natural light.

I wanted to include this picture as well as it contains the original built-ins on the left.  We use them as a pantry right now as we are limited on storage space, but they are just darling.  

We also have a half bath right off the kitchen.  Another big item on our "want" list.  We rented a house with only one bathroom, and it was a pain for guests to have to go upstairs to our (usually messy) bathroom.

This is a small glimpse into the third bedroom (the only room on the main floor).  We use it as a catchall right now.  It is Brooklyn's room, the office and also has a futon for any overflow of guests.

When you walk upstairs, you run right into our bathroom.  It was completely gutted and redone. 

The upstairs bedrooms are both the same size (no master suite for us).  The ceilings are slanted in the bedrooms but I think it makes them feel cozy.  This is the room that faces the front of the house that we currently use as a guest bedroom.

Not sure where my pic of the other room is, but just picture this same thing with a slightly different wall color facing the back of the house that we use for our bedroom.

I promise that I will soon take some current pictures of the house so you can see what we've actually done with some of the rooms.  We've lived here for about a year, so not a whole lot has been taken off our to-do list yet.

Productivity

Bill stayed home from work yesterday because he wasn't feeling so hot at the start of the day.  By mid-morning though, things were turning around, and I have to say, I could get used to him staying home.  While I was at work, this new light I recently bought magically got hung in our living room!  I apologize I don't have any pics yet, I spent all night saying thank you over and over again, but here is a pic from CB2's website!

photo courtesy of CB2

Also, the dishes got done, the floor and rugs were cleaned and all the clutter put away.  It felt great coming home to a clean house!

On another side note, he had dinner planned and ready to go so we could start cooking as soon as we got back from taking Brooklyn to the dog park!  My least favorite phone call of the day is the "what do you want for dinner tonight" phone call, so it was so nice not to have to think about it!  And it was delicious too!

All of this to say, I think Bill would be a better stay at home "parent" than I would be.  I probably would have watched Oprah and Law and Order all day!

Sadly, I never heard back from the Craigslist posting regarding the dresser I was interested in...bummer.  The search continues!

Landscaping: Part 2 - Hello Yard

The trees came out last week and I'm finally getting around to posting the pictures.  I can't profess enough how much I love our front yard now.  You can clearly see the house and everything just looks so great.  Exactly the way I pictured it.  Bill loves it too, so that makes me feel even better!  Now we just need to get some grass seed and hope it grows!

Here are a few before pics again...


And here are the amazing (in my opinion) afters...

I feel like our home is now the showcase of the yard, and not some overgrown Christmas tree.  It makes me love our house even more!

The backyard also looks great.  It definitely opens up the space more and makes it feel a lot bigger.  Brooklyn was a bit confused the first time she went out, but has since come to terms with the missing trees.  She really likes to try and chew on the trunk that was left for us.  We are hoping to use some of the leftover trunk as firewood, but some of the pieces are huge!  Thinking maybe we can use some of the as "extra seats" around the fire pit!  We shall see!

If you'll remember the before...

And now the after...

Obviously there is still a ton of work to do back here.  Our main focus will be the grass.  Hopefully we can sod the backyard soon and it will look even better!

In other news, I found a really cool dresser on craigslist I'm hoping to buy and repaint for the dining room!  I haven't heard back though, so hopefully it is still available.  Fingers crossed!!!

Have a great weekend!  I'll leave you with my to-do list this weekend:

1.  Hopefully pick up new dresser!
2.  Hair appointment--getting highlights.  So nervous!
3.  Dinner with a work friend and her husband!  Today's groupon just happened to be the same place we are going...score!
4.  Clean, clean and clean the house.

5.  Rid-a-pest appointment--our yearly termite appointment to keep our warranty and our house pest free!

6.  Lunch/Early Dinner with Bill's mom.

7.  Reading on my new eReader!  Whoo hoo!

Landscaping: Part 1 - Goodbye Trees

Bill and I recently decided that we really wanted to do some landscaping so we can enjoy our outdoor space much more come spring/summer.  The main focus for the beginning is to get some grass to grow.  This has proven to be very difficult for two reasons:

1.  Too much shade due to some unhealthy trees in our yard.

2.  This little monster (Brooklyn that is, not Bill).

Therefore, we are currently undergoing Phase 1 of Project Landscape.  We are removing four trees from our property. 

The first one lives in the front yard right off the driveway and closer to the street.  We've learned that it was once a previous owner's christmas tree, but has since grown taller than our house and shades most of the front yard allowing minimal grass growth.  The roots are becoming extremely large; therefore, preventing any additional grass to plant in the earth.  I, for one, am not sad to see this guy go.  I haven't liked him since we moved in.  He is lopsided and his lower branches have been cut off, so he is just plain ugly.  I think Bill is a little more worried about his removal. 

The other three trees live in the fenced in portion of our backyard.  We were recently told that none of them are particulary healthy so it wouldn't hurt to take them out.  I think this is a great solution to problem of growing grass in the backyard.  Currently it is mostly dirt/mud, as you can see in the pics below.  I've planted grass seed, overseeded it, watered it, but nothing really takes.  Too much shade, and unfortunately, Brooklyn likes to eat and scatter anything I try to plant back there.  We are hoping to sod the fenced in portion of the backyard in order to increase our chances of having grass back there. 

The trees are coming down today, and I am extremely nervous.  I hope that my convincing Bill to take them out was the right decision.  We shall see! 

A lovely weekend

This weekend felt perfect.  I got a lot of my "to do" items done, but also had a lot of family time.  It didn't feel like I was necessarily doing chores, but just having fun.

Saturday was filled with family.  Bill and I met up with my parents, as well as Deanna and Brent for breakfast.  I love going out for breakfast.  Then Bill and I had a blast running all over town finishing errands and doing a little bit of grocery shopping. 

When we got home, we did a bit of cleaning and a bit of relaxing.  We followed that with hosting a Chinese dinner for my mom's side of the family.  It turned out to only be eight of us, but it was so inviting, and intimate, that I thought it turned out perfectly.  We laughed a lot and just had a really great time.

After dinner I got to reconnect with some friends that I hadn't seen in awhile.  It always feels good to see old friends.

Sunday was another great day.  I slept in and then Bill and I went and worked out at the gym.  Lunch at the Pita Pit and a trip to my happy place, aka Target, completed what felt like a great afternoon.  We even went to Lowes to buy a ladder and summer gutter stuff to fix our gutter that the ice had pulled down.  Somehow, this boring task of fixing our gutters didn't even seem like a pain.  Something about fixing the place that you call home can bring about a great feeling of accomplishment.  It was also a good thing we did this as we woke up at 3am to a serious thunderstorm/tornado warning, and a torrential downpour.  So glad the gutters were fixed to help with the drainage!

So while the weekend went extremely fast, I wouldn't have wanted to do anything differently.  It was perfect.  Even the part where I had to scrub the shower...

Friday Favorites

I thought it might be fun to look at a few of my favorite things right now...

  

1.  I'd love to have this laundry basket from Pier 1.  Something about it makes me want to be very domestic.  It is much prettier than the standard plastic laundry baskets.

Photo courtesy of Pier 1

2.  I'd also love this three tiered basket for our half bath downstairs.  I first saw it on the Home and Harmony blog and fell in love!  A cute, yet functional addition it would be. 

Photo courtesy of Pier 1

3.  Anthropologie has me swooning over most of their things.  I currently have their volcano candle in our living room and burn it about everyday. 

Photo courtesy of Anthropologie

4.  I wouldn't mind having this for the kitchen either!

Photo courtesy of Anthropologie

5.  One last thing that is currently listed as one of my favorites are these jeans by GAP.  I actually already have these, and they are so cute and comfortable. 

Photo courtesy of the GAP

It is hard to find jeans that I really like so I bought two pairs while I was there.  They are a pit pricey, but definitely worth it.  The only negative is that they are a little bit more of a high waist jean than what I am used to, and the waist seems to stretch out throughout the day.   A belt cures all of this though! 

So those are just a few of the things I'm currently obsessing over.  I think I might have to run to Pier 1 this weekend for that laundry basket...we shall see.

Here's to a fun, relaxing weekend.

Cheers!

Busy Day

Today has been one of those days that started out with good intentions, but seemed to slowly slip away.  I woke up this morning ready to be productive (I even made the bed for once!).  I am implementing a new cleaning system that I am hoping will really stick (more on that later) and at work I was prepared to knock off a huge chunk of my to-do list. 

photo courtesy via

Unfortunately, things don't always go as planned.  For one, I didn't necessarily jump eagerly out of bed...it was more like dragging/forcing myself after I hit snooze for a half hour.  Nonetheless, I did make the bed, put my clothes in the hamper, and played with Brooklyn a little bit before I left for work.  I'd call that a success!

At work, I was ready to get all the things I'd been procrastinating done...unfortunately, I decided to read a few blogs and got sidetracked.  I did finally get to work though, but my afternoon was shot with meetings, so I didn't even get one full item off my list.  So depressing. 

I'm eager to get home, because I actually want to knock my nightly chores out (again, I hope this new cleaning system works).  Here's to hoping I don't get sidetracked by the television or my book for book club. 

Anybody else ever get as sidetracked as I do?  There always seems to be something more entertaining to do!  I just can't help myself.