cup45

Why Not?

2011-03-15T21:55:00.000-05:00

Got a boring, flat door hanging in your house? Why not give it a little texture, a little spice?! That's what we did with these two doors leading into our ever important storage room...

I sat down and drew up a few ideas of how to break the plain, flatness up...

Then we decided on a pattern and went to town cutting trim...

A little bit of wood glue and a few air nails later our doors now look like this...

Nothing too amazing, but hey, why not?

Strip and Stain

2011-03-15T21:15:00.000-05:00

Gotta love a good Craig's List find my latest was a dresser set. They came in a kind of a honey, reddish color stain close to this color (why did I not remember to take a true before shot)...

The color wasn't terrible, but it wasn't my favorite either. Thanks to quite a few rough spots, including a soda spill down the front of one dresser, I decided it would be best to strip them down with good'ol citristrip...

Then I did a color test with the left over stain cans we had from the hardwood floors. The winner was Minwax Jacobean on the right...

One coat of Jacobean stain (applied with an old tshirt) and two coats of polyurethane later, the dressers were finally finished...

Sorry, I really need to break out my camera instead of the cell.
This picture shows the color a bit better. It's a nice, rich brown, yet still allows the wood grain to show through...

I really love the clean lines, height off the ground (gotta sweep out dog hair from under things around this house), and lovely wood drawer pulls...

To top it off, I even added a little drawer liner in those bad boys! Now if I could just get around to moving all our clothes in.

A Bedroom Story

2011-03-15T20:29:00.000-05:00

No, not that kind of bedroom story (although, I am sure I could think of few good ones).
THIS STORY involves our master bedroom ceiling. Apparently the previous owner did not prime before applying the ceiling texture. Thus, a few months after moving in our bedroom ceiling started peeling. It was subtle at first, but eventually the peeling got worse. So we got out the scraper out and went to town. Then, when we got tired of scraping, we bought some tongue-and-groove boards to cover the lovely half-textured ceiling up.

This is the ceiling after scraping and marking out the studs with blue chalk lines...

a tonload of tongue-and-groove boards after a couple coats of primer...

an awkwardly side wise picture of Brandon painting the new ceiling with a final coat of white paint...

the crown molding getting their own coat of white paint...

a before picture of the ceiling before crown molding...

and finally, the oh la la after...

Definitely gives the master bedroom and little cottage cabin vibe...time to get all warm and cozy ; )

What Comes After Christmas

2011-03-13T18:24:00.000-05:00

It's our family New Years celebration. Our annual peel-and-eat boiled shrimp New Years dinner.

It consists of packing in a bunch of family into someones house (in this case my parents)...

We even allow a few non family members (yet) to join us...aka "boyfriends." Isn't my sister and her boyfriend Adam cute?!

That being said, these four together are cuter!

And finally, we worked off the shrimp with a little dance dance wii action...

Gotta love a man who can dance ; )

Christmas in March

2011-03-13T18:11:00.000-05:00

That's right, my Christmas post is just now coming in March. I'm a firm believer in better late than never, perhaps because I'm so good at being late. Either way, here are a few memories I don't want to forget from December...

We went over to my parents and they were putting up the Christmas tree...in matching outfits. Unplanned, yet adorable.

We set up our Christmas tree downstairs this year. I hope to get better at decorating it. I got a tree topper after Christmas when they were marked down 75% off. Maybe next year it will be better.

(I swear this picture is saved upright, but the computer is having a mind of its own today)

This is my favorite Christmas present. It came in the mail all the way from Texas. It's two pieces of caramel candy with nuts packaged with festive red paper and masking tape. It's so precious.

It came from these people, my winter Texan grandparents. If you could zoom in you could see they are both wearing those ever fashionable sunglasses that fit over your regular glasses. They love them; I know this because they told me how great they are.

And finally, a picture of the sea of presents over on the Leslie side. They go all out for Christmas...presents everywhere. It's pretty exciting for me, so imagine being my niece Emarea and realizing half of the presents were for her!

That's Christmas in a nutshell. I'm sure there were tons more memories, but my mind is a tad bit foggy three months later...

Attic Insulation

2010-11-10T12:04:00.000-06:00

Our house is old, which means our insulation is old and THIN. Not quite the R-39 attic insulation depth recommended for our region. With Home Depot's free insulation blower with 20 bag green insulation purchase, we decided it was the perfect time to purchase some more before winter hits. We needed 40 bags, or $215 worth of Green Fiber insulation (the recycled, none glass kind). It took all of 3 trips to the hardware store (one for the insulation and a second/third trip to pick up/drop off the machine) and about 6 hours worth of time to get the job done. You need one person to be outside feeding the blocks of insulation into the machine...

And a second person up in the attic, with a mask and eye protection, spraying the insulation to the desired depth...

To top it off, we qualify for a small energy tax credit since we didn't quite max out the tax credit from our windows!

Hopefully we will see a difference in our electricity bills this winter.

Camp Ground Cemetary

2010-11-10T11:49:00.000-06:00

Not far from our house is a small civil war cemetery. It's so close we can walk to it. It is one of my favorite places to walk Cove too, especially in the fall when the leaves are changing...

It is so old most of the headstones are too weathered to read and falling over...

There is also a huge fallen tree that no one has cared to get rid of...

For some reason that cemetery feels really peaceful.

On the way home we made Cove take a picture by a fire hydrant that matched her scarf...

I guess not all dogs like fire hydrants, because she sure doesn't look happy ; )

Little Porch Action

2010-11-09T23:49:00.000-06:00

As I blogged here, our porch wasn't the prettiest...

So we put in a little elbow grease and stripped all the old layers of paint off...

Then we used a little Quikrete semi-transparent concrete stain...

To get a much smoother, rocky gray look (New England Slate)...

(Little tip if you are thinking about using concrete stain...purchase a small paint sprayer that attaches to an air compressor...our first coat we rolled, and you could see every roller stroke when it dried.)

Our front part of our porch was looking a little rough too. We had actually waterproofed the porch when we first moved in, but two years later it was looking like this...

So I got down on my knees and rolled on a fresh coat of ceder colored waterproofer...

As you can see, it was a BIG difference!

Ahhhh....finally, a porch ready for fall!

Last Lake Weekends

2010-10-04T10:43:00.000-05:00

A few memories from our last weekends with the family at the lake before fall...

Gma doing the Gma does best- fishing...

Brandon taking our niece Emarea on a Seadoo ride...

Brandon tipping Emarea into the water (don't worry she still LOVES her some Seadoo)...

Jacque giving Cove some attention...

Cove taking advantage of the attention and deciding she can be lap dog...

My mother in law is WAY TOO nice, exactly why I love her!

Counting down the days until next summer...

Quick Fix

2010-10-04T10:31:00.000-05:00

Ever pile stuff on top of your fridge? Ours happens to be right inside the doorway, so Cove's leash and our bread usually ends up on top of it...

I decided it was time to find something to put Cove's leash in. I ended up picking up two baskets, about the same color as our cabinets, from our local Wally World...

They aren't the greatest, but they conceal our top-of-the-refrigerator piles : )

Weekend Plans

2010-09-11T13:27:00.000-05:00

We decided to take advantage of the nice weather this weekend and stain our porch with that fancy concrete stain stuff. It really needs a face lift...

Our front door was also in desperate need of a new, darker paint color. In case you couldn't tell, our dog is a door jumper on-er....

I took advantage of my 1-9pm shift last week, and prepped...

and painted...

the front door. The paint color is Cooper Adobe Brown from the Valspar collection at Lowe's. I've now decided that I don't like the door window trim white, so I plan on painting it too when I put the second coat on today.

Stay tuned for the front porch stain reveal after the weekend!

Random Happenings Part 2

2010-09-10T10:20:00.000-05:00

Brandon and I decided we should find a dog park to take Cove to a couple weeks ago. She has actually only played with our families dogs, and never really been to a dog park. We were lucky, and actually found one only 5-10 minutes drive away from our house. It took her a good 30 minutes or so to really warm up, but we think she enjoyed it!

When we were looking for the dog park, we came across a wild life reserve with a trail running through it. We decided to go back over the weekend and take a little hike around the trail. It was such a nice trail I think we may go back on our bikes sometime for fun too!

Finally, my dad bought us tickets to a Royals game last week. The new stadium remodel is AWESOME to say the least. Even though they lost, we still had a blast! Thanks Dad...

I still can't believe summer is almost over!

Lesson Learned

2010-08-31T15:04:00.000-05:00

What happens when you don't have a dryer vented to the outside of your house? The dryer causes humidity, and the humidity causes MOLD. Think about the outside of a loaf of bread that got hidden in you cabinet for couple months looking mold. You know, the bluish green mold that grows in circular patterns. This is the kind of mold I discovered on the bottom side of our lower shelves in our storage room while I was down there organizing our stuff. NOT OKAY, HUH?! Here is a little break down of what we had to do to take car of our problem.

FIRST, Brandon tackled the cause of the problem by drawing up these plans...

to build this...

finally allowing our dryer to vent to the outside of our house.

THEN, I took all of of lower shelves outside and gave them a good bath of bleach, let them dry in the sun, and then covered them up in a thick coat of KILLZ...

FINALLY, we made an all important purchase...

Yep, our very own dehumidifier. Why oh why, did we not buy one of these in the first place?!

Sweet Organization

2010-08-31T14:48:00.000-05:00

So, what does one do when they only have to work 40 hours a week? I been using my time to condense and get organized. Since finishing pharmacy boards, I have organized...

2 closets
4 dressers
1 storage room
1 desk
3 boxes of childhood memorabilia
and every single kitchen cabinet

This may seem a bit trivial, but turning something that looks like this...

into something that looks like this...

makes me HAPPY.
I think my local thrift store is a tad bit happy with my 4 trunk loads of stuff to donate as well.

Random Happenings

2010-08-23T11:46:00.000-05:00

Sometimes taking pictures of life events just plain skips my mind. Take for instance my best friend Shelby coming into town to visit for the weekend (the best friend whom I maybe get to see once a year if I'm lucky). We spend the whole weekend together and some how end up with NO pictures! The only thing I have to remember our weekend together is a pic I snapped afterwards to show her what I did with her gift she gave me...

Also, Brandon and I celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary. We dressed up and went to a fancy dinner at V's. Do I have a picture of us all dressed up? Do I have a picture of our delicious prime rib dinner? No. I have one picture. A picture I snapped two days later of the roses he picked from our rose bush in our yard....

Alas, I did snap a couple pics of the 2010 Kansas City Susan G. Coleman Breast Cancer walk...

This one TERRIBLE self portrait may be one of the only camera captured moments I have taken of us this past month....

Sad, sad, sad...

Finally, Furniture

2010-08-23T11:32:00.000-05:00

Okay, so we bought new furniture. IN MAY, and I am just now posting about it. Do you remember our hand-me-down furniture from before? It was blue, and leather, and OLD. See, Cove tried to cover it up with her bed just to hide how old it was...

I guess I should bash it too much. They were free, and we are STILL using them in the newly remodeled basement. So on to the exciting stuff, the new furniture looks great...

We bought them from NFM. We spent $1052, plus some extra money for the furniture protection spray stuff. We actually got the sofa and the chaise from separate sets, because I couldn't find a sofa set I liked with a matching chaise. I kind of like them mismatching, so it wasn't too big of a deal. The chaise has become Cove's new bed. We typically have a chocolate brown blanket on it for her to lay on but it was in the wash...

As you may also notice, the new, wider furniture made me invest in some new, narrower side tables. I snagged the ones in the picture above for $60 apiece from Cymax online + free shipping. I sold these old ones on Craig's list for $40...

Now that I have new furniture, I've thought of a few things I want to do next with the living room, including purchasing an area rug, investing in blinds and curtains, and building an accent wall (think Lettered Cottage guest bedroom look) behind the television stand to give the room and "true" focal point. See, this wall is really bare and boring...

Maybe Brandon will be up for a new project once the weather turns cold again ; )

Confessions

2010-07-19T12:31:00.001-05:00

You may remember my first confessions a long time ago, found here. Well, here I am with a few more to add to my list...

1. I now know what it feels like to drive a on a VERY FLAT tire. Little did I know I likely drove a day and a half on a flat tire before a kind person stopped at a red light behind me honked and pointed down enough times for me to realize something was wrong with my car. Funny part is I pulled over in the nearest parking lot, looked at the back of my car to figure out what they were pointing at and still couldn't find anything wrong. I drove the rest of the way home on my flat tire, thinking maybe my care has been accelerating slow for a day or so. I took a closer look in my driveway at home before FINALLY realizing my tire was flat. I'm a quick one, huh?! I had to drive on this lovely thing for 3 days before getting my tire replaced...

2. I have had a brand new, really nice, vacuum cleaner in a box since our wedding! We registered for one for our wedding, before purchasing our house which had NO carpet. We opened it for the first time shortly after getting the carpet installed downstairs over a year and a half later.

3. We went to the lake for the 4th of July and the only pictures I took were of Cove. No family, no fireworks, just our smelly little bog doing thing like playing in the water with her best dog friend Riley...

And laying on the pile of limbs Brandon and his dad cut down...

It's sad isn't it?

4. Finally, I did not realize super glue CANNOT be used on plastic. I learned this the hard way. I had collected miscellaneous pink buttons to make a little letter art for my friend Mary's new baby. After learning she named her precious baby Hannah, I went right to work gluing down the buttons in a simple little H, for her adorable pink room. I came back hours later to realize the button looking like they were dissolving in the middle...

Whoops! I think I will stick to fabric glue now on...

Basement Bliss

2010-06-29T23:11:00.000-05:00

Brandon's finally (almost) finished it, and I couldn't be happier. He has put in countless hours turning our blank-slate basement into an inviting rec room. I thought it was about time to put his progress down in print. So, this is what he started with...

(front corner view)

Yes, we had to install a new heater, duct work, air-conditioner when we moved in. That lovely hot water tank was included though! In case your wondering, the stairs come down from our dining room.

(back corner view)

Like I said, it was a blank-slate. Brandon went right to work. He started by framing in some walls.

(front, inside corner)

We left that side of the basement as our laundry room and storage area. Apparently we have a lot to store. I really need to get down there and organize that area. But, moving on...

Next, Brandon rented a paint sprayer and primed and painted our ceiling rafters...

It's kind of hard to tell, but they are a dark-gray color. Eight cans of paint later, he came out looking like this...

After all the painting was done, some foam insulation (that was laying on the ground during the ceiling painting process) was put in between the boards...

I'm sure you can guess what went up next...

Finally, we added some paint, trim, carpet, and wood accent walls (see inspiration post here) to come up with this...

(front corner)

(back corner)

(fireplace close-up)

Let's not be modest about this or anything...I LOVE HAVING OUR BASEMENT (almost) FINISHED!!!Surround sound and high-def television take our movie nights with friends to a whole new level around here.

Oh yeah, and I say almost because Brandon still has 4 more windows to change from this...

To this...

But who really spends time looking out basement window anyways...

so...

2010-06-29T00:53:00.000-05:00

Things HAVE been going on in my life. I can't wait to start sharing all the dirty details SOON. Until then, you get this picture...

It's Cove rolling around like a crazy dog on the new carpet downstairs. Who'd of thunk a dog would love a little plushness so much. I mean, she really has had only hardwood floors to lay on until now. I guess she is making up for lost time. Silly pup.

Finally, Flowers

2010-04-22T10:04:00.001-05:00

After my husband went around the yard using this...

And I went around spreading these...

We finally decided to do something with our boring front yard...

And spent Saturday afternoon planting these...

(Yes, we still have disposable paper blinds in those windows....shhhh)
We didn't go all out or anything. I was dreaming of a black paver lined flower bed full of lush blooming annuals, but settled with chepo quick edging and $3 perennials (I will admit there is tons more selection when you bump up to the $5/plant section, but resisted the temptation).

Want a little breakdown on what one, simple flower bed costs a couple people? Here ya go...
Roll of weed-ex black cloth to put underneath flower bed     $11.97
Black quick edging to line the bed with   $ 9.97
50ft weeper hose to weave around flower so the self water when you turn the hose on    $8.97
The Y adaptor to be able to use your other hose with the weeper hose     $5.97
4 bags of pre-fertilized soil     $32 ($8/bag)
14 Hosta perennial plants (small size)     $42 ($3/plant)
14 Candy Stripper Phlox flowers      $42 ($3/plant)
6 bags of cedar mulch    $17.88 ($2.98/bag)

For a grand total of $180.73
After my 10% discount and $30 giftcard we actally spent $145.21 though...not to shabby for a little more curb appeal, huh?!

Change

2010-04-21T13:38:00.000-05:00

Don't you just love when you realize something you've done isn't a good as something else you could do? It happens to me all the time. I find an idea I like, do it, then find another idea that I like better. It drives the hubs crazy. In my defense though, he only had to help hang the second idea ; )

So, remember this picture wall...

(pictures compliments of my sister, Kara Elaine)

And these Craig's list find chairs...

They look a bit different now...

I decided that I like Pattery Barn Holman shelves better that the previous picture collage. I also re-did the chairs with white paint and new fabric. I took pictures of all the work that went into the chairs, but the death of my last phone was also the death of those pictures. I will admit I had the help of my very talented Gma who not only sewed the front portions of the seat covers together (thanks,Gma!), but gave me tips throughout the whole process.

I actually am thinking of revamping the collage idea into another corner of the room using this picture as inpiration...

I went ahead purchased a few unique frames from the thrift store and spray painted them white to start my collection...let the fun begin!

Chalkboard Love

2010-04-08T22:50:00.001-05:00

Since I have been doing a little catching up around here, I thought I would go ahead and share my new chalkboard creation. It all started with a mirror I found on Craig’s List for $30 back in January (I know, I’m so behind on sharing!). It was big, gold, and beautiful. Plus that lady selling it lived on my way home from work. I was meant to have it.

Then I had to find a place to put it. The more I thought about it, the more I liked my idea to turn it into a chalkboard and hang it in the dining room over our wine cabinet. Which meant I had to take down these shelves (the ones my sweet husband put up for me while I was at work one day- I love sweet surprises...you have to peak behind the people to the left to see them on the wall. I forgot I lost my before pictures on my phone; this is the best I could find)).

When I think of all the work I put into getting this mirror into place, it’s kind of exhausting. I had to unscrew the previous shelves, patch the screw holes with putty, put touch up paint over the putty, scrub 30 years of dust of the mirror frame with a toothbrush, apply 2 coats of spray primer, 3 coats of white spray paint, 3 coats of chalkboard paint (due to my blue tape peeling off some around the edges), and the actually hang the mirror! Oh well, it was totally worth it.

Isn’t she lovely? I broke her in with one of my favorite scriptures—Romans 12:12 “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” (Chalk board paint recipe here. Color is Ashen by Olympic in Dutch Boy paint.)

I also went ahead and switched up the stuff I had on top of our cabinet. I found this little wooden canoe-like thing to hold chalk at our local thrift store for $2.

The pots and plants I stole from our living room. Then I found this little crystal bird thingy in a box I had stored from our wedding. I believe it was a shower gift that I never got around to taking out of the box. Doesn't it have that perfect spring-like feel to it?!

All in all I am pretty pleased with my new addition to the dining room. I hope to share a few other changes I had made around the house and give a basement update soon!

24

2010-04-06T18:39:00.001-05:00

I also managed to squeeze in a birthday last month. Guess how old I turned...

Gma Leslie made me her famous chocolate cake- delicious!! Someone's either lazy or they don't know how to spell happy birthday. It's wasn't me...promise.

Brandon made me homemade ice cream (it's in my cup).

I love that guy. He took me skiing for my birthday. So here is a short recap of trip #2 in March...

We flew to New Mexico. Brandon worked Monday through Thursday while I lounged around at the hotel catching up on sleep and movies. The lansdcape in New Mexico is different-- desserty. It's mostly brown with a few mountains sprinkled in the background.

On Fri, Brandon took off work and we toured Albuquerque. It was nice to finally see where my husband spends half of his life. We went to the nuclear weapons museam. There is some pretty scary stuff there. I would hate to see one of these go off...

I am not sure how many warheads come off that thing, but it's alot!

Then on Saturday we went skiing up in Santa Fe. It was beautiful. It snowed the night before, so we had fresh powder in the morning! Here we are on the mountain...

I hope we go back next year. I forgot how much I missed skiing...and the mountains.

If only Missouri had mountains...

Spring Showers

2010-04-06T18:38:00.001-05:00

It wouldn't be spring without a shower or two right?! Which is exactly why Emily and I decided to plan an oh-so-fun shower for our prego friend Mary. See her cute baby bumb...

There is a baby in there...seriously, crazy stuff to me! I'm glad she is having kiddos first. I will learn everything I need to know from her ; )

We invited her closest friends and family and reserved some chocolate fondue at the Melting Pot. Delicious, melted chocolate. What more could a group of girls ask for?

Sorry ladies, I apparently only took action shots...

I wish I had more pics to share of all the fun shower details, but alas my phone (with which I take 90% of my pics) decided to die that very morning, after I took pictures of all the games, decorations, and favors the night before. Thank goodness I had the shower to cheer me up after that devestation! I just love these two ladies to pieces...

Can't wait to meet Baby Murphy in June; 2 months and counting!

Whoops!

2010-04-06T18:02:00.001-05:00

I skipped a whole month of blogging! I can't beleive its been that long. I guess its all that March Madness buzz everyone's talking about...wait does that only refer to basketball? I feel like it refers to my life.

It's never my intention to leave for long periods of time, but I spent half of my month in other states. I figured I'd start witha short recap of my first trip. After rotations ended I spent some time down in Texas visiting Gpa and Gma Daugherty (this is how they sign things--Gpa and Gma--I'm not being a lazy typer). They live all the way down in Rio Hondo. It's further south than South Padre Island. They live off the River. This is them on their porch. My Gma wears her hair in a pony tail with about 10 clips holding back her shorter hairs. It makes me smile everytime I see it. I wish I had a close-up to show you just how cute it is.

Gpa has been declining in health and Gma has been busy taking care of Gpa, so we spent some time helping clean up their place. See me raking off broken limbs from their carport left from the last hurricane...

We also rebuilt their porch overhang that was taken off by a hurricane. We like to be extra safe. This is why he have 2 people holding on to my brother Aaron while he screws in the ceiling piece ; )

It wasn't all work and no play though. We got to feed their fish donut seeds everyday (this is what Gma calls cheerios). They know all their fish by name. It's really quite impressive, because there is a lot of fish in their pond.

We got a group shot on their bridge over their pond. Doesn't it make you want to break out the power washer?! We wanted to, but Gpa said it would just get dirty again.

Visiting the grandparents is kind of one of those bitter sweet experiences. It is always sad leaving, because you never know if they will make it till the next time you see them. My Gpa acutally just called yesterday to tell me he wouldn't be able to make it to my graduation; he's back on the oxygen tank almost 24/7. He brought tears to my eyes telling me how much it meant to him for me to be getting my degree; it's the sweetest thing he has ever said to me.

Hope we get to make some more memories, and cherishing the ones we have.

Dreaming of Sunshine

2010-02-23T23:25:00.001-06:00

I must be dreaming of sunshine, cuz I keep picking out things in yellow...

That's my new $10 lunch bag & $13 pair of flip-flops. I LOVE Target!

Don't forget to get your flip-flops early before sizes start selling out ; )

This Can't Be Safe

2010-02-16T20:41:00.000-06:00

I think they put warnings like this....

on ladders for a purpose.
Unfortunately, my husband still decided to do this...

Hummm...definitely not safe ; )
Oh well, the stairway is finally painted!

Here is our color scheme for downstairs...

The stairwell is "Smooth Stone" by Glidden (behind the other colors)
The downstairs walls are "Silver City" by Ralph Lauren in the Suede finish (the smaller square- its textured)
& The ceiling is sprayed with "It's Getting Late" by Dutch Boy (the dark gray color)
Yes, we like to mix things up-- Thank you Home Depot for having Ralph Lauren paint on sale!

And on a really exciting note, the pallet project is making progress!!! Check out out our fireplace wall...

This wall makes me smile from ear-to-ear...now that's a big smile : )
Can't wait for the other two walls by the stairs to be covered in pallets as well....eek!

Pallet Power

2010-02-15T21:18:00.001-06:00

Yes, pallet power. It's our new basement endeavor. I blame it all on Katie and her "boyfriend" over at BOWER POWER. See their new amazing nursery wall in all its rustic gloriousness...

Apparently Katie and me share a thing for old wood ; ) Sincere apologies to our ~~husbands~~ boyfriends...ha!

So, the pallets have taken power. See our garage...

See our basement floor...

Hear the sound of the nail gun in the background...
Oh wait, only I can hear that.

Oh well. Happy President's Day on ya!

LOVE

2010-02-14T17:17:00.000-06:00

Valentine's is the perfect time to reflect on the LOVE God has for us. Thank you Clary for posting this link sharing images that trully capture your heart and the beauty of God's creation.

Love your God. Love your neighbor as yourself. Simply simple, yet we make it so complicated.

May you feel LOVED today and EVERYDAY....

And the Armoir!

2010-02-12T22:03:00.001-06:00

Yes, the almost final piece (we still have a $25 Craig's List desk to paint black) to my sister's room makeover is looking oh-so-pretty with a fresh coat of gray paint. See...

But that's not all this lovely armoir is adorned with. Looks what's hiding inside...

Gray, floral, wrapping-paper-covered back walls (yes, the patterns are turned opposite directions, but it was easier to do it that way!). Did you notice the new knobs that I first mentioned here?

But seriously, the most important question regarding this armior is, "How did the chalkboard doors turn out?" Well, I am pleased to anounce that with a little bit of this...

(a $2.50 bottle of unsanded grout- pretty exciting huh?)
You too can have custom color chalkboard surfaces that work wonderfully!!!

Just to prove it, I had my sister send me a picture text of what she has written on them now (sorry, camera phone's aren't the greatest quality). If you look really close though you can see a Thank You Debra written; what a sweet sis!

In case you are wanting to make your own personalized color chalkboard, here is exactly what to do.

1. Pick a fun paint color and buy semi-gloss paint (satin may work too, but I was going for wipeable)
2. Go to local hardware store and purchase white, non-sanded gout (I found mine at ACE Hardware)
3. Mix 1 cup paint and 2 Tbsp non-sanded grout in old bowl (like on old cottage cheese container) until grout is pretty much smooth (mine still had small lumps but this came out while I was brushing it on)
***I only used a little less than half of this amoutn to paint all 4 doors of this armior***
4. Paint the surface you want painted with a nice thick layer (I used a sponge brush)
5. Wait 3 days for paint to dry (this may be more than necessary, but I didn't want to sand too soon)
6. Lightly sand surface with 150 grit sand paper for nice smooth look
7. Condition chalkboard by rubbing side of chalk all across surface then wiping it clean
(Thank you Martha Stewart for the recipe)

All in all, this project was QUICK, CHEAP, and WORKED GREAT.
So great, that I already bought a new color of paint for my own chalkboard painting addition to my own house...let the fun begin again...ha!

Dresser + Details

2010-02-10T20:17:00.000-06:00

Yes, this gorgeous gray dresser didn't remain undecorated for long!

Remember this lovely free mirror from Brandon's Gma...

Well a couple coats of primer and black spray paint later, it was looking polish and crisp hanging over my sister's lovely dresser.

I added two free black frames from Gma Allen to balance the mirror out and a few choice accesories to top off the dresser. This was just another part of her surprise she got to come home to.

Just wait till you see the armior!

Border Blues

2010-02-09T23:24:00.002-06:00

Have you ever tried to remove a border by yourself? I would ~~highly~~ NOT recommend it!!! It only took a whole bottle of this...

And 4 hours of scraping with this...

(Yes, Lynn. It's a pampered chef pan scrapper!)
And all this so that her new bedspread that I blogged about here wouldn't clash with my sister's purplish pink walls when I made over her room. I got to thinking those purplish walls weren't so bad after scraping off all that border to paint though...ha! But seriusly, this process wouldn't have taken half as long had I had someone to help me do it. This is because the DIF spray only works when it is wet. It kept drying on me before I would get to everything I had sprayed, so I would have to rewet it and wait 5 more minutes before pealing. Not so much fun.

I also sanded, primed, and painted this...

and used this stuff...

to do this...

(see inspirationg for pillowcases here, and directions here)

And all this was to make this surprise possible...

This is what Kara came home to after her basketball tournament in St. Louis last weekend; and it's not even half the fun! Can't wait to post some more pics soon...just gotta find a little more time.

Paint Party

2010-02-03T11:55:00.000-06:00

Remember this Craig's list find dresser...

Well we had a little paint party Saturday.
See my sister Kara...

See my sister's BFF Maddie (practically my other sister)...

And now see the dresser after all the sanding, taping, and painting (two coats primer, two coats gray)...

Doesn't it look FABULOUS! She has got 9 whole drawers to organize her clothes into : ) I can't wait to see my sister's room start coming together. Just incase your wondering, the paint is Dutch Boy- Satin. The gray color is called Fired Steel from Color Place.

I wish the painting was done, but we still got more to go! The headboard will likely be finished up tonight, and then the armoir will hopefully be finished up this weekend (due to the chalkboard doors, which I will be sure to post about to tell you how they come out).

What Budget?

2010-01-29T15:37:00.000-06:00

When you buy a house with unpainted walls and unfinished wood floors like this…

And an empty, blank-slate basement like this…

You know your going to have to spend some mullah to get it up to par! Since I love a budget breakdown from my fellow bloggers (yes, you all thoroughly impress me with your budget making abilities), I decided to add up just how much we put into our house in hardware store runs getting THIS LONG LIST accomplished. So, here it goes:
Nov $896.63
Dec $401.47
Jan $1019.71
Feb $626.31
Mar $755.72
Apr $197.04
May $87.95
Jun $20.22
Jul $0.00 (cuz we spent every weekend at the lake…gotta enjoy a little summer!)
Aug $70.27
Sept $1416.19
Oct $169.96
Nov $359.03
Dec $585.48
Jan $189.58

GRAND TOTAL THUS FAR = $6795.61
Why did we not invest in hardware stock before purchasing our house??! And to think this total does include our heater/air conditioner and new window instillation costs (more on this later)….geez.
Unfortunately, we simply had too many projects overlapping to accurately keep track of which money was spent on which project for the most part : ( The only projects that I actually took the time to calculate our expenses for separately where replacing the GUTTERS ($763.92) and the EXTERIOR PAINT ($479.01 for trim paint, house paint, caulk, rollers, etc). If only I could find the price quotes we got the professionals to show you just how much we saved; darn my ~~good~~ bad throwing away skills!

Oh Cove

2010-01-28T18:00:00.001-06:00

Don't you just love when your dog does something absolutely adorable. I come home from my rotation, let Cove inside, and go through the mail in the kitchen. I walk in to the living room after going through the mail and find Cove laying like this:

My sweet puppy dog decided the blanket I always put over the seat cushions (hey, when your using a I-don't-know-how-old hand-me-down couch with cracking leather you try and make it look as nice as possible) just wasn't good enough for her- notice blanket laying on floor. She decided to pull up her doggy bed, which normally lays on the floor by the couch, right up on top of the couch.
She's a thinker!

Monday FunDay

2010-01-25T16:50:00.001-06:00

Just trying to make sure that Mondays are still FUN days for me ; )

Remember the dresser that I purchased off Craig's list for my sister, here. Wouldn't it look great with this lovely mirror (likely spray painted another color, even though it is lovely gold too) above it?!

Sorry, I took the picture sideways...

I scored this beauty for Brandon's Gma over the weekend because she found something she liked better to put in its place; gotta love Gma!

I also purchased a few pull knobs to replace Kara's old ones on her armoir for when we paint it gray as well. We still have yet to move it over here and paint it. When we finally do though, I plan on using this recipe to paint the doors with gray chalkboard paint!

Now if only I could get her to get everything our of her armoir ASAP and get this painting party started ; )

If you have a BETTER recipe for chalkboard paint, let me know...
If not, I will let you know how this ones turns out!

Reflections

2010-01-23T16:12:00.002-06:00

I meant to do this post back in November. You know- the make a list of everything you accomplished in the first year you lived in your first home post. I'm a little late...I was busy working on the house after all ; )

The history of our house goes like this:

There once was a lady who owned 2 big dogs. She bought a house and had ~~6ft tall~~ prison-like fences put in in her backyard to keep her dogs from jumping over. This lady liked to collect ~~a little~~ a LOT of junk. She collected so much junk that you couldn't even walk through her house. She also did not like to do yard work, nor did she want to pay anyone else to do her yard work. So she sat around in her junk, not doing her yard work for years and years until one day she got evicted from her home because it became unlivable.
See, her house was pretty bad...

Then a friendly guy, you could call him a contractor, got a loan from the city to clean this lady's house up. He had to clear out ~~some~~ a small FOREST of trees in the yard. He also had to take 8 full-size dumpster loads of junk out of the home. He wanted to make the home nicer because he thought he was going to move in, so he used his super hardware store disocunts to put in two new bathroom vanities/showers/toilets, new kitchen cabinets, and some new kitchen appliances. He painted all the inside walls white and changed the exterior color to green. Unfortunately for him some hurricanes came through Texas and his job moved him down there long-term. He had to sell the house he was fixing up to live in "as is."
So, he put in up on the market looking like this:

Around this same time there were a couple of newly weds looking for a home. They found a house they really liked, but it needed a lot of work (house #1). They put in low-ball offer and crossed their fingers. They were out bid ) : So, they found another house that they really liked in a neighborhood they loved (house #2). They didn't put in a low-ball offer. They put in a full price offer and again crossed their fingers. Their agent called the agent of the person selling the house to make sure they got the offer. They said they did. Unfortunately the offer they got was not the offer from our realtor. They started negotiations with the other offer, so the couple had to start the house search again ) : This time they found a really nice home that needed almost no work (house #3). They put in an almost full price offer and waited again................. During this time they visit Grandma. There is a house down the street from Gma for sale "by owner" (house #4). They think hummm... why not take a look? They call the guy who owns it and he explains he is selling it "as is." It doesn't even have a heater in it. He is having to move. He states the amount he wants to get backout of it. The amount is low; lower than any of the houses the couple has put in offers on. The amount to finish fixing it up and put in a heater is still going to be lower than the other houses they are putting offers on. The couple think this is a pretty deal and withdraw their offer on house #3. They put an offer in on house #4 for a couple grand less than they guy was hoping to get back out of it, since they will have to put in a heater and he seams pretty ready to sell it. The guy accepts the offer and the couple now own house #4, which makes the girl in the couple pretty happy because ~~her favorite number is 4~~ she is getting tired of looking for houses every free evening and weekend.

And thus the couple, named Brandon and Debra, begins the task of fixing up an "as is" house to live in. 5 ~~hundred~~ million trips to the hardware store later here is what they (by they, I mean Brandon and various other family members doing the majority of the hard stuff with Debra getting stuck with taping and painting for the most part) have accomplished:

1. Had an electric heater/heat pump, airconditioner, and all needed ducts installed (we payed a professional because we couldn't close on the house until it was installed)
2. Refinished all the hardwood floors (3 bedrooms, living room, hallway)
3. Put up trim on the bottom of each wall next to the hard wood floors in every room (This got done in 1 week, but filling in all those pesky nail holes was completed a good month later...ha)
4. Ran electricity through an old sewer line (gross, I know) over to the garage (my husband also used all of my expensive lubricant I just bought for us to get the line to slide through...it worked great!)
5. Wired in outlets and lights in the garage
6. Installed a garage door opener
7. Wired internet and tv cable to the living room and office
8. Installed a garbage disposal in the kitchen sink (because I can't live without one)
9. Ran an extra duct from the heater to the master bath (because the tiles on the floor were too cold for me)
10. Put in wood studs for the beginning of walls in the unfinished basement
11. Added in extra breakers in the breaker box and wired the entire basement (this means lights, electric outlets, and surround sound...it took a little work!)
12. Built a gate between our house and garage to make our yard completely fenced in (no choice, we got a dog)
13. Paint the master bedroom, two bathrooms, two hallways, the living room, the kitchen, and the dining room (all in one week too...fun spring break from school right)
14. Installed new light fixtures in both bathrooms (the old ones were ugly, trust me)
15. Put in gutters over the front porch (there weren't any before...I guess cuz they tore that part out)
16. Decide to replace all the old gutters while we were at it (with the exception of one section which we took down and painted white and rehung)
17. Had all the window replaced (we payed someone to replace them...more on that awesomeness later)
18. Put in all new trim inside around our new windows, including priming and painting them
19. Caulked a million places on our wood exterior that were cracked
20. Replaced several sections of rotten wood including one whole wall of our garage that was infested with ants (not the wood eatin kind, but they were still terrible all the same)
21. Painted the whole outside of our house a new color using Behr's sweet primer and paint in one
22. Primed the basement ceiling with a rented paint sprayer machine
23. Painted the basement ceiling a different weekend using another rented machine
24. Put insulation up in the walls/wood studs that we got for free from Brandon's uncle
25. Hang dry wall on all the basement walls (we got 20% off using Mike's Aunt's Christmas discount)
26. Mud the basement walls a total of 3 times including sanding inbetween
27. Primed & painted the basement walls (this is where we currently are at...time to save up for carpet and trim)

This list doesn't even include all the little projects like hanging pictures/paintings, putting of shelves, repainting dressers, reapholstering chairs.... Between working 40hrs+, completing rotation assignments/projects, and driving back and forth from St. Louis every week for the majority of weeks in the past year and a half I am surprised I have had time to sleep, eat, do laundry...let alone blog!

Oops I almost forgot. Here is an after picture with the new house color:

Oh the memories! Can't wait to make some more : )

Monday FunDay

2010-01-18T10:54:00.000-06:00

I like belts.
Perhaps because I like to wear my pants 3-4times before washing them again, and by the 3rd to 4th day they require a belt. I don't know....

This being said, I never buy belts. I have been wearing the same brown, black, and white belts for years. I bought them all on sale at one time or another.

Today, I found these belts on ETSY. Aren't they FUN?

Makes me want a new, fun belt...

What Do You Do When It Snows?

2010-01-04T16:24:00.000-06:00

You put on your ~~moon~~... err snow boots.

You load up the 4-wheeler.

And you go have a snow ball fight on the back of the 4-wheelers in the empty field by your parent-in-laws house.

You gotta have a little fun when it snows right? Too bad the sun hasn't come back to warm things up. I don't even think we will make it into the 20's this week ) :

Something Up My Sleeve

2009-12-31T00:05:00.000-06:00

Don't you just love doing a little something special for someone else? I decided to take on the tasks of helping my little sister furnish her future college apartment. Although she will be living in the dorms the first year, it is never too early to start collecting some fun furnishing a little at a time, right?! So far I have scooped up this bedspread for $36 from Urban Outfitters here. Teal is one of her favorite colors. I also got 10% off for creating a UO sign in account which helped cover some of the shipping costs...wahoo!

My next project is painting this $40 Craig's list dresser gray (no, that is not my gold shad carpet...hehe). I picked up a small can of Dutch Boy paint named "fire steel" and some hand sanders tonight...let the fun begin! If she is lucky I may even offer to paint the headboard she already own the same color too : )

I also scored 3 white ceramic vases of mismatched patterns and height along with an empty rectangular frame which I plan on turning into a jewelry holder to hang above her dresser for a grand total of $2.24 from my local thrift store. Since I got such a killer deal at the thrift store I splurged at WalMart and spent $9 on a few small white bowls/trays for her to organize her rings and bracelets on top on the dresser in. Trust me, I can't wait to reveal her new furnishings to her for her birthday this summer!

Remember This?

2009-12-30T14:31:00.001-06:00

It's the dresser we found on Craig's list forever back. I know, its been too long.... I almost forgot about it too ; ) Either way, I finally found some time to posts some before and after pics!

Here it is before. It really was a clean, nice looking dresser. I am a big fan on the wood look, but the finish didn't quite compliment our darker wood floors. After some Internet browsing, I found some pics on Working Woman's blog here. Seriously loved the inspirational posts : )
And thus the idea for this color came about. I would love to share how the dresser was painted, but I didn't have to paint a lick! My sweet husband stripped and painted the whole dresser himself why I was in St. Louis. I can tell you the whole process involved CitrusStrip, a seagreen color undercoat, and an antique top coat.

Good things can be done when I leave my man alone. On the other hand, you can also come home to a plethora of speakers surrounding your television too. I can't wait till those speakers find a new home in the basement...ha.

Christmas Break Bliss

2009-12-30T14:05:00.001-06:00

Oh Christmas Break how I love thee! I can't believe this will be the last 2 week Christmas Break I will ever get- sad ) : This exactly why I am taking full advantage of everyday, and by this I mean sleeping in till 10am...ha! But seriously, I feel like am getting so much done despite my extra sleep in the mornings.

This was also the first year Brandon and I put up our very own Christmas tree, so here it is in all its glory...
Alright, I am not a professional Christmas tree decorator. We got our tree and all the green and silver ornaments/ribbon 75% off at Wal-mart's after Christmas sell. Our slim selection of ornaments come from each year we've been together. I love reading other people's blogs and seeing how their trees have changed over the years, so I went ahead and posted my first attempt at decorating my own tree so I look back and smile later. Maybe next year I will even find a tree topper!

So what have the Leslie's been up to?
Caulking and painting all our window trim
Putting pictures in the picture display
Insulating/Drywalling the basement
Refinishing the Craig's list chairs
A few other random not so exciting projects

And I acutally plan on sharing some pitcures all of the progress a little at a time. I just had the chance to look back at all my previous posts, and it was so fun seeing my year in review. Can't wait to see what 2010 brings!!!

Fall Back

2009-11-01T21:42:00.000-06:00

Ahhh...I did again. I lost track of time. Please excuse me. Life is busy.

I collected a few pictures to show you what I have been up to. It's really isn't exciting, but it's my life. I am loving every minute of it.

This is my husband helping my grandpa wire his t-bucket. This is the first time the car has been all together since my grandpa bought it forever ago. He took it to a car show. I like car shows...when they are warm. I froze at this one ) :

But we got free bread bowls. Yep, free bread bowls from the car show. Weird...I know. So I made cabbage soup for the first time. I don't think I made it right. It didn't look as good as Brandon's mom's does. It still tasted good though.

We also participated in Christmas in October. It is a huge deal in Kansas City. The hubs was a house captain. He did all the prep work. He kept things really organized...notice all the tools and supplies scattered around the yard ; ) We did a ton of work, but we had to leave early. There were shootings down the street and the cops made us leave. Makes you appreciate living in a safe neighborhood...huh.

We got a new toy for Cove. It is the duck. She played with so much it wore her out. She fell asleep with two toys on her belly. She doesn't normally snuggle with her toys like this, so I snapped a picture. Love that smelly little pup.

We also caught my sisters last volleyball games ever. Isn't it bitter sweet being a senior in high school? Her team was awesome this year. They won their conference and won every single tournament...wahoo for 1st place! She is number 25. Sorry for taking a picture of your butt...

We also celebrated our niece, Emarea's, 4th birthday. She is adorable. Aren't those curls precious! This wasn't taken on her birthday. This was at BWWs. She loves arcade games...typical kid!

And yes, we celebrated Halloween. We had 5 trick-or-treaters before leaving for our friend's house. It was fun seeing the neighborhood kiddos dressed up. I feel guilty not being around to see the rest. We left a bowl of candy on our porch for them. Surprisingly, there was still candy in the bowl when we got back.

Finally, we almost finished painting out house. The process has been a little drawn out. We still have another section of wood rot to replace. I will share pics soon.

It feels really late. I have been thrown off all day. As much as I hate daylight savings time, I wish we got an extra hour in everyday...I could use it to clean this house....ha.

Have a Seat

2009-10-04T13:07:00.000-05:00

I made up my mind to find some chairs. I wanted to find two matching chairs to put in my living room underneath my new picture collage. I did some research online and found out even the cheapest chairs from Wal-Mart and Target that are upholstered run around $100 a piece minimum...ouch ) : So I started up the Craig's list search. Here is how the rundown went...

I first came across these. They were labeled 1941 French Chairs for $75. I liked the button back look, but I wanted to find chairs for less than $30/chair. I offered $60. It's two weeks later and I still have not heard back. Don't you hate that?
So, I found these two Thomas of Martinville chairs for $80. Again, I offered $60. I thought with a big squishy pillow on the back they might be pretty comfortable. This time I wrote in my email, "Thanks for letting me know either way." I heard back...they were firm at their $80 asking price. I appreciated their honesty and moved on.

I contemplated these chairs for a minute. They were Eames Knoll steelcase chairs for $85. I looked at them several time, then realized they were a little too contemporary for my taste. There was also a set of Queen Anne style captain chairs for $30 that I offered on. They weren't exactly what I was picturing, but I figured for the price why not?! I was too late; someone else had snatched them up...

That's when I came across these. They looked like the 1941 French Chairs above, just with a little more wear on the seats. These two matching caned chairs came with the high asking price of....$25...for both! That's right. I didn't hesitate offering the full asking price on these beauties. We picked them up this morning. Turns out the lady was moving states and was selling a whole house full of solid wood furniture. If I had more money I may have offered to unload her of some more pieces.

So, I am thinking of painting them white. And reupholstering them with a fun fabric like this one.

It may take me a while. Maybe Christmas break? I will be sure to share when they are finished : )

Picture Collage Without Pictures

2009-09-10T20:08:00.000-05:00

Here is a quick run down on my my latest, almost-completed project...a picture collage.

It all began when I saw Joi's picture collage on her blog.
I had a blank wall in my living room, and it looked fun.
Then I realized I like things more matchy, so I searched for another picture for inspiration.
I found this one from Lettered Cottage.
I don't know, somehow all the frames being black made it suit my taste a bit closer (does this make me boring...probably)
So I went to the store and bought the thinnest frames I could find. I will spend a lot of time looking at these from the side angle in the dining room, so I didn't want them to stick out too far.
Then I cut out a bunch of wrapping paper in picture frame size sheets to try and figure out how many pictures frames I would need to make a collage I liked.
It took me 3 tries, but I finally decided on this one with Lynn's input:
Then I has to do to 3 Wal-Marts to buy enough frames of each size.
It sounds worse than it was. I have 3 close Wal-Marts to me anyways, so I just went to a different one each time I needed to make a Wal-Mart trip.
Then I had to make a 4th trip to buy the nails to hang them...oops!

I also may have bought my friend Chinese for lunch just so she would help me hang them...gotta love friends! Trust me- it was way easier too with someone there to help hold things up and take measurements!
So a million measurements later, we only had to move 5 of the frames after initially hanging them...ha!
It turned out like this:

Now I am just waiting for my sister, the photographer, to get me pictures to put in them.
I would also like to get a couple chairs and little table to make a cute little sitting area along this wall, but for now, empty picture frames will do ; )

I Love Lamp

2009-09-05T22:54:00.000-05:00

Here is a quick before and after picture of one of the projects I was able to complete this week.
It really isn't that dramatic, but it sure makes me happy.

This is a simple black lamp Brandon got for free from Uncle Doug back in college. We have been using it in our living room because the light in here is really dim. However, we really don't have anything black in our living room, so it kind of looked out of place.

So, I bought some spray paint from Wal-Mart and changed the color.
I believe the new color is called Satin Nickel by Krylon.

My friend Mary walked me through the basic of spray painting (yes, I have never spray painted before).
She told me to put light coats and let it dry in between.
I learned why...it runs when you put on to many coats to quickly...oops!

I would have taken the after picture in the light, but Brandon only lets me quit working outside when it is dark....j/k. But seriously, we have been working hard. Really hard.

Our gutter project has been turning into more projects. Lets just say while working on the gutter we discovered a whole section of roof that was leaking on our porch that required patching and board replacing. We also found a whole wall of our garage was infested with ants. Brandon had to rip a whole wall of our garage off (the rest of the garage is cedar...I am not sure why this wall isn't). Then he had to kill approximately a trillion ants with this crazy spray stuff that made my father in law hurl. We have yet to replace the missing wall as it got dark on us tonight.

So tomorrow we will be back outside replacing a wall, hanging one more section of guttering, and painting.

Did I tell you were are changing our house color.

All the paint is on sale at Home Depot for Labor Day weekend.

We bought over $300 worth of paint- yikes!

It may take a few weeks to get our whole house painted due to the unexpected leaks and ants, but I will be sure to post before and after pictures.

Paint and Gutters

2009-09-04T00:00:00.000-05:00

It's my week off and my hands are covered in paint, caulk, and glue. Brandon took some time off work during my week off to make some much needed repairs/updates on the house. Take for instance the picture below. This section had no guttering at all. That meant that when it rained the water poured right onto our wood porch in front of the gate. Last winter this porch was a sheet of ice, and my butt was a little sore more than once from it! Luckily, my handy dandy husband was willing to purchase some guttering and install it himself. And why just stop here, he decided to replace all of our worn out guttering this week while he was at it.
The bad part about making small repairs/updates is that you start noticing bigger repairs/updates that need to be made. Say like a few dozen rotted out boards. This means that I have been priming and painting board after board to replace the ones Brandon has been ripping out. If you noticed the dark spot missing a board in front of Brandon and the board kind of hanging down next to it, they are both already primed and painted ready for hanging in the morning.

All this hard work makes me want a nap...

It seems to wear poor Cove out too ; )

In between painting I have managed to fit in a few of my own projects, so I will try and share them soon!

It's Been a Long Time Coming

2009-08-24T19:27:00.000-05:00

I can't wait.
Next week I have a whole week free from rotations, work, drugs.
It will be my first full week off since last year August.
Sad- I know.
Awe... sweet life!
I have a million things floating around in my head that I want to accomplish, including writing a few more blogs.

I feel as though my cup of tea keeps overflowing without time to clean it up.
My week off is a time to catch up, accomplish, and reflect.
If only I had more than one week.

So, please stay tuned...plans are in the making.

Speaking of reflecting, this is my last full week in St. Louis. Ever. No more 4 hour drives home. No more 4 hours drives back. No more beautiful arch peaking through the skyline. No more hour walks with Lynn in the evening. No more calling Emily at 6pm when she gets of work while I am on the road to pass the time. No more nights at the girls house with Liz and Andrea trying to control what is on the tube. No more trying new places that Ashton loves to eat at. No more rides with Kelsey reflecting over career choices and men. I will miss my friends. I will not miss the drive.

In case you read this and realized that my blog has become boring, uneventful, and all out drab, I highly recommend you head here. Be warned...Rebecca June's blog is addicting!

Soothing Isn't It?

2009-07-22T13:03:00.000-05:00

Eye Candy

2009-07-11T21:17:00.000-05:00

I love flats. They are comfortable and cute.
I feel too tall in heals (I am only 5'7" but I still feel tall).
I have fallen in love with these flats. I always love buckles. Is it weird to have buckles on shoes? I hope not, I like them.
They come in other colors, but I think I like the gray ones. I don't own any gray shoes. The color gray makes me think of freckles chick. If you don't read her blog, you should. She is hilarious and also loves gray.

Do you spell gray gray or grey? I think I have seen it both ways. I am a terrible speller though, so please don't spell things the way I spell them. Crap, I just looked back at the website and they spell it grey. I would be wrong....oops!

What do you think? I have never spent $80 on a pair of shoes before.
(okay, I have running shoes that are worth more, but my dad bought me those, so they don't count in my book)
Maybe the hubs will get me them for me for our anniversary. Then I could wear them when he takes me out on a hot date. I highly doubt the probability behind this. I have to force him to even buy new shoes for himself when his are falling apart...
I can always dream right?!

Where Has The Time Gone?

2009-07-11T20:31:00.001-05:00

I have been busy. A little too busy.
I have missed blogging.
Every time I get on here to blog, I spend so much time reading all the other funny/inspiring blogs, I run out of time to blog myself.

If I would have found more time I would have shared about:

My grandparent's 50th wedding celebration- it was fun and funny...
My grandparent's don't have the typical lovey dovey relationship you picture in a couple married 50 years. In fact, if they were not Catholic, I think they would be divorced. But they are Catholic, so they are not divorced. And they have 6 kids. And they are funny. We still celebrated their 50 years together, and I am so glad we did. We have an amazing family who still knows how to have a good time no matter how many crazy ups and downs everyone faces.

My friend Emily coming into town for the weekend...

I knew the weekend was going to be good times as soon I I figured out I was heading to the wrong train station to pick her up! But we a good time. I made her eat with my in-laws. I made her put up with our dog licking her feet obsessively, and I made her spend most of Saturday on the lake fishing, only to catch one fish! She is probably glad we don't live closer so she doesn't have to go through all that more often ; ) But seriously, I am so glad she came to visit and see our new place.

The end of an amazing rotation...

My first rotation was at St. Luke's East. It is an amazingly nice hospital. Their staff is top notch. I now dream about returning their to work. I am contemplating doing a year residency, starting next summer, just to make this dream come true. I couldn't have asked for a better first rotation, even though they made me work my butt off. Now if only they like me as much as I liked them!

My 4th of July weekend....

It started with my sister's 18th birthday. I can't believe she is getting so old! She is such a gorgeous person inside and out. I hope she has an amazing senior year. If you have been following my blog, you may remember she is a talented sewer. She also is a talented, up-and-coming photographer. I can't wait to see where she goes in life. But enough about her, it was also my dad's birthday that weekend (hers is the 3rd his is the 4th). I got spend an afternoon with him. I helped him pick out his gift for Kara (an amazing ring I hope she likes) and bought him lunch at Olive Garden. Then we celebrated with firework at lake Viking and then firework at my niece and nephew's house. We blew a lot of stuff up. We ate a lot of food. I can't wait to do it all again next year.

Our new found friends...

Don't you just love when you meet people that you instantly connect with? There really isn't much to this story. Brandon made friends with a guy named Jeremy who started working for Honeywell this year. I made friends with his wife while we were watching the hubs's play softball together at corporate challenge. They are another young, newlywed couple like us. They are fun, and full of life. I have enjoyed each time we have hung out this summer. They even make home-made ice cream... who wouldn't like hanging out with them!

Hope I didn't bore you with the recap.

Maybe I will write another blog and show you the cute shoes I found online...give you a little eye candy to hold you over until I write again in another month...

(I intend for this to be a joke, but please forgive me if it becomes reality)

Garage Sale Season

2009-06-14T16:55:00.000-05:00

I think I may have mentioned this before, but I will mention it again. I love garage sales. Isn't it fun looking at the things other people have collected over the years?! Plus, you can snag the occasional "can't live without" item, for pocket change prices...love it! Well, even though I have been hitting up garage sales, Brandon and I actually took the time to sort through some items that we had accumulated and participated in our own neighborhood garage sale this weekend (gotta love the free advertising). Here is a picture of some of the things we had left on Saturday...
Don't worry, Brandon's parents, my parent's, and Gma Leslie all brought stuff over too. We aren't that big of junk collectors ; )

So, we added up all those 25 and 50 cent stickers, and the total come to...

Over $220 dollars (you don't think we added up every nickel and penny did you). Brandon and I actually made just over $100 ourselves. Now, what to spend the extra cash on?

I am thinking the guest bath. Brandon is thinking a paint sprayer. Decisions, decision...

Coupons and Cabinets

2009-06-09T16:23:00.000-05:00

I finally found the time to put of cork boards in the inside of my cabinets. I got the idea from John and Sherry from This Young House. Here is how the process went...

I picked out the cabinets that I wanted to put the cork board up in. I picked the two next to the stove by the refrigerator because that is where the coupons usually start stacking up.
Then I measured the inside of the cabinet by marking a piece of paper. I used this paper to make slits in the cork board before finally cutting it with one of those razor blade knife things...My husband made me promise not to chop off a finger before he kindly handed his over.

Then I attached the cork board using the nice little Commando Velcro attachments. The cork board comes with permanent stickers to attach them with, but I didn't know if the next person to own our house would appreciate those.

It took two sized down cork board squares to fill up the inside of my cabinet. Apparently John and Sherry's cabinets are much larger than mine, because the used three whole squares with space between them on theirs! Good thing I only bought one package of 4 cork boards at Hobby Lobby.

Finally, I added the pictures/coupons I have been saving with little thumb tacks. This cabinet got my Pottery Barn cataloge cut-outs...

And this one got my coupons....

Don't you just love saving money with coupons?! And don't you just hate it when you get to the store and realized you forgot to grab them ; )

Doesn't Everyone Have Family Haircut Days?

2009-06-07T22:29:00.001-05:00

Sorry, didn't mean to disapper from the blog world for so long. Time is passing by too quickly this summer. I have quite a few blogs I have been meaning to write. I will be satisfied to write this one before crashing tonight though. So...

I got my hair chopped of for Lock of Love. I had been growing it out for 4 years.
See, it was pretty long...
My aunt measured out a million little pony tails to 11 inches. It has to be 10 inches to donate. We did 11 to be on the safe side....

My aunt owns her own hair salon in a retirement village. She is an awesome hair dresser. It seriously is the best thing ever to have an aunt who does hair. We use and abuse her probably a little too much. Notice the short hair in this picture. We were goofing off under the dryers...

The funny thing about this evening is that we didn't really plan it. It just happened that some of our cousins wanted hair cuts the same night. See, here is Landon getting a summer buzz...

And Aunt Kelly, cousin McKenna, cousin Connor, and cousin Lauren...

And Uncle Vinnie and cousin Cayman munching on chips and queso from On the Border...yum!

It was like a family reunion at the hair salon. It was fun seeing everyone. I think we all enjoyed the unplanned get together. Well, maybe not Connor...

He isn't the biggest fan of scissors next to his head. I can't really blame him ; )

A Little Fun from Last Weekend

2009-05-22T19:49:00.000-05:00

Brandon was in a fishing contest last weekend. It was part of the corporate challenge competition at his work. He has to win the try-outs (another fishing tournament in itself) in order to compete in it. Well, him and his partner Matt beat out some old timers and woke up before the sun came out for a little fishing action on Smithville lake. The weather was cold, and the fish didn't bite so well. In fact, they only caught two fish.
See fish #1...
And fish #2
(I am sure Brandon would like for you to know that he caught both of them even though Matt is holding up his fish, which looks bigger, for the picture)

Well, what do you know...there 2 bass got them 2nd place metals at the tournament! Most of the other teams were only able to catch crappie. It takes a lot of crappie to equal the weight of one bass. They got 2nd place by the weight of their bass.

See them supporting the Honeywell shirts....

Brandon also got his fourwheeler running. He said I had to take a picture of it running for my blog, since I showed it before it was running.

He wouldn't slow down, so I only got crazy blurry action shots...

We also took Cove to the Lake last weekend. It was her first time going to a real lake (we have only taken her to the pond at Bass Pro Shop). Let's just say she is going to be a water dog. It only took her a minute on the dock before she jumped right off without us knowing it! Good thing she knows how to swim.
Here she is shaking off the water after Brandon helped her back up on the swim dock...

Rotation are keeping me busy...real busy. That's okay though because I am learning a lot. I may become a weekend blogger at this rate.

Did I tell you I chopped off my hair? My sister took pictures, so I will share. She has been out of town all week, so I will forgive her for taking so long to get them to me. Hopefully I will see her tomorrow.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend...please take some time to remember the ones that made the ultimate sacrifice for the freedoms we enjoy today.

Why oh Why

2009-05-16T11:06:00.000-05:00

Why oh why did something have to run into my windshield? My last drive home from St. Louis (well for 5 weeks), and something slams into my windshield in the middle of a rain storm. The odd things was that there wasn't anything around me. Brandon analyzed the crack and determined that it must have came from more of a blunt object like a bird (I hope not) rather than a rock. What ever it was sure did make a loud noise! I knew I hit something, but couldn't see the cracks in my glass till I finally drove out of the down pour ) :
These little cracks ended up costing me $155 to replace my windshield...darn my luck! If it really was a bird, I bet it is thinking the same thing...

The End of a Chapter

2009-05-13T22:14:00.000-05:00

The last final is taken, the binders are closed, the books are packed up. StLCoP class of 2010 is officially forever done with classes. Although I am thrilled with the realization that I will never again take finals, the thought of separating from the friends and place I called home for the past 5 years is a little sad. Before I start the next chapter in my life called rotations, I wanted to reflect on things I will miss. Because I am a lover of food, I am going to miss some of my favorite places to eat, including Little Maggiano's, The Old Spaghetti Factory, and Jimmy Johns (we don't have a close one back in KC).

Here is a pic of some of us riding the metro down to The Old Spaghetti Factory from I would guess 2nd year (I will not miss being asked for money while waiting for the metro). I really like Ashton's green coat in this pic- cute!
Besides food, I know I will miss my BFFs even more. We have pulled each other through some tough times together, and I don't know what I would do without them. I know our paths and life will start moving different directions, but we will only continue to be great friends despite the miles between us. I cherish the relationships I have with both of you. I will never be able to watch Saturday Night live and not think of Lynn or eat at BreadCo and not think of Emily. We always found ways to have fun despite the studying. See, here is Lynn flipping me off...haha.

And Emily's fish face at the CPK.

I will also miss the great group of girl friends we had going (sorry, I uploaded the first group picture I saw and then realized it was missing quite a few of you). It is crazy how school has brought us all together, and interesting that despite all the differences we all have formed great bonds over the years. I love all my StLCoP ladies dearly.

School would have been miserable without such a great group of friends. It is the BBQs in the girls back yard, the crazy games we would play, eating Knox blocks at our group meetings Sunday nights to go over cases, watching Grey's together, sharing the "good" info we learned from facebook creeping, rides home with Kelsey, and so much more that I will miss. We really made some wonderful memories together.

Yes, I will miss my days at StLCoP. We may have had some tough classes and some tough professors, but we made it through together. So here is to us and the memories we made that will last a lifetime...

An Update

2009-05-06T09:51:00.000-05:00

Here is a quick update.
My dresser project is on hold. Brandon bought a four wheeler. It didn't run, so he is fixing it up. This means we get lots of packages in the mail from all the parts he orders off ebay. In case you don't know him, he is a gear head. He always has a engine he is working on...it's like an addiction.
My life is on hold too, pending 4 finals. When finals are over with I plan to:
Finish the dresser project.
Watch Craig's list daily for a few items I have in mind.
Chop off 10 inches of my hair for Lock of Love.
Put the cork board I bought weeks ago up in my cabinets.
Make this other things I don't know how to describe, but I will show pics later.

Don't mean to leave you hanging. I can't wait to have my life back either!

Brandon's Worms

2009-04-29T22:56:00.001-05:00

Yep, my husband keeps worms...for fishing that is. Gross, right? He goes out after it rains and him and Cove hunt for worms to fill up our old coffee containers. They stay in our basement until the next trip to the lake where his family keeps a whole worm farm.
Brandon was carrying his worm containers up from the basement tonight to catch his latest worm victims, when he saw something he thought was a large spider move in the sack. He made such a loud sound he woke up poor Cove who started barking. Luckily, it wasn't a spider. I would not be able to sleep tonight thinking about large spiders crawling around our house.

Instead, it was this little harmless frog (right next to the hole in the bottom of the sack). Or maybe he is a toad? I really don't know the difference between the two. He was small and cute. Brandon said they make good bait. Don't worry- I told him he better not, or there will be consequences...

Our Favorite Cup of Tea

2009-04-27T11:52:00.000-05:00

I love tea. I love hot tea. I love iced tea. I love flavored tea. I love tea made in the sunshine.
You get the picture : ) I thought I would share with you guys what kind of tea we have brewing at our house on a regular basis.

If we are craving hot tea, we usually make Chinese Oolong tea. This happens about once to twice a weekend during the winter. We love our tea pot and our sweet retro, push-button stove that gets the pot whistling in a jiffy.
We also keep tea in our pitcher at all times. For cold tea, we love the traditional Lipton tea bags. We go through a whole pitcher of tea close to about every other day. That's a lot of tea!

Now that the sun's coming out again, we are looking for a sun tea jar. Mmmm mmmmm....

How about you? What is your favorite kind of tea? Do you prefer hot or cold tea? If you don't like tea, what is your beverage of choice?

Birthday Celebration

2009-04-26T13:58:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was Brandon's mom's birthday. We ate dinner at Applebee's and then celebrated back at the Leslie's with cake and ice cream. Jacque is such a sweet heart with her grandkids. She let them blow out her birthday candles twice. No kidding, we lit the candles twice for the kids to blow them out... too fun.
I just love my niece Emarea's curly hair. This picture didn't quite come out right, but she was scared cause Brandon was pounding underneath the stairs making the boys think there were aliens (those crazy boys!).

She didn't stay scared for long though. Once she figured out it was Brandon she wanted to help him scare the boys- what a cutie! Gotta love family get togethers...

Happy Birthday Jacque

Rotations, Rotations, Rotations

2009-04-24T18:39:00.001-05:00

It may have been a month later than we were expecting, but StLCoP class of 2010 finally got our rotations this week. Here is my line-up:

May 18-Jun 19 MDS-Hospital St. Luke's East (home)
Jun 22-July 24 Acute Care VA (stay at Kimmie's in St. Louis)
July 27-Aug 28 Ambulatory Care VA (stay at "the girl's" house in St. Louis)
Aug 31-Sept 7 FALL BREAK
Sept 8-Oct 8 Selective VA (stay with the Stokes in Columbia)
Oct 12-Nov 13 Research Elective KCUMB (home)
Nov 16-Dec 18 MDS-Comm Red Cross Pharmacy (home)
Dec 21- Jan 5 WINTER BREAK
Jan 4-Feb 5 Comm Care 50+ Pharmacy (home)
Feb 8-Mar 12 Cancer Elective KC Cancer Inst (home)
Mar 15-May 15 Study for boards

I am pretty excited to begin the final journey to becoming a "real" pharmacist. I am hoping that I remember at least a little bit about the hundreds of drugs we have been studying, so I don't look like a complete idiot in front of my preceptors. Also, since I lucked out with getting my last rotation off, I should have plenty of time to prepare for boards...wahoo! (I am saying this in a slightly sarcastic voice)

Where's Cove?

2009-04-22T10:43:00.000-05:00

Is she soaking up loving from Grandma Leslie?

Keeping her momma from studying?
Army crawling under the bed in the guest bedroom?

Sneaking in a nap on our bed after playing with ducky?

Or watching pappa play baseball on his iTouch?

No matter where Cove is, she sure is adorable!

On the Chair Hunt

2009-04-21T09:31:00.000-05:00

Do I really need chairs right now...No. Do I have money to buy chairs right now...No. Am I spending lots of time picking out the perfect chairs to sit next to our soon-to-be television stand/dresser...Yes! I can't help it. I love hunting down the perfect pieces to add to our new home. Of course I check Craig's List updates regularly for the perfect steal, especially since about $10/chair is really my current budget. I couldn't help but look at all the new options too though. I discovered that dining room chairs are usually about a third of the price of living room chairs. I fell in love with this dining room chair. It is a Sydney Parsons Chair in Mocha from Target. They cost $109/chair. Even with the free shipping and $15% off for ordering over $125 I would be over $160 over my budget...darn the luck!
Oh well, I still love them. I think I would also like them with white legs and little white throw thrown over the back. If I don't find a Craig's List steal, I can always save up and hope these go on sale right!

Good Ol'Craig's List

2009-04-20T16:04:00.000-05:00

Here is a picture of my latest Craig's List find. It's an old dresser. I have plans for it! See, Joi shared her fabulous find on her blog, Nuestra Vida Dulce. I instantly fell in love with her idea and started watching Craig's List for the perfect dresser to use as a TV stand in our living room. I also got Brandon in on the action- good thing too because he is the one that actually saw potential in this dresser. I was mostly just watching for a 9 drawer dresser like Joi's, because I like the design with the electronics organized in the middle and the drawers on the outside.

Ours will actually have the electronics organized across the top section. I took the drawers out in this picture, so you can see the idea. I also want to find 2 lovely used chairs (they can be new for the right price) to put on either side of the dresser/entertainment center...the ones in the picture are our dining room chairs. Using a dresser in place of a typical television stand works great for us because we need space underneath for air to travel back to our return air duct that sits right behind it. Also, we have a large puppy that would love to stick her nose into anything sitting too low to the ground; the height of the dresser prevents her from doing this...perfect!

You may not exactly be able to tell from the picture, but the color of dresser doesn't exactly jive with the color of our hardwood floors. We want to stain it a darker color to match some of the darker hues in the flooring. Thus, Brandon got to work striping the old top coat and stain off of it.

The stuff he was using smelled like oranges-mmmm! He put it on and then scrapped it off several times. I told him I would do the work, but he doesn't seem to have too much confidence in my furniture refinishing skills...trust me, I don't mind at all ; )

We may or may not switch up the hardware. I can't decide if I like the old hardware or not...decisions, decisions. Any opinions on this?

I will be sure to post the final results when we get it completed. I can't wait!

One Crazy Yard

2009-04-19T21:19:00.000-05:00

That's right...our yard is one crazy mess. Notice these random plants on the corner; there really is no rhyme or reason to the previous owners attempts at landscaping. There are random plants growing out from everywhere! And of course there are copious amounts of weeds to go right along with them. Luckily, Brandon got right to work this weekend. He spent Saturday digging up all the random plants, relocating some along the fence line and soaking the rest in a water-filled bucket for his Grandma. He was a muddy mess by the end of the day.

He also surprised me with this little bit of landscaping around our little dogwood tree in the front yard. I love it!

I am looking forward to planting lots of flowers in the front of our house, even though it may be over a year away before I have time to do it... Oh well, I can always dream about my future when studying is not consuming so much of my time : )

Need to Laugh?

2009-04-17T13:20:00.000-05:00

Sometime I really enjoy funny email forawrds. Thanks mom for sharing these with me. I thought the rest of you would like to see some of them that made me laugh...enjoy!

Happy Easter

2009-04-12T21:03:00.000-05:00

The Easter season seamed to pass me by so quickly this year. I meant to get on here and post a Happy Easter message earlier in the day, but didn't quite find the time. I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter celebration with family and friends. My sister called Brandon and I last night around 8:30 and said they had decided to color eggs. Of course, we had to join in on the fun. Here is a pic of some of the eggs we colored. I drew my regular turtle and Brandon made a Ford sign...we are pretty predictable!
And because Easter is a time to remember Christ's love and sacrifice for us, I thought I would share a scripture with everyone. I often get into a rut with my faith, and start feeling numb in my desire toworship the Lord, hence the reason for liking this scripture.
Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. Psalm 51:12
May we all feel joy in the salvation we have been given...

Confessions

2009-04-09T09:35:00.000-05:00

Confession 1: I gave into the trend and purchased a flat wallet off eBay. Don't worry I justified my purchase since 1-I got a new purse as a birthday gift from my friends and my old wallet doesn't match it (the blue one in this post), 2-my old Wal-mart wallet is starting to look pretty worn in the corners, and 3-I don't need to use my checkbook anymore since I only have one more rent payment left to make! I bought this off-white one, which matches the off-white in the pattern of my new purse. I think it is one of the bigger versions of the flat wallet, but I am down-sizing from a full size checkbook wallet. Sometimes you need to take baby steps...

Confession 2: I forgot to pack underwear and socks this week for my 3 days in St. Louis. This is the first time I have ever done this. I was not happy about it. I didn't discover it until I got out of the shower Monday morning only to find I didn't have any in my suitcase. I was able to make a trip to Walgreens and buy socks, but the only underwear they had was granny-panties 3x too big for me ) : I am not proud of it, but I wore the same underwear 4 days in a row. I will never forget to pack underwear again!

Confession 3: I love reading FML's. They get me laughing every time!

Mud and Poo

2009-04-06T09:41:00.000-05:00

The joys of having a puppy are never ending. Cove provides us with constant attention and affection. We decided to take her on a walk around the Bass Pro shops walking trails over the weekend while the primer Brandon had sprayed on our basement ceiling was drying. Cove loves a new adventure, so she was as happy as could be in the new terrain. We spent sometime throwing a stick in the lake and having her fetch it. I have a feeling she is going to be a great lake dog after we master the word "come," so she can play safely off the leash. While we were down by the lake I was being extra careful not to step in the squishy mud. I was doing an excellent job keeping my shoes clean too, right until Cove stepped right on top of my foot with her muddy paw...she would! Oh well, I knew it was too good to be true....
After her play time in the water we set off on a walk/hike through the woods. I snapped a picture of Brandon with our little lady. He had just pulled a treat out of his pocket. We also took this picture of me and Cove on a big rock. Too bad I was wearing black and she blended right in with my jacket!
We hiked through the woods for quite a long time before making our way back to the paved trail. After we got back on the paved trail Cove kept wanting to cross over in front of me and go over to the grass. Since we are trying to train her to walk properly on the leash, I kept moving her right back to the middle of the paved path. I did this several times when Brandon stopped to look at some animal foot prints in the dirt. I stopped to look at what he was looking and seconds later there was a nice, warm pile of poo siting right in the middle of the path...gross! Poor Cove probably thought she better just let it out on the concrete, since I wouldn't let her get to the grass. Almost at the same exact time our friend Marcie's mom came up the trail with their dog. Perfect time to run into someone you know! Oh well, it was good seeing her even if we had to remind her not to step on the poo we hadn't had the chance to move yet ; )

A Small Victory

2009-04-01T11:33:00.000-05:00

I will never be able to claim that I am a "good speller." I think the spelling part of my brain only got half turned on or something. There are some words that mispell repeatedly for really no reason at all. One of these words, paid, has really been causing me trouble this semester in HSM Econ. Everything seems to be paid from this and paid from that in this class. For some reason my hands type payed instead of paid and that little red spell check line pops up.

Well, it only took half the semester, but I have typed paid correctly every time I typed it today in lecture! Thought I would share my small victory ; )

PS- this is no April Fools joke....if you want to see one that made me laugh head over here.

My Plates Made Grey's

2009-03-29T14:40:00.000-05:00

That's right...the plates I have hanging above my kitchen cabinets are the same plates that made an appearance on Grey's Anatomy last Thursday night. I must say that my friend Lynn texted me to let me know she had seen them on Grey's, so I watched the show on Friday to see them myself. Sure enough they are hanging over a table in the kitchen of the house that used to be Meredith's mom's house. I probably wouldn't have even noticed them if Lynn hadn't told me to look for them, so thanks Lynn! I fell in love with these plates when I saw them in a spring catalogue from Pier 1 Imports. Needless to say it didn't take long for me to convince myself of purchasing myself an early birthday present ; )

What I really like about them is that they have a lot of the same colors in them as the painting Brandon's grandma gave us for Christmas (I may have hinted that I really liked this painting a few times) that we have hanging up over our kitchen window on the other side of the room. Grandma Allen is an amazing painter.

Our kitchen, dining room, and living room have arched ceilings. This is why there is only a little bit of space between the window and the painting on this side of the room, and then there is lots of space between the cabinets and ceiling around the plates.

10 Gallon of Paint Later

2009-03-25T22:11:00.000-05:00

10 gallons of paint later, and we had a party! It felt so nice last Saturday to celebrate our new home and the new paint with some family and friends.

Just like any good party, it started with food...

Brandon's grandparents came over. You can't exactly tell from this picture, but we have a whole wall of windows in the dining room. I love all the natural light.

Check out this line-up. We didn't have room in small dining room for the chairs with the leaf in the table, so we put them on our empty wall in the living room for people to sit in them.

Lots of aunts and uncles came over. Here is my Aunt Donna and Uncle Dennis. I didn't snap many pictures, but I got a few towards the end.

Like this one.... I will call it an action shot?!

At least Cayman knows to look at the camera : ) Speaking of Cayman, he won some awards for his artwork. We are going to Warrensburg this weekend to see his work on display.

Lauren brought her tiny little pup Brooklyn. This is seriously the tinniest dog I have ever seen. I think she said it weighed 1.8lbs. She isn't going to get much bigger either. I think she is a yorkie-doodle or something like that. She was rescued from those breeders they shut down in Missouri not to long ago.

Little Brooklyn and all the guests wore poor Cove out. After everyone left, we found her snuggled up next to her squirrel bait fast asleep...precious.

Drop Dead Gorgeous

2009-03-25T20:49:00.000-05:00

Check out my smokin hot little sis in the dress she designed and sewed all by her talented little self for her highschool banquet (ie- junior prom).
Ok, the the bottom edge isn't exactly sewn yet, just a minor detail. I love the pattern of the fabric she picked out, so much more fun than the typical solid colored dress.

I don't know how she got the top to come out perfectly with those layers, serious skills! I also especially like her choice of shoes. She opted to purchase matching pink Converse's instead of uncomfortable heals. Why didn't I ever think of that-lol.

She is going to make one drop dead gorgeous date to the banquet! I hope she had tons of fun and takes lots of pictures...

Master Bedroom Tour

2009-03-25T20:01:00.000-05:00

I went ahead and took enough pictures to give you the full 360 degree tour of our master bedroom. It's not much as far a size goes, but we kind of like things nice and cozy!
When you walk in the door, you see our one, small closet. Hence, this is why we have 2 dressers! Brandon gets his clothes in this closet. I keep mine in the guest bedroom closet. It works out better this way...

I love that we have our own master bath. With the vanity sink, there isn't any place for storage. We keep our towels in a large basket on the closet floor, which works out pretty nicely. The dresser by the bathroom is Brandon's.

Notice the Clean Cotton Yankee Candle sitting on top of Brandon's dresser...one of my favorite scents!

Here is our bed. I would love to have a large enough room to have a bed centered on a wall with nightstands on both sides, like this one. However, the limited space in our room and oddly places windows left us with putting our bed in this corner. Just about everything in this picture was a gift to us in some way or another including the crazy weave, headboard, comforter, sheets, and brown throw. I love just how many house furnishings we have been blessed with!

The brown chair in the corner was also a gift, from the Kinder's, for our wedding. Please note the pillows on the bed and the chair are the ones I ordered from here not to long ago. I picked the wall color (Buxton Blue by Benjamin Moore) to match the blue in the pillows. The Blue just has a nice inviting, calming feel to it...

I bet your pretty jealous of our tower of electronic devices sitting on my dresser aren't ya...lol. Maybe someday we will get a sleek flat screen tv and get rid of this big clunker. Until then, we enjoy watching our late night shows too much to get rid of them. Speaking of which, I can't wait to Connan O'Brien takes over the late night spot!

And, just cuz I like my little star-shaped find, here is a picture of the cute little dish I found at Old Time Pottery for Brandon to put his pocket contents into when he gets home from work. He better not find anything more to put into his pockets, or I am going to have to find a bigger dish ; )

It's not exactly designer quality, but I tried my best to spruce the place up a bit! Let me know what you think of the new pillows and paint color...

Words to Uplift and Inspire

2009-03-24T13:28:00.000-05:00

No, I am not talking about my own words. If you aren't already a follower, I highly suggest you take a visit over to my friend Cara's blog, called Cara's Travels. Cara updates her blog on a daily basis with reflections on the work she is doing with burn victim children in South Africa. The stories she tells are uplifting, and the progress the children are making because of her presence, or rather the presence of the Lord in her, is inspiring. It is amazing how a kind smile, gentle touch, and small play time can be so therapeutic. Reading her blog has made me want to spend more quality time with all the people in my life. Thanks so much Cara for sharing your moments abroad with us...

Fixtures That Needed Fixing

2009-03-23T17:45:00.000-05:00

I am sorry if you are one of those crazy people who still love these outdated, retro makeup lights in their bathrooms, but I am just not one of them. What can I say, one look at these babies makes me cringe a little inside. Thankfully, Brandon's mom gave me some birthday cash a little earlier this year, which allowed me to head straight to the hardware store to find a new light fixture. Just so you can appreciate the change, here is a picture of the old fixture:

And, here is the new fixture I picked out at Home Depot. I love the rectangular trio of lights with the sleek curve of metal connecting then. This after picture was taken after I painted last week two, so please note the warmer, inviting color in the bathroom! I would love to eventually frame the mirror, but I am afraid there may not be enough room between the vanity and the light fixture to make this possible. Let me know if you have any ideas for this dilemma.

I can't believe I didn't get a good before shot of the master bath light fixture. This is the best picture I could come up with. Just imagine an ugly light fixture similar to one above, but white and made of metal, hanging above the medicine cabinet mirror. I still posted this poor before shot, so you can see a little bit of the color change that took place on our walls over the past week. Don't worry, the laundry catcher is now in the closet, and the basket sitting on the floor resides on some shelves we put behind the toilet!

This new light fixture actually came from Wal-Mart. I couldn't help but take a peak at them when I was purchasing an extra 4 gallons of paint to compare their prices to the Home Depot prices. This one almost a quarter of the price of the above one and looks just about as nice... I seemed to be attracted to light fixtures with more squared off globes in case you couldn't tell!

This picture also provides a little sneak peak into the color of our master bedroom. The Buxton Blue didn't bring me any blues! I couldn't be happier with how the bedroom turned out. Please check back in to see the room in its entirety soon : )

Just Because There Isn't Walls Doesn't Mean You Can't Decorate

2009-03-23T16:53:00.000-05:00

I think I have mentioned this before, but in case I haven't, our basement is a work in progress. Brandon started the task of refinishing our basement almost immediately after moving in last November. He has done most of the work alone with a little little help from his dad and Mike. Every paycheck he makes a little more progress, and I am looking forward to the day when it is finally finished. Here are some pics to track the happenings in the downstairs...

This is the little storage area he created. To be honest, most of the stuff in this area is stuff we are saving for a garage sale this spring. I just love garage sales!

This picture shows the edge of the stairs coming downstairs from our dining room upstairs. The washer and dryer we got free from Mike's neighbors when they upgraded their own set- what a blessing! This area is connected to the little storage area in the picture above.

Of course Brandon had to build himself his own little work corner. At least I know where to put the crazy things he leaves laying around ; )

Then he had to install lights....lots of recessed lighting. The old fixture you can see in the corner now resides over in the storage space.

Then he had to install outlets and electrical switches to go with the lights- note the little blue boxes. If you peak down in the far corner you can see his projector screen already hanging up in the corner. We like it in this corner, so we can see it no matter where were are hanging out downstairs.

Then of course we needed an electric fireplace to keep us warm downstairs in the winter. In case you were wondering about the title of this post, I was referring to our LESLIE pictures already sitting on top of our new fireplace. My creative little sister, Kara, took pictures of random things that make the letters of our last name and gave them to us for Christmas. She came over last week and helped me frame them in frames I found half-off at Hobby Lobby. Once we get the stone work up behind the fireplace I will eventually hang them up on the wall. But for now, our unfinished basement has a little bit of decoration to spruce the place up!

My Crazy-Busy, Productive Week of Spring Break

2009-03-22T21:00:00.000-05:00

This title is about the best description I can come up with to describe how my week of week of Spring Break was for me...well technically over a week. Since I only have classes 3 days a week, I got a whole week and a half for Spring Break this year- wahoo! Unfortunately, the time flew by way too fast, and I am sad to say I am back in St. Louis again getting ready to hit the books for a therapeutics exam on Wednesday ) : Looking on the bright side though, here is a quick run down of all the things I was able to accomplish on my spring break:
Decide on colors to paint our master bedroom and living room/dining room/kitchen area
Paint, Paint, Paint all these rooms plus 2 hallways and 2 bathrooms
Cooked dinner for my parents and Grandma Leslie (luckily they still ate even after I spilled the entire taco bake onto the stove door as I was getting it out of the oven...they are way too nice!)
Finally frame the LESLIE pictures my sister gave to us for Christmas (picture coming soon!)
Eat lunch with the Dad or Mom or Dad&Mom just about every week day (Mom and me managed to get Chinese twice!)
Spend lots of time playing with our loving puppy Covey and even taught her how to catch apple slices in her mouth...we our working the way up to her catching frisbees
Got my TB test required for rotations...negative once again-praise!
Made it to a wonderful church service where we got to catch up with an old friend from high school
Replaced the 2 ugly light fixtures in both of our bathrooms with much more modern/trendy ones (pics coming soon!)
Made a trip to St. Louis to move the majority of my furniture home to put in the guest bedroom
Got the ever cool UVerse installed in our house the day after it became available to our neighborhood thanks to my dad having a little inside push ; )
Made it to my own birthday party over an hour late...oops. The cookie cake was delicious though!
And finally, held an Open House for family to see the newly painted walls- this was the first time most of my family had even seen our house...

So here are some pics to get you started with the painting progress:

These are 2 colors from Benjamin Moore (Edgecomb Gray and Shaker Beige) that I thought would look nice for the living area. I decided to go with a lighter color than either of these called Elmira White...then after painting a bathroom and hallway decided to go with an even lighter color from Dutch Boy paint called Whitetail deer (My husband and my father in-law who are both deer hunters loved the name...I love the color!)

And these were the colors I was trying to chose between for the master bedroom. I ended up going with the top one, again from Benjamin Moore called Buxton Blue. I went great with the pillows I told you guys about earlier that I purchased from Etsy...pics coming!

And so the taping and painting began. We started Sunday night and didn't finish painting till Friday afternoon. Boy did my back start hurting by Friday! I had no clue what a job I was in for. It didn't help that our textured walls required just about 2 coats of paint to finally fill in all the little holes with color.... Luckily Wal-Mart can match any paint color, so I was able to get the colors I wanted at much cheaper prices than the hardware store, especially after my good'ole discount!

Of course, I took any help I could get. There would have been no way I could have finished everything I wanted to get painted in 1 week without all my helpers. This is my dad touching up the Whitetail Deer color in our living room. In case you are wondering about the desk, we use Brandon's computer as our tv in the living room....it's our sweet flat screen tv...kind of lol.

My mom was a huge help. She was over every day helping tape and edge...sweet thing! This picture helps show the subtle difference between the new paint color and our white trim, which is just what I was wanting. It makes things a little bit more home-y, yet keeps it feeling bright and open...

And here is Brandon's hard-working Dad. He did all my top edging, and let me tell you, this was one tough job having textured walls AND ceilings. I tried to edge the hallway ceilings and he had to come over and fix them! He has an amazingly steady hand.

Thanks so much to all my amazing helpers who came over to paint or clean this week (Mark, Jacque, Dad, Mom, Kara). I couldn't have done it without you.

For those of you who haven't seen our house, sorry these pictures aren't much help in showing you what the finished walls look like. You will have to stay tuned for future posts. Don't worry, I won't keep you hanging too long! I am calling it a night tonight though; I am going to enjoy what is left of my birthday today by going to bed early ; )

Man of the Hour

2009-03-10T13:28:00.000-05:00

Check out the newest addition to the Heegn side of my family. He just happened to make an appearance at my Uncle Dennis's 50 something birthday party hosted at the good-ol fish fry! Connor is a Christmas baby, born in Christmas day a little love a year ago. I couldn't help but post these pictures of him, cuz I love pictures that make me smile everytime I see them...Here is Connor looking a little mad cuz he wanted to get his dad's shrimp on the fork and Vinnie stopped him- precious!
And here is the little guy being fascinated with my dad's pen in his pocket. He would pull the pen out, put it back in, pull it out, put it in...you get the picture. I was so fascinated with how fascinated we was with putting that pen in Dad's pocket.

Connor is just so adorable I may just have to borrow him for an indefinite amount of time. I mean, not that Vinnie and Kelly would let me... I would settle for baby sitting though!

Oooh La La

2009-03-09T20:12:00.001-05:00

Instead of studying for my Evidence Based Medicine midterm tomorrow, I have been clicking through my favorite online source for cute, creative things to buy, Etsy. Good thing too, or I wouldn't have happened upon these beauties. How cute are both of these purses! I especially love the inside pockets with the matching/mismatching lining. If either of my bffs from St. Louis are wondering what they could go in and get me for my birthday...here is your hint ; ) You can find them here.
I am always a fan of yellow, but this one with the blue is super cute too! Decision, decisions.

Now, back to studying....maybe.

She Gets It From Her Momma

2009-03-05T13:11:00.000-06:00

I thought this picture captured Cove's love for the sunshine perfectly. Just like me, Covey loves to lounge in the warm sunshine coming through the window. What is even cuter is that she actually picks up her bed in her mouth and pulls it over to where the sunshine is. I must admit that her bed is not the only thing finding its way into her mouth lately. Let me say that the puppy chewing desire in her is definitely in full force here lately. We have been able to detour her from damaging our furniture though with that Sour Apply spray you get at the pet store. I highly recommend the spray to anyone out there getting a puppy! We also use it to spray in her mouth when she starts to chew on our clothes. Now when Brandon picks up the spray bottle she knows exactly what is coming and stops chewing... well, sometimes she likes to test us and will give it one more chew....cantankerous little lady! I still love her little chompers though : )

Frozen Yogurt For Lynn

2009-03-04T23:12:00.001-06:00

So this has been quite the evening if you ask me! After an exciting therapeutics discussion over hemodynamics, shock syndrome, and stress ulcer prophylaxis Lynn and I headed to the grocery store to purchase the ingredients we needed to make this. Thank you Joi for the passing along the delicious recipe! Emily came over for dinner, after all it was her brilliant idea to make the taco bake...yum. Then Lynn and I headed to Pier One Imports where we both treated ourselves to some cute wall hangings for our new homes- pics coming later for my purchase! She needs to start a blog so you can see hers....no pressure Lynn. And the finally we stopped at a new frozen yogurt place on the Loop that she has been dieing to go to ever since she went to one in California (speaking of which her friend Erin in Cali needs to start a blog so we can keep track of her new almost married life). Here is some pics I snapped with my phone:
I took the above picture because the light reminded me of Joi's super cute light fixture in her dining room. If you have never been to her blog I highly recommend going. Not only does she have great recipes, but even better she has great decorating style!

This was our yogurt mixtures. You get to pick out any flavor and toppings you like, then you purchase your yogurt by weight. Mine is on the left. I had strawberry yogurt with bananas, mango yogurt with blueberries, and some crazy flavor I can't remember the name of with shaved coconut. All these wonderful flavors came for the reasonable price tag of $3.28

Just to show you how delicious the frozen yogurt was, here is a picture of Lynn with a brain freeze she got from scarfing down her whole bowel within minutes...hehe. Thanks for finally making us go to Fro Yo Lynn!

Sewing Skills

2009-03-04T22:53:00.001-06:00

Check out my sister's latest creation with the sewing machine...super cute if you ask me! And the white belt she has on she found at a resale shop here in St. Louis when she was visiting me : ) So here it is from the front:

And from the back:

I am guessing she sent me these pics from the school locker room at school after sewing class- silly girl. Just wait till you see her next creation; it is a dress she is going to wear to banquet. I went with her to pick out the fabric last weekend- vibrant pink and black knock-out pattern! The dress is going to be gorgeous, especially on her. I will be sure to post pics as soon as it is done...

A Fish Story

2009-02-28T10:02:00.000-06:00

Ok, so my fish story is not about some crazy big fish I did or didn't catch. Instead, it has to do with the fish fry I went to at my grandparents church last night. If you are Catholic, you may be familiar with not eating red meat on Fridays during lent. To give a little background my Grandpa Heegn (the one who made the sketches in the previous post) actually organized the fish fries at St. Ann's Church over 25 years ago, and they are still going strong. Well, yesterday was the first fish fry of the season, so of course I wanted to go. I really enjoy just about every kind of fish...fried catfish, boiled shrimp, fried shrimp, clams, etc... This may be a little drawn out, but here is how the events leading up to last night unfolded:

I had called my mom the night before and she wasn't sure if they (my parents) would make it since dad had already planned to go to the conference basketball playoffs with some old high school friends. I was a little bummed, and decided that I may just stay home after I got off work and make french toast to finish off the loaf of bread on our counter. However, my sister called me right when I got off work to let me know that mom decided she would go to the fish fry and then meet my dad at the game.

So, I pick up Brandon on my way home from work and head towards the fish fry only to end up making a wrong turn over the railroad tracks. I had to call my mom, who had no idea where I was from my descriptions. We decided to both back track towards the steak house where I could follow her the rest of the way to the church (Yes, I have been to this church a million times...no I really don't have an explanation for why I turned on the street I did). We waited for my mom to get back to the steak house and followed her the rest of the way to the church just fine.

Now, this set of events put us at the fish fry waiting in line with tickets for our meals with my mom facing in the direction of the doorway talking to Brandon and me. This is when we hear a loud whack/thud sound. While Brandon and I were turning to see where the sound came from, my mom, who saw the whole thing, was already by the man's side.

An elderly man had lost consciousness and fallen on his way towards the doorway. My mom, nurse Anna, was able to safely turn him over, have someone call 911, and help him as he regained consciousness. Although she is not a physician, she believed he had suffered a small stroke, as his tongue went towards his right side when he stuck it out and he was having trouble swallowing. He also had a concussion after the blow he took to his head. He kept repeating some of the same things. Every time he would ask what happened and then say that he didn't want to go to the hospital. When she kindly explained that he needed to because he needed some stitches in his head (it is better to have them focus on a minor cut then a serious stroke), he would state, "Well damn!"

It wasn't like my mom saved his life, but it was comforting to everyone else there to have a nurse by his side until the EMTs arrived, especially since he didn't have any family there with him. I really hope the best for him in his recovery. He may have even cracked some bones from taking such a hard fall.

I really don't know why why mom changed her mind about going to the fish fry. I also don't have an explanation for why I would turn the wrong way and get so turned around she had to come back and find me, which put us at the fish fry a little later than expected. Sometimes, I think the Holy Spirit leads you places where you are needed without you even knowing it...

Pillow Love

2009-02-26T21:48:00.000-06:00

I have been searching for inspiration for our master bedroom for quite some time now. I originally thought I would stick with natural tans and browns with a few red accents; after all, red is the color of romance. I really have never been much a "red" person, which must be why I can never seem to find just the right red accent pieces to use for inspiration. I even made a point today to wonder through both Hobby Lobby and Pottery Barn in search of these red accents with no luck. Don't worry though...I just hit up my new favorite online place for inspiration, Etsy, and snagged these two wonderful sets of pillows from here. Oh the ideas for our master bedroom are in the making!!! These will work perfectly with our tan comforter we got for our wedding too. I will keep you updated if I make any changes to the bedroom. They will more than likely be on my Spring Break though, after I get another paycheck or two. Can't wait to get these lovelies in the mail!

PS- I told Brandon about my exciting find, and he said, "Decorative pillow are not functional." Oh well, I bought them anyways ; )

Caramel Popcorn

2009-02-23T16:35:00.000-06:00

I was cleaning out my emails and came across my absolute favorite recipe for caramel popcorn! I got this recipe from my friend Lynn's mom, and it is oh-so-delicious. I decided to put it on here, so I will know right were to find it the next time I am craving this wonderful snack. Sorry, but this picture is not what it actually looks like. I didn't take any pictures of the popcorn I made. I found this general picture online just to use for the blog.

So here it was you need:
1 bag of puff corn (essential- do not buy regular popcorn...I bought the HyVee brand)
1 stick of butter (I used real butter, but I am sure any kind works)
1 cup of light brown sugar (I may have added a little extra)
1/4 cup of Karo syrup (one small bottle made me over 4 batches of this stuff!)

And here are the directions:
Bring butter, brown sugar and karo syrup to a boil
Pour over puff corn in a large bowl- stir
Spread over 2 cookie sheets
Bake at 210 for 40 minutes; stir it around every 10 minutes

Not only is this easy to make, but it cleans up super quick too!!!

The Ducks Are Coming

2009-02-21T18:41:00.000-06:00

Wouldn't it be terrible to not teach a dog bred for bird retrieval how to hunt ducks?! Well, Brandon decided that Covey needed to learn how to retrieve this weekend.

This is Covey Saturday morning, waiting patiently to retrieve her duck...she loves her poppa!
She would bring it back and lay it down to get her treat...what a champ!

Ok, she wasn't this perfect at first! Here is a video of her Friday night during one of Brandon's first attempts to teach her duck hunting. He even makes the gun sound...cracks me up everytime ; ) Also notice how he lets her know, "The ducks are coming!"

Basketball Debut

2009-02-21T18:17:00.000-06:00

My little sister is a junior in high school. She did some praying over the summer, and received a testimony that she was to switch from public to private school. The private school she goes to, CPRS, is extremly small. She went from a class of over 300 to a class of under 30! Because the school is small, they encourage everyone to play sports. My sis has always been an avid volleyball player, but somehow she got talked into trying out for the basketball team after volleyball season was over. She must be a natural athlete, cuz she turned out to be pretty good : )

Here she is shooting a basket in her last basketball game of the season today...she made this one too!
And here she is doing a little "boxing out"...go #25

I would never have had the courage to go out for a sport like this; she is so brave! Just because I like to brag on my little sis, I also would like to mention she got 200/200 on her first research paper...wahooo! I didn't write my first research paper till I was a senior; she is already passing me up.

A Tribute to Gpa Heegn

2009-02-20T11:33:00.000-06:00

We went over to my parents house last night for dinner. On the coffee table my mom had a small collection of my Gpa Heegn's sketches she had rounded up over at my Grandma's house. I have always known my Grandpa was a bit of an artist, from his detailed Easter egg decorating skills. My mom explained to me that her dad frequently sketched small pictures on scrap paper when he was waiting at job sites (he was an electrician that would have to wait for other construction teams to finish up before he could start wiring). My mom had already purchased a frame and some black tissue paper, and was planning on framing some of her dad's artwork for him. This is kind of a bitter-sweet tribute, as my Grandpa has lost the ability to walk, write, and even eat after suffering multiple strokes. I absolutely loved the idea, and helped put this collection together last night as she was washing up the dishes after dinner.

Something else that I learned last night is that my Grandpa would always write "This is a new pen," when he would pick up a new pen. She came across one of those scrap pieces of paper as well, so we taped this piece of paper to back of the frame. The fact that he even signed the paper makes me smile even more.
Just for kicks...Here is my sister's cat, Molly, trying to sneak up on Covey while she was sleeping. Notice how Cove sleeps all stretched out- silly pup!

Great idea to put together this collection of artwork mom! Thanks for letting me help, and teaching me a few things I never knew about my grandpa...

PS- dinner was delicious too : )

A Little Good & A Little Bad

2009-02-13T11:38:00.000-06:00

The economy isn't as good as we may like it to be, and this has hit pretty close to home for Brandon's family. Brandon's father lost his job at the end of last year. At first they cut his hours, but then they let him go completely. Brandon's dad has been applying for numerous jobs over the past couple months and even had several interviews. I know finding a job is not easy right now with most companies making cuts. This also means there are hundreds of out-of-work people applying for the same job, making it all the more difficult. Luckily his dad has a great personality and an awesome work ethic. He was able to land a new job with Direct TV, which he starts the week after next. We are going to celebrate the good news with them tonight!!!

On a sad note, I learned last night that one of my parent's good friends is going through a divorce. Her husband recently moved out after moving on with another woman. My heart breaks for her and their two boys. Please say a prayer for all those people going through divorces right now. I admire all those single parents out there...

Valentine's Day

2009-02-13T11:18:00.001-06:00

I hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine's Day tomorrow!!! Brandon has been my Valentine over 7 years now, and I couldn't be happier. Just for kicks I thought I would post a picture of the little goddies I purchased for him. I am going to make a little scavenger hunt for him to do when he gets off work today. We actually already went out for Valentine's dinner at Kyoto Steak House last night, since our puppy is going to be recovering from getting fixed the next couple days. Brandon gave me some chocolates and lab puppy training books (I have been wanting to buy some, since I have never trained a little puppy before). I made him wait to get the gifts I purchased though, since I wanted to make him work for them ; ) I thought those KY massage oil samples looked fantastic, since we both love a good back massage. This was also the first year that we are husband and wife, so I couldn't help but purchase a Valentine's Day card from the "husband" section. I don't know why, but I secretely love that I get to buy him husband cards...maybe its a girl thing.

A New Gate

2009-02-13T10:51:00.000-06:00

After only having Covey a week, Brandon decided it was time to make our back yard completely fenced in. Luckily, the yard itself came fenced in. The only part left for us finish was adding a gate across our walk-through porch. With the help of Mike, Brandon went to Lowe's and used our whole Missouri tax return to purchase boards, screws, metal posts, and latches (he didn't want to wait 2 weeks to special order a pre-fab fence, so he designed his own custom one). Here is a picture of Brandon and his dad working on it last Saturday...

Brandon's sister Misty brought our niece Emarea over to play with Covey while they were building the fence. The weather was so nice, we spent most of the day outside. Here she is showing me the treat she is going to give Covey- notice Covey is already laying down...smart puppy!

And here is the completed fence! I think it looks better than any pre-fab fence we could have ordered- love my handy man! We decided to put the fence on the front side of the porch so we can still let Covey out our main door to go potty; this caused us to have to move our mailbox to where it is now in the picture. We plan on power washing the porch and staining the porch and new gate at the same time. We are going to have to put up some guttering this spring too. When the rain freezes that porch becomes a sheet of ice. I learned this the hard way...ouch!

Our New Addition

2009-02-06T14:40:00.001-06:00

Brandon and I adopted our first puppy together this week. This little girl is an 8 week-old laborador retriever. We came across her at PetCo last Saturday. She had been rescued by the Linn County humane society and was living with her foster mom who brought her upto the store. We instantly fell in love with her, and officially adopted her on Monday. We named her Covey (precounced like a lake "cove" with a "y"). She is not yet house trained, but we are hoping to fix her of this quickly. Lucky for us we don't have any carpets in our house for her to make a mess on. I am not sure how long it takes for puppies this old to learn how to let us know when they need to go. Today she has only made one tinkle inside, so I am very happy! Right now the sweet little pup is curled up at my feet fast asleep. Here is a picture of her and Brandon after Mike and him came inside from pulling Brandon's motorcycle engine back out of his bike. Mike kindly donated his water bottle to her toy collection- she loved it! I have been busy reading up on puppy training this week, since I don't want to teach her any bad habits we will have to break later. I have never trained a puppy before, so wish me luck!!!

Something You Don't See Everyday

2009-02-06T14:25:00.000-06:00

I came across these pictures on one of my memory cards and couldn't help but post them. I live in a 2nd floor apartment in St. Louis. Outside of my window I have a lovely view of both the Basilica (a huge Catholic church where the pope visits) and the garbage dumpster. I happen to stare out my window a lot when I am talking on the phone with Brandon because my phone charger is plugged in on that wall. This is one of the silly squirrels that pretends to be king of the dumpster; he had some how managed to get a milk ring around his neck. I couldn't help but grab my camera and snap a few pictures of this oh-so-funny occurrence. After all, it isn't everyday you see a squirrel with a necklace on : )

25 Things

2009-01-31T12:22:00.000-06:00

I got the idea to write this blog from facebook. If you don't read facebook notes, the whole idea is to write 25 things people likely do not know about you. I tried to come up with 25 unique things about myself, so here it goes...

1. When I go to my Chinese restaurant in KC I like to get both egg drop soup and vegetable soup. They are both so yummy, that I just can’t chose between them.

2. When I make the bed I make sure there are more sheets/blankets hanging over on my side of the bed. You don’t hear me complaining about not having enough covers ; )

3. I had to have surgery to remove ingrown toenails when I was in 5th grade; thus, my toenails on my two big toes are more “squared” off than most peoples.

4. When I drive back to St. Louis at night I tend to listen to talk shows instead of radio stations playing songs because they keep me awake better. I really don’t know why; you think it would be opposite.

5. I have a testimony regarding me marrying my husband Brandon that came the summer after 8th grade when I found a heart-shaped seashell on the beach. We didn’t start dating till the following year. I still have the shell.

6. I love, love, love things that or salty, or things I can put a lot of salt on. In fact, I can’t wait till the pickles are gone, so I can drink the juice left in the jar. I also love salt on watermelon and cantaloupe, which Brandon thinks is odd.

7. I once fell halfway into a shark tank (upper body only). I was trying to pet the sharks. I was 14 years old—old enough to know better.

8. I love being in direct sunlight. I would rather be hot than cold any day. When I was little I actually liked getting into my mom’s black van in the middle of summer before the air conditioner kicked in.

9. My brother and I kept our bags packed when we were little so we could quickly run away from home (you know- snacks, flashlight, blanket, etc.). We talked about doing it all the time, but we never really left.

10. I also got so mad at my brother one time for being better than me at everything that I climbed to the very top of our climbing tree, walked out across a branch, and then slid down a large branch that stretched from the bottom of the tree to the top just so I could say I had done something he had never done. My dad chopped that branch off soon after. Looking back, that tree is taller than I remember it being.

11. I ran cross-country in 8th grade. I didn’t really like to run, so I would spend most of practice hanging out on an old bridge that was hidden from the road with my friends. I came close to finishing last in just about every race. I was also on the “B” team.

12. Becoming a pharmacist was never my first career choice. I chose the career because I could work part time and still make a decent salary. I probably should have become a teacher.

13. One summer, I ate worms almost every day when I was a counselor named, “Dot” at Girl Scout day camp. I made the mistake of eating part of a worm one day to show they were perfectly harmless. Every girl that came to our class afterwards wanted to see me do it too.

14. I think my little sister is way prettier than I am. She is so tall and skinny, and her face has perfect proportions (mine is longer and skinnier). I hope guys want to date her for the right reasons.

15. When I was really little I had fantasies about dating JTT (I said this the other day and Kara did not know who he was). In middle school I wanted to date Brian, off the Back Street Boys. Thankfully, by high school I had found Brandon : )

16. This one is not really about me, but I thought I would include it anyway. Brandon is related to a guy buried in a glass tomb in a cast-concrete museum the guy/relative built. I found this out when my dad was sharing the creepiest place he had ever gone to while we were at dinner with Brandon’s parents. Brandon’s mom let him know the guy in the glass tomb was relation…awkward, but very funny moment!

17. Songs can have a very emotional impact on me. I frequently cry during church to worship songs. I also to cy when sad songs come on the radio. I think Lynn is worse at this than I am...lol. I just cry the first time, she cries everytime ; )

18. I should never sit by my sister at church. I don’t know why, but we always seem to get the giggles. We tend to laugh through most of the service and even the prayers…thanks Kara!

19. My mom is Catholic and my father was raised in a church that believes the Book of Mormon. I hear lots of negative comments/attitudes towards both religions all the time. I tend to call myself “Christian” since it seems to fit my upbringing the best. However, I believe that the Book of Mormon is another testimony of Christ’s love for us. For the record, most rumors about “Mormon” churches are false.

20. I felt closer to Brandon’s grandpa Herb when he passed than I ever felt with my own two Grandpas. I have tried to change this since then. I aspire to the kind of grandparents that Brandon has had growing up.

21. I wouldn’t mind having lots of kids. I think I minimum of 3 to 4 would be awesome. I would love to be a stay-at-home mom, but will settle for working part time (I don’t want to lost my drug knowledge). We will see what God has in store…

22. I would say that I am more open that the average person on lots of topics; just ask my friends. My mom is the same way. Let’s just say my sex education started when I was very little. My parents still have a great sex life. I feel bad for couples who let this part of their relationship go.

23. Even though I hate studying, I do love what I am studying. Learning about how the human body works is fascinating. I have grown so much appreciation for the research that goes into developing drugs that target disease states. No matter how much I learn though, I do not think I am near ready enough to become a pharmacist.

24. I once killed dozens of hermit crabs by accident. My cousins and I collected a bunch from the ocean to keep as pets. Apparently the ones from the ocean do not survive in the same way the ones from the pet stores do. I still feel terrible about it.

25. I qualified for “State” my senior golf season of high school. After the first 8 holes, I was 5 strokes below par. On the 9th hole, a par 5, I had a nice long drive and a perfect lay-up shot before the pond. The next shot I botched. It bounced back off the rocks on the opposite side of the pond and landed underneath a fence post, inches from being out of bonds. I had to chunk it out from underneath the fence post where it landed behind a tree. I had to use another shot to get it out from behind the tree. Needless to say, I gained every single stroke back before the turn to the next nine. It is funny now, not at the time.

Craig's List Find

2009-01-29T23:15:00.000-06:00

I found a great bench on Craig's List this past week and couldn't be happier about it. I have been in search of a narrow coffee table to fit our narrow living room... we do want space to be able to walk through it after all! Thanks to a wonderful lady named Courtney, I found a "rustic" Pottery Barn bench on Craig's List for sale, since she also labeled the bench as being a coffee table. I stole this picture off of the pottery barn website to show you what it looks like. They still have the smaller and larger versions of the bench/table for sale for $149 and $249...yikes! Needless to say, I snagged my new coffee table for less than 1/4 of its original price- happy day.... It is a little scratched up, but I should have it looking good in no time. I would take a picture of it, but Brandon won't let me put it on our living-room hardwood floors till I put some felt circles on the bottom on the legs. He sure is cautious when it comes to protecting the floors he refinished : ) This is actually my first Craig's List purchase ever, but after this find, it may become my new favorite place to shop for home furnishings. Courtney gave me a tour of her beautiful home when I picked up the bench today; let me tell you, it was gorgeous. I loved two of her wall colors so much, I may just use them when we finally paint our walls. On a humorous note, both the wall colors came from the Benjamin Moore Pottery Barn Collection...nice!

A Weekend in St. Louis

2009-01-25T22:05:00.000-06:00

I just spent a fantastic weekend soaking up time with my sister (Kara) and cousin (Miles) here in St. Louis. My poor little sis has tried repeatedly to plan a trip to come visit me here at my apartment in the city, but something always seems to come up. This time we made sure and picked a weekend early in the semester so neither of our schedules would conflict, and it worked! Her and Miles rode the train here Friday night. Here is a quick run down of our weekend events: we went to the zoo and watched the polar bear play with his red ball (he was our favorite attraction at the zoo), drank some root beer from Fitz's, shopped for vintage clothes on the Loop, ate at the Spaghetti Factory on the Landing, caught a movie at the old Chase Park Cinema in the Central West End, and ate Crepes at a new little place down the street from my apartment called Crepes Etc. We also stayed up past 1 every night reminiscing and laughing. The weekend went by all to quickly for me, and I hated waving good-bye as the caught the train this afternoon. I am so happy they came. For those of you who are not familiar with my history, I am in my fifth year at St. Louis College of Pharmacy. This is my final semester before the all-time-consuming rotations start in May, so I am trying to enjoy it as much as I can. Luckily, I only have classes three days a week, so I will get to spend the majority of my weekends back in KC with my handsome husband. Even though I cherish the time I spend with Brandon, it wouldn't be fair not to mention that I survive my days at class in St. Louis thanks to my best friends Lynn and Emily. Those two can always make me laugh even in our most stressful weeks- love you both dearly!

2 Months Later

2009-01-23T15:34:00.000-06:00

With the end of the semester and the move into our new house, I haven't found the time to make any new post over the past 2 months! So much for becoming a dedicated blogger right off the bat...lol. I will try to be more diligent towards this endeavor in the following months. I don't have a lot of time today, but I wanted to go ahead and upload a picture of our new house. I couldn't be happier with our first home purchase! Our house is a ranch style home with a walk through porch over to our one car garage. Luckily for Brandon, a previous owner built an addition onto the back of the garage for her hair salon, which makes our garage extra long. He has managed to fill up the space pretty quickly, as he is rebuilding an old motorcycle he found online at the end of last summer. Since the garage does not have any heat right now, he doesn't plan on working on the motorcycle till this spring when it warms up a bit. This means he has plenty of time to use his handy-man skills around our home! His list on increasing abilities continues to amaze me- I will have to show off his work around our new home in my upcoming posts...

Clementines

2008-11-20T21:48:00.000-06:00

My first blog... After being inspired by my friend Emily's sister-in-law Joi, I figured would I try my hand at this creative little way of keeping track of my daily tid bits. This month has been a very exciting month for me. My husband and I found a perfect starter home in a perfect location to start our life together in! I am sure there will be lots of sharing about our house after we close the day before Thanksgiving. There are so many ideas floating around in my head regarding colors and decorating. I am looking forward to starting the process of painting and purchasing furniture in the upcoming months. Since the need to study is great this weekend, I won't go into details just yet. However, I would like to share with everyone that Clementines are back in season and yummy as ever! Lynn and I bought a bag last weekend at the grocery store and have been snacking on these delicious sweet fruit all week. If you have never tried them, I highly recommend them. I think I may even like them better than oranges!