58* in January!!

Are you enjoying this weather we are having? Wow! I can not believe it. It is January 29th and I have the windows and doors open. I'm airing out the house! Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining. I love a little winter each year, but this spring-like weather is wonderful! Lexi has been outside for hours. We took a nice long walk around the neighborhood. The kids next door are outside jumping on the trampoline in t-shirts. I love it! I should really be working in the yard, cleaning up before the trash comes tomorrow, but after all that rain yesterday... it's swampy.

On the flip side, it's crazy to think that we will be back in freezing temperatures Thursday and Friday. I better get out and enjoy this nice weather while I can...

As Promised....

Pictures of the master bathroom. Of course, while I have been promising them for a coupe of weeks now, they aren't that exciting. As I mentioned, I painted it the same color as the master bedroom.
Before it was an orangey brown color (the lighting is really bad and did not like my camera too much). If you look really close you can se the new color along the bottom near where the white shower tile starts:

After:

I would like to add a picture or a little roman shade to add some color to the bathroom, but that will come in time. I'm not interested in spending lots of money, but if I find some sale fabric or get some inspiration, then we will see. It's funny, because that picture above looks like the left hand wall isn't painted, but it is, and it's the same color as the wall straight on, the lighting is just that goofy.

Again, these pictures aren't too exciting, I know. But, I promised to share. We are really struggling with what to do with the basement. We're painted it twice and just aren't satisfied with the color. Drew was really gun-ho about working on the basement when we moved in, but he's lost a little steam and we've shifted gears a bit in terms of priorities -- all that for another post. (Maybe later today or tomorrow). I need to get moving and get changed. I can't believe how warm it is outside today! Nearly 50 in January!

Chill in the Air

Mother nature, please make up your mind! I can't believe how cold it is outside. Okay, I guess it isn't that cold considering it is January, but the random warm days throughout the week are such a tease. Saturday was beautiful, and today I saw flurries! Not cool.
Outside of the weather, it was another busy week for us. I finished painting the bathroom (I know, I owe you photos), picked up some furniture/clutter from my parents house, worked, and spent the weekend with one of my great friends, Beth, who was in town looking for wedding dresses. I had a blast getting to know the other bridesmaids and looking for her dress, but boy was it exhausting! It makes me laugh to think about because I hardly had to do anything. She was the one trying on dresses and trying to make a decision. The first appointment was at 9:30am and we wrapped up at 5pm. It was a long day, but well worth it because she found "the dress"! (Sorry, no picture to share - you'll have to wait until she is married.)
Speaking of "the dress" one of the stores we stopped at was where I found my dress. And, as luck should have it, a girl looking for her dress tried mine on. It gave me a weird, exciting feeling. At the same time, It was strange how different I thought the girl looked in the dress. I know that sounds terrible, but I guess since I had never seen anyone in the dress before, I see it as "my" dress. The girl didn't seem too excited wearing the dress so I don't think it was the one for her. Regardless, it was fun to be on the other side of the process. It's the first wedding I am a part of since Drew and I got married so I have a different perspective on things, and I feel as though I can offer useful advice. Beth's wedding will also be our first destination wedding. Beth is originally from Cincinnati, but she lives in Chicago now and her family move to Jacksonville. The wedding will be in Florida in October. We're planning to make a vacation out of it. Okay, now I am just rambling.

2013 - I'm here!!!

Yikes!!!! I can't believe I've been away from writing for more than a month... and it's a new year! For those of you still reading, thank you and I am sorry! I will be better! I'm determined to stay up on writing this new year. I/we have so much to be grateful for, and hopefully exciting things to share.
December was crazy. The last time I wrote I was in Denver. I am home. I passed all of my Pure Barre training/certification, which was a bit nerve wrecking and overwhelming. It's still a bit overwhelming right now, which is why I have been so distracted. Teaching has been a lot harder than I imagined. I feel like I am improving with each class and getting more and more comfortable, but at the same time the clients are use to instructors who have been teaching for six months or a year and I am just not at that level right now. The other instructors have been great and supportive, but it is still a lot of pressure. Don't get me wrong, some of the clients have been great too and provided me with positive feedback, but I still have things to work on and need to find my rhythm. Most importantly, I need to up the energy in my classes. The owner is reviewing my class tomorrow so hopefully she will see some improvement in my teaching since my first couple classes (which she took).
Drew is still working for Amazon. Things have calmed down a lot for him and his schedule is finally back to normal. No more crazy holiday hours. Although, now that the holidays have come and gone, so have a lot of the workers, which means there are a lot less people working each shift. In some ways that is nice, but from what Drew has said, there is still a lot of work to get done and people aren't working as quickly as necessary.
Speaking of the holidays, we had a fantastic Christmas and low key new year. Christmas was all about family which we wouldn't have any other way. New year's eve... well... let's just say Drew was asleep by 9pm and with just Lexi keeping me awake, I too missed the ball drop. I did wake to fireworks in the neighborhood, but was back to sleep a few minutes later - talk about feeling old. Oh well. We had a productive new years day compared to others who were up later. One of these years (it's been awhile) we will have a more exciting night.
As for the house, today was the first time I've tackled anything DIYish since recovering the dining room chairs for Thanksgiving. I decided to paint the master bathroom. I took some before pictures which I will try to post tomorrow or Thursday along with after pictures. I need more natural light for the after pictures. The ones I tried to take this evening looked horrible!
I realize this is only a snippet of the last month, but it is a start. I will be back soon with more, I promise.  I just really need to plan my class for tomorrow and get some sleep!

Greetings from Denver!!

I'm writing from Denver today. I've wrapped up day one of Pure Barre training and am relaxing in my hotel. Day two kicks off early tomorrow and then it's back home. It was a long day and I am sure I will be sore tomorrow, but overall I am having a great time. We learned a lot of material and it was definitely overwhelming in a sense, but not as bad as I had imagined. Best of all, I am handling the elevation difference without any problems. My biggest fear was feeling nauseous or faint - I survived without either of those feelings.

Outside of prepping for training I didn't make a lot of time for other things. The last two weeks have been a whirlwind of practicing, taking classes, working and finding time to sleep. I have a feeling this upcoming week will be the worst, but then it will be smooth sailing.

Of course, I am way behind on Christmas and holiday planning. I know there is still a decent amount of time left before Christmas, but I feel like the time is slipping by quickly. Maybe it's the 50* weather. Or the lack of mall shopping. I did get the inside of the house decorated. We're slacking on the outdoor lights, but maybe we will get them up soon. I was planning to upload some pictures of the tree, but I of course forgot the cord. I will try to remember to post a couple in the next couple of days.

Well, this post isn't as exciting as I had originally planned. I figured with some down time I would finally be able to put something together and fill you in on the latest news. However, I keep getting distracted and now I am getting tired. I will do better next time :)

Thankful

There is so much to be thankful for this year.
Just in the last couple of weeks we've celebrate a number of milestones. Drew reached 10 years in the military and last weekend was officially promoted to Captain. I had the honor of being a part of the ceremony by switching out his badge. Of course, his sisters attended the ceremony, as well as his two uncles whom Drew is close to and his two cousins.

 He was also surrounded by a number of soldiers who he has grown close to in and outside of the armory. Major Moore then gave him the rest of the drill day off to celebrate. Traveling Drew even made an appearance :)

It was a great way to enjoy the Sunday, especially with the number of days we will spend apart as the holiday season nears.

If you can believe it, Monday marked our sixth month anniversary! Six months already!? Time is flying. We are having a blast in the process and definitely staying busy. May 2013 will be here before we know it.

Speaking of busy, this week has been one of the most draining weeks at work. We are gearing up for two projects to go out on Monday and in the process I have been spending most, if not all of my time, researching for both projects. Add all of that on top of prepping for Thanksgiving and Wednesday felt like Friday. The good news is Thanksgiving went off without a hitch. We pulled through with a bit of teamwork and hosted our first Thanksgiving. Our two main priorities included recovering the dinning room chairs and the turkey. Holy cow did I not realize how long it would take to cover the chairs! My hand was raw from de-stapling them. Then, our staple gun wasn't strong enough. Luckily, I was able to borrow one from a friend. Needless to say, we got them done (recovered and re-paded) before guests arrive - even if it meant recovering chairs at 1am!

We both got up early to finish preparing. I worked on the turkey and Drew spent some time with his cousin and uncles at his uncle's farm. It was good for him to get out and enjoy the day without having to think about work at all.

Thankfully, all of our guests were willing to help in the food department - a big thanks to Mom, Dad, Matt, Kevin, Jill and Gayle! We had tons of side dishes and desserts to top off the turkey.

Overall, it was a fun and relaxing (yes, I said relaxing) day with family. The 60* weather didn't hurt either. Lexi spent nearly the entire day outside from greeting our guests to watching the neighbors.

Personal Artwork

As promised, here is the post on the homemade artwork I created Monday. I had hoped to create a second one this evening, but some other things came up that I needed to take care of ASAP.

I came up with the idea after seeing a post on another DIY blog. Not wanting to spend a lot of money, I figured I could create a similar art piece using burlap and stamps. Once I got to the craft stores I had difficulty finding the stamps I was imagining so I opted for stencils and fabric paint. Then, using a sponge brush I "stamped" the paint into the stencil. Of course, I messed up at the end so this is actually take two of my project. I'm sure you already guessed that the numbers are dates. Each one is special to us. (Our first date. Our engagement. Drew's return from Iraq. Wedding.) And, since 19 has turned into our special number I decided to highlight it in red. I should point out that I didn't have any intentions of showcasing one date per year. It just happened to turn out that we have had one very significant date each year since we've met. Of course, I could add buying the house to it, but I didn't want the numbers to get too squished.

I bought the frame a long time ago at Kroger for a couple of bucks. (*Yes, that is a price tag/sticker you see through the back of the burlap. The frame is two pieces of glass back to back - originally meant for a floating picture and the glass around the sides.) I need to find Drew's goo be gone to take the stickers off. Overall I think the entire project cost less than $10.

I still have a decent amount of burlap leftover so I am planning to do the same thing with a bible verse from our wedding and hang it in the bedroom. We desperately need some wall art in that room.

*Once again, I took a really good picture of this, but it keeps loading on to the site facing the wrong way. And, I too lazy/tired right now to go back downstairs and take another picture. So bear with the first shot with all of the TV wires and distractions in the background.