Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
our big kitchen remodel....BEFORE pictures
From the day we looked at buying our house we knew major improvements were in store. The kitchen renovation was the most dire and I still look back and wonder how in the world we lived almost 5 years with a hallway-sized kitchen. In order to renovate our kitchen we also had to renovate our living space and dining room...basically half of our house. I know I can't fit it all in one post so I figured I'd spread it out over several and wanted to start with showing you guys how it looked before we got started...which actually began in February so please don't mind all of the Christmas decorations...
This was our pint-sized kitchen, which as you can see, didn't leave much working room for one person...let alone 2. Our cabinets and walls were knotty pine, with mis-matched appliances and the ever-popular brick laminate flooring. And if that wasn't enough...faux wood countertops were also added at some point.
Our living area was narrow and also boasted some knotty pine paneling (which we had painted to lighten things up in the interim) and beautiful brick laminate flooring (which we had shamefully covered with a warm brown rug) Our built ins to the side of the fireplace were barely deep enough to fit books and picture frames on...so the cable box just kind of hung off one of the low shelves...not exactly kid-friendly.
The picture above is our dining room, which was actually a great size but felt out of place given the small living and kitchen area. Oh...and you're probably wondering why our fridge is oddly placed out of our kitchen and in our dining room...that is actually where it still is today (but is now part of our kitchen) and we knew that was the plan so when we bought it we decided to put it where it would ultimately end up for purposes of installing the water line for the ice maker. It also would have NEVER fit in our kitchen...the best we could do was the standard white fridge that now serves as our garage refrigerator.
And lastly...this is a picture of the small area to the right of our kitchen which I believe was actually supposed to be the dining area (assuming our home was designed to have a formal living room which we used as our living area and a den which we used as our dining room). At one point we did have a small round table with four chairs but felt like it was still too crowded with that. The door straight ahead actually heads out to our garage, which we turned part of into a mud room/laundry room/pantry.
So...thats it...I'll be back next week with some of the "in-process" pictures and let you know how much was involved and how long everything took...
Monday, July 9, 2012
a fresh spot for our herbs...
Last year I posted here all about my adventures in herb gardening and thought I'd share the fresh new spin we've taken on that very subject around here... In the past, we've always placed our herb garden (with the exception of rosemary - that goes in the ground because of its hardiness) in containers in our garden but this year we decided to add a window box under our kitchen window and store our herbs there (each in it's very own 6 inch pot). My thinking was this....much easier access to the herbs - I can open the window and cut what I need and easier to water (again - just a little lean out the window with a small watering can). My herb gardens have always needed a little more watering than those plants that get stuck in the ground but I've lost quite a few plants due to lack of watering. So, I figured this would solve that problem and look cute under or kitchen window. We have a deck right off our kitchen so the window box is about at waist level when out on the deck too. I purchased our window box from pottery barn (waited for a free shipping promo, of course) and my husband was able to easily install it into the mortar of our brick in about a half hour...
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Monday, July 2, 2012
weekend recap
I've feel like I've been so out of the mix for a while now...but wanted to share our weekend...nothing exciting....just the mundane thats been keeping us on the run...
Saturday morning we did our usual...off to the farmer's market to grab our veggies for the week....in the 100 degree heat, y'all....even at 9am...ick...mark the date - june 30 - i said for the first time this summer "i'm ready for fall..." here's what we scooped while navigating the crowds....
next up was a much needed trip to the va aquarium....addie's first visit and i'm pretty sure she was the most excited kid there. Squeals and jumping up and down pretty much summed up what she did at every turn and the sight of more fish....not only am I 100% certain we totally looked liked tourists in our own town but I'm pretty sure people thought we needed to get out more....we'll definitely be making more of these trips. I was totally amazed at how well Addie walked through the aquarium with us with 0 melt downs...thanks to charlie sheen...we now call that "winning"
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| so excited to see the fishies |
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| looking in with dadda |
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| looking for gators with momma |
and saturday night left the hubs and i some "adult time" with our favorite beach bums....mexican dinner and ted....it really doesn't get much better than that these days....seriously, go see ted...it doesn't disappoint...
sunday was more of the household chore day....grass cutting, cleaning, organizing....you know the drill....
but i'd still take that over any monday....
Friday, June 29, 2012
Thursday, June 21, 2012
go rest high on that mountain...
Today is the day we will lay my papa to rest...as a family we will gather around his grave....speak words of love, shed tears, and remember a man that served his country, his community, and most importantly - his family. I simply cannot put into words what a wonderful grandfather he was...I've tried....but it's never enough. His suffering over the last few years was hard and while his death brings relief in knowing that he has been healed...I guess you are just never fully prepared for the finality of it all.  |
| Christmas 2011 |
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| Papa and his great-grandson, Charlie - Christmas 2011 |
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
It's potty time...
We pulled the trigger on purchasing Addie's training potty and so far its been all good. We are obviously taking things very slowly...I've heard from almost everyone I've ever talked to that pushing it only makes things worse...plus Addie is pretty young to be seriously potty training. We've talked about it and she likes to sit fully clothed on hers while I'm on mine...all great steps in my opinion. She also takes great joy in carrying it around the house....as you can see below:)
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| the most efficient way to take care of potty duties... |
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| so proud...and clearly she's been into strawberries |
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| wild thing...you make my heart sing |
I'd love to hear from you guys on any tips you have or tricks that worked well in your house in the potty training department.
Monday, May 14, 2012
Weekend Rewind
Week 2 of "Weekend Rewind" with one of my fave bloggers, Tami over at "Little Moments Like This"
Every weekend is too short...and this one was no exception. We started off our weekend with my hubs having his wisdom teeth taken out on Friday...which went fine...just some soreness and he was a little out of it for most of the day.
Saturday was spent doing a bunch of tidying and cleaning....the hubs outside....me and the girl inside (with dance breaks and story reading mixed in).
Onto the highlight of the weekend...Mother's Day!!!! I hope all of the mommas out there had a wonderful day!! My baby girl made me the sweetest gift I could have ever asked for...here she is hard at work on it....
My parents joined us for breakfast in the morning and it was glorious...french toast casserole...sausage cheese squares...fresh fruit...and scrambled eggs.
I'm am SO very lucky to have such a wonderful woman to call mom. I simply don't know what I'd do without her!!!
The rest of the day was spent working on our green thumbs and harvesting some of the fruits of our labor....
Above is our romaine lettuce that has done totally awesome this year....
And our tomato plants we successfully got in the ground yesterday afternoon
And....my pots I finally got the plants in to pretty up the deck...
And...I should also mention that the hubs and I made a pact this weekend...to start the dreaded "d" word....DIET. Ick....I hate that word but we are both in desperate need....I couldn't even bear to post the pictures of my lil bro and I on his graduation day because my appearance is totally lacking. It's not healthy...my back hurts because of it....and I'm totally miserable. And...I'm not really a fad dieter because I know they are often not sustainable but I think the "17 Day Diet" shows some promise so we are going to give it a go. In combo with Jillian Michaels "30 Day Shred." It also doesn't help that June 9th we have a black tie event to attend...so we have no time to waste. I know the key to these diets is meal planning....so here's ours for the week...
Wish us luck...and please if anyone has any experience with this or any helpful tips...do share!!! I'll keep y'all posted on our progress!
J
Friday, May 11, 2012
Friday funnies...
The hubs is having his wisdom teeth removed this morning...I'm in need of some serious humor...
And last but certainly not least...you have to check out this post one of my fave bloggers, Amy over at "Our Happy Married Life" posted with a video of her daughter Olivia doing her signature head shake....make sure to watch for the stuffed animal in the video;)
Happy Friday!!!
And last but certainly not least...you have to check out this post one of my fave bloggers, Amy over at "Our Happy Married Life" posted with a video of her daughter Olivia doing her signature head shake....make sure to watch for the stuffed animal in the video;)
Happy Friday!!!
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