DONE!

This weekend we finished the tiling! Our last big project for a while (I hope!) It took until 10:30 on Saturday night, all day Sunday, and then I surprised Jeff by staying home today and finishing the grout and some painting. It feels so good to hae accomplished so much. I'm sure there will be plenty of small things to work on now, but this was major and it is a relief to have it finished.

Here is the before picture: linoleum.


and after: beautiful tile with awesome bronze accents!

Chloe and Clarence are also happy it's finished :)

Ta-da!

Here are the curtains! I wish the camera could capture how pretty they really make the room. It's a dramatic difference. It always looks so bright in the house when I take pictures, but really it's not that bright, and that light you see is even dimmed. I don't get it.


See those orange and yellow flowers in the corner of the above picture? We replaced them with the red and white flowers below :)


Here is the other window.

See the sunflower on the fireplace? We replaced it with the flowers below :) (it's the little touches people!)

Curtains...

…are the greatest invention ever. After chocolate. And flip flops. Teeth whitener. Scented candles. Creamer! Artichokes. What do you think are the greatest inventions ever?
(real pictures of curtains [and awesome red flowers to tie it all together!] to come!)

a schmorgasborg

Here is Cade doing some sliding across the floor action!

How classic is this face?

Jeff's new tile saw! We've seen plenty of this in the past several weekends. We've done the fireplace, entryway, a bathroom, laundry room and hallway. All we have left is the kitchen! PHEW!

At the Renaissance Festival. Cade and Scottie had a dual.

(PS, this is my gansta brother who has been mistaken for a Puerto Rican. Now he sports a cowboy hat. Go figure!)

Cade was a great shot! He even won a prize!

Here is Clarence showing of the newly tiled entry way.

I tried my hand at this yummy iced tea recipe. It took about 40 minutes, and even with simple syrup, lime and mint, it still tasted pretty much like regular tea. Oh well, it is pretty :)

More sawing!

Last weekend Grace and Sarah hosted a beautiful bridal shower for Tiff. It was so wondeful! Elegant, gorgeous and classy, just like Tiff!

Before and after pictures of the fireplace. I could not love it more!

the end.

Magic Camera!

So after spending 15 minutes on the phone with Best Buy trying to figure out if I could get a replacement USB cord since my fancy new camera didn't appear to come with one, I found out the greatest thing!...The USB cord and the wall charger are ONE! Yep, just pull gently on the cord that connects to the wall and Voila! USB cord! Here come the picutres :)

Passion

I wish I had one. I think I might, but can't put words to it. In any case, Jody has passion! I've been following her blog as she and her husband Andy and their 4 children went through the adoption process of adding 2 Sierra Leonian babies to their family. I went to college with her sister, Jess, who is one of my all time favorite people! Jodi was just honored by Lifetime! So anyway, check these people out. Please! And get passionate. It's remarkable!

PS. both Jody's Hubby and Jess's Hubby are musicians and super talented. Check them out, too!

http://www.water4christmas.com

bling

Can I just tell you I LOVE my wedding ring? I was without it for the past week beacause I took it in for it’s 6 month check up/cleaning/beautifying. I got it back yesterday and I can’t stop admiring it. It's so sparkly! Plus I love thinking about when we went ring shopping. It was a spontaneous thing. We were up in Denver visiting several of my friends. On the way home we stopped at the mall. Hubbs just led me right to a jewelry store. I was so nervous! And a bit surprised. So we started looking at rings. And then I started trying them on. I started with the ring I’d imagined liking most. A solitaire with a simple white gold band. I tried small, round diamonds and square ones. (I don’t even know what they are called. What kind of girl am I?!) Then the helpful sales person brought out the wedding bands that would look nice with the rings. One of them was this really pretty, simple yet classic white gold band with little diamond around half of it. It was so beautiful! Hubbs said, “why don’t you try that one on by itself.” So I did. And you could tell that he really loved it. And that made me love it even more. And that’s the one he got me! It’s been so perfect for me. Goes with every outfit (I know, what ring doesn’t?) Isn’t hard to keep up. Doesn’t get caught on clothes or my face. Ouch! I think it’s very me. And very me and Jeff. Anyway, just wanted to share. It’s not about the ring, I know. It’s about the love. The commitment. The eternal. And I love other girls rings, too. They can be so unique, so charming, so elegant, so HUGE, and each one really seems perfect for that girl. But I do, I really do love this ring :) (I would take a picture of it to remind you what it looks like, but I got a new camera and I can’t find the stupid USB cable! I’m so bummed! I’m going to have to go buy one I guess, but it’s just so irritating that I keep putting it off hoping it will magically appear.)

Also, it never gets old looking at Hubbs hand and seeing his ring. It belongs there, I do believe :)