Thursday AKA my Saturday this week

What a gorgeous day to be off work!  After working the past 3 days in a row, I was more than ecstatic to get to enjoy the sunshine today.

I got all the laundry finished this morning, cleaned the kitchen, and started running my errands.  I made a trip to Pottery Barn first-I have a gift card from some super sweet parents of a baby I took care of in the NICU.  Speaking of that, I really miss them! It was so nice to have a baby at work that I knew I always would have.  I love him so much and I love his family. I am excited to watch him grow :) I digress...Pottery Barn is an awesome store.  I've only looked through the magazines, but never to a store.  Everything is beautiful and I want it all, but it is very expensive.  Even though they were having sales and I had a gift card, I had a hard time spending that much money. I think I need a shopping buddy to go back with me and help me :).

After Pottery Barn, I went over to Bed Bath & Beyond to try and pick out a rug for our dining room.  Our dining room is hardwood and I want to put a rug under our dining room table so it doesn't scratch the floor. I want to get the rug before we move in so we don't risk putting the table on the wood.  I ran a few more errands and then made my way to the pool! I only have a few more weeks of being able to use this pool, so I need to take advantage of it.  It was beautiful out today.  I was so relaxed at the pool.  So relaxed that I woke myself up snoring at least 4 times.  Unfortunately there were quite a few people at the pool so I am sure at least someone heard me.  Oh well.

I came back and took Jax on another long walk and then brought him back in to do tricks with him.  Matt and I are teaching him to "hide".  He puts his head down when we say it, but we are trying to get him to cover up on face with his paw.  We are getting there! He learns so quickly.  I went to BodyPump tonight at the Keystone gym.  I got to go to the class with my favorite instructor, go to an earlier time than at my gym, and to see the gym before we move since that one will now be the closed by a mile or 2.

I was so excited to learn that Matt was on his way home while I was making dinner.  I started dinner pretty late hoping I'd catch him.  I made a chicken taco cornbread casserole.  It was delicious! It was SO nice to get to finally eat a dinner at the dining room table with my husband.  It has been forever since we have done that.  Probably even months.  With our work schedules it's impossible to eat dinner at a decent time together.  We could on weekends that I am off, but our weekends have been spent at the new house lately.  I just love him.

Tomorrow I am heading up to Lafayette to see Ashley and Madi! I haven't seen them since Madi was 2 days old.  She is now a month old! Time is flying.  She is the sweetest baby girl. I can't wait to spend the afternoon with them!

I work this holiday weekend-Saturday, Sunday, and Monday so today was my Saturday! Good thing I love who I work with :)

3 hours and done...kind of

We had a great weekend off from work. Friday night, I went to the Indianapolis Indians baseball game with some co-workers.  Every year, the neonatologists (doctors on our unit) buy tickets for the whole unit who wants to go.  You can bring your husband and families too.  Matt had to work Friday night, so I went with some other girls after we got off work that night.  The game was so fun! The weather was great and it was awesome to hang out with the ladies from work outside of the NICU.  I work with some pretty awesome and fun girls.  There was even a fireworks show at the end of the game! I really want to go to a game later on in the summer and take Matt.

Some girls from the unit. Gotta love NICU nurses :)

It's not a baseball game without cotton candy

On Saturday, Matt and I got up early and drove up to Earl Park for his annual family reunion.  This year was different because we didn't camp.  This family reunion camping trip started out at Indiana Beach quite a few years ago where his whole family (40+ people) would camp at the campground Friday, Saturday, and Sunday and then we always went over to the beach and even rented a boat one summer.  Last year, we switched it up and we started camping out at Earl Park.  It's kind of in the middle of nowhere, but it's less expensive and there is more room. Plus, you can stay up as late as you want and be as loud as you want and that is a must for this family :).  This is the first year Matt and I haven't been able to camp, but we went up all day on Saturday to spend time with his family. On Saturday night, we went to a birthday bash for Matt's old boss.  It was so fun and we saw a lot of people.  Mostly people that Matt know but that I just recognized. It was great to see everyone again.

We didn't camp on Saturday because we wanted to get up bright and early on Sunday to get working on the house.  No rest for the wicked.  My mom and brother ended up coming down for the afternoon to help us.  My mom started priming the bathrooms and my brother mowed while Matt and I ran to Lowe's to finalize our kitchen.  My mom and I were cracking up watching my brother mow.  He had never done a riding lawnmower before and ours is an old one that the previous owners left us so he was definitely a little hesitant.  His comment to me was, "Yeah, I'll mow.  I'll paint...you just don't want me to."  Matt had to show my brother how to use the riding mower as my mom and I watched them in amusement from the upstairs bedroom...

My mom and brother were so great to come help us on Sunday.  We got a lot accomplished!  While they stayed at the house, Matt and I traveled to Lowe's.  Our plan was to finalize a few small things (hardware etc) and then buy our kitchen!  Well, we were there for 3 hours and it was anything but simple...

It was actually a really good experience.  Matt and I were both calm and not stressed at all during the meeting.  It was fun to see us completely agreeing on the design of the kitchen and playing give and take.  He totally put up with my indecisiveness (way more than normal) AND he even had a little bit in him as well :). I think this meeting should have been filmed.  The design lady was cracking up at us.  We were getting in debates about which way the corner cabinets should open-right or left. Who knew there were so many options? It is SO HARD to pick this stuff out!  Instead of just choosing hardware, we ended up completely changing our cabinet company (now with Kraftmaid since they were running great deals and they are better quality and more options), the door style of the cabinet, the color (still off-whiteish, but different than before), our sink (went from an integrated to a stainless sink and it's a 70/30 sink-it's HUGE and I am in love), cushion close door (they won't slam shut), and the countertop (we got a free premium edge choice instead of the boring standard edge..basically everything was changed.  Do you want to kill us yet?

If that wasn't bad enough, we had the hardest time picking everything.  We mocked up our kitchen to try and make up our mind...

We actually did not even go with this door style, color, or either of those countertops.  I guess it'll be a surprise because I didn't take a picture of what we actually chose. We found little hardwood samples to match what's already in the house.

The lady had us walking around the store to different lighting and even had us go outside. It was outside that I decided on the countertop.  We were back and forth for forever until I randomly pointed and said "This one." It was impulsive, but we chose it. We decided to postpone the hardware picking-out-or else we'd probably still be at Lowe's right now. We are also postponing picking out the new microwave for above the stove and the faucet.

We were done! The lady started going over our cabinet pieces one-by-one until we were at the end and she was printing out our quote to take to the front.  It was at that exact moment that I said, "Hang on.  (looks at Matt) Ok, now don't laugh and don't be mad...but I kind of like the mushroom color over there better than the canvas.  It's a little different." I was expecting the roof to cave in, but instead Matt started smiling and said,"I actually saw that one when we were over there and liked it, but didn't want to make it more confusing." We ended up choosing Mushroom and are so happy about it.  It's not as yellow as the Canvas color and it's just richer and better.  I am SO excited.

The kitchen is ordered, paid for, and expected to be in in the next few weeks.  She said it could be 3-8 weeks for the cabinets to come in so we are going to be patient.  Matt is installing them so we just have to wait for them to be delivered.

And you thought it was over...

Last night, when I thought he was asleep Matt says, "I just don't know about those countertops." This started a whole new question.  Long story short-we called our lady today and asked if we would be able to change the countertops.  Her response was, "I knew I'd be hearing from you guys today" :).  We can in fact change the countertop up until they come to template it.  So quite a few more weeks.  Matt and I are planning on going back sometime soon to make sure it's what we want or change it again.

 Is this normal? 

proof I painted :)

Here are some pictures from this past weekend at the new house.  Don't mind the messy in-progress shots...

Matt mixing up the drywall putty stuff (which is probably not what its called, but I have no clue).  This man can literally do/fix ANYTHING. The drywall he has been fixing looks so good and he's never even done it before.

I married a Mr. Fix-It and I am so proud of it :).

Dining Room.

Excuse the mess.

The white splotches are Matt's drywall work and there are also a few samples on the wall.

Yes, I did eventually pick the color for this room :).

Living Room
This is probably the biggest project as far as the drywall work goes.
Matt replaced the seaming in the drywall here and fixed the corner bead up top.
It is going to look SO good when he is done.

Corner bead work

Captain Spackle

We left Jax in the backyard most of the day.  He would walk around a little, but wouldn't really play unless we were out there.  He'd be moping on the deck and then the minute we'd walk outside he'd run to grab his ball to play with. At one point while Matt and I were inside the living room, I heard a whimper from the open window.  Jax never whines so I was shocked when I looked down to see him sitting and staring up at the window at us.  Poor guy!

Play with me!

Pleassseee

The kitchen: pre-new cabinets.  This wall will soon be the home to a new pantry and extra cabinets/ counter space. YAY!

Matt sanding the walls before we primed.  Sanding sucks. Bad. Luckily, Matt does all the dirty work.  

Notice Jax in the doorway.

See! I'm painting! I was the queen of base board edging.  Not sure I'll still be able to say that once we start in with the color and not just white...

Creepy shadow picture.  At this point it was about 10 pm and we were painting by spot-light

After we primed and had some Hungry Howie's pizza (YUM), Jax and I laid on the ground while Matt finished the drywall work.

Sleepy puppy. When can we lay down on the couch?

Hi Hubby! Keep it up!

Waiting patiently for some attention :)

Giving the ceiling edging a try.  Way more work to be done!

no rest on weekends

I am so over being busy.  I feel like I am too busy to enjoy Summer, the weather, the pool, friends, family, life. I have been picking up overtime like no other and it really leaves me with no time after my days off are filled with working on the house, running all the errands, and picking up the house.  Have I mentioned I haven't packed a darn thing? That one extra day every week is really just taking away all of my free time.  Yuck!

This weekend we were at the new house.  Matt has been busy fixing all the drywall and I begged him to hurry and get a couple rooms done so we could get paint onto the walls. He has been working SO hard to get everything ready.  I am way too excited to get painting.  Ok, maybe not paint-ing, but paint-ed. I learned this weekend how tedious and time consuming it is to paint.  We are priming every room before we paint-the color throughout the house is a medium brown so when I put the samples on the wall I knew we'd have to prime first.

Our first painting experience together:

(DMB blaring from the other room)

Matt: "Ok, so first we have to "cut in" the room."

Jamie: "Huh?"

M: "We have to cut-in the room.  Like go around the base and the ceiling with a paint brush with the primer so we can get close enough and then do the rest with the roller."

J: "Oh wow." (confused/annoyed/bummed face)

M: "Yeah, so grab that brush and I'll show you how we'll do it." Matt gets on floor to demo.

J: "Uh, that's annoying. Let me try." Jamie trys...

M: "NO no you have to go sloooowww and be precise.  You got paint all over the base board. Speaking of that, always have paper towel ready."

J: "This is going to take forever."

M: "You wanted to paint, remember?"

After a couple minutes...

J: "I'm over this. Want to switch?"

A whole lot of me complaining and a whole lot of Matt being patient with me.  Gotta love him :). Well, ladies and gentlemen we got 3 whole rooms fixed, sanded, fixed again, sanded again, and primed! No paint yet :(. That's what I was most excited about, but it will have to wait.  Who knew it took SO LONG to paint a flipping room?! I do have to say I am a little  proud of myself though. By the 2nd room, I quit complaining, sucked it up, and painted.  The final product makes you want to keep going.

We also made a trip to Lowe's on Saturday to design our new kitchen! WOW am I excited about this. We picked out our cabinet design/color, the layout, the type of cabinets and drawers, what will go where, and the countertops.  It was so much fun to pick everything out. There are so many options and it was so cool to actually design our kitchen.  This kitchen is going to be fantastic.  I will probably just live in there. The coolest thing is the big ole' pantry we are adding in.  It makes me smile. The kitchen now has no pantry (or cabinet speace whatsoever) so this will be huge. 

Although the weekend was a lot of hard work, it was so fun to be able to do all of the work on our new house together.  I'm not the biggest go-getter when it comes to painting and all that other work, but I'd do anything to be able to be in the same room as Matt.  We make a good team.

The phrase of the weekend.."I can't believe this is OUR house!"

painting and cabinets galore

I am pretty sure that by the end of this house renovating/decorating, every employee at Lowe's in the paint and cabinet/countertop department will know me by name.  I am in there every single day I have off for random reasons.  Looking at paint swatches, buying paint samples, looking at brushes, picking out kitchen cabinets, counter-top, sink, color/style/price/size/upgrades.  It's insane!  Insane, but fun :).

I have still not narrowed down my paint selections.  This is what happens when you tell the most indecisive human being in the world to pick out the paint colors for the whole house-and quick.  Ah! I went over to the house after work on Saturday (after we shared a huge margarita and dinner at El Rodeo) and put a few samples on the wall while Matt finished up his work on the walls.  I have such a hard-working husband.  He was at the house from 9am-1am on Saturday and then right back at it again on Sunday.  I love that he is taking this all so seriously, he wants everything to be done the right way.  I am sure there are people who would have just painted the walls and then moved in (heck I probably would have if Matt wasn't around), but he is patching all the nail holes and spots where there were drywall anchors and sanding on top of fixing other things that I don't even know about or understand.

I went back over on Monday to put all of our samples on the walls.  Of course I had to take a little break in the backyard in the sun while the first coat dried :).  We went back this morning to measure the kitchen to we could take it to Lowe's and getting working on our kitchen renovation.  I went back again this afternoon and tried SO hard to narrow down the colors so we can get the paint.  We are planning on painting (hopefully) this weekend so I need to  start making decisions.  Luckily, my friend Tiffany is coming over tonight to give me some opinions.  I need them! I can't get more than a "Yeah, that looks nice" Yeah, that one does too.  I don't really care, whatever you want" from Matt.

Yay new house :)

our house :)

The month of May was a whirlwind of stuff with the house.  We put an offer on it on May 7th, accepted their counter on May 8th, and closed and got our keys on May 31st. WOW!  

We are so in love with our first home.  It's so fun to be buying our first house together and to know we did this all on our own (with our realtor of course).  We are planning to do a few things to make it our own- painting, kitchen re-do, updating some other things.  I love thinking about and planning on what we are going to do next.  This house is just perfect because we wanted a house with character-not a brand new house, something that was move-in ready that did not require any major renovations-while still having some room for us to update/re-do as we please.  It's big enough for us to grow into (and eventually add family members to), while still being cozy enough for the 2 of us and Jax.  Have I mentioned I am obsessed with the backyard? Well, I am :).

Here are the pictures I took on our closing day which I guess could be considered "before pictures" since we are doing some updating.

side yard

view from the living room window

it's OURS!

Byron the Buick holding it down in the driveway

corny "opening the door to our new house for first time"picture 

Welcome!

Living room-all this will be repainted before move-in

Cut-away to kitchen

moving this light fixture back to the dining room-they moved it for showing purposes

Kitchen-which is soon to be completely RE-DONE! SO excited and I just can't hide it.

Dining room-soon to be repainted 

the love of my life-the backyard!

deck and canopy

Hel-lo fire pit

view of the back of the house

HOT TUB!

2nd or 3rd bedroom-not sure

4th bedroom

1 of 2 1/2 baths

Master bedroom-bathroom in the back

Welcome home :)