Is it Friday yet?

Hey there everyone,

Is it just me, or does this week feel like there have already been 25 days in it? Maybe it's because the weather is getting nicer, and going to work feels like more of a chore?  Maybe it's because Kurt has been away on business the last two nights, and the cats are terrible?  Maybe I'm just getting old and curmudgeonly?  It's probably a combination of all of the above.


Even with Kurt gone, I surprisingly haven't gotten a ton done.  Really, I've just been doing the boring home maintenance things, like cleaning the bathroom, and trying to catch up on laundry.  As a side note--how can only two of us make so much laundry?!

This weekend, we finished up the new flowerbeds out front.  They're empty, but looking good!!

I can't believe that we used 50 bags of top soil, and we're still going to need a few more!  But, it's totally worth it, and makes a HUGE difference in the look of the front of the house.

This weekend we also ripped up the carpet from the front porch.  (What can I say?  I really love ripping up carpet apparently).  I didn't take any pictures of that process, because honestly, it was so disgusting.  Don't get me wrong, since it's outside, I didn't expect it to be clean, but dang, it was nasty.  Once I get the porch into slightly better shape I'll update with some photos.  :)

I think our only other house news is that we went to Lowes, and potentially picked out a new front door! I'm still waiting for someone to come out and measure, to see what size we need to order, but we're pretty excited about that! The front of the house is going to look infinitely better than when we moved in!  :D


Last week Kurt's wonderful mother got us a grill as an early wedding present.  Kurt has been working on perfecting cooking ribs!

  I think he's getting pretty darn good!  Also, in case you're wondering, we have been eating ribs off of Christmas cookie trays.  They're the only thing big enough for all those ribs, plus sides.  #noshame



This weekend Kurt's family is coming to the house to visit for the first time, and we have engagement photos scheduled for Saturday evening!  I guess that means I really do have to keep tidying up the house over the next few days...I should work on that.


K



When we were in Chicago, I picked up an Al Scorch album.  This guy can play the banjo like nobody's business!   He's a little dark, but I kinda like that.  Like, a punk rock banjo album.

Al Scorch - I love you cause you're perfect

Happy Birthday Weekend to Me!

Well everyone, I've made it around the sun one more time!  It seems like a lot of years, my birthday has come and gone, but not much has changed.  This year has definitely been the exception!!

Here are the highlights from the last year:

• Bought a house
• Met Kurt
• Did a bunch of work on the hosue
• Went to Niagara Falls
• Went to Denver
• Burnt the house down
• Went to the Grand Canyon
• Dealt with a remodel
• Did a toooooon more work on the house
• Moved back and forth from the apartment
• Got engaged
• Yard work, yard work, yardwork
• More housework 
• Planned a wedding (YAY!)

Even just taking a quick inventory of the year's events really reminds me how incredibly lucky I am, in so so many ways!  Sure, there were times that things felt pretty crappy, but looking back, through it all, I knew that everything would work out for the best.  

This weekend was yet another in a long list of fantastic weekends that Kurt has planned for us!   For my birthday, Kurt got us VIP tickets to see The Zombies in Chicago!  In case I haven't mentioned lately: he's wonderful.  

We had AWESOME seats, and got to go into the show early.  Plus, we got some sweet autographed coffee table books, posters, and other fabulous prizes! 

We also got to send to spend some time shopping, hitting a few record stores, and eating tasty deep dish pizza!  

Saturday, we headed over to Navy Pier, to see the new Rolling Stones exhibit--Exhibitionism.  I'll admit that historically, we're not the biggest Stones fans (though we did see the biggest fans there, dressed in their head to toe garb). but it was a really awesome exhibit!  There's no denying the huge impact that the band has had on the entire music industry! It was really interesting to see their history chronicled. It's really kind of crazy to see their full body of work, all spread out in front of you.  Afterwards, Kurt and I both agreed that we should probably make more of an effort to get to know the Stones, and maybe even try to make it to one of their shows.  Can you believe those guys are in their 70's and 80's and are still doing world tours?! Heck, I'm only 28, and I'm not sure I could make it through a world tour! 

Finally, yesterday we headed down to Aunt Nancy and Uncle Jim's to celebrate family Easter.  

We got to hang out with the fam, play some cards, eat way too much food, and had a really good time!  Oh!  And Kurt held a baby for the first time!  It was a super exciting weekend all around!  :D

I know that the last year was a really great one, and I can't wait to see what the coming year will bring for all of us! 

K

This Will Be Our Year - The Zombies

Another Busy Weekend!

Hey Everyone!

Whew, it was another busy weekend!  I stopped and looked at the calendar, and I cannot believe that we're almost half way through April!  Seriously--where does the time go?!

We had another crazy productive weekend!  I absolutely could not believe everything that we were able to finish!

Friday after work, it was such a nice day--as I'm sure you'll all remember :)   I ran over to Martins to talk to their florist, and get a quote for wedding flowers.  Then I popped into Menards, and picked up an edger, because I really wanted to work on the area where the lawn has overgrown into the sidewalk.  This is what the thing looks like.   But since it was so nice, Kurt wanted to try his hand at digging a trench for bricks to line the flower bed.   Remember way back last summer when I bought a car full of landscaping bricks?  Well it was finally time to put them to use!

So, Kurt decided to give the edger a try along the front of the house.  And in about an hour, we realized that this was definitely the right tool for the job!

 He was able to zip through it so quickly!  We had the whole trench dug, in no time at all!  Then we had to go to Lowes to get some sand to put in before the bricks.  And we really needed dinner lol

So Saturday afternoon, Kurt dropped in the sand, and I went behind dry fitting the bricks!

We managed to get two courses of bricks done before we ran out.  We ended up taking the north end of the house (on the right in the picture) out further than we'd planned, so we ran out.  Then we decided that we'd really rather that the whole thing was three bricks high--especially since we had to order more bricks anyway.  Luckily bricks were on sale 4/$1 this weekend.  So Kurt ordered 80 more bricks, and something like 50 bags of dirt for the flower bed!   We opted to have Lowes deliver.  Even though all that would fit in the Fit, if I can get out of loading it, it's worth it to me!  Haha

On Saturday morning, we headed to Fort Wayne.  We picked up Kurt's wedding suit from being altered, and did a little shopping!  Kurt picked out a new comforter for us at BBB, and then we headed over to his mom's house for lunch.  :)

On Sunday, since we didn't have any more bricks or dirt, we decided to put together our new bed.  We decided a few weeks ago that if we want to get a dog, we needed a King sized bed to fit everyone.  The problem is, our stairs are so narrow, we didn't know how we'd get a King up the stairs?  (I assume you all remember us having to saw the Queen box springs in half to get them up the stairs.)

After some searching, we were able to find a pretty simple solution: vacuum packed mattress.  Here's what they look like    It sounds kind of crazy, but we figured with almost 8,000 awesome reviews, it couldn't be that bad?  So, we ordered the mattress, and a platform bed frame (because we were tired of dealing with box springs by this point in time lol).  

I didn't know if we were going to be able to get the mattress up the stairs--because that sucker was heavy!  Seriously, I had no idea that 112 lbs between two people would be so miserable.  But eventually we got it upstairs.  After a day to fluff up, we assembled the bed!

Taaa daaa!  It looks totally normal, and amazingly, it's a comfortable as all the reviews said!  Plus, both of the cats slept in bed with us last night, and that's what really matters!

After a long day of yard work, mowing/trimming, tearing apart the old bed, and a trip to the recycling center, this was just the break we needed!  Oh, and I replaced the toilet seat.  If you haven't heard of no-slam seats, you should google it.  It sounds silly--but they're a game changer!

All in all, it was a really great weekend.  I really love working on projects with Kurt.  I like the way he gets excited about things, and thinks things through. And he's always so supportive.  I just really appreciate it--but that's enough about that.  :)

We're getting into the swing of things with another work week.  At least this week is a short one, and Kurt has a super secret mystery adventure planned for my birthday this weekend!  Have I mentioned that he's great?  He really, really is.


That's all for now, but I'm hopeful we'll get a midweek update or two this week too!  Have a great week everyone!!

K



Shakey Graves - Dearly Departed

What a Weekend!

Hey there everyone!

I know it's been a shamefully long time since I posted any updates...I wish I had a good excuse, but really, we just haven't been doing that much around the house.

We spent a few weekends working on cleaning out Kurt's apartment in Fort Wayne.  As a side note--why does moving always take more time and effort than you expect it to?!  And we spent a weekend days shopping for wedding miscellany.

This weekend, was the first weekend in MONTHS that we spent the whole weekend working on projects around the house.  We got quite a few things done, and we have quite a few things brewing!  So, I feel like I owe everyone some updates--here's where we are:

Wedding Updates:
We bought Kurt's suit and wedding band.  When we bought Kurt's ring, before we even left the mall he said, "I want to put it on, just to see how it feels." and he proceeded to wear his ring for the rest of the day. It may  not seem like a big deal to anyone else, but it totally melted my heart that he was so excited to wear his ring.  And I think it's a great sign for things to come!  :)

We also picked up gobs of artificial flowers, so we can start putting together bouquets, pew decorations, and whatnots.  I've been wondering if I should order real flowers for boutineers, and corsages.  Since we only need a handful, I think that we just might.  I want to make sure that the guys look good, and the moms feel special.  And me--I want fake flowers to make sure I don't attract any bees!  :P

We found a photographer, and have engagement photos scheduled for the end of the month!

With that, I think that we pretty much have everything for the wedding planned and taken care of!


We're also tackling some of the reception projects (even though we have way more time until those need to be completed).  A few weeks ago, after Stacey, my mom and I finished wedding dress shopping we picked up a stack of vintage plates to try and make cool, unique cake stands.  I have to say, I think that they look pretty cool!

 We collected a variety of things for bases.  Small cut glass dishes, a funky little drinking glass, an ice cream dish--you get the idea.  Then I just used some E6000 adhesive, and in about ten minutes we had the beginnings of centerpieces!

I really like that they're all a little bit different! I think I'll like them even more when they have pies on them!



House Updates:

Okay, these may not sound like big updates to anyone else, but considering that we haven't done much real housework in months, they feel like big updates to us!

First, I re-did the floor in the downstairs bathroom.  I can't seem to find a "before" picture, and I'm totally fine with that.  The floor was vinyl faux wood, and it was pretty crooked.  I didn't hate it, but it definitely needed to go.  Now the floor matches the upstairs bathroom, and the entry way.  Somehow, it makes this tiny little room feel bigger when you're inside.  Plus, I really like the way this stuff feels on bare feet.  I dunno why, but it's pretty satisfying!

The next big thing was staining, and getting the master bedroom door rehung.  My brother took the door off last spring, before the fire, and we've just been living without a door on our room.  It didn't really matter too much to us, but Kurt wanted to use the last bedroom upstairs to set up a home office, so I had to get the door out of there for him.

Hallway view of the door. 

 I don't think you can tell from this picture, but I spent nearly an hour stripping the door hinges!  I swear, I think there must've been 80 years worth of paint on them.  Now they don't really look like anything, but that's just the way it should be!

This is Kurt, laying on the floor, watching the cats be puzzled by there suddenly being a door where there wasn't before.  Are you imaging him meowing at the cats--because you should be.  

This weekend I also worked on getting the middle bedroom into a condition habitable to humans.  Again, it may not look like much, but getting the bed made, and the room pulled together feels like progress!

The room definitely needs some art, and the trim/doors still need to be done, but a human could stay here if they needed to!

Cats approve.  

This weekend, Kurt cleaned out both of our cars, and mowed!  And he spent a few hours putting together a desk for his new office.  I realize now that I didn't take any pictures of those things.  I'm really out of practice blogging!

All in all, it was a pretty great weekend!  Busy, but great!  We still have quite a few small projects to finish around the house, but they're pretty manageable.  And we know that we need to do some SERIOUS work on landscaping, but it's not quite time yet.  So for now, we'll work on knocking out the inside work.

A few weeks ago, at the Warsaw Home and Garden show, we also talked to a friend of ours that's a contractor about the possibility of adding on a garage--and maybe some other things!  ;)  So, our motivation to get all the other small stuff around the house is pretty high right now!  Hopefully that means more regular updates of progress around here!


Happy Monday!

K

PS - We're starting to discuss what our "first dance" song should be for the reception.  Right now, it seems like I can only think of songs that aren't great first dance songs!  If anyone has any suggestions--I'm all ears!

Neil Young - Walk With Me

The National - Green Gloves