Bloomin' excited

Ok, so most of the excitement around here revolves around there being only 3 days until we pick up Riley!!! But, there is also some excitement over what mystery plants are emerging from the large amounts of mulch around the house. By the time we bought the house in October, most of the plants had retreated back into the ground (or we forgot about them during the winter). So every week now we are finding new and interesting plants popping up. This weeks plants include the following:

Hostas, in alternating colors.

Mystery plant with cool little pods.

Woody bush with red flowers (and yes, that's its official name).
A white flower we found in the woods.

Ok, so we have no idea what any of our plants are (besides the hostas). If you know, feel free to leave a comment. Otherwise, I may begin naming them on my own...

Update: pathway carriage lights

As promised, here is a picture of our new pathway lights at night. It is much harder to take a picture of lights at night then I anticipated. But a foray into the special features of mine and Duff's cameras finally resulted in a decent pic. Aren't they pretty?

Busy, busy bees (and the world's longest post)

We had a very busy Saturday. The day started off, at 9am, with this:


Isn't it beautiful? It cuts beautifully, too.

The lawn before:

Duff mowing:
The lawn after:

Ok, so you can't tell the difference between the before and after pictures. But trust me, there is a big difference. So, what else did we do? We bought these fabulous solar lights for the path on the side of the house. We anticipate that they will be very handy when we take the puppy out late at night (one week and counting!). Also, I think they're pretty.


I'll post a picture of them lit up once night comes.

And don't think we stopped there. Today was our official Spring Cleaning Day. So, we washed windows, floors, showers, sinks, everything...And we vacuumed and dusted everything on top of that. I hope some day I stop smelling like a combination of Mr. Clean and Scrubbing Bubbles. But at least our house is squeaky clean and ready for another six months of neglect.

So after all that yard work and cleaning, we were hungry. Guess what made its dinner deput?

Wait for it...

Wait for it...


Ta-da! After moldering in our basement for months, the grill has finally made it out onto the patio. And boy, steak and green beans have never tasted better.


After dinner, I finished up one other project that has been awaiting my attention. We have had the same two plants sharing a pot for the last two years. They were getting a little big to share a bowl, so they have been upgraded and are now the newest decor item in our dining room.


So we've had a fairly productive day. Now we have about an hour to relax before two of my good friends from law school come over for dessert and a few friendly games of Settlers of Catan (seriously, the world's best game). And then to bed...finally...cuz we're going to be very tired busy, busy bees.

At your service

Upon request, below is a picture of the trim we used to complete the backsplash in the kitchen. When we first bought the house, the backsplash was made up of a particle board/plastic concoction that was straight out of the fifties. We ripped it out, but it left a horrible space between the counter and the wall that was ragged and unfinished-looking. So we put up this trim to cover the scars and add some decoration. Overall, the look came together very well.

New, improved kitchen

We've made a lot of changes to the kitchen and I wanted to show off the fruits of our labor. The before:


The after:


One of my favorite parts of the kitchen is the antique wooden plates from my great great grandmother.

Spring is here

It was over 70 degrees today! After all the rain we've had lately, we couldn't wait to get outside. We spent the morning raking, trimming and generally cleaning up the yard. I waged a full scale offensive against a ridiculously over grown bush near our patio. The bush won... Its leaves were razor sharp, which I didn't realize until I'd finished. The bush left so many cuts and nicks on my arms that at first I thought I had a rash. Awesome.

14 days and counting

The puppy is almost here and we're getting ready. Yeah!

Good news

I got a delightful piece of mail this week. It was an invitation to my former roommate's bridal shower. I love the classic yet cool invitations they chose.


Unfortunately, the shower is the same weekend that we're scheduled to pick up Riley. But I'm still so excited for my former roomie. I can't wait for her wedding in June. It reminded me of some of my favorite inspirations for our wedding.


Ah, the good old days...

Light, finally

Another house update--this time on the dining room. When we first moved in, the dining room had a fan in it with no light. This meant no meals after dark and no dinner parties, unless we put a lamp smack dab in the middle of the table. Not too appetizing.

The before:
The woman in this picture was our buyer's agent, Linda. She's amazing. :)

The after:

There were a few mishaps along the way. Like when I blew out the circuit and we had to call an electrician. But now everything is lovely. :)

Happy Easter, Everyone!

Our living room so far

Since we are constantly doing projects or adding things to the house, I thought it would be nice to give people an idea of what we've done so far. Here are some before and after shots of the living room. This is one of the areas of the house that is the most complete when it comes to decoration and projects.

The living room before (no, that's not our furniture-the house was staged):


As you can see, the house had bare white walls and really light carpets. It was very bright, but that's about all it had going for it. After we bought the house, we tore up the carpet, refinished the floors and painted the walls. These projects also brought about the need for other projects, like filing in the small, dime sized holes in the floors (why these holes were there in the first place we have no idea) and putting in quarter round. The end result now looks like this:


A much better angle of the room:


The newest addition to the living room is the circle rug. It brand new and we love it. It matches well with the runner (behind the couch) that Mom just gave us, too. Now, for a ceiling fan/light and painting that pesky quarter round...

More puppy pictures

As promised, here are more puppy pictures.
That is Daphne, Riley's mom, giving her a kiss. Riley is one of four puppies in the litter. Its just her and her three brothers.


Unfortunately, I couldn't quite get all four puppies in one picture. But you get the idea. They were only four weeks old in these pictures and about 3 and a half pounds, so they were still very small. When we take Riley home in a few weeks, she'll be more like 10 pounds. We can't wait!

Once upon a time...

a busy young girl and a busy young boy decided it was time to start a blog to share pictures and stories with family and friends. And we're in business! Our first post must, of course, include a picture of the newest member of our family.

Her name is Riley. Isn't she a cutey? She's coming home at the end of the month. We're already getting all the supplies ready to spoil her rotten. More updates on the puppy and house will be forthcoming. Enjoy!