Bathroom Re-do

Here are a few pictures of our master bathroom update! We discovered that the grout in our master shower was leaking so we were forced to remove some of the tile to investigate. Fortunately the water damage was not terrible, but it definitely needed to be fixed. I have had the desire to remove the exterior tile for some time now because it I felt it made the bathroom appear too dark. Anyway, ripping out the tile was very messy (but fun!) so we decided we would go ahead with a mini-bathroom overhaul. We added bead board to the exterior shower wall (and added it to all of the other bathroom walls). The bead board needs one more coat of paint that I will get around to doing one day in the future! We also added new countertops (we originally just used left over tile when we first moved in). The granite came from Stoneworks of Augusta and I felt their prices were reasonable. I painted the light fixtures black-ish to match the new faucets/cabinet knobs and added a small chandelier over the bath tub. I think the bathroom looks much brighter and cleaner with the updates!

During the demo

Shower before and after

Tub area before and after 

My sink/vanity area before/after

Walls by our closets before/after

July run-down

Wow! It has been over a month since my last post! Seems like I just wrote about Has Lina last week! Here is what has been going on since my last post:

We went to HHI for the 4^th of July! It was a lot of fun! We stayed in Folly Field. The traffic was terrible on the island though! We went shopping, spent time on the beach and ate ….a lot! Drew, my mom and brother even played a round of golf together at Indigo Run.

Mama and Parker

There were a bunch of birthdays this month too! Our nephew turned 2! Here is opening his Harley Davidson BIG wheel from Aunt Bean and Uncle Drew! I LOVED my big wheel as a kid and I hope he enjoys this one just as much!

Kim turned 27 this month too! I forgot to take a picture at dinner (we went to Myabis!) so her is a picture from a Kenny Chesney concert we attended in 2009! That was such a fun night!

My mother-in-law also had a birthday! I took a picture of her at the Mexican restaurant in a ridiculously large sombrero that I will decline to post… for now! ;) Here is a picture of us from 2007, I believe this was our first picture together!

Last Saturday was Caroline’s 30^th birthday! We went to Augusta to celebrate.. Beamies for dinner! Here is a picture of the girls before we headed out (by the way, this is Caroline’s front porch on their BEAUTIFUL new house!)

We have also started a few upgrades on our house! The bathroom was out of necessity (the tile grout was leaking (ughhhh!)) and we had the kitchen back-splash tiled too. The bathroom is almost finished (we decided to replace the countertops and then we added bead board to the walls since we had a mess on our hands anyway!).

Kitchen before and after!

tile coming down

mid-crazy-mess that was the bathroom. 

Drew and I have also been working out together in preparation for our upcoming trip! I will post about that soon.. But back to working out, I purchased a polar watch and heart rate monitor and I'll admit it’s pretty impressive (and keeps me motivated!). Among other things, it tracks your calories burned based on your heart rate during the workout (granted you have to wear a small strap around your rib cage while you work out and that can be a little uncomfortable at times.  I got mine on Amazon, of course.

We have also had a couple lazy afternoons too!  

The sun!! 

Another update!

It is obvious that I have been pretty slack when it comes to updating my blog; I've have been ridiculously busy at work and have had zero motivation for anything else that involves a computer (including school work!). On the bright side I am switching to a part-time-ish position with C4 in June and I am thrilled about the prospect of having a little time to myself again! Here are a few high lights from the past few weeks:

Kim is expecting again! Our family is ecstatic about another sweet baby! We find out the gender the first week in June and she is Due November 1^st! Whoop Whoop!

Our youngest nephew graduated from Bible Play School this week. He was absolutely adorable during the program and did such a good job singing and dancing with his class! 

We were fortunate enough to host a whole slew of mothers at our house last past weekend for mother's day! We had a great time having both of our families over. We cooked (way too much) low country boil and the kids got to play together which was a lot of fun to watch. 

As a fundraiser for Relay For Life I was a waitress at Burke Perk on April 25th. All of the tips and proceeds from chicken wings sales went to the American Cancer Society. Here we are in our waitress-ing gear:

We went up to the Mexican restaurant for Cinco de Mayo which has turned into an unexpected tradition over the past couple of years. I'm beginning to think that we eat Mexican too often because all of the waitresses know our orders....

We discovered 5 baby rabbits living in our front yard last night! They are adorable! Drew wouldn't let me keep them... something about this being another bad idea like the ducks.... rude! 

10 Obsessions

It has been a while since I’ve posted about random topics, most of my post as of late have been catching up on events in my life. So here are a list of my current top 10 obsessions (some of which are new obsessions others are old ones that have just been revived).

1.    Low Carb Strawberry Cheesecake. After I finished writing a paper on Sunday I decided to reward myself with something delicious, instead of driving to the closest Dairy Queen I decided that I would make a cheesecake so I could enjoy it for several days. I have basically ate nothing but Cheesecake since Sunday. I made it with splenda and almond meal crust, so I really don’t feel that guilty about it!

2.  Gelish nail polish. This is a revived obsession, unfortunately I just don’t have enough time to get manicures on the regular! I made time to get one for my birthday 3 weeks ago and my nails still look great (no damaging acrylic either!).

3.  Yoga and Heavy Bag Training (translation: punching bag madness). I found a DVD at Target a while back that had several beginner yoga routines, one of which was a night time wind down routine. I have been doing it in the evenings off and on for the past 2 weeks and I think it honestly has helped me sleep better. I also received a punching bag and gloves for my birthday that we hung out in Drew’s shop. It really is a lot of fun especially after I took the time to do some research and  figured out what I should be doing, plus it’s a really fast workout!

4.  Summer time. Daylight savings time has arrived which means that warmer weather is right around the corner. No additional explanation required.

5.  Urban Decay De-Slick. This was also a birthday present and is a great product (I haven’t used it prior to getting it for my bday). After I put my face on in the mornings I lightly mist this over my face and it helps my foundation stay put all day. I’m not sure about the cost but its available at Sephora and Ulta. 

6.  Iced Coffee. Man that stuff is good! This is also a revived obsession since it hasn’t been as cold outside as of late.

7. Springtime flowers and plants. I made a trip to Home Depot this past weekend and bought all the flowers and plants I needed to replant my big planters for the gate and my pots on the porch. This year I am determined to make sure they survive through the entire summer! (Or at least longer than they did last year!).

 8. Ebay. I don’t normally shop on ebay (not like I do on Amazon at least) but since I downloaded an app on my phone I have been doing some serious stalking of a whole array of different items. I also enjoy finding strange and unusual items on ebay and just watching to see how much they sell for which has only reinforced my belief that there are more crazy people in this world than sane. 

9. Photography. I am getting excited about doing me first round of spring mini-sessions this weekend. Will post pictures next week (hopefully). 

10. Downton Abbey. This is a show that comes on BBC America about a family in England based in pre-WWI era. It’s a drama that claims to be historically accurate about the period. My favorite character just died and I’m not too happy about that, hopefully I will stick with it though. I find myself talking with a British accent and wishing I had a house fully of maids, butlers and cooks after I watch the episodes! Drew has yet to respond to my bell ringing…….. rude. 

27th Birffday!

My 27th birthday has come and gone but it was an amazing birthday thanks to my wonderful family and friends! My mother and sister-in-law Kim went to great lengths to throw me a surprise birthday party and it was definitely a surprise party! Kudos to them for finally getting one over on me! They both work their butts off preparing ((way too much!)) food, hanging decorations and corralling people to come to Louisville on a Monday night!

Looking back on the clues now I could have probably put it together (Drew was super anxious about being on time, didn't want to go ride the ranger around, kept stressing that we didn't need to get dirty before we went to Kim's -- wow we sound super hick-ish!) but I just chalked it up to his occasional strange behavior! I really never expected a surprise party! It was great to see everyone together and I was truly overwhelmed with everyone's love and support! I am blessed beyond measure! Here are a few pics:

 

I also had to bite the bullet and update the about me section of my blog! 26 no more!

 

Catch Up!

A couple weekends ago we had a girl’s evening in Augusta and went to see the Price is Right Live Show! The show was hosted by Jerry Springer himself; yes that Jerry Springer (“Jerry, Jerry, Jerry!”). We all met up at Mellow Mushroom for dinner before the show and then went over to the Bell Auditorium. I was pleasantly surprised at how entertaining the show was; Jerry Springer did a great job as host! The line to sign up and participate was ridiculously long so we skipped that part, which I am glad we did because none of the prizes were worth standing in line for several hours (to me at least). There was no photography allowed so we couldn't get any pictures though :(

 Valentine’s Day! Valentine’s Day was a little over a week ago. Drew and I normally don't do anything extravagant for Valentine’s Day mostly because everything is so far away from where we live and I'm not a big fan of crowded places. Last year we rented a movie and ate Lucky Charms in our PJ's which on a scale 1 to 10 was a 15 in my book! This year Drew decided he was going to cook dinner for the two of us. This is probably the fourth time he's ever cook dinner for me so we were both pleasantly surprised when everything turned out great! He cooked steak, grilled onions, grilled asparagus and made a caesar salad. He did a fantastic job and did the dishes too! We even ate in our dining room which was the first time that has happened in over a year, it was nice sitting there just talking to each other with no distractions, the dogs didn’t know what to think about it because they couldn’t sit in their usual spots around the kitchen table.

Rain, Rain, Rain…

It seems that we have had more rainfall in the past few weeks than we did for all of last year combined! We desperately needed the rain but I have had enough for a while. Our yard is a disaster from the builders driving to the shop in the soggy grass. Plus the dogs have cabin fever from being stuck inside too much (well, Reagan does at least). Thank goodness the sun has decided to make its appearance today. Here are a few pictures of the rain and mess:

From left to right: The river running by the shop (aptly named Cary Creek), the golf cart path completely flooded, a Mustang in a full ditch by Wal-Mart and the Ranger stuck in the mud. (Drew's fault!).

 

Per usual I have waited until the bitter end to buckle down on my school work for the class I am currently enrolled in (Advances E-Business Strategies (ie, super boring!). I received an email from my professor last week wanting to make sure everything was okay because we only have 3 weeks of class left and I still have SIX papers to turn in… ooops - my bad! So I have spent most of this weekend writing papers trying to get somewhat caught up. 2 down so far… After this I will have ONE class left which I have put off taking from the beginning. The class is Micro Business Economics II and I severely despise economics. I hope to be finished with all of my classes by the end of May! Halleluiah!

                                                            Basically....

 

Tomorrow is my 27^th Birthday – Yikes! As a treat to myself I am going to invest in some precautionary wrinkle cream...  30 is approaching at an alarming rate!

Oh, and we spent most of last week in Las Vegas!! I’ll write a blog post about the trip later this week! It was A LOT of FUN!

Falling behind...

These past 2 weeks have flown by and I am still not sure where all the time went! Its been almost 2 weeks since my last post (sorry!) so here are a few of the highlights from the past couple of weeks:

1.We have started the process of building Drew a 'man-shop' (which I assume is different from just a regular shop?). When it is finally complete Drew will have a place of his own and will get all of his 'treasures' out of the house and the garage! (I really am excited about this part!). The dimensions are roughly 32x50 and this is similar to how it will look when complete (different colors, add a cupola and extra window and swap the door positions).

So far the  foundation and floors have been poured and they are currently in the process of framing the walls.

2. My parents are out of town this week which has left me with FIVE dogs in my house; this wouldn't be so bad if one of those dogs wasn't a 10 week old terrorist puppy! I am currently sporting a scratch across my forehead and eyelid thanks to this little devil! Her name is Emma and she is an English Springier Spaniel, she is actually a lot of fun but she is just so wound-up all the time. The other dogs do their best to tolerate her but she tests her limits with them regularly! She is a real doll when she is asleep though (apparently this puppy only needs like a 5 minute power nap before she start destroying something again).

3. Drew and I babysat Parker this past Sunday evening and we had a lot fun! We fed the horses, played on the playground, rode the golf cart, watched Rio (sort-of), harassed Emma for an extended period of time and even found time to take a few Christmas-y pictures. 

Dinner followed by a bath and ice cream (sugar free!).  Bean's house is so much fun! 

He loved playing with Emma (or Minga as he pronounces it). he probably enjoyed being outside more than any other activity and he also found time to ride this bouncy-car that was his as a baby. As a baby he wanted nothing to do with this car (and he is about 10 pounds over the recommended weight limit now!).

He actually like the antlers (he refused to take them off for a while!).

He was so excited about this lollipop! 

My sweet boy! 

4. This past Saturday I met up with some of my girlfriends from Waynesboro and we has an ornament swap. It was a lot of fun, and I got to spend almost an hour holding Brigham which was a win for me! Next year I think we should make it an ornament and wine bottle swap! ...why not?! :)

 

Sweet Brigham sleeping in my arms. 

Emma and Brigham; future sweethearts! ;) 

5. Scentsy. Ansley recently hosted a  Scentsy party for one of her friends in Statesboro and since receiving my items I have become a big fan (If I am home I've got them tuned on). I currently have a warmer in the kitchen that has the festival of trees scent in it and it smells so Christmas-y! Drew and I have also been watching Christmas movies lately and it has helped get us into the spirit (along with the overwhelming Christmas decorations that have taken over my living room)! I have a smaller warmer in my bedroom that has a lavender scent in it that is pretty great too. 

Here is her page if anyone is interested: https://laurablair.scentsy.us/Scentsy/Home

6. C4's Christmas Party. We had our annual Christmas party last week at West Lake Country Club. The food was great and it didn't last too long which was great as well! It was probably the best food we've had at one of our Christmas Party (except for the year that the Little Dutch House in Wrens catered). 

We also got some pretty sweet gifts from good ol' Tony-Tone. My sister-in-law, Kim, sells Arbonne and arranged for all the ladies at the party to get an awesome gift-set. I am a huge fan of the body creme and bath wash (the scent is so clean and fresh!). It also came with a sugar scrub but I haven't had an opportunity to try that yet. Here is the website if you are interested in checking out any of their products: www.arbonne.com 

7. I have finished all of my Christmas shopping (well all of the necessities at least). I have wrapped everything and I am pretty much prepared for the Christmas eve get together at my house with mine and Drew's family. I'm particularly excited to see my 2 nephews play together! 

8. I finally enrolled in my last set of classes for next semester. I'll be sooooooo glad when this is over! Although I am considering going back for another business degree in project management. But I will definitely take some time off before I head down this road again.

9. I also got my home-office set up after 2 years of being in our house. Mom and I went shopping for a desk and ended up getting one from Office Depot. It was delivered in 5 different boxes and took me 2 days to assemble everything! I can't find a picture online if my exact desk set but here is the smaller version of the I got -- I will add a finished picture of the office later. I am incredibly excited about getting to work from home some of the time! Yippie!!!!

--I'm sure there are a few more highlights from the past 2 weeks but my brain is out of gas from a severe lack of sleep these past few days... thanks Emma!  

It looks a lot like Christmas!

The day after Thanksgiving is the messiest day of the year at my house. Everything that goes on my tree apparently has glitter on it. Needless to say we still have glitter everywhere even after mopping and vacuuming, but it just seems to make everything a little more festive. Drew and I put the tree up on Friday (well he helped me actually set up the tree but I ran him off when it came to time decorate - no objection from him though). Here are a few pictures of the tree and the mantle/fireplace decorations lit up. It is a very fun and festive tree -- Ho Ho Ho!

This sweet angel-baby wanted to get in on the fun as well! 

Outage Week 1

The fall outage officially started back last weekend; poor Drew-baby is having to work 12 hour shifts everyday with the exception of Tuesdays. He leaves the house at 6am and has been getting home a little after 8. What is the worst part about the outage you ask (in my opinion of course)? I have to cook dinner every night and it is HORRIBLE. Since I have a lot of free time on my hands, especially on weekends while Drew is working, one would think that I would be doing something constructive and productive (like writing papers for school) but no, I'm just hanging out and doing semi-fun stuff! Here are some highlights from the past week or so:

I made Sweet and Sour Chicken (a recipe Kristin found on Pinterest). It was amazing but I made such a mess in the process! Here is the recipe for anyone interested: http://madeitateitlovedit.blogspot.com/2012/03/sweet-and-sour-chicken.html
I used Splenda instead of sugar and it still turned out great.

                                          Finished product!                  What a messy process though!

My fun-filled Friday night involved cleaning windows while I waited on Drew to get home. Drew snapped this lovely picture of my weird cleaning habits and my monochromatic outfit when he got home. We tried to watch a movie this night, but we both ended up falling asleep!

Drew sent flowers to work on on Tuesday for no special reason (or he may have been guilted into it; I got flowers and that is all matters!) ;) Tuesday night me and mama met Kim and Parker at the Mexican restaurant in Louisville but I forgot to take a picture. :(

Pretty!

I washed Drew's NASTY truck on Sunday. It took me almost 2 hours just to clean the outside! I did not even attempt to start on the inside. I'm convinced that was the first time it was washed since he bought it 2 years ago! Shameful!

I also baked Drew-baby cookies on Sunday. 

I have finished stocking up on deco-mesh for Christmas... Yes, I over did it.. go figure..

Last night I met Kristin and West for dinner at Burke Perk and got Drew something to-go so I did not have to cook anything! Win!