The Joys of Homeownership

This week, I celebrated the one year anniversary of buying my first house.

This past year has FLOWN by, so I thought it would be a good time for Ashley and I to reflect on the "joys" of home ownership, both sarcastic and real.

The "Joys"

Getting locked out. Not once, not twice.  THREE TIMES.  Including once on my birthday...at 8 am...in PJ's.

Calling a repairman, only to find out you didn't need him.  And having to pay him over a hundred dollars just to flip a switch.

Having to replace the battery in a smoke detector at 2 am.  Might I add that this was the night before a field trip.

Ashley's "Joys"

The smoke detector going off anytime the oven was on for the first month we lived here.  Electrician determined the detector was faulty and replaced it.  Smoke detector still goes off anytime we bake something and it starts to burn (encourages me not to burn any food!). 

Being in the middle of a true blizzard and the sensor of the garage door breaks...winds blowing 50mph, snow coming down inches per hour SIDEWAYS, and its freezing cold...Fixed that problem by myself by taking the door apart while the blizzard raged on the other side of it.

Again with weather.... just last week we were clocked in at 52mph wind gusts and some crazy storms.  After we heard a sound that resembled an explosion I discovered the wind took our outdoor gas grill and pieces of it were everywhere.  After cleaning them up (at Midnight) I noticed the rain was pooling up on my window sills INSIDE.... So needless to say I never went to bed that night as I stayed up mopping up the water that was pouring into my house. 

its been determined that our windows are not properly installed on the house...ANOTHER repair call.



The True Joys

Decorating for Christmas.

Being able to open my home to celebrate some special events for some very special people.

Doing random projects, especially with help from fun people.

Going to bed at night with the feeling that I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be.


Ashley's True Joys

Bringing our families together.  Hosting holidays and fun gatherings.

Having a place to call "home."

Feeling a sense of accomplishment when people congratulate you or mention how much they like something you have worked so hard to have.

How about you, do you own your own home?
What are some of YOUR homeownership adventures?

We Showered Today

Today was a pretty awesome day.  I (really, I should say "Ashley and I," because she was a HUGE help) threw a baby shower for our very good friend, Amanda, who was my roommate in college.

To start, there was a "shower" theme for a couple of reasons.  1.) It goes along with the baby's nickname, and 2.) the Mom to Be is a weather geek.  :)

Food

I served a couple different types of salsa, including a pineapple version, since pineapple has been the MtB's biggest craving, which I found here.

There was all sorts of other good stuff, like veggie pizza, cupcakes, and fruit salsa with cinnamon chips.  And, of course, chocolate pretzel buttons.  And lots of them.

And I am left with way, WAY too many leftover cupcakes.  Plan to bring them to my dad tomorrow.  :)

Games

I went sort of low-key on the games, since I don't have a ton of space.  On the invitation, I asked each guest to bring a onesie that represents herself.  The Mom to Be had to guess who brought which onesie.  It was fun, and Amanda did a great job guessing!

I also made a quick little trivia game in which the Mom to Be answered questions and the guests had to guess how she would answer.  Ashley got the idea from another shower she went to recently.

Craftiness

Our Pinterest addiction led us to several fun ideas that we worked on for the big day.

My favorite was this one.

Not sure why I never repinned it, but I saw this idea on a wedding pinboard.  The tree goes great with the theme for the baby's room, so I had each guest label her thumbprint on the tree.  It turned out really cute!

This pin led me to try to make clouds with raindrops.  They didn't turn out quite as adorable as the pin, but cute nonetheless!

Ashley came up with the great favor idea of making little raindrops out of tulle and m&m's and putting a cocktail umbrella on top.  Adorable!

Aside from all the fun and craftiness, we had the awesome opportunity to catch up with some friends from college that we very rarely see.  We ended up extended the party by several hours just to chat.  What better way to spend a Sunday afternoon?

Today was just one of those great days that is all about someone really special to you who deserves the best.  I will definitely go to bed with a smile on my face tonight!

What did YOU do this weekend?

Check It Off the To-Do List!

I've said it once, and I'll say it again...my sister rocks.

I'm a pretty independent person, but there are some things I just can't get accomplished on my own.  This weekend, I really wanted to get a couple of just such things checked off my to-do list, so Ashley was kind enough to come over and give me a helping hand.

This was the state of my living room as of yesterday morning.  Pretty boring.  I'm hosting a baby shower for my good friend in a couple of weeks, and I wanted to pretty this place up!  Plus, the art I got for Christmas has been sitting on my floor for two months now...time to put 'er up!

The spacing was complicated, which is where Ashley came in.  She helped eyeball it...

...and was great at helping me remember numbers as I measured. :)

I am loving the finished product!  (Sorry for the glare...working on learning to take pics with the new phone.)  So far, they have not fallen off the wall.  Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Thanks again for the help, sis!  I am one lucky girl.

Did anyone knock some good stuff off the to-do list this weekend?

Pinterest Addiction

The two of us have a bit of an obsession with Pinterest.

If you're not on it...you should definitely change that.  Unless, of course, you value your time and doing things other than sitting in front of the computer.  Because, let me tell you, this crazy website will surely get you sitting in front of the computer.  It's genius!

So, today, I'm going to highlight some of my favorites from one of my boards.  Perhaps this will entice me to actually get moving on some of these projects, instead of just pinning...and pinning...and pinning.

Seeing as one of my new year's resolutions is to get moving on making my office look like it belongs to an adult instead of a broke college student, I'm going to focus on my "Decorating Ideas" board.  Here are some of my favorite pins:

This is one of my first pins, from houzz.com (the link from the pin doesn't take you to the right place, otherwise I'd give the exact link), and is my first office inspiration.  I love the corner desk concept...and just now noticed there are some bib numbers on the wall.  Woo for running!

I also can't help but go back and stare at this one.  I definitely want to do this in my little mud room/laundry room/basement.  The pin is from Made By Girl, and the blog  is super adorable.  Another great thing about Pinterest...it leads you to other fun blogs!

This is one of those that I was shocked to find myself repinning, because I am sooo not a green kind of girl.  However, I find myself more and more drawn to this color combo...pretty sure this is the route I'll take with my office (since it's a pretty blank slate and I can switch it out easily if I don't like it).  The pin is originally from Canadian House and Home magazine.

And finally, I'm loving this picture.  Why on Earth did she pin a picture of a kid's room, do you ask?  I don't blame you, because I asked myself the same thing.  However, this is the blue and green combo again.  In this one, I am loving the green accent wall with the curtains.  I LOVE the curtains.  Definitely on the to-do list for the office.  This one is from Little Green Notebook.

Hope you enjoyed this mini-glimpse into my Pinterest world!  It was fun to me to take a peek back at some things I pinned awhile ago!  Happy Pinning!

Stuff: Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone!  We hope you had a fun and safe night last night and are enjoying a very relaxing new year's day.

Last night, I spent the evening with my parents and some family friends.  We made pizza, played taboo, and laughed a LOT.  It was definitely a great night.

Ashley and Matt spent the evening with some friends.  Some of them were from out of town, so they were excited to be able to ring in the new year with some people they don't get to spend as much time with as they would like.

Now that it's 2012, pretty much everyone is thinking about resolutions.  And we are no different!

I, in particular, am a person who kind of loves resolutions.  I'm a goal setter for sure, and since I finished my half marathon, I have been definitely craving some things to put my energy into.  So, here are our resolutions for 2012:

Amy's Resolutions
I have to admit, I went back and changed this after reading Ashley's resolutions below.  There is definitely a difference between goals and resolutions (what a smart sister I have!).  So, I'll start with goals:

1. Actually complete either my workout room or my office.  I have been in this house for 8 months now, it's time to get a move on!

My office inspiration.  It will be beautiful.  Found it here on Pinterest, where else?

2. Start a retirement savings account.  Gotta start early if I want to spend those golden years doing as little, or as much, as my little heart desires!

3. Run a sub-2:00 half marathon.

My legs may disagree with this one...but we shall try!

4. Run a race in every season.  Any winter suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  :)

5. Go meatless one day per week (I'll probably join the Meatless Monday trend because it's easier to remember).  No real reason for picking this one, just think it would be kind of a fun little mini-challenge.  My BIL thinks I'm nuts...

And my resolution is...

To spend more time appreciating what I have than worrying about what I don't.

Ashley's Resolutions

I think that goals and resolutions are different things, goals are much easier to come by because you can work toward a single one at at time and it isnt so overwhelming in the long run.  However for the year 2012 I have both goals and resolutions.

Goals:
1. Finish painting my house, some rooms by myself, some rooms done by a professional painter (due to high ceilings and a lack of ladders.)

2.  Establish a work out routine that I look forward to following. 

3.  Organize my life, now that I don't have wedding planning to take up all of my time there is no longer an excuse for clutter.

Resolution:
I only have one,
To get back in touch with good friends that I've lost touch with over the years.  My friends and I went seperate ways after High School graduation and did different things in terms of college and career.  I think it would be fun to catch up with them and see what they are doing these days. 

Sisters/Spaces: The Christmas Countdown is ON!

I have always loved surveys (remember how they were SO popular to send to your friends through e-mail?), so I was pumped when I saw this survey today from Clean Eating Chelsey.  Needless to say, we are about to survey it up!

Does Santa wrap presents, or just set them under the tree?

Amy: Clearly, it is the elves job to wrap.  Santa is much to old and much to busy for that business!

Ashley:  Of course not!  The gifts were made by him, someone else can do the wrapping!

Colored lights on the tree/house or white?

Amy: Well, I have both going on right now, but I prefer white.

Ashley:  I'd prefer white lights as well.  That's what I have on my tree and outside this year.

Do you hang mistletoe?

Amy: Nope.

Ashley:  Not usually.

What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?

Amy: I love this jello/applesauce/red hots stuff my aunt makes, but she doesn't make it every year.  I am definitely a turkey fan...so I'll go with that otherwise.

Ashley:  I'd have to say I'm a fan of the potatoes.  Not exclusive to Christmas however...

Favorite holiday memory as a child?

Amy: Riding my new bike through the neighborhood on Christmas morning, even though it was freezing.  Or, making noise so my dad would get up so we could open presents.

Ashley:  As a response to Amy's bike comment- I got the same bike on the same Christmas morning, however too terrified to ride it, I sat on it in the living room for months!  My favorite Christmas memory is playing dolls with my cousins on Christmas eve because I would usually get a new doll and was ecstatic to have someone that wanted to play dolls with me. 

Snow- love it or dread it?

Amy: Generally, I would say dread it.  I love looking at it on Christmas, but would rather go without because it makes it hard for people to travel to be together.

Ashley:  Dread it!  I like to look at it when its all clean white and smooth on the grass but after a few pictures I'm ready for Summer!

Real tree or fake tree?

Amy: Fake...our mom is allergic.

Ashley:  Agree with Amy!

What is the most important thing about Christmas for you?

Amy: Spending time with family.

Yay for Elf Yourself!  This picture cracks me up every time!

Ashley: Being together with family and making the memories to talk about for years.

What is your favorite holiday dessert?

Amy: Um...all of them.  Haha...if I HAD to choose I would go with just about anything pumpkin.

Ashley: Peanut Butter cookies with a Hershey kiss on top!

What is your favorite tradition?

Amy: I LOVE our Christmas Eve gathering with my mom's side of the family.  There are tons of people in a house that isn't quite big enough for everyone, but I love that we are ALL together and the house is full of laughter.

Ashley:  I love Christmas Eve as well, but my absolute favorite is setting up my ceramic Christmas village my grandma painted for me.  She had one when I was a kid, gifted one to my mom and then to Amy and I when we moved to our own places!

What tops your tree?

Amy: A silver, glittery star.  Follows my decorating theme!

Ashley:  We don't have anything this year!  I would like an angel in the years to come. 

What is your favorite Christmas song?

Amy: Do You Hear What I Hear...the Glee version makes me cry and get goosebumps on my face...lol.

Ashley:  Oh my this is a hard question... I think I enjoy all of them but Little Drummer Boy probably tops the list followed by Silent Night.

What do you leave for Santa?

Amy: Nothing anymore.  Used to be cookies.

Ashley:  Cookies!

Do you have a Christmas morning tradition?

Amy: My family always eats cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Christmas morning...yum!

Ashley:  We eat Cinnamon rolls while Amy and I watch the Macy's parade.

Do you prefer to shop online or at the mall?

Amy: I like to take at least one good mall trip of the season to get the holiday shopping experience.  I've been doing more and more shopping online in the past couple of years, which I find to be much less stress.

Ashley:  I have done a lot of shopping online.  I love Black Friday shopping however after that I do most shopping online with a few trips out here and there.

And that concludes our Holiday Survey!  We'd love to hear some of your fun holiday traditions!

Sisters: Crafts!

A friend of Amy's and mine suggested the idea of a "craft club"--at least that is what we call it.  You take the idea of a book club and tweak it to make it into a craft club.  Tonight, we got a small group got together to make the same craft.  Since it was our friends idea she picked the craft, she picked jute wreaths.  They were time-consuming, but the final product looks fantastic!!  We used cardboard letters that matched the first letter of our last names, and hot glue guns and felt squares to make the rosettes.  You can use ribbon to create a bow as seen in the tutorial or you can opt to not add a bow.   I used ribbon to create a hanging loop.  Some of the other ladies made a bow that is shown in the final product of the tutorial.  All in all, we agreed it was fun!

Here is my letter prior to adding the rosettes.

And it's complete!  I plan to hang it in my newly-painted powder room and will post a picture of it hung up as soon as it's on the wall.

Amy's work-in-progress

Drumroll please...

The finished product!

The colors went perfectly with Amy's bedrom color scheme, and she's been wanting something above the bed...so this is it!  Now, she just needs a headboard!

Spaces: Christmas Work-In-Progress

When I moved into this house, I didn't (and still don't) have much Christmas decor (I feel so swanky typing that, haha) of my own.  So, this year is definitely a work-in-progress sort of year when it comes to decorating.

I love that this year I get to kind of create my own "style" when it comes to Christmas decorating.  I have a white and silver "vision," but I believe it's sort of impossible to truly stick to a vision when it comes to Christmas decorating, because there is just so much cute stuff!  So, here is what I've got going on so far in my casa this year.

Ashley and Matt got a new tree, so they were so kind as to pass their old one along to me.  I think it's adorable.  It's pre-lit, which I've never had before and think it AWESOME.  I have a few of my own ornaments, but most are some plain or glittery silver balls.

The night I put it up, I sat in the dark for like 45 minutes because I thought it was so pretty lit up, haha.

I have this weird ledge in my living room, so I thought it would be a good place for the Christmas village my grandma made for me a couple of years ago.  Doesn't fit the white and silver theme, but looks cute!  I'm using the other part of the ledge to display my Christmas cards...at least until they start falling down and driving me crazy!

You may notice that most of my decorations are in the same room.  :)  I think my TV stand is cute.  I have a santa statue I got from a student a few years ago, the terra cotta pot Christmas tree I made at the Craft-stravaganza, and a couple of snowmen my mom and I made a couple of years ago.

On to the kitchen...and this one is probably my favorite.  I have been seeing this ornaments-in-vases thing all over blogs and Pinterest, so I had to try it.  I definitely love it!

I've got some other trinkets here and there around the house, but these are my favorites.  I'm looking forward to building a collection of things I love!  Now, on to sprucing up the outside of my house!

Sisters: Pinterest Challenge Volume Two

No...there is no echo in here.  Yes...we did just post a Pinterest Challenge.  However, that was Ashley's, and this is mine!  If you have a sister, you know we need our individuality!



For my shot at the Fall edition, I went for this wall art that I have been eyeing for some time.  Here's my inspiration as I saw it on Pinterest:



 I let this one sneak up on me a little bit, so I didn't get as thrify as I would like.  I bought a few frames at Hobby Lobby for 50% off (Fun Fact: According to the cashier, frames are always 50% off at HL...good to know), grabbed some scrapbook paper, and headed to the sister's house to use her cricut!

First, I had to arrange the frames.

Then, I cut the paper to fit the frames, and cricut-ted it up!  I went with "hope" instead of "love," just because the word felt more powerful for me.

I'm loving the finished product!  I especially love the paper I got for the background.  I'm glad I have one piece left over!  Now, I just have to get a floating shelf to put these on.  I'm also thinking about painting the frames white...but I'll have to keep mulling that one over.

Don't forget to head on over to Sherry's, Katie's, Ana's, and Erin's blogs...as they are the true masterminds of the Pinterest Challenge!

_________________________________________________________________

Now onto the next challenge: the Thankful Challenge!

Today...I'm thankful for co-worker outings.  They are always a great way to recharge my batteries!

Ashley's turn!

Today I am thankful for: Teaching and how good it feels when a child uses information they have learned from you.

Spaces: The Big To-Do List

Now that both of us are settled and comfy in our new homes, we have been looking at more and more ways to make our spaces our own!  Time, of course, has been the missing link, but we're working on that!  Here are each of our top five items on our house to-do lists:

Amy's List

1. Finish the dreaded laundry room window frosting project.

2. P-a-i-n-t!

This project actually encompases multiple projects, as I want to paint my master bath, living room, kitchen, and guest bath at some point.  I've pretty much decided on all the colors.  First on the list is the master bath, which I am planning to paint a cool gray-ish purple that I picked up on the "oops" rack at Home Depot for about $5.  I'm thinking about painting stripes on the walls like these from Young House Love.

3. Get new curtains.

  

The previous owners of my house were kind enough to leave all the window treatments, which has been a huge help to me.  However, I'm ready for a change!  I'm loving these curtains from Ikea but looks like they might be discontinued, so I smell some DIY!



4. Touch up the ceilings in my master bedroom.

Let's just say that we got a little lazy toward the end of our painting experience, and there are some mistakes that need fixing.

5. Make a window seat in my loft

So excited for this one!  This idea was inspired by the infamous Pinterest, which led me to this adorable office picture.

 When I showed Ashley, I said, "All that's missing is a window seat."  That smarty-pants sister of mine gave me a GENIUS idea to make it work...and I can't wait to make it happen!  I better get to frosting that window!  :)


Ashleys ever-growing To-Do List.

1.  Backsplash in the kitchen!

Our kitchen is just one big blank canvas, however since there is no "break" in the wall separating the dining room and living room we would either have to paint the whole room one solid color (boring!) or we would have weird paint lines where the color changes.  Therefore, I have the idea of adding a mosaic tile back splash in my kitchen to add color with out having to paint the whole room one solid color. 

I'd absolutely LOVE it if my backsplash looked like this:

                                                             Idea came from this site

                      This is the location for the back splash...apologies for the clutter shown in this photo!
2.  Paint!  
Matt and I have to turn our white walls into something more warm and "home" like.  We have discussed colors but just can't pick the look we feel we want in our house.  I like the neutral and natural colors like this while Matt wants to get a little crazy and add colorful accent walls.   

3.  Hang pictures! 

I love pictures!  I'm not the best at photography however I just LOVE taking pictures of pretty landscapes and I love candid photos of people and taking fun pictures of children busy at play.  I have alot of photos I have taken myself as well as framed pictures of our wedding that I want to hang.  It's just so hard to figure out the best place to put things.   However, Matt and I have been extremely busy getting a head start on these projects and here is where we are at this point: 

                                            Kitchen word art

  Master Bedroom Art and the blinds we have put up in there (project #4)

      Our first wedding photo framed and hung in our staircase...We are thinking a taupe color for this wall.

4.  Finish hanging Blinds and Curtains:

We have already done quite a bit of this project thanks to some help from our family, however it's just become an issue of FINISHING!  We've transformed most of our house so far and are loving the new window treatments.


5.  Frosting the glass on our front entry door... (must be a sister thing!)
We love the windows around out front door as it allows us to see who may be on the other side when the doorbell rings.... however, its also been a topic that comes up often when we discuss the security of our new home.  We don't really know whats visible from the outside, therefore we would like to take on the project of frosting the glass to make it less visible from the outside! 

It has just begun!