Some Cute Ideas

Some cute travel related keepsakes to display in your home...

I am a bit obsessed with the blog, Young House Love. I love that the couple is young, bought a house, and completely re-did the ENTIRE house ... does that sound familiar? Their blog gives re-model tips, decorating tips, and just a plain fun bunch of posts.

Here are two excerpts from today's post.

I plan to start both in my own home!

(When we will actually get to finish it and move in is another story...)

Onto the cuteness!

1) They send themselves post cards from each trip they have been on and the display them in this cute glass container. Love it!

2) They keep a map displayed in their office (I believe). They put a pin on each place they have traveled to together.

Questions ... I Answer.

I saw this Q+A on another blog, and I haven't done one in awhile, so here goes! I love looking back on old Q+A's I've done on here, so here's another one to add to the stock pile! ;-)

It's from a photography blog, so that's why many of the questions are related to photography ... but obviously it fits in my case.

1) Tell us one sentence to describe your photography:

I strive to create fresh, clean, and modern images that show personality and relationships.

2) What's one thing that everyone should know about you?

I try to work really hard so I can create a nice life for myself + future family.

3) If you were told you could only eat one food for an entire week...what would you pick?

Hmm... burritos!

4) If you could own one exotic animal as a pet what would it be?

I wouldn't neccessarily ever WANT an exotic animal as pet, but I guess if I HAD and MUST pick one, it would be a super cool tropical fish.

5) What is your greatest post processing tip that you are willing to share?:

Keep it simple! I try to limit the actions I use ... I love that "clean" and "sharp" look to my images.

6) If you were given $500 today what would be the first thing you would do?:

Wow, there are so many things I'd like to do. But, I really want to see Alanna and Zayden, so I'd put that $500 towards a plane ticket to go visit them. I stole the pic from Alanna's Facebook!

7) What have you found to be the best resources and/or method of advertising?:

I don't advertise and I never had. I do the Facebook thing for my business, but I'm honestly not sure how far that's getting me yet - I don't get a lot of comments. Word of mouth has been the very best so far, and of course, Google. I think a lot of people find me randomly from through my website.

8) What type of sessions are your favorite (children e-sessions weddings newborns....) and why?:

Engagement Sessions just because they are quick compared to an entire wedding day and they are so easy going and laid back. However, my absolute favorite thing to shoot is the Bride + Groom portraits at weddings.

9) What equipment do you use and if you had only one lens to use...what would it be?:

I use a Canon MarkII 5D and various professional Canon lenses. If I could only pick ONE lens to use for all time, I'd purchase the Canon 50mm 1.2L ... right now I use the 50mm 1.4, and while it's great and all I feel I need right now, I'd splurge on an upgrade if I could only use ONE LENS for the rest of time.

10) What moment in your life makes you smile every single time you think about it?:

Dancing with Chris at our wedding. Not our first dance, but the time we were dancing to Kenny Chesney's "Me + You" and Chantel Kreviazuk's "Feels Like Home." Loved. Cherish. Those. Moments!

11) What is at the top of your wish list right now?:

I feel like I should be saying something related to our new home, but we've spend so many thousands of dollars this month - so I think I'm going to be selfish and just think about me right now, lol. See above question. I really, really, REALLY want the 50 mm 1.2L!

12) What is the first photographer that comes to your mind and why?

Jasmine Star. I love her images and personality.

13) What's the best meal you cook?

I like to cook, but I don't consider myself a great cook. My fajitas are pretty good.

14) If you had an entire Saturday to do whatever you wanted...what would you do?

Ahhhhh ... a free Saturday is such a treat to me. Usually I am busy shooting a wedding from 11-11 or so. Here's my idea of a perfect day: Wake up at about 7:30 and get ready to go. Grab a great coffee from the coffeehouse, then drive to a bigger city and spend the day shopping at unique stores or a fresh market. Then have a quick cafe style lunch. Shop a little more or take a walk along a shoreline. Have a great dinner with a yummy drink. Then catch a movie. I WISH!

15) If we surprised you at your house today what would be the first thing we would notice?

The mess. Everywhere. I try (and want) to be tidy, but I have so many things always going on at once - personal life stuff, photography business, summer school prep, moving boxes. Hopefully once we move into our new house, I'll have dedicated spot for everything as opposed to our cramped apartment. Here's my messy place .... always stuff laying around!

16) What is your favorite word?

Well, it's a phrase, actually: "Love Bucket." My affectionate name for both my husband and cat. LOL.

17) What is your least favorite word?

Ain't, even though it's not REALLY a word. And NO, don't try to tell me it is because it's in the dictionary. IT'S NOT A WORD! Ugh, I hate that word!

18) What turns you on creatively spiritually or emotionally?

Vivid colors, textures, unique. This is actually what was under the wall paper in one bedroom. I love it and I want to get a canvas made of it:

19) What turns you off creatively spiritually or emotionally?

Busy backgrounds + clothing, woodsy areas (for portraits).

20) What sound or noise do you love?

The ocean.

21)What sound or noise do you hate?

Motorcycles.

22) What is your favorite thing to say when you get mad?

Something along the lines of "Effin *Bleeeeep*!" Note that I don't really say effin or bleep. LOL.

23) What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?

Of course, my goal is to have my own classroom teaching, but I supposed that doesn't really count because that's kind of what I do already in addition to photography ... I guess if I was neither a teacher or photographer, I'd like to be a writer. Of children's picture books. Here I am shooting a recent wedding:

24) What profession would you not like to do?

Dentist.

That's all, folks!

Remember, LIFE IS:

A Whole Slew Of Some More Recent Photos...

Are you sick of my house progress yet!?

My plants ... yes, I take pride in my plants! I've been waiting a long time to be able to have my own flowers at my OWN house (hehe) ... the blue flowers are doing great, but the geraniums just won't bloom! Hopefully soon ...

The bedroom "befores" and "durings." They are quite ugly right now!

Ahhhh, my finished sitting room + dining room ... well, obviously not furnished or decorated, but remodel wise -- all done! Same with the living room (not pictured here really).... excuse the dust. We have a lot of it going on right now!

Downstairs bathroom .... in this pic we finally had a floor, walls, ceiling, new window ... the necessities! LOL.

The same space as of last night! Woo hooo, almost done. The window frame in, walls painted, base put in, etc, etc! Now we're working on the final details .... actually attaching the vanity + plumbing + facuet .... installing the toilet .... mirror .... lighting .... fan .... wiring ..... etc, etc, etc! Stay tuned!

Long Time, No Blog

We are now onto bigger projects!

Bathroom:

I wanted to just change out the vanity for a new one, paint, and get new flooring.

Weeeellll, that has quicky evolved into a $3,000+ project! And we are not done yet.

To say the least, the bathroom has been stressful. After pulling out the vanity, and taking down some of the wall paper, we discovered mold. Everywhere. Behind the vanity. Behind the wall paper. Up in the ceiling. Then we discovered the floor was rotted out.

SO ... the entire bathroom (minus the shower + tub) had to be ripped down to the studs. This photo was even BEFORE other things were removed. At one point, there was no floor, no supports, nothing - just the basement when you looked down!

I'm happy to report that the floor has been re-structured, the walls are rebuilt, we got a new window installed, all new electrical, the fan installed PROPERLY (the whole reason for the mold mess to begin with...), and now the drywall is up and has been mudded. All that is left to do is put the texture on the walls, paint, install the flooring, and put everything back in order: toilet, vanity, plumbing hookup, and my favorite part ... DECORATING.

And then we have the other full bath to remodel ... SOMEDAY. ;-)

Moving on....

Kitchen:

I feel like the house has been a constant disaster zone for 1.5 months now. The dust from cutting all the wood.... the dust from leveling the floors and sanding, and just junk everywhere! I hate messes!

This photo of the kitchen is actually HARDLY a mess compared to what it has/had turned into! This was just from wall paper removal, when life was easy and my bank account was full, LOL!

Since the above photo, we have de-wallpapered, painted, gotten new floors, appliances, and new base. You can see the before and "almost" after photo at the bottom of this post ... it's much further along now even than in the "almost" after photo ... I need to take some new ones this week!

Dining/Living Room/Combo:

Again, messes. Everywhere. At. All. Times.

And again, this photo is OLD. See more of an update at the bottom of this post for the "almost" after.

Since "almost" after photo was taken, we've gotten the baseboard in, and also got a new leather chair + ottoman and a cute side table.

Front Entryway:

We were going to put new flooring in the front entry way of our home too (this room is not pictured anywhere). Well, little did we know, the entire structure was rotted wood. The wood was SO BAD that you could pick it up and crumble it like dried out leaves in autumn ... SERIOUSLY - how did we not fall through that!? So, I'm sure it sounds like an easy project ... just re-structuring the entryway ... well not so much folks!

The entry way was not part of the original structure. When it was built, there was no vapor barrier installed at all and no insulation. SO, being that it was pretty much exposed to all the elements, the entire structure was rotting. Under the flooring, the structure went down about 5 feet or so ... so all of that down in there had to be gutted and fixed so it was built properly. That project alone probably cost us $1,000.

Now, the floor is solid (as it very well should be, haha) and I got the walls painted yesterday. Just the floor has to be installed on Monday, and then we can add the base in there. Then that will be done!

Monday will be a very good day!

THEN, it's working on the upstairs ... which has become it's own disaster zone.

More to come on that later! :-)

The "Almost" Afters:

Can't wait to post the NEWER versions of these rooms!

And, hopefully by MONDAY, the bathroom will also be COMPLETE!

Stay Tuned!

Our HOUSE!

It's official - we are homeowners as of today!

As if that wasn't exciting enough for one day, we also picked out flooring today for the entire main level ... and started the remodeling/re-doing process!

Some things we did today:

• Removed cabinetry above kitchen island - what a difference ... its so much more open now!
• Removed wall paper from 1/2 of the kitchen
• Removed the old hardware and knobs from all 36 (YES - 36) kitchen cabinets
• Replaced 8 knobs on the kitchen cabinets (they were our "models" and they passed)
• Removed all the switch plates and outlet covers (will be replaced with brushed nickel covers)
• Removed draperies/window treatments
• Installed new door locks on front and back doors

More tomorrow!

Fiiiiire

Tomorrow we close on the house! YAY!

I've been looking into purchasing one of these fire "pits" to put back by the deck area. I found this one at Kohls and really liked it. It was originally 219.00 ... and I got it for $10.22!

On sale for lowest prices of the season for 89.00

$50 gift card from my dad for my birthday.

Less 15% with a coupon.

Less 10% since it was the floor model.

Then, since I spent over $50 ...

I got $10 of Kohl's Cash.

So, I ended up paying $10.22 for this!

Wooooo hoooo!

Now give me some fire and a bottle of wine and we'll be good to go! ;-)

Paint Selections

A few paint colors have been selected ....

Our house is white.

We are adding some trim color to the porches ... and probably adding shutters in this color eventually.

This is actually a little more gray in person.

Half of the downstairs is one big room, that is really open to another room. It's a combo of a dining room, sitting room, front entry way (actually its own little room), and the living room ... and now that I'm thinking about it, there's a hallway too that we'll probably make this color while we are at it. We are replacing all the floors in the main level with a dark finish "wood" laminate. This will be the wall color in the whole big space:

The kitchen color. I couldn't find the "perfect" color on the computer, but its actually more "creamy" and light in real life. Not SO green. The countertops are a buttery yellow color ... so we needed a color that would go great with them ... an off white would actually go perfect with the countertops ... but living in apartments where everything is stark white ... I need a little color!

The downstairs bathroom will be this color. We are replacing the vanity so this will be a nice contrast to the dark wood.

Upstairs bathroom. Again, couldn't find exact colors. This is WAY more purple than the paint will be, but you get the idea. The "real"color will be more gray, with a slight hue of lavender.

The upstairs hallway will be a lighter version of the living room color.

The bedrooms ... I have no idea yet! I might be a little more inspired once all the wall paper is down! ;-)

I will of course post pictures once the painting of the actual rooms is complete!

For now, its fun to plan and dream about what it's all going to look like!

Today...

We purchased some more items for the house. Sears was having a GREAT sale (30% off appliances if Energy Star) - so we ordered a fridge and a washer + dryer since the house didn't include those items. All set for delivery on May 8th! We couldn't get a spiffy fridge ... I wanted a side by side, but the cabinet space we have to fit it into only allowed a 29 inch width fridge, so we ended up getting the kind where the freezer is on the bottom. Hopefully I won't regret that! :)

In other news, I also began planning a new color + design scheme for the living room. Right now, we have tan couches and I have red pillows and a throw quilt on them. I'm getting sick of the red and need a fresh, clean cut change for the new house. After pondering different color ideas with Chris today - sage? lime green and orange? brown and green? I searched every online decorating store imaginable without much luck of anything I "loved."

Then I stumbled upon these on Etsy ... and I ab-sol-ute-ly LOVE them! I love that they are so detailed and gorgeous. Plus, they are being sent from the handmaker in India, so that's kind of neat. LOOOOVE them! Also - I have been collecting some antique bowls that will go perfectly with them. SO excited to start decorating!

I'm also contemplating these bed linens ... I love the look. We shall see how scary the bank account looks after we pay all of the closing costs!

Ten Questions.

1. When do you feel happiest?

When I stop in a moment and realize how great life really is. It's all about the small things. (Although, I do admit, I do feel pretty great when I'm shopping, as well).

2. How do you take care of yourself?

I try to treat myself every now and then to things like ice coffees, a new shirt, or giving myself time off of photography work on a weekend. Also, I try, though not always a huge success, to eat healthy foods.

3. Are you internally (by yourself) or externally (by others) motivated?

Definitely internally. I honestly have started to care less about what others think, and do what I know will make me a better person.

4. What do you do for fun?

-bake goodies

-hang out on Facebook, Bloglines, etc

-go antiquing

5. What intimidates you?

Meeting and talking to new people.

6. What is something you're proud of?

-That I'm able to buy a house (as I just turn 24 today!)

-My ambition to work and to continually want to be better.

7. Finish this sentence. I never_____________.

...want to lose my sense of adventure.

8. Favorite vacation spot.

Two.

I really liked the Dominican Republic...for the beaches.

I really like Mexico... for the shopping.

9. Today is a (rate from 1 - 10).

Today is my 24th birthday.

Lunch with Katelyn, presents, and dinner with my family and husband = 10

Bank bothering me multiple times today to run around getting documents together and faxed out = 2.

10. Finish this sentence. If you knew me really well you'd know_____________.

I absolutely need my coffee everyday and that I truly do believe April 16th is the BEST day of the entire year!

(Picture is me today on my 24th birthday.)

House & Stuff

Obviously, the house project became so big that I didn't have time to update every day! The project took us an entire week ... Monday-Monday ... it was long, tiring, and I'm so glad I won't have to do that again! The re-appraisal passed, so now the bank is moving forward with finishing our loan.

Best case scenario - we'll close on April 23.

Worst case - we'll close by the very end of April.

Neither one is too far off. :-)

We can't wait to just close and be done with all this drama with the bank. I hope we are all done with sending them info they "need" to process our loan. SO many faxes have been sent their way - it's unbelievable!

So, that's that with that subject.

I'll update again when we know more.

Until then, here's a little peek into my weekend:

Self-portrait from an AWESOME salon in Fond du Lac this weekend where I was shooting a wedding ... also, check out that coffee bar. I think it's so cute! (And I kind of want one in my new house!)

*Almost* Done

Our re-appraisal has been scheduled for sometime between this Monday-Friday. Nice timespan, I know. So, it could be Monday, so we absolutely need to be done by tomorrow night. We have two family Easter celebrations today, but we have so much to do yet, I'm making a solo appearance at one for about an hour, and then I'm off to the house until the next one starts. We'll probably eat dinner at Easter Celebration #2, socialize a bit, and then head back to the house.

I seriously thought we'd be done by Thursday at the latest. I did all I could by myself during the day yesterday, and then when it came time for Chris to come help, it started to rain and our projects had to stop.

Here's what we have left:

-Upstairs toilet fixed ... some valve and a bunch of parts need to be replaced

-Upper deck - 1/2 priming is done, now just needs to be finished priming + painting

-All basement storm window frames have to be scraped as well as the actual frames on the house ... then all primed. And all painted.

-ALL paint chips on the ground have to be picked up ... if you've been following all of the projects we've had to do .... that's a LOT of paint chips. No joke when I say that could take an entire day. Esp since it rain and I bet they're all stuck now.

Tomorrow we were supposed to go to Chris' parents house up north for Easter for the day. We are going to have to get there early so we can actually spend time together, eat lunch, and come right back to finish the house.

Additionally, our loan has not even begun processing. We are doing all of this so we are able to get our loan. I am PISSED the bank has drug their feet so long and not even started processing it and we've busted our assess every waking moment of daylight that we haven't been at work this week.

So frustrated with so many things and so ready to just be done with these projects.

Even more so, I'm ready to know the house will actually be ours and that we aren't doing all this work for no reason and spending all of this money for no reason.

Yesterday was Day 2

Ok, so I'm going to blog about this whole house thing because, of course, it'll be neat to look back at someday.

Yesterday I went between 1st part of work and 2nd part of work to try and ShopVac some of the (million-and-one) paint chips from the lawn, by the garage, by the deck .... and everywhere in between. I had about 45 min of good vacuuming when the thing lost suction. So, I was done doing that. I'm a girl and I'm not cleaning out a dusty dirty grassy nasty clogged ShopVac. ;-)

Went back after work and Chris and Josh were there. Josh was now on vac duty. Chris was beginning to prime the garage. (I will never go back on my word when I say Chris got the easy job of priming .... thanks to our new paint sprayer contraption ... although he'll tell you he had the hard job. No way, buddy). I got the fun job of scraping again .... the deck and some window frames.

Then it was finally time to begin priming the deck. Literally, it was awesome. I could prime any day over scraping!

(BTW .... that sweatshirt is a men's XXL ... which is why I look like a giant marshmallow).

My mom came over and my friend Katelyn was there too and we all worked on priming the deck some more. I'd say we got half done. Today I need to get a shrub scissors thing and trim the shrubs so we can actually finish scraping the deck and priming it. (I hate deck spindles, btw!)

Today, between work, I went over there again and primed a little more of the deck ... and I also got about 1/4 of the front porch primed as well.

Hopefully after we got done tonight, I'll have a lot more progress to share!

We better get this {beep}ing loan .... or all this work and money out of our pockets (which we pay regardless of what happens) will have been a waste....stay tuned.

615

So, we are in the middle of buying a house.

615 is the house number.

For the type of loan we are getting, there is work required before we can even buy it. All work that come out of our own pockets and time. Everything has to be up to code before we can get the loan.

These are the items we must do before it can pass:

• Scrape/Paint exterior of detached garage
• Scrape/Paint exterior basement windows & front windows – wood trim
• Scrape/Paint Front/Rear porches/decks where chipping/peeling paint is present
• make sure all paint chips are not left laying on the ground

Today, after spending $60 on just scraping supplies, we scraped the entire garage. Chris was there for 7 hours straight, I came after work for about 3 hours til it was done. We had a slew of people helping off and on: my mom, our friend Josh, and even our Realtor.

I'm really pleased the garage is done. Now to paint it. That's the easy part. The scraping really sucks, but what sucks even worse, is getting EVERY paint piece off the ground. We just left it for tonight, in the daylight tomorrow I'm going to try to shop vac most of it up. We'll see how that goes.

Here are some pictures from today. Yes, we do plan to get a new door:

Dinner. Hopefully our dinner tomorrow night will be, um, a little more home cooked.

Don't let his smile fool you. This is all for the camera:

These smiles, also fake. And GOOD LORD, is that really what I looked like today?!

More tomorrow!

New Hair

It's not really that much different, but hey, this photo is kind of cute. :-)