Let the Landscaping Begin!

We're at it again. After a long hiatus, we are back to working on the house. We still have more work to do on the inside, but we're both tired of paint, spackle, tiling, crown molding, baseboard, sanding, etc., etc. So, we decided that to keep things rolling we should change gears and work on the outside of the house. It's going to be super fun to watch the yards go from weeds and dirt to patios, grass, and tropical plants!

Phase 1 of the landscaping journey started last week. We extended the patio that comes off of our "sunroom" so that we can have a spot to put our hot tub....YAY! We are so excited to get our hot tub back, and just in time for winter too!

Before we could lay the patio Brian had to move an in ground drain that was in the way and redo some piping. Here he is working hard...

Laying down the last of the rebar...he looks pretty happy with his rebar skills.

Here's a closer look at the job.

Thinking things over. "Are we sure this is what we want to do, are we sure we left enough room to put the plants we want around the patio?"

Now for the real fun part...the pouring of the patio! Brian's dad was nice enough to come help us out for the day, and we couldn't have done it without him! Go Brendon, go!!!

Brian looks happy that we have started working on the house again :-) We'll get there some day, but at least for now the ball is rolling again!

Fluffy Bedding

Slipping into a freshly made bed with just washed sheets is one of my favorite things in the world! Fluffy pillows, soft sheets, and the smell of clean linens...*sigh* Yes, it's the small things in life that make me happy. The duvet set in our master bedroom is starting to look a little dingy; it's been through a lot this past year. There are remnants of floor underlayment (nasty, gooey, gray stuff), and even a stain from bird poop (that's another story). Needless to say, I've been looking around.

I just so happened to find something that I like at Anthropology, of course. I will never bring myself to buy it, but I can dream.

Wouldn't you love to slip into that bed? I LOVE white bedding, it's so fresh and happy. But, they also have it in this fabulous grey. Pretty tempting, huh?

And check out the ruffle sheets...too cute.

Anthropologie, you have ruined me. Here's to trying to find a look alike that is more suitable to my price range...cheers!

*All images from Anthropologie.

Running on Empty

Wow it's been a while since I have blogged! Life was a little busy (understatement of the year) there for a while, but we are finally getting back into the swing of what normal life and a normal schedule looks like.

Long story short....we had to do a major push to get our house "done" in 30 days. Ready, set, panic attack! Luckily, I have been blessed with a husband who can do anything as well as amazing family and friends who were willing to help in the midst of the chaos.

The day we found out we had to "complete" our house in 30 days Brian and I decided that we had to be a team...there was no other way to get it done. Though I never want to go through what we went through again, we have lots of fond (*cough, cough, nudge, nudge*) memories of staying up til 3 a.m. drinking Simpler Times (how appropriate) while painting, floor prepping, running speaker wire, etc. By the way, since I'm on the topic of running speaker wire....I have a major aversion towards seeing wires, it drives me nuts! The night we had to run the speaker wire in the living room I was not a happy camper...I was grumpy from the lack of sleep, and knowing that I would be going to bed at 3:00 a.m. or later, again, was not making me any happier. I kept saying that we should just forget it, the wire wasn't cooperating. Who cares if we have to see wires when we put up the surround sound, I just want to go to bed! Brian kept reminding that I hate wires and that I would thank him later...really? Would I? Are you sure about that? After far too long that night, we finally got the wire to cooperate (too confusing to explain the process here)....and yes, I thank him all the time now! Do you know how nice it is to have speakers in the wall with no wires hanging from them? It truly is amazing! Thank you husband for not giving up.

Now back to the real reason I am writing this post. We were running on empty, not really sure how we were gonna make it another day. Late one night I was making us some burritos (for probably the 5th night in a row) and Brian was working on the floor. He had mentioned that he wasn't feeling that great. "Poor guy," I thought...and continued making burritos. About 15 minutes went by and I realized that I hadn't been hearing any noise. "Brian...Brian, are you ok?" No answer. The first thing that flashed into my head was an image of him collapsed on the floor...why wasn't he answering me? I rounded the corner to the living room and this is what I saw...the same image that had flashed into my head seconds earlier....

"BRIAAAAAAAN!!!!!" I yelled as my heart was beating a mile a minute. I ran closer to see what had happened.

"Brian!" He slowly opened his eyes and mumbled, "I fell asleep..."

Talk about a panic attack! The poor guy was just so exhausted that he fell asleep with his face right next to floor glue (gnarly stuff) and his head on a razor blade. So happy we are done with most of this chaos :-)

Oh, and don't worry, I took these photos after I found out he was ok.

Saying Goodbye to the Beach Shack

We've done it...we've moved. Little did we know that moving two minutes down the road would be so emotional. We LOVED our little beach shack! Yes, it was small; yes, mold would grow on the walls and we would have to clean it with bleach; yes, we had a church building in our front yard; and yes, the traffic on Portola Ave. was extremely loud (until they put in double paned windows for us), but even with all of those little "annoyances" we still loved it. Why? We were down the street from the ocean, we had space for a little tomato garden, we had an awesome little jungle spot for our hot tub, we lived by some of our best friends, and best of all it was our first home together...the place where we started our family.

I met (or re-met him as he would say) Brian on April 17, 2005 at a wedding, and he had just recently moved into the "beach shack." It just so happens that my sister and her husband had lived in the beach shack right before Brian, so I still had a key to the place.

A few days after that wedding I got a phone call from Brian, in which he mentioned that he had some of my sister's mail. I was literally down the street from the beach shack, so I told him that I would stop by to pick up the mail. During our conversation that night I mentioned how weird it was that I had a key to his house..."here you go, you can have a spare key now..." to which Brian responded, "you should hold on to it, you might need it some day...."

All I remember is giving him a strange look. I held on to the key and we continued our conversation. Little did I know that two and a half years later I really would be needing that key.

Goodbye beach shack...you were so good to us!

House Feature

This built-in outdoor fireplace is one of my favorite features on our new house. I keep imagining it all landscaped, lights hanging, outdoor kitchen, fire blazing, music playing, wine in hand, and laughter filling the air. We can't wait to have you over to enjoy it with us!

Homeowners

Along with the many words we daily use to describe ourselves, Brian and I can now add the word "homeowner" to that repertoire. This photo shows exactly how we reacted the moment we found out that the house was ours :-) Well, not exactly. I was at work and Brian called me, but we would have looked like this had we been together at that moment.


I have to admit, I was terrified to take the plunge. And yes, I had a small emotional breakdown..."I'm too young to own a house, we are never going to be able to travel again, is it the right time, etc." We had been talking about buying a house since before we got married, and we've been looking for at least the past year, so I don't know why it was so hard for me once we finally decided to pull the trigger.

Now that I am past the initial "freakout" and the home is ours for the keeping I am excited to make it our own. There were so many pieces of the puzzle that had to fit together for this house to become ours...it was crazy watching God orchestrate the whole thing. We have felt beyond blessed throughout this whole process and the house is way beyond anything we could have imagined.

I do find it somewhat humorous that the house came into our lives when it did. We are both working full time, I am going to school, and Brian is having another knee surgery in 12 days, perfect. We (and by "we" I mainly mean Brian, not me) have been trying to bust out as much work as possible before his surgery. Picking out flooring and paint colors on a deadline is extremely hard, but I think no matter what it would have been hard, so this just forces me to make a decision that otherwise would have taken months.

Also, last month some time I had decided that I needed to start spending more time with family, hanging out with my friends that are not in Santa Cruz more often, being a better Auntie, that I needed to learn how to take better pictures, needed to learn how to edit photos, needed to pick up sewing again, needed to pick up a new book, needed to try out new recipes and make better meals, and that I needed to work out more consistently...and there are many more things on my to do list that I was planning on doing, oh well. Some of these things I can still do, but most will have to be put on hold...life is entering a different season.

Though we are way too busy for our own good, I think this is all part of the lesson I am learning on contentment and enjoying where God has me, instead of always looking for what is coming.