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.

Pacific Grove and the Painted Lady

The day after my crazy summer school class was finished I headed down to Pacific Grove with one of my best friends, Lauren, for a night away. It was a much needed "school is done" night away for me and a "baby boy #2 is arriving soon" night away for her. It was so nice to have some quality friend time and some much needed relaxation!

Lauren's in-laws own a house right up the street from the infamous "Lover's Point," so our accomodations were fabulous! Most all of the houses in Pacific Grove have a name, and theirs is called the, "Painted Lady."

As you can tell, it happened to be nice and foggy the day we arrived, so we took full advantage of the less then perfect weather and totally vegged out. First, we got pedicures.

Baby boy #2 came along for the fun. We most definitely enjoyed the massage chairs and the opportunity to catch up on celebrity gossip.

We went for a very short stroll down to Lover's Point to check out the sites.

Then what better to do on an overcast day then put on some sweat pants and watch a movie, so we did. Have you seen, "A Good Year?" If not, you should, it's a good one, especially if you like France :-)

What came next? Take out Chinese food...YUM! I can't remember the last time I ordered Chinese food; it had been far too long. There really is something fun about it being cold outside and being bundled up in sweat pants, chowing on Chinese food, and talking with a girlfriend. I think it should be done more often!

The next day we were surprised to find that Pacific Grove treated us to something unusual...a bright sunny day! Here's the view from the Painted Lady...

Lorraine, I'm so glad that we were able to spend some quality time together...thanks for the invite! I find it amazing that we've been friends since we were born, and we're still going strong. I think we're staying pretty true to our promise and are gonna be "buddies til the end of the world..."

Whidbey Island School House

My sweet friend Ruthie got married on Whidbey Island (just Northwest of Seattle) last month, and I had the pleasure of attending. I flew up to Seattle a few days before the wedding to spend some time with her and our friend Angela. The three of us met while attending Capernwray Bible School in New Zealand back in 2003, and we were attached at the hip. I get to see Ruthie quite often, but I hadn't seen Ang in 5 years, so it was quite a treat for the 3 of us to be together...it was much needed girl time!

I have heaps of photos from the trip, which I will hopefully get around to posting. Ruth and Erfon got married outside the schoolhouse, which overlooked the water and was absolutely gorgeous. The inside of the schoolhouse was converted into an actual house with two beds, a large living area, bathroom, and full kitchen. It was so super cute!

That's all for now...back to work!

Better Late Then Never..."Southeast Asia - 2007"

We took this amazing trip two years ago now, and I have finally put together a photo book! Every once in a while Shutterfly will do a free 8x8 album, so I finally took advantage of it. They give you some restrictions, but even with those I think it turned out pretty good. I can't wait to get it in the mail! Now I just need to backtrack and catch up on albums from the past 3 years. All in good time...

Click here to view this photo book larger

He's a Trooper...

Since we were super busy the past year I was not able to keep up on blog posts like I would have liked to...especially posts about the house progress. One of the main reasons I have this blog is for our own enjoyment; so that years down the road we can look back at it and say, "remember when....". Therefore, I'll be posting some of our remodeling photos for quite some time so that we can remember all of the craziness that we went through to get where we are.

As I mentioned above, he's a trooper. I can't even begin to tell you how many dust filled projects Brian has had to do...he lived many a day in a mask to keep his lungs free of concrete dusk, insulation, tile debris, and sawdust.

The photos below (one of the many dust filled projects) are the beginning stages of the floor installation...it all started on a Sunday afternoon and I was on my way home from a wedding shower. I pulled into our street and saw smoke pouring out our front and side doors...but it wasn't smoke, it was concrete dusk. The poor guy was leveling the concrete of our whole downstairs...NOT a fun job! Here's a bit of the aftermath....

Trying to clean every square inch with the small shop-vac nozzle. I lost track of the number of times we vacuumed up that floor.

He was covered head to toe in concrete dust.

Look how happy we are :-) Living in DIY Central was a blast (insert sarcastic tone)!

What's for Dinner?

It's summer, which means fresh ingredients, light fish, and the grill! A few weeks ago at the gym I grabbed the new Sunset magazine, which happened to to be in the magazine drawer (score), and hit the elliptical. Note to self, it's never a good idea to read food magazines while working out. I always start drooling, my stomach starts growling, and I usually end my workout early so that i can go eat. Anyway, I came across this recipe for Mahimahi with Thai Green Curry. YUM! You need to make it, STAT. My new obsession is anything containing curry or coconut milk...I can't get enough.

*Sorry for the yellowy/orange tint...it was taken at night under lights. Maybe if I knew how to use my camera better it would have turned out better. Or better yet, if could edit photos....

If you're into that as well, try this recipe for Red Curry Coconut Noodles, it will also make your mouth very, very happy! Bon Appetit!

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.