Staycation

AMP has gotten some time off the past few weeks, so even though I've had to work, we've had a lot of fun around here!  It's kind of been like a little "Stay-Cation!"

Friday, March 23, we began by celebrating our 6 month anniversary by staying at the Adolphus, downtown.  It's a gorgeous hotel, with dark, rich wood and grand staircases.  We ate at our favorite restaurant, Nick & Sam's Grill, and they found out we were celebrating, so they brought us out champagne.  

 

(Side note: they might have known we were celebrating because I still enjoy telling people we just got married recently!  One lady complimented my sparkly heels that I was wearing with my jeans, and I said, "Oh, thank you!  I wore them at our wedding!"  Which is true.  And I just love that!)

 Dinner at Nick & Sam's Grill

Self-portrait in front of the elevators.  

AMP is wearing his jeans and sport coat--my favorite look of his. ;-)

Saturday, March 24, Mary Ellen came in town to run the Rock 'n Roll half marathon with several friends from Houston.  Adam went with me down town to get her, and we brought her back to see our house.  Sadly, the only photo I have is of the Angel Food Cake dessert I made.  I added graham cracker layers this time, and it was quite tasty!  I think next time, though, I will make it in cute small dishes or something, because once you dip into it, it doesn't look so hot!

 

I hadn't seen Mellen since our wedding, and Adam was so sweet to make our spaghetti dinner (we loaded her up with carbs!) so that she and I could talk and catch up.  I guess I have no photos because we were too busy talking!  

During our staycation, we've had beautiful weather!  We've ridden bikes several times.  This happened to be the time I mentioned last week, when AMP's tires went flat and we drank margaritas at the gym.

This is AMP's favorite bridge at White Rock Lake. 

We stopped here to watch the pups at the dog park jump into the water.  :-)

Adam has two bikes, so I've been riding one of them.  We used to be able to just borrow one from the apartment he lived in, and it was more my size.  This ride made me realize that this bike was incredibly uncomfortable and much too big for me.  (My feet couldn't touch the ground when sitting on it!)  I started doing some research, and it just so happened that Richardson Bike Mart was having a weekend sale.  Guess who got a new bike!!

 The last time I had a bike of my very own, I think I was 11 or 12.  It's been so fun to have a bike that fits me.  It's a hybrid (not quite a street bike and not quite a mountain bike), and I've really enjoyed it so far!

Have I mentioned how nice it's been outside?  I think so.  We really wanted to eat out side one night, so this was our make-shift dinner table.  That would be a card table (one of my parents' wedding gifts from 30 years ago), a folding chair from college (don't worry, I don't label all my chairs!) and a kitchen chair. 

Instead of this awesome table set up, I've been dreaming of a picnic table out on our deck, so we brainstormed and looked for inspiration online and designed our own version.  We spent several hours researching, drawing it out and then visiting Home Depot for the wood.  AMP's been working so hard on this, and it's been so cool to see it come together.  

We're going to stain it and also have benches, but the wood has to dry out (it's treated pine) for about a month before we do that.  I will post more photos when it's out on our deck.  I'm so excited and impressed with AMP's skills!!

 I was able to take a day off in the middle of the week last week, and we went to the Arboretum.  The tulips were in full bloom and everything was so colorful.  We decided to become members and can now get in as many times as we'd like in the next year.  Since it's so close to us, I think we will get lots of use out of this. More photos of our Spring Arboretum day to come.

The day I took off, I got so much accomplished!!!!  (I'm still trying to figure out if I can work "full time" four days a week, haha.)  I made the window treatments from a 12x9 painter's drop cloth.

  I thought I was going to have to sew them, but I just cut them four feet wide and nine feet long and hung them on these "knob" things that the owner had left in the house.  I'd seen people do long painter's drop cloth drapes, but not swags like this, and I was just kind of hoping that the fabric would hang right.  It did, and I'm really happy with the results!  I think it finishes off the guest room.  :-)  Come visit us!

And last but not least, we played Mega Million like the rest of the US.  I'd never bought a lotto ticket, but it's been on my bucket list (I know...I dream big!).  It'd been a long week at work, and we were having "Happy Hour" at our house, and we texted Adam's parents to say hi and "Happy Friday."  Turns out they were doing the same thing!  So we talked with them on the phone and kind of had our Happy Hour together!  We talked about the $640 Million lotto and realized we had time to buy a few chances.  Too bad we didn't win.  Then I could really have my four days work week (or less)--ha!

 

At work, we are in full-blown "March for Babies" mode, so we are fundraising, running all over town for meetings and just generally going crazy with logistics for 40,000 people to walk.  It's a good crazy, and I'm grateful to be a part if it, but it's still pretty high-stress at times.  So to have Adam home more and able to do things that we normally do together or take turns doing, like making dinner and grocery shopping, especially, it's been such a blessing.  We've gotten a picnic table, many bike rides and quality time together, it's been really great.  Especially the quality time part, for this girl!  It's been a great few weeks, and going back to our regular schedule will be kind of a bummer.  Maybe we'll just keep buying lotto tickets and hope to win.  Ha.

Handy Man, Washer Stand!

When we got married, we ended up with two washers and dryers, so we sold mine, but my request was that we get stands for his front loading set.  Little did I know that it was about a $500 request!

I searched and searched for a good deal, but there was none to be had.  So, Adam built a stand for us instead, with room for our laundry baskets to slide in underneath.  It's working out great!  Even better, he built it for less than $100.  

Troy came to help Adam hoist them up on to the stand.  He'll work for dinner, which was totally worth it!  {Troy came over several times to help with my computer and such while he was home for Christmas Break.  I'd feed him more often if it meant we get to see more of him!!}

Here's the spots for our laundry baskets.  The Laundry Monster lives at our house, as we've yet to get it under control.  But hey, you can't do everything!  At least we have some clean clothes!!  :-)

{Our Nest} Narnia

Here's a little peek into our place.  It's decked out for Christmas, which we're in the process of taking down at the moment.  Friends often comment that we have quite a bit of furniture, so I will add that we've had lots of help!  Aside from coming from two fully furnished places of our own, full of furniture we've purchased and had handed down to us, we have lots of furniture "on loan" from my aunt & uncle, until my cousins need it.  

We have several projects on our "To Do List" for 2012, but so far we're really excited how it's coming together.  We very much enjoy our little home and are very grateful for it.

{Living Room}

Our couch was our first major purchase together!  We painted this room and the two bedrooms the week before we moved in, but the photos don't really do the green walls justice.  It was a lot of work, but it got us cheaper rent in the end. 

{Living Room, view 2}

 

{Dining Room, connected to the Living Room}

The china cabinet is the one AMP and I started working on before we were engaged.  It's nearly finished.  The wall looks a little forlorn.  It had wallpaper on it that we  my Dad took off.  It's on the list to texture and paint that, but for now, it's just a little artsy wall.  

  

{Den}

This room's just off the kitchen.  Each of us has a least favorite piece of furniture in the house that the other brought to the marriage.  For me, it's this sectional from Adam's place.  :-)  But with pillows and things on the wall, it's a bit less noticeable.  Right??  I will admit that this couch is very comfortable,  but just not my fave!

{Den, view from the couch}

You can see we have two trees.  We each brought one to the marriage, so we put them both up!

{Sunroom}

The sunroom is just off the kitchen.  Have you already guessed that the purple couch is Adam's least favorite piece of furniture?  This room makes me smile because it's just a bit wild and random.  

{Sun Room, view 2}

This room is also home to the beloved Baylor bench, and it looks on to the deck into our yard.  We have lots of birds and squirrels to watch out there, and the windows let in a lot of sun, which is great.

{Kitchen}

The kitchen was re-done recently, and I really love the pullout drawers for pots & pans and such. 

{Master Bedroom}

This is painted Benjamin Moore's Golden Wheat color.  We used it in here and also in the guest room, which I don't have a photo of yet.  (It's been the catch-all room for extra boxes, etc.)

Is this not the craziest bathroom?  I love waking up and getting ready in it every morning.  It has a vanity, which I love to use when I sit and put on my makeup.  Adam uses the tiny little bathroom that's attached to our room.  It just has brown tile.  :-)

So that's our place--come visit! 

Our nest :: And why we call it Narnia

I've been more than a little hesitant to post a photo of our house.  Why, you ask?  Well, because the front looked very much like this:

 

In fact, it did look like this up until a few days ago.  Adam and I went on a date night to Macaroni Grill, where we wrote on the table and prioritized all our many projects we'd like to get accomplished around the house.  He was quite surprised that at the top of my list was the yard!  (Good thing we talked about it, right??) 

We've had quite a few friends come to visit, and the question we often receive is, "How do we get to the front door?"  We call it Narnia because it was like a forest you had to get through in order to find it.  I'd been waiting on a little name for our house, and I think that just fits perfectly.  :-)

After FOURTEEN bags of leaves and a pile of brush like this...

We've ended up with this as our final product--just in time to put Christmas lights out front!  We worked together three hours on Sunday afternoon, and then Adam worked yesterday for a couple more, and I went out to help bag even more leaves for about an hour.  So between the two of us, we worked about 10 hours on the yard!  It was fun to do together, and I think too, it helps to have such a visible change for all of our work.  We can now see our front door and step out on our porch and see up and down the street.  We love it!

Our New Project

When SMoo and I shopped at a consignment store a while back, I saw this piece of furniture and told her all about how I would re-do it if I had the chance.  Well, later I asked Adam if he'd be interested in refinishing it with me, and then we could sell it.  The man likes a project, so we went and bought it and loaded it in AMP's new truck.

Side note:  Adam has recently discovered that I have a thing for guys and pick-up trucks.  Oh my word.  And he has all the pullies and bungee cords and everything to keep stuff in place.  Love it.  Perfect for projects, right??

Here's the "BEFORE" photo.  

It's actually two separate pieces.  My favorite part is the chicken wire on the two top outside doors.  We keep it in Adam's garage and have worked on it two Sunday afternoons.  

Home Depot has quickly become Adam's new hangout.  If you're ever looking for him, that might be your best bet!  :-)  He researched how to strip wood and what was the safest chemical to use.  We bought a spray can  three spray cans of Citristrip, and it has a nice little orange scent to it.  You spray it on there and then let it work its magic for about 30 minutes.   {Insert running break here}

Next we used plastic scrapers to get the wood stain off.  Turns out some of this is actually veneer and with plywood underneath, but a lot of it has real wood, so I'm hopeful that the paint will go on and still look pretty.  

This is the top piece of the cabinet we worked on this past Sunday.  In the past two weeks, Adam has perfected the art of wood-stripping, making several more trips to Home Depot.  One of the most important tools, we've learned, are wire brushes.  They are really good for small crevices and the layers of wood on certain spots, like the doors on the bottom piece.

Adam loooves this so stinkin' much.  Can't you tell??

But in all seriousness, he's really quite good at it!  He gets in all the little nooks and crannies that I sort of gloss over.  He needs projects and I need creativity, so I think we make a good team.  :-)  I'm looking forward to painting it and distressing it next.  I'll keep you posted on our progress!