Living Room Renovation

We have finished our living room! And by that I mean that we are done with the painting, trim work, furnishing, and decorating. Here's the finished product (minus some updated lighting and art for the walls). We finally took pictures of the room so you can see the comparison to what it looked like before we moved in...


BEFORE-


AFTER-


_____________________________________


BEFORE-


AFTER:


_____________________________________


BEFORE-


AFTER-




A few more...

Coldplay, Columbus, and Catching Up

I'm so behind. So here's my attempt at getting caught up on life. Sorry (once again) that it's so long. Hopefully I can soon start keeping up instead of having these crazy long update posts.

COLDPLAY
Ok first things first. Coldplay was so amazing. I was so excited to see them because Brandon and I both actually love their music. It was the PERFECT night for a concert. We sat on the lawn, and it was just perfect. I never realized how crazy Chris Martin is, running across the stage full speed. He was so fun to watch. I can just imagine what a fun marriage he and Gwyneth have together. And of course, they played all our favorite songs and I sang out loud for most of them. It was just the perfect summer evening.







Best pic I could get...


"It was all yellow"


Viva la Vida- such a good show!!

COLUMBUS
My cousin Ryan got married on July 24th in Ohio. I got to fly in for the big day and have a couple days with my family. It was good to be able to be there for his big day. We had such a fun weekend and I got some good quality time with Allie, who I miss so terrible. Unfortunately, the weekend just wasn't long enough and Jess didn't even get to come. But we had a lot of fun and even got some good shopping done. It was really great to see my grandparents, who I just don't get to see enough anymore. It was sad leaving, and I miss my family already!


With Al at the Rehearsal Dinner


Sitting with our sweet Memommy and PopPop


Mom and Aunt Marlea


Pretty bride with her new family


When I got back to Dallas, Brandon had done lots of little home improvements. The most impressive was that he replaced our old brass glass shower door! The new one looks so so good- a silver finish to match everything else. I just never knew how handy Brandon is! He's so good at learning how to do all these home projects. At this rate, our whole house will pretty soon be renovated! He's such a hard worker (a little obsessive compulsive almost), and I love that his hard work is going into our new home. With every little update, our house is feeling more and more like ours.



FURNITURE
We've been looking and looking for new furniture for our bedroom. We already knew what we wanted, but the price tag was just never affordable. After searching more furniture stores than we knew existed, we decided to just wait until we found the perfect fit. Well, one day we stumbled into this little store that was going out of business and got a great deal on just what we were looking for! Here are just a few pictures...






We're excited to have furniture in our bedroom, even though the room still isn't set up exactly like we want it. But it's a start!!

BACHELORETTE
Once again, this season had a HORRIBLE finale. I know full well how dumb and girly I sound, but it really does just disappoint me every time that they don't choose who they so obviously would have the best life with! Jillian chose Ed. Whatever Jillian. Be that way. Even though you would have had a perfectly, blissfully happy life with Reed. Or even with Kipton! WHY doesn't she just ask ME my opinion?!?! I am just frustrated even though I loved every minute of that silly shallow show. And because they'll probably choose Reed to be the next Bachelor, I'm sure I'll be sucked into watching it again next season. And I'll still, I'm sure, love every second. Until then, I'll be irritated that ABC yet again topped it's own record for a dramatic finale. And that Jillian is going to miss out on the love she almost had...too bad for her.

WEEKEND
This weekend we had a wonderful time getting some very needed chores around the house. Brandon got to go see The Rocketboys downtown on Thursday night and hang out with two of his best college buddies. Saturday night I went to a Lingerie/Bachelorette Party for Becca, one of my best Grad School friends. It was so fun to finally see those girls again, and we had a lot of fun. Then, Sunday we hung out with Cortney and Brandon who came to church with us. Then we got to meet one of Bailey's future BFFs. We kept trying to talk our good friends Chris and Lacey into getting a dog. Well, they kept coming up with excuses and deciding against it. Well, Friday night, we were hanging out when Chris informed Lacey that maybe they should get a dog. Well, the next day, they came home with Katie, a 8-week-old yellow lab who is the most adorable thing ever. We went to play with her yesterday and I already can't wait for Bailey to meet her. This weekend, Brandon and I got a lot of cleaning and organizing done. Our living room is finally done, so I'll post pictures of that soon. Also, my sister Jessi and her boyfriend Jonathan left for surgical clinic in Antigua, Guatemala this weekend. So say a little prayer for them as they're down there for the next week doing some really great missions for the people there.

Hope everyone had a good weekend!

Viva la vida!

So we're off to the Coldplay concert! All day, I've been hoping Chris Martin will do like he does in this video (click here). Maybe he'll dance like that tonight. And maybe I'll see Gwyneth! Can't wait!

Birthday, Play dates, and Renovations

We've had a very busy week, once again. We've done lots of painting, cleaning, organizing, you name it. But we also got to have some really good church friends over and Bailey even got to have some puppy play time. It was really fun. Unfortunately, on Monday night on the Bachelorette, Jillian kicked off who I think could have been the love of her life.HUGE mistake. But I can't get into that- I get way too emotional. OH and HARRY POTTER!!! We saw it on Friday night with some friends and it was amazing. Really, sooo good. Almost makes me want to go back and read the book. Almost:)

Well I had a really good birthday hanging out with friends yesterday. It's weird to be 25- not quite sure how I feel about it all. I still just feel like a college kid who happens to have a wonderful husband, a good pup, and a new house. I just really feel so blessed to be at this point in my life and be surrounded by such sweet and encouraging friends. For my birthday, I will get to be going to the Coldplay concert here on Tuesday night! Brandon hasn't ever been to a really big show like this, and it's amazing for us to get to go to a show we are both so excited about. I've been dropping "subtle" hints for months, but really gave up hope when they sold out really quickly. So that will be really fun. And then this weekend I get to see my family at my cousins wedding! Hooray!!!

Tonight Bailey got to have a play date with Knightley, Josh and Suzie's new puppy. They had a BLAST and never slowed down more than for a couple minutes. Here's a few pictures of them-


BFFs


Isn't Knightley the cutest thing?!?!


Also, we've been doing lots of updating on the house. Here's the most completed project so far...
Master Bathroom Updates

BEFORE:


AFTER:



Before:


After:



Before:


After:


A few more "After" shots...




We still have a few little updates to do on it, but that's it for now!
More project pictures to come soon!

Seriously!?!?

The heat in Dallas is getting to be unbearable. Today it was 104 degrees!!! Are you kidding me, Texas?!?! It's like you literally bake yourself a little bit just to walk across the parking lot to your car! I've never really had to deal with temperatures like this. Today was the hottest yet this year. The weathermen keep saying that maybe we can hope for temperatures down in the 90s this weekend. DOWN in the 90s??? That's still like crazy hot! I'm used to summers in the 80s, maybe low 90s when it's really toasty. Nashvillians THINK they know heat, but no no no. I now truly realize how miserably hot summer can be.

4th of July Weekend

We had such a great weekend with my parents. We all had Friday off, so they came in for the long weekend. I was so excited for them to come to visit. It's so nice to have a room for them to stay in- the apartment just wasn't so conducive to having visitors. They drove all this way and brought a TON of my old stuff with them for me to go through. We got some projects done and made about a million trips to Home Depot. I now fully understand why they call it home- it's becoming wayyy too familiar to me. Ugh.

Saturday night we ate BBQ, baked beans, fresh corn, and watermelon. The perfect 4th of July meal. To my family, it's really not summer without watermelon. And I had so much fun cooking with my mom in the new kitchen. After dinner we went to watch the fireworks (which were amazing and went on foreverrrr). It was fun having them here with us. And we got to take them to our church Sunday morning. Brandon and I have really become so comfortable here, so it was good to show my parents our little life here that we've grown to love so much. If only they just lived a little closer...


This is what Dad and Brandon were doing for a good bit of the time. They got to do some fun plumbing projects while Mom and I cleaned. They got a lot done, and the bathroom looks so much better. I'll post pictures of that soon. The weekend just flew by because we were so busy, and it was so good to have them here for a few days. But I was so sad to see them go.

Update on life

We've had a CRAZY busy life these past couple of weeks. We're loving our new home and putting every spare minute into fixing it up and making it feel like ours. We've been doing lots of little updates that I'll post about soon. We've been staying up late every night to get as much done as possible. Here's the update on everything. Prepare yourself, it's long...

MOVING OUT
As of last week, we're officially moved out of our apartment. It was kinda sad saying goodbye. It was a wonderful first home for us and the perfect little place for us, a newly married couple close to the city. And it was the place where we brought home our first baby, well...puppy- Bailey girl.


The end of one wonderful chapter of our lives!!


Sad, empty apartment where we had such a good life.


Farewell forever, 2172!


Last load! Hallelujah!!!

Then, last week Brandon went to Austin for a cool graphic design conference. And our last softball game was Friday night. We didn't get to make it to enough games, but we loved playing when we were in town, even though our team struggled just a bit.

BRANDON'S DAD IN TOWN
Brandon's dad came in on Friday to film a wedding and help with house stuff. Kim and Philip came in Friday night for the Rocketboys show and stayed for the wedding. It wasn't a very long visit though.


Us at the wedding, Craddock kids and Belt kids


The reception was right on Lake Ray Hubbard- gorgeous!

I can't believe how much Brandon's dad got done. We had a great weekend with him, but we worked really hard. Brandon took off Monday and Tuesday so they could work all day. I found out that Brandon is so much like his dad in that he works really hard and will stay up all hours of the night to finish a project. While he was here, he helped with lots of little electric things and helped finish painting our master bedroom and bathroom walls. But most of the time, he and Brandon painted the wood paneling in the living room. I'll post pictures of that very soon once it's all done and furniture is back in. I'm really excited about it though. We were sad to see him go...


Thanks for all the help!!!

MY NEW JOB
I'm loving my new job. My co-workers are wonderful and I look forward to going everyday to help my wonderful patients. I feel so blessed to be in a place where I feel like I can make a difference and brighten the day of the elderly patients there. And I just feel so encouraged and supported by everyone who works with me. I'm not loving getting up early every single day of the summer, but I'm getting used to it. But it sure it nice to finally have a second income. I'll update more about my job soon.

OUR CRIME FIGHTING ADVENTURE
FINALLY, as promised, here are the pictures and story from Florida...
(this is a long story- skip to the end for pictures)

So there we were in Florida, loving vacation life on our second day on the beach. We were all out in the water together for like a total of 10 minutes. In that short time when one of us wasn't laying in the sand, my beach bag was stolen. I was freaking out when I realized this. It was my cute beach bag (that my friend Beth gave me), which had in it my planner, some money, a room key, my camera, book, shoes, and both my and Brandon's phones. I was SICK. Most of all, my life felt like it was spinning out of control because of the loss of my planner. I wouldn't know how to function without it!!! So everyone in my family starts to panic and run down the beach looking for the bag or evidence of something somewhere. It was hopeless. Well, Allie (my brilliant sister) was up in the condo trying to figure out what to do while we were waiting on the policeman to show up. Well, being the cell phone addict that she is, she calls Sprint, just asking to see what they could do. They didn't sound hopeful. But after some flirting or SOMETHING, it just so happens that they offered her a free trial of the Sprint Family Locater service. Well, that's something, but there's no WAY these idiots would have left the cell phones on, right?? WRONG. The locator thing on Allie's phone started telling us that our phones were in Florida....yeah ok great, lots of help that is. But then it slowly starts telling us that it is closer and closer to a location. The policeman wasn't showing up and called to tell us that he had several emergencies he had to stop at. SO we decide to hop in the car and see where this locator leads us! Even my very rational father was all about it. So we all hopped in the car (except my Mom who couldn't handle this real life drama). Brandon and Jonathan felt like they were in a movie- so excited and ready to take down some criminals. So as we start to drive, Allie's locator finally says that are phones are within 14 YARDS of this one house! We go over there, and it just makes sense. It's the one junky house with stuff all in the yard in the middle of a nice neighborhood. So we drive around trying to figure out what to do. We denied my dad's idea that he walk up to the door and just ask with the car door open (so they see all of us as witnesses). CRAZY. So we find a cop car parked at a house near and ask the nice policeman who is doing yardwork if he could help. He ended up putting in a phone call to the local sherriff. After some phone calls, a detective showed up to ask us about the situation. Luckily, he was crazy enough to go and ask about our stuff. He called for back-up, and walked up to the door. After about 2 hours of us thinking there's no way he would find anything, he called us and said to come back to the house. We really kinda thought we'd have to apologize for a wrongful assumption. I walk up to the the officer at his car and as I got close, he pulled out my beaach bag!!! He found EVERY ITEM on my list! Even my planner!! Then we see the other policemen hand-cuffing two guys and putting them into the cop car. The detective told us that it was 2 guys and a girl, all about 20 years old. He apparently intimidated them pretty good. They just allowed him to come in and search their house (idiots). He said they had thrown the things all over when they saw him walking up. He had separated them as soon as got there to question them, and came out with written confessions. They would all be going to jail for Grand Theft. Whoa. The detective looked so proud- he was trying to trick me when I walked up, but he was so excited to give me back my stuff. We were just so excited to have our things back. It would have been so expensive to replace our phones and camera, not to mention what a hassle. But later that night we found out why the stupid robbers didn't turn off the phones-- they were downloading dirty pictures and ring tones onto our phones. And taking pictures of themselves on my camera (which we turned in as evidence). But that's our story. It was a CRAZY adventure. I just couldn't believe we got it back. Can you BELIEVE that?!?!


Let's catch some thieves!


Brandon and Jessi peeking in from the back.


Me and dad talking to the detective, who was not so sure about all this.


I got back my BAG!!!


So excited.


FLORIDA PICTURES


I love him. And we love vacations.


My wonderful sisters at our favorite place in the world.


My sweet mom and dad


My mom's FAVORITE thing- the nesting Skimmer birds on the beach


We have the best family in the world!


I love them.


What a great husband


No words...


We had SUCH an amazing week.

Happy Father's Day!

So I just have to take a second to write a few words about my dad. Today's the one day I can be super-cheesy and sentimental about my daddio. He's always been such a great supporter and encourager to me, and I am so blessed to have him. We can talk about anything, and do. I'm definitely a Daddy's Girl, but I really feel like he just makes me want to be the best version of myself because I've never ever wanted to disappoint him. I don't know how my parents did it, but they raised me in a way that made me really want to make responsible choices (even if I didn't always succeed at that). They gave us enough freedom, and me and my sisters have always respected their opinions on everything. I've always talked to my dad about everything. Everything. When I got married, Brandon became the guy who I tell everything to. But I still talk to my dad almost every day, and I know he'll always be there for me no matter what. He taught me what it meant to love the Lord in a way that made me curious and passionate about my faith. He taught me what it meant to do the very best you can do at everything you can by putting your whole heart into it. He taught me how to ride a bike, read the Bible, do algebra, and drive a car. And most of all, he taught me what to look for in a husband by being such a great Christian leader in our family. He always did his very best to be the closest thing he could be to an earthly example of our Heavenly Father. I feel so blessed. Happy Father's Day, Dad!

We're HOMEOWNERS!

After a CRAZY week, we are finally moving into our new home! We are loving every minute of it. We were so excited to sign all the papers and hand over that check after thinking we weren't going to get the house. We found this house a while ago, and closing was set for Thursday, June 11. Everything went perfect- inspection, survey, foundation assessment, even loan application stuff. We were so excited. But about 10 days before closing, we found out the seller had a lien on the house from the IRS. Ewwwww. So we were just sick, thinking there was probably no way we were going to close by June 11. And we would have been fine with waiting except that our low interest rate was locked, but only through the week. And since we locked in our rate, the interest rates have sky-rocketed (comparatively speaking). The difference in rates would be astonishing. So we just really prepared ourselves to lose it. We went to small group Wednesday night, and all our friends just loved on us and prayed that everything would work out. We were stressed. The seller kept convincing us (and our realtor) that he was somehow going to make it happen because he knew that we might walk away otherwise. Well, he pulled it off. He overnighted the funds, made the phone calls, and then literally took the paperwork all around the city to get the lien released. And all that happened late Thursday afternoon just before our rate expired. We closed first thing on Friday, and everyone was so excited. Our realtor and loan officer were just giddy, assuring us that we got the most amazing deal and that it was a miracle that everything came together at the end.

We closed on the house Friday morning, and spent the weekend moving in, with the help of some AMAZING friends. We had so many friends that came to help- moving boxes and furniture, cleaning out cabinets, lining drawers, you name it. Now comes the fun part when we start making it really feel like home. There's still lots of work to do, but we're so excited to get to work on it. We feel really blessed. AND we now have a guest bedroom so all you out-of-towners can finally come visit! And for all you Dallas friends, grab a paint brush and come over!!!


Living in boxes- it's a work in progress!


Bailey is loving her new house.

Just What We Needed

This past week was perfect. We had the best vacation full of sleep, sun, good food, movies, and wayyy too many laughs. We even did a little crime fighting, but I'll write more on that later. We had quite an adventure after my beach bag was stolen while we were swimming in the ocean. We had the most perfect weather- sunny with a light breeze until it rained a little on Friday when we went shopping. Brandon got to do some fishing which he thoroughly enjoyed. He caught several flounder, sea trout, a big mean crab, and some mackerel- he even took pictures which we no longer have due to the unfortunate events of the week. We took walks on the beach with my family every night, enjoyed just talking and catching up on everything. Of course, I got a little emotional when we had to say goodbye to my family. But I just feel so blessed to have them, even if it is several hours away. I'll post pictures and the full story of our crazy crime-fighting adventure soon.