John's handy, dandy yard work....

To add insult to injury, I failed to mention that while I was "hanging out" in Orlando with 7,000 of my closest friends, John was at home doing yard work. Our builder graciously left us with a stack of bricks that were left over from building the house. John (over the course of 3 days) lined all of the flower beds and trees with the bricks. I helped out when I returned to do the back yard and it was so painful. I have no idea how he did this for so long. I was bored!

We have been getting some rain (thank you sweet baby J!) and this lead John to notice that our mulch was slowing sliding down hill. His solution? See the pic below!

Love 'em or hate 'em?

My online shopping addiction has taken a turn for the worse ... I am now buying crafts online! Eeeeek! I know. You would think the rush I get from the 50% sales at Hobby Lobby would be enough, but I find myself wanting more and thus I have found an online store to fulfill my craving. Lord help us!

So on one of my "benders" if you will, I purchased these:

I thought it may be fun to have these jars and I can change out the items in them through out the year as it pertains to the season and/or holiday. So my 3 big boxes are sitting at the door as I arrive home one day and I immediately set them out. One by one, I place the colorful balls in the jars, making sure to not over do one color from another. Finished, I take a step back, cock my head to the side and say, "Hmmm. Not really what I thought it would look like. Maybe they will grow on me?"

So it has been a few weeks now and I am still not feeling them. Tell me ... what do you think?

Finally! A light fixture ....

So after many shopping trips to Lowe's, Home Depot, various lighting shops and even some catalogue orders and return, we have settled on the correct light fixture for above our kitchen island. My apologies to my Dad and John for having to install all of them only to say, "No ... I don't think so. Let's take it down and find something else." We are all good ... for now at least!

Chocolate Wall....

While I had a few days off and contractors in and out of the house, I painted an accent wall in our bedroom. John had to put the tape up for me because 1. I am really, really bad at taping off walls which is pretty much the most important part, but also because 2. the walls are 18' high and even on our tallest ladder, I don't come close. John also helped make sure all of the lines were exactly straight and since I kept moving the laser level thingy on accident he was not impressed.

Up-close look at the fabric that will be our curtains.

Where have I been?

I know, I know. It's been awhile. February was a very busy month for us and I basically sank into a black hole. John had a very heavy travel schedule as his territory has expanded and I had my huge event in Orlando. When I returned home, the shower in the master bedroom had to be ripped out and re-done. Yes - you read that correctly; not even 2 months into the house at that point and we had to have the whole thing re-built.

While we had contractors in and out we also had them move lights for us that were hung off center and patch up holes that had been created by their not-so-careful work. From shower doors not fitting to scratches in the paint to "Oops! We forgot to use fiberglass and mudd and instead only used drywall to adhere title to" we became very frustrated as you can imagine. The entire process took over 3 weeks and was finally finished last Friday - just in time for our out-of-town guests to arrive. Whew ... close call!