This is going to be a very random post but for some reason I feel like I need to blog about it.

Tonight I got a much needed manicure and pedicure at one of my favorite places.  As I was sitting there getting my pedicure, I looked over to see an elderly lady with her 2 granddaughters who were all getting manicures done.  The girls were so excited to be getting their nails done. They were probably between 6-8 years old.  They kept going back and forth to which color they wanted to paint their fingernails. It’s a hard decision to pick out that perfect color for your perfect fingers. 

As I was finishing up my pedicure and heading over to get my manicure done, I actually sat down next to one of the little girls who was just finishing up her manicure. We started talking about the pretty pink color she had on her fingers when I told her about the time my grandma took my sister and I to a salon in Florida (Where my grandma was living) to get our nails done. I can’t remember if that was the first time I ever had my nails painted professionally but it’s the first time I remember having anything like that done.  I told the little girl about how we had our fingernails painted the color of m&m’s (black, brown, blue, red and green) and the lady put tiny white “M”s on my nails to make it look like m&m’s. It sounds so silly but I was so proud of my nails! The little girl thought that was so cool.  Or at least I was hoping she thought it sounded cool

I’m not really sure why I felt like I needed to post about this tonight. Maybe because times like these are when I miss my grandma and the short life that I actually got to spend with her.  (For those who don’t know, she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s when I was 10 years old and passed away within the last 2-3 years) When I was getting my manicure tonight, I was thisclose to getting my “m&m’s’ on my nails tonight in honor of my grandma…maybe next time….

Our family room/bathroom is starting to get its final touches to make it complete. We have moved the furniture back in, although we aren’t 100% sure if we are keeping the couch in there or going to replace it with the other couch we had in the room before.  We still need to get new blinds and curtains for the room as well as filling up the bookshelves (I have plenty of ideas for those – just looking for the perfect items!). It’s hard to believe that we are finally living back in these 2 rooms again! It’s awesome! 

Link to more pictures.

What girl doesn’t enjoy weddings? From the time I can remember, I have always loved going to weddings. When I was a little girl I remember always wanting a seat on the aisle so I could see each bridesmaid walk down the aisle in their pretty dresses and watching  bride walk down with her dad, in a dress that reminded me of a princess.  As I’ve gotten older, I have paid more attention to details of each wedding I have the honor of attending.  I love everything from the dresses to the flowers, to the name cards/seating charts to the wedding favors on each table, to the DJ (dancing!!) to the linens, to the cake to the toasting flutes (yes, I look at these).  I am a wedding fanatic! Which brings me to my newest hobby: wedding planning.

When I planned my wedding, I planned it all with the help from Brian (I mean, he was the groom after all!).  I knew what kind of wedding I wanted to have. I knew who I wanted standing next to me and Brian knew exactly who he wanted to stand next to him. We planned each detail and I got a lot of advice and help from my parents.  My wedding coordinator was a friend of Sarah’s and I really couldn’t have gone through that day without her. I realized after my wedding that I thought maybe I could do something along the lines of coordinating weddings. Why not?!

Sarah and I were asked late last year by a good friend of my parents to coordinate her daughter, Kellyn’s, wedding.  We immediately said yes and started working on this dream day for Kellyn and Jeffery.  We were so honored to do this and got started on our checklists, meetings with the bride and groom and offering our support, advice and knowledge. 

Kellyn and Jeffery got married this past weekend in Lexington, Kentucky. It was a beautiful wedding and everything went perfectly. Sarah and I were so happy! The bride and groom even arrived early than they were expecting to at the reception, allowing them to dance a little bit longer!

Now, will I take this “hobby” elsewhere? I’m not sure yet. I wouldn’t and couldn’t do it without Sarah, so we shall see where it goes from here.  So if you know anyone that is getting married that needs a wedding coordinator, just let me know!

The only picture I have of Sarah and I from the whole day. It was at the end of night!

We recently returned from an almost 2 week vacation.  It was so wonderful to get away and just RELAX.  We headed up to NY to stay at Diana’s cabin with my parents.  Instead of taking a “beach” vacation, we decided the cabin would be a wonderful place to relax and just do nothing.  Plus, I needed my upstate New York fix and probably won’t be able to return there until later in the year.

Relaxing is all we did while we were there.  We drove the 12 hours with my parents and enjoyed every minute, yes Dad & Sarah, we even enjoyed sharing the same hotel room in CHEEKTOWAGA (!) NY.  We had dinner at Heinz & Colleen’s camp and had a great visit with Cate and even Emily & lil’ Sean were there! We spent days on the boat coasting up and down Schroon Lake, played cards that I just happened to win every time we played (this doesn’t happen.ever!) and enjoyed the delicious Cave’s soft serve ice cream.  My parents flew home a couple of days later and Brian and I spent the rest of the time hanging out.  There was one day that we literally slept, read, played board games, ate, and slept some more. It was great. We even went fishing but didn’t catch anything too crazy!

Here is where we stayed. This is Diana’s cabin.

Is COMPLETE! It looks amazing! Brian did a wonderful job installing the floor and what a difference it makes! It is absolutely beautiful in person. 

Here are some before and after pictures. What do you think?

BEFORE:

AFTER:

BEFORE again:

AFTER again:

We have the molding left to do but we don’t even care at this point. We can’t stop staring at the floor! Doing projects like this to the house make us appreciate it so much more than what we would if we had a brand new house.  I am so blessed to have a husband who knows how to do such projects and is actually VERY good at it!

Here are a couple more pictures of the floor.

We had an incredible, relaxing weekend. It was so nice to not plan too much of anything and just enjoy the time off together.  We had a yard sale on Friday and Saturday which went pretty well.  We had great dinners with Brian’s family and with mine as well.  The only thing missing was the fireworks! We couldn’t really see any from our house and no one around our neighborhood was setting off any.  We hope everyone had a great and safe 4th weekend!

In the next 24 hours, we will have a new wood floor in our family room! I am so overly excited about this. Brian is working his tail end off on it. I will post pictures as soon as it is laid. It is beautiful wood we picked out! Thanks for the recommendation, Heinz!

Brian and I are getting a niece! Little Sean is going to be a great big brother! Looking forward to her arrival in November!

We added the toilet and sink/vanity over the last couple of days.  We are finishing up painting some base boards and the window trim which should be put up in the next couple of days.  All we have left after that is the floor, which we have narrowed down to 2 different woods. It looks great! Here are some pictures of the rest of the bathroom which is finished besides the door that we have to put on still. 

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Our room now has a washer and dryer in it! Woohoo! I never thought I would be so excited to do laundry. Our clothes are piling up and I’m going to spend my Saturday night doing nothing but laundry. Either I have no life, I’m getting old or it has just been 2-3 months since I’ve done laundry in my own house!

Look at the before and after pictures of the bathroom. WOW!

BEFORE: Goodbye ugly blue!

AFTER: Hellllllllloooooooooo

What do you think??

Yay!  The bathroom is starting to look like a room again! We have tile floor down and Brian installed the cabinets that will be over the washer/dryer.  I am SO excited! The cabinets and floor look awesome! The pictures really don’t show the real colors of the walls, floor and cabinets but they look so pretty together.  We are hoping to install the washer and dryer today if the rain holds off.(They have been stored at Diana’s house for the last couple of months)

The new tile floor:

New cabinets!

Close up of the cabinets:

**We are having difficulties with the link to our pictures. We hope to have this fixed soon.**