Life Update - 2015 Edition

 The new year started with a visit from the Morfords and the chance to finally meet little Jack.  What a doll!

 Ryan and I also picked back up on finishing off the basement.  We settled on a color scheme, picked out flooring and ceiling tiles, got some cabinets, and got a fridge!

 Not only have I started using a paper planner today, and love it, but the highlight of this picture is that Grad School started on the 19th.  It's only been 2 weeks, but holy cow is it overwhelming!  But also wonderful, I love working towards my goals!

 Ryan and I had a one-night getaway in Wisconsin right before school started.  It was lovely to get out in the middle of winter!  I got to catch up with one of my high school best friends, hang out with Charlie, and have a date night with my husband.  Not to mention come back with a boatload of New Glarus beer!

 Seahawks won the playoff game and are headed to the Super Bowl.  They are only my fourth favorite team, but more importantly about this picture is that my sister is FINALLY an NFL fan!  She picked a team at Christmas time, after years of trying to watch football with her.  Her team is now the Seahawks, because of their awesome colors!  So it was exciting to watch that game and cheer with her. :)

 I love hanging out with my fur-niece and fur-nephew, just had to throw this pic in there.

 While my parents enjoy a lovely weekend in Arizona, my brother has been staying with us since Wednesday.  We've had a lot of fun!

Snowpacolypse 2015 has begun and we are hunkered down watching golf, and then of course the Super Bowl.  It's freaking nuts out there, but it is pretty.  I'm just glad I don't work on weekends!

Alcohol(ics) Connoisseurs

So with all of the this dumb sequester stuff, Ryan will not be working more than 32 hours a week for quite awhile, so that's a dent to our normal income.  We were in the process of remodeling the basement, which definitely has to be put on hold for now.  So we had a super important decision to make.  Where were we going to put all of our alcohol since we will not have a bar to use for quite awhile?

Answer: That fancy, sliding-door cabinet in the living room of course.

Close proximity to the kitchen, utilizes previously wasted space, looks cool, etc.  And I'm sad/proud to admit, that since this picture was taken, a brand new handle of Tanqueray was purchased and added to the collection.

Happy Friday friends!

Demolition Time

If any of you got to see our basement after we moved in, you know it was a blast from the past!  Straight from the 70s!  I didn't mind it so much, especially the bar area, but Ryan was not having it...so DEMO TIME!  Here are some progress pics I took (and it's come even farther now).

It's scary and exciting all at the same time!  I'll do my best to keep progress pics coming.  Happy Tuesday!

Weekend Recap: November 2-4

I'm back!  And I promise to post about Halloween weekend soon, I just keep forgetting to upload pictures from my phone since I have several on there...whoops!  Anyway, this past weekend is recap worthy, so here we are.  Ryan and I hosted some family (and family friends) at our new house for a party, well, basically a housewarming party, we just didn't call it that. We had such a wonderful weekend with those who joined us and filled our house with love!

On the menu, we had: Pulled Pork, Maid Rites, Cheesy Potatoes, Corn and Broccoli Casserole, Pasta Salad, Mandarin Orange Salad, Pistachio Fluff, a big ol' cookie cake, veggies, chips, banana bread, and BEER!  We almost didn't have enough beer, I had to send my sis to pick up some more!  I think that means it was a successful party.  We all had a lot of fun, and took a lot of pictures.

We had loads of fun with everyone, and plenty of left overs to provide us some meals for the next few days.  Now we are plotting out our shopping adventure to use the gift cards to every which home improvement store in the area!

Excited/Nervous

We close on our first house this Friday...and no one told me about the roller coaster of emotions I'd be experiencing.  I am so anxious, nervous, excited, scared, happy, skeptical, over-the-moon, frustrated, and then some about the whole process!  I guess I will say that I'm ready for the closing process to be OVER, because the waiting game sucks.  And let me tell you, if you are in the process of buying a house, DO NOT make any financial changes, AT ALL.  Do not apply for a credit card, do not refinance your car loan, do not sell an old car, do not have a birthday and deposit the cash in your account...the bank needs documentation for every single transaction you do.  GAH!  

So that's the frustrated side, on the flip side, I'm elated that we will have our own home, a house that feels like a home.  It may need some updating, but the bones are good, and the warmth is there.  I'm excited to have something to call our own and to customize the way we want.  We already painted the guest bedroom, just the two of us, two coats...sore muscles! But it transformed from pink to "Baking Stone" and it looks great!  I can't wait to paint the rest of the house!

I'm nervous because jumping into that much debt is terrifying, and I'm skeptical because I fear something major will go wrong.  I'm anxious because, as the closing date gets closer, the days feel so much longer, and I'm scared that some bump in the road is going to rear its ugly head.  However, I don't think any of those negative emotions overpower the shear happiness I feel that my husband and I will finally move to a city and into a house where we feel like we have a long future and where we feel like we can finally settle down and begin the process of deciding when to start a family.  Bring on the joy, happiness, and want-to-rip-my-hair-out feelings we'll experience being homeowners.

Weekend Recap: July 27-29

Can you believe today is the last day of July?!  Yeah, I can't either.  Where has the summer gone?

Last Friday, Ryan was out golfing, so I ran out to Eldridge to pick up some paperwork and a super belated wedding gift that was mailed to my parents.  Yeah, over two years late! Lol.  Better late than never right? My dad and bro were heading to the cheap theaters and settled on the movie "The Hunger Games."  I decided to tag along even though I had already seen it...it's such a good movie!

My brother and his new phone

Saturday morning arrived, and I was full of butterflies.  Hello Bix!  If you've never heard of it, the Bix 7 is a 7-mile race and it's becoming world renowned.  Kenyans win almost every year.  It's a hilly course, but lined with fans and supporters along the entire route and boasts the best after-party I've ever attended after a race...yeah, there was free beer!  I opted to do the Quick Bix (2-miles) since I hadn't really been training, and Brooke joined me!

We walked/jogged the race and then enjoyed all of the free goodies!!  Did I mention there was free beer?!  We met up with Jess and enjoyed a couple of hours down at the party and downtown Davenport.

Later that night, Jess, Ryan and I went to the Street Fest and drank some beers, ate some cheese fries and watched Funktastic 5!  I had never seen them before, but it was soooooo much fun!

Sunday, Ryan and I played golf with my parents out in Eldridge, then enjoyed some pizza, and took another tour of our new house!! 

My favorite room in the whole house!

I have lots more pictures, but there are still a lot of personal belongings around the house, so I'm not going to share those pics.  The pool table, however, is ours to keep!  Woohoo!! :)

Pardon the Mess

Due to the high demand of this particular post, please enjoy a tour of my house in pictures! (For those of you that don't know, Ryan and I are renting a house, we did not buy this place)  Also, we are STILL trying to find the right spot for everything, still reorganizing, and still going through some extra stuff we don't need...so pardon the mess.  Enjoy! =)

Front of our house, cute right?

Side yard

Back yard/garage (and yes, we have  picnic table!)

Side entrance, the one we use

Entry way/mud room

Kitchen

Nook (it's a mess right now!)

Looking into dining room from kitchen

Stairs to basement (not that exciting)

Basement=storage

Basement also is laundry room

Dining room

Between dining room and living room

Part of living room

More living room

TV/stairs in living room

Game nook!

Looking up into hallway upstairs

Hall

Hall

Looking into TINY bedroom...the cat room

As you can see, the cat room

One of my closets (yes...I said one of!!)

Pardon the destruction!  Bedroom.

Bedroom (still working on the extra stuff)

My other closet =)

Linen closet in the hallway

TINY bathroom

Bathroom

Aww yeah, we have a window in our shower!

Love the ceiling in the bathroom!

Office (Again, dumping ground for crap right now)

Ryan's closet

Wear the sewing machine and keyboard will go

Peter with crazy eyes...a good addition don't you think?

Cali

Peter looking cute! =)

Newest wall addition (in living room)