rule followers

The morning before daylight savings day we were woken by chirping from two different smoke alarms. At 5:45am. Weird. Soon we were off to get batteries and when we got home Chad replaced all of them in our house. Funny the batteries should start failing on the day when you're supposed to replace them anyway. We're such rule followers.

Sunset

As I was making dinner last week I looked out the window and noticed a shockingly bright red sky out my window. I know, I know, quick snaps of amazing sunsets aren't that interesting on blogs, but it was beautiful so I don't care. Here you go. (I promise I didn't change the colors on Photoshop.)

Fans of Fans

 

Since this was Chad's first Father's Day Maggie wanted to make it a Father's Day Weekend instead of just one Sunday. To start it off she gave Chad fans for our outside patio. He's wanted them for awhile now but neither of us made it a priority to get them. Maggie decided that now was the right time so I took her to Lowe's to pick some out. She didn't pick the right ones but at least he had something to open and compare. Early Saturday morning we were off to Lowe's and Home Depot in search of the perfect ceiling fans. And we think he found them. After we got the fans home our friend Mark saved the day and helped us install them. For about 3 1/2 hours! They greatly improve the look of our patio and will definitely come in handy during the warm summer months.

Get Ready Neighbors

Here's the garden we planted last weekend. I picked out three types of small heirloom tomatoes, a sweet pepper, zucchini, burp-less cucumbers and a crookneck squash. Not surprisingly the plants have already grown a noticeable amount. The bad news is that there's a storm due tomorrow night and we're experiencing lots of wind today. Let's hope these little guys are tough and make it through the next few days.

We are expecting lots of veggies so we can unload them on our neighbors. Hope you guys are ready!

Spring has Sprung

A few of you know how much I have wanted a wall-mount vase for our entryway. I found one online that I really liked, but it was a gamble because you never really know how online stuff looks in person. A few weeks ago I took the risk and ordered two of the same, hoping they would fill out and look good near our front door. I knew I wanted a mirror between the two vases, and I finally found the one I thought would look good (actually the three I thought would look good) this past weekend Chad and I got them on the wall. Immediately we went to our backyard and pulled some spanish lavender to fill the vases and voila! Exactly what I wanted for that area.

I love love love how they turned out. What do you think?

It's Cold in Here...

...because we got a new refrigerator! It's been a long time coming (our old fridge was mine from LA and the cheapest one on sale at the time) and we are now the proud owners of an energy efficient French door fridge. Finally we have room to put food in the freezer!

Just Because

Some of you have seen a photo similar to this on Chad's Facebook, but for those of you who haven't, here's a new one. Maggie and I were sitting on the grass last week and decided to have an impromptu photo shoot. You can see all her drool but it's still a cute shot, right?

Dining In

One of our Christmas gifts this year from my parents was money, and with that gift came the stipulation that we had to spend it. Bummer for us, don't you think? After studying our wishlist for a few days we ultimately decided what we most wanted and, put together with some holiday money from my grandma, we ended up with a new dining room table and chairs. We've wanted to upgrade for a while now and we're so excited to finally have a grown up set. Thank you Dad, Mom and Grandma!

Knobs

For almost two years now I've wanted to get knobs for the cabinets and drawers in our kitchen, laundry room and two bathrooms. Tired of waiting and ready to take action I went ahead and ordered 61 of them last week. They arrived on Monday. Wednesday Chad installed them and I love how they turned out!

Baby Shower

I was thrown a baby shower luncheon last Saturday. There were 19 people in my house, all family and friends, and we had a really nice afternoon. First we ate a yummy light lunch, then played a number of games, had cupcakes and finally opened gifts before sitting around and chatting at the end. The theme was "Candyland" and the decorations were candy-themed and super cute. The hosts (my aunts and cousins) put a lot of time and effort into planning my big day and I really appreciate everything they did. I'm thankful for everyone who came to the shower--it wouldn't have been the same without you!

Birthday Recap

Yesterday was my birthday (yay!) and I had a great day. In the morning Chad surprised me by planting the rose bushes we bought on Saturday while I was away from home. Very cool. We used to have pink mallow tea trees in our front yard along the garage, but the pesky grasshoppers ate and killed them last fall. Seeing as how most of our neighbors have rose trees in their front yards and that they all seem to be thriving we decided to give those a try. I wanted white roses but we couldn't find them so we ended up with red. And actually, I'm really glad we did. I think the red looks beautiful. Thanks for planting them for me, Chad!

We spent the rest of my birthday with my parents in Visalia. We went out for spaghetti, opened presents, had lemon meringue pie for dessert and had a fun time hanging out. Hard to believe it's over already!

Our Baby's Quilt

Last night I finally finished the lap quilt I made for the baby. It was a quick one to make but it took me a long time, thanks many stops and starts this past month. The fabric colors in the quilt ultimately became the inspiration for the colors we chose for the nursery itself--citrus with a hint of turquoise (ie orange, green, yellow and turquoise). I love the color combination and think it'll be a super cute room for either our boy or our girl.

Our Entryway

Well, I finally have the entryway to our home how I'd like it. After over a year and a half of living here the front area feels complete and I'm really happy with it. The missing piece was art for the wall, and that we put up last night. I found a print online that I wanted but was too stubborn to pay for shipping to get it here. My parents surprised us by purchasing it at a store in their local area mountains. Pretty neat, huh?

Please ignore the floppy plant. It doesn't look that pathetic in real life!

Vintage Furniture

Here are two great pieces of furniture for the baby's room that were recently painted. The first is a rocking horse my grandpa made for me when I was a baby. You'll see originally it was black, white and red but this week I painted it green, a shade darker than the walls in the baby room. I sure hope the baby likes it!

Also, the baby now has a dresser from the late 1940s. My grandpa also made this, but not for me, for my mom before she was born. All the women in the family have used it for their babies and it's been painted a few times. You'll see the last paint job was white, yellow and blue, but now it's green, brown and white. Thanks, Mom, for doing the hard job of painting it this past week. It's so cute and looks perfect in the room.

Paint-O-Rama

Yesterday Mom arrived to help me paint the baby's room. Earlier this month I chose the color green I wanted for two walls of the room and she brought the paint and the supplies so we could get started. We painted the first and second coats yesterday and then finished the detail painting this morning. The details included a few lighter spots on the walls and the areas around the ceiling and doorway.

It took some work but we got it done and love how it turned out. The avocado green walls with the dark espresso wood crib work well together.

Productive Baby Planning Day

A couple weeks ago my mom came up to help me look at baby cribs. By the end of that day we were more confused and overwhelmed than we were when we started. It's hard finding a crib when there are so many to choose from out there. I was looking for a crib with a particular style, in dark wood, quality craftsmanship, coordinating dresser--and one that didn't cost a million dollars. Since it had been a couple weeks since our first shopping trip my mom and I were ready to try again. She came up this morning and we were successful! We picked out a crib and matching dresser, brought the crib home and set it up. The dresser is on order and should arrive in the next 12 weeks. I can't wait until it gets here! We also picked out a paint color for the baby's bedroom. We chose a sage green and I think it's going to look great. Here are a couple photos of me with the crib we picked out.

Movie Screen

Using money we got for Christmas Chad and I ordered a new TV for our living room and it finally arrived last night. When he brought it into the house I about fell over because it looked so big compared to the modest TV we had in there before. Our new set is large, but it really isn't that big after you look at it for a couple minutes. This morning I realized I'm used to it and already forgot how the other TV looked in here.

Screen Doors

For our wedding anniversary my parents gave us screen doors for the house. Last week I called around for quotes and ultimately chose the company that gave us the best deal with the fastest installation time. We decided to get retractable screens for all three doors. On Tuesday the owner of the company came out and measured our doors and then installed the screen doors Saturday morning. We love how sturdy they are, how you can't see them when they're open, and how they retract into the frame when they're closed.

Place Mats

This afternoon I finished the place mat set I started in a recent quilting class. I thought it was going to be a quick little project when I started but it turns out it wasn't. This class taught me how to make this fancy little block, quilt everything together using my new quilting foot and then bind it with mitered corners. The place mats definitely aren't perfect but I'm happy with how they turned out.

Fall Wreath

It has been fall for a couple weeks but I'm just now getting around to decorating the house for it. My mom suggested I make a fabric wreath for our front door and I liked her great idea. After thinking on it for awhile this wreath is what I came up with. Chad suggested the raffia bow and I think it was the perfect touch to finish it off.