Hello Again...

I'm alive, promise.

It's been an interesting last couple of months.

Lots of changes.

One notable change:

The Steinberger's have relocated!

Our decision to rid ourselves of the project our living situation came just before the bathroom remodel. It was much more lucrative for us to leave, rent for a year or so and buy something with enough room, less projects, etc, etc.We are truly enjoying a break from the endless chats about projects, endless lists, material shopping, late nights spent grouting, dry walling, etc, etc. Don't get me wrong, I feel so blessed to have such a handy hubby and to have a strong enough marriage to easily handle and actually totally enjoy doing renovations together. BUT, we're over it. Time to move on. Above is a picture of our new digs. We're totally at home here, for now. Honestly: home is where ever my husband is. I'm fine with how cheesy that was. I just really, really love the dude.

Summer bucket list...

... errrr, Winter bucket list? It's always a little hilarious to me when I set a date or time frame for home renovations. Projects always take longer than expected. We always have busier schedules than anticipated. And on and on. My personal struggle with being very type A has eased considerably and I'm pleasantly content with any sort of progress being made. A couple of weekends ago, Jeremy and I FINALLY got a couple of coats of paint on the house! We've been preparing for paint since June, how crazy is that?? All of our windows are installed and trimmed out. We ordered/assembled and installed the new front door. We finished our roofing and installed all of the flashing. All of the fascia has been scraped and primed. Holes have been filled, all of the scraping, priming, pressure washing, random hardware removing, caulking, etc is totally done. Now, we are waiting for the weather to improve to finish the following:

-Prime/paint office exterior door and trim
- 3rd coat- front/sides fascia
- 1st/2nd/3rd coat back fascia
- Paint exterior doors: office, shop, kitchen, second office door
- Stain front door

We were so lucky to have had a couple of extra hands on the second day of painting and were left with very little to complete.

We also completed a third set of shutters. Now every window have shutters in the front of the house.

 On the left is the door when we first installed it. Since, I ordered Baldwin door hardware and a dentil shelf. Eventually the door will be stained a deep red and the front porch will match.

 The top is the after view. I love how the gray hue accentuates the ranch style house and the beautiful white trim around our brand new windows. The shutters are such a great touch. *pats self on the back

 Pretty great, right?

In lieu of gifts...

This year, Jeremy and I have decided to gift each other a new bathroom instead of a conventional gift. I'm thrilled about the bathroom however, I still wanted to do something special for Jeremy. So, (in envelopes, one to open for every day in December) I decided to gift him promises of date nights, gifts, thoughtful gestures, etc and hung them above his closet.

 

I am equally excited about every single one with the exception of the contents of December 17th's envelope; the only one that I needed a little help with. I am stoked about the one he opened on December 17th. The envelope contained a promise of a dinner date night -in- catered by a special chef. He didn't know which of the several potential candidates, until we went out to dinner on the 18th. I took him out to my good friends' restaurant, Koho. We enjoyed a dinner complete with quail, rabbit, rutabaga soup, trio salad, white/milk chocolate creme brulee and because he is the Executive Head Chef, owns the place and does what he wants a rad version of a corn dog. My career allows me access to some of the most talented chefs in the culinary world.Chef Jeff is no exception.

After our beautiful dinner, Chef Jeff revealed his intent to cater our special dinner. We've already picked out our menu and I'm beyond stoked!

Sunday Fun-Day

Yesterday, Jeremy and I enjoyed a day consisting of church, caulking the exterior window trim and a dinner/movie date night on the Oregon Coast.

I love days like this. Incohesive-ness with togetherness as  a common denominator. Productive and fun. 

I was excited to have the entire front of the house totally ready for pressure washing and paint by the end of the day, yesterday. Also, Jeremy was gifted a trip to a coastal restaurant as a thank you for building the stage that our good friends got married on, in July. So, we went to the coast to do our dinner and a movie date night. By the way, The Waterfront is delicious. I would strongly suggest trying it out, if you're in Florence, Or.

Commencing the day was our ever so inconsistent Sunday routine of attending a church service. Jeremy and I haven't made it to a service in over a month. Luckily, all of the teachings are available on Podcast for us to watch whenever we are able.  However, we need that fellowship with our church family. And, isn't it interesting, how God always knows what you need to hear/when you need to hear it? The teaching yesterday was out of James 5:7-11 titled "Patient Perseverance"  (click here for the archive of teachings). Pastor Wes was talking about how blessed we will be if we remain steadfast in the face of opposition and how bitterness toward your circumstance leads to bitterness toward one another. He stressed the point that God produces character in suffering and that we should stay the course in the midst of opposition. 

I loved the reference verses: Philippians 2:14-16 and 1 Peter 5:7.

I am so encouraged by the gentle challenges that our Pastor starts our weeks off with. How easy is it for us to find something to complain about in the midst of a trial, and be completely blind and forgetful of the things that God has blessed us with.

I think that November is a great month to re-route my train of thought to a more thankful and less complaining one. I tend to get very caught up in the what we don't have's and the what hasn't gotten done and the what I don't have time for. When in reality, I have a lot to be thankful for and many blessings.. the focus definitely needs to be redirected.

What are you thankful for?

Road Trip

In October Jeremy and I left our home with our two dogs and a very full SUV to finish celebrating Jeremy's 30th birthday with a week-long roadtrip. We, thorougly, enjoyed ourselves. Here's the short of it.

Scenic pictures: OR to WA to ID to MT

First stop: Big Sky, MT

Second stop: Yellowstone National Park

The drive from WY to SD

Third stop: Keystone, South Dakota

Fourth stop: Salt Lake City, UT

Fifth stop: Home :)

The drive from UT to NV to CA to OR

I tried taking pictures of all of the places that we visited. I thought that I would have had way more time to be doing nothing but take pictures, honestly though, we had so much fun during our long drives that I just lost track of where we were. There's not one other person on this planet that I could have spent that much time in the car with. Truth.

On this trip we: visited with friends along the way, visited monuments, national parks, zoos, famous architecture, war hero resting grounds, battle grounds and one of the biggest snow resorts in the world. We experienced temperatures from 5 degrees to 70 degrees. We saw black bears in the wild and watched Old Faithful explode right on time. We made almost every meal on our camping stove and bonded over working as a team and enjoying the countryside. We've seen the sun rise and set behind the Black Hills. We've seen the beauty of Mt. Rushmore in the evening and in the morning, both are truly separate experiences. Jeremy and I learned more about this country than we anticipated and developed a deep love for it. We met some amazing people with some incredible stories. I can officially say that I've sung for a crowd in South Dakota. And so can Jeremy. We drove 3,500 miles in 8 days and saw 9 states. I am so encouraged by our character and love for each other. Seriously, the worst thing that happened was running out of gas and a chip in my windshield on the last day. And for the record... these two:

are the BEST road trip dogs of all time. I couldn't believe what angels they were. 

I fell in love with them all over again.

This is the last big trip that we will be taking for at least a full year so it's definitely a good thing that it was such an amazing success :)

Our 4th Anniversary

Jeremy surprised me with a trip to the Redwoods for our anniversary. We spent a long weekend exploring and getting pampered. Below are some special moments from our trip:

Clearly, he did an awesome job with planning our trip!

Below is our favorite memory, not just of this trip, but to date, as a couple.

We were in our beautiful hotel room, getting ready for a beautiful seafood dinner on the coast when we came up with a beautiful idea. 

Jeremy went to gather 11 balloons: 7 for every year that we've been together and 4 for every year that we've been married. We decided to take them on the beach before dinner and release each one with a hope/dream/prayer/wish for our marriage, future children, family, careers, and life in general. 

I loved every touching second of that moment on the beach with my husband.

Jeremy's 30th Birthday

Jeremy celebrated his 30th birthday on the 23rd of July. I wanted to make a sizely effort to show my appreciation for how far he has come in his life. I am incredibly proud of the man that he has worked so hard to become. So, first, I hooked him up with a long awaited puppy and brought him home from my mother's house in Georgia back in April (thanks mom :). Then, I threw him a giant poker-themed party: 

And now, in just a few days short of a month, we will be going on a bit of a road trip. Our itinerary is below:

October Birthday Trip:

8th- Leave home for Huntley Lodge (miles: 908, time: 14hrs)

9th- 10 am: scenic round trip ride 

       1 pm: High rope course

       3:45 pm: Zip line

10th- Check out of Huntley Lodge and in to Yellowstone (miles: 126, time: 3.5 hrs)

11th- camping/exploring

12th- Check out of Yellowstone and in to Mt Rushmore's White House Resort (miles: 515, time: 9 hrs)

         Go to Mt. Rushmore, explore

13th- Check out of Mt. Rushmore and in to Royal Garden Inn Salt Lake City (miles: 648, time: 10 hrs)

14th- Explore/Relax

15th- Check out of Royal Garden Inn and head home (miles: 806, time: 13 hrs)

Total Miles: 3,003 (minimum, not including scenic drives/exploring)

Total Time in the car: 49.5 hours (again, minimum)

States covered: Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Utah and Nevada. Whoa.

Happy 30th Birthday, J. Love ya, kid.

Lincoln City

Jeremy and I just exited one of the busiest times of our lives, thus far. Combined, we were working 100 hour weeks and barely able to see one another. The long hours were to prepare for several planned trips that were so worth the exhaustion (although I'm happy to be home sweet home and working a regular work week). Jeremy planned a surprise trip to Lincoln City, in the midst of all of our traveling. It was a trip of necessity. To relax. To talk to one another. To rest. Just us.

The weather in Lincoln City ended up being gorgeous that weekend. We were able to explore quite a bit and truly took advantage of our weekend full of nothing to do but whatever it is that we wanted to do.

Jeremy found a hotel, Surftides, from a Google search. We've been recommending it to anyone we can. It truly exceeded our expectations. For us, the beach is a place of rejuvenation and instant relaxation. It's our home away from home. I'm so thankful that Jeremy noticed how important it was for us to spend time with each other and get away from the rat race at home. I'm also thankful that I, for the first time in my life, am starting to feel deserving of a break here and there. No guilt after a vacation, just enjoyment. It's a freeing feeling.

aaaaaaaaahhhhh :)