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?

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.

Southern Vacation

THE SOUTH (thee-sauth) noun.

The Place Where...

1. Tea is sweet and accents are sweeter

2. Summer starts in April

3. Mac and cheese is a vegetable

4. Front porches are wide and words are long

5. Pecan pie is a staple

6. Y'all is the only proper noun

7. Chicken is fried and biscuits come with gravy

8. Everything is darlin'

9. Someone's heart is always bein' blessed

Jeremy blessed me with a trip to see my sister in Birmingham, AL and my mother in Woodstock, GA. We had so much fun. With an itinerary filled with nothing but fun coupled with time spent with family, I'd say that this trip was one for the books. Here are some highlights:

And some beautiful landscape:

I love the South for so many reasons. The culture is significantly different than the Pacific NW.  I truly enjoyed the Southern hospitality, warm greetings, wonderful service, non-judgment, and acceptance. I appreciated the history, the sense of pride and beautiful landscape. I'm so thankful to have family to visit in such wonderful cities. I'm so thankful to have a husband who saw how much I missed my family, so he took action and did something about it.

To Momma, Robert, Cali, Hannah and Nathan,

I love you all so much. Thank you for a wonderful vacation. I miss everything about seeing you everyday.

Love,

T

a very special girls' night out

Last Saturday, I was on my way to Portland for a very special girls' night out:These, are girls that went to my high school, who have also moved to the valley, most who I haven't seen since then....6 years ago... How did that happen? I am addicted to these types of reunions, thanks to this dinner. I want to do them every weekend! Catching up, and telling stories and the "remember whens" were soooo much fun! Thanks girls for a great, great night!