tv stand {3...finally!}

I know, I know, I've been away forever. I was actually thinking of giving up blogging/reading blogs for Lent, but decided against it. So, that's why I haven't been posting lately. We've been taking a break from house stuff lately, so I really don't have many updates. Here are the pictures of the t.v. stand...finally!!

Remember how I told you that I started buying stuff instead of trying to find stuff that all fit together?!? Well...it worked! We are using almost every single thing we bought in the living room area! Check it out...

Warning -- although I wish {a lot} I would be good with photography, I'm really not! So, sorry. These pictures aren't very good....best shots I could get... :)

Very top right. My favorite part!

{Coral - Z Gallerie}

{Blue Vase - IKEA}

{Red Dish - Crate and Barrel}

 

Top Right Shelf

{Z Gallerie}

 

Middle Right Shelf

{things we found around the house}

Bottom Right

{Z Gallerie -- Sale!}

Very Top Left 

I know the picture is the wrong way...we had it in a different spot. We tried it vertically and liked it...we still need to find a picture to replace it...oops!

{Yellow Vase - Crate and Barrel}

 

Top Left Shelf

{Blue Vase - Crate and Barrel}

 

Middle Left Shelf...another favorite!

{Lantern thingy - Z Gallerie}

{Little Birdie - Crate and Barrel}

 

Bottom Left

{found around the house...my favorite book...Marley and Me!}

Can you tell we really liked the white look? I like it even more when you see it all together because the white really pops on the dark wood. I'm loving all the bright colors together...they're fun! Here's the whole thing...

 

lazy

I'm not one to sit around and do nothing, but the last couple of days that's just what I've been doing! Last week I started feeling sick. I had a nasty cough and lots of congestion. So, I ended up not going to work on Friday. The rest of the weekend, I felt stuffy and still had a cough, but not too sick to keep me in bed. But I must admit, for the most part, we stayed at home, relaxed, and watched the Olympics. I'm not sure about you, but we l.o.v.e. the Olympics around here. We've been taping each day and catching up on it at night....thank God for U-Verse!!! :) And to top off the weekend, we didn't have school yesterday!

So now it's back to reality and I have lots of things to catch up on!! Hope you had a great weekend!

snow

I love snow! Pretty soon, I'll be ready for the weather to get warmer and the snow to melt away, but for now I'm enjoying all the snow we've had in the last couple of days. Snow is even better when you get a day off work!!! Yesterday, we had a snow day and it was amazing. I sat. In my pajamas. All day long! And, it was wonderful!!! I have a hard time relaxing and normally don't like sitting at home all day. But I must say, it was really nice to have one day to spend in our house without worrying about a thing. 

Today is back to reality, and with report time coming up, things around here are starting to get stressful. Hopefully I can get rid of my procrastination and get these reports done early!!!

flag

On Thanksgiving, my grandma gave Kurt and I a housewarming present -- an American flag. I was excited about this because a flag is something I would probably never spend my own money on, but I'd love to have one flying on our house. At that time, I had already started my Christmas list, which included an IU flag and flagpole. I was able to check the flagpole off the list, but still wanted the IU flag {badly}!! And, one of Kurt's brothers gave us an IU flag for Christmas!!! 

We finally got around to hanging it last weekend. We had a tough decision which flag to fly first. But, in the end, we decided to show our Alma-mater pride first. It was really quick to hang it and it's exciting that we already have two flags to alternate between. Check it out...

 

We marked where the holes needed to be and then drilled in those spots...

...then hammered the anchors in...

 

...Kurt used his big muscles to screw the holder-thingy in...

...I put the flag on the pole and screwed it into the holder, and voila!

 

...what it looks like now...

{p.s.- do you see how great the new blinds look upstairs in our bathroom??}

blinded by the light!

Immediately after we put up the blinds in the laundry room and kitchen, we knew what our project would be that next weekend! We were amazed by how great and different the windows looked by just adding/switching out the blinds. Moving in, we knew eventually we'd need new blinds at least upstairs if not the entire house. The decision to complete all the windows upstairs was quick and easy once we saw the other two windows. Bonus -- we loved that for a reasonable price we were able to get quality, expensive-looking blinds. Double bonus -- we would now be able to open and close our blinds, or even crack them to let just a little bit in...so luxurious! Without further-ado, here are before and afters of some of the upstairs windows....

 

Here's our bedroom. The blind on the right was too small for the window. If we ever tried to open it, the blind would pop out onto our heads and unravel...ugh!

One down, one to go...

Can you believe how much better it looks?!? Our room looks so open and airy! 

{Now if we could just find a stand to put our tv on...that space is awkward.}

Here's the guest room. Yes, the left blind was stuck like that....

With the new blinds, Coop can sit on the bed and look out the window...what he l.o.v.e.s. to do!

Also, we were finally able to fix the ceiling fan in the guest room. We had NO light in there since we moved in. We couldn't take down the fan because one of the screws was stripped. But we were finally able to use the light from the old ceiling fan and put it on this one. Thank God!!

  

Our giant window in our bathroom looks great with the new blinds...we love them!

And just to brag a little bit....I put all the blinds up on my own while Kurt and his dad worked on the laundry room project!!! {Kurt did help me lift the one for our bathroom....}  :)

dreaming of...

...getting another puppy. We've been talking about it forever now. It's probably not the smartest time to get one, but I don't really care!! :) We'll see what happens. I can tell you one thing's for sure, if we get another dog, Cooper will be in heaven!

 

Don't you think he'd be such a GREAT big {doggie} brother?

Winterfest!

Saturday Josh, Meredith, Kurt and I went to Winterfest -- a beer fest with mostly all local beers {and a few not so local}! I was the only 'beer fest rookie' so I wasn't quite sure what to expect...not to mention I was somewhat concerned about making it through the day... :)

After we took a cab to the fairgrounds, we had to wait in line for awhile {in the FREEZING cold!} before we could get in. The fest only lasted from 3-7, so most people wanted to get in right at the beginning.

 

Freezing our butts off!

 

The boys were very intense about trying to get to possibly as many places before the time was up. The second we got in, they were on the prowl! Meredith and I on the other hand, took things a little more slowly as to not get ourselves in trouble! {Plus, I hate chugging good beer. Can't I sit and enjoy it for a minute?} 

Towards the end, we weren't looking too bad!!

Kurt was trying to run around at the end {while we were getting kicked out} trying to find 'trinkets.' I'm not really quite sure why...I hate trinkets and who knows what we'd do with them anyways!!! Apparently Josh really wanted this one sign so Kurt was trying to get the guy to give it to him. I walked up trying to get Kurt to leave. Instead, I was able to talk the guy into giving us the sign.. {ha!} Not for our house though!!!

 

Once it was over, we waited for awhile for a ride. We originally planned on taking a cab back home, but another friend decided he'd pick us up on the way. We all ended up coming back to our house to hang out. Too bad we were starving when we left but our pizza took over 2 hours to come!! All in all, we had a pretty fun night!!

 

{Waiting for Loyd, our ride.} 

Tip I learned from beer fest: Make a pretzel necklace before going to any other beer fest!! {We saw tons of people with these and we couldn't have been more jealous!}