first house guests...

My brother, Daniel, and his wife, Brandi, came for the weekend - our first house guests in the new house!

My brother and I share the same birthday, September 28, so we celebrated this weekend. He was celebrating year 27 and I was celebrating year 29 (ouch). It was nice to be together for our birthdays (but not the same as sharing a birthday party - we used to do that when we were young enough to not like each others' friends). They got to the house around 3pm on Friday and left tonight around 8pm.

Friday night we opened gifts and then grilled out pork chops for dinner. We watched a movie later. Saturday, Daniel went to Jeff's bible study with him and Brandi went to my bible study with me. Then Daniel & Jeff got to work putting in surround sound speakers in the living room. We used to have that in our apartment in Wilmington when we first moved to the area...I'd forgotten how nice that is! We took a break and went to the beach for a brief time (until we couldn't stand the black flies anymore - ugh!). Then we came back & grilled out burgers for dinner. We drove into town to get ice cream at ColdStone Creamery (did you know you can sign up to get a coupon for a free "love it" on your birthday? click here to check it out) and then went back to the house to watch a movie (with our new surround sound). Today, we went to Sunday School & church and then out to lunch at Two Guys Grille (yum!). We came back to the house & lazed around (after all, it IS the day of rest!).

It was an enjoyable weekend with family. So glad to have you in our new home, Daniel & Brandi!

our (new) living room furniture...

At long last, I'm posting our new living room furniture. This is the major purchase we made in the process of moving (aside from the house itself, obviously) and we're pretty happy with it. Most of you know we had a sectional sofa before, with 2 recliners and a pull-out sofa bed. Well, there was NO WAY that was going to fit in our new living room. Believe me, I measured & measured, this way & that! I loved that sectional and was really sorry to see it go but our new living room area is more square than the area we had at the old place so it just wasn't going to work. So we set about looking at several furniture places, including Rooms To Go which is where we found our purchase. It's called "Thorne" and we got the sofa, loveseat, chair/ottoman & rug in the set. It's pretty dramatic, but you know me...

I'm a big fan of having lots of seating for our guests on those rare occasions when folks make the "trek" out to our place [ :) ]. We also opted for the sleeper sofa so that we'd have a 2nd bed for guests/family if we had that many at one time (it's been known to happen). And Jeff wanted the chair & ottoman. I kinda dig it myself...

As you can see, it's a dark green color with a khaki piping around the cushions, which I think really cleans it up - makes it look crisp. The chair & ottoman are a geometric design with (lots of) accent pillows on the sofa & loveseat in the same fabric. It's a good color that doesn't show Kassie's hair too much; we had that to consider when looking at the fabric/material it was made of, too.

I'm pleased with how the furniture fits into the room. We thought it was going to be a push to fit it all in with out it looking like it was just crammed into the room, but it worked out pretty well and every time I come in the front door, it looks better & better.

You should come try it out...see how comfy it is! ;)

something a little different, part 2

Doesn't our yard look nice? This photo was taken today in our front yard, facing the house (obviously). Jeff put out some fertilizer and it got watered quite a bit this week with all the rain we've been having so the yard is looking really nice. Thought I'd share that with you...

Alright, here's part 2 of the Q&A I started on Wednesday:

32. Is your microwave clean or dirty? Oh, it’s clean now, but give it time…give me time…

33. Is there anything under your bed? Nope
34. Chore you hate doing the most? Oh, my heavens…where to begin?! I don’t like cleaning the bathroom or dusting and I really don’t like ironing…

35. What retro items are in your home? Hmmm…retro…that has a lot of different meanings to different people…I’m not sure if any of my stuff qualifies…

36. Do you have a separate room that you use as an office? No, we have a craft/computer room (that is a DISASTER right now…).

37. If you have a yard, who mows it? Jeffy

38. Is there anything on your kitchen floor right now? Ha! I’m sure there’s crumbs & dust, grass, etc.

39. How many mirrors are in your home? Well, there’s 1 each in the bathrooms and then there’s one by the front door that our keys hang on and that’s all that’s UP right now…there’s another that’s leaning against a wall somewhere…so I guess the answer would be 4 (can’t just answer the question – gotta have details!).

40. Do you have any hidden emergency money around your home? Uh, no. We have a “hot date fund” jar that’s full of change, but that’s it.

41. What color are your walls? Bone (medium white)

42. Which rooms in your house have wallpaper? NONE! And we’d like to keep it that way…

43. Do you have a peephole in your front door? No
44. Do you keep any kind of protection weapons in your home? No…just steak knives (hey, those could probably do some pretty good damage!).

45. What does your home smell like right now? The living room smells like “Hawaiian” something (it’s an air freshener – I love it!) and the garage smells like sawdust. Other than that, there’s no other smells, which is good, I guess.

46. Fave candle scent? Oh, geez…I never can pick just one…let’s see…anything that smells like cotton/linen, autumn/fall or coffee.

47. What kind of pickles (if any) are in your refrigerator right now? I think we have some of those whole sweet pickles (ew, Jeff likes the sweet ones).

48. Who are in the pictures you displayed? Haven’t unpacked that box yet…I don’t have a single photo frame out right now.

49. What color is your favorite cup? I have a favorite coffee mug that’s pottery-style, brown & dark brown. Don’t really have a favorite cup.

50. Do you have plenty of cabinet space in your kitchen? I wouldn’t say I have plenty; I would say there’s enough. Would I like more? Yes.

51. Ever been on your roof? Nope

52. Do you own a stereo? Yes

53. How many TVs do you have? One in the living room, one in the garage/shop.

54. How many house phones? None; we only use cell phones.

55. Do you have a housekeeper? Are you applying for the job??

56. What style do you decorate in? My own; not really sure what you would call it. Just whatever works & looks nice.

57. Do you like solid colors on furniture or prints? It depends on what piece of furniture it is. We have a solid color loveseat & couch and a print chair & ottoman. It looks nice, I think.

58. Is there a smoke detector in your home? Yes. Brand new ones!

59. In case of fire, what are the items you would grab if you only could make one quick trip? I have thought about this so many times…and I still have a hard time with it…we’d get the cat, of course, and our cell phones to call 911, and then I’d REALLY like to get my scrapbooks but it would be tough (they’re all in a box right now so it’d be pretty easy!). I’d probably get my camera, too. The rest, although I would be DEVASTATED, could be replaced.

60. Do you know how to work your electrical box? Pretty much

61. What temperature in your home is most comfortable to you? between 72 & 74

Well, do you feel like you know a little more about our (new) home? Hope it was a pleasure for you to read through. I enjoyed answering the questions and am glad I could share them with you!

something a little different...

First of all, I wanted to post a photo of me & Jeff at my cousin's wedding in Maryland a couple of weekends ago...don't we look spiffy??

Now to the point of this post... We all know those questionnaires that go around in our emails. You know, the ones that ask you all these questions about yourself that 1) you really have to think about and 2) your friends probably didn't want to know about you in the first place. Well, I got one from my friend, Jen (who is notorious for sending these things around), but it's a little different. It's questions about your home! Well, since I have a brand new one, I thought it might be kind of fun to post the Q&A here:

1. What kind of soap is in your bathtub right now? Dial Antibacterial (green)
2. Do you have any watermelon in your refrigerator? No
3. Is there anything moldy in your refrigerator? Well, not right now, but that’s not out of the question in OUR fridge! Ew, I know.
4. Are there any dirty dishes in your sink? Nope, I just put them in my (awesome) dishwasher!
5. What would you change about your living room? I still love it cuz it’s brand new but there are some unpacked boxes of stuff sitting in there...like to get rid of those...
6. Are the dishes in your dishwasher clean or dirty? Dirty – see question 4
7. Do you have a can of mushrooms in your pantry? Uh, no, I think I used them in a recipe recently.
8. White or wheat bread? Nature’s Own Butterbread…it’s so soft!
9. What is on top of your refrigerator? Actually nothing!
10. What color is your sofa? Dark green with khaki “piping” around the edges...it's new.
11. What color or design is on your shower curtain? Master bath is yellow/blue/green plaid; guest bath is brown, olive & dark aqua flowers (but not girly or Jeff wouldn’t let me get it…).
12. How many plants are in your home? ha, ha…that’s a joke, right? Are we talking live ones?
13. How many candles are in your home? Let’s not even go there…
14. Is your bed made right now? Uh, no.
15. If you have a coffee pot, what color is it? Ahem, we have a KEURIG coffee machine and it’s black.
16. Electric or standard can opener? Pampered Chef (standard)
17. Comet or Soft Scrub? Neither (aren’t those both totally 80’s??); I use Clorox sanitizing wipes in Fresh Scent & Fantastik (Herbal Scent) in the toilet/tub.
18. Is your closet organized? As much as it can be for having used it for only a month; I can tell you, not everything's in there yet...
19. What color is the flashlight that you use the most? A flashlight? Hmmm…I think we have a yellow one somewhere?
20. What kinds of things are in your junk drawer? Oh, how I WISH we had a junk drawer…right now, we have a junk “box” (the box we packed the junk drawer in) & it has things like pliers, batteries, playing cards, caulk (?), old drivers’ licenses…pretty junky.
21. Do you drink out of glass or plastic most of the time at home? It depends on what I’m drinking…it’s probably half & half.
22. Do you have iced tea made in a pitcher right now? Sadly, no.
23. If you have a garage, is it cluttered? You have NO idea…
24. Curtains or blinds? We have those faux wood blinds in all the rooms except the kitchen, craft/computer room and our bathroom (I LOVE them!). Eventually, we'll have window treatments but that's not real high on "the list" right now...
25. How many pillows do you sleep with? 2 for me, 2 for him, although we just got new pillows so maybe we’ll be down to 1 apiece (if they work).
26. Do you sleep with any lights on at night? No, but our alarm clocks have bright enough light…
27. How many ceiling fans are in your home? Every room except the kitchen; there are 4 total.
28. How often do you vacuum? Uh…well, the carpet’s new…I think I’ve vacuumed it once or twice…
29. What color is your toothbrush? Lavender
30. Do you have a welcome mat on your front porch? Yes, I do! It doesn’t say “welcome” but it’s a mat…does that count then?
31. What is in your oven right now? Nothing now, but just tonight, I made (veggie) lasagna for the first time in my life! It turned out great; I'm very excited!

So that's the first 31 questions...there will be a "part 2" to this because there were 62 questions in that questionnaire! Did you learn anything?

guest bathroom...

Okay, sorry for the delay in posting. I haven't had time to really do much with the house, much less get a post done on the blog. I do have a good reason, though! We were out of town for Labor Day weekend - up in Maryland for my cousin, Melinda's wedding. It was beautiful, by the way, and it was really nice to see that part of my family that I don't get to see very often.

So I'm posting about the guest bathroom tonight. I really enjoyed putting this room together. I'm not saying it's completely finished but at the moment, I don't have any other plans for it. It's usable as far as guests go and even decorated a little bit. :)

I found the shower curtain at Bed Bath & Beyond. I just couldn't resist it; it's my colors, for pete's sake! I then went over to the towel section and found towels that were the perfect color to match - lemon grass and dark chocolate. You can't see in the photos but I found a small bath mat at Linens 'N' Things to put in front of the tub that's the same dark brown/chocolate color. It's soft... We put a curved shower curtain rod in there which we thought would help to open up the space in the shower stall (it does!). It's very "hotel-like"... :)

The bowl that's sitting on the sink is one I already had from Pier One. I was psyched when I unpacked that & realized it matched perfectly!! And, of course, I have antibacterial foaming handsoap from Bath & Body Works (love that store!) in Tropical Passionfruit scent (mainly cuz it's green & it matches).

So that's pretty much it. I do have a photo in a dark brown frame that I'm thinking of hanging in there, but I'm still undecided about that. It's a photo of a couple of palm trees that I took in Hawaii and it matches pretty well, but I feel like if I put that up, then I have to go with the palm tree "theme"...is that silly? For now, it's just being stored under the sink in there...

What do you think???