More random ramblings

I still don't have any pictures for you but I will take some tomorrow I promise! This weekend was spent working on the house and we got a TON done! On Saturday most of the Moffitt men installed our alarm system which I am so excited about. I painted for 10 hours, I never knew I could power through physical work like that. The kitchen, living room, laundry room and hallway are all done being painted. I also put up our curtains in the living room and they are awesome! I have one more coat to go on the guest room as well as the entire master bedroom & bathroom.

I did some shopping for the house tonight. I got fabric to put on the backside of our roman shades so they won't be see-through. I also found some rugs that I love at Home Depot that are cheaper than I thought we would get rugs for. I have to get Matt to come with me to help pick them out. And right now I am supposed to be packing up the apartment.. oops :)

So I have been intrigued by this idea lately of trying to cut my own hair. Everyone says don't do it. I'm sure I agree with that. So while I am not going to give myself a full haircut, I did thin it out today by myself and it worked like a charm. Hopefully that will postpone my next haircut a little bit, who knows.

(By the way, I have Dancing With the Stars on in the background. I do not watch this show at all but I just turned on the tv so I could blog. Seeing how our remote is broken and we don't have cable anyway I am leaving it here. This is one of the most terrible shows I have ever seen. I do enjoy seeing people dance though.. who knows). Oh, they have two British judges, that makes it a good show, right?

Tomorrow I have off of work and will be painting all day long again. My friend Kelly is coming to help me!! Should be a fun day and hopefully I will have the guest room and master bedroom all done by the end of the day, as well as the privacy liners put on the shades.

Today I got home from a long day at work and found some huge sunflowers from my hubby :) I love getting flowers. What's funny though is that I keep them even after they have wilted and he finally throws them away weeks later. I just love looking at them! It will be nice to have some free time to work on our yard in the future and make it pretty too.

Enough rambling for tonight. Pictures to come.. Happy Monday!

OH almost forgot to mention. We watched What About Bob? on Friday night. Man that is a great movie!! Everyone should watch that :)

What a weekend!

I am blogging not from the comfort of my own home but from a hotel in Houston. But I'll get to that later.. warning of a lengthy blog post. A lot has happened in the past few days, I'll attempt to keep it brief.

I'll begin with Thursday. Thursday night Matt had another gig and along with his band playing, his brother Andy and his girlfriend Crystal were in town for a few days, so Andy joined in the playing. Matt went down to the venue early and Andy and Crystal came to hang out with me and enjoy a bottle of wine. Matt was supposed to play around 10:30 but ended up playing after midnight so it was a late night. The gig went really well and I had a lot of fun with everyone!

Friday morning, after going to bed around 1:30am, I woke up at 7 with Matt. He had to go to class and I was taking a flex day off of work so I could go paint at the house. I got to the house and started working around 8:15am and worked straight through until about 1:30pm when Andy and Crystal came to help. Matt showed up around 2:30 and we got a ton of work done! It definitely goes so much faster when there is more than just me painting!! I have pictures, but like I said I'm in Houston and I don't have my cord so I will post them later. We got a ton of painting done but still were probably less than halfway done with it all. I can't believe how much time it takes.

We headed home after painting to clean up and get ready for the evening. Andy and Crystal came over and we headed to the Spaghetti Factory. It was soo yummy. Then it was on to the [last] Ryan Adams concert which was held at the Fox. It was even better than I thought it would be! I always forget what an awesome building that is and the acoustics weren't bad like I thought they would be. After the concert we all headed home and said bye to Andy and Crystal knowing that...

They would get engaged on Saturday!!! It was SO fun knowing beforehand.. I think it's only the second time that I have known about an engagement beforehand. Saturday morning Matt and I had wanted to work at the house but we were exhausted. We slept in instead and got ready and packed to head up to the cabin. But first we went to see Spamalot! I have been waiting for 5 years to see that show and it was well worth the wait. I got the tickets for free from a coworker who didn't want to go. It was absolutely hysterical! If you haven't seen it and you like Monty Python then you should definitely check it out. That was also fun because we got to see our good friend Kelly who works at the Cobb Energy theater where it was held :)

So after the show, we headed up to Matt's parents cabin for a night of celebrating. We got to hear Andy and Crystal's story in person and see the ring (forgot to take a picture, it's a blue diamond, very cool!). The girls girl-talked inside about weddings while the guys all headed outside with the grill. Lots of wine and too much food later we got to bed at 10pm.. nice to get in bed that early. Woke up at 7am to head back to Atlanta and make it to church at 9:30.

Worked on the house all day after that and then packed up for Houston. I am here for a conference for work.. should be perfect for what I am training for at work, but I was sad to come alone. I tried to convince Matt to come (not to the conference of course but to Houston with me) but he needed to stay for school and house and band stuff. My trip started off nicely with the guy sitting next to me throwing up a lot before the plane even moved on the ground, then a bumpy plane ride, and the cab driver driving me the longer route (extra $10, thanks a lot). Here's to hoping the conference is good! Pictures from the house to come in a few days.

OH one more house thing, Matt found 3-4 inches of stagnant water sitting under our hardwoods in our basement. Yey. More to come on that.

And one final thing, in other Moffitt news, I know I have mentioned that John and Stephanie are expecting a baby in July but I don't know if I have mentioned that it is a girl! So Matt and I are expecting a niece in July :) Can't wait to meet her! And no name yet, they are keeping it a secret. Additionally, if you are one of our friends then you are probably pregnant and if you are pregnant, it is a girl. We are somewhere around 15 girls (and counting). Don't drink the water..

Progress?

Most of this weekend has been spent attempting to get the walls at the house primed. I am sad to say we are not quite finished priming but happy to say we are almost there! Friday night after working at the house we watched Wall-E which was a pretty cute movie. It was interesting because there wasn't a lot of dialogue in it since it mainly follows robots, but I thought it was really well done. Saturday morning Matt and I slept in which was much needed!! I have been averaging about 6 hours of sleep, not enough for me, so I slept 10 hours Friday night. We made it over to the house around noon on Saturday and worked until about 5. This is what a lot of the house looks like right now (hideous):

Can you imagine having those white walls? yuck! And this is the piece of furniture we bought at TJ Maxx a week or so ago:

Love it!

Saturday night we went out to the If Coffeehouse to see Greg's band play and see some friends. It was a very neat coffee shop and a fun night all together!

This morning I woke up around 8 and hopped in the shower and when I got out I realized I didn't wake up to sign up for the Peachtree road race!! I freaked out and ran to my computer. Online sign up began at 7am this morning and I had all kinds of reminders everywhere so I wouldn't forget.. I was exhausted last night and didn't think about it. I got online around 8:15 and at first couldn't get to the website and was told they were experiencing a high volume of people but there were still spots available. Ok so there was hope. I finally got to the form and filled it in, hit Submit, and then "Error"! Dang it. So I kept filling out the form over and over and getting the same error. I looked it up online and realized that everyone was having the same difficulty and people were posting about it. I found the secret on the posts: keep hitting refresh over and over and you'll get in. Sure enough - confirmed! So I signed Matt up as well. This was the first year the Peachtree registration was online and everyone knew it would mess up. Sure enough. I wonder what they'll do next year. My sister will be running it with us as well, should be fun!

After church we worked on the house all day on the walls again and then I ran a few errands. Came home and made granola bars (my first try - hope they are good!) and have been cleaning. What a mess. We have people coming into town this weekend and the following weekend so I have got to get this apartment at least visit-able. Anyway, almost time for the Amazing Race to come on...!!

New running shoes!

So tonight I was supposed to work at the house finishing up the baseboards but Matt had to go do a photo shoot for his band. (If I ever get a picture of that, I'll be sure to post it). So I went shopping instead! First I went to Fleet Feet which is a store with all running stuff where they look at your feet, measure them and watch you run. Turns out I needed a whole size bigger than I had and also needed a 'stability' shoe because I turn my feet in as I run which is probably why my knee is messed up. I also got some of the good socks.. I have a lot to learn about all this running gear. I have been buying Mizunos for a few years, but I got Asics this time:
Afterwards I went to Ikea with the intention of looking at rugs, curtains and shelving. The rugs were great but not big enough. The curtains were all right but see-through. And they didn't have the shelving I need. So what did I do? Bought a new quilt for the bed. Something I semi-needed but not really. I wanted something to add to the bed for summer when our down comforter is too hot. We'll see what Matt thinks of it when he gets home. This is what it looks like now (still gotta get the wrinkles out and make the bed right):
Oh also, for the marathon, Emili and I are definitely running it together! Looks like we are aiming for a November-December time frame. Which means I will start training later in the year, around July or August. But in the mean time starting in May-ish I will do proper training for the Peachtree 10k. I just keep running it every year without training for it which is dumb. Wish me luck!

Spring is coming!

Welcome to my new blog layout! I finally figured out how to change it!

I am beginning to feel like there is no light at the end of our work tunnel, but at the same time I am able to see how far we have come and how much we have accomplished over at the house. My goal is to have the baseboards completed and the walls I am going to paint prepped and primed by the end of this weekend. That is a LOT of work but I think I can do it. Only 3 more rooms of baseboards left and then 7 rooms of prepping and priming walls (2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, laundry room, kitchen, family room & small hallway).

With the incredible weather it has been nice to be able to work in the house with all the windows open letting the sun shine in later in the evening because of the time change. Still trying to get that musty smell out of the house. Speaking of incredible weather, I believe I have finally convinced myself to run a marathon!! I have been wanting to run one for a few years but keep using my knee as an excuse. (I hurt my knee when I ran the Peachtree for the first time, 10k, without having trained for it. Now I run with a knee brace.) But really that is just an excuse and I know I can do it. I will most likely be running one somewhere with my bff, Emili, but if not then I will run the Atlanta one on Thanksgiving day. I figure it will take me about 6 months to train (2 months to finish the house and then 4 months to actually train) so that puts us at September or later for the marathon. I'll keep you posted as to when I actually start the training with my progress.

Tonight we mostly just worked on the house for an hour or two. Matt is on spring break this week so is working over there every day, all day. I also went to Kroger tonight and got $56 worth of groceries for $26! It was awesome :)

Now, onto the weekend. Matt and I spent the weekend in Augusta. It was such a nice weekend! We got there Friday night around 8 after 3.5 hours in the car. If you know where we live, picture it taking almost an hour and a half to get from our apartment around 285 to I-20. It should not take that long.. it's about 25 miles. We slept in Saturday morning and then went over to my grandmother's house where my mom will soon be living. (My grandma passed away a few years ago.) It needs some work but it brought back a lot of memories seeing it. I haven't been over there in probably six years! Also, I can't believe it but I really did think some of the rooms were bigger. Funny how your perception changes from being younger.. I really thought they were bigger.

After going to my grandmother's house, me, Matt and Erin went over to my dad's house and hung out in the backyard by the lake for a while. It was so nice out there! We stayed about an hour and headed back to my mom's house to get ready for my cousin's wedding reception. My cousin, Zack, got married to his wife, Erin (not to be confused with my sister Erin), at the beginning of January in Hawaii so this was the reception in Augusta. It was held at the country club where Erin's parents live right on the river in this outdoor pavilion and it was so beautiful! It could not have been a more perfect day for that. It was really fun to see all of my mom's family and some people from our church as well. Not to mention the newlyweds and their Hawaii wedding pictures :) I think the funniest part was when Matt asked the 14 year old bartender girl for a glass of wine and she held the corkscrew over the bottle before looking at Matt all helpless like "can you open this?" Here are some pictures for you:

Pavilion

Me and my cousin Kristen (sister of the groom)

Me & my sister Erin

Me and Erin on the cool chair/rocker

The newlyweds! Zack & Erin

Sunset - what a pretty day!

Just doing our part to stimulate the economy

A quick look around our apartment tells me that this is definitely not where our focus is these days. And of course a quick look at my latest blog posts can tell you what the focus is. The projects are moving along and we have gotten a lot accomplished. Yet Matt and I are still stressing about how we are not going to have everything done by the time we move in. Now I know you are thinking so what? I keep telling myself we don't need to have all this done before we move in, most people don't get to fix things before they move in anyway. And realistically I know we'll be fine and we will continue working once we are in, I just wish it was all done. I guess really I just want to see the finished product :) All moved in and finished. Right now it feels like that day will never come.

I have begun my second coat of paint on the baseboards. Our gutters went up on the house yesterday. Matt has begun demo in the basement tearing some of the walls down. He also finished putting the insulation in the basement ceiling (house floor). I didn't know before we moved in (Matt knew but somehow I didn't catch it) that our whole house had no insulation in it. Walls and everything. No wonder he was so intent to get it in the attic and basement! Matt also fixed the big hole in the wall and I have almost finished with the blinds. One thing we are excited about is a new piece of furniture we just bought for the kitchen! We got it at TJ Maxx which I have to say is my new favorite store. I will post a picture of it once we get it out of the Jeep so you can see it. Soo cute. I will also try to remember to take pictures of some of our accomplishments soon so you can see the progress. I am pretty proud of us for all this work we are doing ourselves. The only thing we have paid someone to do is the gutters and right now that's the only thing we are planning to hire someone for.. for now.

Other than that things are going well. Work is good for me. I am actually going to Houston soon for a two day conference. I'll tell you all about it after I go ;-) Matt's school is going really well and his spring break is this coming week so he will be able to get a lot done over at the house. We also are continuing to plan our New England trip for this May. Not sure if I have mentioned it before but we will be going to Boston, Hartford and New York City. I just booked our NYC hotel tonight on hotwire. I am very much looking forward to this trip!!

March is a very busy month for us so hopefully a lot more posts to come about what we are up to! Oh and we got our wedding photos now, the whole set! Very exciting :) We have all the rights and everything. That was my dad's Christmas gift to us!

We are getting closer and closer to the warm weather I am craving. Hope you enjoy your 75 degree weekend!