Kitchen 2011

Last week we started our kitchen remodel.  My mom came Tuesday and helped me pack up our kitchen, dining room, and living room.  I am so thankful she came, otherwise I wouldn't have been ready for what was to come!  She left Thursday morning and my in-laws came that night. As soon as they got here they were ready to start tearing out the old cabinets.  Brandon was at the store for a few hours getting supplies but we they started right to work while I ran to the store to get dinner and lunch for the next day. 

 Friday morning we were all up early and we got right to work on the kitchen.  We didn't even shower or get ready for the day. It was straight to work for us! We worked all day and only stopped to eat and admire our work.  =)

Some of it was fun, but mostly it was a lot of work, and I'm glad there were four of us working on this project.

 We saw a lot of progress and it was fun to look at how our hard work was looking.

By the end of the day there were lots of changes in our house and we were all feeling very excited!

By the end of the day Sunday night, we also had new lights installed in our living room.  This weekend was a lot of hard work and lots of dramatic changes: we are excited to keep working on it!

Thankful

I started this list last year, but then lost motivation.  After reading my friend Lindsays blog, I was re-inspired to start it up again. 
151. Inspiration from my friend Lindsay and her blog.
152. Knowing that I am signed up and ready to take a photography class!
153. Getting an email telling me that my class binder will be in the mail soon.
154. Book recommendations from friends.
155. Getting the flu suddenly and having my husband bring me fluids and flowers from the grocery store.
156. Getting to rest even though I wish I could have been with my kids today.
157. A weekend with family-lots of family.
158. Getting into the pickup in a 'mood' and after about 30 minutes in that pickup with my husband and the sun shining, feeling like I was in a much better 'mood'.
159. Staying 'in the loop' through Facebook. Love seeing pictures and hearing snippets of friends lives.
160. Loving phone calls from my husband.

Ducks beat Huskies

A few weekends ago my dad came down to stay with Brandon and I.  He got here late Friday night and we just visited and went to bed. Saturday morning we got up and ate breakfast and we waited for my cousin to meet us at our house.  As soon as he got here we loaded up and drove down to Eugene to watch a Duck basketball game.  I was so excited to see the new stadium and to watch the Ducks play the Huskies. Here is the outside of the new stadium:

We had to wait in line for just a few minutes before they opened the doors.  Then we were inside and ready to explore the new building.

We had a bit of a hard time finding our seats in the beginning, but we had lots of time and we weren't stressed about it.  This is the view from our seats (which as it turned out, were NOT our seats...). 

This is the only picture that Brandon and I got of each other....aweful! Oh well, it's what we have and I kinda like it anyways.  =) 

We had a great time and I can't wait to go to another Duck game next year!

What I Wore: January 31st - February 4th.

Monday: pants: Gap.com (I need new jeans, I wear the same ones over and over and over...)  shirt: Old Navy. 

Tuesday: pants: Banana Republic outlet (I realized after I got to school that the puke didn't entirely wash out like I thought it had...so these are going to the dry cleaner and I will pray that they can get it out....the joys of teaching kindergarten!) sweater: Old Navy, shoes: Nordstrom

Wednesday: pants: Gap.com, boots: Lucchese, sweater: Old Navy

Thursday: pants: Gap, shoes: Target, shirt: Old Navy outlet

Friday: Panther Pride Assembly day! jeans: Big Star, long sleeve shirt: Old Navy? t-shirt: South Shore Elementary! =)

Something I am learning: I need to branch out and try shopping at some different stores! I find that I am writing Target, Old Navy, Gap over and over again.  Although I am proud to say that I haven't been clothes shopping in almost 2 months.  That is an accomplishment for me (I may not spend a lot, but I was spending often there for awhile). 

So excited!

Brandon and I have been wanting to remodel our kitchen for some time now.  This summer I did some research and got a few estimates for cabinets and counter tops.  However, the timing wasn't quite right.  Then, over Christmas break we started thinking about it again.  Over the past couple of weeks we have been thinking more seriously about it.  We did some more talking about the layout we would want, colors and overall visions we both have for the new space.  We decided that this past weekend we would drive down to Eugene and do some serious looking around for floors and cabinets.  We ended up spending the entire day Saturday looking at the local and big home improvement stores.  We were so proud of our selves for sticking to our game plan and getting some real details lined out.  Here is where we are currently:

This isn't the picture that we are going off of, but I found it online and it really gives you a sense of the feeling we are going for.  White cabinets on the top and bottom (not at all practical-I know).  Dark hardwood floors, lots of light and darker counter tops to pick up the dark in the floors. 

This is similar to the hardwood floors that we found.  Last year I fell in love with a dark stained 5" x 3/4" Oak floor.  It was out of our budget, but this weekend we discovered that the same floors I fell in love with were on sale for a price that makes it do-able for us and our project.  We want to have these floors in our kitchen, dining room, family room and living room. 

Basically, I want to get rid of as much of the carpet as I can!

So, I was SO excited when my husband called me today to tell me that he had purchased the floors! He will pick them up on Friday and bring them home!! SO GREAT!!! (can you tell I'm excited?!)

Hopefully, there will be more coming on this subject in the next few months.

What I Wore

Saturday: jeans: buckle  sweater: Maurices  shoes: Payless  t-shirt: Old Navy

 Monday:  pants: Banana outlet  shirt: Old Navy  shoes: Nordstrom

 Tuesday: leggings: Wal-Mart  sweater: Gap outlet  boots: Nordstrom  t-shirt: Old Navy

 Wednesday: jeans: Gap.com  shoes: Payless  t-shirt: Old Navy  scarf: Old Navy

 What Wednesday turned into: I added a zip-up from Old Navy ( I think...) because I'm always cold.

 Thursday: pants: Gap outlet  shoes: Target  sweater: Old Navy

 Friday: jeans: Gap.com  shoes: PayLess  t-shirt: Old Navy  jewelry: Lucky Endz

Saturday: jeans: Gap.com  shoes: PayLess  sweatshirt: Target  t-shirt: Old Navy

I really enjoyed this post, it helps summarize how I feel about this project. 

One Little Word

As many of you know (many of you? isn't there just one of you left??) I don't do traditional resolutions.  Instead, I choose one word to help guide me through the year.  One year my word was 'accomplish', another year I chose 'simplify'.  This year, I have chosen SHINE.  I found this video on The Happiness Project blog and thought it was a bit of a different perspective on the project that I typically follow here and here. 



I think I need to have more reminders of my word.  It is typical of me to somewhat 'forget' my word part way through the year.  This year I really want to SHINE at keeping my word in the fore front of my life.  To read my original post on this years word go here.