Basement is Painted :)

I was so excited to see the basement painted! This clearly means I didn't help at all! I would have, but I think it was better for me to stay out of they way. I did chose the colors, so that was my part. We did the majority of the space in "Oak Cake", the bedroom is some type of Mauve color, and the bathroom in a very light blue. I think it looks great! We will probably slow down a bit now and take a breather before putting up trim, selecting tile, cabinets, counter-top, etc. Here are some pictures!






Today is my hubby's 29th birthday...Yikes! One more year till the big 3-0! We had dinner at his parents house on Sunday to celebrate. Here is a picture of Matt with his niece Sophie who was helping him blow out the candles.


On Sunday I also attended a shower for my cousin-in-law (who is pregnant with baby Kadence). It was at a local church and it was such a great place to have a shower! Of course, I couldn't resist making her one of my "crafts". She loved it!



I'm going to start selling these and I will be at the Ryle Craft Show in November...exciting!

Thats all for now. BUT, I leave for Naples Florida in the morning (YAY)...so I probably won't be posting until sometime next week. Have a great week and weekend! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATT!

Dry Wall

Well...the dry wall has all been put up and is ready to be painted! Matt asked me not to post these specific pictures because this is before it was sanded (I guess???). BUT, as you can tell, I'm putting them up anyway because I'm too lazy to go downstairs, take pictures, upload them, etc. I think you get the point by looking at these :)

Here are some pics...





It will be as if we have a second home when this is all said and done! We are going to pick out some paint this weekend and try to get that finished and then take a break (so we don't blow through a TON of money in such a short amount of time)!

I will definitely post photos once it has been painted!

Happy Wednesday!

MeEt - N - gReeT!!!!

Well...I'm back from Chicago! It was quite the experience. The concert was Thursday night and as I told my friends "I'm not being dramatic, but it was the best night ever"!!! We went to Joe's bar on Weed Street for the concert and arrived to Meet-n-Greet passes! Here is a picture of me with Eric Church...



When I walked up to him he said "I like your boots" and of course I had to respond with "well I like your song THESE BOOTS", lol. After we all got individual pictures with him, we were off to the concert! Here is a picture of us during the concert (taken by one of his guitar players while they were in the middle of a song)!



After they were done playing, we went upstairs to the "VIP" area and hung around talking to people. After about 30 minutes, up walks Eric Church! We still weren't sure at this point if he was going to talk to anyone, or if he wanted to be left alone. Luckily, he was willing to talk and was SUPER nice. One of my more embarrassing moments was talking to him for about 30 minutes about Kentucky basketball. Good thing he seemed to be enjoying the conversation! I told him that when he comes to Riverbend in May we were going to bring him a UK T-shirt and he agreed to wear it, lol. We will see if that really happens. Here is a picture of him signing my boots and Brooke's boots!!!!! (It was only appropriate considering one of our favorite songs is of course THESE BOOTS!)




Finally, here is a picture of me and Jill with Eric Church and his manager after the concert. WHAT A PERFECT NIGHT!



We spent most of the day Friday shopping and eating Chicago style pizza. We had such a great time. Unfortunately, two of my girlfriends ended up with food poisoning and were sick all day on Saturday (we had a very rough drive home). I still think we all had a wonderful weekend all-in-all! Hope you had a good one too!

CHICAGO!

Hi friends! I am off to Chicago today at 12:30 with four of my girlfriends. We are going to see Eric Church in concert and we are 99% sure we have meet and greet passes!! YAY. I won't be home until Saturday evening, so I probably won't be blogging until Sunday. Have a great weekend...I'll post Chicago pictures when we get home!

Here is one of my favorite Eric Church songs...enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cky12qKldLo

New office, basement and nephew!

It's been an exciting weekend! When we had our snow day last week, Matt and I spent the day finishing our home office and this weekend we have gotten to sit down and enjoy it.





I think it's perfect!

The most exciting part of our weekend took place Friday morning. Long story short, we went to St. Elizabeth to meet our new niece (my sister in-law had a scheduled C-Section), and we ended up meeting our new NEPHEW instead! It was a great surprise. My sister in-law found out that it was a boy a few weeks prior to her C-section, but she decided to surprise the family. Her first ultra-sound tech made a mistake and said it was a girl...oops! It was the tech's 21st mistake in 31 years (doing hundreds of ultrasounds a year)! Here is baby Connor James!! (So much for the wooden letter "G" I made in pink and green, and the handmade hat I ordered...oh well, lol!



On Saturday we hung out with our niece Sophie (who is now big sister to baby Connor) and my other sister-in-law, Lauren. We had fun making a build-a-bear for Sophies new brother, eating dip-n-dots, shopping a bit, and hanging out at our house with Rupp and Zadeh.

Here is Sophie and Lauren on the carousel at the mall.



Our basement should be getting dry wall today! Pictures to come!

Dreaming of Vacation

After a rough day at work, pondering people's intentions, being thankful for the support I have, etc. I'm too lazy to post pictures of our new home office (I'm sitting in right now and loving). Hopefully I will have the energy to do that post tomorrow. Right now I'm thinking about how thankful I am to only have three weeks left until vacation! We are going with two other couples and we can't wait to get there! Here are my favorite things to do in Naples, FL.

Eating at Tommy Bahama...this has become tradition. We do not leave Naples without having dinner there. They have the BEST dirty martini's with blue cheese stuffed olives...YUMMY!



Hang out at the pool at my parents condo. I love sitting and laying out with friends, reading magazines, listening to music, sitting in the sun!!



Hanging out at McCabes Irish Pub at night! It is the bar attached to the hotel where Matt and I got married.



Shopping at all the different outlets, malls, downtown, etc! Here is one of my favorites...



That's all for now! The countdown to vacation has begun!

New Project . . .

I was looking around in my office today (not my home office) and decided it needs a makeover. I really hate when a space I spend a lot of time in doesn't feel cozy. We aren't really allowed to paint so that's out of the question, but I'm thinking it could use a rug, a new lamp, a few pictures (of my choice), etc. Our office has a lot of historical paintings (that came with the property in 1903) and we have to leave the paintings in our offices so I can't move those, but I can do an awful lot to fix it up a bit. Kind of sad that I've been at Clovernook for three years and I'm just now getting around to this! I'm going to have to get crafty because I really don't want to spend too much money on this little project of mine!

Here is my office now...




As you can see, my office is very big and an awkward shape...it's just so hard to make cozy with those gray walls! It needs to be cleaned up a bit too...yikes.

Here is one thing I hung today and I think it's so cute. It's another one of my crafts I have been making! It helped liven up the space a bit!



I ordered this today on Etsy http://www.etsy.com/shop/reneesFUNKYcountry, but I'm thinking I'm going to have to keep it at home because I love it so much! I can't wait until it's delivered.



I will keep you posted as I fix up my office! If you have cute ideas for me please leave a comment!

Superbowl SUNDAY!

Happy Superbowl! We are going to our friends house to watch the big game (they also happen to be our next door neighbors). They just recently finished their basement and have the perfect setup to host!

Part of me hates to admit it (because most of my family live in Indiana or are from Indiana), but I think I'm rooting for the Saints this year! I will not be upset if the Colts win (because I know most of my family would be loving it), but I think a win for the Saints would be very special.




I will me making two Frisch's Big Boy Pizzas for the game. I posted the recipe as one of my first posts, but here it is again:

1 (one) BOBOLI Pizza Dough

1/2 Jar (16 oz.) of Frisch's Tartar Sauce

About 20 Dill Pickles Chips (cover the entire top)

1 pound Ground Beef or Ground Chuck (Browned & Drained)

1/2 Bag Shredded Lettuce

1/2 Bag Shredded Mild Cheddar Cheese

DIRECTIONS: Assemble in the above order on a round baking sheet and bake (YES, BAKE!) in an oven at 350-degrees for 20 minutes.

It is so YUMMY! Don't knock it till you try it! Enjoy the game. GO SAINTS (yes I said it)!

If money were no object

If you know me at all, you know I LOVE to shop! If I'm having a bad day, a boring day, a good day (or really any day at all), I like to think about the fun things I would buy if money were no object! Lets see...

I would buy each of my family members a Dyson vacuum cleaner because WHY NOT? Everyone vacuum's! My parents probably love this statement because 1) Matt and I don't even own a vacuum of our own...we "borrowed" my parents when we moved into our house three years ago and have yet to give it back 2) I wasn't exactly a clean child when I was living with them...I think my carpet had to be replaced when I moved out 3) I have never used a Dyson in my life, LOL.



I would buy all my girlfriends a pretty cardigan (like the one shown) and a pair of Tory Burch flats. We all work and could wear these two items at work, home, or to go out! Funny note: I don't own Tory Burch flats either! LOL, I will one day but haven't made the investment yet.




I would buy my husband some kind of tool or gift card to Home Depot. He can't get enough of that place! He loves fixing things up, and using his workbench in the basement.



Finally...I would buy myself this dress for vacation by my favorite designer Diane Von Furstenberg and a bracelet (David Yurman of course)!




Good thing money doesn't grow on trees at my house...or I would be spending lots of it! Happy shopping!

GMAT...yuck!

At some point in the last several months I decided to put myself through the torture of going back to school to get my Masters. I don't think the process will be too bad once I get started with classes, but prepping for the GMAT has been awful! I'm taking the test on Friday and I don't feel ready at all but then again, I don't know if I will ever be (even if I studied for years)! I have never been good at standardized testing and I am really looking forward to getting this over with! I'm beginning to think this whole process was a bad idea. Hopefully my feeling will turn around! It would be helpful if I did well on the test on Friday!



The dreaded study guide!

Say a prayer for me...crossing your fingers and toes couldn't hurt either!