Transformation #1

Not that exciting to start with the carpet cleaning...but I'm impressed with the transformation! You can see it started out super-disgusting. This is the worst part of the house, of course. The whole house smells much better post-carpet cleaning. This will hopefully help delay us from having to get new carpet for awhile. This would not have been possible without the help of my great friend, Emily. We used Rusty's Carpet Cleaning Service, who I would recommend if you need a good cleaning! He had some scheduling issues and offered to knock off $50 from the price if we could get them cleaned on Saturday...the day of Matt's cousin's wedding in Great Bend. So thank you, thank you, thank you to Em for coming over to supervise Rusty cleaning the carpets while we were out of town. And she even captured a before and after pic. Just as I've found with the rest of Dirty Dawn's house, a little cleaning and it looks much better!

Welcome Kelly!

Another addition to the blog roll, Kelly and Sophia! Her baby is so stinking adorable and her blog is so, so, laugh out loud funny! Just like Kelly. I had the best time at my FIRST KC G-Phi Alum event last night. Matt was elated when I came home and proudly announced that I love living in Olathe. Even though I don't know how to get anywhere...being close to my GPB's is where I'm meant to be!

Tea Party and more!

One of the highlights of the beach trip was our brunch at the Calabash Tea Room. So cute! We got to dress up and drink hot tea, like high society. :)
Also, more beach pics in addition to the last post. Expect me to post more beach pics at random when I need to "go there in my mind." Like in January...or in-service days. :)

Beach Trip Pics!

Super-fun and super-long beach vacay left me with a great tan to start out the school year! Of course, everyone agreed it would have been better if Matt could have joined us...but it was still a relaxing and memorable time. Maybe a calm before the storm?

We've Only Just Begun

Home Ownership! It changes you overnight. All the sudden Home Depot is my favorite store and I'd rather buy patio furniture than back to school clothes. Who am I? We took possession of the house on Sunday and made the last minute decision to stay at the house this week to do some painting before we move everything in on Saturday.
Don't be afraid of my paint sample on the wall...it's going to look great!! (I hope).

Staying the night here before we move our stuff in has proved to be the worst idea ever. We worked basketball camp during the days so we dedicated the hours of 4PM-3AM to home improvement. It was slow at first as we bought the sample sizes of paint and tested out colors. We didn't really know where to test them at or what to do...but we put some on the wall and didn't hate it so it must be okay. Right?

There was also a lot of cleaning to do. I'm sure this is typical, but I'm growing to loathe the previous owners. I fondly refer to her as "Dirty Dawn." I swear she hadn't dusted in YEARS. Dust bunnies the size of actual bunnies. Cabinet doors deceptively being held together by DUCT tape. Yes, that's dirty. Not to mention that they let 2 trees DIE between the time we closed and moved in. (There will definitely be a follow-up post on this...including pics).
So far we've done phase 1 of cleaning followed by painting baseboards, most of the kitchen & living room, and the fireplace wood work.





Almost done...
I'm so thankful for friends in the KC area who are also on this wonderful journey of home improvement! DeAnna and Chris helped us discover, in addition to the tree incident, that Dirty Dawn also let poison ivy grow in her yard and the trees in back have some sort of scabs or some STD sounding name. Josh and Emily graciously loaned us just about everthing (remember we're living out of suitcases on a blow-up mattress here!) and helped us paint! I've pretty much put Josh in charge of our painting project from now on. They do great work. Thank you so much friends for your help and advice!
On with the journey! Don't worry, I'll keep you updated!

Keeley's Hit Disney World!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

My RockStar Husband

As we gear up for Disney World, Matt and I decided to do some shopping for new clothes to help us beat the heat at the parks. Took advantage of some great summer sales and got a lot of cute tanks and shorts to wear. (Including festive red, white, and blue digs for the 4th of course!) Getting new clothes to wear on vacation always makes me that much more excited for vacation! Like I said, hit some huge bargains, but as I was reviewing the receipt I noticed one item that was quite a bit more expensive than the rest. Enter, Matt's rockstar belt.

I got 2 whole outfits for the cost of this belt. But it was pretty cute seeing him show off his belt to his friends last weekend. They were a little too encouraging of this purchase. (Mostly Mitch).
Definitely an impulse buy.
I'm thinking RockStar belt + Airport Security = Highlight of Vacation