Guest Bedroom Update

Have I mentioned before how eclectic the previous owners were?

Let's just say that Derek and I had a 'vision' and knew we could really update the house. One guest room in particular had this textured, swirley, metallic-looking silver walls with this black and silver ceiling fan. They had also painted the beautiful 'nook shelves' with a thick, black paint that did not look attractive. After some tedious painting, new blinds and a celing fan installed by Lowe's, the room looks much more "pottery barn-ish"! Now we just need a few more decorations!

New Fixtures!

We have now had 6 fixtures replaced and are so excited to have a more updated look to the house!

Have I mentioned before about the 'eclectic/modern' taste of the previous owners? Well you can see below by the weird fixtures they chose! I'm not sure why the lighting looks 'yellow' for those particular pieces, but it's more of a soft white rather than bright yellow!

These are from our first floor -

And these are on our 2nd floor (we removed a random old hallway fan to put in more light) -

10 minutes and $92 later.....

It was less than 4 hours ago that I was telling Derek I really had nothing to blog about lately. Other than our 4-legged children and house projects, life up here in Cleveland is pretty boring. We get up, go to work, eat dinner, run, maybe make a trip to Lowes or Target and then it's bedtime.

Then 8:30pm came along tonight as we pulled up to the house .... after our traditional Lowe's excursion of course. We unloaded the trunk full of new chandeliers, flowers and garden supplies only to walk to the back door and realize we were locked out.

Yep, 100% locked out. Of our OWN house.

See, at our old house, the garage was attached, so we entered with the keypad code on the garage. Rarely did we have front or back door keys and enter through one of those. Up here, any time you leave the house for anything, you have to remember a key. This didn't pop into Derek's head tonight as he grabbed the spare keys to the car. (I'll give him a bit of credit as the spare keys WERE lying right there where the normal keys usually are). If you read my blog regularly, you'll see the pattern forming here with Derek and keys. They seem to be like oil and water lately.

So about 10 minutes and $92 later, a locksmith arrived, literally stuck two pins in the door and popped it open. Kinda scary when you think about how easy it was for him.

Good thing we have two killer dogs that would lick him to death if he tried that when we weren't home.

Florida Fun

So we decided to meet our good friends from Orlando down on the Ft. Lauderdale beach this past week for some fun in the sun (and to relieve some stress after this move)! We originally met Melissa and Kevin when we lived in Jacksonville about 7 years ago. We even now have a mutual friend of someone they went to college with in Florida. Crazy huh?! I ended up working at Melissa's fathers company and we soon found we lived in the same complex. Several trolley rides and two financial husbands later we were officially SFAM. (Sisters From Another Mister as we call it). We try to get together when we can, and although that usually entails us going down to Florida, we wouldn't change a thing!

We found a GREAT hotel and although it rained some while we were there, we still enjoyed our time together. From disgustingly fit, women body builders wearing thongs, to a yummy cotton candy dessert at Tatu, to casino gambling, to crazy 30 million dollar yachts, we enjoyed every minute! It was "people watching heaven" last week and we soaked up every second. Overall, it was a nice, relaxing, fun vacation.

MISS YOU GUYS ALREADY!! (and we are SOOOOO going to Aruba next year!)

(You can click on the images to make them a bit bigger)

Book Review - Dear John

Channing Tatum is SEXY! (Ok sorry... had to get that out). But really, that's what made me want to read this book; the nonstop commercials for the Dear John movie out right now with him as the star. I definitely enjoyed reading this page-turner even more as I was able to visualize Channing the whole time!

I'm very aware that Nicholas Sparks is catching a lot of flack right now for his predictable story lines, but hey - if it sells, why not continue with it right? I love sappy books with a happy ending involving love stories so obviously he'll probably be one of my favorite authors! I doubt I need a book summary here as you can probably guess what happens (or have seen the previews) - two people unexpectedly fall in love and have to go through many "life challenges" together. I'd give this book an A (of course - just like I always do) for its unusual, captivating characters. Well that, and the fact that they cast Channing for the main character role!

This is a light read suitable for anyone. Enjoy!

New Kitchen Floors!

The hideous, vinyl kitchen floors are finally gone! We officially have replaced the kitchen, hallway, guest bathroom and closet floors with porcelain tile that we are in love with!

After four contractor quotes, we went with the company that we felt had a strong corporate backing and good pictures/references from previous jobs. It took four business days and a TON of loud hammering and sawing, but the black and white checkered floors are gone and we have beautiful tumbled tile floors now!

We are very pleased with how much this has updated the look of our house!

Below is a quick video of some of the before, during and after pictures for your viewing pleasure! Also, you can see our new appliances a bit more as well as our new toilet. (Who knew a toilet could be so exciting?!)

Also, here's a closer look at both the old main floor and guest bathroom floors as well as the pink, 1950's tile that was under the guest bathroom vinyl flooring!

New Dog Bed

Guess who now officially has a huge, plush dog bed large enough to hold two labs (one that is even a bit chunky)? That's right! The girls do and they LOVE it. It's actually quite hard to find one this plump and quality made, but we found the perfect bed from Petco!

Looks like the girls love it too -

Love Grows Here

Derek and I take much pride in yard work and our landscaping. We're far from professionals, but we consider ourselves strong at making a yard look good! We were pleasantly surprised when some daffodils sprung up out front and we can't wait to see what else blooms throughout the summer on our property.

We laid 30 bags of mulch this past weekend as well as some grass seed and weed killer. In a few weeks, both the front and back yard should look great! We still need to lay some sod out front where the grass is dead by the curb. Apparently, per our neighbors, the snow trucks don't care where the road ends and our yards begin.

I also learned about my new favorite tree, the Weeping Cherry Tree. On Sunday we noticed this sucker was beginning to bud and were taking bets on how many weeks until it was fully bloomed. Then we woke up Monday morning to this amazingly bloomed, beautiful tree! (Close-up below). They seem to be very common around here and I love them!

Shelf Transformation

One thing we LOVED about our new home is the three sets of 'nook shelves' (as we call them) that we have. Kind of like built-in shelves, there is a big set in the office and two smaller sets in the guest room. Unfortunately, they had been painted black by the previous owner meaning we had to completely re-do them all! Thankfully I have my father's steady hand and actually like doing intricate work like this. The taping was definitely a slow process and required a lot of time but in the end it was worth it.

Below is our "before, during and after picture" of one set of these shelves from the guest room. You'll notice the glossy, sterling silver, textured walls that were there before us. Again, they REALLY liked the colors black and silver but we are slowly but surely fazing them out.... that is, except for the black, jetted bathtub which might have to stay.  Anyhow, now the room is a really nice light greenish, Sherwin Williams color called Ancient Marble and the shelves are a thick, glossy white.

The whole room looks nice and bright now with the softer coloring. More pics to come soon!

**Tip for anyone using high gloss oil-based paint - take the tape off after only a couple minutes of painting the shelves, otherwise it can pull up the paint!

New Stovetop Oven

Anyone need an old 1970's stove? Nope... didn't think so.

Neither did we and our second stainless appliance is officially in! Next is the dishwasher coming in a couple of weeks after the floors get tiled.

The left is our sweet, white old baby and to the right is our flat-top stainless new one!

We All Scream For Ice Cream

Ice cream pretty much equals heaven for the dogs in this household. When we make our rare trip to splurge on some yummy frozen custard, we get stalked the minute we walk in the door.

This is what happens once we've had our last bite -

(Ignore the ugly ugly ugly floors - we're tiling next week!)

Bon Appetit

I officially have my new obsession - Wall Words! I know they've been around for a few years, but I can't wait to use them around the house more.

This past week, we ordered our first wording from Vinyl Attraction. We started with some fun words and added two side "decorative ends" to spice up our eat-in kitchen area. They are SO incredibly easy to use and I love love love how it turned out!

See below for the before, during and after pictures!

Storm Central

Spring has officially started and that means only one thing. Our 7.5 year old first born will lose 3 pounds over the next month. Not because she cares about her figure, or because she smells the males on our evening walks. It's because she will burn so many calories hyperventilating and convulsing each night there are storms. Ever since she was a baby, our poor little girl has somehow been deathly scared of storms. Generally, she lets us know they are coming hours before they are even in the city, but often they sneak up on her.

Both of our dogs were crate-trained as puppies and I'm a huge advocate of this. They have not had accidents in the house since they were babies (except when they catch the flu bug...but that is a whole different post!) and are good, obedient dogs. Lacy has always been fond of her personal 'bedroom' as we call it and can even be caught taking naps in there on her own. Below is a picture of her "bedroom"... yes, it's just her crate with a blanket over it. So when storms come, Derek and I have our procedure down pat to get her in there. This dog won't come out of a corner for a 3 lb T-Bone steak, so one must be sneaky. We've learned to trick her into her collar and coax her out of corners only to get her leash on in order to guide her to her "bedroom". It really is a miracle though. Once she's in, the convulsing and panting stops and she goes right to sleep! It's her own personal panic room.

Michael Buble!

Dereks parents gave us Michael Buble tickets here in Cleveland for Derek's recent graduation gift. He's pretty much one of the sexiest men out there so I KNEW it would be a good time!

He was a great performer and we definitely enjoyed the show! I'd highly recommend seeing him if he's coming to your town soon! 

$.89 Gas

Yep! That's right... you read it correctly. $.89 gas! That's what we paid yesterday afternoon at the pump.

Let's back up a few hours.

While grocery shopping at Giant Eagle, we saw some signs referring to "the more you shop, the more gas credits you earn". We asked the customer service lady about this ongoing awesomeness and it basically goes like this: For every $50 you spend at the grocery store, you get $.10 off PER gallon the next time you fill up at their locally owned gas station. I'm sure you can do the math, but we have been here almost six weeks and had to fully re-stock a pantry and fridge. Hence the 1997-priced gas!

We obviously are super excited about this as groceries are a necessity, and we'll basically earn at least $.20 off each week. PLUS, with Derek getting company gas with this company car and myself working from home, we rarely fill up.

Who doesn't love awesome discounts?

One Month In

So we've been in "Tha Cleve" for just over a month now and our feelings are slowly but surely changing about this place. Last week it got up to 62 and I was able to wear my flip flops out! It's been great this week actually seeing grass and not 2 feet of snow piled everywhere. I'm not sure I have ever experienced three straight weeks where every day there was anywhere from 2 inches to a foot of snow that fell. We've found some 'things to do in Cleveland' lists and have already enjoyed knocking some items off from those. Another bonus is how close we are to so many local shops. Hole in the wall restaurants with wonderful food and cute home furnishing stores with items unlike those in corporate magazines are everywhere around here. We've met our neighbors on both sides and they both seem very nice. On our South is an older Greek couple (Helen and Jim) with heavy accents and lots of children/grandchildren that seem to visit throughout the weeks. I bet they make wonderful baklava. On the North side of our house is a family of four with an older girl who just graduated college and a son who's in his freshman year (I believe) of college. They are huge Ohio State fans and I'm pretty sure 90% of their wardrobe is Ohio State gear. (Hmmm.... wonder if people think I'm a bit obsessed with Jayhawks because of that!). We tried a local Methodist Church this past weekend and although it wasn't where we feel we belong, I'm sure we'll find one in the next few weeks.

Things we've really come to love -
     - Derek's commute to work. Used to be 45 minutes and now it's 12 minutes (maybe 15 in traffic).
     - Our mail being delivered directly INTO our house. Yes, INTO! There is a mail chute in our wall!
     - Hardwoods everywhere. The swifter just picks up the hair... no vacuuming over and over!
     - My 2nd floor balcony off the office. It will be GREAT this summer!
     - Being able to purchase all of your alcohol while at the grocery store or Target.
     - How flat the city is. Running is awesome around here!
     - Old, tall, gorgeous trees in our neighborhood.
     - How fast my hair dries. I swear I turn on the hair dryer for 2 seconds and it's done!
     - The wonderful Metroparks.
     - Having a huge un-finished fourth floor for storage.

There are obviously a lot of things we miss from our "JoCo bubble", but I know we'll come to love this city. For now, it's just nice being back together and making our new home 'ours'!

Book Review - The Shack

One word = Deep.

Different from the books I traditionally like to read, this thought-provoking piece of work by William P. Young draws you in immediately with a page-turner storyline. Then with a mind-bending turn, it proceeds to challenge all of your preconceived theological notions. Anyone with an idea of God as an old man with a long beard who doesn't really care about human beings must dive into this book.

I'm giving this book an A (as usual), but with a caution to readers: If you like light, fluffy, easy reads, this is NOT for you.

On a side note, my grandfather was the one who originally told me about this book. It's definitely something for any generation to pick up and although he wasn't too fond of it, I did like that it made me genuinely think about my personal perceptions of God and our relationship.

Sun Hunt

To the left is my little sun-lover who's sitting in my office wanting to go out onto the upper balcony. Too bad she didn't realize there wasn't any sun out there.

That leads me to my brilliant idea of opening up a window on the side of the house where the sun was.

Guess who was laying down within 5 minutes basking in the warmth of the sun on her back? Yep..... my little sun-lover. Can't say it wasn't tempting to almost lay down next to her and soak up what rays I can as well!

Tobogganing!

After our failed attempt last weekend, Derek and I ventured back South to the Strongsville, OH toboggan chutes last night! If anyone thinks this "ride" is for little kids, they are mistaken as these toboggans chutes are almost straight down and reach incredible speeds. And yes, they are heavy..... hence the picture of Derek lugging them all the way up the stairs to the top.

Sure don't have anything like this in Kansas City!

Guest Bath Faucet

Slowly but surely we'll have this house looking exactly how we like it! This past weekend another item on our to do list got knocked off with my brothers help. We called it the "multi-special jewel of a faucet" since it incorporate both silver AND gold. Lovely.

Weekend Recap

"Visitor weekend" number three was my little brother who came up last Saturday. We decided not to spend the entire time working on the house, so instead we found some local activities to try out! I loved spending three days with two of my favorite boys in the universe!

Tobogganing - This was something we were excited to try out as they don't have toboggan chutes in Kansas City, but the wait was an hour and it was a frigid 28 degrees out. It's annual though so we can test it out next winter! Click the link to watch a video to see what it's all about. We had never heard of it before moving here.

Dave's Cosmic Subs - GREAT sandwich place. The "cosmic" sauce is really good and the subs were packed with ingredients!

Lakewood Dog Park - After Mike helped me clip the dogs' toenails, we ventured out to the off leash park to release some energy. The girls (obviously) LOVED it and Mike got a great ride through our beautiful Metroparks.

Winking Lizard - We had heard about this bar from several people before even moving to the city. There are a few locations in the area and our house just happens to be within walking distance from one of them. It was definitely worth the hike to not have to worry about getting a car home. It was also fun for the boys to amuse themselves by pushing me into the 2 feet of snow and pelting me with snowballs the entire walk!

Cleveland Auto Show - Exactly what you'd imagine. People from all spectrums of life enjoying new and old cars, boats, trailers, etc. I tried my best to convince Derek that I'd love a brand new Mercedes SLR, but I think the eye rolling meant a big fat 'no'.

West Side Market - My brother and I ventured over Monday to this indoor "market". You can seriously purchase anything and everything including from pigs feet, the largest tuna you've ever seen, any cheese you can name, cakes, and of course - the very best natural meats!

Steve's Gyros - Voted "best gyro in the US" a couple years ago by Maxim magazine, we had to try these gyros out. Thankfully, we were there on a Monday afternoon as they told us the line on a Saturday can have a 45 min to an hour wait! Also, the travel channel and Man vs. Food was just there literally 7 days before us. One word = scrumptious. Huge, juicy and WONDERFUL!

Angelo's Pizza - Another recommended food joint that we tried and fell in love with. Very unusual sauce and yummy pizza crust made the pizzas there REALLY delicious!

All of that, combined with a few hours of our favorite game, Mario Kart, made for a great weekend! I'll miss you tons Bean, but glad you were able to come out and enjoy the city a bit with us!

Who's coming to visit next?