Guest Posting Today at LTC

Hi bloggity friends :) I hope you're enjoying your hump day and are staying warm and bundled up wherever you may be!  I had the honor of guest posting for my friend, Patrice over at Lemon Tree Creations.  Be sure to head over there and check out an oldie, but a goodie!

Happy Two Year Anniversary!

On October 10th of this year, Stephen and I celebrated our 2nd Anniversary.  Last year, to celebrate this wonderful day, we headed north to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin and enjoyed a long weekend together, just the two of us (you can read all about that trip, here).  This year, we decided to go check out Brown County, Indiana - and I am SO glad that we did!  Brown County is absolutely beautiful in the fall!  We rented a cabin and enjoyed time to spend together, enjoying each other's company, which we haven't really had a chance to do in quite some time!  

We split out of Louisville on Friday afternoon straight from work.  I left school as soon as I could get my beee-hind outta there and I headed downtown to pick up Stephen.  Once we were together, it was a quick hour until we arrived at our cabin, Curly Shingles.  

Our cabin was nestled in the woods of Brown County and it couldn't have been any cuter or more more perfect for us to relax and wind down for the weekend.

There she is from the front

A view from the back

Mini Cabin Tour:

Our fully equipped (just missing a dish washer) kitchen

Our family room

Our 2 bedrooms

On Friday night, we drove around to get our bearings and then we headed to a cute, little, local pizzeria to enjoy a late dinner.

We ate at Harvest Moon Pizzeria in the heart of downtown Nashville, IN and it was yummy!

On Saturday, we woke up late and enjoyed a home cooked breakfast.  We then headed to Brown County State Park to enjoy the sites of the season and do a little hiking.  If you're into activities in the great outdoors (hiking, biking, riding, etc) then this park is for you!

Scenes from Brown County State Park:

After an afternoon of hiking and taking in the beautiful weather, Stephen and I headed to downtown Nashville, IN to enjoy a little local shopping.

Scenes from downtown Nashville:

On Saturday night, after a full day of hiking and shopping, we hit up the Artisan Colony in downtown Nashville, IN for dinner:

On Sunday, we enjoyed another lazy morning and breakfast at *home before we made the 20 minute drive to Bloomington, IN to visit Stephen's Alma Mater, IU.  It was a gorgeous day outside, which solidified our plans to go and watch a soccer game.  

Look at that sky!

Here is Stephen, hanging outside his home of two years: Briscoe Shoemaker - he was one happy kid the whole time we were reminiscing (okay, mostly him reminiscing) on IU's campus!

Overall, it was a fantastic weekend!  It was so fun to sit and talk about how fast time flies and how our wedding felt as though it was yesterday instead of 2 years ago.  I can't wait to hear our conversations on our 10 year anniversary, 20 year, 30, etc.  There isn't a day that goes by where I don't thank God for giving me Stephen.  God knew that out of everyone on this earth, Stephen would do the best at showing God's love to me on a daily basis.  I am so thankful and speechless at the blessing of marriage and the fact that I get to spend the rest of my life with my best friend!

And for those of you who weren't around when I posted this shortly after we got married, here's our wedding highlight video.  I know you probably won't love it as much as I do, but I hope you enjoy :)

If you're having a hard time seeing it, click here and watch it directly on youtube :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrO0H8q6-Gs

SUPER belated Happy 94th Birthday, Noni!

So, Noni turned 94 back in July and we celebrated her birthday when Stephen and I moved back at the very beginning of August.  Because things have been so out of whack, I haven't shared with you pictures from her birthday celebration.  Noni is Stephen's maternal grandmother.  She is 100% Italian, having moved to the states from Sicily when she was in her late 20s.  Noni might be one of the cutest and sweetest old ladies that I've ever met.  It might have something to do with her broken English whenever she says things like, "Close the lights" or "You, Eat!" :).  Happy Belated Birthday, Noni - I can't wait to celebrate many more to come!

My sister-in-law, Ashley decorates cakes on the side and so she made this one for Noni's birthday.  The cool thing about this cake is that Stephen's little sister, Cali is pregnant.  Our extended family didn't know what she was having (boy or girl - including Noni), so the cake was colored to reveal which it was.  Watching Noni's face as she found out was priceless!

Sweet Noni blowing out her candles.

She really is so cute - this is her clapping for herself after blowing out her candles.

Noni's going for the cut - as you can see, Stephen's mom (can you tell that Noni is her mom?!) is anxiously awaiting the reveal to see everyone's reaction.  

The cake is pink!  They're having a girl!!!  (If you can't tell by this picture, Noni is crying...this is a normal occurrence for Noni.  When she's happy, she cries happy tears; sad, sad tears; scared, scared tears...you get the drift!)

Stephen and his sweet Noni.  Bet you can't tell they're related, can you (do you sense the hint of sarcasm that I laid on that statement)???

Here's all of us with Noni, including Stephen's cousin, Julie.  We're missing cousin Michael and his wife, Terry, and that would make it a complete picture of Noni and her grandchildren, their spouses and her great grandchildren.

Jake is Stephen's older brother's son.  He was helping Noni open gifts - Jake loves his Noni.

I couldn't pass up this sweet photo-op of Halle (Stephen's older brother's daughter) and her Nunu (Stephen's dad).

Catch-Up

Okay, so I've been a horrible blogger.  And by horrible, I mean HORRIBLE.  Things have been a little bit hectic here and when it came to blogging, it just had to take the back burner.  Before we moved into our new house, Stephen and I were living with my parents.  Our stuff was living at my parents house, in our new house, and in our storage unit.  I never had my camera cord whenever I needed it, which led to me not uploading pictures or blogging.  I'm considering my blogging vacation to be over, and I'm expecting to be back with a vengeance!

Just in case you're not completely bored out of your mind with pictures of our new house, I have somewhat updated pictures.  I took these pictures about 3 weeks ago, so while they're an update to you, they're not really an update because the rooms have improved so much more since these were taken.  However, I figured I'd share with you the ugliness that moving in, painting and situating things brings with it, so you can get a real picture of our C-R-A-Z-Y life right now.  Enjoy!


So we'll start with the first floor.  If you remember, when you walk into the front door, to your left is the Living Room, which we have converted into Stephen's office.  We snagged this solid wood antique desk and office chair off of craigslist for a steal, and I knew once I saw it and waited a week so I could talk the seller down, that it was just meant to be!

This is the view when you're standing in the Living Room/Office and you're looking out into the entry way

This is the view right when you walk into the Living Room/Office

Here is a view of the Living Room/Office from the french doors in the Family Room

If you know me, you know I'm totally NOT afraid of color.  I wanted to paint this office a color that would match our other color choices, and would go with my love for dark wood.  I didn't want to paint it a really dark color, and in real life, this green isn't as dark as it's appearing here.  I got all our paint from Lowes, and went with their Valspar brand.  We painted our apartment using this paint and I loved the results.  This color is Homestead Resort Moss.  In all the rooms that I have painted, I've also painted the trim as well.  I used a Porter Paint color, despite getting the paint at Lowes.  The color is White Umber.

Moving onto the Family Room.  If you remember, when you walk straight into the front door and to the back of the house, you walk into our Family Room.  I didn't think I was going to repeat the same orange that we painted in our apartment, but I loved it so much that I found myself going right back to it.  

Right when you walk into the Family Room, looking to the left

Looking into the Family Room from the french doors in the Living Room/Office

The Family Room, looking into the Kitchen

The orange paint is La Fonda Copper.

Here's our Kitchen, in it's crazy state.  This room is going to be the last room that I am going to paint.  I'm planning on painting it Cincinnatian Hotel Carl Tan, which is the same color that we painted our bathroom in Chicago.

Moving Upstairs...

This is our updated bedroom, which is at the top of the stairs to the right.  This is the same color that we painted our bedroom in Chicago.  It is called Olive Grove.  Now, let me tell you, it is not this green when you're looking at it in real life.  Also, with stuff hanging on the walls, the color is broken up.  In the near-er future, I'm hoping to DIY some crown molding up at the top of the walls/ceiling, which I know will help to chill out the green even more. 

This is standing in our bedroom, looking towards the bathroom (the door out is to the left, the door to the closet is to the right)

Here's our bed...if I pretend, it looks just like our room in Chicago (check it out here)

Walking down the hall...

Remember that pink room?  Well, it's now a calmer shade of tan!  This is a Porter Paint color that I got mixed at Lowes.  The color is Sea Sand.

Standing in the room, looking out into the hallway

Remember that farm mural room?  That room got a complete overhaul.  I chose this light shade of blue because it matched all my bedding that I had before I converted from a Miss to a Mrs. If you look in the corner, you can see that bedding :)  This color is New Day.

Here is a shot of the room looking out into the hallway

So, as you can tell, we've been busy little bees.  We've painted the family room, living room, and all three bedrooms; not to mention all the trim in the hallway.  Since these pictures were taken, I've begun tackling the dining room.  More to come on that later!  What about you?  Have you been doing any home projects lately?  How do you feel about painting???  I'm beginning to be annoyed with it...