Monday, April 29, 2013

Life Date

No time, update needed, life happening.....

House:
- Bathroom is complete!! (minus the few things like towel rods, tp holder and towels) I think I'm going to be a total bum and tell you guys when things are done but not post any pictures until it's all done. Ahahaha!!! It's the little joys in life.
Vintage Grey

- Super organized and cleaned all the tools. I was really tired of everything sitting out, and being dusty, and yuck.
- Guest room is finished. It's been mostly done this whole time tho. Just need to hang a few pictures and possibly paint a tree.
Green Tea Latte

 - Kitchen is coming along. Fingers crossed Steve comes today and finishes the electrical. The wall oven is in and it looks awesome! I can't wait to start baking again. I've missed it so much.
Beehive

- Also, I am the messiest painter ever. However, I only end up in paint all over myself. No biggie. 
I know this picture makes it look like Justin painted me but in all honesty I did it to myself. I was getting on the ladder and slapped myself in the face with the brush. Who does that?

- We still need to paint the living room/dining room. The paint I had originally picked out was the same exact color that was already on the wall. So I went back to Lowes and picked up a different color - I think it'll look nice. The original:

Cream & Sugar

The new color- 
Bamboo Shoot

-  This is the color of our room. Talk about cheery!  
Cool Pool


Horse: 
- Muffin is doing well. Once we wrap the house up I'll be really glad to get back out there and start riding again. Even though I get to see her twice a day I don't get to spend much time with her. This is going to sound crazy but the other day I had a call with an animal communicator. I was super skeptical at first but she told me all sorts of things about my horse that only someone that knows her really well should know. 
Apparently Dream:
- Really likes the color yellow. 
- misses her lesson girls. 
- Wants to spend more time with me. 
- Thinks having a baby "sounds like fun".
- She tried really hard to get better when she was sick because she knew how sad I was. 

I'm not even kidding I was at my kitchen table on the phone with a lady in Florida and was in tears over the stuff she was saying about my horse. 
Like:
- She doesn't like it when we paint the barn (we painted her stall with some stuff to make her quit chewing on it)
- The little girl with the yellow hair that gives her carrots - she likes her because she looks into her eyes. 
- She honestly believes she's the pretties horse in the world because we tell her all the time. 
- Asked about the new house, and asked if she would be able to stay at the barn or if she had to move too. 
I didn't tell this lady anything other than her name, color, age and breed. Craziest 30 minutes of my life. I didn't even get a word in until she asked me if I had any questions for Dream.
Crazy! 

I bet you're wondering about the engagement, eh? 
What am I, Canadian?
It was amazing. I thought there would be no way Justin could surprise me and he did!
Tuesday was the first day we were able to stay at the house. Ben had been working in the kitchen, Justin and Ron moved a bunch of furniture over, and Steve was doing more electrical in the bathroom. It was nice to finally see a bed in our room. Justin and I had to run some errands so we went and fed the horse, picked up a pizza & made another trip to Lowes. I'm getting tired of that place. I was a little cranky because it seems like we get something started and then we run into another problem or project. After all of our running around I dropped Justin off at the house and went back to our apartment to get pj's and toothbrushes. I figured the the guys were going to be at the house working for awhile so I took my sweet time. I watched the bachelor with Mom (I still can't believe she didn't kick me out since she was in on the plan), I played on my phone, I basically just hung out. Justin finally called at almost 10:30 to see where I was and to let me know the guys had left since they ran out of things to do. (aka he kicked them out 10 minutes after I left because he thought I was coming right back. oops) I packed up my things and headed over. 
When I got there he was at the door waiting for me and he took all the stuff I brought to the room. 
There were flowers and champagne set up and I was ooooohhh-ing and aaahhh-ing over them. When I turned back around he was on one knee. I was instantly crying and he was saying all sorts of sweet things. Then Justin got choked up and I cried even more. After saying yes and tackling him he said "don't you want to see the ring?". I didn't care at that point I was so happy.
This is the immediately after picture. (Notice: It's impossible to look good when you're being proposed to. I was in my jammies and I had makeup all over my face.)
 

I also had to use the phrase in all seriousness "I don't know what to do with my hands".

Since it was so late we didn't want to call and wake people up so I sent this picture to his mom with the title "call me maybe?"




His parents are so sweet and so excited. Colleen woke Ron up and didn't say anything but just handed him the phone. 
Justin: Dad we have a new member of the family
Me: (in my head: oh no! they're going to think I'm prego!)
Ron: Yeah? Did you get a puppy?!?

Hahaha I was cracking up. Nope not a puppy, just a Megan. :) 

The super bling:


It's gorgeous! Justin and I actually designed it ourselves with Arlington Jewelers in Petoskey. The center band slides out and is actually my wedding band but I get to wear it now because I'm spoiled. (and they don't want the 2 outside bands to bend or get warped.) On the inside of the 2 engagement bands there are 2 small stones. A sapphire and a ruby. Those are our mothers birthstones. I think that is my absolute favorite thing about the ring. Joining our two families with love and happiness. 

I called the venue the next day & he said they only had 3 available options for 2014. Holy smokes, better get on it. Justin and I went over that same night & he fell in love with it. 
The venue is called Park of the Pines in Boyne Falls. Our church owns the campgrounds and there is all sorts of stuff to do there. We are planning a camping wedding weekend for June 6-8, 2014. I'm so very excited. But also very glad that I have so much time to plan things. 
Here is the link if you want to check it out. 
www.parkofthepines.org

We are going to have a cook out on Friday with swimming, beach volleyball, etc. 
Wedding stuff Saturday  
Brunch and a church service on Sunday. 

I'm so glad we will be able to spend some time with our friends and family. <3 


I also had time to do some crafting this weekend. :) this is the start of the mobile I'm making for the guestroom. Seriously can't wait to have everyone over! 




There you have it. Update in a nutshell. :)


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(aka - if you have any color combos you love let me know. We don't have any clue what we want.)


Thursday, April 18, 2013

What's In the bag?

Since I've started this bloggy blog I've opened up about my personal life quite a bit. As you've noticed I've taken you into my home and given you the grand tour. SO why not show you what I carry around everyday. Be prepared to be puzzled! 



A. My super-duper Timbuk2 bag. I love it. This is what all the hipsters in Seattle have lol. We use them for all our camera gear and photo booth equipment too. 
B. Books and magazines. Because you can't trust anyone that didn't bring a book. I have the winter issue of Up North Brides magazine, Real Simple Weddings, and Eat, Pray, Love that Katie let me borrow and I haven't even had a chance to open yet. 
C. My Compy 2000. My computer is more of a life line than my phone. It has every contract, picture and design I've done. Plus music, very legally paid for music..... Oh, and a sticker of a gnome holding a hot dog. For no other reason than "why not?!". 
D. Cough drops - for 2 reasons - 1) I talk a lot and 2) I drink a lot of coffee so sometimes I get stinky coffee breath. 
E. This might be the most random part - toys. Little cupcake mazes and sinning tops. You never know when a bride will bring their kids that can't sit still or when you go out to eat and the toddler behind you keeps poking at you. Give them a toy and everyone is happy. 
F. More magazines. HGTV DIY, in case you haven't heard yet we're remodeling our new home. Bunny Tuxedos new catalog, and another Real Simple. Did you know you could hang old CD's from your trees with fishing line and it'll scare off the birds? Ya do now! 
G. Sparkle notebook! Because I write a lot of notes and I doodle a lot. Err......work a lot. :)
H. A paper swatch sampler from our printing company. Because I have no idea what pearl paper looks like. 
I. E-6000 the worlds mightiest craft glue ever!! It's in my bag because I had to glue the sole back onto one of our test tux shoes. 
J. Nail polish........... sometimes when I'm grumpy I paint my nails and I feel better. 





A. I'm a lover of all things coach. So of course I have a dandy coach purse. 
B. Random necklace. I guess you never know when you'll need one. I can live without a necklace but if I ever leave the house without earrings I feel like a naked alien. 
C. My May Designs planner. I love love love this company. You get to design your own planner/address book/etc. If you are a planner freak like I am I would totally recommend them. www.maydesigns.com. Also, the mini camera is a flash drive. 
D. This little pouch thing hold all my random junk. 
E. Cluster of keys. And unicorn key covers, duh! As I'm putting this list together it's occurring to me that I might be more of a girly girl than I thought. 
F. Head Lamp. Well it seems like at least once a week I end up saying "man I wish I had a head lamp". so now I do. Good for late night geo-caching. 
G. Coach wallet. Good for holding checkbooks and monies. 
H. Random central: mini hair clippy (for lion hair), random outlet cover (I don't know why this is in my purse, I picked it up off the floor somewhere), and a stone turtle. The lady at the palm reading place said it was my spirit animal. 
I. Mini lotion (for my ashy elbows), and strawberry tic-tacs. Weirdest things ever - don't do it!
J. Moments Photo Booth rack cards. Shameless promoting. 
K. Teal sunnies! 'Cause I'm a stunner! (who says that?)
L. Another flash drive


This is the random little pouch in my purse that I keep all the little stuff in. 


A. Cupcake sparkle lip gloss! No Explanation needed :) 
B. A stretchy head band, because at any point my hair could take over and decide it wants to be a lion instead. 
C. Kleenex, my mom keeps me stocked. 
D. Errr.... I didn't realize until I had cleaned my purse out just how much gloss I had. I suppose my color choice depends on my mood? Not really, it's just whichever one happens to be on top. 
E. Silver paint pen, purple fine point sharpie pen (you never know when you're going to need to make something permanent), and eyeshadow brush(?).
F. Tampons. Sorry to those of you that are now saying "I didn't need to know that". I'm a girl, and obviously by the amount I carry around there was one point in time that I needed one and didn't have it. It's a girl thing. 
G. is for Gum. Want to know a secret? There's no gum in there. That thing has been empty for weeks now.  
H. Stamps. I still believe in snail mail!! 



Well there you have it. All the weird, sparkly, random stuff in my life. 



TagLine*What'sTheMostRandomThingYouCarry??








Monday, April 15, 2013

Home Sweet Disaster Zone

It all started with a pink bathtub.....

No really, it did!! When Justin and I bought the house I figured we could get away with replacing the bathtub, adding drawer slides to the drawers in the kitchen, and painting the rooms. Dust myself off and woohoo the house is move in ready.

Boy-oh-boy was I wrong!
I had no idea that you could take a seemingly perfect house, totally destroy it and then make it perfect (but better) again. Can you tell I'm a first time fix-er-up home owner?

So let's start in the bathroom...

I knew going into it that we would have to replace the bathtub. Justin didn't quite fit in it and he wanted a shower instead. I rebelled against having just a shower but in the end decided the bathroom could be Justins baby project and I would be happy with however it came out.

This is the before picture. And shame on me for not taking better/more before pics. What kind of blogger am I anyways? (Truth? I don't really know. I just write what I feel, and what I want, and when I'm hungry I guess.)
As you can see on the right there is the above mentioned pink tub. It was itty bitty. Seriously when Justin sat in it he could stick his legs straight out in front of him but he had to sit up super straight. I thought it was funny, he did not. I really wanted to keep a tub because like twice a year I want to take a bath. As that one lady says "ain't no one got time for that". So we agreed to rip out the tub and put a shower in instead.




The tub removal happened when Kelly was up to visit so she got to document all of our hard work. The back of the tub backed up to the guest room closet which had to be demolished (partially) to get to all the plumbing. In the next few pics Kelly was crouching in the closet - Asian Level Photography. 



That might have been the first and only time I wore that shirt on an actual Friday. 



We hammered, and kicked, and yelled, and wiggled and finally got the tub out! 


And instead of removing all of the drywall and junk that had built up in the tub we just skillfully removed it. Psshhhhh yeah uh huh suuure. 


Ohhhhh look! In the next picture you can see what color we painted our room. Also a pain in the butt! Should have been an easy project but nooooooooooo the remodel Gods wanted to make sure we got to experience every hiccup we could. When we came home after buying the paint we started painting. So far so good. However, the next day when we did a few touch up spots and some more work around the trim it dried a totally different color. Even when the lights were off you could notice the difference. Thank goodness Kelly came up that weekend because I sure as heck did not want to repaint that whole room. I was grumpy! 
Back to the bathroom..... 


Look at Justin, all serious in his work gloves, face mask, and head lamp and I'm all la la la in my pajamas and muck boots. 



Yay! We did it. That's it right? We're done now? Yeah right!
So then the guys decide the pink marble vanity just wont do and we wouldn't be able to paint it so we might as well just buy a new one. Once we got a new vanity the pink toilet just wasn't going to work so we might as well get a new one of those too. You guys see where this is going right? 
So THEN the drywall wasn't in good enough shape and wouldn't mesh with all the new stuff we had so let's go ahead and rip the whole bathroom down to studs. Imagine my surprise, and horror, when I saw this.....


What was once a bathroom was no longer a bathroom.... It was just a room. A giant gaping hole of a room. I'm pretty sure this was when I had my first break down about the house. 


Ok, no big deal. They wanted to put green board up in the bathroom to better protect it. We went to Lowe's (they know us there now) and ordered the green board and shower to be delivered the next day. When the shower showed up it had a great big crack in one of the walls so Justin sent it back. Ah ha! They were out of showers! So guess what we got? A tub! I win!! I mean.... at least it's a bigger tub.... and it still has the ability for showers...... :) Yay a tub! 


Isn't it lovely. I swear just because we got it I'm going to make sure taking a bath is one of the first things I do. I'm sure it seems really strange that I'm so excited about a bath tub but since we moved home from Seattle all I've had is a little stand up shower. And in Seattle I had a bathtub/shower that I shared with 3 roommates so there was no time to hog the bathroom and take a bath.

This lovely light fixture also turned into a project. There wasn't a fan in the bathroom and for those of you that live with men you know that you need a fan in the bathroom. Sorry babe, those are the facts of life. 


Here are a couple pictures after the green board was hung, before it got mudded. I have to say I'm super impressed with myself. Before this home I had no idea what any of this meant. I'm catching on rather quickly. For those of you that are new to this too, green board is a type of mold resistant drywall used in moist places. And mud is.....well, basically mud. It's applied to cover all the seams and screw holes so the wall can have a nice even finish. HGTV here I come!

Al did all the mudding and sanding in the bathroom for us. He was a huge help in getting the bathroom back together. I didn't mind it being green, I was just so happy to see walls again. Al didn't get to play with us for too long tho because Tiffiney FINALLY had her baby girl Ryah. Tiff is the lovely lady that helped me get my table from Big Lots. Which I finally got by the way. She called corporate and they took care of the problem for me. I had a brand new table two days later. I'm sure Ryah will grow up with the same independence and gumption as her mother. Justin and I were lucky enough to be able to visit at the hospital. I love that my friends are having babies so I can snuggle them. 

Here she is, beautiful baby Ryah Jean Pollard. 

We even talked Justin into holding her!


annnddddd green board 

the tub :)


Since green board is, so very green you have to prime it before you can paint it. BORING! I just want to just right into the good stuff. But no, we primed first. 


Ok honestly, Justin did most of the priming. I was testing the rooms acoustics and trying out the new tub. annnnd drinking coffee. And documenting the steps? Ok, that's stretching it. 


Alright! On to the paint. Meet - Vintage Gray 


I swear I helped with this part. I was just....taking a break....and documenting. 


Starting to dry!


Painting Selfie! 


Once the paint dried it was time to put down the linoleum. We called our handy dandy friend Ben for that! Ben said we needed to put some Lue On (err.....type of wood/board/I don't even know if I spelled it right) down before we could adhere the flooring down. So he did :) And Justin and I went away for the weekend. To Ann Arbor. To shoot the lovely wedding of Caleb and Lauren. It was wonderful. On the way home we stopped at Ikea and Olga's. Justin had never ever been to Ikea before and he loved it. We spent a good chunk of the day there. Then on the way home we stopped in Flint and saw Lisa and her brand new baby Riley! 


She's the most adorable, and precious, and sleepiest baby ever! And then she tooted on me, and even that was cute! I really wanted to bring her home with me but her mother wouldn't let me. Gosh Lisa, taking all the fun out of it! :) It was great tho, we got to spend an hour or so there and she slept the whole time. I rock at being an aunt! LOL


Even better - Lisa called me later to ask if I would be her Godmother!!!!! I get to be that perfect little princesses Godmother! How amazing! And not to be competitive or anything but Nick, if you're reading, I am so going to be the best Godparent ever! 


And of course, Justin, looking all cute as he holds the super cute baby. Ah. :) I'm swooning. 

Snap out of it Megan! Back to the bathroom.....

When we got home the bathroom looked like this...


Ben got the floor down, did the baseboards and crown molding, and trim! He also got the vanity in place. 



Justin and Ron (his father) stuccoed the ceiling to cover up some imperfections and years of pink paint. It turned out really nice. 


New vanity, floor, walls, and trim. It's finally starting to look like a bathroom again!! The plumber should be coming over sometime this week to hook the water back up. 

Now let's wander over to the kitchen. The kitchen was another room that shouldn't have been quite as much work as it turned in to. But, I'm learning, anytime you want to do one thing to a house you have to do 4 other things before you can make that happen. All I really wanted to do in here was replace the sink (it was yucky and I felt weird about using it), add some drawer slides to the drawers (they were heavy and had no support) and build a little extra counter space on the opposing wall. 

Here is the before. And again I really should have taken more pictures of this. 

So there was this weird little pantry space in that corner. It wasn't functional at all. The stair well is in that same wall so for some reason they built stair shaped shelves. It was odd. Away that goes. We ended up boarding it up because I wanted to build some counters in that corner. 


This is after Russ added some more electrical outlets for me so I could have heaps of counter space. I really wanted to put something in that closet before they covered it. In case someone ever opens the wall up again. I was thinking a bottle of wine. Justin was thinking plastic skeleton. We couldn't agree so we didn't put anything in there. Then someone said a newspaper! DUH! Well too late now I guess. 


So we called Ben again, I kinda sorta explained what I was thinking and he went to  work. He's seriously so awesome. I told him what I wanted and he totally got it. 


We didn't go all the way to the door because the door is actually cut out of the corner of the room. I think it would have made walking in awkward. I don't want awkward, I want functional! 


My lovely counter tops I found at Lowe's but of course they had just been discontinued. Luckily we found the pieces we needed at the Lowe's in Petoskey and they brought them over for us. 


This counter top I was going to leave as is but when we pulled the sink out to replace it we found out that part of the counter had rotted because of a slow leak. Super. New counters for that one too! Then Ben actually had to re-build the drawers to make the slides fit. I'm so glad I just get to be the imagineer and I don't actually have to do any of this crazy stuff. 


See - no more counter :(




And everything is so dang dusty! Justin wants to start moving stuff in and I'm all - pssshhh I don't want to re-clean everything we own. 
Here it is as we get all the new counters on. You can see the second structure Ben built in the bottom corner. 


Once the cabinets were built I got the pleasure of staining them. After I stained them I decided who needs to go tanning when you can just smother yourself in Summer Oak. :) 


Night and day difference. It matches the rest of the kitchen perfectly. 


Ooohhhhh Aaahhhhh! You can even see my awesome cook top stove in there. I'm way excited to use that. 


All we have left to do in the kitchen is finish up the electrical, get my double oven in place and put the pass through hole in the wall. Oh, and paint. 

On to the basement.....
All we've done to the basement so far is framed in the bathroom. Well I shouldn't say it like it was a little job. See for yourself:


The space under the stairs was a really strange area so we decided to use it for a little half bath. There is just going to be a toilet and sink. With some shelves for storage of course. I should work for Ikea, I'm getting pretty good at building storage into everything :) Ben is going to drywall this soon and Steve is working on the electrical hook ups for this and my washer & dryer. (Those are going to be right on the other side of the wall in the "utility room".) 

Next up we have to pull some paneling down to open up the basement some more and build a bar. After all this construction I'm going to need a drink! Thank God for our awesome friends!! 


I suppose that should be enough update to hold you guys over for a while longer. I'll keep you posted as rooms finally start getting put back together. I was beginning to worry that winter would never end and our house would never be finished. But since it's 43 degrees out today I might have a shimmer of hope yet. 


Thanks for stopping by. I can't wait to have you all over someday. 





TagLine*HouseWarmingPaaaaartay!