Graduation Week

This last week Grant and I spent in Nashville getting ready for his graduation!!  I only teared up one time taking our clothes the car while packing up :)  I just couldn't believe that it was finally here!  Grant had to be at Lipscomb bright and early on Monday morning and Corynne's birthday party was on Sunday, so we headed out of town on Sunday morning to begin a week full of fun activities!

 

Corynne turned FOUR on Sunday the 27th.  Four!  Crazy!  She had a Sheriff Callie (I'm not sure if that's the right spelling - I'm not up on my Disney Jr) birthday party at the park right next to their house.  We got there just in time to see her playing with all her friends, but then it started to rain.  So, we headed back to my sister's house to help Corynne open up all her presents and just hang out for a bit.  She had a blast and loved showing us everything she got as we opened it!

After the party, we headed back up to Nashville to meet up with Curt and Lindsey.  They graciously let us stay at their apartment until Thursday when our families came into town.  Thanks guys!!  We had a blast spending the week with them.  Lindsey worked Monday and Tuesday, but then we got to do some fun things Wednesday and Thursday.  We did some shopping, got our nails done, did a tiny bit of exercise :) and just hung out!  It was so nice to get to spend so much time with them again!

We started the celebration early on Monday with this cookie cake :)

Grant and Curt off to their last week of school....with coffee in hand, of course!

Lindsey and I just doing a little shopping!

 Grant and Curt got their cap and gowns on Wednesday and they tried them on for us that night!

Thursday night we sadly left Curt and Lindsey's and headed to the hotel to check into our room.  Courtney and George's flight was delayed and my mom and Dan had gotten stuck in traffic, so we went to dinner with Grant's grandparents at Bonefish while we waited for everyone to get there.  Everyone else got in around 10:30 on Thursday night, which also happened to be George and Courtney's 10 year anniversary!  We had two rooms so we let them have the "honeymoon suite" all to themselves that night!  We visited with everyone for a bit, but then it was time for bed!  We had a full weekend of two graduation ceremonies and a surprise party to get ready for!



House Tour: Master Bedroom Before and After

The floors are finally in and done, and things are starting to get homey over here!  While I was in Nashville for work a couple of weeks ago, Ray and Grant worked every night to finish the floors before I got back!  They did great and they look awesome!  I love them even more than I thought I would!  Since the floors have been down, I have been in full force decorating mode!  I've mostly completed every room except for hanging items.  The master bedroom is pretty much the way I want it...I think :)  I've rearranged it quite a few times!

 

This is the master bedroom the night we closed on the house...  The only thing good about this room is the ceiling fan and the blinds - we kept both after several cleanings.  Everything else we changed.

 



This was the master bathroom.  I haven't completely finished it yet, so I'll save it for another post, but you get the idea of what we were working with...

 

First things first, we ripped out the nasty carpet!  We had to put our clothes somewhere while the closet was getting painted, so this was the best we had!  Reason #489 while I am just now feeling a little more organized!

 

 Next step was to paint.  Our awesome friends from church, Kevin and Melisa, came out and helped us paint this room (and some others!)  I LOVE this color.  I haven't been able to have any color on my walls since college, so I went bold! :)  The color is bronze green, and it blends so well with the dark floors and our black furniture.

 

All the doors had to be taken out so the floor could be laid.  This was my view of the master for a good three weeks probably.

 

The clothes finally made it into the closet - although still not organized since we couldn't move our dressers in until the floors went down.

 

Only about six boxes of our wood came in on time, which was not enough to even finish one room.  This my view for about the next 4-5 weeks while we waiting on the rest to come in!!

 

After new paint on the walls and the ceiling, new baseboards, new wood floors, and new electrical casings...

 

Welcome to our new Master Bedroom!

 

Walking in from the living room...

 

 

 

 

 

I went with our wedding theme for our room.  I usually don't like wedding photos in the living room after its been awhile...I don't really know why.  Our big wedding print is above the tall dresser, and directly across the room is our picture collage and signed photo frame from our guests.

 

 

 Can't decide if I'm loving the arrangement of the décor on the shelves, but it'll work for now!

 

 

 More photos and the letter Grant wrote to me when he proposed!

 

 When we were moving I came across my box that had all our wedding stuff in it.  It's been 5 1/2 years and I've only looked at it a couple of times.  I thought it would be neat to put some of it on display.  I filled these two lamps from TJ Maxx with special memories from our day!  Our napkins, program, save the date, the necklace I wore, the ribbon that was wrapped around my bouquet, our airline tickets, my slip-ons, the ring box, and some other random items. 

 

I love the way they turned out, and now we can occasionally look over and remember all the special memories of our wedding day!

 

I am so happy with the way our master bedroom turned out!  Grant and I say all the time we can't believe God has blessed us with such an awesome house and so many people that were willing to help get it together.  The process of transforming the house was definitely not fun, but it's SO fun to start seeing the finished products!!

 

 

 

 



Florida

This last week Grant and I took a break from rotations, work, and house to head to Florida!!  Grant was able to work extra hours during the first three weeks of his rotation so that he could have the last week off!  We headed down on Friday night ready for sun and relaxation.

 

The weather wasn't all that great the whole week.  I think I only wore my bathing suit about three times and took my cover up off once.  However, I haven't seen the sun in who knows how long, so I still somehow managed to get a good burn going after the first day.  It rained a couple days and we had 20 mph winds a couple days, so there was plenty of relaxation time!  I read through almost the entire Divergent series (very good!) while we were there.  We haven't had cable at our house since the hardwood hasn't been laid, so it was luxury to be able to get up in the morning and turn on the TV!  We slept in, worked out, read books, shopped a little, went to the movies, ate well, watched the NCAA tournament, and got a little sun!  It was perfect!!

 

My grandparents came down to their house on Monday, so we went to dinner with them on Tuesday night and then grilled on Friday night and watched the Cats play.  I think Grant and I have almost had about 15 heart attacks this last week watching them in NCAA tournament.  It has been SO exciting!!  We are now onto the Final Four!! Whoo hoo!!!  And Grant won $180 in the bracket pool he was in! Bonus!

 

I didn't take very many pictures, since it was just the two of us, but I snapped a couple a long the way!

 

View from the beach on the first day we were there...ahhhhh

 



I did all of our packing this year. lol!  Grant had no idea why two people needed so much stuff :)

 

Coffee and Cable made for some happy people in the mornings!

 

This is the view from my grandparents condo.  LOVE!  This was one of the pretty days!

 

And this this is what happens when you don't wear sunscreen on the above pretty day...whoops!

 



Before dinner one night.  We thought we pulled off the mirror, peace sign, selfie pretty well! Ha!

 

Lots of time for silliness!

Rene and I ready for the game in our UK Blue!

 

 We went down to the pool on Saturday for a bit before we headed back to reality.  Of course it was beautiful!!

 



While we were gone we got the call the our hardwood CAME IN!!!  Hallelujah!  We spent Sunday getting everything ready so that Ray could start on it early this week.  We had to clean the dust off of all our furniture and get everything out of the living room and bedroom.  We laid the mattress out so that I could vacuum it off, and I couldn't help but lay on it!  It's been almost four months since we have gotten to sleep in our bed!  It was heavenly just to lay there for a minute!  So happy that we can finally see some light at the end of the tunnel.  Once the hardwood goes in this week, then we will be able to move all of our furniture in, organize or clothes, get cable, and really start to settle in!

 

CAN'T WAIT!

 

We had a great week relaxing in Florida, but now its back to normal.  Grant starts his LAST rotation tomorrow, and I am in Nashville this week for my LAST closing week at work.  I can't believe it is already April!   

 

 



Happy Everything

One thing I have realized while decorating our house this go around is I have a major obsession with Coton Colors.  It's a problem....and maybe a little out of control??  Nah...That's not possible!  I just love all the bright colors, the personalization, and how it helps you decorate for every season! 

 

I've had my big platter and most of my big attachments for years.  I asked for that one year for Christmas before Grant and I even got married.  I've had the chalkboard for awhile as well.  The rest I just HAD to have to complete our home!  Grant always gives me a little eyebrow action when we get a package and it says Coton Colors!

 

My sister-in-law is very creative and always has such cute chalkboards in her house.  She inspired me to get a little more crafty with ours.  Usually it just has some random phrase on it or some important dates coming up.  I searched around on Pinterest, put a few ideas together, and came up with this design for our March chalkboard.  I think I'll try to continue this for each month throughout the year.  I never really thought I needed the four leaf clover attachment, but now I'm kind of wishing I had it!  #attachmentenvy

 I used Chalk markers from Hobby Lobby.  They make writing in chalk so much easier!  Pretty proud about how this turned out.  I only had to erase and redo a few dozen times...

 

 We have this random open nook in our cabinets that I thought would be perfect for our recipe books.  But what recipe collection is complete without a cute recipe box to match?!  I'm justifying it by the fact that I now have a lot more time to cook, therefore I have more recipes, so I need a good box to keep them all in. :)

 

 Grant got me this little gem for Christmas this year.  Loved it!  It goes perfectly on our counter tops right by the sink.  Since it takes mini attachments, I think I'll have to start investing in a few more of those for the upcoming seasons!

 

 My big platter I absolutely love.  It's been a part of my kitchen for the last 6-7 years probably.  I love how you can change it up to match the season.  When I saw this new house attachment, of course I had to have!  Perfect for our new home :)

 

My mother-in-law knows me well and got me this cookie jar for Christmas.  Lucky for me, this house attachment is getting retired and I got it for under $10!  That's a steal!

 

If you are looking for a cute item to fill up a space in your kitchen, or really anywhere, I highly recommend!  My dream one day is to open up a gift shop.  I most definitely will be carrying Coton Colors, and Grant will be happy when we can start getting everything at cost :)

 



Another Random Catch Up

We've been busy bees these last few days!  I've turned into a terrible blogger, so I'm having to revert to another random catch up!  My bad!!

 

This first week of March I headed back to Nashville for closing week at work.  Even though I was there for work, it was nice to be back in the city, do some shopping, and get to hang out with some of my very favorite people.  Grant was so jealous that I got to have dinner and hang out with Lindsey and Curt while I was there!  We had so much fun just catching up!  Hopefully we will get to see them again soon.  Missing our weekly meals with them has been one of the worst parts about leaving Nashville!

 

Me and my Nashvegas, BFF :)

 

We are STILL waiting on our hardwood (long story) so we haven't really been able to get much further with the house.  I am dying to start hanging stuff on the walls, but we can't really do that until we know where the furniture is for sure going to go! So frustrating, but hopefully it won't be too much longer.  We did inherit Trent and Lisa's Mini-Van for the past couple of weeks, while ours is getting repaired from hitting the deer.  Not only is the van super family friendly, it can haul off a bunch of trash!  Thanks Trent and Lisa :)

 

Carpet, empty boxes, scraps of wood...the mini does it all!

 

I have made a little more progress in the kitchen decorating department.  We have ordered a table and hutch that should be in in the next couple of weeks, and then we will be able to hang somethings on the walls and be ready for the blog transformation post!  Here are few updates that I made this week...





I finished off the little office area on the kitchen counter to keep our bills and invitations.  I'm always getting things in the mail that I want to keep and remember, but I hate having them clutter up my counter tops.  I found this little mailbox envelope thingy at Target and it works perfect!

 

Recipe books above the office nook!

 

We've had a couple of really awesome weather days lately.  Grant got off of his rotation a little early one day and we hit up the walking trails at the park and tried to get a little sun.  Fun times relaxing and soaking up the spring warmth!

 

Our high school girls basketball team made it to the state tournament, so Tuesday and Wednesday we made trips to Bowling Green to cheer them on!

 

Tucker and I living it up in the Suite he snuck us into :)

 

We ended up losing the second game, but making it to the Elite 8 was awesome!

 

We spent some time with Megan, Tyler, and Monroe on Saturday night and again Sunday afternoon. 

Monroe loved the Mexican restaurant!

 

And he helped us cheer the Cats on the SEC Finals!  Isn't he the cutest in his UK gear?!

 

Grant has been working extra hours this rotation so that he could have the last week off and we are headed to Florida! Whoo hoo!  I've got to somehow dig out my summer clothes and bathing suits from the trash bags they are in in the garage, but I'm ready for a vacation!  We are leaving Friday, so hopefully we can just make it through this week!