the month of my *birth*

Is May seriously over already?  How quickly time flies when you’re having fun, right?! 

 

It’s been a whirlwind of a month for me and the family.  We celebrated birthdays and new beginnings, went on a fabulous trip to NYC, wrapped up some more house work and of course, hung out with our little man, Norman.

 

First things first. 

 

Birthdays.  I turned 27 on May 19^th.  It wasn’t as an exciting day as I imagined.  It’s no longer fun getting older!  You don’t get as many fun presents!  And usually you’re so busy that there isn’t time to celebrate with family and friends.  At least that was the case for me.  Luckily, my wonderful husband surprised me with a trip to New York City and we had the best time.  It’s so nice to get away, especially when shopping and best friends are involved.  A quick breakdown of the trip involved: Soho, Wicked, a Yankee’s game, Times Square, runs in Central Park, eating, shopping and spending time with my bestie, Andrea and her boyfriend Dan.  The weekend couldn’t have gone by faster, but it was nice to get home to Norman.  I hadn’t been away from him for more than a day since we got him, so it was definitely hard to be gone for that long.

 

Times Square to buy Wicket tickets - w00t!

Loved Wicked

Party time!

And the Yankee's game to round out our fantastic weekend

Me and my buddy on my actual birthday!

Norman went to his first birthday party this past weekend!  Sonny, Derek and Tara's yellow lab, turned one!  Happy Birthday, Sonny!

Babies. Other May happenings included a shower for my friend, Allyson.  She’s having a baby girl, “Baby Girl Lake” on or around July 3^rd.  It’s very exciting for our group of friends because this is the first baby to come into our circle.  And boy is she going to be spoiled by all of us!

 

Allyson and her first baby - Houston

 

And not only is Allyson due next month, but a few more of my friends are pregnant as well!  I will reveal them when the time is right, but my heart is bursting for all of them.  What a blessing.

 

Bachelorette. I went to a good friends bachelorette party.  Mackenzie and Sam are getting married on June 26^th and I can’t wait to celebrate in their new journey.  I’ve seen this couple grow from the very beginning and am so excited to see Kenz walk down the aisle and marry her Sammy!

 

The Bach!

Me and Kenz!

 

Me and T, the MOH

Sass

Love this chica!

Backyard.  We finally finished our backyard!  It took a few more weeks than we thought it would due to the rain/weather, but it looks great and here’s to hoping the up keep won’t be so tough.  Norman loves it!

 

 

Bedrooms.  I never posted the before and after of our guest bedroom and master bedroom.  Here you go!

 

Guest Room - before the finishing touches

 

And done!

Master Bedroom - BEFORE

And DONE!

Bathrooms. The project has begun!  Matt and I have officially started researching costs, likes, dislikes for our master bath that we are building upstairs.  This is what we are working with - the old nursery.

Here is what we are envisioning.

 

Two of these

 One of these showers

And this color scheme

And once we finish the master bath, we’ll be on to our guest bath on the main floor.  For this one, we’re going to do a simple remodel with a color scheme of brown and white.  Very simple and crisp.

 

Bathroom now

Vision, but we'll use a pedestal sink.

 

Bubbers.  Aka Norman.  He’s almost 8 months!  I can’t believe how quickly he’s grown and he is so good at making best friends.  Cooper is his “uncle” but Sonny, Tara and Derek’s dog, is his best friend.  I’m not lying when I say they love each other.  See for yourself!

 

Bubbers

Uncle Cooper!

Norman's first swim

Norman and Sonny - BFF

Whew!  If you're still with me, thanks!  This was along post.  Happy Summer!

My Annual Green Thumb

Matt and I decided that landscaping is fun, but it's not fun to spend hundreds of dollars each year to create a beautiful backyard.  So this year, we took a more simplified approach and are really happy with how things are turning out so far.  No more spending hours on end every weekend!  We're just about finished laying everything out and can't wait to enjoy our "pocket friendly" approach to gardening.

We bought hanging ferns for the front porch. 

And in the backyard, we planted a lot of different grasses...

  

Like Blue Fescue

 And other ornamental grasses

Wildflowers...

And Gladioli

And our latest purchase...Crapemyrtle, so pretty!

Can't wait to finish buying/planting and watching everything grow!  I'll put some pictures up once the flowers and bushes start to bloom.  Happy Spring!

Where has the time gone?

Hello blog world!  Now that I've taken a month long hiatus, I think it's time to update you on the latest and maybe start posting more frequently.  I'm not sure where the time went, to be honest.  February and March absolutely flew by and spring is finally in the air.  Does the warmer weather and longer days make you as happy as it makes me?

Let me start by saying 2010 has been a great one so far.  Married life is great, Norman is growing by the day and the house we bought a year and a half ago has become a home - not that it wasn't before, but we have made it our own (and are almost finished!).

First things first.  Norman.  What's new?  Norman has officially put himself first in our lives.  A few posts ago, I was venting about the challenges that a puppy can throw at you.  And now?  Well, Norman will be 6 months old on April 11th and has turned into quite the gentleman.  He's almost 50 pounds (I know!), recently got his first haircut and is listening to commands more frequently than he used to.  Sit, down, shake, stay...all things he does often and well.  But mouthing and jumping at our guests is still something he/we need to work on and eating the mulch outside, only to throw up at 5 a.m., is a bad habit, to say the least.  We have been trying to wean him out of his crate at night and put a bed upstairs in our bedroom.  Sometimes he's great and he sleeps through the night but other times he cries and wanders around because he wants to be in his own bed.  It's a work in progress, but we just want him in his crate as little as possible - no matter how much he loves it!  So, all in all, Norman is such a great pup and we love him so much.  Can't wait to watch him continue to grow!

Enough about the dog.  The house is growing as well!  We are ALMOST finished with the upstairs, just a few finishing touches on the hallway color and a little more work on the closets - yay!  But the master bedroom and guest room are finished - can I get an Amen?  Thanks.  I need to take pictures of the final products - so once I get around to doing that, you'll see for yourself!

The backyard gardening will be in full-swing in the next week or two.  I bought my FIRST Groupon, which definitely showed I'm getting older.  Instead of buying a facial or a nice dinner, I buy two for a gardening place.  Yeah, I know.  But it's so expensive to landscape, especially when you have an extremely large backyard, so any coupon, or groupon, helps.  The green thumb will be back and I'll post the progress.  But first, we need to stain the deck, reseal the patio and figure out how to make the grass grow in the backyard.  Wish us luck.

Matt is still traveling all the time.  I miss him.  And I can't believe our 6-month anniversary is on April 24th.  Wow.

And last but not least, I've decided to work more on ME.  With Matt out of town and a growing puppy, it's been hard to focus on a healthy lifestyle.  So I decided to follow in LC's footsteps and do the Couch to 5K program.  Lauren is now running over 5 miles without stopping and she gives me hope to do the same (yay Lauren!).  I may even sign up for my first 5K in June.  Will I be a "runner"?  We will soon see.  So that's my Mon, Wed, Friday routine.  And every morning Norman and I wake up and go on a long walk.  It's a great start to the day and gives me some more exercise!

Phew.  Long post!