Caught Up

You ever have a song that just takes you back? Of course you do, it's like a thing. Well one of mine is Snow (Hey Oh) by Red Hot Chili Peppers and maybe it's the fact that they played at the Super Bowl or the fact that I am avoiding the gym like the plague and listening to random music instead of going,  either way I was listening to it and was instantly transported back to the summer of 2007, the best summer of my entire life.

Warning, this may get mushy.......well with a lead up like 'the best summer of my life' and the fact that it's about my husband guarantees mushiness, so prepare yourself. Anyway, this was the summer that started everything. I started dating/falling in love with Dom. We lived 8 hours away from each other and would visit about once a month. This song was popular at the time and was linked to all my happiness with Dom. 

I'm not sure we even played the song together and the song is labeled the exact opposite of the time period I associate it with but it happened, I associated it with Dom and that summer and so it will forever live on as the best song that gives me butterflies every time I listen to it, even now, 6 1/2 years later and I'm still falling for that guy.

House Work

It's almost been a year since I last posted so that was the motivation for this post today. You would think a lot may have happened in a year and I'm sure that it did but only one large thing comes to mind for us.......we bought a house.

Yes, this is not new information since the year anniversary is rapidly approaching for that too but I have never blogged about it and I shall explain why.

Also, just to forewarn you, no, I don't have a lot of pictures.

Anyway, we bought a lovely house built in 1989. I tell you this because everything was still from 1989 with minimal updates that only detracted from the house. Everything was in pretty good condition but everything needed updating.

We worked long and hard for about 5 months on major projects and then got burnt out and have just slowly been working on the rest. This my friends is why I have not blogged. The house has taken over my life and when it's not demanding my attention, all I want to do is sit, sit and appreciate not moving.

Here is a list of all the things we have done to the house that I can remember:

• Painted EVERYTHING. 
• Removed wall paper
• Removed dry wall and replaced it
• Re-textured walls*
• Replaced toilets
• Lined cabinets
• Pulled up linolium
• Jack hammered tile
• Tiled 5 separate rooms
• Roof repairs
• Installed speakers
• Changed almost every light in the house except vanity and dining room 
• Replaced ALL outlets and switches
• Took down an above ground pool
• Re-hung fence gate
• Installed all new appliances
• Replaced guest shower*
• Fixed stupid mistakes with guest shower
• Fixed leak in master shower and replaced shower head*
• Converted to gas*
• Wall removal*
• Removed flourescent lights in kitchen
• Installed can lighting in kitchen and sitting room
• Drilled through tile to install shower curtain
• Replaced all carpet*
• Replaced a pipe
• Framed master bedroom windows
• Re stacked fire wood
• Replaced all hardware

I'm sure I have forgotten a lot but each one is a story within itself.  We are still working on small things now but a lot that's left are things that need some major saving up for, like new counter tops or vanities and unfortunately there are things that need doing now before those can happen, like a new AC/Heater unit.

It is all a blessing to have a home that we have made our own and the privacy and memories that allots us but man, our next house will require minimal work.

P.S. When things are closer to done I will take pictures.

*outsourced

If You're Happy And You Know It

You know how we all go through little phases where we'll say certain phrases for a while or make certain faces or whatever? Well my latest one is a little ridiculous. When I get happy about something I'll clap my hands together.......yep, just picture that scene in The Nutty Professor where they clap their hands together and say, "Hercules, Hercules, Hercules." Here, for those of you who have forgotten or have never seen it:



At least this is how I picture myself. I may be a little better than that but still, I'm 25 years old......not 3. My family was in town recently and I made the mistake of telling them that I do this, they saw it and started to do it themselves. Ah huh, every time they got excited or happy about something they'd stop, look at me and then clap theirs hands. Don't you just love family? ;)

I'm trying to phase it out but sometimes, when you're happy and you know it......you clap your hands.

Go Shawty, It's Your Birthday

I was thinking about blogging something new today and saw that I had this little baby ready to go except for the writing.

I get so exhausted putting together all of the pictures that by the time it comes to writing about them I'm spent......................then I never blog again. So I'm just going to post it without in-depth explanations.

This was what we did for my Birthday (February). We went camping out by San Francisco, one of my favorite cities. :)

Our campsite was pretty lush.

Our fist time using our equipment and my Birthday "cake."

We did a hike and it was quite steep but lovely.

Right???

He's so great.

It was a bit cold at the top. This was the photo with the least blue lips.

We outlasted everyone.

So, a couple other things to mention, Dom got me yarn to start off the trip. We forgot our overnight bag and had to pick up a couple of toiletries on the way. We froze that night because we had no other clothes. A mole was climbing under our heads the whole night. We accidentally took the harder trail to the top of the mountain, however it was faster. One last thing, I had an amazing Birthday with my awesome husband. :)

The Good Life

 Last weekend was quite a nice one. On Friday it was our pup's birthday.  He turned 3 and so we took him out to celebrate on Saturday. Oh yeah, we did it up big, we took him to a large yard full of grass, water buckets, and tennis balls..........nothing but the best for our baby. We also have one of those awesome ball flinger things and so we played catch until Scram couldn't run anymore.

 

My little family at the dog park.

The poor punkin had some raw feet at the end of the day but he was one happy birthday boy. His tail never stopped wagging. :)

On Sunday Dom took me to the beach!!!!!  I LOVE the beach and miss it so much. I missed the sand and sun and beach towns.  I might have mentioned these facts lately and so Dom found a beach that matched my description and took me to it. Major brownie points.

Stinson Beach

We had a nice drive down and got to finish up our audio book, Pride & Prejudice and Zombies. Nothing gets you in the mood for a relaxing day at the beach like some slaying of dreadfuls in an English accent. I'm telling you, I love Elizabeth Bennet even more now. ;)

Once the heat of the sun wore off and the wind picked up, we put on our jackets and started walking.  It was a pretty lengthy beach and we thought walking to the end of it would warm us up. 

Once we got there we sat on a log and watched the eclipse. Now we didn't watch it because that would be dumb but we glanced at the sun and viewed the scenery around us. It was like enjoying an overcast day but with sunshine.......I love overcast days as much as I love the beach so it was right up my alley.

Some Eclipse Fun

On our walk back we realized it was quite a distance and started to wager about the exact mileage. I said that we probably walked a mile and a half altogether and Dom said a mile.......This is what we actually did:

Our walk

2 Miles one way, we were so off but felt pretty proud of ourselves. Walking on the beach is just too good that you don't realized how far you travel. I did happen to mention that my guess was closer a couple of times but unfortunately not close enough to win. I'm sure we'll find something else to bet on soon enough.

 

Our Path

Every time we looked back on our walk to the car it was such a pretty sight. Dom noticed that it was just our footprints in the sand too. I love this man and I'm glad I get to walk all my walks with him.

Once we left, the sights didn't end. This was just a little ways down the coast. It was the Muir Beach Overlook and it had Stinson Beach in the background. Dom took a couple pictures with his camera but I haven't seen them yet. I'm sure they're lovely but what my phone captured was pretty nice too.

It was such a fun weekend with my husband and I was sad to leave the pretty beach but I'm sure we'll visit again and this three day weekend we're having now isn't too bad either. Lot's of sleeping in and lounging around. A much deserved break for my husband.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures, I'll check back in later.

My Punkin

Recently our little Baby Scram got sick.  His tummy couldn't handle anything and we had some lovely surprises.  Poor guy, he was a mess and we ended up having to take him to the vet. He was not happy about this. He started shaking the second we walked in the door and hid under the bench hoping to be protected by his mommy. I felt horrible.

Scared Baby

 He got a shot, antibiotics and bland food. Turns out he has a sensitive stomach. No more chips for the punkin......sorry Scram.

 

It's taken him a little bit but he's all better now and has lately been a little cuddle bug.

Mother's Day

 He snuggled up with me on the couch on Mother's Day and I loved it. He was recently shaved and, even though I miss his curly ears terribly, he is incredibly soft. His coat is like butta!

 This little guy just makes me happy and I'm so glad he's feeling better. I love him dearly and his cuddly mood has pushed me over the edge. He owns me now more than ever. :)

Quinceanero

My brother just turned 15 and I was lucky enough to be able to celebrate with him. My family came up for Easter break and spent some time with me and the husband. It was so nice having them around.

We are trying to buy a house and it was SUCH a relief having my well seasoned parents around while we checked out some homes. Their wisdom is priceless especially when it's such a big decision.

My mom and I have similar taste and she is able to help me see what could be in scenarios such as these. We would look at a house and I would see a flaw and say something like........this is dumb, what builder would ever think this is a good idea? And my wonderful mother would come in and say, no, just think of some paint this color and shelving here and I eventually I would see the light.

We looked at a ton of houses with them, dragging my poor brothers everywhere too but they were so good about it. They would suggest which of our future kids would go in what room and how we could totally use this room for games, it was funny. We would then debrief at dinner.

My mom needed to use my glasses at CPK and I think she looked quite good. Very pretty mom. :)

Easter Sunday was pretty fun, we went to church, ate a huge brunch, went on a long walk with Dom's family and then met them up for dinner.

I was really excited for the coming week though because my wonderful brother chose to spend his birthday in San Francisco!!!! I was so happy that he wanted me to come along because I LOVE San Francisco!! We shopped, ate, did some sight seeing and then shopped and ate some more.

My dad and Logan on the trolley, they would lean out right after the driver told them not to. Typical boys.

Austin's favorite food is sushi so we had that for his Birthday dinner. He was in love and I was just happy to see that they served chicken. They all said the sushi was great but my taste buds disagreed, I tried some like all sushi lovers have me do and the result was still the same......yuck! Whatever, it was a fun evening and the fam was happy.

It was awesome waking Austin up in the morning by sitting on him and yelling YOU'RE 15!!! I asked him how it felt and his response, "I turned 15 when I was 4." If you knew him, you wouldn't be surprised by this. We spent the day shopping again and getting him his presents on his actual birthday.

I think all of the walking around might have gotten to Logan. This was the best I could get out of him.

What a stud, I can't believe my little man turned 15..........I miss toting him around on his rocking horse (or maybe it was a truck) and hearing the cutest giggle in the world. Oh well, they all have to grow up sometime right? It was quite the fun trip, the only downer was Dom couldn't come because of work.

I was sad to see my family go and I hope that they can visit again soon. What's a 9 hour drive for your only daughter right?