Kitchen Remodel- The Beginning

It's time for a kitchen remodel. We finally picked out granite and had it installed last weekend. We decided to start there and work the rest of the decor around the granite. Here is kitchen before.

 

And kitchen after new granite install. We originally were debating about painting or staining the cupboards, or a mixture of both, but I think we will leave them. They ended up matching the counter tops. That is something we can do later as easily as we could now.  We are going to sell our old appliances and get black ones, add hardware to the cupboards and drawers, and add a tile back splash that is yet to be decided.

Sink and bar before

Sink and counter after

We had some issues with this side of the kitchen. The granite was cut 3/4 inch too shallow so we will have to built up under the bar before adding a backsplash. The sink is much bigger than the old one and, as you can see, the hole for the faucet was cut under the bar. We are replacing old bar with a custom wood one. We will install it farther back, but still need to find a faucet that will fit this tight space. The one we purchased didn't work, even with Rick cutting some space in the old bar. We will be without running water in the kitchen for most of the week until we find time to shop for the right one. Lots of eating out.

 We thought it was funny that one of the little scrap wood pieces from Rick cutting up the bar ended up looking like Texas.(This is the only pic that wouldn't flip right side up. Tilt your head to the left and you'll get the Texas thing.)

Originally, we were going to replace the tile. We do not like wood for a kitchen floor so we were going to pick new tile. The kind we liked ended up not matching the granite. We think we'll just keep what we have because it turned out to be the right colors to go with the granite. I spent HOURS on Saturday cleaning the grout, which made a big difference. Some of the stains did not come out though. Any ideas? I saw they had a product that stains and seals grout. We have the same tile in the laundry room, so maybe I'll try it there before the kitchen. The big bummer will be if I do all this work and then we decide to tear it out anyway.

I'm excited about our home projects. In a month or so, our house should be much more what we have wanted since we moved in 3.5 years ago.

Girl's Weekend - Mom's Birthday

What do you get your mom for her birthday when she has everything? GIRLS WEEKEND!  My sisters and I sprung for a room a Little America, and we all spent the weekend downtown.

There was lots of shopping. Here we are at City Creek. The water fountain is choreographed to Christmas music.

Instead of going out to a movie we opted for a movie in the hotel room. Here we are all on one of the beds ready for a flick.

The next morning we had the brunch buffet at Little America (yum) and shopped some more. Such a fun time. I love spending time with my mom and sisters (and cutie niece, Bree, who was so good all weekend long.)

Thanksgiving Weekend

Rick and I took a road trip to Santa Barbara for Thanksgiving. I did not take any photos of the big event (Thanksgiving dinner), although it was lovely. We ate outside which was a first for me with Thanksgiving. It was very enjoyable.

Between dinner and pie we walked down to the nature park. Well, some of us walked, others rode in the chariot. (This was part of Mara's Halloween costume this year.)

Here's some of the family walking around the park. We saw ducks and were attacked by a crazy goose.

Saturday we went to the beach. Here is Ava ready to play.

Danny, Cameron and Rick spent some time in the water. The waves weren't great, but they had fun. Dolphins and a seal came to play with them.

Mara was not happy to be pulled away from her book to go the beach, so she built herself a little shelter to read in.

We decided to detour on the way home and took the back way from Vegas. We stumbled upon the Extraterrestrial Highway. (I don't have photo of the sign- it's on Rick's phone.) It's the road to Area 51 and reportedly has a lot of UFO sightings. We didn't see any, but some of our things were strangely tampered with when we got home. I'm thinking our memory of it must have been erased. :)

We found a little gift shop which was closed but had fun stuff around it.

Here we are about to be abducted.

Rick breaking into the Alien Research Facility at Area 51.

We had planned to get home early, but obviously had too many distractions and did not get home until 11PM. Worth it.

It was so nice to have a weekend away with Rick, spend some time with his family, and forget about the stress of life for a bit.  Definitely a needed and refreshing trip.

November Birchbox

What's up with blogger. I can't make a draft. Annoying!

I've been so busy that I haven't had time to blog. Don't have time now so you're getting a version without too many details. Here goes....

Little bottle of hairspray. Yay. Perfect for my office drawer.

Geez. Also can't figure how to rotate. This is an oil for your face. You apply under your make up. I thought it would leave my face greasy, but it didn't, although I don't know that it did much else either.

Pomegranate soap. Nice.

Why are these all upside down! I like the separating and lengthening of this mascara, but I prefer thickening, which this doesn't have. But it does have the handy application mirror on the side. 

More perfume samples. I'm getting quite a collection!

It's People

My last two blogs are just part of what I've been thinking lately. And by lately I mean the past couple of years.

In my single life, I would leave about 7AM to walk to work. I had plans most nights and would get home just in time to go to bed an start over the next day. I had lots of amazing friends and there was always something to do. Being social has always been a big part of my life.

I remember after my freshman year in college I was thinking about all the fun people I'd met that year. My world had just been opened up from my little high school bubble. I remember saying to a friend, "I am so thankful for all of the people in the world that I don't know." What I meant was, knowing how the new people I had met during the year had enriched my life, I was excited about all the people I had yet to meet. I loved having that perspective.

One year in college, my roommates and I had the motto, "It's people." That meant that no matter what else we thought was important, it wasn't as important as the people in our lives. I remember the day we came up with it. We were going around our apartment saying, "It's not this book, it's people. It's not the lamp, or the TV, or my car. It's people." What a great perspective on life. I've lost that somewhere along the way.

I have had a hard time connecting with people since I've been married. I've also lost connection with a lot of people I love. We always say we'll get together, then don't. I think there are many reasons for this. First, I love spending time with Rick. I never get tired of it. The more I'm with him, the more I enjoy being with him. (Cheesy, huh?) But I need to remember that my life will be enriched by added diversity. I need to expand.

My peers changed drastically when I got married. I went from the single scene with a bunch of high-powered friends who traveled and went out every night, to suburbia where everyone has been married since they were in their 20s and had families. That was harder for me than I thought. They all had family life mastered and I was drowning trying to figure it out. I'm sure I could have used their help and advice, but mostly I just felt out of place and depressed.

Another reason for my social-less-ness has been my stress level. I've had a steady stream of health issues the past 3-4 years. That plus the stress of going from single girl to being a working mother has made balancing my time difficult. I'm gone most of the day at work, come home, clean the kitchen, fix dinner, clean the kitchen again, and crash. Weekends are for errands and hopefully a date with my hubby. Try to fit in exercise and extended family, and I'm pooped!

So... enough with the excuses. It seems the health issues continue. One ends, another starts. Maybe this will just be my life after 40. I'm old an falling apart. I am learning to disconnect my physical well being with my emotional/mental well being. Time to drink a bottle of suck-it-up and not let it hold me back. I'm also getting better at balancing my time, or to put it more precisely, not care that everything isn't getting done. I can have friends over for game night even if my kitchen floor hasn't been mopped. It's people, not my floor, that matter.

Rick and I set a goal to entertain at least once a month. This will be old friends as well as new people we'd like to get to know better. We made the effort this month, but friends schedules didn't work out at the last minute. Not giving up. Looking forward to it. It's people!