Shutter Mug

Tufted ottoman

2012-02-07T22:16:00.002-05:00

After seeing many DIY Tufted Ottomans on several blogs, I decided it was time I tried! I've always wanted a large ottoman but they're rather pricey. This cost me about $50! I got the table off Craigslist for $10. The top was not in great shape but the table was sturdy and that's all that matters. I initially bought foam from Jo-Ann Fabrics but it was incredibly expensive. I then had an idea! What if I bought a foam mattress topper off Amazon? Maybe it would be cheaper...

Well, it definitely was cheaper. 2" foam from Jo-Ann Fabrics is $40/yard! I got a twin size mattress topper (2") off Amazon for $30! That even leaves me some extra foam for other projects

Here is the table before

I spray-painted the legs and base black and that's about it. This is one of the tutorials I used. I even made the buttons myself! I think because I have a patterned fabric, it's harder to see the buttons creating the tufting. They look great in person, though!

Quick and easy

2012-02-05T14:23:00.002-05:00

Here is a little project I just threw together in about an hour. I have seen frames like this on
Etsy, usually about $60 to buy. Well, I had the shadow-box frame and the cute patterned paper. All I bought was the heart-shaped cutter ($3.50)

You can see a bit more dimension from this angle. They stick off the paper a bit. I absolutely love this and will probably make more!

Even more projects

2012-01-26T21:26:00.002-05:00

For the past couple weeks, I've been working on this duvet cover. I saw it in a blog and loved it!

It is based off this Urban Outfitters duvet.

Only difference is, this one cost me about $25 to make! What do you think?

Here is a newsboy cap I crocheted for myself

It is just about the softest hat I have! I love it!

A few more projects...

2012-01-23T11:46:00.001-05:00

Here are a few things I've made recently. The first is a Skyrim-inspired hat that I crocheted for Alex. He found a pattern online and requested it. It took me about a week to make

Next is a pillow made from fabric remnants. The fabric on the back is yellow like the ribbon.

It's a bit lumpy with the stuffing but I still really like it! I also crocheted a hat for myself but haven't taken a picture yet

Crochet

2012-01-11T20:55:00.000-05:00

I've been taking on lots of crafts lately but crochet has taken up most of my time. I had been practicing a lot with no particular pattern or idea of what to do. I wanted to learn how to crochet in the round and ended up making these:

They are leg warmers! I made them for my mom since she's a dancer and does lots of yoga. They're a bit funky but very comfortable. What do you think?

More waterfalls!

2012-01-03T20:34:00.002-05:00

After knocking around Portland for a few days, I wanted to get out and do more hiking

We found another set of falls called Latourell Falls

At the end of the trail, before you begin the loop back, is another waterfall

this one is smaller than the main one but just as cool

Alex debates if we can make it behind the falls

You can see how much wind the waterfall creates by the billowing of my raincoat! It was incredibly cold back there and you get blasted by cold water

Can you find Alex?

I head up for the spot behind the falls

I'm much easier to spot

We make it back to the main falls and explore

Alex decides to try to get behind this one, too. Can you see him?

He quickly changes his mind after he gets near the falls. He said it was like being blasted by an icy firehose! And he was drenched

The rocks behind the falls are pretty amazing

here is another set of falls we saw; this is Bridal Veil

Here is a shot of Mt. Rainier ( i think) from the plane

Some awesome mountains from the plane

I have some videos I'd like to share as well but I don't have them on my computer yet. I will update soon

Portland, OR

2012-01-03T20:33:00.003-05:00

When in Portland, we checked out some local sights. One is the Pittock Mansion.

It was all dressed up for the holidays

It was a pretty sweet house. On a clear day, all the front-facing windows have views of Mt. Hood. It, of course, was too cloudy for us to see.

We enjoyed lots of local food; some great cafes

Of course we hit up Voodoo Donuts

Also on the "tour" was Hair of The Dog, among many other breweries

Got some awesome cupcakes from Cupcake Jones

Here is a shot, at night, of one of our favorite spots; The Grilled Cheese Grill

The first night I got a grilled cheese with Tillamook cheddar, bacon, apples, and one other cheese.

Here is the "dining car"; an old double-decked bus with tables and chairs. They have small heaters set up in there and lots of Trivial Pursuit for while you wait

The second time we visited, I got one with egg, bacon, cheddar and ham on pumpernickle bread. They even have dessert sandwiches! We got one with mascarpone cheese, grilled bananas, and Nutella on cinnamon swirl bread. it was phenomenal!

Here is a better shot in the daytime

The inside

Rogue brewery was another one we hit. It had pretty amazing food and great brews, too. Alex was particularly excited about Rogue.

Waterfalls, galore

2012-01-03T20:27:00.002-05:00

Next on our trip was to head up to Portland and stop by Mt. Hood and other "attractions" along the way. Unfortunately, Mt. Hood was incredibly snowy so getting up to the lodge was near impossible. I did happen to get this shot leaving the mountain, though

Heading closer to Portland along the Columbia River Gorge is a long section of highway that is filled with waterfalls. First stop was Punchbowl Falls

I was unprepared for such a gorgeous hike. It was raining but Alex and I couldn't have cared less. We were in such awe of the hike

The entire 4.something mile hike is littered with smaller waterfalls

Some near and some far

Most of them spill over the hiking trail

At times, it looked like a whole different world

To the right was a huge valley

You can see the waterfall on the right side of the trail

This is a shot of the steep drop-off from the trail

Parts of the trail had wires to hold on where the trail was more narrow

I normally don't like heights but I was just so enthralled by the sights that I wasn't bothered by the narrow trails

Just one of many waterfalls in the distance

Here is a shot of the "creek" we had to cross

Luckily we had waterproof boots as we had to wade through several inches of water

Here is Upper Punchbowl Falls

And heading back down

My personal favorite part of the trail

You can see someone standing near the waterfall with an umbrella

Here is another waterfall that was much more touristy. This is Multnomah Falls

It was pretty awesome; but a less fun hike

Here is a shot at the top of the waterfall

And here is Alex, totally soaked from hiking in the rain

Bend, OR

2012-01-03T20:05:00.000-05:00

Alex and I spent our Christmas break in Oregon this year. We flew into Portland Airport the day after Christmas and spent the night in Portland. The next day we got up early to drive to Bend, Oregon. Bend is one of the towns near Crater Lake, which I wanted to see. On our way to Bend, we stopped off at Tumalo Falls. Below are pictures of that

the falls

Obligatory top-of-the-waterfall shot

We "checked in" to the place we were staying (someone's guest house) and were welcomed by this great little basket full of goodies!

While in Bend, we checked out Deschutes Brewery and got a tour.

We also got to sample LOTS of beer

We woke early the next day (5am, as we mostly stayed on east coast time) and hit up this local restaurant called "Chow"

All their food is made fresh with local produce. I got french toast with french vanilla ricotta cheese and caramelized apples on top. It was delicious! We then hopped in the car to head down to Crater Lake

This is the only picture I have of Crater Lake; as you can see (or not see), it was incredibly foggy. We stood on the rim but just couldn't see a thing. I was so disappointed. I really wanted to see it. So we round ourselves up and headed back down the mountain to try to find some hot springs our waitress told us about. We drove and drove for a few more hours, feeling pretty depressed about not seeing Crater Lake. Finally we come upon the trail-head and are greeted with this sign:

Hmm, Ok, this has gotta be good

An attempt at a self-portrait at the trail-head to the Umpqua hot springs

All the trees were covered in what looked like tiny ferns

Alright, hot springs 1200ft, we can handle that

A quick shot of the trail

Here are photos from my cell phone; hiking up to the springs

Finally it comes in sight!

There were about 6 different hot springs pools. This one was under a structure someone had constructed

Here is a picture of the hottest one; probably 130 degrees. It was at the top of the cliff-side

Another shot of the "shack"

Some of the pools further down the face

They all overlooked the river

Here were some of the cooler pools.

We hung out there in the pools for a couple hours. There were probably 10 other people there. You can tell hikers come and go. it is not very populated. If you google it and look at the images, you can see some better shots of the area. This detour totally saved the day. I had been so bummed about not seeing Crater Lake but this hidden gem really made up for it

the third annual Cookie Day!

2011-12-22T20:24:00.000-05:00

This past Sunday was the annual cookie day with what originally was just my mother-in-law and myself. It has now grown to my best friend, my mom, and my sister-in-law. Marie always makes a fantastic lunch and then we get down to business!

We had quite the agenda!

Just getting into the baking...look at all the supplies!

Kyle anxiously awaits the cinnamon cookies

"Are they done yet?"

The beautiful cinnamon sandwich cookies

Little turtles

This has a bit of a story...check the picture below. See those adorable white logs with red sprinkles? Yup, those are supposed to be the same "cookies". They failed miserably. I blame the recipe. It was absolutely not salvageable. The "logs" were too dry to roll and too crumbly to dip into super-thick white chocolate. So we gave up

Here's the spread!

And some thumb-print cookies. Excuse the color, I didn't do any post-processing with any of these photos.

Cookie day is always a blast! Thanks to Marie for always hosting such a wonderful day!

DC Arboretum

2011-12-11T22:15:00.001-05:00

This weekend my family made it out to the DC Arboretum. It was all dressed up for the holidays

And because I can never seem to figure out Blogger, here are my latest sewing projects. I made a wrist pin-cushion

This is my new/re-purposed sewing cabinet

I got the cabinet (it's a TV cabinet, by the way) from the ReStore in Chantilly for $25!

I even made a thread rack

Back to the Arboretum

If you have never been to the Arboretum, I highly recommend it! Be sure to bring a camera

Dresser rehab

2011-11-27T18:58:00.001-05:00

I've had this old dresser for a while and was never really crazy about it. It felt like it was time to rehab it

I painted the handles black and the rest of it off-white. I think it turned out pretty well.

Last wedding of the year!

2011-11-20T20:05:00.001-05:00

Earlier this month, I had my last wedding of the year. It was for two of my friends from college.

I am so glad they called me to shoot this!

They are such a fun couple and I've known them since freshman year of college when we all lived on the same floor in the dorms

These two have history!

The bride's, Amy, shoes were a hit all night!

Check out the inside of Lightfoot Cafe in Leesburg. This used to be a bank

The cake was gorgeous, but even more impressive is that Amy made those flowers herself!

Oh yeah, there was some cake smashing, too!

Thanks again guys for letting me be part of your day

Tough Mudder VA 2011

2011-11-11T20:43:00.001-05:00

I have put off writing my experience with Tough Mudder because I knew it would be a long post and I just haven't had the time to sit down and write it. Tough Mudder was 3 weeks ago in Wintergreen, VA. **Pictures taken from Tough Mudder VA Facebook page**

The views at Wintergreen

Alex and I are no strangers to what are often called "adventure races"; we had completed two Warrior Dash races before deciding to sign up for Tough Mudder. I have never been a runner. I barely trained for Warrior Dash but I knew Tough Mudder would be different. Immediately following Warrior Dash in May 2011, Alex created a running plan for us that would span 5 months and get us running up to 12 miles at one time. It was a slow training process and it took a long time for me to get beyond truly hating running; but once I did, I actually started to enjoy the running. We found a trail near our house that wound through the trees and was certainly more interesting than running through our neighborhood. Once we started getting into the serious mileage (8 miles+) my knee started giving me trouble. I stopped running two weeks before Tough Mudder in hopes it would improve.

A nice little jab at Warrior Dash ;-)

Alex and I booked a room at a small B&B in Afton, VA for two nights. We showed up on Saturday, with our race on Sunday we had a night to recover before driving home. We spoke to some Tough Mudders on Saturday evening and eased our nerves a bit. Sunday morning we got up early, got fed a gigantic breakfast and headed out for Wintergreen. We hopped on the bus up the mountain; getting more and more nervous. We quickly checked in, got our badge and got marked (they write your number on your forehead in Sharpie). We were still about an hour off from our start time so we decided to hop in to the 10 o'clock start. With everyone lined up at the starting line, the deejay hyped everyone up and explained the goal of finishing and helping others finish; you don't leave a Tough Mudder behind. The National Anthem was played and then we were off!

Right off the bat was a freezing cold shower from a snow-maker, immediately followed by a humiliating climb up a ski slope. We knew we were in for it then! I couldn't believe how steep the slope was. Overall, there was a 1,250 foot gain in elevation over the 10 mile course. There were eight ski slopes that we had to trudge up and back down. 25 obstacles still lie ahead of us...

Shortly after the first hill were the Berlin Walls; 8 foot walls that had to be scaled. They were tricky to do without help but some people made it. The following obstacle was "Devil's Beard"; it involved crawling under a cargo net while bear-crawling up the ski slope.

Berlin Walls

Up next was "Hold your wood"; grab a log and get up the hill. Once you reach the top, turn around again and head back down. This one wasn't too bad

The next several obstacles involved water, very cold water. First were large hay bales being soaked by snow makers, followed by another humiliating climb up the ski slope. Beyond that were the "Funky Monkey" bars. I was pretty nervous about these. I had worn gloves and was so focused on not falling that I actually made it all the way across! My shoulders felt pretty shot after that, though. Despite avoiding falling in the water, immediately after this obstacle was a pool of cold, muddy water that you had to trudge through. A quick jog through the woods brought us to the next obstacle; "Twinkle Toes", a balance beam over (you guessed it) cold water. Luckily I made it across this, too.


Monkey Bars (sans water)

Balance Beam

Up next was the obstacle I was dreading most; the "Chernobyl Bath". Let me explain this to you, it's a dumpster full of ice water. Not just a little bit of ice; a TON of ice. The water was about 37 degrees. Not only do you have to jump in the water, but there is a piece of wood across the dumpster to prevent you from climbing over. This meant fully submerging your head in the icy water. I was fortunate there was another "mudder" at the other end of the dumpster who spotted me and pulled me out. My brain completely stopped communicating with the rest of my body; I couldn't pull myself out. So I stayed behind to help a few others out as well. After the water obstacles, space blankets were provided but Alex and I shouldered on without.

Chernobyl (sans water and ice)

I wasn't lying about the ice...

The next few obstacles involved climbing cargo nets, running through the woods, sliding down slicked up plastic, swimming in more cold water under barrels, crawling through pipes and tunnels, crawling through mud under barbed wire, etc. Each Tough Mudder has a "mystery obstacle". Ours was some type of slide that started with a straight free fall. I don't think they had really tested it out because people shot out of that thing with such speed that they were sliding out beyond the tarps and getting rather torn up on rocks. As soon as I shot out of the slide, I noticed several people on the sides with lots of deep gashes. I heard the EMT shout to shut the obstacle down immediately. It was right after Alex and I got through it. Luckily, neither of us got hurt on that one.

The slides

There was more crawling through the mud, traversing cargo nets, getting hosed down by fire hoses, hiking up more ski slopes, and another set of Berlin Walls; 12 feet, this time. They were particularly tough at this point because we were pretty far into the course.

Coming up on some of the final obstacles were the toughest. We got tied up at "Everest" for about an hour due to the backup of people. It was a particularly difficult obstacle where a quarter pipe was greased up and you had to make it to the top. People experimented with all kinds of methods; human ladder, tying shirts together and making a rope, and straight up just running for it! I decided to just go for it and run. There were three guys I'd made eye contact with at the top and grabbed their hands. They pulled me up and over. It definitely pays to be a small female at an event like this

"Everest"; this is how most people got over

Immediately following was the "Fire Walker"; a "tunnel" you have to run through that is lined with burning hay bales. The smoke it created was absolutely stifling. I had my shirt over my mouth and just barely made it through. My eyes and lungs burned but I knew we were close. All that remained was one more climb uphill and "Electroshock therapy", but not without another hosing down of cold water. Alex and I looked at each other and heard someone recommend running on the sides as the shocks aren't too bad. We went at the same time; both got popped twice but it wasn't too bad.


"Electro-shock Therapy"

All-in-all, it took Alex and I 4.5 hours to finish. Here's what I've taken away from Tough Mudder:

Alex and I both wore tight-fitting, quick drying clothing. This was crucial!
We also both wore gloves with good grip; helped protect our hands and help over obstacles
I brought Shot-Blocks for quick energy, which was a life-saver!
Next time we will do less running for training and more hiking/rock scrambling
Next time we will also do it with a team; we think it would be much more fun!

Immediately following Tough Mudder, we didn't think we'd ever want to do it again. But only the next morning we were already thinking maybe we'd do it again, despite our soreness. I can definitely say there were sore muscles that I didn't even know I had; and lots of bruises. What was so amazing about Tough Mudder was the camaraderie. Everyone is willing to help everyone else! The course is un-timed so the focus is on finishing, not beating people's times. You get a lot of encouragement from other mudders; total strangers. But doing the obstacles together, you definitely feel tied to them. Much of the proceeds of Tough Mudder go to the Wounded Warrior Project as well, which is a fantastic project. I think when we do it again we will also do it earlier in the morning. The obstacles should be in better shape and we might not run into the backups that we did.

This event was very well organized. There were multiple aid stations along the course that had First Aid, water and bananas. At the end you get a free beer, t-shirt, headband and get to hang out listening to bands play. They also had lots of bonfires around to help you warm up. We are definitely do this next year and hope to be better prepared!

Who's in?!

**All photos from Tough Mudder VA Facebook page**

Happy Halloween snow!

2011-10-29T16:42:00.002-04:00

We are getting some unusually early snow here! I can't think of another time when we've gotten snow before Halloween. Regardless, I am enjoying it! It also put me in the mood to bake these Pumpkin Spice bars. They are pretty rockin'! I added some nutmeg and cloves but I think it could use even more; I like real spicy cake

Tough Mudder

2011-10-24T13:50:00.001-04:00

This weekend Alex and I made a trek to Wintergreen Resort for Tough Mudder. We stayed in a small B&B in Afton, VA called Le Bleu Ridge; about 20 minutes from Wintergreen

This handsome little fella lived there; his name was Le Mew

He wasn't shy, either!

We couldn't have asked for better weather!

This is the view from the parking lot of the B&B we stayed at

Right next door is the Flying Fox Vineyard.

We got a glass of wine and enjoyed the sunset

Later that night, I decided to attempt my first start photography. The sky was so incredibly clear and the stars so bright! It was very cold but I captured a few shots I like

The green glow on the tree was from a small streetlamp not too far away. It wasn't totally dark but the streetlamp didn't totally ruin my photos either. I'll see if I can get some Tough Mudder photos up here soon, too! Alex and I finished in 4.5 hours. It was one of the physically hardest things I've ever done

Halloween and my favorite activity

2011-10-20T21:15:00.004-04:00

Check out these cupcakes my friend Jed and I made tonight!

They are so Halloween-y! I love 'em :-) Thanks for your help, Jed!

Apple Rings

2011-10-10T19:33:00.004-04:00

Here's a twist on the norm; these look like onion rings, right? Close, but they are apple rings. I found this recipe a few weeks back and knew I had to try it! I had some still-usable oil left over from the donuts I made so I figured I'd give this a shot

They turned out really well! I used Granny-Smith apples, which gave the inside a nice, tart taste. The outside was light and crispy, drizzled in the cinnamon-sugar glaze. These are heavenly! I definitely recommend giving it a shot if you've got some apples that need using. I halved the recipe, as it called for 6 apples and I didn't think Alex and I needed that many apple rings. This is a fantastic fall recipe! It would be delightful with some tea or coffee

New kitchen floors!

2011-10-06T22:21:00.003-04:00

Alex and I have finally had enough! We did our own hardwood flooring a few years ago and it was a royal pain! We never wanted to do it again. So we hired someone to take care of it for us. Here are some before and after shots!

Kitchen overall before and after. I feel like the hardwood really warms up the kitchen. The white cabinets look less stark white. I think I'll have to repaint the walls now

Here's the bathroom before and after

Apologies for the horrendous formatting; Blogger really sucks for adding photos. I just can't get them to go where I want them. Regardless, you get the idea. The kitchen looks much more complete now! It took the guys 2 days to do the flooring. It probably would have taken Alex and I a month to finish!

Oh goodness gracious!

2011-10-01T19:25:00.004-04:00

Holy moly; I decided to make homemade donuts tonight and can I just say I am so glad I did!

These are dangerous! They are entirely too easy to make and waaaaay too delicious!

You probably should not ask me how I made them because it is just a recipe for disaster. Let me just say they are made with refrigerated biscuits; so easy!

Fun with sewing!

2011-09-25T21:28:00.001-04:00

This weekend I put together a little "treat" for some kitties! I made a tie with a collar, HA

This was the cats' response when I told them what I made...

Seriously?

Ok, this isn't so bad

Alex loves these cats; for real

Also found this spider outside our house today. He was about 3 inches long; crazy looking!

Cinnamon Bread

2011-09-24T22:40:00.001-04:00

I have been wanting to try this recipe for months now! It's a cinnamon-sugar pull-apart bread

And it is to die for! I highly recommend it. It is rather labor intensive so make sure you've got several hours to do it

Oh yeah, and cream cheese to put on top

Added little bonus from today; got some new snowboard boots today! Mine have been giving me trouble since the day I bought them 8 years ago. It was finally time to find some better ones and I think these fit the bill

Roses

2011-09-12T17:41:00.003-04:00

This weekend I planted some Knock-Out roses in our new walkway bed. And this morning they were ever so slightly kissed with dew!

Beautiful thing to wake up to.

Had to run inside and get my camera

Day trip

2011-09-05T17:58:00.002-04:00

We took a day trip to Ocean City this weekend. The weather was perfect! Clear blue skies and the water was warm, too

It was a great way to give a send-off to summer. I am so looking forward to fall

Not too crowded, either. Love it

Bad day turned good!

2011-08-26T16:52:00.000-04:00

This morning started off really rough with me taking a bad tumble down the stairs. With bruises and rug burn, I headed in to work. But the day actually only got better! I got a lot of work done and this afternoon I got a call from my favorite local bakery saying I won their business card drawing!

This is the cake I won! It's from Edibles Incredible

This cake is gigantic!! It is also coincidentally my favorite flavor of theirs; lemon supreme

I cannot wait to cut into this baby later tonight

Gina and Jason wedding!

2011-08-25T21:50:00.000-04:00

for the first time in a year, I was pulled out of retirement to assist Cassidy with a wedding

The cutest place cards I've seen!

"cheers"!

This place had great views, great grounds! And it's located in Chantilly

I had never heard of it before

Adorable drinking straws for the iced tea and lemonade station

The live band was fantastic!

The boat dock no more!

2011-08-17T20:32:00.000-04:00

Those of you who have been reading my blog may remember this beaut! We lovingly referred to it as our "boat dock"...because well, what the hell was it?

So we tore it down...it was one of our first projects

And this is how it looked for a lonnnnnng time; several years

Well, we decided to change that! As a treat to ourselves for all the hard work WE have done on our house by ourselves, Alex and I decided to hire Merrifield to do some landscape work for us.

This was what it looked like yesterday. All the sod was torn out, hand edged, and new dirt brought in.

Here it is tonight! There are 3 crape myrtles and 5 skip laurels. Alex and I did the mulching ourselves (hey, gotta have a little hand in this!).

We also will be adding large stepping stones along the path; 36 of them to be precise. And they are HEAVY! But we are up to the challenge

We will probably attempt it this weekend

Once these get bigger, they will provide much-needed privacy for our deck. Since our deck faces the street, anyone walking by can see us

One more crape myrtle in the back near the back corner of the deck

Here's the view from the deck. It will look great with the stepping stones!

And another view from the street. I will also be adding all kinds of plans throughout the bed but I'm still deciding what do add. I am thinking a few hostas for sure. Anyway, it feels fantastic to have not done the really hard stuff ourselves. We really have worked so hard to do everything on our own on this house, we thought we deserved to have someone else do the work for a change!

Pancakes, tomatoes, and an engagement

2011-08-08T19:05:00.000-04:00

Several weekends ago, I had the pleasure of doing an engagement shoot with these two, Melanie and Gethyn! I can definitely say it was the first time I've been served pancakes before a shoot!

Mel and Gethyn have a fantastic little garden on their apartment patio

Mel's engagement ring and Gethyn's "engagement" watch. The watch was see-through, allowing you to see the inner workings of the watch

Mel's parents brought them these hats and I couldn't resist using them

Very cute!

Mel's ring is absolutely stunning!

And here's their cute dog Brock

These two spend a lot of time on bikes so of course, we incorporated some biking

These two are talented!

Thanks for having me shoot you guys! I had a great time! Can't wait for the wedding in a few months

More work at mom and dad's

2011-08-06T20:27:00.000-04:00

Today Alex and I helped mom and dad rip out and replace rotted framing on their front porch

This was the gigantic hole where we were working

Once we replaced all the framing, we put down nice, new tongue and groove flooring

It looks great and we got it all done before it started to pour!

Work at someone else's house

2011-08-05T14:06:00.000-04:00

About a month ago, I spent a couple days at my parents' house helping them with some projects. One of them was repainting their front porch.

Part of that involved painting the ceiling of the front porch. My mom found a great light blue paint so we put that up. I think it looks great and is very fitting for the age of the house

We also got into stripping wallpaper. Unfortunately I don't have a before picture but it was dark green wallpaper

Sorry for the sideways picture...the plan is to paint the walls above the wainscoting and paint the wainscoting white

And here is a picture I took of all my soccer trophies before I threw them all away. I've been holding on to them for years and finally decided to chuck 'em; not without taking a picture first!

An engagement weekend!

2011-07-31T20:11:00.001-04:00

This was an engagement-filled weekend! On Saturday I did an engagement shoot with my friends Melanie and Gethyn. Today was a surprise engagement party for Adam and Catherine. I made cupcakes in a jar!

I did strawberry

Raspberry

And blueberry

I also made a berry tart

This thing was pretty killer! It took 2 days to make but so worth it! The shell was buttery and flaky. Under the berries was a pastry creme; it's like a vanilla custard/pudding. It is very tasty!

Here are all the jars full of cake, icing, whipped cream, and berries

Alex made this wonderful label for the tops of the jars

The sprawl

Jordan and Adam's grandfather visit

Surprise!

Then we enjoyed a slideshow that Peter made

The tart disappeared very quickly!

I will have photos from Melanie and Gethyn's engagement session soon so check back

Congrats to Adam and Catherine!

Birthday festivities

2011-07-24T19:38:00.000-04:00

We celebrated Alex's birthday this weekend

Naturally there were cupcakes

Cupcakes that I made and then cupcakes someone else made

Shugar Shugar is run by Kay out of her house in Ashburn. I came across her cupcakes at a wine and cupcake tasting several weeks ago. I am typically not impressed by boutique cupcakes but hers were different

I ordered 24 mini cupcakes with the following flavors; vanilla crunch, peppermint patty, red velvet, and chocolate caramel

they were perfect!

My new favorite place

2011-07-10T21:45:00.000-04:00

I made homemade Oreos this weekend, y'all!

They were pretty freakin' tasty! not quite as good as my homemade oatmeal cream pies but pretty close

Yesterday Alex and I set up our new sail shade over our deck. After some new lights, it is now my new favorite place to hang out!

Seriously, how could you not love it? Don't you just want to be laid back in those adirondack chairs?!

Haircut

2011-06-29T19:03:00.000-04:00

Just got my hair cut for the summer! It had gotten so long. it always feels so good having it so short with the summer heat

It will also never look this perfect again, haha

Hobby

2011-06-26T09:29:00.000-04:00

My mother-in-law has the BEST hydrangea bushes! And many different varieties. When we were over there for Father's Day, she was nice enough to let me cut several and bring them home

So many beautiful colors

Yesterday I decided to find myself an easy, quick craft. I found this simple design for a shoulder bag. This is my first sewing project (other than hemming pants). I think I did pretty well!

Close-up of the strap

There is even a little pocket on the inside! I'm really happy with how it turned out and it only took me about 3-4 hours to complete.

2 Years later!

2011-06-13T19:20:00.000-04:00

I am pretty far behind on this but I wanted to do a quick run-down of year 2 in our house. These are the more major projects we completed in year 2. First up is our deck. Here is our deck before;

Small and rotted, it was in need of serious repair.

So we tore it down and started from scratch.
The picture on the right is from when we finished
right before winter. We made the deck about 4
feet larger on each side and added a second set of stairs. The deck boards are Trex composite decking; no staining, no splinters, and the bugs don't like it! It's also a breeze to put down. Now that it's warmed up, it's been great enjoying our deck

We recently did quite a bit of landscaping. When we moved in, the front of the house consisted of bags of dirt, not even opened. Obviously we waited quite a while before remedying that because it required a lot of dirt to regrade the front. So we added dirt, plants and mulch. The front is much nicer looking now.

Another major change we did in the past year is all new siding and roofing. Both the siding and roof were in rough shape

We replaced the original aluminum siding with vinyl siding. I painted all trim white and we got new blue shutters.

The last time you saw the dining room, it looked like this.

This is it today; not much different except for artwork on the walls and trim around the sliding glass doors (just barely visible).

On the left is what you last saw the bathroom looking like. On the right is it now. Not a whole lot has changed; just added more stuff since I've been using it regularly. It still hasn't become a fully functioning bathroom as the toilet doesn't work and the shower is still down to the studs. We plan to eventually finish it but since we have several other working bathrooms, our motivation has been lacking.

This is by far my favorite transformation. This picture is actually from the very first night we looked at the house. We hadn't changed anything in the kitchen until recently (about 2-3 months ago).

This is the kitchen now. I painted all the kitchen cabinets white (this took several weeks!), installed hardware on the cabinets (non-existent before), got new granite counter tops, got a new cooktop, sink and faucet. We hope to replace the floors soon and put some hardwood down. Overall, I love the kitchen and am so happy I decided to paint the cabinets! Also in the plans is to knock out an opening into the sunroom to open up the kitchen a bit more.

On the left is our basement shortly after we moved in. Nothing special about it. When my brother and his wife were about to move in last year, we decided to finish it off so it was a bit
more liveable

This picture isn't entirely up to date but it doesn't look much different right now. We put down laminate bamboo flooring, baseboards, and painted. It was a pretty quick renovation. Since my brother and his wife have moved out, the basement is pretty much empty now.

There have been plenty other small projects and the finishing up of projects but these are the major changes. A lot of the rooms in our house are at about 70% done so we've been working to finish them off.

Upcoming projects include: a vegetable garden, a paver walkway to the deck, a patio off the deck, the pass-through in the kitchen, a reading nook in the sun room, and finish the master bath (finally). No real time frame for these projects but they're in the back of my mind.

Pergola

2011-06-11T18:00:00.000-04:00

Alex and I finally finished our pergola today!

Since we finished our deck so close to winter, we didn't have time to finish it

The last thing we need to do to our deck is the lattice around the base

I'm pretty happy with the pergola, though!

Thomas Birkby House Wedding

2011-06-10T21:32:00.000-04:00

I shot a wedding 2 weeks ago at the Thomas Birkby House. It was my first time shooting there

This cake was amazing! And it tasted even more delicious!

The cake inside was red velvet

couldn't believe these guys actually went for it when I asked them to skip down the road!

A nice, small wedding!

Congrats Suzanne and John!

Wine

2011-06-10T21:22:00.000-04:00

Last weekend I went wine tasting with my girls at the Vintage Virginia Wine Fest

There was lots of wine and lots of delicious food!

And wonderful friends

Yummy sangria

Mr. Andrew bought LOTS of wine! I just got one bottle

DIY

2011-05-31T21:46:00.000-04:00

Alex and I found a turtle hanging out in our yard this weekend. I have never come across a turtle away from water

I've been on the hunt for a large, ornate picture frame for months now. Finally, this beauty popped up on Craiglist and I picked it up for $40. It had nothing in it; which was perfect. It is HUGE (about 45 inches across)! I popped a thin piece of wood sheeting in the back and painted it with chalkboard paint

Now it's a chalkboard! I haven't quite decided where to hang it yet

More kitties

2011-05-26T17:52:00.000-04:00

This weekend I have a wedding so I'll have some pictures other than cats to put up; but for now, kitties!

They have new names now; Harry and Sally

Flowers

2011-05-20T19:12:00.000-04:00

Well, it's been over 2 weeks and my newly planted flowers are still thriving! I haven't killed them yet

I LOVE the Eternal Summer hydrangeas! they are so bright and colorful

This is a champagne poppy getting ready to bloom

Here's another that already bloomed

Can't say I remember what these flowers are but they are also quite colorful and unique looking

Kittehs

2011-05-15T10:45:00.000-04:00

My brother and his wife got 2 kittens yesterday and brought them by the house. Temperance and Hodgens!

They like head scratches :-)

Hodgens likes belly rubs

And generally being adorable

Only slightly larger than a mini water bottle

Landscaping

2011-05-08T21:48:00.000-04:00

Alex and I finally got around to doing some major landscaping. First, a few before pictures. the one above is after we repainted the porch. It's the most recent one I have before the work

And just for fun, here's one from right when we bought the house. Those are bags of dirt; guess they didn't know you have to take the dirt OUT of the bag

Here it is at the end of today!

and the view from further back.

Finally we have some plants! They are all pretty small right now but over the years will get bigger. I am so happy with how it looks! Our house finally has some pizazz

Pet Fiesta!

2011-05-08T21:16:00.000-04:00

Reston has a Pet Fiesta every year and this year I got to go! Oh my goodness, it was so fun

So many puppies who needed homes. I wish I could have taken them all

Some puppies that were mere weeks old; with adorable pot-bellies!

Everyone wanted a cuddle

Puppy pile

this dog was hilarious with his bat wings

This was a min-pin with some large sheepdog. the min-pin was so tiny, it was almost unreal

Way behind

2011-04-29T20:25:00.000-04:00

I am WAAAAAY behind but here are some shots from a couples' shoot I did back in early April

Meadowlark is such a fantastic spot for photos

Dogwood

2011-04-27T21:46:00.000-04:00

I was at my parents this weekend helping them clean up a tree that had fallen in a storm. Luckily this dogwood survived

The south

2011-04-23T17:06:00.000-04:00

So, Blogger decides to place photos wherever it wants and it's a pain in the ass to rearrange them so these are going to be a bit out of order. First is the gate to the Wormsloe Plantation. The actual plantation house isn't still around but the grounds are awesome!

This was the sitting area in our bed and breakfast in Savannah

The separate room with 2 beds

The entrance to our room

All of the rooms along the street

Check out how big that tree is!

Every square has either a fountain or a statue

We passed the Lady and Sons restaurant but didn't eat there

This is Forsyth Park

Awesome fountain in the middle

The giant live oaks are incredible!

The houses are also pretty incredible

I snuck this photo through a gate; someone's nice garden

We checked out the Bonaventure Cemetery

A lot of really amazing grave stones

One of the biggest we saw

Our B&B had several nice places to sit outside and enjoy the weather

They even have afternoon tea every day and cookies and milk at night

This was the courtyard outside our room

There was even a kitty! He wouldn't stay still so this is the only picture I have

Here we are back to Wormsloe Plantation

Apparently Savannah is usually pretty hot but the couple days we were there were gorgeous! It was mid seventies and low humidity; nice breeze, too! We got pretty lucky

Savannah, GA

2011-04-21T21:13:00.001-04:00

Alex and I just got back from a road trip to Savannah and Atlanta. I took a ton of pictures that need sorting so here's a teaser from Savannah

Check back tomorrow and I'll have more up!

New counter tops

2011-04-14T21:53:00.000-04:00

Counter tops went in today! It was an all-day affair. Bye-bye worthless built-in cutting board

Goodbye blue counter tops

Goodbye cook top from 1985!

Goodbye white sink

Heeeeello granite!

Don't mind if I do; super-deep stainless sink

New cook top

Mmm yes, I quite like it

Just for fun; here's a picture of the kitchen from the night Alex and I looked at the house before buying it. Ultimately the kitchen really sold me because I knew it had so much potential! So happy with the kitchen now!

Photo dump

2011-04-10T14:37:00.000-04:00

I finally am zeroing in on finishing the cabinets for good! Here is the corner cabinet before. I removed the stained glass panel, had clear glass put in and then frosted the leaf pattern I made on it

Here are the upper cabinets before.

My brother and I removed the center panels of the doors and I had clear glass put in. Then I taped them off and frosted them

Here's a good view of the corner of the kitchen. Next up are the knobs

Today I discovered we have a Bradford Pear tree in our yard. Very pretty but stinky

My tulips that I planted last fall are up!

And gorgeous!

Finally adding some curb-appeal to this house

Spring and what-not

2011-04-05T20:28:00.000-04:00

Spring has been weird lately. One day it's freezing cold with frost on the cars and the next it's 80 degrees.

I know I've been slacking; I hope to have some stuff for you soon as I had a wedding the weekend prior and an engagement shoot of sorts this past weekend. Once I get them all edited, I promise to share!

My new cook top for the kitchen just showed up and I am stoked to get that baby hooked up soon!

I'm back!

2011-03-28T19:14:00.000-04:00

Looks like I'm back in business. I went ahead and ponied-up for the extra storage

Alex and I put the finishing touches on the cabinets this weekend; hardware and what-not

Cabinets in front of the sink, before

Here are the cabinets in front of the sink, after

Cabinets before

Cabinets after, with hardware

doors in progress

doors drying

pantry before

Pantry after

Kitchen before

Kitchen after

We are hoping to order a new cook top so we can put in the order for our new counter tops! Then this baby will be done!

Overload...

2011-03-20T21:12:00.000-04:00

So it would appear I have exceeded my quota with Blogger. I can't upload any more pictures unless I pay for more space...hmmm

Until I figure that out, I've posted pictures of the kitchen to Facebook

You can check them out there

Kitchen update

2011-03-13T19:40:00.002-04:00

I got a good bit of painting done this weekend.

Here are some of the cabinets without the doors

This is essentially what I have left. I haven't done anything over here yet

I added bead-board on the end of the cabinet. I am planning to do this on all the cabinets. You can also see an attempt at trying a paint color for the kitchen. What do you think? I'm not crazy about it but with the white cabinets, it kind of growing on me. I don't know. I want grey but Alex doesn't like that idea

Here are the cabinets under the sink; and you can see the ones in process in the background

Finished doors under the cooktop

This is the hardware for the cabinet doors. I hope to get them on in the next few days

Chugging along

2011-03-08T21:06:00.000-05:00

So here was my set up in the garage. The priming I can do in the garage as it allows for painting from 0 to 90 degrees

The actual painting has to be done inside where it's warmer. This is the first coat

Looking pretty good! The priming makes all the difference in the world

New projects

2011-03-06T18:53:00.000-05:00

Check out this awesome sewing machine Alex and his mom got me! It does 100 different stitches! I can't wait to try it out

My brother and his wife got me this gorgeous flowers. I love love love lilies and gerbera daisies

They know me too well!

So my newest project is painting our kitchen cabinets. I bought a nice sander, cleaned these up real well and then primed this baby. I'm starting with this one so I can see if I really like the color. It's a creamy white. I'm so tired of our boring oak cabinets. It's a big project but I'm ready for it

Summery

2011-03-01T20:57:00.000-05:00

Alex and I made a very summery dish for dinner tonight. It's mahi-mahi with a jerk seasoning with a cantaloupe lime salsa. It is so delicious! It's also very pretty

I noticed some of the bulbs I planted last fall are starting to come up, which makes me very happy! I've forgotten what I planted so half the fun is seeing what comes up :-) spring is almost here

Antiques

2011-02-21T20:31:00.000-05:00

Alex's mom and I went to check out a few antique shops in Lucketts this weekend. They had all kinds of neat stuff; like these knobs

Clock knobs

The place was full of Christmas lights...and this might be what they'd look like if I had bad vision ;-)

Cool little "instamatic" camera

Then it was off to a Tastefully Simple party at my mom's house. Check out AJ's palette of dips! Yumm

And some lovely tulips from my mother-in-law to my mom. Very sweet!

Mish-mash

2011-02-18T20:40:00.000-05:00

Kind of a mish-mash of pictures as I just dumped my memory card from my large camera

This was the parking lot at our condo in Vermont

The front of our condo

Some crazy icicles at a sushi restaurant

Cool wooden carving on the wall in the sushi restaurant

Nice wide shot of the mountain

K-1 peak at Killington

My favorite flowers!

I love the detail

And they smell so wonderful!

Killington!

2011-02-13T19:32:00.000-05:00

Alex and I just got back from our trip to Killington, Vermont. Here is the view from our bus stop to the mountain. It was a short 2 minute ride

Thursday was perfect! Nobody was on the mountain

It took Alex no time to get the hang of skiing again

They had these shops all over the mountain called "The Waffle Cabin" where they sold waffles and hot chocolate. My goodness, they were so freakin' good! They are coated in a crystalline sugar or chocolate

After enjoying our waffle

Looking up the bunny slope

The sky was so blue!

This was at the peak

The views were extraordinary!

Here is Alex walking back to our condo

This is a ridiculous picture of me trying to take my mask off but I included it as I did try skiing on our second day. It had been 10 years since I'd skied!

Me on skis again! I'd say I did pretty well

Alex and I took a path called "the Juggernaut" and it was almost entirely flat! We had to find a quick exit; thank goodness I was on skis

I had to snap a quick picture of this guy in his "bear" suit; he was covered in all types of furs

We also took a snowmobile tour!

It was a blast! We are definitely sore though after 3 days of skiing

The solution wheel

2011-02-02T18:35:00.001-05:00

Jed and I created a "solution wheel" today. Just toss the dart and there's your answer! This makes my job much easier ;-)

Worn out

2011-01-31T21:53:00.000-05:00

This is all I have wanted to do this evening...feeling particularly worn out, for some reason

First big storm

2011-01-27T20:15:00.000-05:00

So this was the start of the traffic at 3:40 yesterday on campus. In Mason's infinite wisdom, they didn't close until 4:30 so of course it was a nightmare to get out

All I could do was wait....

But then I had to make the decision to park and walk back to my office as I was going to run out of gas

The snow outside the trailer was pretty; but I wanted to go home

Here's the view from the porch

Luckily, this little one was there to keep me company (and warm!)

She likes to explore my desk

Thank goodness I got rescued by my brother in his Subaru around 11pm!

This morning the thaw began

Our poor crepe myrtle

Alex drove me to campus today to dig out my car and bring it home...it still took about 2 hours

Blast from the past

2011-01-25T21:41:00.000-05:00

I found my clarinet tonight tucked away in a box! And I could still play it!

Bubbly

2011-01-21T22:12:00.000-05:00

Alex enjoyed a very bubbly beer tonight. Love those bubbles!

Closer

2011-01-20T20:16:00.000-05:00

I know the theme has completely fallen by the wayside this week but here's one for this week. I'll try to be better! Alex has been doing a lot of beer drinking; so he's collected quite a few bottlecaps

Alex and I got a small rug for the closet and a storage bench. The rug isn't quite what it looked like online but it looks OK. I'm hoping to make a small pad for the bench.

First week using the closet and we still love it!

Finished closet!

2011-01-16T15:35:00.000-05:00

Alex and I finished the closet today. Here it is before...

Another angle

In progress...

All shelves up and ready to be used! The corner shelves are fantastic!

Racks packed with clothes

The view of the closet from the doorway. We are pretty thrilled with it! The clothes obviously make the space a lot smaller but the closet "system" we got makes really good use of the space

What project to start next...

Cold!

2011-01-16T14:59:00.000-05:00

The theme for this week was "cold"!

New closet!

2011-01-15T18:07:00.000-05:00

Alex and I got our new closet organization up today! This is my side; several shoe racks to the bottom, a drawer, a mirror, several shelves, and two racks for clothes

This is Alex's side; slide out tie-rack, 3 shelves, a drawer, and 3 racks for clothes

Here in the corner will be 3 corner shelves. I had to do some touch-up painting so that has to dry before we put the shelves up. But they'll definitely be up tomorrow!

Mother nature

2011-01-12T21:35:00.000-05:00

Thanks to mother nature, we got a little dusting this morning

brrrrr

2011-01-10T22:04:00.000-05:00

Picture number 1 for the new week

Will also have pics up tomorrow for the closet that I painted

Some "new" things

2011-01-09T20:10:00.000-05:00

So this weekend Alex and I got into a small project. I've been wanting to work on improving our closet for some time now. Since the weather is cold, it's the perfect time to work inside

This was our closet earlier this weekend; dirty carpet, messy, bad shelving/organization. Alex and I had a few boxes of hardwood left over from our old hardwood projects so I thought it'd be a good idea to put it to use in our closet

So yesterday I ripped up the carpet and the baseboards

Today we laid the hardwood and put down some baseboards. The wall is heavily damaged so I can't quite finish painting yet. The bluish color in the corners and above the baseboard is the color I'm doing (same color as the adjoining bathroom)

Here's another view. Alex and I had just enough boards to do this closet; we were left with only 2 small boards. We were panicking that we'd have to buy another box to only need a few extra boards. A new box of hardwood is about $80.

I should be able to sand and finish painting tomorrow

We also put up new vertical blinds in the sunroom; in place of the hideous blue ones

Here are the old blinds

I also painted an "accent wall". I finally got an orange wall in my house :-) I'm pretty happy with it because it is such a tall wall that I think the color helps

Check back tomorrow for new pictures of the closet

PS; the theme was "new"

Tiny, fresh...

2011-01-06T21:43:00.000-05:00

Number 2

2011-01-06T07:08:00.002-05:00

Blogger was down last night so here's the picture for yesterday

Something new

2011-01-04T20:23:00.000-05:00

You may or may not remember my not-so-successfully attempt at doing a photo 365 project...

Well, you could probably see this coming but I'm going to try again. This time I have a few ideas to keep me on track. This year it involves you, the reader! Every week I will post a series of pictures that all have a common theme. Your job, at the end of the week, is to try to guess what that theme is. If you figure it out sooner, feel free to share. By doing themes, I hope it will inspire me to do more pictures. Last year, my theme was just pictures of me and there are only so many pictures you can take of yourself.

So anyway, here we go! First picture, above

Pittburgh Winter Classic

2011-01-03T22:02:00.000-05:00

First off, Happy New year! Alex and I spent New Years in Pittsburgh for the Winter Classic. We did a lot of eating and a lot of drinking! As per a friend's recommendation, Alex and I enjoyed a restaurant called Fat Heads

Alex was very excited about their 42 beers on tap and I was excited about their lambic beer; delicious!

I got a burger with bacon, sharp cheddar, horseradish sauce and a pierogi!

Up next was the Church Brew Works; an old church made brewery!

It was a very dreary day so the shots are a bit lackluster but you get the idea

The church was built in 1907 and in 1996 it was turned into this brewery

All the original works are still there

Very difficult to get shots in here without a flash but it looks like a church

On either side of the aisle are tables; some have pew benches, some don't

If you look near the bottom of the picture, you can see where the actual beer is brewing

At the altar was more brew equipment

Here is their beer sampler! I was not bold enough to try it but our friends were!

Oh yeah, the Winter Classic! Caps won and it was amazing to be there for it :-)

Girls only

2010-12-28T21:50:00.001-05:00

Last night I had a girls-only dinner at my place. That's a peppermint truffle pie pictured above! It doesn't look so pretty but it was delicious

I also made peppermint martinis

I've never been much of a decorator but I was pretty proud of these place-cards

It was great to see my girls and catch up!

Christmas

2010-12-26T15:53:00.001-05:00

For years, my family has been attending the Thompson's (my sister-in-law's family) Christmas Eve party. They always have a ton of food and lots of people over

Alex and I came out for it and we went with mom and dad

And stuffed our faces with delicious food

When we came home, another critter was pigging out! This raccoon has been eating all the squirrel and bird food

He was a fat guy

On Christmas morning, mom, dad, AJ and Kyle came over for gifts and cinnamon rolls

Then it was off to dinner at Alex's parents'. Marie made these adorable place cards

Quite the dessert spread at Kyle's parents' house

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

Surprise Party

2010-12-24T10:04:00.001-05:00

This past Tuesday was a surprise party for a friend of mine from college. He claimed he'd never had a surprise party so his wife threw one together for him. Here is everyone anxiously awaiting his arrival!

I think his wife, Whitney, was most excited :-)

Greeted with a Hurricane

They love each other; for real, y'all

Mike also is working on finishing his Masters

The Gagnon family and Whitney

Sean strikes a pose; slightly reminiscent of Steve Carrel on the cover of 40 Year Old Virgin

A very sleepy baby :-) Not bothered at all by the debauchery

Of course there was some chugging

And some hugging

And some chocolate fountain glugging (that's totally a word!), haha

Happy Birthday, Mike! It was great seeing everyone