Painting and Cooking

We continued our project of painting paneling in our living room after our anniversary celebrations. Nick actually did all of the work by himself--and did a fabulous job! He taped around all of the woodwork, windows, and doors, and also finished replacing the black outlets with white ones to match. As of today, it is done!

There were several water spots and a lot of sun bleaching on the window sills here that he fixed up and made look good as new! We are just one step closer to our dreams with only a couple more little things to do that we will be working on this weekend...

My favorite coworker and I had a girls afternoon on Saturday after work. She took me to Whole Foods (my first time!) where we got lunch, then took our time browsing the aisles and sampling the food. I was inspired to finally try my hand at making my own sushi. It turns out she already had the nori (seaweed) and bamboo mat which she was happy to give to me, so all I had to get was the sushi rice and veggies! Don't worry--I don't like seafood so I omitted any fish :)

I made it today for the first time and I was very happy with the outcome! I didn't even use half the rice for one roll, so there is plenty left to make more. It isn't plain rice, you also add vinegar, sugar, and salt for flavoring before you make the rolls. I only put avocado and cucumber in mine--so delicious! Next time I might use a pinch less rice and a pinch more avocado. I read you can also use short grain brown rice so I may try that in the future. I am going to make some for my friend on Friday to see how she approves of it.

Celebrating 10 Years of Marriage

 I can't believe it has been 10 years already! For those trying to do the math, yes I got married when I was 16 and Nick was 21. We got married for no reason other than we were in love and wanted to start our life together! We have overcome a lot of obstacles and learned a lot of life lessons...but we made it thru everything and came out stronger than ever before. We know we are each other's soulmate and we look forward to spending the rest of our lives together.

You can't celebrate without pretty nails, so the first thing I did Monday was white and silver french tip with glitter.

I only worked Tuesday and Wednesday last week, and requested the rest off for celebrations! Thursday the 17th was our actual anniversary and I had booked a night at the Lindley House Cottages in Duncan. My mom watched Brad overnight for the first time and he had a fun time.

We rented the Rose Cottage. There was a stained glass rose on the front door, and a fresh red rose on the table inside to greet us!

We unpacked and got dressed up for dinner at Giuseppe's in Marlow. We got to meet the manager and the owner who both congratulated us on our special anniversary.

We spent the evening enjoying the jacuzzi tub, champagne, and relaxing. Our breakfast was delivered in the morning and consisted of french toast, eggs, bacon, apricot crumble, orange juice and coffee.

We picked up Brad from my mom's on Friday then spent the day finishing the trim on our floors. Saturday evening was our dinner party and we were going to take Brad to the daycare for it, but Nick's parents offered to take him out to their house for the night! They picked him up in the afternoon and we spent the rest of the day picking up the food and getting the house ready for guests.

I picked our beautiful cake up from our local bakery and they made it just the way I wanted!

I found the guest book from our wedding, and I used it again for the guests to sign at the party.

 

I believe all together we had 14 guests (not everyone is pictured). We had Johnny Carino's cater penne alfredo, chicken parmigiana, and spaghetti. I made a salad to go with it, orange creamsicle punch, and champagne. After everyone ate, Nick and I had secretly prepared a song to preform for the guests, "The Only Exception" by Paramore. After the song, we cut the cake then enjoyed spending time with our friends and family.

Our niece's birthday was Sunday so we drove out to Foster for that and were going to pick Brad up but his grandparents begged to keep him one more night. So we got to enjoy a total of 3 nights alone! We both had a wonderful weekend celebrating our love and couldn't have asked for anything better.

 

Hats and House Updates

Somehow two weeks have slipped by since I blogged last! Lots has been going on--this new year is keeping us busy! Our big 10 year anniversary was yesterday, but I will save that for another blog.....

In my last blog I listed a few things we needed to get done before listing our house for sale. A couple of those we definitely wanted to do before a party that we are having tomorrow night! The first was painting some paneling in our living room:

 This wall is much bigger so we are saving it for after our party. The white really brightens up the room and looks great with the dark trim!

A friend of mine ordered several hats for her newborn photo shoots so I got to be creative! She emailed me pictures of ideas she liked and I was able to replicate all of them perfectly without a pattern to follow.

I have since received orders for EIGHT more hats! I am going to be a busy girl the next few days. I am very grateful to have this hobby that I love and can also make some money with!

Check back soon for pictures from our anniversary celebrations and to find out what all we did!

 

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream For---Protein?

Yes, you read that accurately! Protein is something new I have been trying recently! I didn't wait until the 1st to start, I actually started a few days before that. I bought some whey protein powder (100 calories and 15g protein/serving) and haven been replacing my lunches with a protein shake! It is an easy--and healthy--way to cut calories while still tasting yummy and feeling full afterwards.

Nick decided to join me on this so we got chocolate powder for him and vanilla for me. Both of us doing this makes it much easier because now I just make a quick lunch for Brad while we drink our shakes, then we can all eat a nice dinner together in the evening.

 I stocked up on fresh and frozen fruits--strawberries, blueberries, peaches, bananas, oranges, etc--and the liquid I use is almond coconut milk. I have never used this before but it was pretty cheap, it is lower calorie than milk, and yummier than plain water! For my shakes I just pick a couple of fruits and add the ice, powder, and milk then blend it until smooth. Sometimes I throw in a pack of sweetener just to make it even better. Brad loves them too and has to have sips of mine.

 Since I can't bring my blender to work I have been just drinking the protein powder with water as my lunch...not so yummy that way. I feel like I am drinking baby formula. I decided to buy some Atkins protein drinks at the store just for my work lunches because they are more portable, and come in several flavors. That way I'm not tempted to go to the cafeteria and get something fried!

I have been doing this for a week now and have lost about a pound or two. I have also been going to the gym too on my days off. I wasn't able to go for the two weeks around Christmas/New Years because of them being closed and all the extra days I worked. I am getting back into it now, and have some new workout clothes/shoes to enjoy while I'm there! Is it strange that I like to watch the Food Network while I work out?

In other news....I have been watching flight prices and managed to catch an amazing deal on some tickets to..........

 ....Seattle! We are returning to the state that we loved last year. We go back in March for a few days and look forward to more sightseeing and visiting family. I joked about dragging Nick to see Forks (of "Twilight" fame) this time but it is too far of a drive just to see a tiny town from a movie. We are however planning on driving north to British Columbia, Canada this time! That will make 2 places in Canada we have been to--the other is Ontario.

Nick and I sat down the other day and came up with a game plan for finishing the remaining repairs on our house before listing it for sale {hopefully} next month. I got most of the supplies already, and just need to get a few more. We are painting the wood paneling in our living room, finishing the trim on our wood floors, deep cleaning the house, new timer for outdoor lighting, cleaning the carpets, and touching up some dinged up spots on cabinets/walls. We really and truly feel that this is our calling to move this year, and we just hope and pray the housing market has come back enough for us to sell our house!