Bathroom Begins!

We recently decided to remodel our guest bathroom. My parents bought us a free standing vanity last year as a housewarming present and it's been sitting in the garage ever since. Mainly, I just needed to stop traveling every month, find a little extra cash, and the courage to take on my first REAL design project. I'm used to decorating, and I LOVE IT, but to literally rip a room apart is all new to me.

When we started looking for a house, we went for ones that needed improvement. My dream has always been to buy a house and make it my own. Most people dream about big families or fancy careers, but I dream about my house. It's what makes me happy and gives me a feeling of accomplishment. When I was a teenager I "designed" the floor plan of my dream house. I used Microsoft Paint to do it....

Our plans so far are to take out everything including the tile, but leave the toilet and shower. So far I have the mirror, faucet, vanity, floor tile, shower curtain, wallpaper, and sconces either ordered or bought. Since I haven't seen it all together, I'm so nervous! I have to admit, fear of failure has probably been a huge stumbling block on getting this project going.


So, what is going to give this bathroom that little extra touch? Something that will make it unique and interesting? Unfortunately, we do have to keep a budget in mind. Going into debt is never an option. So glass tile walls, imported hardware, 18 shower heads, and Schumacher wallpaper were not options. But I've always imagined this bathroom with wallpaper in it. I know wallpaper has a bad wrap (get it? bad wrap? I couldn't resist myself) but it has come a long way and makes a room unique. (When I was in design school I'd sit in the resource room for hours going through wallpaper books). I found the paper I wanted pretty quickly. I've learned that whatever appeals to me first, that's probably the one I'm going to go with. So if you're doubting this wallpaper decision, just wait until you see the final product! It's either going to make it spectacular or completely ruin what I was going for. But that's a chance I'm willing to take for the sake of design.

"Many Close Their Eyes"

I've said it before and I'll say it again: there aren't many things that make my stomach turn, but abortion is at the very top of that list.

A discussion about abortion today lead me to googling "average age abortion". I was hoping to find what the average age is of someone who has had an abortion. Instead I got distracted by this website. It's a site dedicated to counseling women suffering from "negative post-abortion reaction".

First I read their survey, or at least a survey from a book that the site is quoting. The whole thing was quite interesting but the two most interesting answers I found were "Are you satisfied with your choice [to have an abortion] today?" 95% said not at all, and the other answer was "If abortion had not been legally available, would you have sought an illegal abortion?" and 72% said not at all.

(Now I know these were answers from women who obviously had a bad experience, so the answers are slightly biased.)

After the survey I read the "Baby Hall of Fame" section. One story after another of moms who contemplated abortion but chose not, therefore they have beautiful, healthy babies AND NO REGRETS!

Then I read the "Abortion Survivor" stories. These are actual people who lived through an abortion! Stab me in the heart and get me a tissue please, this is just too much to handle. These girls beat death!

I've gotten as far as "Abortionists Speak Out" and had to share. The man who was responsible for opening the largest chain of abortion clinics in the US said they would look for areas with colleges and universities. And I can't forget to add that he became a Christian and resigned from his job.

Well, that's all I've got so far, but I think it's enough. This stuff just really makes me mad.

The Wallpaper Witch

It's been a fun filled past couple of days! Thursday I got all my hair cut off in a "straight hair" cut, and it's kind of blond now. Friday I woke up nice and early to go look at wallpaper with my mom. We plan on redoing the guest bathroom as soon as we find all the different materials. Here is a picture of the wallpaper sample and a picture of it in a book. This doesn't do the color justice, but you can at least see the pattern.



Friday night we went out to dinner with our neighbors to the Highland Manor house in Apopka. It was pretty good food and a beautiful restaurant, but not too many people were there. Saturday Jordan and I drove all around looking at tile for the bathroom. We're having a hard time finding tile that isn't 18x18 and ceramic tile. I want something smaller and nicer. But now we at least have a good idea of what we want.

Saturday night, Jordan went to a friend's house to watch football, and I went to a coworkers costume party. It was a fun party, they introduced me to a new shot called "Brain Hemorrhage". It literally looks like brains and has the consistency of raw eggs going down. But if you can get passed all that it does taste pretty good!



Sunday was the usual: church, nursery, out to eat with the parents, nap, and watching some Sunday night TV. Of course I can't finish up without a comment about the weather. It was COLD all weekend! All the way down into the 50s! And sunny too. It was perfect for driving around with the sunroof back.

One Year Ago

One year ago today we bought our house. As this day approached Jordan and I were reflecting on all the hard work we put into it. We've done a lot, but we want to do so much more. It's that design sense running through my blood, I just can't help it. This is all the hard work we've put into our house so far:

1. Scrapped ceilings and sprayed knock down (we paid someone else to do this!)
2. Painted ceilings (with some friends help! What a great way to spend a Friday night)
3. Painted the whole house.
4. Replaced all the inside and outside lights, and the fans
5. Replaced carpet
6. Painted front double doors
7. Bought new appliances for the kitchen
8. Painted the garage walls
9. Put up shelves in the garage
10. Painted the exterior (paid someone for that too!)
11. Landscaped the front yard
12. Landscaped the back yard
13. Cleaned out 15 years of lint from the dyer vent (that was quite a job)
14. Jordan installed ambiance lighting throughout the house
15. Painted patio floor (it was an ugly green)
16. Replaced the inside and outside AC units


That's all I can think of for now. Of course this doesn't include the massive amount of cleaning that was needed. And lets not forget about the yellow jackets nest requiring a professional exterminator. Of course we've also acquired a cat or two since moving here. And, of course, I've got to decorate everything! That was the fun part!

Typical

Jordan and I are the typical all-American young married couple.

I went to a baby shower.



He went to a football game.

I Hate Football

3:40 is the best part

Atlanta Trip

Atlanta was a great trip! We have some of the best friends! They are the type of friends that maybe you don't get to see very often, but it's like you were never apart once you're together again. The trip was made a little bit better when Jordan found a ticket to the LUS/UGA game, and it was a really good seat (something about 6th row and 40 yard line, which I guess is supposed to be good). And LSU won on top of it!

I, obviously, didn't go to the game. I spent a beautiful day with my two best friends, Erin and Steph. The weather was perfect and I really liked being able to experience "city life". Erin lives in mid-town and we walked from her apartment to a restaurant down the street. Then we met up with Steph at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. It's amazing the gardens are right in the middle of downtown but you'd never know it. After that we wandered around the mall and Steph took us to the best little boutique. I found a cute dress for Maribel's birthday party on Wednesday night. After that we ate at Noche's, which is a tapas restaurant. I think it's my new favorite dinning experience! It was great having some time just to sit around and talk.

Some of my favorite pictures from the weekend:

Today Jordan and I drove up to Atlanta to visit with some friends. We are actually about an hour and something east of Atlanta, in the country! Rebekah and mark live in the cutest country house with a big front porch, and rocking chairs. But I'm getting ahead of myself....

It was a long seven hour trip but I kept myself entertained with my new love of horsepower. I managed to get car sick while trying to take a nap while Jordan took over for a bit. It's gotten worse as I've gotten older. Really stinks. So I would rather just drive the whole trip.

Tonight we had a great dinner from rebekah. After that we played apples to apples (my fav!) and Mexican train, which might be a new fav. We are apparently old cause we turned on for bed a little after 10.

While we are here Jordan plans on attending the LSU game on Saturday. I'll be spending Saturday with my two best friends terrorizing downtown Atlanta!

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