Exterior Illumination

Clark, is your house on fire?

No Aunt Bethany, it's Christmas lights.

I love wrapping gifts while watching Christmas Vacation.

Jeff channeled his inner Clark Griswald and did a great job of adding lights to our house.

And our Christmas tree.  I make three trips to Target for extra lights.  I think I'm up to 1500 this year!

Merry Christmas!

Good Times

Finally, it's Fall!  I am so excited for cooler weather and Fall decorations.  We picked out three pumpkins a few weeks ago--a white pumpkin, a cinderella pumpkin and a traditional orange carving pumpkin.  Jeff thought we should paint the carving pumpkin maroon (how dare we have two orange pumpkins during football season).  So, all it took was a can of maroon spray paint and perfecto...

Our front porch looks great!

Speaking of paint, we have a built in book shelf in our living room that has been neglected since we moved in.  I finally decided to spruce up this corner of the living room and paint the inside of the book shelf.  I wanted the same blue/gray color in our rug but couldn't really find what I was looking for.  One day while looking for something in the garage, I came across the leftover cans of paint (including samples we didn't use) when we had the interior of our house painted.  One sample, which we decided wasn't what we were looking for, looked like the perfect color for the book shelf.  The color is Sherwin Williams Storm Cloud.

  

Painting the book shelf has made a huge difference and actually makes this corner of the living room stand out.

On another note, Jeff completed his first triathlon in Galveston yesterday.  I am so proud of him!  It was inspirational to watch the participants in this event--some obviously seasoned triathletes (a 70 year old man--WOW), others, not so much.  Seeing some of these people really makes you believe, no matter how old you are or your athletic ability, anything is possible.

Before the race began

Race number

It's a bit difficult to see, but this is his group waiting on the pier to jump in the water.

His group lined up and ready to begin the race

Swimming in the bay

After the swim, running to the transition area

Transition area, getting prepared for the bike race

This photo comes with an explanation.  This is where participants ended the bike race back into the transition area.  Unfortunately, my camera takes it's sweet time to focus and by the time I captured the photo, Jeff had sped by.

Beginning of the three mile run

About to cross the finish line

He even received a medal:)  His final time was 1 hour 35 minutes.  I foresee more triathlons in his future.

And if that wasn't enough information for one post, my final bit of exciting news--I am semi retired at the moment!!!!!  Insert yahoos, cheers of joy, fist pumps, etc. here.  My last day of work was last Friday and I almost cartwheel-ed my way out of that office.  I wasn't excited to leave that job or anything--ha!  We had a perfect ending to the day Friday with a fajita and margarita dinner with Kimmy and Jon.  Fun times!  My retirement will only last two weeks, but it's going to be wonderful.  I've got many exciting things planned, including projects around the house, lunch with friends, cooking, baking, ect.  I am so excited about my new job and as excited as I am about the time off, I am really looking forward to my new job!

Labor Day Weekend

I am so excited for the long weekend--no work on Monday!

Thanks for all of the birthday wishes everyone sent my way.  I had a great day, ending with a great dinner with Jeff and a good friend.  I had the best birthday dessert ever...

(sorry, couldn't get the picture to rotate)

Have a great weekend!

Who Knew...?

...that I am married to a carpenter in the making?  After Jeff made the frame for our vegetable garden, I started to wonder what other great things he could construct for me.  First thought--we have this space in our breakfast area

As you can see, it serves no purpose other than housing Jeff's new bike, a huge bag of dog food, a Whole Foods canvas bag and a basket full of dog toys.  The space begins from the edge of the fridge and ends at one double door (this one doesn't open).  So, I thought it would be great to have a banquette made so that I would have a place to sit and write, drink coffee on the weekends, etc.  I then changed my mind and thought about purchasing a small love seat but realized that the low window frame may prevent me from finding a sofa that fits the space.  That put me back at wanting a banquette.  I Googled 'building a banquette' and found a great blog that detailed the entire process.  Easy!  I asked Jeff to read the blog to see if this was something he could do and he thought it would be easy enough.  He was immediately hired.  First problem--I needed this built fast, as in this weekend.  Why?  College football begins next weekend.  Bye Jeff, see you next year (I am quoting Frank from Father Of The Bride II when George takes the tranquilizer pills and passes out on the table and Frank says, "Bye George, see you next Thursday).  If this was not built this weekend, I would not see my beautiful writing, reading, etc. area completed until next January.  So I presented it this way--"Jeff, this can be my birthday present from you".

So, photos to document the process:

Another view without the bike.

 Frame

He even added hinges so we can use this as seating and storage.

Patton approves 

Now for the fun part--selecting fabric and decorating the space.

Weekend Recap In Pictures

El Tiempo on Friday (margaritas, salsa, queso and tacos) was definitely a necessity after a stressful week.

Jeff built this vegetable garden on Saturday.  Currently, basil, scotch bonnet peppers and tomatoes live in the garden, but we plan to add other items as the weather cools down.

Speaking of weather, I am miserable with a capital M.  As if everyone didn't already know, I despise Houston summers.  Winter can not get here fast enough--I am so ready to unpack my scarves and sweaters.

Yes, in it's previous life, this was a candle.

Today I made homemade tomato sauce.  I then added olives, anchovies, parsley and mozzarella to the sauce, which I then put over penne pasta.  OMG--so good.  I can't wait to eat the leftovers tomorrow night.

Have a great week everyone.

Wordless Wednesday...sort of

I don't mind that his fur is wet because this means it rained--a lot!!!  Here's hoping Tropical Storm Don brings us even more rain, but please Don, do not become a hurricane.

All About Art

Our dining room finally has art!  After one year of searching for the perfect piece for our dining room wall, I finally found it.  This was delivered yesterday and we love it even more in person:

And, for those of you asking about the art project I mentioned in an earlier post, here it is:

I painted the canvas gray and used a stencil I found on Etsy to create the image.  I am pretty proud of myself being that I am the most un-artistic person you will ever meet:)

AND, to wrap up the previous post about the front door project Jeff started a few weekends ago, here is the finished product:

We are very pleased with the result (and glad the project is behind us).

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

I love surprises...

...especially when they are in super cute boxes like this

I arrived home to find a package I was not expecting sitting in my yard (always a nice surprise).  What an even better surprise to find what was inside this adorable package--

Cookies!!!  Compliments of Haute Mama Dessert Co. www.hautemamadessertcompany.com

Thank you Christine at Sewell Infiniti for the cookies:)

And to make this even better, it's Friday!  Have a great weekend everyone--I'm off to eat a cookie.  Who am I kidding, probably more like three.

Front Door Saga--Part II

Yes, the front door drama continues.  We finally finished stripping and sanding all of the paint late Sunday afternoon.  I spray painted the hardward and Jeff tested the stain on a sample piece of wood. Looks great.  He bought Minwax Jacobean stain, which according to Minwax looks like this:

Our front door looks like this:

Slightly darker than we wanted (and a lot darker than the sample). Oh well, I like the color but we'll see what Jeff plans to do.

Other news for the day--it's finally raining!!!  I love thunderstorms but not so much at the office.  It's so creepy when my office windows creak and shake.

I have a Vitex plant in my backyard, which usually stands about as tall as the fence.  We must have had a nice downpour because this is what I found when I got home today:

And, a big shout out to the G-Ps.  Thanks so much for the wonderful snapper you generously shared with us from your recent fishing trip. My new must have in the kitchen was so good on the fish!

Well, I'm off now to find something to make for dinner:)

NOT a relaxing 4th of July weekend

So, the husband decided earlier in the week that he wanted to work on a few projects around the house over the long weekend.  Great, I say, what type of projects (do I really want to know the answer?).  He responds by saying he wants to paint the trim on our house and refinish the front door.  WHAT?  All in three days?  He says not to worry--I roll my eyes and move on.  Saturday morning he returns from Home Depot with bags full of supplies, paint cans, a roll of brown paper and a water hose (the one thing we did need).  I make the mistake of looking at the receipt (I could have bought a great pair of shoes for what he spent).  Anyway, I promptly tell him I am going shopping and will stay away as long as I possibly can.  I return with a few things for the house and supplies for my art project (more info. on that later) and find this...

Notice the blue/gray strip at the top.  This is what our entire door used to look like.

Today is really no different than yesterday--more old paint removal.  Did I mention that our door has 83 years worth of layers and layers of paint?  This means layer after layer of paint remover.  Please pray that  the husband completes this project before he goes back to work Tuesday.

On a much more exciting note, the Lawson's welcomed a new member to the family on Wednesday.  Kimmy and Jon have a beautiful new daughter--Lainey Elizabeth.  She just could not wait to join the fun that is our family, so decided to make her big debut one month early (and on Pop's birthday, no less).  Can't wait to meet her tomorrow!