A lot has been going on and most importantly (and why I took a break from blogging for awhile) is because I graduated grad school. FINALLY. I will not lie - it was a long and tough road. Between working full time, planning my wedding (more on that in a minute) and more sleepless nights than I care to remember, I made it. I can official say I now have my Masters in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance. Despite graduating over a year ago, some days it does not feel real. I still feel as if I should be going to campus on the weekends to meet a group or getting up to my alarm at 4:30 am to study before going to work. During those two and a half years, I met some of the most amazing and inspiring classmates and faculty who pushed me to be a better person both inside and out. I could not have done it without my fellow classmates nor my husband. He saw the best of me and the worst of me during that time. While I was cranky from little to no sleep, he would make sure that I would take breaks (even though I didn't think I needed them) and make sure I remembered to eat. You do not want to see my hangry. That is not a good sight. I am not sure I would have made it through without him. Seriously. He deserves at least half of my diploma, if not more.
Before I finished grad school, you may have noticed that the blog posts slowed down quite a bit. Well, not only was I working full time and going to school at night, but I was also planning a wedding. Crazy, right? Not sure what I was thinking at the time, but I did it. Wait no, we did it (my husband and I, that is)! While we had less than a year to plan our wedding, we were able to get it done relatively seamlessly and plan ahead as much as we could. We really took my summer break to heart and got done as much as we possibly could - favors, decoration shopping and more. My hubby was such a trooper. And through all of the planning and school work, I kept the crazy bride moments to a minimum. Really! There was only one true crying moment when I realized we had to remove a table at the last minute. Now that I look back on it, I have no idea why I was so upset and no one even knew that table had been removed. Oops. But hey, that's pretty good, right? You hear all those horror stories of bridezillas, so I was glad to not have had any of those moments! After all the planning, the day was here and we were married. It was a beautiful ceremony in our family friend's backyard - we couldn't have asked for anything more perfect! We danced the night away with our family and friends and in just a few short months, we'll be celebrating our second wedding anniversary. Time files when you're having fun!
Oh and you're probably wondering where the 411 is on our honeymoon. Well, we did not go on one.....yet. I had a midterm exam two days after our wedding (that teacher was NOT nice when I asked him to take it early - ugh!), so we really couldn't go anywhere. There's nothing more romantic than spending the day after your wedding in the library studying. Party pooper over here. I even joked around with some of my classmates that I would wear my dress to that midterm. If you are wondering, I did not. I was thiiiiiiis close to wearing it, but I don't think I would have fit in the desk with all that dress. But, good things come to those who wait, right? Right! So, the hubby and I have decided it's finally time to take that well awaited honeymoon. More on that later, but it's coming and we can't wait to have some time to celebrate us and relax. We've been waiting a long time for this!
Let's see, what else has been going on? The hubby and I continue to plug away at updating our home and are currently working on our living room. Correction, Ryan is working on the living room. At least for now. He's re-texturing the ceiling and once he's done, we'll have the living room carpeted (the carpet before we moved in was so gross) and then we'll put a fresh coat of paint on the walls. We had to go back to the drawing board with the paint a couple of times, but I think we finally have a whole house paint that will look good on both the walls and the ceiling. We made the mistake of using another color of paint in one of the bedrooms and then doing a white ceiling. That was a fun task. We learned that wasn't the best way to go if we were going to be repainting the entire inside of the house ourselves. Nevertheless, things are moving along and we should be done sooner than later. But don't hold me to that. Doing a remodel yourself is hard work, but we've learned a lot about the house and ourselves through the process. Blood, sweat and tears will live on in this house, even after we are gone!
And one last item of mention - a new hobby. Not that I have a lot of time for anything else these days, but I decided to take on the task of refinishing old furniture. I never really thought much about it before, but admired those who did just that. Their work was just beautiful and I never thought I would ever even think of trying to do it. Let me just say, I am no expert and nor will I ever be, but, I was willing to give it a shot. Especially after my husband asked if I would like to try to refinish a couple of nightstands that were his grandparents. I was a little hesitant at first, seeing as they were part of the family, but he was certain his grandparents would be proud that we were freshening them up and using them in our home. So, it was time to set out on the task of figuring out how the heck I was even going to get started on such a project. After endless weeks of sanding, painting, priming and then painting again, I was done with the nightstand. It had gone from a funky avocado stained color to a clean and crisp white. Then, I felt I could do more and it was time for a dresser. I decided to do the body of the dresser a grey color and the drawers white (thank you Pinterest for the color inspiration). Despite the dresser being much larger than the nightstand, I was able to get the dresser done a lot faster. Not sure why that was, but I just went with it. After several coats of paint and new hardware, the dresser was finished. Since then, I've been working on the final nightstand and even took an Annie Sloan chalk paint class. Their paint and brushes are THE BEST, but I won't get started down that path. But I will just say that I did not use her paint or brushes on the first two pieces and it was a challenge. Brush hairs everywhere and bubbles in the other brand of chalk paint (to which the name will not be revealed). Don't get me wrong, the two pieces turned out great, but now that I've been introduced to Annie Sloan, there's no going back - and I have my eye on two other pieces and have been keeping my eyes out for others at garage sales or on the side of the road!
So, that's where I've been. Not to worry though. I've still been trying new recipes and cooking up a storm, as usual. I have a ton of recipes to share with you and will be back to blogging at least once a week. No more of this over a year away business. Here's to more recipes and more fun in the kitchen (and hopefully not driving my husband crazy with all my experiments!)!
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| I would not have survived grad school without this group of amazing people! |
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| Photo Credit: Beck Diefenbach |
Let's see, what else has been going on? The hubby and I continue to plug away at updating our home and are currently working on our living room. Correction, Ryan is working on the living room. At least for now. He's re-texturing the ceiling and once he's done, we'll have the living room carpeted (the carpet before we moved in was so gross) and then we'll put a fresh coat of paint on the walls. We had to go back to the drawing board with the paint a couple of times, but I think we finally have a whole house paint that will look good on both the walls and the ceiling. We made the mistake of using another color of paint in one of the bedrooms and then doing a white ceiling. That was a fun task. We learned that wasn't the best way to go if we were going to be repainting the entire inside of the house ourselves. Nevertheless, things are moving along and we should be done sooner than later. But don't hold me to that. Doing a remodel yourself is hard work, but we've learned a lot about the house and ourselves through the process. Blood, sweat and tears will live on in this house, even after we are gone!
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| Who needs a contractor when you have a very handy hubby! |
And one last item of mention - a new hobby. Not that I have a lot of time for anything else these days, but I decided to take on the task of refinishing old furniture. I never really thought much about it before, but admired those who did just that. Their work was just beautiful and I never thought I would ever even think of trying to do it. Let me just say, I am no expert and nor will I ever be, but, I was willing to give it a shot. Especially after my husband asked if I would like to try to refinish a couple of nightstands that were his grandparents. I was a little hesitant at first, seeing as they were part of the family, but he was certain his grandparents would be proud that we were freshening them up and using them in our home. So, it was time to set out on the task of figuring out how the heck I was even going to get started on such a project. After endless weeks of sanding, painting, priming and then painting again, I was done with the nightstand. It had gone from a funky avocado stained color to a clean and crisp white. Then, I felt I could do more and it was time for a dresser. I decided to do the body of the dresser a grey color and the drawers white (thank you Pinterest for the color inspiration). Despite the dresser being much larger than the nightstand, I was able to get the dresser done a lot faster. Not sure why that was, but I just went with it. After several coats of paint and new hardware, the dresser was finished. Since then, I've been working on the final nightstand and even took an Annie Sloan chalk paint class. Their paint and brushes are THE BEST, but I won't get started down that path. But I will just say that I did not use her paint or brushes on the first two pieces and it was a challenge. Brush hairs everywhere and bubbles in the other brand of chalk paint (to which the name will not be revealed). Don't get me wrong, the two pieces turned out great, but now that I've been introduced to Annie Sloan, there's no going back - and I have my eye on two other pieces and have been keeping my eyes out for others at garage sales or on the side of the road!
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| This was ELECTRIC blue before I got my hands on it |
So, that's where I've been. Not to worry though. I've still been trying new recipes and cooking up a storm, as usual. I have a ton of recipes to share with you and will be back to blogging at least once a week. No more of this over a year away business. Here's to more recipes and more fun in the kitchen (and hopefully not driving my husband crazy with all my experiments!)!
Missed you! Glad you're back!
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