V-Day....

Valentine's Day. What a hyped up holiday.

The truth is, for me Valentine's Day is more about love than romance.

Yesterday started out like any other day. Both Lucy and I had been up in the night with colds, so we slept in. We didn't do much celebrating until Jordan got home.

The best part of the day was when Jordan got home at 6:00. So normal. So nice.

He had stopped on the way home and had flowers for each of us. Lucy was so excited that she wouldn't put her flower down. She was still holding it this morning.

I had big plans to make a nice dinner, but just wasn't feeling well, so Jordan suggested we order pizza.

Nothing says love like Papa John's.

Honestly, it was a lot of fun to sit around our little table and eat dinner as a family.

After dinner, we did Face Time with both sets of parents so they could watch Lucy open the Valentine's parcels they had sent.

Might as well have been Christmas!

As you can see, Lucy's flower never made it in water.

After dinner, we made Valentine's sugar cookies.

Sneaky Jordan bought me a brand new iPhone. I was completely surprised.

I managed to surprise Jordan with some new Sperry's. Please don't calculate the discrepancy in cost between our gifts. I guess Jordan is just nicer than I am.

Hope you were able to spend the day with someone you love.

Daddy-Daughter Date...

When Jordan walked in the door at 7:00 tonight, it was like Christmas morning. Lucy, who just doesn't understand why Daddy has to work until 10:30 every night, was thrilled to see him. Imagine her pure joy when Daddy suggested, "Let's go on a date Bug. Just you and me."

Bliss.

Crafty???

For as long as I can remember I have vehemently proclaimed that I am not "crafty". To me crafts were things my mom made in relief society such as those lame potpourri dolls with dangling legs, or ugly dried flower wreaths. Since owning my own home, my view on "crafting" has changed. I now see crafting as an opportunity to make beautiful things for my home at a much lower cost. I was ecstatic when I received this sewing machine from my mother-in-law for Christmas.

It has stayed in the box due to the chaos of the move. The other day I opened it up and started pulling all the various parts and accessories out of the box. I realized I was WAY out of my league considering I had no idea what ANYTHING was. Overwhelmed, I stuffed everything back in the box for another day. Haley, my cousin's wife who I live close to, got wind of this and invited me over for a little tutorial. She showed me how to turn on the machine, thread a bobbin, change the stitches, etc. Armed with this knowledge I was ready to take on my first sewing project. I had to go to JoAnn's to pick up a few necessary items, and then it was go time.

I decided to make burpcloths out of cloth diapers for my cousin and his wife who just had a baby girl. I was given several of these when Lucy was born and LOVED them. My first attempt wasn't very pretty, but I definitely got better as I went. What do you think?

I've caught the bug. Onto the next project!

The Atlanta Zoo....

Lucy and I spent the day at the Atlanta Zoo with Haley and the twins. I'm starting to see the beginnings of cousin love. :) I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

What a fearsome lion!

A Day with Natalie...

My mom always said that she believes Heaven will be the ability to maintain all the friendships that we wish we could here on Earth. I must second this assertion. Nothing brings me more happiness than spending the day with someone I love. Last Friday I drove East to Athens, Georgia to spend the day with Natalie Findlay. Natalie and I met in an aerobics dance class at BYU. We became fast friends and the next year decided to be roommates. The last time I saw Natalie was six years ago, so it was wonderful to catch up with her. She drove me to downtown Athens, home of the Georgia Bulldogs. What a cool place! I love college towns. We ate at a great Thai place and then Natalie took us to a small, free zoo. There were black bears, alligators, and bald eagles. Here is Natalie with her cute son, Joshua.

Thanks Natalie! It was great.

Office Transformation...

Last weekend Jordan and I decided to tackle the last room upstairs that needed significant work.

The office.

Here is what we started with...

As we peeled back the car wall paper border we were horrified to find that there was another border underneath. The flower border was cemented to the wall and had a layer of paint covering the bottom half of it.

Several hours of peeling, taping, and painting later and................

....Voila! What do you think of the "retro avocado" green?

That same day, Jordan found this desk and chair on Craig's List for $50. The vinyl on the chair was peeling off so we recovered it. I daresay that the upstairs is finished!

Welcome to 2000 Starlight Drive....

I have had some requests to post pictures of our new house. However, I wanted to wait until I felt like the house looked more finished. I finally feel like the house is "put together" enough to show. Enjoy your tour. Here is the front of the house. Jordan, my mom and I put in several hours to rake up the leaves in the front yard. Fifteen LARGE bags of leaves later, and we are now ready to tackle the back yard.

These are our neighbors across the street. They are a cute little couple in their eighties named Frank and Dot. Dot came over not long after we moved in with a pound cake to welcome us to the neighborhood. She has the most darling Southern accent.

Jordan risked his very life hanging this mirror for me on Sunday night.

I found this little treasure in Sanoia. It is hanging in our entryway.

This is the view when you walk in the front door.

The kitchen. The previous owners did a fantasic job of the kitchen. I have seen before and after pictures and I'm so glad that they put the time into updating the kitchen.

Dining area.

This is the picture of the master bedroom that the previous owners posted. It took me several hours on a step ladder, but I finally managed to tear down the wall paper.

The finished product. We painted the walls a light grey. The bedspread looks very pink, but it's actually coral.

The guest bathroom. I forgot to take a picture of the master bathroom. It's not much to write home about. However, it does have a toilet, sink and shower so I shouldn't complain.

This is the corner bedroom that we plan to turn into an office. One of these days I'll take down the wall paper border in here too. I haven't decided what color to paint this room yet. Any ideas?

This is a picture of Lucy's room before we moved in.

We repainted it in a lovely shade of "Poetic Princess". She is completely in love with her pink room.

I LOVE these shelves!

Now we'll head downstairs. This is the guest room in the basement. Feel free to come occupy it.

This is the great room when you turn right at the bottom of the stairs. For now it will remain empty.

If you turn left at the bottom of the stairs you will see Lucy's playroom, or as she calls it, her "playground."

The laundry room comes off Lucy's playroom. Considering I will be spending a good amount of time in here, my mom and I decided to cheer the place up.

If we were going for bright, we got it.

My mom found this antique washboard in Sanoia, and these cute vintage signs online. I have one more sign coming.

This is our screened in porch off the kitchen. I love this red swing.

There you have it. Come visit!