A Day of DIY Projects

Today is the 2nd day of spring break and already Will and I have completed many of our home DIY home projects that we put on our "To Do" list.  We started out the day painting a "As Is" chair from Ikea that was only $9.99.  It was perfect for a little corner desk that Will had refinished a few months ago.  

Before

After

Then we started working on a monogram project with inspiration from a monogram flag that my Mom had given us as a present.  We started out by buying a 4ft x 2ft board from Home Depot and then we cut it down to a 3ft. x 2ft piece.  After that we painted it a off white color that we had gotten for $2 on the mistake/returned paint rack at Home Depot.  After we painted it tan we taped the trim to frame out the monogram design.

Once it was taped we used a technique I had read on a blog to make crisp, clean lines.  We took the same paint that we had been using and repainted the area that we were about to paint black.  This extra coat helped fill in any spaces that might not have been covered perfectly by the tape.  After that was dry we painted the black trim and peeled off the tape to reveal the clean lines because of that extra coat of tan.

After the trim was done I found a google image of the flag and Will enlarged the image in Paint.  He then printed the large image on several pieces of paper.  I had to cut and tape the image back together so that it would be large enough for the area inside of the trim. 

Next, Will scratched the back of the design with a pencil.  Once the back was covered with pencil I laid it on the board and traced the black design.  When tracing it on the board it left an outline on the wood.  From that outline I painted the image and ta-da it was done!

For our last project of the day we finished up a quick project to frame our first house key.  I typed up the title, left space for the key, and then under the key I typed up our new home address (sorry you don't see that part in the picture).  I had painted the key red a few days ago.  We glued it onto the paper with super glue and in just a few minutes we created quick and cheap knick-knack to help fill our empty walls.

It was a busy day of doing little projects to make out new house feel homie once we get to move in.  Tomorrow it is back to wedding planning.  Will and I are going to try a cake up in Frederick, MD and then meet an officiant.  Later this week my Mom and I are going to pick out invitations.  This spring break is defiantly a week of getting things done! :)

Our First House!

As of Friday William and I are now homeowners.  After searching for a few months we found this house just 6 miles from my work! It is right by Frying Pan Park and has a 2 car garage! William is excited because many of the other townhouses we had been looking at only had 1 car garages and he would have been parking outside.  But now he doesn't have to! :) It also has beautiful walking trails right behind the house and a nice view of a small pond ie. water retaining area.  We can't believe we found an end unit it such a great lot that doesn't back up to other townhouse. The location couldn't have been better.  The house has good bones but we have some big plans for it.  Before we move in we are going to re-sand the existing hardwood floors, add hardwood on the two sets of staircases, add crown molding, repaint every wall, and add recessed lighting throughout the house.  We can't wait for out mini renovations.  However, we aren't moving in until July because the previous owners are renting back from us until they move into their new place.  This worked out perfect for Will and I because we can continue to save while they make our first few mortgage payments :)  

More updates to come as we work on home projects :)

Finally Updated!

I know I have upset some fellow followers because I have not updated the blog since December (sorry Mrs. Evy).  So here goes a 3 month update...

First, my flower girl got her dress!! She looks beautiful :)

Then. after a 2 month shoe hunt I finally found shoes. Originally, I wanted silver glitter pumps and I looked far and wide until I found these cute ones on Amazon.

They were cute and would add a little glitz to my dress, however, there was one big problem. I couldn't walk in them once I got them.  They has +4 inch heels...which I am not use to after walking around my classroom in flats day after day.  I thought sometimes you just have to sacrifice comfort for style but then Will started to tell me that our wedding day is going to be a special day and if I fall while walking down the isle because of these nose bleed high heels I would be upset beyond belief since I only have one chance to take that very special walk. So this little comment got me thinking that I should not sacrifice comfort for style and the shoes went back.  After the shoes went back I spent about 3 hours looking on every shoe website for 1 to 2 inch glitter heels which limited my search field even further.  Then I deiced to give up on this whole glitter idea and I put ivory in my search box and landed on these.

Turned out I could go to Nordstrom to try them on to make sure they would fit.  They fit beautifully and I am pretty sure I can wear them all night without having to take them off because they are only 2 inches high.  I had to order them in ivory because Nordstrom only had them in black at the store.  Once they came I was walking around the house when my Dad told me they were classy.  Once the word "classy" came out of his mouth I knew these were it.  The word classy is defiantly the word I want to describe my wedding day and the fact that my Dad said it made it all the better :).  So finally I have my shoes and I am looking forward to my fitting this summer! 

Next, we went up to Myersville to taste possible dishes for the wedding. We went up with my parents, brother, Donna, and Daddy Jim.  We had a blast together.  I am so grateful I got to spend that day with all of them.  We decided on a boursin stuffed chicken, filet, and vegetarian dish.  All the food was great.  Then we went over a rough draft of the schedule.  It was so cute because every time Donna had a question she would raise her hand each time she had question for our wedding coordinator. While we were there Will and I finally agreed on our ceremony spot.    Will was not sold on the spot I had picked last time we went up there but this time the sun was setting and the backdrop was just perfect.  After Will saw my vision he was excited about the location.  Here is a picture from that day of us standing where we will say our "I Do's"

While we were up there that day we also found a hotel about 15 minutes away where we blocked a set of rooms for the guest to stay.  We will be having a little after party there so we are looking forward to extending the celebration at the hotel.

Finally, my last update is non-wedding related...Will and I might be home owners as of next Friday. We are going to close on a townhouse if all goes well in the next week...more to come on this big announcement.  Once it is ours I will post pictures.  We had been looking at houses in Ashburn because there was so much new construction out there but then decided we wanted to stay in Fairfax County so we turned our search back to the Reston/Herndon area and found a house about a month ago.  More to come!!!

Christmas...its the best time of the year

Santa was great to Will and I this year! 

We got a ton of things for our one day house. We got a crock-pot, glassware, Christmas china from Pottery Barn, cookware, and much much more.  I love Christmas with my family because we spend about 3 hours opening up gifts, taking our time, talking, and eating! It was odd being the first Christmas without getting clothing since we need a lot of home things but I must say the most exciting part was getting my ELF ON A SHELF!!!! :)  It was great.  The elf on the shelf tied string to my bedroom door and I had to follow the string down the stairs and into the living room to find it tied inside of the box.  Once I opened my elf on a shelf he got into a lot of mischievous trouble exploring the house :)

Joey also got me my first cookbook! I need the practice so I have decided I am cooking the remainder of my winter break!  Tonight I made Meatball Pie, it actually might have been the best meal I have ever made....which isn't saying much because I have made some pretty awful stuff before.  The cookbook might be the key to Will eating well once we are married! 

Now that Christmas has come and gone I have been busy during my time and I finally got around to cleaning my closet...I have 3 bags of clothes to donate and my closet is still stuffed full.  I am now wondering how I am going to live once Will and I share a closet.  

I know I haven't been too busy wedding planning but I sure have been busy thinking about all the things Will and I will need once we have our home...so while I was out shopping with my mom this week I purchased our first piece of furniture! It was an exciting moment! The purchase was pinterest inspired after spending countless hours looking at home decoration. When I found this beautiful bench I knew I had to have it because I had pinned something like it on my own pinterest board :) An added bonus is that Ella absolutely loves it...she was finding a comfy spot soon after I had carried it in. 

I can't wait to put it in our entry way one day :) It doubles as a bench and storage.  

New Obsession...

Pinterest! If you haven't heard of it you must go check it out! I love looking at pictures and this is just the place.  Here is a cute photo I saw and want to take a similar picture with our flower girl and ring bearer on the wedding day :) Thanks Pinterest for the idea!

Getting a Head Start on Wishing

Last night after work Will and I were trying to figure out how to spend our evening when I gave the suggestion to go start our gift registry.  I threw the idea out there thinking Will would shoot it down and not want to send his Friday night in a store.  However, Will was in on the idea.  So after a nice dinner with my parents we headed out to Target.  We decided Target might be a convenient place for our guests to shop and they do have some cute home stuff that is affordable.  We scanned a ton of kitchen items and we even added a few fun things that Will was interested in so that he could get excited about "manly" presents.  We also registered at Bed Bath & Beyond this morning.  We picked out plates, glasses, and other exciting things.  It ended up being a lot more fun than I thought it was going to be and Will was super helpful.  He gave his opinion on a lot of things which I was thinking he wasn't going to be too interested in.  We had a lot of fun talking about what our future house is going to be like, it made us wish we already had one. But the awesome thing is that we are saving a lot of money right now so that we can afford our dream place sometime soon! Now I can't wait for my bridal shower in the summer :)  Here is a sneak peak at our registry:

Sadly, I was excited about this new food processor because it also will chop/slice food and if you have ever tried cooking with me then you would know this slicing option is good for me because I can't use a knife to cut a thing in the kitchen :(

This clock made me think of all the Pottery Barn catalogs that come in the mail :)

I love ANYTHING monogrammed! If I can add a "W" to it, then I want it! I even interested Will in some beer glasses (even though he isn't a big beer fan) just because we could add "Wheeler" to them!  

Flowers, Cake, Harpist...Oh My!

Well I first need to start off by saying I survived the 1st quarter! A lot of my parents asked about the wedding at parent/teacher conferences because apparently my kiddos are so excited that I am getting married that it has become the talk around a lot of families kitchen tables.  2nd graders are too cute!

So about a week ago we when to Twinbrook Florist to talk about flowers and my goodness were they great! Before even showing the women some example pictures I had found on the internet she pulled together all of the flowers I wanted in only a few seconds.  I told her I didn't want any roses or carnations and that I wanted a lot of texture to my bouquet.  She went off to the back and came back with this...

This is just a sample of the flowers that will be in my bouquet and it will have a green grass cage as you can see part of that to the top right of this sample.  So now flowers are said and done and Will made the deposit on one of this days off this week :) 

The next day, after our flower appointment, Will and I went to taste the cake at a place in Reston.  The cake was good and we defiantly liked the pumpkin cake! However, we had to listen to this man for an hour and half talk about how he was the best Willy Wonka.  With them being in Reston and our wedding being in Myersville, it was going to be quite the haul and a hefty charge.  We are still thinking about it because we did love the pumpkin but we are going to try other cake places, maybe a little closer Myersville, before making our decision.  

Finally, the harpist idea has become quiet the hassle.  Apparently a harpist will only play outside if there is perfect weather between 62 and 85 degrees.  With our ceremony being outside we are starting to wonder if we should take the risk on a harpist because if we do, we have to not only have the sun shining but also have just the right temperature.  So with that said...we aren't sure what to do.

The good thing is flowers have been picked! :) 

P.S. I have become obsessed with etsy.com because I have been looking for a hair piece, props for our photo booth, and other miscellaneous fall items.  If you have never visited etsy.com before you must give it a try!