Monday, June 29, 2009

Not Me Monday

Are you feeling guilty for pretending not to notice as your child sucked toothpaste out of the tube? Feel like a slouch for wearing your husband's big, baggy t-shirts all day? We'll don't! Not Me! Monday was born out of MckMama's desire to admit some of her imperfections and reveal a few moments she'd rather forget. You may find it therapeutic to join in and do the same thing! Go to MckMama's site to read what every one else was (not) up to this past week!

I definitely did not let the laundry pile up again and run out of dish rags and end up using a forgotten one of Bailey's rags instead...no never (have I mentioned that I hate laundry before?!)

And I'm not sitting here now, typing this post, instead of throwing the load of towels in the dryer.

I did not sing over the cries from Bailey in the car asking me to play "pider" because there was actually a song I really liked on the radio and I was in desperate need of a little adult music. Of course not.

I did not bribe my daughter with bread to get her to eat her peas...one bite of peas = one bite of bread.

What did you not do this week?

For Dada...

Nick left yesterday for a week worth of training for the AP Psychology class he will be teaching next year. Of course Bailey and I miss him like crazy already. First thing this morning Bailey wanted to know where dada was, since he's been the one getting her up in the mornings since it's summer. This is a special little video just for you dada...

I can't wait until you get home and I know Bailey can't wait to see you either!!

Home Projects

This weekend Nick and I finally crossed something off our To-Do List that had been on there for about 2 years now...we stained our fence! Here is a before picture of the old weathered looking wood that was our fence.
Here I am working on the outside. I actually really enjoyed this. It was tiring and extremely hot outside, but the sprayer made the work MUCH easier!
Here Nick is working. We took turns with each time the sprayer needed to be refilled. And of course I'm not such an anal retentive control freak that I kept pointing out where he needed to improve...not me. And here's the after picture!!! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my new red fence! All I have left to do is roll the stain on the planks next to the house...couldn't use the sprayer without painting the house red.

This was the first real project Nick and I have done around our house. Mainly because we're not very handy people. Here are a couple of things I learned during this process...

- There's a reason you see people wearing masks when they're staining things. I decided I didn't need one when I first started and ended up with a nose full of red stain!! Needless to say I wore the mask during the last half of the work.

- You should check for bees before spraying your fence. We found 4 nests behind the corner posts of the fence. I found the first one while I was spraying and about 4 or 5 flew out at me. Needless to say I dropped the gun and ran straight into the house!

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

A Look Back

Today is mine and Nick's 3 year wedding anniversary! As promised (and I know you probably lost sleep waiting on this!), here is a look back down memory lane.
A little history - Nick and I first met in elementary school. He was in 4th grade and I was in 3rd and our classes were held in the same room. One day he gave me a note and told me to go the bathroom to read it, it said "I licke you", spelling never has been his strong point! :) After elementary school we didn't see each other until high school. My freshman year we had a class together. We hit it off right away and he was my best friend. We would get in trouble all the time for flirting in class. He wanted to be more, I wanted to be friends. We did end up dating for about 2 weeks before I broke up with him. For the next 2 years I was quite a snot. I would tell him that I was starting to like him, and then I would change my mind. What can I say, I was a dumb high schooler. As crazy as it sounds, I knew I would end up marrying him, I just wasn't ready to date him then. Then, during my junior year it was like I finally woke up and I knew I was ready to be with him, however, he had grown tired of waiting and was dating someone else. That lasted a month or so, and a few weeks after they broke up we started dating. The rest, is history!
This was my freshman prom (From - pronounced like prom but with an F). I had another date for the evening and he had come with a friend of his, but we ended up spending the entire evening together. It wasn't long after this that we dated for the first time.
This was Nick's senior prom. And here's my senior prom. Oh to have that body back!!
Here we are paddle boating at Jacobson park.
This was the summer before my freshman year of college. I had a lady take pictures of us at the Japanese garden...he was not excited, but put on a good face.

This was taken in Siesta Key, Florida. We went there for two spring breaks while in college. I'm guessing this one was from my sophomore year. This is seriously the best beach I've ever been to!

And our wedding day...

And then less than a year and a half after our wedding day our lives were changed forever...

Happy anniversary honey! Here's to three wonderful years and a lifetime more to come!

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

3 years and counting

This past Friday night Nick and I celebrated our 3 year wedding anniversary (which actually isn't until tomorrow). I took the day off (except for a closing and a couple of work calls...welcome to the world of real estate!) and we headed up to Woodford County to tour Woodford Reserve. It was a great tour, despite the sweltering heat. Our tour guide was full of information and quite funny. I did get in trouble for my flash going off in the storage room, oops! While there I remembered how much I hate bourbon, the smell and the taste, but I also remembered how gorgeous Woodford County is. The drive to the distillery is fantastic, nothing but horse farms. No cluster of vinyl homes, no busy streets, it was amazing. Also, the main building at the distillery is gorgeous. I decided it could easily be my dream home (just the outside, as it's just one big room on the inside). The wrap around porch is what really drew me in, and the beadboard on the underside of the roof, and the metal roof...it was gorgeous!
Here is what I've saved as our dream house...

Minus the barn like garage, the pitch of that would have to be changed!

We still don't know if we would rather have a ranch or a two story. I like the look of the two story, but I am determined to have a basement the next time around, and the thought of having three floors to clean is a little overwhelming. I know we'll have to work with a great builder and probably an architect to design the house. I think we're both going to be too picky to simply pick a plan out of a book or find one online. So hopefully we'll be able to build something with a kind of mix between the house above with some features that the Woodford Reserve building has. However, I want the house to be Boothbay Blue, shown in the picture below.

with a metal roof! And in case you're wondering, no, we're not building a new house any time soon. I'm just dreaming here! The plan is to buy land in the next couple of years and hopefully be in a position to build in 5 years. We've got a lot of saving to do!!

Here are some more pictures from the tour...

After the tour we stopped in Midway and had lunch at Heirloom, which I strongly recommend! It was probably the best burger I've ever had! I would have preferred it have been cooked just a little longer, but it had the best flavor!

From lunch I had to go straight to my closing and then we went and checked into our hotel for the evening. Then it was off to dinner at Malone's. We had been so excited about this dinner, we only get to go about once a year since it's so pricey and we had a gift card, so we knew the dinner would mostly be free! However, it was very disappointing! While my steak was cooked perfectly, it was very dry. At least the dessert was wonderful, we shared the Cookie. Makes my mouth water just thinking about it!

After dinner we went to see The Proposal. Oh.my.gosh. This movie was hilarious!

Saturday morning we were supposed to go to Shaker Village, but sleeping in sounded so much better! We'll have to save that tour for another date.

I think tonight I'm going to try and find some old pictures of Nick and I from we first started dating back in high school to share in honor of our wedding anniversary tomorrow. Until then, here we are headed to Malone's on Friday.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.
I did NOT change clothes in the car while en route from mine and Nick's lunch at Heirloom's in Midway to my closing in Lexington on Friday afternoon. And I sure wasn't in the front seat while changing clothes.
I did NOT decide to get in Bailey's baby pool with her on Saturday afternoon and I definitely didn't do that while still fully dressed. And of course even if I would do something like that my lovely husband would NEVER think about snapping a picture with my cell phone and then proceed to send it to my mom and my friends. No, never. Is it just me, or does this picture scream for a caption like "Enjoying a little sun while practicing water birthing techniques." And yes, I know you like the look of the rolled up Bermuda shorts, please, try not to be jealous! :)

I did NOT laugh so hard at the new movie The Proposal that I nearly wet my pants (darn it, things just aren't the same after having a baby!).

What did you not do this past week?

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Thankful Thursday

It's been a LONG time since I've done a Thankful Thursday post, but I'm feeling especially thankful this Thursday morning and thought it was only appropriate.

I'm thankful for:

1. Bailey (I know, you're shocked!). I've shared many times that Bailey is a full blown momma's girl (although the summer has been great since she is getting to spend lots of quality time with daddy!), and while that's not always easy, I wouldn't change it for anything. This week she has started doing something that absolutely just makes me melt. I'll be sitting next to her on the couch/bed/floor...and say something to the affect of, "Mommy has to cook dinner/get in the shower/do laundry..." and she will say "No" and jump in my lap and just hug me. It the sweetest thing ever! It of course breaks my heart when I'm trying to leave for work and she does it. I love that little girl so much sometimes it feels like my heart could just burst!

2. A great husband! We are nearing our 3 year wedding anniversary coming up on the 24th of this month. I'm taking tomorrow off (kind of) so we can celebrate. I'm very much looking forward to a little time alone just to relax and enjoy each other's company. He's been so great since school ended, helping out with laundry, making dinner, doing the dishes, taking care of Bailey all day and he even scheduled a play date for her next week...what a good daddy! Here's what's on the agenda for our day tomorrow: *Tour Woodford Reserve

*Lunch (either at Woodford Reserve or Midway)

*Closing at 3:00 (my one bit of work tomorrow)

*Dinner at Malone's

*Staying the night at a hotel in Lexington

*Saturday morning going to tour Shaker Village

3. Business picking up. The news is always talking about how bad the real estate market is right now, but things are picking up here (and things were never as bad here as large metro areas). I hadn't planned on doing anything work related tomorrow, but this closing had been pushed back while we were waiting on approval from USDA, so I'm just glad we're finally going to get to close! I love my job so much and realize how lucky I am to truly love what I do. As a newer agent, it's sometimes a rough road to establish yourself and gain clients. I've been blessed to work with a great woman who has taken me under her wing and is trying to teach me everything she knows. I am currently working with 2 buyers, have a referral sale in which the buyer just made an offer (thanks Brooke!), have a client who is building a home that will be finished in August and a closing tomorrow...yeah, I'm happy AND proud of myself!!

Hope everyone else takes a little time to remember what they are most thankful for, it's easy to forget sometimes.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Maxwell Mini-Adventure - To the Zoo we Go!

What a great weekend we had! We headed up to Louisville for our second Maxwell Mini-Adventure of the summer. Saturday night we stayed with our friends Brooke & Clay. They have a pool at their apartment complex and took full advantage of it! I can't get over how much Bailey loves the water! We bought her some little arm floaties this time and she did really well with them. She could float in the water by herself...she looked so big! She did manage to go forward a little too far once with her mouth wide open and got a big mouth full of water, but it really didn't scare her too bad. No pictures of the pool...we were all in, so there was no one to photograph :) Sunday we got up and after a fantastic pancake breakfast by aunt Brooke, we headed to the zoo.
(How did I come to actually look like a mom? Didn't I use to have more of a waist?!?!)
I thought these (can't remember what in the world they were) had the coolest horns!
Poor, poor animals!!
Bailey does a great elephant sound, but she wouldn't do it in front of them. It was hilarious! As soon as we got away from their area she would do it.
She did love the "tur-tal".
This was the petting zoo area, she wouldn't touch anything!
Meerkat
A picture of the big gorilla. She loved this! There were 3 large gorillas in this area to watch and it was getting close to feeding time. These were the most active animals we saw. She loved the monkeys!
But the only place she really had a great time was at the splash park...go figure :)
Of course at the splash park there was the one mom who obviously didn't get the notice that this was a family place. She had her bikini top on with a little spaghetti strap top on, but the top was pulled down so the girls were all hanging out. Then she had her shirt rolled up and her skirt pulled way down. She would watch her little boy and then look around to see who was looking at her. Why is there is always one of these moms?
We got to the zoo a little after 11:00, meaning we missed our morning nap. We didn't leave the zoo until after 2:00. Bailey did really well! We were barely even out of the parking lot when she just passed out. Here she is holding her favorite book and her new monkey from the zoo.
Once again we had a great time. Now I need some help for our next mini-adventure. It needs to be within about 30 minutes from Georgetown and something wallet friendly. Any ideas?

Monday, June 15, 2009

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week. Never seen a Not Me! Monday! post, not sure what it's all about...here's what MckMama has to say... "Are you feeling guilty for pretending not to notice your toddler playing with the dogfood? Feel like a slouch for staying in your jammies all day? We'll don't! Not Me! Monday was born out of my desire to admit some of my imperfections and reveal a few moments I'd rather forget. You may find it therapeutic to join in and do the same thing!"

I did NOT come into the living room only to find Bailey playing with Nick's (straight out of the dryer) clean boxers, and I definitely did NOT continue letting her play with them so I could get this adorable photo shoot. I did NOT go redneck style and change Bailey's diaper at the picnic table while at the zoo yesterday instead of taking her into the crowded bathroom to use the fold down changing table covered in germs...and usually some kind of sticky mess.

I did NOT go redneck style again (there seems to be a trend here...) and strip Bailey down to change her from her bathing suit back into a diaper and clothes in the bathroom instead of waiting in line for a stall or waiting to use the disgusting aforementioned changing table. This also did NOT create a room full of little naked girls while other moms followed my lead.

So what did you not do this week?