Backyard..UGH

Ok! So I'm trying desperately to convince Dillon that we need a backyard makeover. So, he at least agreed to let me have a landscape designer come by to bid out an estimated cost of "remodeling" our backyard.  This included, tearing down the fence/planters; putting up a new fence, re-sodding, firepit, graveling the side of the house for a golf cart "driveway" and building pergola-type roof for our golf-cart "garage" next to the shed.  Needless to say, apparently backyards are even more expensive than living rooms!!! So, the landscape designer came today...I got the bid and then I proceeded to look at the price...my dreams were immediately shot to hell.  Here is what I'm working with--I sent these oh-so-intriguing pictures to several landscape TV shows in hopes one of them would have pity on us.  But, apparently people don't film shows in good 'ol Oklahoma City.  Whatever.

In the midst of this I am now trying to talk Dillon into the following:

Demo-ing the fence/beds ourselves and hiring a fence company to put up a new 3ft cedar/capped fence--same height as our current fence but it will look tons better.

Hiring someone to come re-sod our yard

Then furnishing our covered patio with this inspiration I got from the oh-so-my-style Pottery Barn catalog but on our minimized budget that doesn't include affording Pottery Barn:

*Rustic table, bench, and chairs...the lanterns are hanging from a rustic ladder by rope. I'm in love. BUT I am not however, in love with what this little dreamscape would set us back dollar-wise. YIKES.  Instead...I will go to our favorite store.. El Paso Imports for the same look at HALF the price. Literally.

The lanterns would still be bought from Pottery Barn...same sizes as shown in the picture--8 lanterns.

The rustic ladder the lanterns are hanging from--I found an antique store online that has 5ft wooden ladders (same as PB) for $29.95---pretty appealing versus the $199 tag on the PB ladder.

Table:

*in a darker wood--see chair below-- or in an ivory antique similar to the color of the chair covers in the PB inspiration picture.  The great thing about El Paso is they will custom the color for FREE.  I love them.

Chairs:

Bench:

*in whatever color the table choice is.

Bathroom Remodel COMPLETE!

We had our final inspection for the bathroom remodel today! WHOO HOO!!! The painters are still coming at the end of the week for some last touch-ups but other than that we are DONE! I cannot wait to have our master bathroom back and in perfect order never the less!  Here is the finished product following the before of the same view:

*BEFORE: Walking into the bathroom (closet door is on the right)

*AFTER: Same view as before...we added a linen cabinet and knocked the wall to the left down...the closet entry is on the right of the linen cabinets

*BEFORE:  Looking toward shower from the closet...this wall was demo-ed as well as the fur down you see in the upper right corner. 

*AFTER: The wall was demo-ed and everything opened up.  Plumbing was moved where the tub is now where the toilet was and the toilet where the sink was and the sinks where the vanity was...

*BEFORE:  old shower

*AFTER: New shower...we kept it on an angle but opened it up by raising the ceiling and using a frameless door...and obviously re-tiled and new fixtures.

BEFORE:  Looking back towards the bathroom entrance..this pic is taken standing to the left of the shower where the toilet it now located

AFTER: Looking back towards entrance...the tub is now where the old toilet and wall used to be.

What a transformation! Whoo hoo!! We are so excited to enjoy our new bathroom! Now, if only I can talk Dillon into another project...the backyard maybe? :)

I have been promising for sometime now to get some pictures posted of the bathroom remodel progress.  So here it is.  Enjoy!

*We decided to add a new glass door for a little more pizazz

*We also added the same door to go into the closet.  This one will have a cafe curtain on it to hide our messiness.  I've found the perfect leopard fabric for it as well :)  Thank you fabric.com

*Our new vanity area and linen cabinet.  We will have venetian gold granite and large rectangle frameless mirrors.  The cabinetry has a mocha glaze in the creases.  Paint color was changed to Sherwin William's "chopsticks" instead of the original choice of Benjamin Moore "whale grey"

*More storage over the toilet...also known as something Dillon can lean on while he stands to pee :)

*better view of the whole bathroom...I think we did a pretty good job with the limited space we had to work with!!

*My baby.

*Dillon's baby.  We opted for an exposed shower system to go with our classic with a twist of modern style.

Finished product coming soon! Stay tuned!!

The best things in life are FREE

Well, our bathroom is officially coming to a close...slowly but surely.  We got our new tankless hot water heater installed yesterday and the last steps are just around the corner!  Granite installed and mirrors, towel racks, etc. Dillon has the camera in his truck or I'd go ahead and post the pictures that I know you're dying to see.

On another note, Dillon has started reading a new Dave Ramsey book to help us save our money and invest wisely.  Apparently, this remodeling addiction is remodeling our bank account!!  So, I've been cooking more and Dillon is taking his lunch to work more as well.  Got to pinch those pennies!! For some reason, every time we start concentrating on SAVING money---I start thinking more and more about all the things I'd love to SPEND it on!  So here is a list of my hopes and dreams recently that Dave Ramsey (and Dillon) have shot down....




Plantation shutters in my living room--saves me the headache of curtains.

New patio furniture--I really want an outdoor dining table for our back porch so we can eat dinner, watch the sunset and lounge while Kenwood runs around the backyard.

Playground set--I want a playground that Wood can play on while I do the lounging.

A Pooper Scooper service--I was "gardening" today in our back yard and kept having to steer Kenwood away from feces...disgusting.  Though I could have very easily took the shovel and scooped away, I would much rather pay someone to do it  :)

A new back fence--we have this brick fence and brick lined planters in our backyard that are falling apart--almost literally.  I want a new fence and those planters gone so I can have new sod and a pretty yard. dream dream dreeeaamm

Basically, I just want a whole new backyard.

While we're on the topic of what I want but don't need--I'll take a new car, a baby, some botox and a tummy tuck :)  oooohhhh the things that money can buy!

But money cannot however buy happiness and I am beyond blessed with all thing things that money CANNOT buy...I'm also blessed with quite a bit of things that it can. God is GOOD! Oh ya...and we've been tithing too which I know will turn around ten-fold but goodness gracious that's alot of dough! :)  My very brilliant father-in-law's response to his wife when she said "we can't afford to tithe" was "No, we can't afford NOT to tithe."

1Timothy 6:17  Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God.

Foto Friday--Memphis

Just photos--or fotos in this case--with captions.  Here are some fotos from our Memphis night:

*I may be out of college, but I'm still gonna do the the Delta proud :)

*I was mesmerized by this dude for a good 2 hours....I obviously don't get out much.

*The best bar on the face of the planet...any daquiri you could ever ever want..and yes, they are STRONG!!!

*The beloved combo of "Call a Cab" and "Shock Top"--they nickname it the "Superhero".  I now know why.  I was definitely in Superhero mindset after I downed this thing...I was invincible! Yummy.

*I have at least 5 photos of people I don't know singing at the Karaoke bar....I'm pretty sure I told this girl she could be the next Beyonce...maybe I was trying to get her to buy me a drink? Weird.

The Randomness of Lately

I know everyone is getting anxious to get a remodel update so that one is coming next.  Tonight, Dillon went to the Thunder game with his dad.  There is always plenty for me to do around the house, especially on nights when Dillon isn't here because I wait for him to watch our TV shows...but on nights that he is out I enjoy the simple pleasures of accomplishing nothing. Zero. Zilch.  I have a pile of laundry that is heaping over the laundry bin, but I'm not doing it.  I have a filthy, dirty, dusty house because of the remodel that I could most definitely clean but I'm not doing it.  I just don't want to! :)  It feels so freeing to say that aloud--which I did just in case you were wondering.  I made an egg salad sandwich tonight for myself and I've been online shopping again...2 of which Dillon doesn't like.  So, I'm spoiling myself tonight. And enjoying every minute of it.  There is a huge possibility that I will be putting on Sound of Music here in the next hour and eating cookie dough. Yummy.

Speaking of cookie dough eating.  Our Biggest Loser competition has come to an end! Thankfully, our habits drastically changed (minus the cookie dough craving) when it comes to food and we have decided to maintain this health streak.  Dillon won the competition with a weight loss of 40 pounds! I'm so proud of him! I came in second with a weight loss of 21 pounds.  I had been as low as 23 pounds down but I hit this plateau of about 3 pounds where I just fluctuated daily no matter how I ate.  But all in all, we are both very happy to have our health back on track!  And we are very happy for the rest of our family that also had success in weight loss!! Love you guys! You all look HOTT! :) haha

Oh, and speaking of HOTT. I went to WalMart yesterday (I cannot explain to you how much I despise that place) because I forgot my SAMS card and I needed to get diapers for the Wood. Did I mention how much I hate WalMart? Well, it turned into an $80 trip for random summer toys for Kenwood.  The best buys I got were the $5 baby pool, the $5 golf club set, and the $1 giant bottle of bubbles.  All three of which were used today in this gorgeous but HOTT spring weather!  Kenwood proceeded to sit in his pool, WITH his new golf clubs while I blew bubbles at him for a solid hour.  I'm talking, this kid did not move at all.  He loves water with his whole heart.  I'm thinking I might have a little swimmer on my hands.  It never fails that I have to drain the bathtub water completely before I can coax him out. Michael Phelps anyone? Anyways, we had a blast playing today!

Such a completely random post tonight.  I tend to ramble.

2010 Roadtrip to the MASTERS!

When Dillon and I first got married...and a whopping 5 weeks later got our surprise pregnancy test- we vowed to each other that once a year we would take a vacation for some "us" time...just the two of us.  No kids, no family,  no friends.  As I have said on many occassions-my mother's wise words were that "if you get a break now and then, you will be a BETTER mother". I could not agree more. Don't get me wrong, I miss my little rascal like CRAZY when I'm gone.  But lets be honest, I also enjoy not having the adult responsibility for just a few days.

This year our vacation was to the one and only MASTERS.  Augusta National is this magical place that most of us only see on TV and comment on the beauty of the course.  Well, not to brag or anything--but I got to see it in real life.  I know. I'm even jealous of myself! Kidding.  But really. Anyways, I figured it was time to update the blog a bit and what better way than a journey through our travels!

Because our tickets (to the Practice Day) were so dang pricey, we decided to road trip.  We started out on Thursday night and took Kenwood to Shawnee to start the week with his Mimi and Donald. Then, we proceeded to the lake house to get a few hours ahead.

On Friday afternoon we got to Memphis, TN.  Graceland was one of our Road Trip stops! I'm allll shoook up....My genius husband couldn't figure out how to turn the camera flash off to take pictures until we had already gone through the Mansion.  Thank goodness for iphones...I'll post those later.

After Graceland, we went to the most famous Bar-B-Que joint in Tennessee-Rendevous.  Being from Oklahoma, we know good BBQ so we decided to put it to the test. Well, $80 later I'm glad to say it was worth it! Yummy yummy...plus 10lbs in my tummy!

Friday night, we "hotwired" our hotel in Memphis and got the Doubletree a block from Bealle Street for $60! YEEEHAW.  They will never take us back.  I'm still waiting to see if they charge us for the damage done after our night out on Bealle Street!  We were like 2 college kids...Karaoke bars, Big Ass Beers (thats what they were called).  It was soooo much fun! I love my husband so much, we had an absolute blast.

Saturday night we took it easy in Atlanta and went to see "How to Train a Dragon" in 3D.  By far in my top 2 Disney Movie favorites.  It was EXCELLENT.

Sunday we played golf in Augusta at the Goshen Golf Club.  We only got 9 holes in because the pollen in Augusta was like a yellow blanket over everything.  I hit one ball that knocked into a tree (shocking- I know) and this giant puff of yellow smoke came out. Pollen.  Nevertheless, we still had 3.5 hours to drive to our next destination of Sapphire Valley, NC.

Thankfully for us, my mom let us use some of her timeshare points to stay for free at one of her timeshare resorts--Wyndham at Sapphire Valley.  The town was darling and the sight-seeing was breathtaking. 

Finally, on Tuesday we got up at 2:30am to make the drive back to Augusta.  We didn't want to be late! We arrived about an hour early with all intentions to sleep in the car after we parked, but when we got there we were like little kids on Christmas and we were too excited to sleep.  So, the Masterful day began.

*Nothing like front row on one of the prettiest holes of the entire course #16.  Perfect for practice round day when all the golfers skip their balls across the water for show.  It was a blast!!!!

*I'm still a fan of Tiger...judge me all you want. He's a dang good golfer and quite frankly he is golf...yes, still.

*I've always liked Mickelson. Much to Dillon's dislike.  I have crush on him...probably fueled by the fact that Dillon doesn't like him. :) 2010 Masters Champion baby! Maybe I'm his good luck charm 

AMEN CORNER....Seriously impossible if I ever played this course--which IS actually impossible in itself considering their MEN ONLY rule.  Oh well....

Apparently our ticket prices allow them to serve cheap food and drinks.  It was yummy...we ate like 5 times for the price of one.

 

Yes...we took a picture of Arnold Palmer eating lunch--which wasn't awkward at all. LEGEND is all I have to say. 

All in all it was an amazing trip.  We hope to make it again in the near future. Hope you enjoyed the pics almost as much as we enjoyed taking them!!