Projects

In addition to our fall dates (and being the queen of lists) I’m starting to think about projects inside the house again and things I want to start doing to make our house look more like a home. I’m excited to start making small changes inside the house to make it more homey and bring our personality to the house.

Here’s an updated list of things we wanted to get accomplished:

Downstairs
Living room:

• Pillows & Living room curtains/valances
• Find something to go above the entertainment center (I can’t decide which route to go: something like this or maybe cut vinyl like this).
• End tables and coffee table (Chris likes these)
• Reupholster wing back chair bought at Goodwill for $20 (fabric yet to determine)
• Refinish coffee table based on this
• Decorate the East and West wall (maybe something like this, or this, or this)

Kitchen:

• Repaint the kitchen
• Bar or sideboard for East wall
• Cookbook shelves for kitchen, like this
• Pendant shades for the kitchen, maybe? Or red pendant lights like these

1/2 Bath:

• Decorate with blue & white (vintage-style)
• Buy & put in hand towel holder
• TP holder?

Upstairs
Master Bed/Bath:

• Repaint our bathroom cabinets, maybe dark like this
• And frame up our mirror in the bathroom like this
• New end tables for the bedroom

Elsewhere upstairs:

• Clean out and organize the office closet
• Burn/save all pictures to CDs from computer
• Paint spare bedroom
• Put in TP holder in spare bath

Elsewhere around the house:

 

• Hang artwork that has yet to find a home since we’ve moved (some of it is hung… other is still looking for a home)
• I want to get the lyrics to our first dance song printed on canvas and put somewhere- something like this
• I also want to get some of our wedding pictures printed on canvas and stretched.  Still trying to decide where I exactly want to put them and which pictures to print, but I’m sure I’ll figure it out eventually.
• Get our water softener system that we won put into the water line.
• And somewhere I want to do this (married, honeymoon, live?)- the maps are so cute!
• Get a deep freezer for the garage
• Stairs for the deck
• Finish landscaping outside (peonies and hydrangeas along the front of the porch)

Here are the things we’ve done since March when this was posted:

• Purchased new deck and patio furniture
• Planted in the front along the garage
• Painted 1/2 bath and spare bath
• Painted scrapbook nook, put up book shelf and decorated

 

I can’t say we’ve been busy with the house, but it’s a constant work in progress. The list is always changing and I’m adding new/fun projects to the list what seems like every other day. It’s an interesting process ad we’re continually learning how to meld our styles together as Chris enjoys things that are all mostly new and very fresh. I’m happy to refinish and update using a little sweat equity to make it a more personalized finish (plus, it’s usually cheaper)! These things, along with football and our other fall activities, will certainly keep us busy as the days start to turn cooler.

I wish I could prioritize the list to make it easier to check things off, but it’s hard to prioritize because sometimes its just easier to do a project. While I may want to do the curtains and pillows in the living room first, but it’s more expensive than hanging our artwork. I feel like we’re constantly on the search for something above our entertainment center, but nothing has struck our fancy yet… We love making our house a home and will continue to add small projects (and probably big projects) for many more months to come.

 

Fall dates

This year, instead of just sitting around watching football all fall, I’m excited to explore more of the area and try some different things around. So, we put together a list of things we want to try and do this fall. They’d be great date ideas for anyone looking for some inexpensive fall dates, especially in the Des Moines area.

- Corn maze
- Apple picking
- Try a new restaurant – Chris’ pick
- Try a new restaurant – my pick
- Carve pumpkins and bake the seeds
- See a movie at an independent theatre
- Plan our dream vacation
- Make our family tree
- Walk across the high tressel bridge and enjoy the leaves
- Walk around Greys Lake

I’m anxious to enjoy our fall and all the fun things we have planned. I’ll share pictures as we complete our list and try new things!

 

Come Fly With Me

Last year for Christmas I got the hubs a discovery flight. The purpose of this flight is to determine if continuing on to get your pilot’s license is something a person might want to pursue. Knowing that Chris is afraid of flying in general it was a gutsy move, but I thought that if nothing else it would probably help calm his thoughts of “not being in control” and he could learn a little bit more about the inner workings of a plane!

Finally, once the weather turned nice and we had a down day, we decided to make the move and book the lesson. August 21st at 4:30 we met a wonderful pilot at the Des Moines International Airport.

Confident pre-flight

We were prepped on the plane and off we went. Hubs in the pilots’ seat, me in the back.

Before we knew it we were flying high over Norwalk. It was so picturesque.

We kept flying south towards Ottumwa straight out of Des Moines. Hearing the chatter from the airport and other pilots and learning the ins and outs of the language was so interesting.

We turned back around with Chris at the helm and headed by Lake Red Rock

The hour literally flew by! Soon enough we were back in Des Moines, landing safely back on the ground.

Feeling safe back on the ground

It was such a neat experience. One of the coolest things I’ve ever done. It’s such a neat perspective and definitely something we’ll remember for a long time. Chris has even talked about continuing on to get his pilot’s license when we get the free time & money to do something like this in our lives. We have yet to see if it will help with his fear of flying. If nothing, I’m sure it will only help. We’ll know in November when he flies to Florida with his dad for a week- I can’t wait to hear the results.

 

The end of summer

This weekend marks the end of “summer.” Since its not like I have to go back to school or anything I don’t like to think of it as the end of summer since we’ve still got lots of nice days (today is over 90 degrees). However- football season is upon us and the first game is this weekend! I can’t believe its football season- uugh! Soon it’ll be cold with snow flurries and ice. In the mean time, the good news is that we’ve had lots of time to enjoy the weather and we’ll be looking forward to spending lots of nice days still enjoying fall.

It’s hard to believe another summer has come and gone. It sure has been a memorable one and I will continue to cherish the memories we’ve made this summer for a long time!

Cheers to a great summer!

 

July

Originally, we thought July was going to be a nice and relaxing month compared to June. It wasn’t quite as packed, but it was relatively busy. We spent a lot of time enjoying the sun and hot days (July was abnormally hot this year with streaks of days over 90 degrees). We got our tans back, grilled and ate out on the deck plenty and spent more time with family and friends.

We started July by celebrating Peanut’s 4th birthday on the 2nd. Hard to believe our little fur-baby is 28. I am officially now the youngest Finnegan in our family.

Since Peanut’s birthday fell on the 4th of July weekend, she got to celebrate beach-girl style with her itsy-bitsy-teeny-weeny-yellow-polka-dot-bikini. We then celebrated the 4th of July weekend with family and friends being sure to celebrate our 6 years of being together (also on the 2nd) by swinging by the place where our paths crossed again 6 years ago!

Here’s a little picture summary of our 4th of July weekend.

We filled up our week nights with grilling and softball. The hubs is the best player on the team… just ask him!

We headed back to the lake a couple more weekends to soak up more sun and get some more boat time in.

We got a chance to catch up with old friends and hear great stories about my dad in his wilder days!

We ended July celebrating my 26th birthday! Hard to believe how fast the last year has gone, but it was a great celebration with lots of cake and ice cream and sweet corn… family & friends! Here’s to 26+ more!

 

June

Just like 2010, June this year was jam packed full of fun events and celebrations. We started the month off with a trip to see Chicago- not the city, but the musical. It was a great date night which started as a Christmas gift from the Hubby. John O Hurley was Billy which was fun since I even knew who he was!

That same week, we had a family graduation and a huge work project. That resulted in a jam packed weekend but it was nice to relax on Sunday and watch some golf at the Principal Charity Classic.

The next week we celebrated the wedding of two really great friends- Derek & Ashley. It was a beautiful ceremony & reception. They couple was simply glowing and Ashley looked so beautiful!

Because their wedding was on a Friday night we had the whole weekend to recover (which was much needed after the open bar). That week we headed to Kansas City for something the Mr. has wanted to cross off his bucket list for as long as he can remember– a USA Men’s World Cup game. Because it was in Kansas City, I got to partake in my favorite restaurant, Oklahoma Joe’s!

That night we went over to the new soccer stadium to cheer the team on to a win!

The next weekend we had a little garage sale…

And celebrated our anniversary with dinner out on Saturday and a picnic downtown on Sunday.

Later that week, we got to attend our 3rd Michael Buble concert here in Des Moines.

Knowing what we knew from previous concerts we had been to, we grabbed floor seats in a specific location to gain the best access to the B Stage where he would perform a couple of songs during the concert. When the time came, I bolted out of my seat and over to be front and center on the B Stage. He touched my hand (numerous times) and I may or may not have screamed like a little girl. Regardless, it was pretty sweet!

The same day as Michel Buble was my brother’s 21st birthday and he had just gotten back from a couple of weeks in Italy, so since we missed his 21st birthday, our anniversary and father’s day… we decided to do a joint celebration.

And finished off the month with a wedding celebration with lots of good college friends.

June was such a busy and fun month. It’s hard to believe we’ve been married for a year! Summer is just flying by and I can’t believe we’re already in August, but June was so much fun I wanted to make sure to document it

 

Monday Musings

In an attempt to keep my blogging regular, I’ve decided to try a new little installment called “Monday Musings”. Basically, these will be musings of what’s going on currently in our lives and a chance just to rant and rave.

- I can’t believe its already August. Back-to-School supplies have been taking up shelves at Target since June, but it still doesn’t make the fact that fall is quickly approaching any better.

- My travel bug has not subsided… in fact, its probably gotten worse since our trip to Atlanta.

- I have friends who are pregnant and I thought for sure once one of them got pregnant that I would get baby fever. I get it every now and then, but for the most part I’m happy to sleep in on weekends and go to the grocery store uninterrupted.

- That being said… I’m excited to start planning my friend’s baby shower who is due in December. She’s having a boy and I can’t wait to watch the next few months as she grows and changes and celebrate this amazing little boy!

- I tried my hand at golf this past weekend for the first time in years. Literally, the last time I played 9 holes was probably 10 years ago if not more! Having not picked up a club for so long I was pretty happy with my performance.

- The Iowa State Fair starts this week. We’ve been busy at work with different projects for the fair and its kept us nice and busy. Last year was the first year in a while I didn’t make it to the fair. I didn’t miss it too terribly, but it’ll be fun to go back this year and partake in all the goodies it has to offer.

- Speaking of partaking in all the goodies, I’ve been eating out a lot lately for lunch at work and haven’t been to the gym in a couple weeks. With a wedding coming up at the end of the month and another one in October, I better get my butt in GEAR!

- I’m happy I got the NOOK last month. I’ve already read 3 books (The Hunger Games trilogy set) and have started on my 4th (Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand). I’m having a hard time getting into it, but I think it’ll pick up shortly.

- We lost hubby’s godfather this weekend. He was such a great man who helped shape my husband’s life. He and his wife were such special people and we lost her last winter. It was really hard on him these past few months and I know he loved her so much. It’s hard to have them both gone, but I know that he’s up in heaven with her right now, eating a Klondike bar & talking about all the things they’ve missed the last few months not being together.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

What I’m looking forward to this week: Getting started back in the routine of running outside now that its not 100 degrees.

Goal for this week: Not go to the grocery store unless its an emergency! (This has been a huge weakness of mine by just going in to get one thing – since I haven’t been doing well at meal planning- and instead of just getting the taco shells I went in for, I walk out with $50 of stuff).

Have a great week everyone!

 

A look ahead

We’ve been busy bee’s at the Finnegan household. July was so much fun. We saw lots of family and friends, spent a lot of time on the lake and I celebrated turning 26. Pictures from July to come, but first, here’s a look forward at what we have to look forward to:

- Rehearsal/Golf Outing for my best friend from high school’s wedding coming up in October

- Taking the cousins for another fun filled weekend. We’ll be hitting up The Farmer’s Market, Adventureland & church

- The Iowa State Fair! Free tickets and food dollars will keep us happy for a couple hours.

- The Mr. will finally be taking his flying lesson in August that he got for Christmas last year!

- A wedding of my girlfriend which will just be absolutely beautiful. I can’t wait to help celebrate and wear the beautiful bridesmaid dress!

- Labor day

- The start of football season (UNI… Iowa…)

- Birthday parties for babies

- Trips to Florida

- Weddings and more weddings

We always seem to keep ourselves busy with family and friends but find it important to take time for ourselves and each other to. Here’s to a great August!

 

Anniversary

I know I haven’t quite finished the “recaps” of the wedding and I’ve moved on to some other things in the mean time, but being that our one year anniversary is coming up, I thought it was high time for some reflection.

An anniversary is a day that commemorates and celebrates a past event. But truth be told, we’re living our “wedding”, our marriage,  every day. We work through the problems, celebrate the awesome times, enjoy our freedom and ability to make choices as a couple constantly. Our anniversary is coming up and while I’m looking forward to it- as a gal who hinges on every birthday and holiday with affection- I feel the same way I do about the wedding… it’s just one day.

Hopefully, as the years and anniversaries start to pile up, we’ll continue to remember how we felt however many years ago and that will help bring us back to home base and our center of remembering why we’re married in the first place, but I hope I don’t put too much stock into an anniversary when I know its living proof that we’re married and we celebrate it every day.

It almost just reminds me more how fast time flies. It doesn’t seem like a year since we’ve been married. It doesn’t seem like 3 years since my friend, Sam, got married. Now her and her husband are having a baby and before we know it, we’ll be at high school graduations all over again. It reminds me to slow down and really smell the roses. To appreciate the things we’ve got. To spend time with friends and family. To do things we might regret if we don’t do them.

I’m lucky to have such an amazing husband who loves me so much and treats me like a princess. Sometimes I probably take it for granted, but I hope he knows how much I love him and can’t wait to celebrate our first- and many more- anniversaries together.

 

A “new” car!

The time has come. It has been a great 12 years with my little Saturn SL1 from 1999. I certainly loved that car. It’s been through a lot with me. Road trips with girlfriends, weekend rendezvous, hail storms, high school, college, marriage, moving into our first house… but it was time.

The car had no power locks, windows or seats. There was no CD player, just a lovely AM/FM radio + cassette player. The space in the car was small and it was old.

I had mixed emotions in looking for a car. As my little Saturn had been so good to me, I planned to be Saturn brand loyal for the rest of my life. With Saturn being sold and out of business a few years back, that made it that much more difficult. I wasn’t in love with anything else, especially nothing I could realistically afford. I could lease, but leasing doesn’t mean you own the car. I’d be paying out for a vehicle, having to watch my miles, and giving it back when my time was up. I wasn’t a fan of that.

We looked… and looked, and test drove… and drove. We found some that would work, they would have worked just fine, but nothing that excited me. A car to me was just something to get me from point A to point B. And then we found her.

She was listed on cars.com and it was almost love at first sight. A 2007 Saturn Vue, black – the color I’ve always wanted, heated – leather seats, sun roof, automatic locks, doors and windows, and a Saturn!

We test drove it and since it was so cheap and we couldn’t find Vue’s anywhere, we were wary… we took it to the mechanic and it mostly checked out (a couple minor issues they promised to take care of).

After a few days of back and forth, we finally settled on the price and signed the papers. The new one was mine! I was a little nervous it wouldn’t fit in the garage, but after realizing it did we were home free!

I think it looks pretty good in there!

Next up, vanity plates and personalization.