House Pictures

Here is where I am uploading all the pictures taken as we watch our house go from a grassy lot to a hole in the ground to a HOUSE!

Feel free to check it out and keep coming back and watch as our house goes up!

Ground Breaking!

They broke ground yesterday!

11.28.12 - 11:15 am - Skimming the topsoil off

11.29.12 - 2:15 pm - breaking up the big rocks

There really isn't a lot to see just yet. They are prepping for footers which should go in on Monday, which is super exciting. It's all a beginning. But it's a HUGE beginning.... the beginning of a lot of things. The house which will be our home for years to come. The place we'll bring our kids home to someday. The place we'll unwind in. The place that is ours.

I'm most excited to have a place to call HOME and have it be OURS!

Husband is only one of his titles

Adam and I have been married for almost 6 months now, and today I realized how selfish I can be about him.

Adam asked me to join him for his lunch break today since he was working on a day I had off. I gladly accepted. I drove down and walked into the managers office in the store to meet him. He looked stressed and frazzled, not overly excited to see me. He grabbed his coat, pulled off his name badge and darted for the front doors of the store with me scrambling behind to keep up.

As we approached the front door, we came across a young woman coming in to shop (who happened to be an associate who is injured from her extracurricular sport), he stopped to talk to her about her injury and ask how she was doing. He knew about her sport, what she did and said she could call him to talk about a leave so she wouldn't lose her position. I was impressed that he knew her, and made the time to talk to her, even so briefly, while heading out to lunch break.

We went off on our lunch and chit chatted about this or that. Nice quiet lunch.

When we went back to the store, I said my goodbyes outside and then went in to do a little shopping and he headed back to work. While in the store for the next 60 minutes or so, I passed him or noticed him five or six times. He was working his tail off. Now I know my husband is a hard worker. I know he gives 110% when everyone else is giving 2%. But I got to witness this. I got to see him interact with customers, associates, and co-workers. He is such a genuine human being even though sometimes his job frustrates and discourages him. An older lady asked where something was, and he stopped and helped her. A electronic cart was abandoned in the middle of an aisle, he pushed it back to the front of the store and plugged it in. He guided other associates in what else needed to be done and followed up with them. That's a lot of stuff to do all in the short hour I was in the store! I cannot imagine what all he does in a normal 13 hour shift.

So what I'm taking from my observations today, is that my husband is more than just that. He wears many hats through out his day, just like I do in my job. I often overlook that, and feel slighted when his 'husband hat' isn't always the one he has on.

I didn't think it was possible, but I love him a little bit more today than I did before.

Hunting the Good

Recently I had a fabulous friend share a website with me called Super Better. It's a little overwhelming to get started but the goal seems to be, to really put yourself in a better place, mentally, emotionally and physically.  It's your own personal motivator for whatever it is you need motivated with. You set goals and select the things you want to work on and it helps motivate you to keep with those goals. I decided I'd give it a shot and see what happens. My two goals are Stress Management and Weight Loss.

Today, one of my Quests was to "Hunt the Good" to help me handle being stressed.


Hunt the Good:

Description: When we're stressed, we can often only see what's wrong with the situation

Quest: Combat negativity by hunting the good. Make a list of five things in your life that are awesome and that you love right now.

1. My Husband: he works so hard to provide for our family and give us everything we need and want. I often over look this and just see the extra time spent at work, stressing about work, taking phone calls from work, and so on.
2. My Family: They are 100% there for me, no matter what I'm doing or what is going on. This includes Adam's family too. They are here to support us, but the key is letting them!
3. My Friends: I truly have some fantastic friends and encouragers in my life. I can share my stresses to them, and they listen, and offer advice and support. 
4. My Job: How many people can really say they love their job and the people they work with? I often let myself get overwhelmed with what I need to accomplish that I forget how fortunate that I have a purpose here and am truly needed in my position. It's so easy to just say that I'm just here, when I know that I do a lot, and am a worthwhile addition to the team.
5. My Fur-Kids: I know this one is silly... but good or bad day, when you walk in the door the wheak to welcome you home, and you can go up to Gabbie and she'll greet you with "nosies". 

House Updates!

We had our final pre-construction meeting yesterday! It went very well and we got to see all of our 'finishes' choices again which was a good re-confirmation that we picked things we loved. (I'll post some pictures below)

We did a LOT of reading and reviewing documents we had seen before, lots more signing and initialing, but now we are set. They will now apply for the building permit early next week (week of 11/12) and as soon as that's in, we'll get a ground breaking date.

They put in our contract, that we signed yesterday, a projected ground breaking date around December 1st with a projected completion date of April 1st. Now, the key word in this is projected. It's not set in stone. If the building permit takes longer than anticipated, they won't start by Dec 1. That pushes everything back. If an item gets back ordered, broken on site, etc. So I'm working really hard not to get my heart set on April 1 (although it would be a fabulous birthday present!)

That is where we are at. VERY exciting to have an idea of the timeline, it makes it more real!

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This is what we selected for both the master bath, and the house main bath. It is a pattern of varied creams/browns for the vinyl flooring, Espresso (or black in 'man terms') cabinetry with brushed nickle handles and pure white counters tops, toilet and bath/shower unit.

This is the vinyl for the foyer, it's a glossy grey. We thought would add a bit of elegance to the 'formal entry' of our home, and then a contrast to the cream colored carpet in the Great room.

 This one is my Kitchen! I was hesitant on the counter tops a bit. I thought it was too light and creamy, but seeing it again with the flooring that has grey with swirls of the maple and cherry color that draws in the Maple cabinets, and then the swirls of cream that pull in the cream based counter choice, I think it works.

This is a close up of the counter choice. The flecks of grey pull it all together with the grey in the flooring. (at least I think so...)

Birth announcements for a friend

As some of you may have read earlier I blogged about getting back into some crafting after the wedding, for my friends baby shower. Since then, our dear friends Christine and Justin have welcomed their beautiful daughter into the world! I am honored that they let me make their daughter's birth announcements.

The First (Annual?) Unger Halloween Party!

We had a party!

For Halloween we had 3 separate groups of friends over and honestly, I was a little concerned how the interactions would go. However, it went so very well! Everyone got along and was VERY social! It was fabulous! We had a food area, a pumpkin carving area and a Rocky Horror Picture Show Viewing area.

Pumpkin Carving Station! Everyone is hard at work!

The award for best costume goes too...
The Walsh Family!

Sarah's Cat-O-Lantern

The spread before people started bringing stuff!