Happy One Year Anniversary

Why hello there long lost blog of mine, I sure have missed you!
I have lots to document about what's been going on in our household the past couple of months, but I'll ease back into it slowly with sharing some of our one year anniversary photos. Jameson surprised me with scheduling a little photo shoot to celebrate our first year of marriage and document our life here in Detroit. We sure do love this city and strive to show people that their is so much more to Detroit than what is shown on the news.

We worked with Michelle and Chris Gerard and was had an absolute blast. We went all around downtown Detroit, Eastern Market, and Belle Isle and felt like we were on a mini city tour while getting our pictures taken. Chris and his wife just moved to Corktown and shared with us some of their inside knowledge of the cities' hidden gems. It was truly such a fun evening and we have so many beautiful images to remember it with.

Jamie - thank you so much for this surprise! I love this little life we have built together and cannot wait to see where the Lord takes us in the future. Cheers to many more years love!

35th (SURPRISE) Anniversary Party

A couple of weekends ago Jameson and I packed up our bags and headed back to State College, PA to celebrate his parents 35th  wedding anniversary and Easter. We left Thursday mid morning and got in town later that night. Our visit and the anniversary party were both a surprise to his parents so we stayed with Steph and Scott Thursday.

Friday morning we woke up bright and early to get the cooking started and then took a trip to Chick-fil-a. This is a tradition every time we go back to visit because we don't have any of these delicious chicken delicacies back home. Michigan get your act together and get us some Chick-fil-a's PLEASEEE!!!!

We spent the rest of Friday decorating, preparing the food, and getting ready for all the guests to arrive. Before we knew it the house was filled with family and close friends and we all gathered in preparation for Dick and Debbie's arrival. They showed up right on time and were surprised to say the least when they walked through the door.

Steph did such a great job with the decor and included so many special touches including pictures and memorabilia from their wedding day.

Steph's incredible chalkboard art

Sibling love before the party started

the lovely host and hostess

Milton turns Two!

Sorry for the accidental blog break y'all. Life has been rather busy the past few months, but I am hoping to recap all of our happenings soon and then get back to a regular schedule of some sort.

Here are some of the quick highlights of what has been going on in our life: 35th anniversary party for Jameson's parents. Easter in PA. Packing. MOVING. Unpacking, unpacking, and more unpacking. Furniture shopping. Visit from Erinn and Tyler. Mini vacation in FL. and LOTS and LOTS of yard work.

Also today is a very special day for us because our precious puppy Milton turns 2! All you dog people out there will understand when I say that we absolutely adore this guy and can't imagine our little family without him. He brings us laughter and joy every single day and we are thankful for his continual love and affection. Happy Birthday Milton!!

lake Milton

traveling in the car Milton

sleepy Milton

frisbee Milton

begging for food Milton

House Updates: The Final Stretch

Life for the past month has consisted of making house renovation decisions, packing, and more house renovation decisions. I now know my way around Home Depot very well and have learned more about appliances and fixtures than I ever cared to know. This whole process has been enjoyable and we try to remind ourselves how lucky we are to be able to pick out almost every detail of our future home...but I am definitely ready for it all to be done. The last week has been stressful to say the least with construction finishing up and trying to get all of the loose ends coordinated with the mortgage company.

But as my dad reminded me this morning via text: "When you are borrowing their money you are not in control. One day at a time. Patience my dear."

Unfortunately patience is not my strong suit and I do not like living in transition. I don't mind change. In fact most of the time I get excited about change. But the transition stage between changes is the worst. I am all about the destination and not about the journey. I want to get to the end goal as fast as possible. But God is definitely teaching me that I am not in control and everything will work out in His perfect timing and not my own. So for now I will take the wise words of my father and be patient my dear.


A lot has changed with the house since I last shared pictures so here are some of the updates.

One of my favorite features of the house is the old wood floors from the original home when it was built in the late 1930's. Their were some holes in the floor that had to be patched up so you can see the old flooring compared to the new patches.

Once the floors all got sanded down the downstairs started looking way less like a construction zone and much more like a real home. Honestly I couldn't even believe they were the same floors. The next step was choosing the stain. Jameson and I knew we wanted a dark brown. No red tints. No purple tints. Just BROWN. We ended up going with the middle stain Spice Brown. We thought it was provided a nice warmth to the space while still showing all the woods grains. The hardwood goes throughout the entire first floor (kitchen, living room, and 2 bedrooms) which provides such beautiful cohesion throughout the house. The upstairs and basement will be getting carpet put in next week.

 

Here is the finished product! (They are slightly darker in real life than they look in the pictures.)

 The handles got put on all the kitchen cabinets and we love the clean, sleek look.
The master bathroom has lots and lots of Travertine Tile. We spent 2 hours in The Tile Shop looking at Travertine and we couldn't find anything we loved. We decided to stop by Home Depot after our unsuccessful Tile Shop trip and immediately spotted the perfect (and much cheaper) tile. Home Depot for the win!

That is all we have for now, folks.