Our Honeymoon in Pictures

These are long overdue, but finally I am finally getting around to posting some honeymoon pictures. 

The morning after our wedding my in-laws drove us to NY for our 7 day cruise to Bermuda. We has the most amazing time. After a year or so of hectic planning and a never-ending to-do lists it was so great to turn off our phones and toss them in the safe. It was strange to think we had nothing that we had to do, but we enjoyed every minute out it. 

If I had to pick one thing that I loved most about our honeymoon, it would have to be that Jordan and I laughed non-stop all week. It was just so perfectly us. One of my favorite things about Jordan is that he can make me laugh at the drop of a hat. Even in the middle of a petty argument he will say something silly and I can't help but smile. I can't think of anything more perfect than spending a week on a beautiful island, laughing my butt off with my best friend.  

        

        

          

Nursery Before and Current

We successfully started on the nursery this weekend. Before I get into the changes, I need to show you a few before pictures. The third bedroom was always meant to be our office. I've had an IKEA desk in there along with a mess of all our personal files stuffed into a metal bin. I had every intention of using this room to pay bills, answer emails, etc. Since we both have laptops, we've become spoiled and have gotten in the habit of using them in the living room on the couch. I know, I know but it works for us. Jordan can do work and answer emails while I check out my blogs and we watch a movie or our shows. It's how we spend our "vegging on the couch" nights. 

The office also became sort of a second guest room as we never removed the daybed we stuck in there a few years ago as another bed when we had some friends over.  It was also temporarily the "wedding room" as I needed a place to store all the items we needed for the wedding or I was using to plan with. Along with the daybed we began throwing all sorts of odds and ends that didn't seem to belong anywhere else: a mess of picture frames, wedding memorabilia, a half broken printer, lamps with no home, and so on. A few months ago we slowly began getting rid of things that we really didn't need. And two salvation army truck pick-up appointments later, we seemed to make some progress.

Here are the before pictures:

alternate angle

inside closet

We spent a good portion of yesterday putting together the IKEA Hemnes dresser that we intend to use as a dresser/changing table. Ok and by "we" I mean that Jordan put it together while I tried to help and eventually decided it was best to stay out of his way and sort through more of the mess on the desk. 

A few hours later the nursery now looks like this:

Just taking out the bed and replacing it with the dresser already makes the room feel twice as big. The filing cabinet, desk and wicker chair will eventually be relocated. Our crib arrived to Walmart today and my in-laws picked it up after work. We hope to remove the rest of the furniture later this week and set up the crib by Saturday. 

I nabbed one of the baskets from my master bathroom to see how it would look as a lotion/powder/etc storage. The lamp is just one we've had lying around (Marshalls find) and may or may not remain there. And the little owl-face soap dish was a thrift find. Not sure what to use it for, but I'm sure I can come up with something.

Next step is to find some bedding, but I'm waiting to find out if our little babe is going to be a boy or a girl. I want something with a good pop of color since everything I mentioned in my previous post is very modern and neutral. I need to find something fun and bright to liven up the room.

I've planned in my I've been falling in love with all the bedding over at Baby Bedding. I love that you can even mix and match to create your own unique set. 

That's our progress so far and I'm already pleased with the results. I'll keep you posted on more nursery updates and we move along.

Dining Room and a Snowy Morning

After yesterday's snow melted within hours of falling, we woke up this morning to another blanket of snow. Here's the view from our back slider in the living room.

Lyla needed to check things out. 

I do have a handful of errands to run including returning one of our master bathroom rugs that I ordered from Target a week ago. One of them came the right color (pebble gray) and the other was wrong (a brown color). I'm hoping to find an exchange at the store since Target wouldn't offer an online exchange and I don't want to pay shipping again.

The snow is a good enough excuse for me to stay inside and get some things done around the house. And to get started on my mom's chili! It's been cooking for the last hour and still has 4-5 more hours in the crock pot. Perfect timing as the hubby will be home from work around then with an appetite. I'll post the recipe along with pictures I took another time.

Since it's been a few weeks since I've shown you a room in the house I figured I would snap a few shots of the dining room. The dining room connects to the kitchen on one side and the foyer on the other side.

First things first, here's a before shot of the dining room when I moved in:

Not the best shots, but you get the idea. 

The crown molding was in already in which I love to this day. The walls were painted a bright almost kelly green color. I actually liked the color to start but over time I grew tired of such a bold dining room.

Let's peek at the dining room now.

 View from the kitchen.

The windows look out over our driveway in the front. The door to the left leads to the basement and it located across from our fridge. If you need a refresher on the layout of the kitchen, check it out here.

 Come inside!

Alternate view:

The furniture was given to me by by in-laws when I purchased the house. It was the dining room set they had when Jordan was growing up. They offered to reupholster the chairs and bench for me. At the time when the walls were green I picked a fabric to match. Now that I have painted over the green wall I am in search of a new, more neutral fabric to reupholster. I also need to find a rug for under the table.

Although the finish of the wood isn't what I normally would choose for furniture in the house, I love the look of the table and chairs, especially the bench. 

Here's the fabric I chose:

The long sides of the table also come up to make a full-sized table when we want to have guests over. 

I promise we aren't alcoholics. 

I work for a wine and spirit distributor and get samples all the time. 

I took this table from my parent's house. Not sure where it was originally from, but it was just a side table that my mom frequently moved around the house. The linens on top are one of the few souvenirs we purchased on our honeymoon in Bermuda. They were actually the inspiration for the wall color (Martha Stewart's 'Sharkey Grey.')

The pewter candlesticks on the table belonged to my grandfather's mother. The glass ones were a Christmas gift from my aunt. They are heavy! The square bowl came with a flower arrangement I received from the hubs, while the twine balls are a Pier One find. The tabletop still needs work. I'm hoping to find a runner like this one from Pottery Barn.

 This shelf is my favorite part of the dining room. I purchased the largest Lack wall shelf from IKEA.  The items on the shelf are a mix of family heirlooms, thrift finds and other miscellaneous goodies.

Let's take a closer look:

The picture on the left is a shot of the Irish Linen Shop in Bermuda that we took on our honeymoon. The small owl was a gift from my mom. The milk jars were a Salvation Army find for around $.50 a piece and the twig charger was on sale this holiday season at Pottery Barn.

The "D" monogrammed mug is from Anthropologie. More twine balls from Pier One. The milk glass is one of several pieces my grandparents have been giving me over the last year or so. 

I can't remember where the one candlestick is from. Possibly a Marshalls find? The glass ones were passed on from my grandmother.

Another milk glass piece from my grandparents.  I think my grandmother also gave me the vase. She gave me half a dozen one day. I'm pretty sure it was a vase leftover from a flower arrangement she was given as I've seen this style vase before. 

While we're at it, let's take a closer look at the gorgeous crown molding.

It was so nice to have this done already when moving in. I don't think I could have picked better woodwork than this. 

Here's a peek at the other doorway that leads into the dining room. The left door is our front door and the right is the coat closet. Someday I'll take a view shots of the foyer. Although that will be one quick post as there isn't much to it.

I must go check on the chili now. I also snapped a few before pictures of the nursery. I'm hoping to start cleaning the junk out this afternoon and giving it a good vaccuum. We are planning to put the dresser together tomorrow.

Lullabelly

Today my Lullabelly arrived!!

If you don't know what that is, a Lullabelly is a prenatal belt that wraps around your big preggo belly and hooks up to an iPod so you can play music for your baby in the womb. 

The hubby and I stumbled upon this a few weeks ago while playing around on the internet looking at baby ideas. We both thought it was the coolest idea.

Music is a big passion for Jordan so he was on board right away (even though he keeps threatening to play G&R for into my belly). I love the idea of being able to play music for the baby this early on. I've read that the music you play in the womb can be used after birth to help with sleeping habits. Plus I think I may run out of things to talk to the babe about by the time July rolls around. It's never too early to introduce the Beatles. Why not let the little one enjoy some tunes when it's stuck in the same spot for 9 months straight?

We received an Amazon.com gift card from my uncle for Christmas and decided to purchase the prenatal music belt there. For just $55 you can choose between five different colors (we chose Sunshine Yellow). 

When the package came today I opened it right up to check things out. 

It comes with a single removable speaker along with an iPod hookup and headphone splitters so you can listen along with your baby. One concern I had was volume. How would I know if it was too loud in my stomach? Rest assured the Lullabelly has a note attached to the volume control:

"Lullabelly utilizes safe sound level technology

To help protect the baby's delicate ears, we use a single high sound quality speaker, specially designed for the Lullabelly. Amniotic fluid surrounding the baby is a very good conductor of sound...the maximum volume level of the Lullabelly speaker unit is similar to a mother and father speaking or singing aloud to their baby in the womb....."

Whew!

Now I'm psyched to begin using it. My belly is still pretty small, but I tried the belt on and since it's adjustable, it will still work on my 13 week bump. The hardest part now will be choosing what music to start entertaining the baby with!

photo borrowed from here

Nursery Art

Today was a long, exhausting day. Started with an hour long trek to Dover for our First Trimester Screening. Everything went well and we got to watch our little babe wiggling about for a half an hour or so while the tech checked things out. We spent almost 2 hours at the doctor's office, but it was totally worth it just to watch our baby dancing around.  After an hour ride back, and heading straight to work, working late, then meeting the in-laws at their house for dinner we just got back to home around 9:00. I'm beat. So this post is going to be a shortie. But I just wanted to share some great Etsy shops I've stumbled upon while researching art for the nursery. 

Sarah Jane Studios

Posh Paints

(great personalized pieces)

Galerie Anais

(I'm a little obsessed with all the animal prints. 

I'm considering getting a number of them to put on one wall)

Sugarfresh

Hey Jude

(Ok this isn't wall art, but how adorable is this Beatles onesie?)

Art and Philanthropy

Modern Pop

Graphics Spaces

(Might be more suited for a toddler or older room)

Kathy Panton

Enjoy!

Oh and this weekend in addition to putting together our dresser in the nursery, I'm going to make my mom's chili recipe. I've never made it before, to I'll let you know how it goes.

Wish me luck!