It will be in apple red (more lipstick red than the photo). I've got to seriously work on losing "flab" in my thigh/rear area and working on the muscles in my arms. Thankfully, the wedding is about 5 months away, so I've got time, right?!
Thursday, June 23, 2005
My first bridesmaid dress
I'm going to be a bridesmaid in my maid of honor's wedding this December (the first one I've EVER been in!) SO excited about that. We (the gals, bridesmaids and whatnot) went to try-on and order our dresses last night. Because this is such an exciting event for me, I had to post a picture of "the dress".
It will be in apple red (more lipstick red than the photo). I've got to seriously work on losing "flab" in my thigh/rear area and working on the muscles in my arms. Thankfully, the wedding is about 5 months away, so I've got time, right?!
It will be in apple red (more lipstick red than the photo). I've got to seriously work on losing "flab" in my thigh/rear area and working on the muscles in my arms. Thankfully, the wedding is about 5 months away, so I've got time, right?!
Monday, June 20, 2005
Another weekend spent outside!
Wow. What a weekend and a lot of work! The patio addition is in full swing. We're got 450 bricks piled up in back, the retaining wall built and a layer of gravel waiting to be tamped. Thankgoodness we have a TRUCK (recent purchase) and Paul's a strong man. Otherwise, this project would be nearly impossible.
We've wanted to add onto our existing patio since we moved in (it's about 10x12). So, after a long time looking and thinking about it, we finally decided (or Paul decided) that we were going to do it. Here's the pattern we'll be going for
Brick pattern - "basketweave" or if we're really brave, "herringbone on an angle":
Paul designed the retaining wall, made out of lumber. Wow! Another HUGE undertaking. Since we like detail, Paul used a router to route out all the corners on ALL the pieces. It looks great and adds a nice detail - but it took a while. I was in charge of applying the water sealer to all those beams... thankfully we had a fan in the garage, that stuff was a little strong! ;)
Here's a quick progression of the project:
The stars of the project - the bricks! (a great deal from Wal-Mart!)
Prepping the area and moving grass
The wall takes shape - 6 "courses"
Detail of the corner
The plants are moved and the gravel is spread
Detail - the patio will be 10x10
Hopefully, Paul will be home in the future to finish up the project. We still need more gravel, nearly a ton of sand and lots of elbow greese to put in all those bricks. In the meantime, we hope for some rain to compact the gravel.
While Paul was digging away, I planted my summer flowers:
All the other flowers, herbs and veggies growing around the patio
Plant relocation along the fence line - we hope they will thrive here!
That's all for now - oh! Except some quick shots of the garden!
Blueberries - YUM!
Summer squash -
Roma tomatoes
Beefsteak tomatoes
Yellow heirlooms (so cute & pear-shaped!)
And finally - the patio tomatoes!
That's all for now!
We've wanted to add onto our existing patio since we moved in (it's about 10x12). So, after a long time looking and thinking about it, we finally decided (or Paul decided) that we were going to do it. Here's the pattern we'll be going for
Brick pattern - "basketweave" or if we're really brave, "herringbone on an angle":
Paul designed the retaining wall, made out of lumber. Wow! Another HUGE undertaking. Since we like detail, Paul used a router to route out all the corners on ALL the pieces. It looks great and adds a nice detail - but it took a while. I was in charge of applying the water sealer to all those beams... thankfully we had a fan in the garage, that stuff was a little strong! ;)
Here's a quick progression of the project:
The stars of the project - the bricks! (a great deal from Wal-Mart!)
Prepping the area and moving grass
The wall takes shape - 6 "courses"
Detail of the corner
The plants are moved and the gravel is spread
Detail - the patio will be 10x10
Hopefully, Paul will be home in the future to finish up the project. We still need more gravel, nearly a ton of sand and lots of elbow greese to put in all those bricks. In the meantime, we hope for some rain to compact the gravel.
While Paul was digging away, I planted my summer flowers:
All the other flowers, herbs and veggies growing around the patio
Plant relocation along the fence line - we hope they will thrive here!
That's all for now - oh! Except some quick shots of the garden!
Blueberries - YUM!
Summer squash -
Roma tomatoes
Beefsteak tomatoes
Yellow heirlooms (so cute & pear-shaped!)
And finally - the patio tomatoes!
That's all for now!
Monday, June 13, 2005
Weekend paint project
We've been talking about what to do with the foyer and the rest of the living areas downstairs, so we finally took a step and painted! It was a great success compared to the "horror of the red well" (a 2 week paint process).
Paul bought an awesome paint roller that you fill with paint and no more leaning down and reapplying from the tray (Wagner something). It worked great! I worked on the trim which in turn caused me to hurt my back (no great surprise there).
We really like the final product. We plan to use this color in the living room & kitchen.
The pictures are a little dark - it was overcast outside so there was little natural light and the flash doesn't give the best impression of the color (Lowe's Fioli Honey) My inspiration photo is the last one - this is what the color looks like with natural sunlight.
Looking from the dining room
With the "red wall"
Inspiration:
Paul bought an awesome paint roller that you fill with paint and no more leaning down and reapplying from the tray (Wagner something). It worked great! I worked on the trim which in turn caused me to hurt my back (no great surprise there).
We really like the final product. We plan to use this color in the living room & kitchen.
The pictures are a little dark - it was overcast outside so there was little natural light and the flash doesn't give the best impression of the color (Lowe's Fioli Honey) My inspiration photo is the last one - this is what the color looks like with natural sunlight.
Looking from the dining room
With the "red wall"
Inspiration:
Wednesday, June 08, 2005
Red roses :)
Anniversary roses from Paul :) He knows what I love and he did SO well picking out this bunch! We celebrated with a bottle of champagne, some steak and asparagus (mmm!) with chocolate mousse for dessert. The weather wasn't great for going out (or grilling), but we had a good time with candle light and lightning bolts as we ate our dinner.
Red painted roses - so pretty! (although the difuse morning light in the kitchen doesn't do them justice!) The have beautiful "paintbrush strokes" on the petals.
With flash - ack!
Red painted roses - so pretty! (although the difuse morning light in the kitchen doesn't do them justice!) The have beautiful "paintbrush strokes" on the petals.
With flash - ack!
Tuesday, June 07, 2005
It's our 2nd anniversary!
We've made it through two great years of marriage. WOW! We've done a lot the past year (you can see that in the archives of the blog). Not sure what celebrating we will do today, seeing that it is a Tuesday and we had a great weekend.
Speaking of weekend, we went to visit our "long distance neighbors" and had a day at the beach. It was GREAT - a mini vacation, complete with cooking out on the beach, eating some great local seafood out by the waterway and just hanging out.
Philip bought a pass to take his truck out on Carolina Beach - how awesome is that? We knew about a "jeep trail" down near Fort Fisher, but had NO idea that you could drive out onto Carolina Beach! We did some great people watching, boat & fishing watching and I was personally amazed by all the DOGS! Almost everyone had them (small, tiny, HUGE and most loved the water). It was a TON of fun!
Here was our day at the beach:
Our spot at Carolina Beach
Looking up to "our spot" (at low tide)
SpongeBob kite flying high
Cool June water
Looking south down the beach
Staying cool under the umbrella - and holding onto the umbrella that seemed to want to float away
MMMMMM, hamburgers cooked over charcoal, mmmmm!
Guys playing in the waves (we sent them out to test the water first)
BiG waves!
Boys and boat
Jennifer braves the water (hat & all!)
ACK, big cold splashing wave!
Julie braves the waves (finally!)
oh! no! it's going to get me!
Washing all the sand & salt off the truck - well, an attempt to wash... it was a bit leaky
Speaking of weekend, we went to visit our "long distance neighbors" and had a day at the beach. It was GREAT - a mini vacation, complete with cooking out on the beach, eating some great local seafood out by the waterway and just hanging out.
Philip bought a pass to take his truck out on Carolina Beach - how awesome is that? We knew about a "jeep trail" down near Fort Fisher, but had NO idea that you could drive out onto Carolina Beach! We did some great people watching, boat & fishing watching and I was personally amazed by all the DOGS! Almost everyone had them (small, tiny, HUGE and most loved the water). It was a TON of fun!
Here was our day at the beach:
Our spot at Carolina Beach
Looking up to "our spot" (at low tide)
SpongeBob kite flying high
Cool June water
Looking south down the beach
Staying cool under the umbrella - and holding onto the umbrella that seemed to want to float away
MMMMMM, hamburgers cooked over charcoal, mmmmm!
Guys playing in the waves (we sent them out to test the water first)
BiG waves!
Boys and boat
Jennifer braves the water (hat & all!)
ACK, big cold splashing wave!
Julie braves the waves (finally!)
oh! no! it's going to get me!
Washing all the sand & salt off the truck - well, an attempt to wash... it was a bit leaky
Friday, June 03, 2005
Wednesday, June 01, 2005
Pictures of us while in Arizona
We've got SO many scenic pictures from our trip, and I can't decide which ones are blog worthy, so I pulled out the pictures of Paul & I (just a quick sampling). I promise, we're not vain, 98% of our photos do not have us in them!
julie at the chapel in sedona (first thing we stopped for after flying into phoenix, driving about 2 hours, while waiting on the hotel room to be ready - if we look a bit tired it's because we got up at 3:30am and had flown for many many hours!)
paul at the chapel in sedona
paul in the shade in sendona
julie & the old cowboy in sedona
paul, oak creek canyon
julie, oak creek canyon
us, hot, in shade at the foot of sunset crater
paul, in the rental car, eating a fruit roll up (that little toyota impressed us!)
At the Grand Canyon
julie
julie el tovar
paul
paul hopi house
us, self portrait
goofy (it was really hot)
another self-portrait
is it sad that we only asked one person to take a *real* picture of us? our little video camera did well for these shots
didn't know i had caught my reflection in the mirror - kinda funny
and finally... one last picture...
julie in side view mirror headed down hwy 17
julie at the chapel in sedona (first thing we stopped for after flying into phoenix, driving about 2 hours, while waiting on the hotel room to be ready - if we look a bit tired it's because we got up at 3:30am and had flown for many many hours!)
paul at the chapel in sedona
paul in the shade in sendona
julie & the old cowboy in sedona
paul, oak creek canyon
julie, oak creek canyon
us, hot, in shade at the foot of sunset crater
paul, in the rental car, eating a fruit roll up (that little toyota impressed us!)
At the Grand Canyon
julie
julie el tovar
paul
paul hopi house
us, self portrait
goofy (it was really hot)
another self-portrait
is it sad that we only asked one person to take a *real* picture of us? our little video camera did well for these shots
didn't know i had caught my reflection in the mirror - kinda funny
and finally... one last picture...
julie in side view mirror headed down hwy 17
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