it's official

Well, it really isn't a big deal, but I'm switching to 'not me monday' and discontinuing 'i ♥ friday'.

Closing on the house is set for Monday - hopefully everything comes together by then! I'm soooooooooooooooooooooo excited.

not me monday

I'm going to try this. I might replace this (not me monday) for i ♥ friday, but I'm not totally sure yet. What do you think?

I did NOT drive my friend's go cart in my pj's (see 'graduation' post) when we were at their house for graduation until 11:30am.

We are NOT excited about our new house. Mom has NOT been planning how to redo the kitchen the minute she first saw it, and is NOT a little overwhelmed. I am NOT happy that closing is a week from today, and I am NOT excited we can finally start working on the house then.

We did NOT see a guy holding this sign in front of Burger King. Dad did NOT pull over so I could get a picture, and we all did NOT start cracking up.

Jeremiah did NOT draw little dots with pen on his forearms during church yesterday. The ink did NOT wear off, and it does NOT look like he has chicken pox. I was NOT embarrassed to be seen with him.

When Lilly wants more ice cream and Mom says no, she does NOT whine, "But I need it, Mama, I need it." and throw a big crying fit. When she was supposed to finish her rice, she did NOT say, "I can't eat this! It bad for me!"

The Hintzes do NOT have 7 baby bunnies. They are NOT super cute, and we did NOT hold them almost the whole time we visited them.

My friend Reagan and I did NOT spend at least 45 minutes after church (when we were supposed to be paying attention to the VBS meeting) yesterday taking crazy pictures and videos on my camera. It was NOT super fun, and we did NOT get lots of stares. These are NOT only a tiny, tiny, tiny fraction of all the pictures and vidoes I have.

We did NOT have rain for 21 days straight, and our garage was NOT flooded. Everything in there did NOT start getting totally moldy and gross. we were NOT bursting with happiness when the sun finally came out.

Jeremiah and his friend Owen DID NOT dress up and put on a show, dancing to music, with the little girls and me laughing hysterically. I was NOT running around with my camera, snapping 4,455,994 pictures of them in their crazy outfits.

I do NOT think I am crazy for not posting for over a week and a half, and then go and do NOT post 3 posts in 1 day.

Happy Memorial Day!

summer is here!!

The little crazy munchkin (aka Lilly). Yes, that's chocolate ice cream on her face. And yes, that's also my foot.

I think this depicts summer perfectly. Swimsuit, rubber boots, and flowers in your hair. Could life get any better?? :)

I thought I would die a few weeks ago if summer didn't get here soon. Well, it's taken it's time (it's STILL not that warm outside), but it's FINALLY. HERE!! And I'm soo happy. I stayed up extra late last night to finish my end-of-year so I didn't have to do it today.

My summer is filled (at least right now) with moving, renovating, decorating, a confirmation retreat, and of course, tons of swimming, grilling, and chocolate (preferably in the form of ice cream. :) ).

graduation

Dad in his cap and gown.

Me with my friend Jenny at the graduation ceremony.

Lilly at the ceremony.

Me driving the go cart. And no, if you're wondering, I am definitely NOT in my pj's + robe. I mean, what crazy person would drive a go cart in the PJ'S?? *couch* me *cough*

I am soo sorry it has been so long since I last wrote! I am lapsing into the world's laziest girl blogger again....anway, on with the show!

From Thursday to Saturday night, we were in St. Louis for my dad's ordination. Some of our friends from the sem live about 1 hour or so away (from St. Louis), and we stayed with them.

They recently got a go cart - which I drove anytime I could. I've always wanted to drive one of those things! Within the 2 time I drove it, I was already going full speed. And almost crashed into a building. But don't worry, I didn't! I'm a more experienced driver now (yeah right, Carlotta. You had only been driving it for a day! Self - BE QUIET!!). Sorry about that. I'm getting a little carried away!

It was so. much. fun! to see all my old friends and everybody that we met from our time there. It was exactly 1 year to the day since I had seen my friend Emily (who I did Latin with - until she quit after 3 years. EMILY!!!!!! :) ), and I can't tell you how good, but kind of weird in a way, to see her! Lilly had an absolute blast being babied (is that even a word??) by all my friends. She was TOTALLY spoiled the whole trip!!

So now dad is officially graduated from the sem (but I do think he might have a few more papers to turn in). He's really glad. He said (about the seminary) that it was an extremely stressful time, but one of the most important decisions he's ever made in his life. We are all so proud of him!

i ♥ friday

This I ♥ Friday post is dedicated to decorating + our new house. :) Enjoy!

I ♥ beds with TONS of pillows!! I can't resist them. I haven't been able to have one, but I'm looking out for pillow sales, and I'm planning to buy a whole bunch.

I ♥ decorating. This is the first time where I can use paint to paint my room! I'm so excited! (read below for my new room scheme) Now I can finally have it just how I want it.

I ♥ paint. Paint is one of the cheapest ways to totally redo a room. Chalkboard paint is amazing, too. I'm in love with it! We're hoping we can put some in the kitchen of the new house, for things like grocery lists, etc, and the little girls and also scribble on it.

I ♥ my new room scheme that I've come up with for in the new house. If you remember my old scheme - orange/pink/reddish for the walls, with the colors being that and black. But I changed my mind because I thought it would be too aggressive. I think light and airy (like it would be now) is better. Beige/light brown for the walls, with splashes of bright pink, yellow, white (and maybe blue) around the room, with accessories, and furniture. Old black and white photos on the walls (and yes, some of the Eiffel Tower) I think in black frames, and maybe some Polaroids. Right now I just have a rough idea...I think it'll come along one I start decorating it.

i ♥ director's chairs. I'm hoping I can get one for my room. :)

I ♥ Polaroids and old black and white pictures, especially these. My great-grandmother on my dad's side was a journalist in Hollywood back in the 1940s and '50s, and she met every big star, like Marilyn Monroe, John Wayne, Audrey Hepburn, Frank Sinatra, and many, many more. Unfortunately, when she died, the best ones got thrown out. My dad was able to salvage some from the junk man, but them majority was lost. Anyway, I want to put up some of the ones that are left in my new room.

I ♥ dormers (as you can see in our house above). They make perfect window seats, reading corners, mini offices....I could go on and on! I also just ♥ our house in general. I know you knew that, I just had to throw it in, though. :)

I ♥ wood floors. Especially Elmwood Reclaimed Timber, which, you guessed it, sells reclaimed wood, from old homes, flooring, etc. They have some really beautiful wood. I'm so glad there are wood floors in our new house! I think they make a room look instantly cleaner.

Happy Friday!

confession time

yummy!

I have a confession to make. I have a slight (and by slight I mean of course fairly big. haha) addiction to almost anything chocolate (but you already knew that :] ), but especially Milky Ways and Twix (Sorry Mom! You probably aren't happy to hear that. heehee). I could eat them every. single. day. Maybe if I had to eat them or I would get really sick or something I could eat them every day! I wish. Maybe I shouldn't have written this...because now my mouth is watering. So CHANGE THE SUBJECT, CHANGE THE SUBJECT! :)

+++++

Today we had a bug inspection for the house, so I of course used the opportunity to go and see the house again! I was dying to look at it. The inspection went really well - the inspector said that the house was in excellent shape for it being from 1934. The owners are having an estate sale, so there were people going through everything. As the daughter of the owner said, "When you first saw the house it was an organized mess. Now it's just a disorganized mess." Which is very true. But every minute more I spent inside, the more I fell in love with it. My mom is trying to figure out how she wants to renovate the kitchen. I told her that's it's actually kind of good that it needs to be redone because than she can make it look like how she always wanted, and she said yes, that's true. But there are so many choices now, that it makes almost it even harder to find out what you really want! One thing I love about old homes is all the little nooks and crannies, all the little details that give the house its character. Many of the new homes are just kind of standard, just what you really need, and the builders don't make it so unique or special. There is one room that I love (it's upstairs) that has just the right amount of slanted angels, not enough to be annoying, but enough that it still makes it really cozy. I'm trying to get that room, but my parents may take it, as the master bedroom is pretty small. So we'll see. There are pros and cons of each room, depending who would live where. Does that make sense? One really nice thing about the master, though, is that it connects with the sun room, which is so neat. My brother's room also connects with it. And a bathroom is attached to the master too, but it can also be for guests, as you can access it from the hallway. The closet is also wonderful - it's a small walk in, with built-in shelves that you barely need a dresser! Oh, and there's a lock, which is useful if you want to sleep in without someone barging in (which happens a lot here!). But it's pretty small, and the view and dormers and there are other good aspects of being upstairs. So, as I said before, we'll see how it goes, as it's not really my decision. Now I really need to go. This post was supposed to be only a few sentences, but I kept on thinking of other things. Once we get the house all renovated, I'll post before and after pictures. I think it's going to look really great.

jack johnson

Loving these Jack Johnson songs...Found out about him through the Curious George soundtrack he did a while back. It's really hard to categorize him into a specific genre - I would say that he's folk with jazz and Caribbean influence. Upside Down Talk of the Town Broken On a side note: sorry I've been kind of MIA the past couple weeks. There's not much going on, so not that much to report about! Oh, and my ban of capital letters is pretty much over. Which is partly due to my MOTHER. :) She believes people reading this blog will think I've forgotten proper English. The truth is really that I was tiring of it myself. And I was/am beginning to have the same concern. Now I'm on my quest to find the perfect font. I'm very picky when it comes to that. I read a book that had the PERFECT one, but I can't find that anywhere. Can you believe I was obsessing over THAT?? Gosh, I must have been born without some necessary gene, that I would blab on and on about the perfect font. :)

i ♥ friday...i mean saturday. oops!

i ♥ these nesting bowls. [i just realized this - isn't it odd that i always seem to start these posts with something yellow? :) ]

i ♥ this room. i love the round paper lanterns. i want to get some for my new room - and they're not even that expensive!

i ♥ these swimsuits! old navy has an adorable assortment of mix and match.

i really, really ♥ these stunning photos, especially the first one. [sorry i couldn't get them bigger!]

i ♥ this room. i love the beadboard...and the pink, brown, and white go together so well!

before

after

1 ♥ this kitchen. my jaw dropped when i saw the after picture!

i ♥ this hutch. the lady who made it found the top part at a flea market, and the bottom part on a curbside, waiting for the trash! i love the color...it's the same as the kitchen cabinets above. [woodlawn charm from lowe's]

and my obsession with paris continues! :)

sorry, it was kind of busy yesterday! sorry my post is a day late. :) things have been pretty quiet this week, though. we're just kind of in the lull right before summer. there has been LOTS and LOTS of rain! and more is predicted until tuesday. woop-de-doo. :)