Monday, October 29, 2012

Remodel: Bathroom

Ready for Round 2 on remodels? 
We have been busy busy with house projects. However, after the whole kitchen ordeal (if you haven't seen this post check out the Projects tab on my home page) the bathroom turned out to be a piece of cake. It was started, attempted, and completed all in one week. Not bad, not bad at all.
Part of the deal while house searching with Pat is that I wanted two bathrooms upstairs, soo glad that we found a house that did just so. As you may know about me, I'm very picky, particular, and clean- Pat not so much. Therefore, sharing bathrooms would just not end well. However, this past week I had to move into his while we started refinishing my bathroom. We set some ground rules and it turned out just fine:) The week flew by and we ended all finishing touches yesterday.
The remainder of the weekend was fun. Friday was spent at an "At Home Wine Party" hosted by our good friends Gary/Amanda. A host comes in and pours samples of multiple kinds of wines in which is paired with different snacks. You then have a chance to order any of the wine that was sampled. Super fun idea! Saturday night Pat and I went to the Carrie Underwood concert, holy amazieness. She is simply incredible, it was an awesome show! I took some clients from work so we were able to have dinner beforehand and then had great seats in the loge box, great night!

BEFORE

Lovely pink/white counter and backsplash along with some nice gold lighting...




DURING







AFTER










Next on the list- basement. Super ready for this project, this will definitely be a lengthy one.



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Saturday, October 27, 2012

Remodel: Kitchen

Happy Weekend All! I hope you all are enjoying this beautiful weather today! So I've been a little mia from the blog world but have been consumed with various other projects..and I'm pleased to announce that our kitchen is FINALLY completed.
 
Let's talk about this kitchen a bit. As you will see from the before pictures, it was in bad shape, a lot needed done to it, and that was the first big project to be completed after we bought our house last April. Patty boy ensured me it'd be a piece of cake. In his exact words, "Oh yea, we'll have this done by the time you move in after the wedding" (which was in September). Now a year later, the kitchen is finally done. We soon realized after starting, we weren't quite sure what we were getting ourselves in to. We both had decided on concrete counter tops, and of course Pat, being the ambitious/determined guy he is thought he would attempt to do them himself.
 
I can't even begin to explain the amount of time these took with lots of trial and error involved in the process. But they are a success and I couldn't be more proud of my guy! After we put in the new counter tops, we replaced the back splash, put in a new range hood, sink, and lighting. We also painted and put in all new appliances. What did I partake in during this process you may ask? Well I did do most of the painting, and I put in all the new hardware which I was pretty proud of- ha. Boy- that sucked though, I am now even more appreciative of the extremely hard work Pat put into this.
 
So here it is, the newly remodeled kitchen!
 
 
BEFORE
 

This picture actually shows the new appliances, we took the old ones immedidately out, they were terrible!
 
Gosh- isn't that backsplash pitiful? The flowers just had to go.


 
 
AFTER
 

I think the new rangehood may be one of my favorite things, I love the design of it and how much it opens up the kitchen!


I love the new lighting. It was hard to figure out what to put on the ceiling since it is slanted, but I think this turned out great. I'm so bummed I don't have a picture of the before lighting, omg- it was terrible. It was one of those long fluorescent lights, big and boxy, and just plain ugly.








 




Sink is also ten times better now, I love the under mount sink we went with!






















Well there you have it! I think the finished product turned out great. We are working on finishing the master bathroom up this weekend so a blog to come on that project as well!



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Sunday, October 21, 2012

Weekend Wraps














Another weekend has come and gone. Patty boy and I enjoyed a weekend in KC with great friends. Friday night was spent hanging with Nick, Ashley, and their new baby Kaylee. I guess she's not "new" anymore she's 5 months old already! She is seriously the happiest baby ever! She was such a trooper the whole time. Saturday we went out to Legends and spent the afternoon out there, the weather was seriously SO beautiful.
 
Pat and I then got ready for the wedding and headed into downtown KC for my friend Katie's wedding. Katie and I were roomies in Chi-O and she means the world to me. It was so great to be able to see her marry such a wonderful guy and see her so happy. I only wish her and Aaron the best and wish them the best of luck on their new venture in Denver. What a beautiful day for a wedding! KC is seriously absolutely beautiful this time of year. Pat and I were in awe driving through the city and seeing all of the gorgeous colors, fall is such a beautiful time.
 

After the wedding we headed back to Nick and Ashley's where the party continued
(thanks to K-state's awesome win:) we hung out with some of their friends until way to late of course. The next morning we packed up our things and headed to meet Sean, one of Pat's best friends. He also was in town for a wedding as well, so we picked  him up from his parents and headed out for breakfast.
 
The drive home was pretty sucky, as I was absolutely miserable. Allergies are just kicking my butt. I was supposed to start my "allergy shots" a few months ago but have been putting it off. Looks like I'm finally going to kick my butt in gear and start these dang things so I am not miserable the rest of my life.
 
Here's to another week. Looking forward to some fun weekend plans and we will be starting our next house project! Yippee! It's time for my bathroom..stay tuned to see the pics.
 
 



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Friday, October 12, 2012

For the love of Pumpkin..


I am obsessed with anything pumpkin flavored, I think my obsession has even gotten worst the last few years. But I crave it, and look so forward to this time of year where I can find pumpkin everywhere- from cupcakes, to coffee, to pancakes, to icecream, to smoothies, to candles I love it all.

So I have recently found a new blog I've become quite addicted to OVER HERE .
I love her recipes, workouts, idea, etc. Me and a friend have already tried a workout routine and I've made a handful of recipes from her site.




 I've been looking for the perfect pumpkin smoothie and have tried several recipes, but her's is the best in my book! I've had one for breakfast almost every day this week:)
131 calories per serving not bad at all! I only used 1/2 a banana and 1/2 a scoop of protein powder in mine.


Pumpkin Pie Smoothie




 I was little nervous about these pancakes because the recipe called for cottage cheese, however, I was pleasantly surprised! These turned out great and even Pat liked them:) I topped them with some "I can't believe it's not butter" Spray and Walden Farms 0 calorie syrup. Yum!
361 calories for the 3 pancakes.


pumpkin protein pancakes 008
Pumpkin Protein Pancakes


 So now that I am totally in the pumpkin mood, I thought I'd share a few of my FAVORITE pumpkin recipes I've made over the years, enjoy:)


Hands down favorite Pumpkin recipe. I first had it only a few years ago on Thanksgiving at Pat's Dads, I immediately had to have the recipe once I tried it. And this stuff is seriously so easy to make, hence the title "dump" cake.


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Pumpkin Dump Cake


 


I made these at least three times last fall, they are amazing! Perfectly moist and flavorful!


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Baked Pumpkin Donut Holes


 
Finally, these were also a hit. I just made these a few weeks ago, and they were gone within a day. Yummo!


Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Cookies
 



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Monday, October 8, 2012

Weekend Wraps

Another weekend has come and gone.
This past weekend my family loaded up and headed north to visit my younger sister Paige at Pittsburg State where she goes to college. I can't believe she's a sophomore this year, and this is the first time I've been up to visit... better late than never though right?! Paige was back and forth between Pitt and KSU for a long time, and I thought I had her finally convinced to become a wildcat..but at the last minute she changed her mind and I couldn't believe it. Pitt? Why? But I'm over that now, and only wish her the best. Pitt has a great nursing program, one of the main reasons she chose the school. She has made great friends and loves it, so I couldn't be any happier for her. So neither of my sis's chose KSU, guess I will just have to get over that ha.
We bundled up on Saturday and tailgated, went to the football game, hungout, played games, ordered pizza, and had such a GREAT time. By the way, there was snow flurries at the game, yes snow. UGH. Totally not ready for this. Pitt won- woohoo! They were D2 National Champions last year, pretty cool!

I made Paige a care package filled with a bunch of her favorite things. I remember those days of being completely broke in college...

 
Pre-gaming it.



Pat, Me, Mom, Paige



 
Me and Lover Boy

Cort and Me

Brrr...it was COLD!






Happy Monday!






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