Finally! I have an idea for the kitchen (thanks to HGTV's Rate My Space). Yes, Dannon, I just used more parentheses (just for you). Anyways, I found a kitchen idea that really inspired me. I will include some pictures to give you all a better idea of what I'm talking about/describing.
Walls: Teepee Brown by Behr
Doors, trim, cabinets: white/off white/antique white (not sure yet)
Door to downstairs (as seen below): paint inside with black chalkboard paint so we can leave messages, write menus, to-do lists, grocery lists, etc.
Decorations: black and white pictures of family cooking together, family dinners, family gatherings, etc. We will have to take pictures but I already have one that I really love of my father and great uncle which I will also post below. Very family oriented, which I think is what inspired me the most.
Also, I like the idea of decorating somehow with family recipes like in one of the picture below.
I also like the black sign over the door that has the family name.
Ok, so here's the before picture of the kitchen:
Pictures of the kitchen on Rate My Space that inspired me:
Here's the picture of my great uncle and father that I love so much:
Also, I love this picture of my grandparents farm house that I'd like to incorporate somewhere (I actually have a version of this picture without the cars that I may use instead):
So...there it is. Let me know what you all think and if you have any ideas or inspirations that come from this. One thought I had was either doing all white cabinets or doing white on the upper cabinets and black on the lower cabinets. Just a thought! May be too much. I think we're going to leave two of the cabinets without doors like Mendy mentioned to display our dishes and glasses. Isn't this fun!!
So, I was reading my friend Heather's blog and was looking at some of the blogs she follows and saw that there was one friend that hadn't blogged in 4 weeks...then I realized that friend was, in fact, moi. I had promised pictures from the baby shower back in June and I still haven't put them on my computer so you may just have to imagine in your head...not too hard to do really...friends, family, balloons, yummy cake, punch, lots of baby gift bags...you know, a baby shower!
It's not like I've been busy or anything, people! What, you ask, have I been up to? Growing a baby, staying in hotel rooms, lots and lots of doctor appointments, water aerobics, and getting my nails done...it's hard work, I tell ya! Jason and his mom have been working like crazy to get our bedroom and the kitchen painted before baby gets here. The bedroom is about 90% finished but there is now a lovely new crack in the ceiling from the guys doing a roof inspection on our house. Wonderful. Just want Jason asked for. NOT (great, now I'm acting like an 8th grader from the early 1990's). Sheesh. Now, where was I? Oh, yes, the house. Last weekend I stayed in a hotel by myself while Jason and his mom painted. Apparently, I've watched far too many scary movies because it was...well, scary. At one point, I was walking down the hallway, saw a flickering light, and then twins ran by. (Think: The Shining). I nearly pee'd myself (ok, maybe just a little---I'm pregnant, give me a break!!) So, I left with a bedroom that looked like this:
And returned to a bedroom that looks like this:
Don't you just love the change?? I am in love with the color. My sister thought this was the baby's room and wondered if we knew something (gender-wise) that we were trying to hint at. Much to everyone's disappointment, we do not know the gender AND this is not the baby's room. We will be in this room and baby will be in our room. I will post a picture of the baby's room once the furniture arrives (let's hope it's within the next few weeks!!). Talk about down to the wire!!
So, over the next few weeks, Jason's going to be working on the kitchen. Here's a before picture (we have already sanded and refinished the floors so they look more like the bedroom pictures above):
Any ideas are welcome! We cannot for the life of us think of colors for the kitchen. We are painting walls, cabinets, and trim (and will eventually replace the backsplash and countertops, too). Bring 'em on!!
Baby News: baby is growing and moving and shaking! Can't wait to meet him or her. Jason and I washed all of the baby clothes over the weekend. I had NO IDEA how time-consuming it is to fold all of those little clothes. Hopefully, wrinkly baby clothes are in next season. What else??? Oh, the car seat is installed (hey, I have a picture of that!):
I have to give props to my co-worker, Dannon, for helping me install the car seat...basically, I just held the manual while she quickly installed it. :)
On an end note, Dannon showed me this hysterical wedding video. I've never posted a video so if it doesn't work, just go to www.youtube.com and type in JK Wedding Entrance Dance. This is just the greatest video ever! Hope you can find time to watch it. Later!
Well, Jason and I ventured on our FINAL out-of-town adventure we will ever take as non-parents! It was quite an emotion-filled weekend of family, friends, Baby Shower, lots of yummy food, and the Kansas City Farmer's Market. I will post pictures and stories from the Baby Shower in my next post as all of those pictures are on my camera and have not been uploaded yet. Although it was SOOO hot outside, most of the family wanted to go to the Kansas City Farmer's Market because...well, because it's just that awesome. Something about the KC Farmer's Market reminds me of traveling to another country. Crowded aisles, the variety of produce, friendly people, little shops, "meat" products...it is just one of my favorite places to go and, should we ever move to KC, I'm already planning to get a second job to support my farmer's market addiction. I sampled lots of food, although my dad has always warned against it due to "not knowing who has touched the food before me". I told him I'm not a germapobe (sp?) and that really got my mom going. I guess she thinks I am quite the germaphobe. I said, "How can I be something I can't even spell" and proceeded to lick the bottom of her shoe. Just kidding, although that did just make me laugh out loud!! :)
So, the pictures that follow are all from the KC Farmer's Market (I was going to label them all but I can't figure out how to make the wording line-up with the pics so I'm just posting them all---some are produce pictures from the market, some are street performers, and some are family pictures).
The night before, we all decided we would not shower before going to the market because we'd sweat a LOT and need to shower again. So, I woke up, threw on some clothes, and ran downstairs for breakfast. Since the bathroom was being shared by 3 other people, I used the restroom in the lobby of the hotel. Apparently, I took the idea of not getting ready to a whole new level (as you can tell by the hair). Although it's not a pretty picture, it made me laugh so I thought (for your enjoyment) I would share :)
That's all for now! I have some REALLY funny stories to share about the Baby Shower and will do that later this week.
So, I think I have officially started nesting. Creditial #1: Overwhelming feeling that we only have 13 weeks left until baby arrives? Check. Creditial #2: constant cleaning and obsession with having absolutely NO dirty dishes in the sink? Check. Creditial #3: Worrying about dust mites and the invisible lives they are leading in our bedding? Check. Ok, I'm there. Now that Jason has finished all but one of his licensure tests, we are off and running on preparing the house for baby. Of course, his desire to fix up the house is not nesting (or so he says :) I'm pretty sure we are both nesting.
Project #1: Remove all books from upstairs so we have room for our bedroom. Words cannot describe how many books we own, so I took a picture. There are even more at my work!! Our dining room table is 6-foot by 6-foot square and every square inch is covered with piles of books and each pile has 15 books or more!! That's a lot of books. We know they are worth a lot of money and want to insure them but that means creating a spreadsheet of all the books, what they cost, ISBN numbers, etc. etc. It took me one hour to do 100 books last night so I'm thinking it will take about 10 hours to do all of them!! It will be worth it in the end as our new bedroom will not be laden with dust-covered books!! YEA!
As we're going through this process, we are coming across many old memories. For example, I found my wedding planner book. Pictures of bridesmaids dresses, bridal registries, photographer contracts, hotel room reservations, etc. There was also a section called "coupons" with a little envelope in which to place coupons. Apparently, I didn't know that was supposed to be for wedding-related coupons. Anyone need coupons for mac and cheese that expired in 2000? That made me laugh out loud! Of course, I recycled the pile of about 100 coupons. I'm hilarious!
Memories. I'm excited about the memories we are going to create with our new little baby. First walks, first talks, first explosive diapers that go clear up the baby's back...so many things to look forward to! :) This pregnancy has gone so fast I can't even believe it. Only 13 weeks to go until Baby W is born. I am so in love with this baby I can hardly stand it. I wonder what traits Baby will get from me and which traits Baby will get from Jason. I hope that Baby gets my sense of humor and Jason's eyes (I wanted to say "Jason's butt" instead of "Jason's eyes" but I thought that would be inappropriate---oops, I said it anyways!!). I hope that Baby gets Jason's calmness and my compassion. Honestly, I just hope we don't do anything damaging. But, when we do, because we will, I hope that we are compassionate with ourselves and reach out for help when we need it. We live in a society that tends towards high expectations. But, what I know from my friends who are parents is this: we will mess up, we will not be perfect, we will do our best, and we will still fail at times. What I know for sure is this: God is with us, God is with this baby, God has already made plans for this baby's life. "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." ~Jeremiah 29:11 Thank GOD for that.
So, I started with a picture of books and I've ended with a picture of life. The life that God has set forth for each of us. Takes some of the pressure off to know that He is in control and I just need to follow His lead.
