Storm Before Calm

For some reason before going away on vacation, I always bombard myself with an unreasonable amount of things to do. For the past week I have run around like a crazy woman gathering, shopping, cleaning, putting up window screens, setting up the new pool, organzing, unpacking, schlepping kids around, and oh yes, working almost twice my normal hours at the Birthplace.

I love my job but I won't be sorry for the week away. It has been downright crazy for the past couple of weeks at work (Hurricaine Irene anyone?) and now the labor and delivery nurses are paying the price. The beauty of my job is that I work with one of the most outstanding teams around, so a busy time usually just means more solidarity to get through it. The only downside is that it's summer, and most of us want to be by the pool with a margarita and not in our scrubs.

So I am finishing up another long night shift here and heading out to Pennsylvania today after a couple of hours of sleep. Francisco is staying home to hold down the fort, as we learned a long time ago that we really do like to vacation separately most of the time. Or rather, I like to go places and he likes to stay home. So I will load up the kids for the six hour drive to our glorious rental house on a lake, and join my aunts, grandparents, and cousins for some old school reunioning. I feel like I have run a marathon to get here. I'm pretty sure I do this to myself so that once I am sitting on the porch with a cocktail and my feet up, I will really appreciate it.

We're in... Now what???

So now that we're in our new house I have to wonder, what comes next? There are still so many things we need to buy and do to make our home the way we want it, prepare for winter weather changes, and accomodate our lifestyle, it's hard to know where to start. What do people do? Do you buy the generator or the shed? The gutters or the snowblower? The wood stove or the hot tub? We don't actually have money for any of these things, but the question really is how do people know what comes first?

It's all a bit overwhelming, and I'm sure that will calm down once we are settled in, but I can't help feeling a little bit like a kid dressing up in my mom's clothes. This feels like a big responsibility and I'm faking it until I make it. Advice welcome from all the adults out there, right now I'm just a five year old in shoulder pads and ivory pumps.

Creating Our Nest: Before and After Goodies

Ta Daaaaa!!! We're in, and it's amazing! I never thought I could be in love with a house, but yep, I am. Feels like we have always been meant to live here, we are really loving it. So many people have been requesting the before and after photos of what we've done so far, so let's see if this works...

Attic bedroom before:

Nathan's attic bedroom after:

Sofie's bedroom before: 

And after:

Our bedroom before: (note hideous hot salmon color)

And our bedroom after: 

 Laundry room before (don't have a picture of the laundry room after yet, but the breakfast bar is right next to it and is now the same color, so you get the idea):

Breakfast bar after: 

Half bathroom before: 

 
And after:

Kitchen before:

And kitchen after: 

 Full bathroom before:

 And after:

Living room before (dark!):

Living room after:

Colorful Appreciation

We are up to our eyeballs in paint! We closed on our new house on Wednesday and have been working ever since to make the place beautiful. I must say, it's looking pretty freaking good (before and after pics will be taken after completion). Our living room is a beautiful spring green, the kitchen a sunny yellow, soft blue bathrooms, and the mudroom a bright refreshing orange. Anyone who knows me and Francisco knows that we are anything but beige. I had originally planned a bunch of neutral earthtones, but I couldn't go through with it. I need color to brighten up our lives, so much of my mood is affected by my surroundings, why not make our new home cheerful?

We are not done yet, but I am flabbergasted by our progress. For this I have to thank my lovely, generous friends. Several gracious souls have shown up on our doorstep and been happily put to work, dancing to the beat and rolling out the colors. Francisco and I have both been overwhelmed by the generosity of everyone, and I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. It really is amazing how fast things get done when there are many hands working together. I think we'll be moving in sooner than we thought! Can't wait to have our first BBQ to show our appreciation for all the love flowing our way...