We're in...

The moving is finished. We made it through the first night in our new home and although we're exhausted, we did manage to get a few hours of sleep in our new surroundings. We're glad to be in and are hoping to eventually make our way through all of the unpacking sooner than later. Our entire townhouse is a sea of chaos but I know I'll get through it eventually :) Our "painting goals" were reached just in time to move our remaining stuff in yesterday and I'm glad we won't have to try to paint around all of the "chaos." Only the hallway and main bathroom are yet to be painted so it feels pretty achievable. Welp... gotta get back to work--- just thought I'd give you a quick update. Stay tuned for upcoming "AFTER" pictures... :)

A sneak peek at the "BEFORE" version...

I promised a while ago that I would post pictures of our new place so here are a few. Keep in mind that these are BEFORE pictures, as in, we've been busy painting and some things will look different once we've moved in. Basically everything downstairs will stay the same (for now anyway) but everything upstairs is in the process of being painted. Unfortunately, its been a bigger job than we had originally hoped because the previous owner was a terrible painter and hit the ceiling with every stroke on the walls. Therefore we've had to paint ALL the ceilings upstairs and in the stairwell... NOT a fun job. But we finally finished ceilings the other night and will start on walls today. I didn't include pictures of our double garage, downstairs room, main level bathroom, patios or upstairs bathroom--- but you get the picture :)

DOWNSTAIRS: The Living Room...
(I actually just found this painting a few weeks ago and was thrilled at how perfectly it works above the fireplace. Don't worry, the cardboard corners still have to come off and it needs to be hung on the wall but it will be great once its up!)

Below: The far right will be the dining area...

The Kitchen

UPSTAIRS: The Office
(and yes, I have already taken down the awful drapes that the previous owner left behind!)

Guest Room
(soon to be a much nicer color than this ELECTRIC yellow :) It may not seem that bright in this picture but trust me, its really bad.)

The Master Bedroom
(there is also an ensuite to the right but I only took one angle of this room.)

So there you have it. Like I said, only a few pictures but for those that have been curious about it, hopefully this gives you an idea. I'm pretty excited to see the final product and will be sure to post pictures once everything is complete and we're unpacked. (Which may take a while so you'll have to be patient!) Just to give you an idea of colors for the upstairs, our master bedroom is going to be a really dark, chocolate brown (Benjamin Moore HC-68 Middlebury Brown) and the ensuite will be a deep red (BM HC-62 Sundried Tomato). The guest room will be a sort of sage/olive green (BM 2144-20 Eucalyptus Leaf) and the office will be a medium-dark brown (BM CC-510 Buckhorn). I'm still debating about the upstairs bathroom and the hallway but hopefully I'll get it figured out soon. I must admit, even though I work in the interior design field, it sure is a LOT harder to decide on colors, etc... when its my own place. I've somehow become a lot more indecisive :)

The other reason for this post is to let you know that it may be my last for a while. Our internet is getting transferred on Monday and I just found out that our townhouse's location doesn't have High Speed access. I am just a little choked about this because guess what that means.... yup, brutal old dial-up. Just the very thought of dial-up makes me want to cry so we may have to switch services and arrange for something else. I use the computer WAY too much to have to endure dial-up :) So if you don't hear from me for a while, that's the reason.

I hope everyone enjoys the rest of their summer... or the very weak excuse of summer we've had that is :) But at least the sun is shining today, so hopefully it'll last the rest of the weekend. And I'll be back to blogging as soon as possible :)

A Night with Josh

Tonight will be spent with my lovely Mom, sister Vivienne, friend Jen, Jen's mom & her Aunt, and of course, the lovely gentleman pictured below. Its going to be unreal.

I've been hooked on Josh's music for years and have been lucky enough to go to one other concert of his. Jon got tickets for my birthday 3 years ago, just after I moved to Chilliwack and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Not so sure Jon "loved" it but I love him because he went very willing...for me.
So this time around, I thought I'd save Jon the night of "un-enjoyment" and go with the ladies. Should be a good time! And Leah... you will be GREATLY missed tonight! We're so sad it didn't work for you to come but hopefully we'll see you soon, whether its time spent with Josh or not :)

Wedding Bliss

We just got back last night from a trip to Alberta. We drove the long, 12 hour trip to celebrate Alli & Stephen's wedding day and although the drive felt long, it was well worth it.
Alli was my roommate at Bethany and holds a very special place in my heart. I have such fond memories of our late night talks, Monday night date nights (including over- ripe mango feasts), volleyball road trips together, and walking into our room with Alli either reading her Bible or knitting a scarf :) Yes...my good ol' "Granny Alli" as I called her :) Love you Alli...thanks for being such a wonderful roomie!!

Of course, we couldn't drive to Calgary without stopping at Peters' Drive-In. Delicious!!

The wedding ceremony was held at Alli's family farm, on Sunday afternoon. It was a beautiful place for a wedding with all the flowers blooming and a prairie field in the background.

Alli was truly a vision of beauty! She looked IN-credible, as we knew she would :)

Her dress was gorgeous... the lace-up back and long train were stunning...

The picture below is my favorite, even though its a bit blurry. I never seem to be able to get a good picture of the couple as they're walking out, so I was very pleased with this one. Especially with the way the sun is shining on them... what a good looking pair!

You'll always be "roomie" to me Alli! Love you.

The reception was held at the Heritage Inn & Suites in Brooks (which was very convenient for us because we stayed there with Craig & Jen for the weekend). They served us a full out turkey dinner and topped it off with a large variety of cheesecakes, squares and pies. It was very fulfilling after a long day in the heat!

Here's my wonderful brother and sister-in-law, Craig & Jen. We had so much fun hanging out with them this weekend.

And last but not least, the cutting of the cake...

As you can see, the cake was gorgeous! And yes, those are REAL flowers...

So that was our weekend in a nutshell. Now I need to go do some serious packing! We have to be out of our loft and into our townhouse by the end of the month and there is still a lot of work to be done. I'll post pictures of our new place sometime this week, that way you can get the "before & after" effect. Have a great day everyone!!

The tale of an august long weekend...

Even though its already the weekend again, I figured I'd share a quick post from last weekend.
Jon's best friend Tyler came down to visit us from Prince George so we decided to make the most of the long weekend and headed down to Seattle on Saturday morning. Thankfully my friend Jen was able to join us because Jon & Tyler wanted to see the Mariners play the Red Sox. Now those of you that know what a sports fan I am may be surprised to hear that I didn't want to tag along with the boys. But I confess... I have a hatred for watching baseball. I enjoy playing it, but absolutely cannot stand watching it. Whether its on TV or live, baseball is not my thing. I find it agonizingly boring.
Anyway... Jen and I opted for shopping downtown instead. I think we're both still a little unsure as to whether that was the greatest idea but we did it and that's that. Although downtown Seattle is a wonderful place, I will admit that 7 1/2 hours of shopping is a bit much--- thank goodness for Barnes & Noble and Starbucks :)

We spent the night camping in LaConner (Tyler's parents were on vacation there) and then spent most of Sunday exploring Deception Pass (just 15 minutes away). I had heard of Deception Pass but had never been there. Let me tell you... it was breathtaking. I would've liked to have spent a lot more time hiking around and exploring the beach below but seeing as Jen and I both had flip flops on, we weren't up for the trek. But we had an awesome time wandering around and taking pictures.













We finished off the trip with a visit to the Burlington outlets and appy's at Applebee's. Thanks again for an awesome weekend guys! Hope to see you again soon Tyler... thanks for making the trip down to see us!!

2 Years Today

I can hardly believe that 2 years ago today, Jon and I said "I do" and made the committment to spend the rest of our lives together. We were just talking yesterday about how amazing it is that we've already had 2 wonderful years and yet, at the same time, it feels as if we've always been married. Not in a bad way.... just in a comfortable, familiar way.
August 7, 2005 is a day I'll remember forever and cherish in my heart. It was truly the perfect day and the excitement we both felt then is still felt today.

Jon... thank you for all that you do and for the incredible man you are and are continually striving to be. I can't even describe how blessed I feel to be married to such a handsome, caring, loving, compassionate, funny, talented and God- seeking man. I pray that we would constantly view each day together as a gift from God and never take for granted, the love He has blessed us with. Looking forward to the journey ahead and so thankful I'll be sharing it with you.

I love you.