No, that was not Earth I fell off of. I just moved to Mars.

Hi all-

I think it is time for an update. What do you think? First up...

Life

Since I last wrote after Easter in early April (ahem) a many wonderful and terrifying things have occurred. In mid-April Nate and I were shocked, blessed and indescribably happy to find out that we were expecting after being told by my doctor that it would take a loooong time for us to get pregnant (you don't have to do the math...I am 24 weeks pregnant!) And now we expectantly await the arrival of our daughter who is due on January 7! Hence the lengthy absence and panic you might be sensing over the computer...

Round these parts, we affectionately refer to this sweet profile as Peaches...

Our summer was pretty standard with a family beautiful wedding, time at the lake, renovations and lots of work. Below is Nate's beautiful sister and her hunk of a husband.

We visited Boston and Maine at the beginning of September where Nate somehow convinced this girl...

...to climb this vertical mountain trail...aptly named the Precipice Trail.

Please do not tell my doctor. She will kill me. But to make up for it Nate fed her lots of yummy food for 10 days...I ate a chocolate croissant for breakfast at least 5 of those 10 days. Worth it.

Presently, we spend most of our time placing bets on whether the house will be livable by the time Peaches arrives. Well, Nate spends a lot of time painting while I lounge on the front porch drinking Mai Tai's. I wish. Which leads us to the house...

Renovation

Since April we have...

1. Installed an irrigation system in the front yard

2. Landscaped round 1 of front yard

3. Installed sod with the help of Nate's college roommate, Uncle Danny (They also sanded all the floors upstairs that weekend...troopers)

4. Had 12 weeks of lead paint stripping fun on the exterior of our house...and a new paint job

Our primer white front door makes my eyes burn..
5. New gutters (see above)
6. One layer of floor paint on upstairs floors

 7. Refinished a cast iron claw foot tub for the upstairs bath

8. Had an army of Sittema's painting away in our living room, dining room and a room upstairs. They have us on our way to normalcy. (Pictures soon!)


And now I am exhausted...more coming up soon! Hint: the dusty tile next to the tub is going in the upstairs bath!

I'm pretty sure Caleb found his doppelganger

Round face, blue eyes, jolly laugh...yep, those two McElveen boys are definitely of the same blood!

 Some photos from Easter weekend in Charleston! Rather picturesque...You might be wondering to yourself, "What is she? (Melissa)"...well the verdict is still out but we could use some of that chocolate-y tan skin in our family.

 The whole family

 Seriously Nate? It was such a good picture...no matter, you can be cropped out.

 Pudge and his parents...

Tired of reading about stairs? This is whats happening around our house...

 Nate spent about two weeks building a swinging daybed for our front porch. He used a router and mortise and tenon joints... this is the real deal folks, just a few more finishing nails and one more coat of paint! Feel free to come lounge upon it very soon! I have been sewing up a storm, making outdoor pillows and a fitted sheet to cover the twin mattress that sits in the bottom.

 Our front steps and walkway have been done for about a month now...oops? Forgot to tell y'all.  They are just beautiful. Our ah-mazing contractor (who is the reason we now have time to build daybeds and sew) found the perfect brick pavers...not those wimpy pavers that are about 1.5" thick, these babies are about 3" thick. They look old, which we like...see below.

 We have been battling bamboo and ivy in the backyard...sometimes winning...other times not. Those bamboo shoots are stubborn. I think Nate has put in 40+ hours back there.

 As I write, the guys are finishing up putting on our new roof and up next is PAINT!

Stairs, stairs, everywhere

Front steps are looking good, but everytime I go out there to take an iPhone shot the workers seem to get nervous...so I don't. Maybe I can sneek one in later. Inside the house the handrail is up and running, just patching and priming left to do! The stairs need a good deep cleaning before they get painted...maybe a painted runner until the construction settles down.

Perhaps something like this?

In other news, we are lovin the 80 degree weather...especially Reacher, who enjoys sunbathing.

My nephew Caleb is beefing up for his sumo career...

At about 2 1/2 months I think he has a large leg up on his competition. Have you ever seen such delicious rolls? I can't stop laughing when I see this picture.

I love how they painted this wall at the David Sutherland showroom in Houston...inexpensive and graphic.

Until later folks!

There is a gaping hole in my front yard

They began the demo of our front steps today...

 And we now have a hole where our front steps once were. During the excavation they found the footings for the original cheek walls...that bobcat is making quite the racket outside my window. Oh yea, that is a porch handrail that you see in the photo below! We have so much to catch up on, but I seem to have misplaced the charger and cord that transfers the photos to the computer. When I told Nate that, he just smiled and said he wasn't surprised. Yay for conditioning husbands!

This morning...

...I asked Miguel to move all the new spindles in my new handrail 1". I'm a subcontractor's worst nightmare. Photos later.

(semi) renovation progress

A mostly photo-story of our house...

Yay! No more worthless upper cabinets! Boo...kitchen still a disaster...

dining room primed

ahhhmazing custom hand-rail for stairs is in!! Goes in Monday!

Hallway was primed, then the plaster repair touched up, now needs another primer coat...can lights, smoke detectors, outlets (upstairs) are all in...too bad we have no fixtures to put up :)

Trim work underway on columns of stairs...

 Upstairs is about 70% primed...

February was a big month. Nate turned 26 (yesterday), I turned 25, and I started a new job (why I have officially disappeared from here). Looking forward to warmer weather, longer days, and progress on the house. I'll check back in soon...

Lights, bathroom, crazy-train

I began this blog to help me corral my hair-brained, crazy train thoughts. When functioning in multiple universes (as my dad refers to my mom...it is absolutely genetic...craziness, that is), and as the wife of an extroverted, dreamer husband who would talk to a brick wall if it talked back, I need an outlet that allows me string my thoughts together. I miss that. Somewhere along the way this blog became about me speaking out to the world (just bloggers, actually) and I began subconsciously lobbying for more followers, hits per day,  and honorable mentions. All this to say, I really do want to keep blogging. So things might get messier around here as I revert to stream of consciousness.

I love the moulding in this space by Kelly Wearstler...

We will be painting the wood floors upstairs so I have been gathering tutorials on how to do it...here, here, and here. The floors are soft pine that have seen better days, entire sections have been pulled up (I think to wire some of the rooms downstairs...we like it ghetto 'round these parts). 

I've been gathering inspiration for our "kids" bath upstairs. 

Floor.

Feels like a room, not a bath...

 Handy-dandy storage...

Paneling... and those are all the hints you get - because that is all I know. 

I can't get the "sexy and I know it" song out of my head. My cute, innocent sister-in-law to be sent the LMFAO music video to Travis a while back, and it simultaneously makes me want to puke in a shoe and giggle. Look it up if you dare. I was going to put the link here, but YouTube has deemed it inappropriate for all audiences and you might have to sign up to see it. Too much hassel.

Meanwhile the saga to find three light fixtures to hang in our newly raised hallway continues. Meet the contenders: first up is the crowd favorite...

Cirque by Urban Electric Co. 

And really there is no competition.