is really coming together... here's a before & durings (we're not done enough to do afters yet!)
Monday, April 26, 2010
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
so escited!
well, there are so many 'projects' going on right now that i figured an update was in order.
1st: we're at about two weeks and counting before paige's pinkalicious birthday and i'm thrilled to be helping lisa with it. because there was no choice to do anything other than pink (yes, she wanted hannah montana and pink but since casi had a hannah birthday a couple years ago we thought it would be good for paige to have something different). lisa decided to have paige's party at a local gymnastics place so that the kids could run around and get their energy out while learning some things and working together and having fun. i found some inspriation from martha (stewart that is) and around valentines day from some great blogs i read and i think we have a great plan. first, a pink ribbon cake (maybe a few layers in a rainbow of pinks) and pink lemonade so that it can't stain the carpets or the kids' clothes (these are the inspiration pics, i'll post my own after the birthday)
and i made the invites and stamped the envelopes (thanks martha)
2nd brian is ripping several bushes, trees and one row of grapevine out of our yard... this is the first major hole he dug ripping out one redbud, two or three mulberrys and some grapevine 
and now that we're sure that the redbud are actually redbuds we'll be transplanting them before ripping them out to the back edge of our property to add some privacy and keep the little buds i love so much (seriously i cut branches before the one got ripped out so i could put them in a vase and decorate inside)
aren't they great, and free! our 3rd project is fiona's new room. sara, sue and i went shopping a couple weeks ago and picked out bedding then a bright pink paint to coordinate and were having some trouble picking a headboard or figuring out what we wanted to do when i had the brilliant, if i do say so myself, idea to paint a tree coming out of her bed to anchor the room and help tone down the bright pink walls. after lots of thinking i've decided to paint two trees, one coming from each side of the bed to form an arch, sort of like this that i found online, only two of them and a slightly different tree (cause this one, when mirrored, was funky, not in a good way)
and because the ultimate decision for her room came after doing a bit of shuffling beds, dave & sara upgraded their bed to a king giving their queen to tyler and giving fiona tyler's new (that he hated) full size bed. the only issue other than finding a headboard solution for fiona then was to pick something for sara & dave since their queen size bed wouldn't fit the new king size mattress. sara likes to read in bed so the 4h project is to have something comfy but chic. we decided to make an upholstered headboard similar to this (picture the big cushion attached to the bed instead of the shelf/wall and no shelf or pictures, does that make sense) so that will be happening in a few weeks.
and to add to sara & dave's fun/stressfull summer with fiona's adoption and the accompanying redecoration right before traveling to africa, it's vbs time again! this year's theme is rainforest and i can't wait. last year was good but this year will be great
and i made the invites and stamped the envelopes (thanks martha)2nd brian is ripping several bushes, trees and one row of grapevine out of our yard... this is the first major hole he dug ripping out one redbud, two or three mulberrys and some grapevine and now that we're sure that the redbud are actually redbuds we'll be transplanting them before ripping them out to the back edge of our property to add some privacy and keep the little buds i love so much (seriously i cut branches before the one got ripped out so i could put them in a vase and decorate inside)aren't they great, and free! our 3rd project is fiona's new room. sara, sue and i went shopping a couple weeks ago and picked out bedding then a bright pink paint to coordinate and were having some trouble picking a headboard or figuring out what we wanted to do when i had the brilliant, if i do say so myself, idea to paint a tree coming out of her bed to anchor the room and help tone down the bright pink walls. after lots of thinking i've decided to paint two trees, one coming from each side of the bed to form an arch, sort of like this that i found online, only two of them and a slightly different tree (cause this one, when mirrored, was funky, not in a good way)and because the ultimate decision for her room came after doing a bit of shuffling beds, dave & sara upgraded their bed to a king giving their queen to tyler and giving fiona tyler's new (that he hated) full size bed. the only issue other than finding a headboard solution for fiona then was to pick something for sara & dave since their queen size bed wouldn't fit the new king size mattress. sara likes to read in bed so the 4h project is to have something comfy but chic. we decided to make an upholstered headboard similar to this (picture the big cushion attached to the bed instead of the shelf/wall and no shelf or pictures, does that make sense) so that will be happening in a few weeks.and to add to sara & dave's fun/stressfull summer with fiona's adoption and the accompanying redecoration right before traveling to africa, it's vbs time again! this year's theme is rainforest and i can't wait. last year was good but this year will be greati think that's all for now but i'll be keeping ya'll posted on all of these crazy goings on when i get a chance...
Friday, April 16, 2010
my birthday list (updated)...
yes, i realize that my birthday isn't for several more months but this is as good a place as any to make a list that i won't loose between now and then and ya'll can see what i'm loving right now!
- Jamie's Dinners: The Essential Family Cookbook by Jamie Oliver
- a corkscrew willow tree (or a well rooted start from someone else's tree... hint hint)
- Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook
- Martha Stewart Threader Edge Punch
i think that's all for now but i'll be updating soon
update 1:
- glass bowl for my kitchenaid
- digital kitchen scale
- time and a reason to make a rainbow cake (maybe an all pink rainbow for paige's birthday)
- a brown t-shirt with one of michelle's hoot hoots (she calls it dottie but i'm a tard so hoot hoot it is), so adorable
- J.Crew Martina Pumps in soft wisteria
- an ipod... so that i have tunes to listen to while i paint/strip wallpaper/decorate/power shop/etc
okay, that's all for now, there were more things but i cannot for the life of me remember... hmmm
update 2 (5/2):
- any of the lego architecture kits, i would really LOVE falling water or the guggenheim but any of the major skyscrapers would be great too
- the complete adventures of curious george or the treasury of curious george
the lego kit was the one i kept forgetting, it always came to me randomly, esp when josh was trying to use his computer and i wasn't wanting to vacate the seat and the curious george books could wait until i have children but if i didn't write it down i would totally forget!!
Sunday, April 11, 2010
easter...
was a great day had by all but even better was the food and family was the realization that lisa & i have come a long way in terms of eating better and losing weight! this is us last year at easter
and this year, about 70#s lighter between the two of us
and this year, about 70#s lighter between the two of usi'm hoping that next year we'll have similar if not better results!
our vacation...
... is about a month late but i've been highly distracted by work and being sick for a week (seriously folks, tree pollen levels going from 6 last year on april 1st to 253 for the same date this year... yowza!). we did have an amazing vacation in brown county for josh's birthday, here are a few pictures
even though josh hates to have his picture taken i thought it appropriate to show you how pale we've both become over the winter... well, how pale i've become over the winter
downtown nashville IN, such a cute town
and a great place to stop downtown nashville: not just popcorn - truely a must see!
an adorable restored soda fountain in columbus
an amazing glass chandelier inside the columbus visitor's center
even though josh hates to have his picture taken i thought it appropriate to show you how pale we've both become over the winter... well, how pale i've become over the winter
downtown nashville IN, such a cute townand a great place to stop downtown nashville: not just popcorn - truely a must see!an adorable restored soda fountain in columbusan amazing glass chandelier inside the columbus visitor's center
Thursday, April 1, 2010
my new niece...
will probably be here within the next couple of months if all goes well!!! what the heck am i talking about, you ask? i thought i had blogged before to update you all but apparantly i forgot to. my sister-in-law sara and her husband are in the process of adopting an amazing little girl from uganda. her name is fiona, she's going to turn 5 on may 2nd (which is also sara & becky's birthday and 2 days before paige's birthday) and she's beautiful, dont'cha think? 
as i understand it (and i could be wrong on a few of the details but the general idea is right) the whole process started a few months ago when sara & dave's neighbors (mark, the guy in the above picture, & rachelle) began the process to adopt dorcas, an 18 year old girl from uganda that has been in the united states for a couple of years. they then found out that she has a 9 year old sister named rachel still in uganda and a girl that is like a sister to rachel named fiona, nearly 5 years old. mark & rachelle had decided to adopt rachel as well but really wanted to find a home for fiona as well. dave and sara have been trying for quite some time to have another child and their son tyler, has been wanting a brother or sister for just about as long so after lots of prayer and looking into their hearts they realized that fiona was the child they'd been waiting for. after a very long process they are waiting on a bit of final paperwork and then they'll get their first court date in uganda. a few weeks after that they'll get their final court date to finalize the adoption and get to bring her home. yes, there are a lot of steps that i didn't mention but that's the basic outline.
so, why is mark holding fiona in the photo? mark had to fly to europe for work this week and while he was there he took a few days to fly to uganda, meet the girls, and get familiar with the area where both families will be spending 3-4 weeks between court dates while they finalize the adoption. mark happend to arrive on parent's day at the girls' school and has been able to take some awesome photos. now that we've seen the photos everything has become even more real so sara has enlisted my help for fiona's room. we've chosen bedding, a paint color for the walls and dave & sara's bedroom is getting a facelift too (they're going to need a nice relaxing place after spending close to a month in africa). i'll try to upload photos as we go but in the mean time, you can follow their story http://brodzinskisadoption.blogspot.com!
as i understand it (and i could be wrong on a few of the details but the general idea is right) the whole process started a few months ago when sara & dave's neighbors (mark, the guy in the above picture, & rachelle) began the process to adopt dorcas, an 18 year old girl from uganda that has been in the united states for a couple of years. they then found out that she has a 9 year old sister named rachel still in uganda and a girl that is like a sister to rachel named fiona, nearly 5 years old. mark & rachelle had decided to adopt rachel as well but really wanted to find a home for fiona as well. dave and sara have been trying for quite some time to have another child and their son tyler, has been wanting a brother or sister for just about as long so after lots of prayer and looking into their hearts they realized that fiona was the child they'd been waiting for. after a very long process they are waiting on a bit of final paperwork and then they'll get their first court date in uganda. a few weeks after that they'll get their final court date to finalize the adoption and get to bring her home. yes, there are a lot of steps that i didn't mention but that's the basic outline.so, why is mark holding fiona in the photo? mark had to fly to europe for work this week and while he was there he took a few days to fly to uganda, meet the girls, and get familiar with the area where both families will be spending 3-4 weeks between court dates while they finalize the adoption. mark happend to arrive on parent's day at the girls' school and has been able to take some awesome photos. now that we've seen the photos everything has become even more real so sara has enlisted my help for fiona's room. we've chosen bedding, a paint color for the walls and dave & sara's bedroom is getting a facelift too (they're going to need a nice relaxing place after spending close to a month in africa). i'll try to upload photos as we go but in the mean time, you can follow their story http://brodzinskisadoption.blogspot.com!
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