Drumroll please....

Just a few reminders of how it looked before




BEFORE

AFTER




You can see the wall color better-we think the buttercream tones really brighten up the room!

We LOVE it!

27 Years

This year for my birthday Clint surprised me with a weekend getaway. Last Friday I was told to pack my bags not knowing where he was taking me. We ended up in Mt. Airy, NC the hometown of Andy Griffith and the inspiration for the town of Mayberry. This place was super cute. He had made reservations for us to stay at a B&B right next to downtown. The place was beautiful, the food was good and the weather was perfect. (A well deserve break from all the snow.) We spent most of Saturday walking around downtown, browsing antique store and watching movies in our room. I couldn't think of a better way to spend a weekend.

Downtown

"Snappy Lunch" mentioned on the "Andy Griffith Show." Home of the famous porkchop sandwich



Beautiful

Huge room

On Tuesday (my birthday) Clint and I met his father and grandparents at a local Italian restaurant. Clint continued his tradition of baking me a birthday cake. This year's cake was strawberry with milk chocolate icing. It was delicious!

With Clint's grandparents


Thank you to everyone who sent me a card, called or wished me a happy birthday. I had a wonderful day and feel very blessed to be so loved!

More kitchen!

Countertops and bar complete

Still working on rest of lighting, backsplash, molding and paint!

One of my favorite features is the custom made shelf with small lights directed on the sink.

Next post should be finished product!

Kitchen Update

It still has a little ways to go, but such a huge difference...I cannot get over much better it already looks!

Cabinets and all appliances installed.

Under cabinet lights on

Caution: Kitchen Remodel in Progress

This week our kitchen renovation got under way. Our contractor has been working non-stop each evening and has made some real progress in 3 short days. That's good news for us. It's killing me having the house out of order. I'll be glad when we can take the microwave out of the living room and the coffee maker out of the bathroom! But, hopefully it will only be for a short time and the results will be worth it. Here is a sneak peek at the progress so far:

Kitchen Before:You can see some test paint colors at the bottom of the molding, don't worry, we are not using the dark paint color

Kitchen Before: I sure won't be missing the old appliances!

After a few hours of demo

End of day 1

After day 3:bye-bye old cabinets, hello, beautiful new ones...sorry I can't hold my camera straight!

Haiti and Cell Phones

Haiti: Every time I see pictures of the devastation that has occurred, my heart breaks. In a time where our country is experiencing a "economic recession" and so many of our fellow Americans are in financial and emotional hardships, it's hard to imagine things getting worse. And for the Haitians, they are going through the ultimate "worse." Something we will never truly understand. Even the poorest American would be considered "wealthy" in most parts of Haiti. We are certainly a very spoiled nation. It is only by the grace of God that we were born in our land of the free. It has become a habit for me to wake up each morning and thank God for the job that I have been blessed with while so many that I see daily still search for one. Now, I realize that my prayer of thanksgiving should simply be for waking up in a warm bed in the house I own and in a country of privilege. Please continue to pray for our brothers and sisters in Haiti.

Cell Phone: I have now completed day 2 of not using my cell phone while driving. I think most of you might understand how challenging this could be. I did not realize how much I use it while driving. Even to simply call Clint and tell him something I forgot or to call and check in on Mom. I use to think I was such a wonderful multi-tasker by taking care of business while driving to my next destination. How very dangerous this "habit" is not just for me but the other drivers on the road. I caught the final bit of this topic on the Oprah show and it propelled me into doing some research on my own. I found that one study, "demonstrated that drivers' reaction times were, on average, 30% slower when talking on a cell phone compared to being drunk and nearly 50% slower than normal driving conditions." Wow, that is scary! Not to mention the other statistics about texting while driving. Don't even get my started on that topic. That was not something I was in the practice of doing. I have always been a little annoyed when I see someone texting while driving. And even scared on a few occasions while a friend would down the interstate, talking to me in the passengers side AND texting on their cell phone! I realize they would never do it with the intent of harm, but I don't think people are aware of the accidents and deaths that occur due to driving while using cell phones. I thought texting was the greater offense since it is now illegal in TN. But what I have learned is that our brains simply cannot drive and take in all of our surroundings as normal if we are using our cell phone. And that means just talking on it. I know it's going to difficult, but I am going to do my best and stick to the no-cell phone zone in the car. I encourage you to think about it. So, if you call and I don't answer...I may be driving, but I'll call you back when I put the car in park :)

Sneak Peek...

This week we got a very exciting delivery...our new cabinets. They are beautiful! We opened each crate (26 in all!) to make sure they were not scratched and I just had to take a picture. They are maple and a little bit darker than this picture is showing, but pretty close. I'm still trying to determine a wall color. For some reason that seems to be the hardest decision for me. Any suggestions?

Stay tuned for kitchen updates!

Under the sink cabinet