Pictures ... finally!

Okay, so I realized that maybe the fact that we didn't have internet was just an excuse for the lack of postings. When in reality I am just a horrible blogger. I should have figured this much since this is not the first blog I have started. My previous one died for a couple reasons. One - it was a blog about my dreadlocks and they only lasted 5 and a half months. Two - my original intentions of posting week to week pictures of how my dreads were doing only lasted a week or two. So I guess I just have to be honest with myself and whoever might actually be reading this ... I am a horrible blogger.

Well now on to something a little more entertaining. I have pictures! Pete loading up our computer yesterday with all our pictures from Sunriver, the progress on our place, SXSW, our little nephew's birth (okay not really the birth but you know what I mean), and Ivan and Alyosha's recording session for their next record. I'm thinking of just starting at the beginning and taking it slow. So here we go for Sunriver!

About to leave with the car all packed up. Oh and doesn't Pete just look adorable in pink sunglasses?!

Mount Hood. That is not where we were going, but we had a view of it for just about half of the eight hour drive so it was kind of an important part of our trip. It's also kind of beautiful.

This bathtub was also a really important part of our trip :) However, since the bathtub was the size of a small pool (Im really not exaggerating at all) it took about an hour to fill up and the hot water would end up running out before it was even past the jets. One of the days Pete actually started boiling water on the stove to help speed up the process and to make sure our bath was actually hot.

Dinner in our condo.

We accidently found a McMenamins one of the days we ventured into Bend. This was the Old St. Francis School, which is not only a pub, restaurant, and brewery, but also a hotel and a movie theatre. Definitely much cooler than the McMenamins down the street from our place in Mill Creek. We also went to the original Deschutes brewery in Bend. Which is where I'm pretty sure I heard Pete mutter to himself "this is my highlight of the trip". Of course he meant besides spending time with his lovely wife.

Although it was super sunny (and 30 degrees) without a chance of snow (in the mountains in February, I was slightly disappointed), pretty much all of the regular activities (bike rentals, horseback riding, hot air balloon ride) that we were planning on partaking in were closed. So we spent most of our days going on walks throughout Sunriver and Bend.

We did find a little snow on the golf course outside of our condo. So of course I practiced some of my ice skating moves from my days as a competitive figure skater. It's okay to be jealous of my talents.

The night of our actual anniversary we went out to dinner at a restaurant at the resort. I think that was the night we realized how quiet Sunriver is when there isn't any snow. We were one of three couples in the whole place. It was nice to have a quiet dinner though. Then I could really focus of how cute my husband looks in a bow tie!

We brought one of our cakes (we had three) from our wedding to eat that night. It was surprisingly still delicious! The next day we made the eight hour drive back to Seattle.

That night we began actually living and sleeping at our place. All of our stuff was still in boxes in the garage and by the time we got home it was way too late to start unpacking, so we moved our mattress upstairs and went to bed.

Hopefully that wasn't too painful to read. I can't promise that I will post more frequently, but I do promise to make my posts more interesting. Next up, SXSW!!

Internet ... finally!

After a year of getting free internet and then months without internet and refusing to pay, we finally gave in and are officially internet paying customers. It feels good. Im sure I'll be annoyed when we get our first bill, but until then, I am glad to be back to this technological luxury that feels like a necessity these days. Maybe now I will actually post. There has been so much going on since I last posted. An exciting trip to Texas, more boxes unpacked, more boxes just half way unpacked and crowding up our second bedroom, bathrooms almost finished, curtains hung, a lot less coffee in my life and much more time spent using a 10-key calculator, new bedding (I have such a weakness for sheets), and much more! I just know you all are so excited to read about it and I am excited to write about it... but not yet. We are going out of town this weekend to beautiful central Washington. Well actually central Washington isn't that beautiful, but the resort we are staying at is and I am excited to get away. So maybe Sunday I will write... or maybe Monday... we'll see.

SXSW

For some reason I feel the need to explain why there will not be any posts this week. Even though if this reason did not exist, there still would probably not be any posts this week. Anyways, my super talented and pretty darn cute husband is in the band, Ivan and Alyosha. They are playing at SXSW (south by southwest) music festival in Austin, Texas. One other wife of a band member and I are going along with the guys. We leave tomorrow morning for a week of music, music parties, music showcases, music business meetings, music industry events, musical chairs, and some authentic Texas BBQ! It will be really fun to see them play somewhere other than Seattle or Portland. I really don't know what to expect but I am so excited. When we get back, I might just post a picture or two.

Home Sweet Home

In case you all (what, maybe 3 of you?) were wondering, no we did not get lost in the mountains of central Oregon. When we got back from our trip we officially started sleeping at our new home. Unfortunately, we do not have internet at our place yet. Im not even too sure when we will get it. It might be a while. So needles to say, blogging has been quite difficult and will probably remain that way for some time. Now I don't want this to turn all of you loyal readers (my mom and mother-in-law) away. I will try to do a big update each week with how things are going. I need to upload more pictures so for now this is all I have for you. Just be glad that we are alive.

Anniversary

So I know that I said I would post more pictures of our house throughout this week but it has just been too busy. Hardwood floors are almost done, all the appliances were delivered yesterday and almost all installed, the carpet was installed today, and tomorrow my hubby and I are going on a little vacay. This Sunday, February 21st is our very first wedding anniversary. So we are taking a little trip to the Oregon mountains and staying at a resort for 5 days. Now even though the original intentions with this blog were to document the renovations of our townhouse, the rest of our life in the townhouse will probably be blogged about also. So yes that does mean you get to read all about how madly in love my husband and I are, how many awesome friends we have, the amazing adventures we always go on, and of course our super cute puppy. The only things in our life that will probably not be blogged about is my job...I make coffee...not that exciting. So back to the mushy love stuff. I was trying to upload some pictures of Pete and I but it stopped uploading after one so I will have to try again when we get back. Ill also post some pictures of our little anniversary getaway. Have a great 5 days, I know we will!!

Before Pictures

Yup, thats right I've got pictures. I went over to our place today to see how the hardwood floors are coming along and while I was there I went searching through some boxes in the garage for the computer cord. Luckily, I found it right away.

There are a lot of pictures to catch up on but lets start with the before pictures and we'll get to the rest throughout this week. I feel like there needs to be a note of explanation with every picture but Ill just do one note for you to keep in mind as you see each picture. EVERYTHING WILL LOOK SO MUCH DIFFERENT WHEN WE ARE DONE! With that said, here we go....

Front door with door to garage on left.

Entryway.

Stairway up to second floor.

Don't you just love the nasty blue gray carpet?

Hallway on right is the bottom stairway.

Hallway on left is the stairway up to the third floor.

Living room. (our first little party the night we got our keys)

Dinning room.

The very beautiful kitchen.

Can't forget to show the really cool room divider between the dinning room and living room.

Stairway up to the third floor.

Hall bathroom.

Second bedroom.

Master bedroom. Isn't the paint job lovely?

Bathroom and walk in closet in master bedroom.

Master bathroom. Also with a really nice paint job.

Washer, dryer and utility tub in the garage.

Welp there it is. That is how our little townhouse looked when we received the keys. In the past couple weeks we have painted everything, ripped up carpet, prepped floors for the hardwoods and new carpet, pulled out some of the old appliances, took off old closet doors and removed the weird room divider. It is already looking so different. Ill post some during pictures throughout this week.

Hardwood Floors

One of the few bigger renovations we are tackling before we move in began today. Hardwood floors, yay! Well, I suppose they actually started a couple weeks ago. Up until today we had done all the prep work that needed to be done for the installation of the hardwood floors. We (okay more like Pete and my father-in-law) ripped out all the existing carpet, which covered everything except the kitchen and two bathrooms. We (I really did help out during this part) then had to pull up the tack strips that ran along every edge of the whole townhouse. Our place isn't that big but one big great room, two bedrooms, and two flights of stairs had many edges with many little tack strips. In addition to the tack strips there were countless staples all throughout the floors that also had to be pulled up. I guess I wasn't aware of how long that part of the process would take. I figured you pull up the carpet and then put down the hardwoods...I obviously have never done anything like this before. I think that is part of why I am excited to document this ongoing renovation process. I think we will learn a lot throughout this and not just about home renovation but about ourselves too.

Well anyways, back to the floors. We picked horizontal carbonized bamboo floors from lumber liquidators. These floors were our choice even before we looked at the price, and they just happened to be one of the most inexpensive options for real wood floors. We wanted a lighter floor with a warm tone to it. Not too brown, not too red, not too light. The carbonized color was perfect! And we love that bamboo is a renewable resource. One point for us for being eco friendly! We are having one of our friends install the floors for us. He just so happens to be a professional so we are saving money and going to have beautifully installed floors all at the same time.

The installation is going to take a few days but I already feel so much closer to moving out of my parents house (for like the third time in my life, ha) and moving into our new home! Next on the list is new appliances which are going to be installed next Tuesday. We are getting a whole new kitchen set along with a new washer and dryer. So so excited. Then the next day our new carpet is being installed. The carpet will be on the stairway from the second to third floor and throughout the third floor which is basically the hallway and two bedrooms. Oh I guess I forgot to mention where are hardwood floors are going to be. They will start on the first floor in the entryway, up the first flight of stairs, and throughout the whole second floor which is the kitchen, dinning room, and living room. Again, no pictures yet. Soon I hope. Or else this blog will continue to be very boring and everyone will stop reading it. Oh wait, I probably don't actually have any readers yet. Well this is all for tonight. Maybe, just maybe there will be a picture tomorrow.