Carpet Preview

We've got carpet and paint in the bedrooms! Woo hoo! We slept in the master last night...it's like owning a real house. Crazy.

Master:

Small Bedroom:

Middle Bedroom:

Sounds of Progress

Dad made it to town this afternoon. He'll be staying for about a week, helping us replace the particle board underlayment with some 3/8" plywood he hauled down, in preparation for the wood floors which we've decided to nail down (hence the need for new underlayment). It'll be a ton more work, but in the long run, it's saving us a bucket of money, and the job will be done right--which is what really matters.

The house is LOUD tonight! Dad is working on pulling up the first corner of particle board, just to get a sense of it. And while the sound of hammer against prybar is terror to the eardrums, I'm not complaining because this is the sound of progress, people! Multiply that by the sounds of Raf power-sanding and shopvac-ing stains on the underlayment in the bedrooms and it's quite a circus in here tonight! (We're leaving the particle board in the bedrooms where the carpet is going down; sanding the stains is primarily for peace of mind.)

Super exciting news--carpets are being laid in the bedrooms tomorrow, so I'm looking forward to spending our first night in an actual bedroom! Woo Hoo for moving out of the family room! (Though I will miss the skylights in the morning.)

Have I mentioned how wonderful it is to have a skilled and helpful family--and a partner who's game for any and every DIY project? I'm one lucky girl!

The Trousseau

While shopping with my mom and sister during the recent invitation assembly weekend, I informed them that I'm feeling an overwhelming desire to have all new clothes for the honeymoon. This is super strange for me, and something I naturally feel guilty about. That's when my mother informed me, "It's called a trousseau, honey. It's traditional. You're safe." Woo Hoo! Thanks mom! I'll be sure to pass the news on to Raf. ;)

So after an entertaining road trip conversation with Kaylie and Ashley this weekend (including Ashley's iPhone search for the definition of trousseau), this is what we learned (compliments of About.com):

trous·seau, n. [French, from Old French, diminutive of trousse, bundle. See truss.] The possessions, such as clothing and linens, that a bride assembles for her marriage.

Throughout history, single young women all over the world have prepared for their change in marital status by accumulating a trousseau. A traditional trousseau -- stored in a hope chest -- included bridal accessories, jewelry, lingerie, toiletries and makeup, plus bed linens and bath towels for her new home.

From Victorian times till today, the trousseau also has consisted of brand-new outfits to see a woman through her wedding, honeymoon, and newlywed days.

Oftentimes the garments in a trousseau were hand-sewn by a mother, aunt, grandmother, or the girl herself, if skilled with a needle. Wealthier families procured the skills of a professional seamstress to outfit the bride-to-be.

Long story short, the ladies of the fam need to get busy with their sewing needles! Ha! But seriously, this little tidbit of knowledge is the very green light I needed to partake in far too much shopping therapy lately. But whatever--I'm going to look super cute holed up in that cabin for the honeymoon!

So, who wants to join me for some shopping shopping?? I need a bathing suit. And another 7 or 12 dresses, at least.

Photo via Anthro.

Floral Inspiration

I'm finding wonderful floral inspiration on this Sunday Suppers blog. I don't recall how I happened across this blog to begin with, and honestly I have very little clue what it's about because I haven't had the time to do any actual reading. However, it's made the list of blogs I follow because the eye candy is to die for! The photog behind this blog is a genius. I can't stand raw meat, and yet this photographer makes cold beef look delectable!

I'm loving the floral combos above--each vase with an individual type of flower, but a diverse group of flowers all together. And these below are feeling very wedding-worthy.
Also loving how they tied these little bunches of daisies--so you don't feel the need to add another 200 stems until the vase is full. Cute, cute, cute!

Oprah's Summer Reading List

Oh, how I miss Oprah in the horrible Tivo-less times I've been experiencing for the past 7 months. (Yes, I've been counting.) I found Oprah's Summer Reading List in my spam folder tonight and couldn't help myself. Of the 25 listed, these are the 8 that sound intriguing to me (in no particular order):

What looks good to you?

List Updates

We are getting some things accomplished...hallelujah! It's amazing how much gets done when Raf comes home before midnight!

• Installed washer and dryer, including a new gas shut-off valve. Had PG&E out to turn everything back on and do a safety inspection. De-webbed the laundry room. Did loads and loads of laundry...YAY!!
• Painted bedrooms. The 2 spare rooms still need one last coat, but they're looking good! Got side-tracked removing the old (brown) caulking around one bedroom window, the scraping the paint and sanding the sill. Scored a new mouse sander! It's so cute! I've never had an electric sander before...exciting stuff!
• Ordered flooring. OUCH! That's by far the toughest thing we've done as new homeowners. Making the decision to spend that much money is brutal! Cross your fingers that we love them!
• Emptied the water vessels around the house. Bought a rake. Decided it was useless. (All the random tree droppings covering the ground is part of the genius of the landscaping--rake it up and you're just looking at dirt.)
• Talked to Dad about clearing out his scheduled for one, maybe two, weekends of floor installation fun.

And on the wedding front:

• Sent invites, phase one. So happy to have those done!
• Booked hair trial and floral appt for this weekend. Jin Ho got us a table for the pre-Bach celebration.
• Ordered veil.
• Registered at Crate & Barrel. Good times!
• Music--almost ruled out the band. Sad times.

Top priorities this week:

• Put a second coat of paint on the bedrooms.
• Schedule an appt to have my dress altered. Scheduled.
• Price out plywood subflooring, and decide if we're going to nail down the floors or float.
• FLIGHT! I really want to go on a honeymoon... Booked. And asked East Coast friends for can't-miss stops.
• Make Soap! Our soft deadline for soapmaking is June 20th.

DMB Big Whiskey

The new album released today and it is, as expected, AMAZING! Despite all the anticipation, I totally forgot it was Tuesday until I was in Starbucks this morning picking up my caffeine kick and saw it on the counter. I couldn't resist. I can't remember the last time I purchased an actual CD. I could have saved a few bucks and waited for iTunes when I got home, but I want to be able to hold it. Play it in my computer at work. And in my car on the way home. (Which will be nice since I have terrible radio reception in general--and none in Livermore.)

Have I mentioned how much I love it already? You should go buy it. Immediately. The first single, Funny the Way It Is, is excellent. You & Me is an instant kitchen dancing favorite. I'm loving Alligator Pie. And Shake Me Like a Monkey is pretty much the best instrumental opening to a song ever. Can't wait to hear that one live! Cross your fingers it makes the playlist in Bethel.

Lists

I'm sure you're all highly amused by my never-ending lists. I imagine my family members belly laughing everytime I mention what needs to be done on the house in X amount of time. What I find amusing is when my friends start writing lists on my behalf. I was out with Ash and Jules tonight, chatting about upcoming events, what we still need to coordinate, etc., when Ash says, "You need to start a list!" So I pull a notepad out of my purse and they full on recite my bullets, as follows:

• Figure out which girlfriends will be staying in the hotel with us for the SF bachelorette.
• Book my trial hair appt.
• Check with Jin Ho about getting a table at DTBrew for the pre-Bach.
• RSVP to the weddings we've received invites to.

Why does it seem like the lists they write are so much more doable than mine? I'm already half-way through this one!

How We Live

This is how we currently live. With our bed in the middle of the family room, surrounded by everything we own in boxes. I know, it's fancy. But until we get floors into the bedrooms, this is the way it is. And we can't order floors until Raf starts getting home before midnight. One more day...!

The good news is at least the kitchen and bathroom are fairly settled. So we can eat, cook, and shower without too much hassle. Thank goodness. If not for that I'd have gone crazy by now.

So, obviously the wedding to-do list isn't the only one we have! Here's what we need to get done on the house this month:

• Order flooring! Good news: it appears that we've made our final picks for carpet and wood, we just need to make a deal already!


• Install carpets. I hope to have them in within the next 2 weeks. When they come, they'll also take all the nasty old stuff we pulled out, which will create some very pleasant, clear space in the carport. Once that's done, we'll move most of our stuff into the bedrooms so we can install the wood floors throughout the common areas.


• Install the new washer and dryer. We're going on a solid 3 weeks since I've been able to do laundry and it's driving me CRAZY! We're having issues with the dryer gas connection. It's ancient. And scary. Raf couldn't get the fixture to move to turn off the gas coming to it until this morning. I'll go to OSH tomorrow to show them some photos of our connection to potentially update that fixture, or at a minimum purchase a new vent hose. We have an appointment with PG&E tomorrow to have the gas turned back on (in case we need to turn it off to complete the install), so hopefully it'll be done by tomorrow. Cross your fingers!


• Surface clean the laundry space while we're in there. Sweeping and a quick spider web-removal would be nice.


• Finish painting the bedrooms. Hopefully this weekend. (Our only completely free weekend this summer.)


• Empty the water from all collection vessels around the house.

On the "If We Get Super Ambitious" list:

• Remove shelving in the dining room and family room(?) in order to clean the walls and paint.


• Begin installing the wood floors (hopefully with the generous assistance of Pops!)

In other news, I had yet another successful Patron vase experience. Yay!

2 Month Countdown

Today marks our 2 month countdown to the wedding. Unfortunately, I can't think of much I've accomplished since the 3 month mark! (Besides moving into a new home, of course.) Oh well. Top wedding planning priorities for the month will include:

• Invitations: The invitations are almost done. Mom, Jordan and I accomplished the bulk of the work last weekend, but I still had some finishing touches left. I'm feverishly printing, cutting, and gluing as we speak, so they should go out by mid-week. We hope to have a good idea of attendance by the end of the month.
• Website: Update it! And maybe do some registering. I'm ready to get my hands on one of those guns in a Crate & Barrel, now that we have a new place to furnish!
• Attire: Get dress altered. Get suit altered. Find some underwear. Pick out clothes for the groomsmen. Figure out what my dad is going to wear. Buy a veil!!!
• Hair/Makeup: Do a practice run with salon in San Luis Obispo.
• Party like Rockstars: Bachelor, Pre-Bachelorette, and Bachelorette goodness will all be going down during the month of June.
• Music: We still don't have music...but we're working on it, so cross your fingers!
• Rentals: Settle rental list/pricing with caterer.
• Flowers: Speak with florists to finalize bridal bouquet.
• Marriage License: Hilariously, this is an item I continue to overlook completely!
• Wedding Band: I already have one that complements my engagement ring, but we need to find one for Raf.

I'm sure there's more, but that's all my brain can handle for now. Wish me luck!