Hawaii Bathroom Almost Done

Tah-dah!! The winter bathroom has been retired for a Hawaii theme that adds a lot more color. do you recognize the framed picture on the right? Do you like the shower curtain? I made the shower curtain hooks myself. :D

Here is what the sink area looks like so far. I have a candle snuggled in the sand along side a shell that my grandmother gave me from the New Heberdies. The beautiful sea turtle was another wedding present from my Aunt Teanna, who recently moved back to the mainland after living in Hawaii for many years. Although you can't seem them in these pictures, the bath mats are a sand color (aren't I creative). I've just ordered some "bright mango" and "exotic pink" hand towels and wash clothes that will go in this bathroom as well. I hope they get here by Friday because we are having guests staying over. :)

House Projects

Our house projects are coming along quite nicely. On Sunday we bought the remaining materials we needed to finish off remodeling the front porch, plus three light fixtures. On Monday, Marshall finished staining the rest of the porch in the 100+ heat. I don't know how he does it. The next step is to cut the railing boards to length. Afterwards we will stain them and put the black balisters in. It shouldn't take long after that to have everything complete. :D

With Marshall's guidance, I installed a light fixture in our living room, the one above the coat closet. I had been pining for this beautiful piece for months now, and it looks great. Marshall took down the halogen lights in the kitchen and replaced them with two branch-looking fixtures that have moveable arms and rotating lights. The kitchen looks so much more cozy with the warm yellow light instead of the ghostly-pale light from before.

We are still continuing with the other indoor project of solar filming the windows on the west and south sides of the house. Marshall starts his fall semester tomorrow, so I don't know of a realistic time frame when all of these will be completed, but we are close to the end--hurray!!

My Bridesmaids

Look at these amazing ladies!! Meet Katelyn, Heather, and Jenn--my bridesmaids.

Katelyn is my sister-in-law. She and my brother will celebrate their third wedding anniversary this October. They have a wonderful house in Omaha with two little dogs. Katelyn loves art, especially painting. With her husband, they do a lot of photography for fun. Both love to travel. If Katelyn were a Disney princess, I think she would be Jasmine because to me she has a thirst for adventure.

Jenn is Marshall's cousin (but mine now too), the daughter of his father's sister. She lives here in Texas, and she comes to visit us once every three months or so. I do my best to cook the most delicious meals possibe when she's here. Whenever Jenn and I plan for her to come up, I tell Marshall and he shouts, "Hurray!!" He knows I will take up most of her time with us being girls, but he loves all the cooking I do. If Jenn was a Disney princess, she'd definitely be Ariel. No, not because of the hair; she loves the water. Jenn's a great scuba diver and has a huge fascination with underwater photography.

Heather is my best friend. We met in our first Honors course our freshman year at UNF in Coastal Forts. We've been close friends ever since. She is a kindergarten teacher and loves it so much. Heather is an even bigger over-achiever than I am *gasp. She finished her degree in three years, married the love of her life, became a teacher, bought a house, and is doing her Masters degree online. Oh, and she has an adorable 70 pound puppy! I don't know where I would be without Heather in my life. She's some I cherish very much. If Heather were a Disney princess, she would be Belle because of her love for learning, but more importantly her compassionate heart.

I call this picture "Manly Zen." This is Marshall after being surprised with a table saw in July. He's currently using it with our front porch remodeling project.

Dan's Cats

We went to Jacksonville, Florida to visit friends and family who were unable to attend our wedding. We arrived late on Thursday August 12th, and left early on Monday the 16th. We stayed with Dan, who is Marshall's best friend of the Navy and was a groomsman. Dan has three cats. I'd like to introduce you to them: Stamos, Dinah and Potter.

Jessie aka Stamos

When Dan first got Stamos, a four year old Siamese, his name was Jessie. One night Dan could think of nothing else but Uncle Jessie from Full House when calling for his cat. Uncle Jessie lead to John Stamos, which has been shortened to Stamos. When we lived with Dan from Feb-May '09, our cats were best buddies with Stamos.

Dinah

Dinah (Dine-ah) is so sweet. She's half Absydian and half alley cat. Compared to her big brother Potter, she is ultra feminine. Her favorite hobby (besides napping) is playing with either a toy mouse or laser pointer.

Potter

I didn't get a good picture of Potter, but you can tell that he is much bigger than Stamos. He's a brute and loves to play. Dan's had Dinah and Potter since the end of May 2009 when they were tiny kittens. Now they are humguous!

Another vacation

Marshall and I are taking an extended weekend trip to Jacksonville, Florida, where we lived for four years before moving to Austin. It's been about 14 months since we've been here. We wanted to spend time with friends and family who were unable to come to the wedding, and hang out with our best pal Dan.

I worked 8am-12pm, came home, gave Marshall a haircut, cleaned up then packed. Our wonderful neighbor Amy gave us a ride to the airport. We flew from Austin to Memphis to Jacksonville, finally arriving at 10:30pm. We got our rental car, and finally made it to Dan's place around 11:30. He gave us a tour of his new condo, then we went to Denny's for a late night meal. After that, we went to Walmart to get some travel-sized necessities (like conditioner) and a blanket. I think we finally crashed around 2am.

Everyone is still sleeping but me and the three kitties--Stamos, Potter, and Dinah. They are definitely interested in the new blanket, hahaha.

Today's agenda is for Marshall and I go to Allen's Jewelers, who made my original engagement ring, and see if they can recreate it with the stones I had bought for my wedding ring, which the jeweler in Austin failed on. Perhaps Marshall and I will go to Mimi's Cafe and surprise my dear friend Heather Kim, who works there, by eating brunch. She's invited us over to her apartment on Saturday night for dinner.

On Saturday I'd like to meet up with my friend Johnny Rolfes from UNF. We went to Peru together two years ago. On Sunday, we are going to meet up with our Austin transplant friends Adriana and Josh Silva. We are also going to go see my grandparents, younger sister, and their neighbor Ana, who I'm very close with. I'm going to try to see my friends Pandora and John while here too!

We drove by UNF last night and starting cooing to myself about it being my osprey home. *dreamy sigh

Might have to retire the Winter Bathroom

We absolutely love this Hawaiian picture we received as a wedding gift from my Aunt Teanna. It is so beautiful, we do not know exactly where to put it. Then it came to me; maybe I should redo the winter bathroom into a tropical Hawaiian theme and use this picture as the focal point? Marshall likes the idea, so I think we're going to do it!

A Romantic Dinner for Two

I spent three hours running errands and grocery shopping on Saturday. While I was out, I thought about making Marshall a really delicious meal experiment. He loves when I experiment because he so open to new things.

We started out with an Italian caprese salad. Thick roma tomato slices with fresh mozzerella cheese finished off with an olive oil, balsamic vinagarette and seasoning drizzle.

I bought a bottle of wine. I've learned that I like Malbec wines. I picked up one from Argentina that was very good. Marshall was looking at the bottle, "Year 2007; wasn't that when we met?" Awe!

For dinner we had whole wheat rigatoni, spaghetti sauce, shrimp, peas and broccoli. The dish was dusted in parmasean cheese and garnished with two crisp bell pepper rings. We are certainly going to enjoy the left overs today!

An Osprey and a Bobcat

When we returned from Idaho, we learned that Marshall had been accepted into Texas State University in San Marcos, a growing town halfway between Austin and San Antonio. Of course we were excited! Marshall has already picked out his classes, but has to wait to register until the 17th. I hope he gets them all. There is a bus route specifically for taking TSU students who live in Austin to the university, and the pick up area is only about 7 minutes away. We will know in a couple of weeks what Marshall's fall schedule will be. :)