We're jammin'...

Since I last posted, things have been very productive in the home department. There are lists galore and that's just the way I like it (most times anyway). To-do lists, art + decor lists, and want lists - all good things gearing up to get this house together and ready for a party.

The same weekend I braved hammering an address to our house, the guest bedroom was re-trimmed and touched-up with our pretty grayish-teal paint, and the kitchen got a touch-up. Before we moved in, we painted the guest room first to see if we liked the paint brand and tinted primer. Let's just say our painting skills skyrocketed after all the practice we had in other rooms, and the guest room wasn't showcasing our best. Now it's all good with outlet plates and blinds back in place.

Other touch-ups on deck: master bedroom.
Full-on painting: dining room, half bath, guest bath, and hallways.

Our surprised Urple and diva Merry have had a lot of camera time lately. I needed some updated shots of them and some special ones for a project. They are so sweet. Right now they like to look out the back sliding door as we leave for work in the morning. We drive past and wave goodbye.


Last weekend was a big IKEA trip. We stocked up on frames, decor, more shelves, and wrote down some info for furniture we liked. After driving around here during the week and checking on prices for similar furniture, IKEA is definitely the way to go. We're going back tomorrow to pick up the stuff we want. Above is what one wall of my dining room looks like since I started unpacking and stacking to see everything.

Bookcase on another wall of the dining room.

Yet another wall. Soon I will divide and conquer by putting things in the rooms they belong, then I'll have my dining room free for painting. I still haven't decided if I want to paint it guest-room-teal or office-brown in there. Any opinions? As a sidenote, it won't be a dining room in the end. We have big plans for it that include our new toy.

Our new toy - we are new iMac owners. Dan and I have halfway converted - we still have our PCs. After persuasion from our friend Scott, months of talk, and knowing that we're going to get two of these when they're available next month, we had decided that sometime soon we'd try a mac. What we didn't know was that our visit to the Kenwood Apple store Wednesday night would result in walking out with one of these monsters. We got a huge discount on a printer with our purchase, and since I work in education we got even more discounts and a free ipod. It's 24 inches of awesome - and a learning curve.

All plugged in. This is a temporary spot. It makes our 20.1-inch widescreen monitors look like runts. What I love most - it's all included in the monitor. Four wonderful gigs of RAM, the CD/DVD drive, wireless...it's all there with ONE CORD. I'm seeing a MacBook in my future.

This remote will come in handy.

During the week while we were running around, Dan happened to notice that these beauties popped up in our yard. Who knew that the wild grass-looking plants on the corner of our house were actually...whatever kind of flowers these are.

Something I don't have a picture for:

There's a car at work with an IRIE license plate. Good news - that's very cool. I want to find out who drives that car. Bad news - that license plate is taken in my state. Boo.

Today:

• I finished laundry
• I cleaned what I could
• I touched-up the fireplace wall with brown paint
• I loved on Merry - she was following me all around today
• I tried to get Urple out of our closet all day - she was hiding from our guests
  
• Dan's playing "Two Pina Coladas" by Garth Brooks for me right now
  
• That makes me want to go have a glass, or at least a smell
  
• I want to start painting a new room, but I'm too tired
  

This week:

• Hope everyone has a great Father's Day.
• This song will still be on repeat. Love me some Michael Bublé.
• We're going to visit Scott and Mel on Monday to share our love for macs.
• I should work on our party invites for next month. I haven't figured out if it should be called a house warming or an open house (or neither). What's the difference - gifts vs. no gifts, and arrival time?
  

As stoked as I am about everything, it's time to sleep.

Happy Sunday.