Extra Brownie Points For Mr. B

(I am having an issue with blogger tonight, please ignore the fact that all my photos are at the top and not mixed in the text like normal)

I may start to sound like a broken record soon, but boy, oh boy, this past weekend has been BUSY!! Friday night Special ManFriend Mark had a double-header on the north end of town. I quickly swung by the house pretty barely slowing down and throwing open the car door for Murphy to jump in orderto make it uptown for his second game. The bad news is that the other team didn’t show up and I drove all that way for nothing, the good news is that we went out to get a pasta dinner in order to help me ‘carb-up’ for the following morning.

The bell clock tower sound of my alarm clock jolted me awake at 4:15am on Saturday getting me out the door in time to cross something off my 30 before 30 list… I RAN A HALF MARATHON!!! Holey Moses, it still is shocking to me today! I had planned on catching the bus to get to the race that morning, but quickly realized that when I checked the schedule the night before, I was looking at the 4:30PM route! Oh man, what a walk of shame into the bedroom to wake up Mark and ask for a ride. Weekend brownie point numero uno for SMF.

Brownie point number two came not too long after, as I came jogging around the corner somewhere between mile 5 & 6 and there he and Murph Dog stood cheering me on …again at mile 11 again at the finish line… love. Below are a couple pics the photographers took during the race, you will notice I have the phone to my ear, I was trying to have my parents there with me as I crossed the finish line (they really wanted to be there in person, but had a prior commitment).

After the race SMF and I went back to the house and I quickly showered and found myself in bed for about an hour. While I slept, he got to work! Remember the project he and TJ did on the trellis a couple weeks ago? The story keeps getting better. We have been dreaming of exactly how to finish this space for quite some time now, and I think we are well on our way! Mark dug out the sand, laid slate, filled the gaps with healthy soil and seeded the entire trellis area in one afternoon.Brownie point number three. I cannot wait to see how it looks when the grass grows in!

On Sunday we got up early to finish up on our projects including tearing out the garden box ( a decision I really struggled with, but ultimately came to as I couldn’t keep up on the weeds like I wanted) and prepping the back of our house for a new garden space (one with much less maintenance). We also decided that since we had borrowed a friend’s truck, we should do a quick dump run… who knew that 2 loads of lumber, garden box posts and leftover kitchen remodel supplies could cost so much to throw away. $120 later, we were garbage free (well, except that backer board I forgot about in the shed, sorry Mr. B).

We are pretty excited to get the grass back in shape a new tree planted in place of the garden and a new look for our backyard. If you have any ideas you think would work well for this new garden space of ours, leave a comment below!

Bueller?.....Bueller???

Ok, it is true, I have been MIA for a few days. It is not that I haven't been thinking about blogging, things have just seemed extra crazy recently. I am learning to balance life with writing about life and I promise to get better. Here is what you have missed while I was living and not writing... Our little Murphy Boy is no longer a puppy. Last week he officially turned 2! I cannot believe how big he is, I still remember bringing him home weighing right around 20lbs; half of that being extra skin waiting to be grown into. He recently weighed in at a whopping 61 lbs! I don't want to be lame about this, but it makes me a little sad. We celebrated his big day with his version of Disneyland; doggy-daycare. I checked in on him many times via webcam and could see he was having a great time with all his friends. After work/daycare, he and I drove out to the eastside to watch SMF Mark play softball. By the time we got home (8pm or so) Murph Dog was so tired he could barely stand up to eat his dinner. A good day indeed. Murph and I when he was 4 months old (above) and him today (below) This past weekend we had Mark's good friend from GU, Kara (great name I know) in town. She is such a character, we knew she would be up for pretty much anything that involved fun. We started the weekend eating a feast of seafood the way it is meant to be eaten; with melted butter, potatoes and LOTS of corn (my favorite!). Check out my hot Special ManFriend(below)...delish! Saturday happened to be the Solstice Parade in Freemont, here are some of the sights... Nope, those are not costumes, that is body paint! All of a sudden hundreds of people started running out of the crowd and lining up on the street--- Then we saw this being rolled our way!! This are from the 'Art Car' exhibit... I saw more strange things on Saturday than I have in a long time, maybe ever. But walking away we decided that in this age of all digital, all the time, it was really refreshing to see true creativity in other mediums. That is our life this past week in a nutshell...Talk to you soon!

Amazing Find!

This is not my most exciting post of all time, but I believe in celebrating great products that actually do what they are suppose to... A couple years ago, I was at a garage sale with my mom and found this little beauty.... I know, not much to look at in that state, but I finally decided to see if I could clean it up last week. SMF Mark and I stopped by Crate and Barrel and the girl working sold us on MAAS Metal Polish assuring me that it would work. I should say so! Look at the results! It took a little elbow grease, but far easier than I ever thought it would be. Apparently, I was so excited with the results, that I forgot to take a final wide shot, and will have to update later.

Weekend -Schmeekend

Whew, here comes the week! SMF (Special ManFriend) and I were so productive these past couple days... Saturday morning I was up bright and early to head out to M&D's house and work on wedding centerpieces, etc for my sister's October wedding. The day filled with lots of fun lady gab, a delish lunch and plenty of hot gluing. Meanwhile, SMF was at home working on projects of his own. I was so excited to come home to our beautiful finished trellis! Yay! For some unknown reason, the previous owner had built the base of the structure, but never finished the top cross beams...For some other unknown reason, it has taken us a year to fix it! Thanks to our good friend TJ for helping out! To celebrate the beautiful new backyard addition, we decided a little grilling was in order, yum! Sunday was filled with a couple backyard chores and a trip to Murphy's equivalent to Disneyland; Marymore Dog Park!! Also, to celebrate the sun FINALLY making a comeback, we set up our hammock, a sign that summer is here to stay. Below is a pic of SMF and Murph-Dog testing it out :) .

I Love It!

The past couple weeks we have seen plenty of rainy days here in Seattle, but for some reason, it hasn't bothered me much. Here are a few of my favorite things from the recent past...

• SMF (Special ManFriend) and I found the most amazing smelling candle on Bainbridge Island (one of our favorite date spots) a couple weeks ago. I have cut back on self-gifting lately, but found this on the 50% table, and I absolutely loved the fresh floral smell and knew I would not regret this purchase. I was right! If you are looking for a graduation or hostess gift to keep on hand, this is perfect. Delish. Oh, and did I mention they are local? Even better! http://petalcandles.com/

• Rainy work days, followed by perfectly sunny evenings to spend with SMF and Murph-Dog (this is a photo of him leading the way to the park, note the frisbee in ready position)

• The final bloom left from our spring color...Does anyone know what kind of flower this is?

• The funky, fun hotel I stayed in last week while traveling for work. The Modern is the kind of place that makes you think you are that hipster that can pull off black skinny jeans, a flannel shirt and red Keds. It is the place that throws the unsuspecting yard gnome holding a record player in the women's restroom just off the bar. Who doesn't like to piddle while grooving to 'Dancing Queen'? Also, this place was a bargain, somewhere around $100 a night. SCORE!! Can't wait to go back.

Friend Friday

One of the reasons I wanted to start blogging was to celebrate all the beautiful, fun and exciting people and things in my life. So this brings me to our first edition of Friend Friday. Enjoy… This week I want to tell you about my first friend. My friend that has taught me the most about myself. My friend that has stuck by me through all my ups and downs, crazy ideas and annoying habits. My friend, My Sister.

Don’t get me wrong, we have not always been bestie-bestie (I am not proud of our high school volleyball fights), but these days, she is my go to girl for advice, fun ideas and any party planning supplies (seriously, the girl has everything).

Things I love about Lacy:

• She is incredibly loyal
• She works so hard on all events/jobs/relationships she has committed to. I sometimes wonder when the last time she took a breath was and get concerned about her oxygen level
• She makes the best No-Bake Cookies ( I think she got that from our Grandma Rocky)
• Even with all her commitments, she still makes time to host dinners in honor of friends, has the craziest themed parties and really is just an event extraordinaire.
• She will never tell me that something looks cute if it really isn’t (unless, of course I have already bought it)
• She has every color Sharpie, ball point pen, paper, etc you would ever dream of, all organized perfectly in her Staples-esque home office/craft room.
• She is incredibly creative.
• She is one of the best doggy mommies I know
• When she really gets going, her laugh becomes silent and only her body shakes and there is nothing that can stop me from joining in with her.

I love to laugh with my Sister. I love to talk to my Sister. I love to spend time with my Sister. I love my Sister.

The House

As most of you know, this has been a major project for the Special Man-Friend (SMF) and I. Just a little more than a year ago we found a beautiful 3 bed, 2 bath townhouse in West Seattle. We decided that this was the one that we wanted to put an offer in on and pulled the trigger. Fast forward 12 hours to an early Saturday morning phone call from Momma Bear. Turns out she did some digging around and found there was a sex offender possibly living next door. (caution, before you click on this link, you need to decide if you really want to know who is living in your neighborhood… some people find this very disturbing)

Ouch. Well shoot. What now? We ended up pulling the offer and continued the search for the perfect place. And guess what?? We found it! It is basically the opposite of the beautiful, new construction, spacious townhouse… It is a tiny, fixer-upper, cottage of sorts.

The past year has been filled with DIY classes, dirt under my fingernails (yuck) and learning that The Home Depot is much like Costco—they don’t let you out for less than $100. On the flip-side, we have grown so much as a couple, felt the pride of ownership and meet some great new neighbors.

Before I start the photo section, I have to give the BIGGEST THANK YOU to my parents who have helped us out more in the past year than I would ever like to admit. Pretty much every project you will see on here, they has been involved in to some capacity. SMF’s parents also deserve a GIGANTIC THANK YOU for spending a good portion of their vacation out here (they are from MN) teaching us how to lay tile!! Yay, we are blessed with the most amazing families!

Below are a couple shots of the house (some before, some during, nothing is really to 'after' yet)…