Catching Up....

So, I have some catching up to do. The last week has been an unexpected sad one. Evan and I had planned to go to Mobile last weekend to get some final wedding things squared away, so we left after Evan got off work on Thursday and drove town to Mobile. Sadly, within 10 minutes of walking in my parents house, I was notified that one of my closest friends, Brandon's dad suffered a massive heart attack and was not in good shape. Brandon and I go all the way back to middle school, we graduated high school together, were roommates freshman year in Tucson, sorority sisters, roommates in Scottsdale after college, and now both live in Atlanta. To say we go way back is an understatement. Dr Ben passed away late Saturday night, so I stayed in Mobile for several more days, while Evan went back to Atlanta, and then back to Mobile again for the memorial service at St Paul's on Wednesday. Dr Ben was such a fun, funny, easy going guy, and will be so VERY missed!!! My heart goes out to Brandon and her mom Mrs Marianne - we spent the afternoon just talking and telling stories on Sunday and it was great to be with them. We got our wedding license on Wednesday afternoon before heading back to atlanta (wohoooo, we are cleared to get married!!!). After hearing about all the bad weather in the northern half of the state of Alabama, we started to feel like the "storm chasers" you see on TV that run and chase after each storm and tornado, except we were quite the opposite, hoping and praying to make it home to Atlanta and in our home before the weather arrived. Sadly we learned of the horrible tornados in Tuscaloosa on the way up, then the fear rose. Luckily we left Mobile right when we did, as we later found out a tornado touched down at exit 13 on I85, only about an hour after we had passed through. I feel so incredibly lucky that we got to our house and in safe shelter in time. Due to the unknown severity of storms with all the tornado warnings in atlanta, we decided the safest place we had was our basement at the house, so we set up shop, and took pillows and blankets and laid on the floor and watched movies, because all we had was a small tv and dvd player, as we have no internet. At about 2am we headed back to the apartment to get some sleep! Tomorrow I am heading to Macon for Dr Ben's funeral / burial and then back to Atlanta tomorrow afternoon for a weekend filled with PACKING!!!!!

The movers will be here in less than a week ... AHHH to move us into our HOME!!!! The house is so close to done -- tomorrow they will be putting a final coat of stain on the floors, and then let it dry, and project complete!!!

In the below pictures you can see all the updates we came home to last night!

new cooktop installed, and backsplash!

new oven, microwave, and dishwasher installed!

House updates while we were gone...

Yesterday afternoon we got back from Phoenix and went straight to the house. There were so many fun updates!!!! The floors are finally stained (and look wonderful!!!!), the countertops are on and look fabulous, and the wrong sink is in the kitchen.... oops! The contractor actually had called me and realized the mistake himself, but wanted to make sure we still wanted a single bowl sink (which we do, and feel very strongly about) so they will be "resolving" that issue. Everything else looks wonderful though. No carpet or sign of carpet yet, lots of paint to be touched up, and the tile backsplash needs to be put in, and then we will be so close to finished!! SO EXCITING!!! Here are a few pictures from today's visit....

The current sink, and best pictures of the countertop we got - they still have plastic over it, so its still hard to see!

The countertop and almost finished "buffet" counter in kitchen

the new ISLAND --- I just am not sure how they are going to get it in the kitchen now, as it is too big to fit through the door as is :)

The newly stained floors!

Passover in Arizona

On Sunday Evan, Dick, and Arnie flew back to Phoenix, and we all stayed for a few more days in Arizona to have Passover together! Originally Evan and I were planning on staying, and with Betti's birthday on Saturday, Julie decided to also come out with the girls, and we are so happy they did!! On Sunday I went with Ginnifer to drop a few friends off at the airport to go home form the Bachelorette Party, and G took me further north, where Julie then picked me up to get me to Dick and Betti's. Sunday was fun to hang around the house with the girls until "the boys" as Maggie kept calling them got back, and start to feel human again, after a fun weekend with very little sleep and a few adult beverages! Sunday night we all went up to the club for dinner, and Monday we got to spend more time together and playing before getting ready for and having Seder. Evan and I had so much fun getting so spend so much downtime with Julie, Arnie, Maggie, Gracie, Betti, and Dick. It was fun to not really have anywhere to be and just hang low and spend time together. It seems as of lately its always go, go, go, so it was fun to get some leisure time together. I absolutely love getting to spend time with Miss Maggie, she is at such a fun age, that the talking and playing never stop! :)

It always puts a smile on my face if I am in a different room and from across the house can hear Maggie calling "aaaaaaaaaaaunt amyyyyyyyyyyy". love that girl! Monday we went to lunch, Arnie and Evan spent some quality time with Gracie making heads turn at Scottsdale Quarter, and then we had a fabulous Seder at Dick and Betti's house! Maggie is still wondering why Elijah knocked on the door, and quite honestly, I don't blame her for wondering! I didn't take many pictures this weekend, but do have a few from Maggie and my play time!

Maggie was seriously into her dessert after the Seder, she would have had everyone's chocolate covered marshmellows if we let her...

Aunt Amy, stop taking my picture, the "movie' is about to start.... yes, we made a "movie theatre" in the half bath...

And this is what happens when Maggie comes upstairs to help me finish packing this morning, and tells me she really wants to take a pictures before we pack my camera...

Bachelorette Weekend!!

Bachelorette / Bachelor weekend was a huge success. Well let's be honest, I don't really know if Bachelor weekend was a huge success because I wasn't there, but I got my fiance back in one piece (hardly) and by Monday morning he was back to feeling normal again. (like i have room to talk). Me and the girls headed to OldTown Scottsdale for a weekend of fun, sun, drinks, and friendship!! I am so so so so so lucky to have so many amazing friends in my life, and this weekend was a true testimony to that!!! I can't wait to see my closest friends again in a few weeks at the wedding!!! I can't believe how soon it is. Evan made it back with only a gross looking swollen thumb .... who leaves Vegas with a THUMB injury??!! He was so excited to get to Vegas on Friday, he left his carry on suitcase full of all his clothes at the security line and then proceeded to take the train to his terminal and not realize he had forgotten his own suitcase until he got to the terminal his flight was taking off from. While i was beyond excited for a fun weekend with the girls, I made sure to keep up with all of my belongings in the airport! :) Here are a few pictures from the weekend with the girls..... many memories made, it went by so fast!!

Sneak Peak...

This evening we went to dinner with Cousin Eileen and Billy, and decided to take them by the house for a sneak peak after dinner! We were told not to come back in the house until Saturday, but our curiosity gor the best of us, and we went by there on the way to dinner and decided there was not a whole lot going on that we couldn't be around. The smell was not overbearing from the work today (staining the cabinets) so we decided to take them by after dinner! It's fun people get to see the house in this stage, because although we have gone so far, we still are not done, and it still will look completely different once we are done! We snapped a few pictures of the stained cabinets. The pictures do not do them a bit of justice though, they look absolutely WONDERFUL in person!!!

all the cabinets and drawers....

Last House Update for a few days .... or so they think!

This morning I met with the contractor and his "designer" wife. We are clearly not friends, but its ok if they think we are for a few more weeks. After much "debate" back and forth between me and them, I won (and Evan won too, but he was at work) and they are going to be remaking our island. I didn't put a picture up that did the island justice yesterday, because I was hoping it would grow on me, but I was wrong, it definitely was PUNY compared to rest of kitchen. I have to believe they do agree with me or they would not have caved and agreed to make us a larger island!! So, below in today's pictures you will not see an island, as they have removed it and will be taking it back and starting over to give us EXACTLY what we wanted in the kitchen! I couldn't be happier!! They asked us today to also stay out of the house until Saturday, which in fact meants my parents may see our stained cabinets and floors before I do - unfair!! They will be up here on Saturday, and Evan and I will be out of town, so they will sneak in and see the house, and keep me guessing (but hopefully send me a picture, hint hint ). Evan says we will be sneaking in to at least take a peak at the room. Their reasoning is they don't want us to get too HIGH off the fumes of the wood stain, but I have to believe if we peak in from the basement we may be just fine! :) We will see. For now, I leave you with the following pictures of our almost finished kitchen, minus the new island that is on it's way! :)

In wedding news, I went to a dress fitting today, and it is well on it's way to my size! :) She is also working on a dress for me for the rehearsal dinner, and I am so excited!!! So much fun stuff going on!!!

Now i can show you how puny the island really was, since we wont have to deal with it!

Today's work included putting all the cabinet faces on, they look great!!!!

Nebraska and some house updates!!

This weekend we were in Norfolk for a couple's shower for us hosted by two of Evan's close family friends!! It was an absolute blast!!! We flew into Omaha on Friday afternoon and my parents met us in Atlanta and flew in with us. The plan was to wait about an hour for my brother and then drive to Norfolk for the weekend. Unfortunately my brother was super delayed and had a nightmare of traveling, so we hit the road. We were lucky to have Julie and baby Gracie meet us for lunch in Omaha so we could see Gracie for the first time as soon as possible!! After stopping to see Gracie and Julie, we hit the road, and were on the road to Norfolk. We had a nice dinner at Dick and Betti's house with family, and got to spend some time with Cooper and Ella who we had not seen for quite some time!! It is so fun to see them grow and change each visit! My brother got in late Friday night after his long day of travel, and we all called it a night. Saturday we went to breakfast, and then took a tour of NIM, followed by spending time with many members of Evan's extended family, aunts, uncles, cousins, and Grandma Lea and Papa! It was so much fun for my parents and brother to get to see and meet everyone before the wedding! The shower was Saturday night, so we headed over to Jim and Kris' house for a fun night of delicious food, fabulous drinks, and wonderful company! We didn't realize what a scene the shower would soon become, as Norfolk then experienced a hail storm, with record size hail. I cant even explain how unreal it was! Cars, homes, skylights, roofs, and poor Maggie's slide were all damaged, it was unreal! The shower was still a blast minus the hail storm, and it was so much fun to be surrounded by such great family and friends!! We are so very lucky!!

Sunday we had brunch at Julie and Arnie's house and eventually the family started to leave and head home. Evan and I spent the whole day at Arnie and Julie's and got some great fun time with Maggie and Gracie Tate!! Maggie showed me her fabulous flower throwing skills and I fed Gracie two bottles throughout the afternoon and got some good snuggle time on the couch with her! Maggie and i danced around in her tutus (yes, even I did), played outside in the playhouse and got some quality play time in before we went to dinner Sunday night before heading back to Atlanta today!!! It was a busy, family fun weekend!

Me getting some post bottle, snuggle time with Miss Gracie

Minus the quality of the cell phone picture, it doesnt get much sweeter than this sisterly love, Maggie just walked up and gave Gracie this sweet kiss while we were sitting there playing!

We got back into Atlanta around dinner time tonight, and went straight to the house to see the new work!! All of the cabinet frames are in and for the most part look great!!! There are a few little things I am going to talk to them about tomorrow (wish me luck) and also pick out the carpet tomorrow with the contractor!! It is getting so close!! The new light is in the candelier and it looks wonderful and a world of difference!! This week I will start packing up the apartment so it doesn't all hit me at the same time, and then Friday, I head to Scottsdale for my bachelorette party, followed by Passover!!! Busy, Busy, Busy!!!

Let there be paint!!

We came back from Hilton Head on Monday afternoon and went STRAIGHT to the house, no stops anywhere else first (and that says alot for all the things I have to do in this short week)!!! We were so anxious to see the house now FULLY painted with all of our new colors!! I have to say.... the colors "startled" me at first, but they most definitely grew on me over night and look GREAT!!!!! Here are a few pictures of our newly painted walls!! Also today (Tuesday) they started hanging a few new light fixtures! YAY!! Except one was hung upside down -- oops! They said they will fix it, its an easy fix, just flip the bathroom wall fixture around with the bulbs facing up! Tomorrow (for real this time, since we didnt go on Friday) I am going to pick up a few final fixtures and hopefully the foyer chandelier will come in any day now!! They told me it would be here early this week and it is still not in, and the lady hasn't called me back from me calling to check on it, so I will be arriving in her store tomorrow asking for it! :) For now, here are a few pictures of the paint and fabulous light fixture hung in the kitchen!!! It is all finally coming together!! Oh and also, since they did such a wonderful job of splatter painting our new hardwood floors over the weekend, we have decided to stick with the splatter painted look, and just have them seal the floors the way they are with the splatters of paint everywhere- it will look great!!!

Our Bathroom Walls

our ceiling in bedroom

Jack and Jill Bath

Our splatter painted floor!!! you can't see all the different colors in thepictures, but its going to be AWESOME!!!!

The upside down light --- I mean, why did they even think it went that way??

The beginnings of our beatifully perfect kitchen - I can hardly wait!!!

I'm marrying an old(er) man!! :)

For several weeks I have been planning a SUPRISE trip to Hilton Head Island for Evan's 30th Birthday!!! I originally had the idea to surprise him somewhere many months ago, but then couldn't decide where would be best. New York, Boston, New Orleans, Charleston, San Fran all crossed my mind, then I stopped and thought how hard it would be to sneak airplane tickets by him, so off to the beach it would be, I am pretty sure he checks delta.com DAILY (don't ask me why)! I had heard great things about HHI and had never been there, nor Savannah, and heard they were close in vicinity, so decided to do HHI for a long weekend! It went off without a hitch!!! The hotel was refundable, in case we ended up in Nebraska seeing sweet Gracie, but we get to see her in a few days, which we can't wait for!!! Evan kept asking what we were gonna do for his birthday, and I kept saying whatever you want, as long as we go to TGIFriday's for dinner, because he hates the birthday singing in a restaurant, and they do it most obnoxiously! So I kept asking him if he wanted to go to Friday's on his actual birthday (Sunday night) or another night that weekend and he just laughed it off, although I think he was potentially hoping for something more exciting than that for his 30th big birthday! He then told me a few days before the weekend that he wanted to do SOMETHING for his birthday, and i played along and said, "absolutely, just let me know what you want to do and i would be happy to, its supposed to be great weather" and his response was "I dont care, even if its like rake the yard or something". RAKE THE YARD OR SOMETHING?? CAN I GET THAT IN WRITING PLEASE!!! :) So we had our great weekend plans -raking the yard and dinner at Friday's - I cant think of a better way to turn 30!!! Fast forward to Wednesday, and the PM of our house project told us they were getting close to changing out a few light fixtures, etc, and we still didnt have a few of them from the local store, and needed to go pick out a ceiling fan for the bedroom and living room --- i took this advantage to tell evan I wanted his help picking out the ceiling fan, and wanted to see if there was a location of the lighting store near his office -- luckily for me, he said yes, its real close! I said great, how about I come up there on friday and we go to lunch and we can go pick out a fan! BAZINGA! The fish has bit the bait!! I then realized that in order for this to work successfully I will need to go ALL THE WAY out to his office (*practically in Egypt) so that he can tie up some loose ends as we would not be returning until mid-day Monday! I started packing us both the second he walked out the door to work that morning - taking note of what shoes he was wearing so I knew which ones to pack in addition! 1130 rolls around and Evan is "ready to eat" - well great, Im on the other end of town packing us both up and loading the car for a weekend get away, and youre ready to leave your office for lunch -- I later convince him i am "running late" when i was actually down the street. I called him from the parking lot and said "do you have anything super important on monday" - he said no, and sounded scared to death as to why i would say that - i said relax, its all good things, come downstairs im here (he wasnt expecting me at the office, he was expecting me to call when leaving home and meeting him fo rlunch elsewhere). He FLEW down the stairwell in his office building and there i was right outside the door -- he looked SO confused and lost in the world. I said we are heading to the beach let's go. We then figured out the logisitics of leaving his car, etc, and off we were to Hilton Head! It couldn't have been kept as great a secret, and worked out so well!! We have a fabulous weekend with absolutely the most perfect weather we could ask for, a beach, tons of wonderful food, and relaxing time together!! Happy happy happy happy birthday to my now 30 year old fiance -- who knew I would be marrying such an old man! :) Saturday we hung around Hilton Head, went to The Salty Dog Cafe and lighthouse, then spent some time walking on the beach and by the pool. Sunday morning we woke up and drove about 45 minutes away to Savannah and spent the day walking along the riverwalk, eating lunch, and walking aroudn down town. Its a very outdoors city, and we had the most amazing weather! We then headed back to Savannah for a little time outside before sunset, and a fabulous dinner on the water!! It was a fun weekend! Here are a few pictures from the many touristy pictures i took this weekend...

Waterfountain in the middle of the square in Savannah

The view we had while waiting to be seated for dinner on Sunday night - and yes the food was just as delicious as the view!

lighthouse on edge of Hilton Head Island