Our Dining Room

Since purchasing our house in 2010, I have HATED our red dining room.  I had not painted it since there were other rooms that needed more help.  When my mother-in-law came to visit, I asked her if she would help me.  In one day, we got rid of the red and welcomed our new gray dining room.  Thank you Debbie Moore!  I love you so much!

The Before

From Katie Moore

The After

From Katie Moore

From Katie Moore

My First Bar Mitzvah!

Maxim and his parents really know how to throw a party.  I had never been to a bar mitzvah and I have been missing out.  This was at Goldbug Island right by Sullivan's Island.  It was a perfect evening with beautiful weather and a warm ocean breeze.  Great location for Maxim's big night!  He had a million dollar smile and was grinning all night.  Maxim, I hope you had a blast!

From March 29, 2012

From March 29, 2012

From March 29, 2012

From March 29, 2012

From March 29, 2012

From March 29, 2012

From March 29, 2012

From March 29, 2012

From March 29, 2012

From March 29, 2012

From March 29, 2012

From March 29, 2012

From March 29, 2012

From March 29, 2012

From March 29, 2012

From March 29, 2012

From March 29, 2012

From March 29, 2012

From March 29, 2012

From March 29, 2012

Always a project

We are always working on something around our house.  This weekend, we decided it was time to move our light fixture in our dining room.  The builder decided to center the light to the arch rather than the room.  It looked fine until we put our 8 foot dining room table in.  It drove us crazy that the light was not centered above the table.  Here is what it looked like before the move:

From 2011-2012

Here is Russell moving it.  I will have to put a picture up once we paint over the patch.  This project was not hard since we had attic space above the light.  Thanks hubs!

From March 17, 2012

From March 17, 2012

Maddie turns 1

Maddie is now one years old.  Hard to believe how quickly the time is going.


Here is the day we got her:

From 2011

This picture still makes my heart melt.  She was so tiny!

And here she is now:

From March 17, 2012

From March 17, 2012

From March 17, 2012

From March 17, 2012

From March 17, 2012

The last two are some of her tricks.  TA-DA!  She is "sitting pretty" and then "standing up".  She will do anything for a treat :)

How to clean your grout

I am embarrassed to even show the before pictures, but I spent hours researching, hours cleaning, and then hours cleaning up from the cleaning product.  More on that later.  I have to tell you how this all began.  When Russell and I bought our house, we saw things we did not like and thought, "We can change that".  Our biggest dislike in the entire home was the kitchen.  The tiles were so light, the grout showed dirt so easily, and the cabinets are....not our taste.  After living in the house for 2 years, we realized the kitchen is staying for now.  It is expensive to renovate, so we decided a good wipe down would be best.
I decided one day that I COULD NOT look at our nasty grout any longer.  I began to research on the DIY blogs about what worked.  This lead me to the Clorox Pen.  This little pen works GREAT.  Seriously.  But at about 3 dollars a pen, it was going to cost me about 50 dollars to do our kitchen and bathrooms.  I then found out about Oxyclean.  You know... from those really cheesy commercials.
 
  I read that this stuff really works.  So, for 8 dollars, I bought the biggest one I could find.  The pen worked great, but this stuff was working miracles.  I spent 2 days cleaning the grout.  The reason it was taking so long was I had mixed the solution into about 4 times the recommended strength.  Oops. 
Well, it worked, but the whole house had white footprints everywhere from where I would mop and then spread the cleaner.  It has been about 2 weeks and I still see a few spots that I need to mop again.  I will let the before and after pictures speak for themselves.  Do not judge me.  We are clean people, but come on....how often do you clean your grout?????  

The before:

From March 17, 2012

The After:
 

From March 17, 2012

Long story short...Oxyclean works.  Billy Mays knew what he was talking about.

The ugliest secretary I ever saw

Russell and I had been looking for a piece of furniture to store our laptop in for months.  I kept finding great make-overs of antique secretaries, but they can be expensive.  This secretary dresser was found on Craigslist (duh!).  The woman was practically giving it away for 20 dollars.  The hardware was in descent shape, the drawer runs were not, but overall...I saw the potential.  Unfortunately, the wood is not perfect, but that is what you get with a 20 dollar antique.  I painted the inside of the drawers a seafoam green and loved it.  The gray paint is left over from another project and I found the green paint at Lowes for 5 dollars on their mistint table.  Score!  Overall, this project was about 30 dollars. 

Here is the before:

From March 17, 2012

Here is the after: 

From March 17, 2012

Moss Monogram

This project is best friend approved (thank you Jessy), but not husband approved (he hates it).  I love it, so it stays! 
I used a jig saw to cut this letter.  Not as easy as I thought.  I would recommend purchasing a pre-cut letter at a Hobby Lobby.  This whole project costs me about 5 dollars.

From 2011-2012

From 2011-2012

From March 17, 2012

What do you think?

Elliot

Our friends Danielle and Aren swung in town and we finally met their handsome son, Elliot.  I did their maternity shoot here.  
Well...here he is

From 2011-2012

From 2011-2012

From 2011-2012

From 2011-2012

Maddie was very intrigued by Elliot.   

From 2011-2012

From 2011-2012

Can't wait until we have our own baby :)

She looks innocent, right?

My sweet puppy is about to turn one years old.  I CAN NOT believe it.  On my way to work the other day, the radio DJ was talking about dogs destroying things.  They were describing in detail horrible things their dogs had ruined.  In that moment, I felt so grateful.  Maddie stays out in the house all day.  She has destroyed a rug.  I was upset, but moved on.


She looks innocent....

From 2011-2012

THAT SAME DAY, I CAME HOME TO THIS....

From 2011-2012

and this....

From 2011-2012

I had no idea what she had gotten a hold of.  Turns out, it was a pillow from our BRAND NEW couch.  As mad as I was, I still love her.

Potato Soup...My new favorite!

This recipe comes from http://pearls-handcuffs-happyhour.blogspot.com/2011/03/outback-aint-got-nothin-on-me.html.


I made this a few weeks ago and we have already had it 3 times.  It is a great dinner, but easy left-overs for lunch too.  

EASY CROCKPOT POTATO SOUP

1 30oz. bag of frozen, shredded hash browns {I used Ore Ida}

3 14oz. cans of chicken broth

1 can of cream of chicken soup

1/2 cup onion, chopped

1/4 tsp. ground pepper

1 pkg. cream cheese {don’t use fat free.  It WON’T melt!!!}

 Mix all of the ingredients in your crockpot, except the cream cheese.  Put it on for 6 to 8 hours on low and a half-hour before you want to eat, add the cream cheese.  We top ours with green onions and bacon.  NOM NOM!

From 2011-2012