Christmas Bliss.

This. Is. Bliss.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Just You n' Me

So this weather sorta blows. The first day of overcast, rainy weather was a nice change---but after day 2...3...my S.A.D. starts kicking in. On a brighter note, we finally got our "Just You n' Me" carpet in! It's like a WHOLE, NEW HOUSE. I kid you not. I've been gleaming this whole week after having it installed, and I even told Daniel I thought it was one of the most apparent changes in our remodel project. The carpet is so clean, sterile, and it makes our house smell like a new home! (Seriously, though. Combined with the new paint smell, it really feels like walking into a new place. LOVE it.)

Here's a reminder of the shaggy-delic matted heap that used to exist:

*NOTE: The oak colored banisters----now...gone!

The gap of missing carpet was from our paint/new baseboards project that we just had done, as an fyi. Our carpet was janky..but we're not THAT ghetto. hahaha

AHHHHH. So heeby and cringeworthy. AHH!!!!


Thank goodness for Michael's Carpets in Huntington Beach who came out the same day of my inquiry to measure and get the ball rolling. They had EXACTLY what I wanted, and I typically get more than one quote on things like this...but they were so easy and awesome to work with that I didn't feel like I had to. In fact, one of my friends/clients had just used Michael's Carpets, so they came highly recommended beforehand.

And here she is---our new carpet with our black handrails and spindles. (Yay, best huband #ftw for letting me decide!!) Yum.

Oh my yum, yum, yum, yum, yum. You know you're officially old when you get excited about CARPET. 

And side by side for even more dramatic effect: 

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

Crazy what some paint and carpet will do to a place, huh? I couldn't be happier with our choices so far. Speaking of new updates---I got my hurrr did! I'm not a big selfie taker, but my haircut turned out so great at my last appointment I had to share:

All it took were some layers! (Perfectly timed for my 10 year high school reunion next week...omg. Where has the time gone?) 

Last on our list of accomplishments in our little abode: 

1. Exchange our 80's windows with newer vinyl windows (maybe even triple paned since John Wayne Airport is just a hop, skip away!) 

2. Clean up our guest bedroom so we can have people over without embarrassing ourselves 

3. Paint the 2nd bathroom upstairs and refinish the tub

4. Decorate our master bedroom. (We haven't hung a single frame, decor...NADA since we've moved in.) 

I get to enjoy my first weekend without work this weekend with the husby and friends. (First in a long time!) Have a great weekend and be safe, y'all.

Backyard Finale!

The hubby and I just got home from our Thailand getaway yesterday, and we've gotten right back into the groove of things. We tried to post pictures of the finished backyard, but we were too excited to get going with our trip--we waited until now.

But really quick---I had to post these two photos of Daniel and me in Thailand feeding baby tigers. (Well, the park claimed they were babies--but they were pretty massive. Either way, so cute!) 

DAWWWWW. So, so, so adorable--the both of them. :)

OM NOM NOM NOM

Meow!

Anyway, back to the yard! After getting rid of a bunch of trees and bushes, we tried to create a low maintenance yard with succulents and an open entertaining area for the small space. The landscaping company we ended up going with after four different quotes did an AMAZING job, and we seriously couldn't be happier. (Especially for Daniel who has been waiting to have his own built in bbq--pretty much his entire life.) We also hung up globe cafe lights, but I have yet to take night photos of them. Actually, the yard looks totally different at night, so I'll definitely have to take some photos of it soon. Anyway, without further ado, here are some before and after photos of our  yard work. Hip, Hip, Hooray!

Before:

Overgrown bushes, dead grass, old flagstone, a falling lemon tree...the ickyness goes on and on.

Exposed ACU...

You can see just how crazy the lemon tree on the right is leaning into the yard.

The concrete was raised from the tree roots which we eventually got rid of the cement and chopped down the tree legs to stop growing into this area.

The front of our home had this exposed area underneath the stairwell. It kind of made no sense and was pretty hideous. 

Our mini front planter had horribly ugly plants, so we got rid of those, too.

and AFTER:

A mix of succulents covered in decomposed granite. (They're still baby succulents, so once they're grown, it should hopefully look nice and lush!)

The built in planter for us to plant our little vegetable garden with its own drip system!

New concrete that's still "curing", and to the left, the landscapers built a new wooden fence so McCrae could have a longer dog run on the side of the yard.

The fireplace/patio set that have been sitting in boxes since we've been married. We FINALLY get to use them!

Daniel finally got his built in BBQ and outdoor fridge. Oh, and see that little thing to the right of the mini fridge under the countertop? It's a bottle opener. Yup, that was entirely my idea. I'm a GENIUS! haha

Little bronze light fixtures surround the yard.

The front of our little tree house doesn't look half bad now!

Oh, hey Mickey!

We enclosed the gaping space next to the front door, restucco-ed and painted!

With our heirloom tomatoes, Thai basil, mint, and strawberry plants planted!

Our ACU now has plants surrounding it to hide it a bit. Once they're mature and overgrown, hopefully it'll be completely camouflaged.

Breaking in the outdoor fireplace with some vino and BBQ!  

That basically sums up our backyard remodel. Gone are the days where McCrae has to hang out on dry,
diseased dirt:

Aww, poor little fella! The saddest, yet best visual description of what our yard USED to look like!!!

We'll hopefully have some photos up soon of the little cafe lights (I may even snap a few tonight since its an outdoorsy fireplace type-o-night.) 

Oh, and our new carpet comes in tomorrow!! The upstairs is just about done being painted (still have the 3rd bathroom to remodel/paint), and all of the rooms have new colors in, so once that's all completed---I'll get to show y'all. Besides, it's way more fun seeing the before and after right away instead of all the step by steps (says Daniel).

Have a goodnight, errrrrbody!

Happy November!

Happy November, y'all!

Is it too early to start playing Christmas music? Oops.

I have it on super blast at the house on all our Sonos players. ;)
The contractors working here are probably about ready to keeeeel me. 

We had some friends over last night for a little Hallows Eve shindig.

My spoooooooky, bloody chocolate cupcakes!

Daniel's homemade, delicious pumpkin chili. 

Christy's mummy weenies that were gone in a hot second.

Evett made my wasabi costume lat minute since I didn't plan on dressing up much. We were the two saucy Asian chicks. #sriracha FTW.

Some of my cutie patootie lady friends. (I totally would've put more of that green shenanigans in my hair, except Evett's spray bottle ran out after I junked up the top of my head already. Haha! Oh wells!) 

With my crazy little sister mermaid

I bought a whole bag of gummy candies anticipating trick or treaters and even mixed it up with a bag of M&Ms, but...none came. Zip. Nada. Not a single soul. <Insert wail here>

What the heesh! Seriously. I told Daniel by the time we have kids someday, we'd better be on a more family-friendly street. Our friends who came over said they came, because they ran out of candy at their own houses.

Shucks. On a brighter note, at least we'll have endless amounts of sugar to take with us to Thailand!! Woo Woo!!! 

Daniel, husband of the year, agreed to let us stay at the Anatara Villas in Phuket. 

The villa comes with our own private pool. A PRIVATE POOL!!!!! Oh em gee. 

This honeymoon #2 totally makes up for honeymoon #1 where I got major food poisoning. Totes. 

Our backyard is nearly complete. Daniel and I keep going outside to walk along the new concrete just because we can now. It's SO AWESOME!! Even Mickey lucked out and got an extended dog run. (They built a whole new matching wood gate along the side of the house so McCrae's not trapped to just his little potty area.) The landscapers are here today putting in the plants and doing some finishing touches. So, unfortunately for you--no pictures until it's entirely done---which stay tuned, should be done by tomorrow. WOO! WOO! 

Our other main guy that we've hired pretty much this whole summer to fine tune the house is finishing painting all the rooms in the Dunn Edwards "Shady" color, sanding/priming our stair banisters and spindles, putting in new baseboards, and soon enough, we'll have an entirely new 2nd floor, too. I could seriously retire here. It's not the largest place in the world, but it's cozy and gosh dangit rad! I was telling Daniel that the house is turning out to be way beyond what I had ever anticipated. We both had a vision of what we would do here, and it's been such a fun experience getting to add all the touches on our own. As soon as all the paintings done, we're installing this color carpet. (See previous post on shag carpet)

 The carpet color is 'Cloudburst' and the pattern is called "Just You 'n' Me" by Shaw. It's very similar to the one we originally wanted (Winterthur by Martha Stewart)---in fact, I think it might even be the exact same without the "Martha Stewart" branding. (I read somewhere the Winterthur carpet is distributed by Shaw, so I wouldn't be surprised if they just renamed it.) Here's the one we ordered:

Hopefully we can have it installed before we leave for Thailand!

Oh, I also found this cute, burlap runner at my church of all places. Apparently Mariners Church has a little cafe/store that sells AWESOME home goods. Love, love, love. 

 Well, la de da I go. Time to relax with my beermosa since it's Friday and I feel like it. Ciao from my old stairwell. Next time, you'll get to see the full makeover!