And summer begins!

This month is our 5 year anniversary and Chris' parents gave us our gift this week.  A brand new barbecue grill!! The funny story is kind of a long story, but truthfully, they got the brand new one for themselves.  They moved into a different house a little over a year ago and their back deck is a lot smaller then they were used to. So they planned on buying a new smaller grill for themselves to use in the smaller space, and give us their old one.  But alas, the new one arrived and its like 3 inches bigger than the one they already had. Of course!  But its good for us cuz we got the new one.  

And the fun of putting together the new one! That was sarcasm by the way...

I don't have a good history with putting grills together.  My mom got my dad one when I was in my teens for their anniversary and my best friend Kelly and I tried to put it together as a surprise.  The Sears guy said it would take like 20 minutes with two people.  3 hours later we gave up, plopped the cover on it, and told Dad part of the surprise was that he had to put it together too. Poor guy. 

So I had managed to fit this box in our car and we maneuvered it back out again and got to work unpacking all the little pieces and screws.  Lots and lots of screws. 

But Chris was so excited to put ours together and grill something in our own home for the very first time. It took not quite an hour to put it together.  And that's only cuz I had a fake blonde moment and screwed a whole section together backwards.  We flipped it upright and Chris was like: "Uh, Shaina...Do you see what's wrong with this picture?" It seemed correct when it was upside down...

Picture proof: 

So we had a good laugh about that.  But all in all, we're a pretty good put-things-together team.  And we had fun.  

Then it was time to officially welcome in summer and grill up some burgers and brats.  You should see how happy this makes Chris.  He wants to grill everything now. 

I'm thinking "grill as often as possible" will be added to our Summer Manifesto.  Post all about that coming soon! 

What do you do to "welcome summer"? 

Do you have any good grilling recipes or secrets to share? 

winter adventures

so winter has arrived.  this year it did not have a graceful entrance... normally it eases its way in with a "oh hello...how are you this year?"  but not 2010!  its has arrived with a banshee scream and maniacal laughter while saying "oh this is going to be so much fun!!" 

but its not fun.  not even a little bit. 

last week chris got his garbage truck stuck in the snow...twice.  they had to call a tow truck to get him out.  he had on 17 hour day because of it.  he came home so sure his toes were frost bitten. 

and then came the best part.  the water froze out in our back house.  ever since things fell through with the purchase we have barely gone out there...we were just using it for storage and haven't really given it much thought.  but we should have... cuz the pipes back there froze and we had no hot water in the main house.  so we got right on it...turned the heat way up, but a space heater right by the pipes and it was back the next day.  but then this morning for some reason chris decided to go out there.  and its a good thing he did!!  two pipes and burst and we had water GUSHING out and all over all of our things.  we have no idea how long it had been running back there, but it is a MESS.  chris jumped under the house and was able to find the turn off to the back house water and we got it stopped (minus a persistent drip).  and since then we've been sopping up all the water with all available towels.  what a disaster. 

chris squishing the water out of the towels before we put them on a spin cycle in the washer.

the pipes that burst are under the counter on the left. 

 so its been quite a week....  unfortunately our landlord lives on the other side of the mountains and can't get over here to look at the damage or fix anything.  we shall see what happens...

but all of this madness makes me SO UNBELIEVABLY GLAD that the purchase of this place didn't go through.  we were not supposed to have this house.  and this is becoming more and more clear as it slowly falls down around us. 

we are eagerly searching for a new place to live. 
please keep us in your thoughts.

in the meantime, i can take cool pictures of the frost and snow.  there has to be some good thing that comes with winter, right?!  :)

in the works

im thinking positive and planning ahead for when we really own the house (loan documents at underwriting as we speak).  my office/studio is the room im most excited about right now.  so i've been scouring the internet for some inspiration and fun ideas to incorporate...  and can you guess my color scheme??  gray and purple. 

im loving the idea of dark gray on the walls.  *swoon*  and i already have a shower curtain i've been saving that im going to cut into panels and turn into curtains. 

i already have my perfect IKEA desk i got a couple weeks ago from friends of ours.  you should of seen how excited i was when i found it.  and for $100 and the promise of a photoshoot and a chris-cooked dinner... now that's a deal!!

i'm loving modern and simple, but with a slight kitchy flair.  and im still trying to decide if i want to keep my clock wall in my office or not...  decisions decisions.  lol. 

do you have any fun decorating links or ideas to share??  i'd love to see them and hear your thoughts about my studio makeover ideas. :)