Anniversary Weekend

We spent our first anniversary weekend (yes, we get a whole weekend for our anniversary, not just a day! What did you expect from the girl who insists the whole month of July is my birthday) reminiscing about our wedding day and thinking about all the changes that have happened in our lives over the past year.  We are so blessed to have a beautiful new home, 2 new jobs, and a new car- all in the last year! 

I started off the day with roses and a sweet card from DJ. 

Then we headed to Peoria to the winery where we had a delicious lunch and some wine, followed by their newest dessert, "wine"-creme!! It is homemade ice cream made with their wine- SO GOOD!!

Then we took a little walk around the winery- retracing our steps from our wedding day!

First we stoped under the trellise where we had our first look-

Our wedding day

1 year later

We ended our trip to the winery with some shots by the vines

Our wedding day

1 year later

We also went to see a movie and shopped for a little bit- on our way home we made a pit stop in Canton to eat supper at Monicals!!

Of course, being first time homeowners- no weekend is complete without some home improvement.  I had ordered roman shades for our bedroom in the beginning of June and found out they were on backorder until the middle of July!! So we have been living with old curtains and blankets hung over our windows with thumbtacks for over a month.  I have been checking the order status on those bad boys daily, until one day they showed up on my doorstep!YAY!! So after we got back from Peoria we decided to hang them up!

And of course, it was the weekend and nothing had gone wrong yet, so we were due for a problem or two. Everything went well until I opened the LAST box and the curtain was a different color than the rest.  What did we expect, everything to go right, yeah right!!

So we made the best of it and hung up all the other ones, and I took the other one back. So we have 4 new blinds and one WIU blanket covering our windows!!

Here's the before and after-

(don't mind the cubs blanket, we know it doesn't go but it's Wrigley's bed!)

And the other side of the room-

On Sunday, our actual Anniversary, we spent the morning doing odds and ends of things on our to-do list and then spent the afternoon/evening in the pool! We grilled out for supper, made a trip to DQ and ended the fabulous weekend by watching True Blood! All in all, a pretty productive anniversary weekend!

First, we hung up some pictures that have been sitting around our house for weeks now- hanging pictures is probably one of DJ's favorite things!

The mirror in the living room

I have a console table picked out at Target to go under the mirror-

Then we moved onto the bedroom to hang up pictures in there

(This is a great shot of the new blinds and the old curtain still thumtacked to the window)

We bought these wood signs to sit on each side of the cake table at our wedding, and decided to hang them in our bedroom when we moved. 

DJ had to add hooks to the back so they would hang easier (don't you like his hammer, flowers are his favorite!!)

They look nice in our room and they are a great keepsake from the wedding!

After that we moved in the office to hang some pictures, rearrage, and organize.  It was a little bit of a mess.  Even though I had organized it once already since we moved in, it was still a bit of a catch all room.

DJ is using the office to house some of his things I won't allow in the rest of the house

We also FINALLY hung the mini blinds in the office as well-

Better, for now...

After the pictures were hung, we went on to the next thing on the list- patching holes

This hole used to house an intercom system, which I could totally see us spending hours upon hours  scaring/annoying each other, but it didn't work anymore so we took it out, which left this in my wall-

So DJ picked up this patching at Wal-Mart

and put it over the hole like this-

The next step was to cover it with mud

Yes, we do work around the house in our swimsuits! Motivation to finish so we can go swimming!!

The last step is to wait a couple days for the mud to dry, sand and then paint!! Hopefully it will be as good as new!!

Another hole

And another

While we were cleaning out the office I found a bunch of wedding pictures that I had completely forgot about!!!! They were extras we had ordered/printed during Christmas time, but we had nowhere to put them at the time.  I was SOOOO excited to put them in the new frames on our built ins

Much better than displaying the frames with the picture that came in them...

Oh yeah, and I got a new car!!!

What an amazing first year of marriage in the books for the Holmes'.... the best is yet to come!

1 year ago today...

we were at beautiful Kickapoo Creek Winery getting married!!!! Happy Anniversary to us!!!

More to come later on how we spent our first-iversary.....(see what I did there, so clever)

Evolution of a backyard

Of course, we did not pick our house because of the pool, but it was a definite plus!! We had images dancing in our heads of cookouts, pool parties, family gatherings, and friends galore! So when it came time to actually open the pool we were like kids in candy shop taking the cover off.  We knew it was going to be work (and it is!) but worth it at the same time.  Our goal for our first house was for it to become a place where our friends and family feel comfortable and enjoy being and we knew the pool would help us with that! :-)

This is what the backyard looked like the day we closed on the house. 

We had owned the house for over a month before we had a chance to open the pool, so when the day finally came we could hardly wait! Here is what it looked like after we look the cover off.. yuck!

The pool opening didn't go as smoothly as I had imaged, but it was an adventure we will never forget! Remember the leaky pipe? You can read the whole story about opening the pool here.

Then we decided to trim the pine trees which made the backyard look so much bigger! What a difference!

And here is the backyard today, BEAUTIFUL!!

Just FYI- I mowed that yard!! Lookin' good right?!

What a difference it made when we put the cover on the cabana, it really changed the look of the whole backyard, I think it looks so inviting!

Thanks to our friends who gave us the table and chairs, which will come in handy for all the pool parties we will be having this summer!!

Who wants to go for a swim?!?

A little TLC

No, I don't mean T-Boz, Left Eye, and Chilli from the 90's girl group... although I was a huge fan.

I wanted to give a little TLC to the mast bath so I made a trip to Wal Mart on Saturday morning with the intention of getting a few items (on a budget, of course) to spruce up the master bathroom a little bit.  If you don't remember what it looked like when we bought the house, here's a walk down memory lane...

Carpet, foil wallpaper, and pink!

We did do some work before we moved in- Including taking down the wallpaper and texturing/painting the walls, a new light, new mini blinds, and new flooring (read about that here). After that it looked like this...

Better, but still a little mismatched with a shower curtain from the old apartment and towels that didn't match...

So, I had an idea of what I wanted, and found all of it at Wal Mart for around $50!! Right on budget! Since we will be living with this bathroom for a few years until we have the money to re-do it, I wanted to spend a little money to make it look more put together!

Here is the overall "after' picture....

Wow! Looks so much more modern and light! I love it and it took about 30 minutes in Wal-Mart and about 15 minutes at home to put it all together! What a productive way to spend a Saturday morning!

Here's a breakdown of what I did to update it and how I spent the money...

I already had the stainless steel mirror, I just moved it to another spot on the vanity

The new stainless steel soap dispenser was $10, but I thought it made a big difference in the look of the vanity, so I bought it!

I used some gray towels we already had, which matched much better than the purple.

All the flowers together were about $15, and I arranged them in a vase we already had and the rocks came with the silver tray and candles (all for $10 what a steal!), I just re-purposed them.  It came out just like I had imaged in my head.

The clock isn't the most beautiful design element, it's more functunal.  I needed it because I never know what time it is when I'm getting ready!

 So I bought the cheapest one I could find (just $10) that matched the bathroom and I think it looks good, and best of all I won't be late anymore.... We have a new toilet seat too, but DJ can't get the old one off! I'm sure there will be a post about that soon enough when we decide to tackle that project!

The shower curtain was $15, and brightened up the room a ton! It is a little brighter than the wall color, but I like the light it brings to the room.

Soap Dispenser- $10

Flowers- $15

Vase- already had it

Shower Curtain- $15

Mirror- already had it

Tray/Candles/Rocks- $10

Clock- $10

Towels- already had it

Grand Total- $60 for a whole new look in the master bathroom

BEFORE                                  AFTER