We're back!

Apparently 2011 is my year of slacking on blogging (or the year that we got SUPER busy!). I'm really, really going to try and pick it back up, I promise! I've been meaning to redesign and revive it for months now...(as you can see, the header still has yet to be finished, and I still have more to add to the sidebar). But, since SO MUCH has happened in the past few months (hello, HOUSE!), I figured I'd try and get back into the swing of things to update family. No promises, but I'll try to at least blog a couple of times a week!

So, to give you the Cliffs Notes version of the past few months...

We bought a house...

Eric graduated with his MHA...

Eric started his new job and started getting up at 5 AM...
And our lives have become completely consumed by full-time jobs, sometimes pushing 12 hour days (for Eric)...

We've been in our house a little over a month now and it's taken me that long to get things unpacked, cleaned, sorted out (I've been taking trunkloads to Goodwill like there's no tomorrow), and organized, and let me tell you, nights sure go by quick when you try to do that! I'm almost to the point of getting into a normal routine after work. And it's to the point now where I feel like I can finally start decorating since things are put away. Here are a few early photos...

Dining area (thanks Mom for the chairs!!!)

Kitchen

Patio

Living room

Master bedroom 

Things have come a little ways since then, but we still have a long way to go to get things all prettied up! Hopefully we can make some progress between all the weekends we are on the road this summer. More to come soon!

So Soon!

Weekend Wrap-Up

Is it Monday already?!

I was thankful to have another 3-day long weekend, even if it meant going to the doctor Friday. My endoscopy went well - quick and easy for the most part! They only found one little minor thing, but it's nothing to be concerned about and they don't think that's the cause of my problems. They're running biopsy tests though and I go back for a follow-up in two weeks. The clinic was great {For those of you that follow my design blog, I'll have a critique on that later this week :) }, everyone was super friendly (my nurse was hilarious), and I was out of there in 2 hours. I've got some nasty little bruises on my arm from the outlining of the IV tape - you can still see the two little rectangles! Eric had to snap this photo on his phone before I went back:

Thankfully, the drugs didn't make me too crazy! Eric said I just kept asking him what time it was. I slept most of the afternoon, but by around 3:30 I was back to normal! I even jumped on the treadmill and walked 2 miles and then picked up my car. 2 weeks later it's finally home! It's all nice and washed - so much better than when we dropped it off with snow/dirt ALL over it.

Saturday, while Eric slept for 12 hours {lazy boy! :) }, I went down to Jeff City to volunteer in "Canstruction" with one of the local architecture firms. My old firm used to do this, but I never had the chance to participate since it was always in Little Rock, so it was a lot of fun to help out on Saturday! The 2,000 cans of food here were assembled to resemble a firefighter's hat. It's such a fun and wonderful fundraiser for the local food bank.

Other than that, we didn't do anything too exciting. Eric's been working on a big paper for his human resources class. He had a big presentation last week in his epidemiology class that he was nervous about, but it went great! He was definitely happy about that since that class is extremely difficult, and I'm so proud of him! I couldn't resist sneaking downstairs for a few minutes to listen to it from outside his classroom. :) Go Eric!

TGIF!

For those of you that have been wondering about the chair, I'm one step away from having it done! I got the back, arms, and trim done last night. It's not perfect, and I probably didn't choose the best blue fabric (It's a silk-type fabric and cotton would have been better - I couldn't get it to tuck under well and there are a few little "wrinkles"), but I say it looks pretty darn good for my first upholstery job! I was actually able to see most of the office floor for the first time in almost a month after I was able to put away the 2 tool sets scattered about, glue, fabric swatches, stuffing, etc...that room has been quite a mess! :) Next is to clean up all the paint, brushes, and canvases scattered all over our dining room - I'm shipping out my big canvas order hopefully Monday so that'll all be picked up SOON! I think Eric's getting a little tired of me being a chaotic mess with all my projects. ;)

Here are some quick snaps I took this morning in the mean-time. I'm not quite ready to show the front yet. Hopefully I can pick up a sewing machine next week with a Michael's or Hobby Lobby coupon so I can do the cushion! 

We're traveling to Fayetteville today in Eric's car since mine's still in the shop {I ended up having to go through insurance because of the $$ - hopefully it doesn't hurt our rates too bad when we renew our policy this summer}. Cross your fingers that the winter weather isn't a problem on Sunday! Ugh - so sick of this! It's not supposed to get above 30 all next week, too. Be looking for photos on Monday from the weekend! - I've been looking forward to this for quite some time! :) We've got my great aunt Carolyn in town from California and my second cousin Walt and his family who are currently living in Prague! It's going to be quite a party.

In other news, Eric is busy busy with grad school. He's taking 15 grad hours which basically equals 18 undergrad hours. Definitely more than a full load! He's been spending quite some time in the library, too. And, for those of you familiar with how strict college libraries can be with food/drink/talking, etc, the health sciences library here is no exception...

Eric walked in with this little coffee cup the other day:

He goes over to the counter and sets it down as he staples some papers. The strict man at the desk says "Sir, you're going to have to get rid of that cup." (The library only allows drinks with screw-top lids, and this guy is always getting on to Eric's friends for "talking too loud") Eric responds, "It's plastic and has a screw top lid..." The man looks at him funny and doesn't believe him, so Eric unscrews the top and proves it to him...the guy is flabbergasted. ;)

That was my little Valentine's gift to him - you can find them at Bed Bath and Beyond and they also come in pink! :)

And, here's a funny little photo from a few weeks ago that I thought would add a smile to your day...

 

Happy weekend! :)

Quick Update!

Just wanted to give a quick update before we head home for the night! :)

It's been a fairly uneventful week. Eric did however get news yesterday that he's the recipient of a $500 alumni scholarship that will also drop his out-of-state tuition costs this semester! Needless to say, he'll be getting a BIG refund back! We're so happy for him!

I made my first sale on Etsy the other night, and I'm picking up that orange chair tomorrow... risky? Here's to trying my luck at learning how to reupholster! :) Hey, at least if it doesn't work out I can take it in somewhere, right?

NWA is bracing for Ice Storm 2010 right now. We're north of the storm line so we won't get anything, but keep NWA in your thoughts! Hopefully it's not any worse than last year! The storm caused my family's trip to Steubenville to be cancelled...yet another sign that Kim needs to go to Arkansas. ;) Just kidding. They're hopefully going to go later in February or March now.

That's it for today! More tomorrow!

Weekend Update

I really wish that weekends would stop flying by! :)

Friday night Eric and I went to a get-together for the health admin students which was a nice little break from staying at home. Unfortunately though, staying out late messed up my sleep schedule and I couldn't fall asleep last night. I've decided I just need to stick to the 10:00 bedtime even on weekends now. :) I'm too old for staying out late. I got to meet some of his friends that I've heard about and it was nice being around people our own age since we don't know many here.

Saturday we took out in the pouring rain to go antique shopping. I was on a mission for a desk or small table and a large picture frame. We checked out a newer place outside of town where I found this amazing "slipper chair":

It was love at first sight (from a designer's standpoint). Only $28 but unfortunately it needs a lot of help. If only I knew how to reupholster! After looking around on Google, I'm afraid it's going to be upwards of $100 to get it professionally done. I didn't buy it {yet}, but I may just have to go back. Surely I can get some tips online to learn how to reupholster it, right?! ;) Any suggestions?! Should I get it?!

I've actually got Eric hooked on antique shopping, too. I was trying to move quickly since I was on the lookout for just large furniture items, but he was wanting to go slower to look at everything. Here are some goofy pictures from the day:

 

Creepy troll doll anyone?

 

Anna-Marie, this one is for you - fake bird and all! :)

Then we went out to Artichoke Annie's antique store which is by far one of the best I've ever been to. The place is HUGE, and there's furniture galore (my favorite thing to shop for!) Unfortunately, it can be quite pricey. Eric however did find a frame for me though (he's getting so good at picking out my style!).

I've got it repainted (here's a sneak peek), but I've still got a little more work to do. Hopefully our trip to Michael's tonight will help me finish it...

I'm in the process of rearranging our office a bit to make a little "studio" area, so that's where it's going when it's all done. More on that later this week!

In other news, my little sister Kim is going on a big college visit this week with my parents. Hopefully we'll have a final decision on where she's going by the weekend. I can't believe she's already that old!
They're going to Steubenville, Ohio (15 hours away from home (11 hours from us in Columbia), just outside of Pittsburgh!) to see the Franciscan University of Steubenville. It would be a wonderful opportunity for her if she ends up liking it. We'll see how it goes! It's between there or Arkansas and she wants to major in social work. I personally think she needs to go to Arkansas since everyone else in the family graduated from there. ;)

And, how could I forget?! I gave in this weekend (I'm probably going to regret posting this later, too)...

Of course, as soon as I got it I wasn't even cold in the apartment all weekend long! I had to settle with the pink because it was pink/blue/or red at Wal-Mart and we had already ran 5 errands on Saturday so we didn't feel like going anywhere else. Now I can handle the thermostat at 65! :)

And lastly, our "Sunday evening fun" was making homemade french bread pizzas. Nothing fancy, but they were really good...

Here's the recipe:
Ingredients:
-1 pack of 2 French bread loaves (we chose Sara Lee, I think)
-3 tablespoons olive oil
-1 small can pizza sauce (Ragu pizza sauce is really good!)
-1 pack of mozarella cheese
-1 pack pepperoni (or whatever toppings you choose)

Directions:
Heat oven to 350. Cut loaves in half and spread olive oil on the top (acts as a barrier so the sauce doesn't soak through the bread). Spread pizza sauce over olive oil. Add cheese and any other desired toppings (don't get the cheese too close to the edges since it will melt). Cook for 15 minutes.

Enjoy! Hope you have a good week!

Playing Catch-Up

Crazy week! :)

So, since I haven't blogged about life happenings lately, I figured I'd fill y'all in through one big post! My parents made the trip up here last weekend for the first time in 5-6 months and we got to take them around town (more like they took us around town...we saw parts of town we've never seen since living here! LOL). We also made a trip down to Jeff City to see family and the guys got to see some former Cardinal baseball players at the Cardinals Carousel. Sunday we went to the Catholic church on campus for the first time which was a lot bigger than the Newman Center at Arkansas - that's for sure! I got officially initiated into the Columbia alumnae chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota (international women's music fraternity) on Sunday, too, which was exciting. And then Monday we didn't do much of anything on our day off...the highlight of the day was Sonic!

Speaking of...their cherry limeade chillers are delicious!

You know you want one right now!

Wednesday was my 6-month "anniversary" at work so I officially get to use paid vacation time now. :-D

And then all excitement was ruined Thursday when we got the dreaded utility bill...
I seriously thought Eric was joking with me when he told me the amount. Boy, oh boy! Michiganders, I think we're going to have to take up your 65 degree thermostat tactics. I've been freezing with it at 70, but maybe it'll be worth it if we can keep a few extra bucks in our pocket. So, you can guess what I'll be shopping for this weekend...

I'll search all of Mid-Missouri if I have to just to find a leopard-print or zebra one!

Yet another reason to add to my list of why I despise winter here. And, my car is still dirty after the snow two weeks ago. No sense in cleaning it off yet since we're getting rain and the roads are still black. At least in Arkansas the snow is melted within a few days and they don't put black stuff all over the roads.

In other news, Eric started school again Tuesday and it seems like it'll be a good semester. I'll see if I can get him to blog about his classes soon.

Happy weekend!

Christmas, Finals, and Life Lately

Whew, has it been a crazy few weeks. Eric just finished up his finals on Tuesday (wahoo!), I went home for my church's bazaar last weekend to sell artwork (which was a huge success - I was very pleased. More on that later!), Amanda came down for a few days, and now we're in the middle of the chaos of finishing up preparations for Christmas. Can I get a few days off to relax now please?! :) (I wish!)

So with the help of my wonderful sister (thanks Kim!), we were able to get a few Christmas cards printed this year. They're nothing fancy, but I thought it was important to start a tradition so that Eric and I would have one every year from the year we got married. I'll share them on here once we get them in the mail. Next year it's my goal to start working on them sooner so I can do something neat and creative.

Eric's out of school now for 5 weeks (I'm so jealous), and I've decided that I definitely don't like the whole "no winter break" thing and having to work the whole time. :) Thankfully though, a few of my girlfriends are in the same situation and we all have to work while our significant others get to do nothing all day. :) At least we encourage each other, LOL. However, I'm finding that it's not all bad - I came home last night to a vacuumed and clean apartment and Eric even had the grocery coupons all printed out. He's also been getting up at 6:45 to fix lunch as usual, too, so I can't complain! (THANK YOU ERIC!)

It's going to be one of our New Year's resolutions to start budgeting even better. We've been doing pretty good, I must say. It's especially been a little more difficult for me to get used to since I'm used to spending some of my paycheck at the mall on clothes. Eric did the whole Dave Ramsey series a few years ago, thanks to Aunt Cindy and Uncle Dave!, and I'm thinking I should probably look into it, too, since I'm not as good as he is. But we have a good envelope system with cash, he has his calculator out every week at the grocery store making sure we don't go over our budget (that's depressing sometimes though, because we reach the limit so quick! Goodbye snacks, sweets, and other good food! :) ), and I'm always trying to find coupons to save a few dollars here and there. My friend Kalyn found a website a few weeks ago that Dave Ramsey is a fan of called e-mealz.com. We haven't created an account yet, but we're going to in the next few days! Check out her blog on the left (Life with the Cavaliers) and read what she has to say about it! I'm definitely excited about it because it tells you how you can budget your money, find good coupons, etc. Now, the next step is how do we get this rising utility bill down?! :) I just about cried when Eric just sent me the bill especially since it was a LOT more and we were gone a whole week for Thanksgiving! Aye aye aye. I just told Emily that I guess we'll be turning off the heat and getting us some Snuggies instead! Oh the life of being newlyweds...

That's all for now. Have a great weekend!

Oh the weather outside is frightful...

Long time no blog! This past week has been pretty crazy - weatherwise, schoolwise, workwise, etc!

On Sunday, we got our first taste of Missouri snow! It was only a dusting (and we got another dusting on Wednesday), but boy has it been COLD! You Northerners are probably going to laugh at me, but this week was the first time I actually layered 2 jackets. I didn't even realize people layer fleece jackets with winter coats - this winter is going to be a huge eye-opener for me! :) Granted, we didn't get the huge snowstorm the rest of the Midwest got, but this sure is cold for a "Southerner!"

Eric's been busy studying away with finals (less than a week left for the semester!) and I've been painting all the time for my church's bazaar this weekend (I've been blogging some on my Flair blog HERE). Plus, my job has been pretty hectic the past 2 weeks, too! I'm beginning to wish I still had a winter break off...

One of Eric's big projects this winter break is going to be rebuilding a desktop computer. His broke over the summer, so we're in the process of shopping for parts online. He started dusting it out last weekend and this is what he discovered:

Look closely (click to enlarge!)- all the gray stuff on the side is DUST! It was so disgusting.

In other news, Amanda is coming back to visit us again next week! And we should actually have an apartment free of paint, canvases, and books everywhere! I'm looking forward to things slowing down a little bit so I can reorganize and redecorate some things.

In the mean time, this is where we'll be from dawn 'til dusk.

Halloween Weekend

So we had a somewhat uneventful Halloween weekend filled with multiple trips to Wal-Mart, studying, and painting. We did get a nice date-night dinner in there though at Ruby Tuesday's which was delicious!

Eric volunteered for the "Tiger Night for Fun" sponsored by Children's Hospital on Saturday, and he and his MHA friend Clayton dressed up as Power Rangers...
Unfortunately Eric won't let me share the pictures of him in the child-sized red Power Ranger costume... ;)





And then we woke up this morning to... a mouse. Of course, it's a Monday, too.

I walked into the bathroom this morning and a minute later, I see a black blur zip into the room. I jumped, let out a blood-curdling scream, and ran to the office to stand on the futon, and Eric leaped out of bed thinking I was dying. Needless to say, I spent the next 45 minutes locked in the bathroom sitting in the sink getting ready for work while Eric, the brave mouse hunter, searched up and down the entire apartment. Unfortunately, the mouse hid pretty well, so he hasn't been found. Hopefully maintenance will have trapped the guy by the time we get home in a few hours.

(In case you couldn't tell, I HATE mice, hate them. As well as fish, snakes, frogs, and other creatures of the like, too :) Luckily though, I have an AWESOME, Eagle Scout, dragon slaying, prince charming, (you get the point), husband who isn't afraid of those things! - THANK YOU ERIC!)

More to come later this week!

I <3 Antique-ing!

So, Eric was a fantastic sport this weekend and let me go to the flea market TWICE. I was soo excited.
Saturday, during our multitude of errands, we stopped by and found a coat rack - something we've been looking for the past few weeks and we actually found one under $30! Check it out:



I'm sure we'll use it a lot once the "northern" winter hits here! :)

And of course, I couldn't help but notice the gold antique chair in one of the booths. After giving the puppy-dog face to Eric all Saturday night (ok, maybe I'm exaggerating there), we went back Sunday to pick it up! It goes great in our bedroom, just needs a new layer of stain!...



And here is Eric testing it out...



In other news, I've been working on my art business and website while Eric has been studying away! Stop by my new website at: http://carolineleemisdesign.com/FlairArtwork.html

Eric has several tests/quizzes this week so we're in for a busy week! Cross your fingers that he does well! :)

I'm slacking...

I apologize about the lack of blog entries lately! I'm beginning to slack off :)

Well, since the last time I wrote, Eric's been busy with grad school and I've been spending my evenings trying to revive my art business (check my art blog out at: www.flairartwork.blogspot.com!). We both went our separate ways this past weekend to see family, which was nice (minus the bad Labor Day traffic of course!). It looks like we'll be spending the next several weekends here in CoMo which will be good - I have a lot I want to get done, for sure! :)

With mixed emotions, I traded in Arkansas red for Mizzou gold last Friday for Colors Day. At least Arkansas and Missouri aren't in the same conference, but still...it's not the same. And, not only that, I had to give up my Arkansas drivers license and plate for Missouri! Hopefully I can call Arkansas my home again soon!


{Go Mizzou?}

In other news, we found an awesome antique table a few weeks ago after Eric drove me out to one of the antique stores east of town. He wasn't too happy whenever we found out it wouldn't exactly fit in his car, but thankfully with the help of a bungee cord, we were able to get the thing on the interstate and back home! Here's the final, and newly painted (originally cream) product:


{Thanks Mom for the fall basket! :)}

Next on the list: antique coat rack! Shopping this weekend, anyone?!


{Happy new school year! :)}

The calm before the storm...

Wow, what a crazy (and absolutely wonderful) past few weeks! It seems like we've been going non-stop! Finally we have a calm weekend actually in Columbia for the first time - although, things pick right back up on Monday with Eric starting his MHA program! He's already saying he's not going to have a life after that...hopefully it won't be that bad!

We went "home" to Fayetteville last weekend for Anna-Marie and Michael's wedding which was just GORGEOUS! They've been together for over 5 years now, and I've been waiting for this day for quite some time. :) Anna did an amazing job with planning and everything looked awesome - even complete with doves in a birdcage! Here are some photos:







Eric had orientation sessions this past week and got to meet some of his professors and classmates. Maybe I can get him on here later to blog a little bit about that... Maybe? :) I've decided my new project once he goes back to school next week is revitalizing my art business - new logo, updated site, an Etsy site, you name it! We'll see how that goes, but in the mean time, let me know if you need some art!

We're currently in the final stages of sending out thank you cards and tracking down gift givers to no-name gifts - talk about exhausting! Goal: ALL thank you cards mailed out by Monday! Hopefully that's possible! {And if you gave a no-name gift of blue salad plates, let us know! :)}

TGIF!!