we are moved in to our new house!

but...goodness! everything is so much more time consuming than i planned. while some things are going really well and relatively easy, most things are taking extra time and effort. i guess that is all part of it.
some examples:

1. we bought two different brands of paint for our walls: behr and olympic.
the behr went up without a problem and covered quickly and easily. however, the olympic was a huge pain in the butt. we painted two and a half walls and finally decided that it was the paint, not us, that was doing a poor job covering, creating clumps and looking not so great. so, we returned that paint, matched it and replaced it with the behr paint and everything looks wonderful!

2. we bought blinds for all of our windows - all of which we thought were the same width. the blinds went up perfectly in all the rooms but the dining room. for some reason the window was tighter than the rest by about a quarter of an inch. while the blinds fit at the top of the window, they do not quite fit at the bottom. seriously?!? *sigh.* with a little sanding on the bottom panels, we will make them fit...but it is more work.

3. the refrigerator. i really don't want to talk about that. ask neil. let's just say it was ever so slightly too big for the hole it was supposed to fit in - enough to be a HUGE pain in the butt.

4. the boxes. why can't they just unpack themselves???

please do not get me wrong. we LOVE our house. LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!! i sometimes am not the most patient, but once we are finally moved in and have everything in place, it will be downright perfect.

i can not thank neil's parents enough for all the help that they have given us along the way this week - from painting, to hanging blinds, installing hardware, loading and unloading the moving truck, etc. , they have been invaluable! we could not have done it (at least note sanely) without them.

you are probably wanting some pictures...below are some of the finished house. i am going to hold of posting decorating pics until we have our boxes unpacked, but i am pretty darn proud of how everything looks!

Finally, House update.

(This post is picture heavy so it may take a while to load)

Thank you Aunt Joyce for giving me a little nudge to blog again. I didn't realize how much of my time this Crate and Barrel job was going to take. I am now thinking that the discount and measly hourly pay is worth much less than my time. However, I'm not a quitter, so I will finish out the holiday season and be done with it. Lesson learned.

Our cute little house is almost done! We just had our orientation yesterday and everything looks great. Our closing date is the day before Thanksgiving!!! Here are some pictures of the progress since the last blog post:

Our driveway has been poured.

Our kitchen cabinets and countertops have been installed.

Our bathroom fixture has been installed

Doors have been hung

We have started to pack and Sara is sad

The ugly dining room fixture that we are replacing has been installed

The weird stripe that was on the garage before has been painted

Our hardwood floors and sink have been installed. (The cardboard is gone now too)

In other news, for the past week, we had a little visitor at our house, my parent's dog, Duke. My parents were in South Dakota visiting friends and family - mainly my brother who just turned 21. Ugh. I'm getting old! Here is a photo commentary of our life in the past month:

Sara loves too sleep. She is always adorable.

I picked up running outdoors since my gym membership expired. Sunrises are so pretty and motivating when trying to run long distances outside. However, this past week, I have been horrible about running - stupid Crate and Barrel.

Duke loves too cuddle with me. He is allowed on the furniture at our house even though he is not allowed at my parents house. He like me better.

Sara tried to play with Duke...but she intimidated him with her loud playful growls. So he usually just watched. Towards the end of his stay, he got more comfortable and played with her better.

3 dogs = fun and a lot of toy stuffing all over the floor. (The 3rd dog is the one I dog-sit a couple times a week)

Yes, there is a Snuggie for dogs. Duke - this is what you are getting for Christmas.

I coordinated my last wedding of the year the first weekend of November. The weather was divine and the wedding went off without a hitch. I loved the wedding party - they were so much fun!

This is a blurry picture of the priest "getting down" at the reception. He said he couldn't help it - music gets into his bones and he has to dance.

So, that is a brief overview of our life for the past month. I will try, I promise Aunt Joyce, to be much better about timely updates. :)

more house progress

i've lost count of the days...but neil insists i update, so here it is. we have bricks and we have drywall! i'm excited to update on decorating ideas, etc. but i am soooooooo busy right now with school and work. i promise to do better in the near future.
in other news, we have a closing date :) the day before thanksgiving! i guess we will be painting on thanksgiving.
here are some pics:

house progress: build day 11

we have a roof and shingles! Our pre drywall meeting is thursday. everything is moving along nicely.

also, i start my part time holiday job at crate and barrel tonight. please, try not to be jealous that i get the discounts. :)

What? It's Monday?

I had every intention of getting a house update posted this weekend, but between a not so fun Army weekend, the Colts game, studying, and cleaning our much needed (to be cleaned) apartment, the weekend just flew by!
I will do my best to get the pics of my camera tonight and post them for tomorrow. I also will be sharing our home design ideas later this week. Woohoo!

Making Progress: Build Day 7

pictures are better than words...but we are amazed at how fast our house is being built! we are also amazed by a truck that can fly. case in point below.

our house's progress

it's hard to believe how fast our cute little house is being built. the following is progress over only about 5 (business) days.

welcome to our blog!

welcome, family and friends, to april and neil's brand new blog! we are super excited to have you here and hope you enjoy our posts. we plan to use this blog as a way to journal the building of our house and keep you all up to date with our life. so, sit back and enjoy! let the journey begin.