Some of my favorite things...

So, aside from the hot pink room and the room with angels and flowers all over the walls, the rest of the house is really starting to come together! Check out some of my favorite household highlights...

#10 -- Here's the office with this fabulous bookcase that we got from the sellers...I love the mixture of great books with fun international and nostalgic items. Since this picture was taken, I've successfully filled in all the holes. 

#9 -- The pantry. After living in an apartment and stacking canned goods in a leaning wire rack next to the back door, this pantry is like a little taste of heaven. 

#8 -- Hall tree. So cute...and so great for this little space in the hallway. 

#7 -- New entry rug that I got for $4 at Wally-world. Love a bargain!

 #6 -- Bedroom furniture! It all matches!!!! Yeah, that's a feat that I didn't expect us to accomplish until retirement....haha. But, apparently the sellers wanted to go with a new decor scheme for their new place. (Which worked out GREAT for us!)

Mike teases me for having too many useless pillows on the bed...but I love them!

 #5 -- Serious yard sale bargain! I put a glass votive and two small tea lights, and this matching set of yard sale deals has added some fun flair to the living room. (And, yes, I have been watching WAY too much HGTV since we got cable! hehe)

#4 -- I'm so excited to have a fun place to display this big pottery vase that I bought in Guatemala several years ago. 

#3 -- Enormous book case. 

#2 -- Special thanks to Becky for this fabulous idea. Scrapbook paper + old frames I already had = awesome bathroom decor. Check it out! Here's the design in the master bath:

I love this one even more! It's in the spare bathroom: 

I bought the set of shelves for 50 cents at a yard sale! Bargains just make me so unbelievably happy. 

The frames were all different colors, but with a dollar-can of spray paint, now they look like a set! 

 #1 -- My absolute favorite...our closet!!!! My shoes just look so happy on their little shoe racks. haha. I know it's a bit ridiculous, but seriously this closet might actually be my favorite thing in the house....well, that and my big bath tub. (Cheesy though it may be, I absolutely love a nice, long bubble bath almost as much as I love a beautifully impractical pair of peep toe pumps.)

En la cocina

Welcome to our new kitchen! This was one of the first rooms that I finished in our house...and I just love how the painting I bought in Guatemala looks on the wall! (Special thanks to Katie for helping me frame and hang this bad boy!)

We have two of these cute little wicker tables, courtesy of Mike's parents, and we've got a family of house plants filling them up! Love it!!!!

I really like this little shelf off of our kitchen cabinets. I think the little pitchers and the plate Katie got me in the Ukraine fit perfectly. The frame to the left of the shelf is two coffee bags from....you guessed it....Guatemala. (Are you sensing a theme here?)

And, here, in our eat-in kitchen, is Mike's study station. The poor guy is studying a LOT these days as the bar approaches. I know he will do great, and I know we'll both feel so relieved once it's over. 

See that stack of Bar Review books!?! All I can say is....yuck!

Moving Day

Mike and I discovered that moving goes VERY quickly if you offer your friends food in exchange for their muscles. :) Seriously, the truck was loaded up in what seemed like no time at all! 

Along with the Subway and chicken wings we fed everyone, the guys decided to make good use of the can of Cheese whiz that I refused to move. (I don't eat canned cheese, so I'm definitely not wasting any energy moving it from one place to another.) Come to find out, Claire had never tried Cheese whiz before, so everyone decided that it was of the upmost importance that she sample some. Not surprisingly, Claire was not a big fan, but the guys seemed to get a big kick out of her taste test.

Next stop....our new place! I loved seeing our new home with the SOLD sign out front!

Here it is....home sweet home!

More pictures of the rooms and some of my favorite decor creations are soon to come! 

Estufas!

I recently returned from Guatemala, and this trip was a new experience for me. I've done a number of different types of service work in Guatemala, but this was my first time helping to build safe stoves for the people in the Quetzaltenango area. 

Just to give you a quick explanation -- many Guatemalan families cook over open-flame stoves in their homes. This creates serious health problems due to smoke inhalation, smoke and ash in people's eyes, and accidental fires. There is also a problem with deforestation throughout Guatemala, and open flame cooking doesn't help the matter since it requires a considerable amount of wood. The stoves that we helped to build have space for an enclosed flame and a chimney so that smoke is carried out of the home safely.

Here's a picture of one of our final products: 

The wood would be inserted through a small opening which is on the left side of the picture above. The smoke then exits through the aluminum chimney.


We divided into teams and worked directly in the families' homes to build the stoves. The stoves are built in three stages. Below is a photo of my team working on stage three:

Part of stage three involves cutting a hole in the existing roofing (in this case corrugated metal) in order to install the chimney. By the end of the week, our whole team had helped complete a total of 12 stoves!

This is Dona Luisa, our safe stove coordinator for the week. Dona Luisa lives in the Buena Vista community, where we worked part of the time. She helps teach volunteers how to build the stoves correctly and oversees their work. She was awesome!!!!

Rachel, our new Timmy High School Outreach Coordinator, is a serious tree-hugger (peace and tree hugs!@), and she was beyond excited to find out that one morning we were starting off the day by volunteering for the Pop-Wuj reforestation project before resuming our stove work!

We were told by the directors that in Mayan culture you talk to the plant, and you tell Mother Earth that you are giving the plant back to her. Our group took that a step further by naming just about every tree we planted and singing to them. The boys were singing Ke$ha and Lady Gaga. I don't know if Ke$ha will really help the trees grow, but hopefully it didn't hurt anything too badly.

And, of course, it wouldn't be a trip to Guatemala without lots of wonderful photos of cute kids!! 

You know you're in TN when....

After Mike's graduation, we took a week off and headed to Tennessee. We decided that you know you are in Tennessee when....

1. The local high school hosts a bass tournament to raise money for their band.  

2. You drive over Stinking Creek to get to "town" (aka...the only place nearby with a Walmart).

3. The gas station across the street from the Walmart has a sign for "Crack Your Teeth Cold Beer." I have to say, I think the one-toothed smiley face is a very classy touch.  

While we were there, we saw so many deer! It was really neat. 

We also enjoyed around 20 hours out on the boat. We had such a relaxing time! It was definitely hard to come back home. 

Graduation Fiesta Weekend

While graduation lasted only a couple of hours, the celebration lasted all weekend for Mike! We headed with his family to Brown County to celebrate, stopping first at a local Mexican restaurant. (Nothing says "Happy Graduation" like a delicious fajita dinner!)

Mike's loving brother, Dave, convinced the waiters and waitresses to sing "Happy Graduation" to Mike while, of course, forcing him to wear this ridiculous sombrero. Isn't Dave so sweet!?!

Will seemed to really enjoy the cake! 

After dinner, Mike and I went with his parents to stay in a cabin in Brown County. It was really nice, and the cabin stay came with passes to the indoor water park, which was a big hit!

Here's our attempt to get a family photo in an indoor water park!

Then, it was time to check out the water slide! Benjamin, Jack and Anna all took turns going down (and alternated which adult they invited to join them). 

Weeeeee!

Benjamin did such a good job swimming by himself with his pool noodle....while Collin decided to take a little nap. 

I would like to point out that while Mike spent the last three years reading all about laws and regulations, he seemed pretty quick to ignore the rule posted right behind his head here. (In case you can't read it in the photo, it says, "Please do not block jets." And, in case you can't tell, that's exactly what Mike is doing.)

On Sunday, we enjoyed a delicious Mother's Day brunch. Such a fun weekend, and a great way to celebrate Mike's graduation and Mother's Day! 

Before they left, the big kids gave Uncle Mike some really big bear hugs!!! (He's a pretty popular guy!)