Two little turtles

Last weekend, was the much anticipated celebration in honor of my sister-in-law and two little girls on the way. It was hosted at my house, but many amazing ladies helped to pull the special event together. I'm going to mostly let the photos tell the story. It was such a fun day!

My sister made this! She's so talented!

 

The beautiful mommy-to-be and I!



 

 

 

the Sea-Turtle/Under Water Theme decorations turned out so so cute!

 

 

 



 

 

Delicious and super cute themed food!!

 

 

 Pinterest-worthy desserts!

 

  

The cutest gifts for Baby A & Baby B :)

 

 

and probably the funniest and most awkward gift: a framed baby picture of my brother...

 



 

 

Mommy holding the two very quickly dressed babies from the Pairs Dress-the-Twins Relay Race. Each pair could use only 2 hands - so that's one hand each, to put an article of clothing on the baby, then pass it to the next pair. Team Baby B was the winner!! but just barely... :) It was hilarious to see 40 ladies get really into this game!

 

 

 And I'll end with two really excited Aunties :)

 

Thank you to everyone who helped out to throw this beautiful shower for Paula and the twins. What a perfect day celebrating two little turtles who will make their debut in a few months. We love you both so much already Baby A & Baby B!

New Flooring - Before & After

Let me preface this post by saying that this whole project was started in early December and now we are in what month...? February?! What a project it's been and I am so so glad it's finally over. 

Marc and I knew right when we moved into the house that we would eventually want to rip out the carpet and put in hardwood in the living areas and new carpet in the bedrooms, we just weren't quite sure when we'd do it. Now that we're married and considering adding a dog to our family, we decided it was time to get this project out of the way.

 

To paint an accurate picture - this is what the living & dining rooms looked like before we moved in, so this is the previous owner's stuff... UGLY! haha.

 



Hi Kelly! :)

 

 

First, we started by ripping out the old carpet in the dining, living & family rooms, and the hallway. That was a pretty easy task, removing all the staples from the subfloor was the worst part - can you say blisters on our hands?! 

 Check out this beautiful linoleum from the 70s and some sort of odd electrical mat (we are thinking maybe it was a motion sensor for the alarm system)...

As you can see, the floor was covered in stains. The previous home owners had small dogs who had lots of accidents in the house and I guess they never cleaned up after them, because this spot below on the subfloor was STILL WET!! Talk about disgusting. We knew there was a carpet stain there and had cleaned it many times to try to get the smell out, but we never knew the extent of the damage. After using pet stain remover and bleach, Marc ended up chipping out the first layer of the subfloor, pouring in bleach then filling it with wood filler. THEN painting the problem areas with odor blocking paint. I think we finally got it....hopefully our house will smell normal soon!

Then, it was finally time to start laying down the laminate. After at least a month of research and bringing home samples from flooring stores, we chose the Select Surfaces Canyon Oak from SAM's Club which we found to be great quality for a great price! We also purchased their standard Premier from Armstrong underlayment. Since the laminate came with a pad already on the back, we opted not to upgrade the underlayment and have found that it was a good choice. When we walk on the floors, there is no "clicking" or echo sounds - great sound barrier!


The main reason this flooring took us so long was maneuvering from room to room, doorjams and around the oddly shaped kitchen cabinets. Lots of precise measuring, double checking, precise cutting (we borrowed my dad's chop saw and my uncle's small table saw and even used a handsaw for some of the intricate cuts and doorjams, all tools are a must!!). This is not a project for someone looking for a mindless update, it took lots of concentration, calculating and precision to make it come out right - just to give you an idea, each piece must be at least 12" long and 2" wide, so we had to measure the whole house and anticipate how long rows would be so we didn't get to the end and be left with a 5" gap... Lots of work!!


 Here is our first room transition!

In the kitchen, we decided to get a new dishwasher since the old one was on its way out anyways, plus the laminate is so thick that it would be a huge hassle to get the old one out after we put the flooring down. We are so happy with it! It runs so quietly and matches our fridge perfectly. Plus, Best Buy delivers the new one and hauls away the old one for FREE!! This is the link to the one we got. 

In the picture above, you can see the difficult angles of the kitchen cabinet/counter on the left of the photo - it's like a half-hexagon shape. That was a doosie!!

And so, I'd like to present, after 3 months of LONG, HARD work, the finished product!

still no furniture... :) but check out those baseboards!

 

the new beautiful "wedding wall" & new carpet in the bedrooms!

 

Also, here is a great shot from my beautiful sister-in-law's baby shower last weekend which was 100% our motivation for finishing the floors and baseboards last week! I will post more about the shower in a future post, so this is just a teaser.

 

 It turned out so perfectly and I can't wait to meet my little nieces in June! Now that the floors are done, I am excited to decorate the rest of the house since we have been putting off a lot of it since the carpet was so gross. We are so proud of ourselves for laying all the flooring ourselves! And thanks to our parents for helping with the finishing touches!

 

2013: What a year!

I can very easily say that 2013 has been one of fastest years of my life. I can't believe all that's happened in the past 12 months:

our engagement, wedding planning, becoming an Auntie, making lots of improvements to our new house

my best friend and I both getting married within a few months of each other, an amazing honeymoon in Hawaii, accepting the role of Matron of Honor for another great friend's wedding next year

traveling around the country for work, especially to Kentucky and watching horse races at Churchill Downs, witnessing AHS Water Polo history and they clenched the NCS Championship

another whirlwind holiday season filled with family, my Nana going to heaven and seeing my family gather around each other showing so much love and support, spending extra time with the grandparents that are still with us

then saying goodbye in style to that crazy, wonderful, busy, unforgettable year!

2014 has so much in store for the Fisher family:

some expected changes and some surprises, times of joy and surely times of struggle. we'll take it all on together. 

finishing the biggest home project thus far (new flooring throughout!), job changes, a quick visit to New Orleans, grad school, our nephew's 1st birthday, a trip to London, more wedding festivities, our one year anniversary, and many more! 

I am so lucky and blessed to get to share all these past memories and future moments with my family and friends. Here's to a fabulous year done, and another one just begun!

Our wedding day was...

September 14, 2013 was:

hands down, the most fun, love-filled, exciting, nervewracking, day of my life.

a day where we were surrounded by 105 of the most loving, supportive and party-ready family and friends.

planned down to the minute, and that plan was executed flawlessly by a team of said loved ones.

when our families witnessed our raw emotions as we said the vows we had written to each other.

a day my inner diva came out and I kicked out a couple of wedding crashing cougars.

when my family realized I married an amazing dancer.

the day I realized I have an obvious obsession with lists - according to all the speeches people gave for us.

photographed beautifully by our amazing photographer and friend, Kevin.

the best day of my life.

~~~

Now that I have settled back into reality after nearly a month of wedding and honeymoon bliss, I am planning to put together several posts on our wedding and honeymoon. We should be receiving our professional wedding photos in a few weeks, so that's when I'll do most of the posting. I realize this will likely take me months to put together, but I am going to split it up like this: 

• The Prep
• Ceremony
• Cocktail Hour
• Dinner, Toasts & Speeches 
• Dancing the night away
• I Do for Ice Cream
• Wedding Party
• Favorite Photos
• Honeymoon - Oahu
• Honeymoon - Kauai

Here are just a few favorites from the KP Mora Photography blog: 

My favorite number of days until the wedding!

Yes, that's right ---

Just a little quickie before I head off to bed after a very long and very productive day (first, I was on-time to work, got LOTS done, came home in minimal traffic where Marc had dinner ready, did some wedding planning, then went for a run, then back to wedding planning, and wrote a blog post)! I would say that's pretty good for a Monday.

I'm getting sidetracked here, where was I?...

In the past few days, we (my parents, Marc and I) have crossed SO many things off our wedding to do list! It feels so great. I think with each thing crossed off, I relax a tiny bit and get a little more excited (if that's even possible)! Here's everything we did since last week:

• Dress fitting! It fits great! I tried on my veil with the dress as well, I made my veil from my mom's and I'm so glad it's going to work out. I just need to jazz it up a little :)
• Wedding day walk through with the caterer at the venue. He is going to be the coordinator on the day of, which I didn't realize, so that's a huge help!
• Made hair and make-up appointments for wedding day.
• Ordered the vases for the center pieces which we are making ourselves.
• Picked out the flowers we will order on Wednesday (since they can only be ordered 1 month in advance) - we're getting them for a great deal at SAMs Club.
• Purchased my jewelry - love it!
• Purchased my second pair of shoes for the wedding/reception - wedges that will be easier to dance in. I tried them out at work today, they feel pretty good, considering they're still quite tall.
• My uncle became an official Deputy Commissioner and can legally officiate our wedding!
• Sent out rehearsal dinner invites.
• Wrote wedding programs (won't print them until 2 weeks before, just in case we change a song or something).
• Made the flower girl basket - my mom decorated it so cute with ribbons, I love it!
• Made the prelude and ceremony music playlists.
• Bought Marc a new honeymoon wardrobe - my most successful shopping trip for him yet! Everything I brought home fit except for one shirt. Woo hoo!
• Made the Wedding Day schedule and shared it with the bridesmaids.
• Decided on our "thesis" for the wedding ceremony, we just need to email it to my uncle so he can finalize what he is going to say.

WOW! Making this list of what we did just this week makes me feel so accomplished! I can almost breathe! I am sure I missed some things too.

Oh ya, Marc and his dad replaced all the trim on the front of the house in preparationon for painting the house next weekend. Things sure are picking up here at the Baldisher household! Soon to be the Fisher Household in just ...... 33 days!

Excited is an understatement

To say I am excited for this weekend is a complete understatement. This week has been so hard to concentrate! I have been waking up at all hours of the night just because I know what is coming and I cannot contain myself.

I feel like I should be spending each moment doing something wedding related. Whether it be for the wedding to come this weekend, or the wedding that's coming in 52 days.

Back to this weekend though, we will be celebrating the marriage of my beautiful BEST friend since we were babies. We are so different and so similar in so many ways. We grew up together. We played together. We had countless sleepovers in a row. We whined together. We wine together. And now, we even get to get married together! Well practically, I think within 50 days of each other is close enough to say we're doing it together. She is going to be a beautiful bride and it is going to be a beautiful wedding.

As we met for coffee last night for the last time as "as single woman," we found ourselves saying, I can't believe it's already here! This time that we will remember for the rest of our lives. It's here. She is getting married in just 3 days and will soon be a wonderful wife to a wonderful husband.

So here's to the weekend of a lifetime celebrating these two love birds!





A Furniture Makeover Success

I completed this project a few months ago, but have received several compliments on how great this piece of furniture turned out so I wanted to document my process here on the blog-o.

My inspiration for this project came from Pinterest (of course)!

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Behold, our new coffee bar!!!

It's a great way to free up some kitchen counter space

and add some decor to a random blank wall.

First, I did some blog research of my own to determine which paint, brushes and process I should follow. After staring at a paint sample color in our living room for about a month, we finally decided we were comfortable with it and headed off to Lowe's.

We settled on a small can of this rusty cranberry/raspberry color Valspar paint in semi-gloss so that it would stand up well to any spills and easily clean up. I also picked up a small container each of Zinsser Primer and Minwax Polycrylic Protective Finish in clear to use as a coating on the top surface. I also picked up some foam brushes, a foam roller and several different grits of sandpaper. I already had some regular paint brushes, blue tape, tarps & gloves at home. I have learned that painting with gloves is a must!! No more having the "I have obviously been painting furniture" look on my hands & nails.

I started out by taking the dresser apart, removing the doors and hardware and setting it out on our driveway to begin sanding. Which proved to be the most arduous task. Sanding an intricate piece of furniture like this takes a loooooong time if you want to do a good job. Do you see the detail in the doors and legs? The electric hand sander was great for the flat surfaces, but I had to do all the fancy parts by hand of course.

After a good sanding and wiping the whole thing down, I was ready to prime! I painted the whole thing in 2 coats of primer (sanding once in between) to cover all the grain of the dark wood. Everything I read online said that if you want a quality painted piece of furniture, do not skimp on the sanding & priming stages. So I really took my time on these parts. I think I finished sanding and priming the first coat in one day, then sanded it again and did the second primer coat the following weekend.

A little something I learned about primer - don't use a brand new brush for primer unless you have paint thinner to clean it with... My brand new brush was ruined because the acrylic-based primer did not come out. Oh well... now I know for next time!

Then, the next weekend, I sanded again and did the first coat of color, which was so fun to see it on the actual piece of furniture! I used a regular bristle brush that worked great because the roller turned out to be annoying to use with all the curves and detail in the wood. Here you can see my set-up which was taking over half our garage for at least a month!

As you can see, I decided not to paint the inside of the shelves. I like to have a little glimpse of the "original" wood and plus I thought that sanding, priming, sanding and painting the inside shelves was a little pointless. I decided not to sand in between the two coats of color because the brush strokes were not severe.

After 2 coats of color, the following day, I applied the first coat of Minwax coating to the top surface. The trick with this was to apply a very thin coat and brush in only one direction or else it got sorta sticky and goopy. I let that dry for a few days then painted another coat of Minwax (I heard that if you didn't let it dry completely in between it got weird, so I went to the extreme).

Theeeeeen, I let it dry completely for about a week. If you don't let the Minwax dry for a long time before placing objects on the surface, it can leave marks and dents in it. After I brought it inside and set it all up, it has done great, so I would definitely recommend letting it dry outside for a while. It also kept all the fumes in the garage and our house didn't smell like paint or top coat.

I love how it turned out! I do want to get a little shelf to hang above it with hooks for our coffee mugs so they are there for easy access & some extra wall decor like from the inspiration picture above. Marc even said he might make one for me! Let's add that to the list of projects I have on his list... ;)