Basement Bathroom Reno

It's been a while since we've done anything major with the house.  As most of you know, we bought the place 2 years ago this August.  It was not a regular sale, and the place needed quite a bit of work.  I can't believe it's been almost 2 years, and we've done a TON since then... but we'd taken a bit of a hiatus as of late. When we realized it was almost time for my annual birthday themed bash, we decided we needed to step it up a bit to show folks who were here last year (right after the carpet was put in the basement!) that we were still actively working on making the man cave a better place- namely giving them a working bathroom down there!

We received all the pieces for the bathroom for Christmas from Joey's parents.  I'm not kidding- we got a vanity, mirror, light fixture, towel/toilet paper racks, and a sink fixture.  All we had to do was open the door to that disgusting room and get to work.  I'd started peeling off the ugly wallpaper border sometime last fall, but quickly lost interest.  Joey was waiting for me to peel off the wall paper and clean up the grossness before he could start working.

You guys.  It was DISGUSTING.  Whoever used this bathroom before us clearly was blind and didn't know where the toilet was.  We actually removed the toilet and bought a new one within the first few weeks of owning the house.  But it was so gross in there that we quickly condemned it and closed the door.

A couple weeks ago, we felt motivated and decided to get to work.  Joey did a GREAT job as plumber, electrician, and overall work horse.  I felt I did a good job motivating, watching, holding the light and the fan, and bleaching.  Everything.  Multiple times.  I'm talking pure bleach, people. I probably burned my lungs but after the 5th time I felt OK walking around barefoot in there.

Now I'll share some pictures... this is where I should warn you- some of it is pretty gross.  But, I've always said I want to be real on this blog so here we go!

The first step, after I pulled off all the wallpaper and cleaned up, was to remove the original vanity.  This included quite a bit of plumbing work since the vanity was built with the house, and the plumbing was done afterwards...

Here's a shot I took of the tub before we cleaned, re-caulked, cleaned again, and cleaned again:

Gross dirty walls, broken light.. just nasty all around.

This is what it looked like after Joey removed the vanity.  I told you it was gross.

Time for painting!

Faithful companions guarding our exit

Installing the new toilet

Quick plumbing fix. Maybe someday Joey will let me tell you that story.

Putting the sink together while the pins look on.
You can also see in the left corner of the pic a piece of missing drywall.  This was the cover to the sump pump and that day I finally pulled it out and painted it to match the rest of the walls.

"Watching paint dry"

Before....

AFTER!

 The entire project took us about 24 hours to complete, with some sleeping, IHOP and a couple trips to Lowes.  It also took about a week for everything I ordered online to arrive.  I was soooo excited to put it all together, and now I get to share it with you!!!

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, I GIVE YOU "THE GISH MAN-CAVE BATHROOM":

YAYYYYYYY!!!!

HAPPY MONDAY!

~SG

Stitch Fix #2

YAYYYY!!! I got another Stitch Fix last week.  If you remember, my first one was a success and so much fun and I think you should all join and not only so I get a credit but more because it's so much fun to get surprises in the mail!!!!  I did the same thing as last time- used the mirror in the guest room. [But this time I used a real camera.]  So without further ado, here is what was in this month's fix:

1. Really pretty dress (crap... I threw away the paper with the names and prices on it)

This one was really cute and good for work and looking at these pictures now I am kind of regretting sending it back.  But I did.  It fit well but was sliiightly snug.  Also the zipper had a catch in it (my guess from being tried on so many times.  I let them know about it in my survey).  Finally, the colors were just okay.  It was brown/white striped and I don't have much that goes with it.  The cut looks good though, so hopefully I can find something like this elsewhere.

Up close/neckline pic

2. Blue Flutter-Sleeve Shirt

Check how cute this is!! They sent me a ton of work-worthy stuff this time, which I'm totally fine with because that's where I spend 99% of my time.  I looove this from the color to the sleeves.  Why didn't I keep it?  Because it was too short!  See the below pictures for my peeping-belly-button....

:(

3.  Green one-button Blazer

Totally not what I would have ever picked out, but I need more blazers for work because they easily make any outfit more formal.  I kept it (and wore it to work yesterday!)  I also like  it because it will look just as cute with a pair of jeans in the Fall.

Ignore the white tank, it was all I could find.

Close up of the sleeve detail for you

4. Bracelet!

A $28 bracelet.  Not great, price-wise, but it is cute.  I opted not to keep it because I don't like to wear gold bracelets that much (or bracelets...at all) (as I sit here with one on my wrist).  I thought it was cute but in the interest of my wallet, I returned it.

5. WTF Shirt

Seriously this one goes in the "Not Impressed" category.  When I pulled it out of the box I assumed it would look better once on my person.  I was wrong.  I'm not a fan of the color/pattern (a little too farm-y for me), and also it puts you at risk for a wardrobe malfunction.  That coupled with the fact that it was too short/didn't fit around my hips properly, it went back.

In summary, I kept one thing just like I did last time.  I did have some credits so I didn't spend as much on it as advertised.  One thing to mention, if you have credits in your account, they take $20 from your credits to send your next Fix.  That was a surprise to me.

If you want to join, here's the referral link:

http://stitchfix.com/sign_up?referrer_id=3076424

Hope everyone has big plans for July 4th.  Be safe, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!!

~SG

Don't Forget!!!

Google Reader is going away on Monday!!! These are very sad times, but thanks to my friend Gage I am now all set up on www.theoldreader.com.  I recommend it if you haven't found a new home yet.

Now, it takes a minute or five to download your subscriptions from Reader, so make sure to do that this week or else you'll have to remember every single blog you're subscribed to when you set up your new account.

That's really all I have to say so I guess I'll throw in a picture so as not to be completely boring:

Face it, you'd miss me.

~SG

Pillow

Happy Friday!

~SG

Katie & Zack

Remember how I said my Sister was at a completely different wedding last Saturday?

Confession time: We crashed a wedding.

See...what happened was.... Kimberly and Matthew's wedding started earlier in the day, and thus was over earlier.  Joey, myself, Alex and Corinne all decided hey, we might as well go party it up somewhere in Baltimore.

In a strange turn of events, we ended up at the Pier 5 hotel, which is where Katie (Laura's best friend)'s wedding happened to be taking place. 

By the time we arrived, dinner was long over and everyone was on the dance floor.  We actually walked into the wrong wedding reception first (whoops) before we found Katie's, which was on the top floor in a completely breathtaking venue.  We got to the top of the escalator and looked inside, and there was Laura...at the bar, totally unsuspecting.

What happened next?  A lot of shock!  Once we had all said hello to Laura, the bride came over and we offered our Congratulations and told her we were not planning to stay and that we just wanted to say Hello.  (Didn't want to be completely rude, after all.)  She told us not to be ridiculous, that it was an open bar, and to grab a koozie while we were at it.  She was so lovely and we really felt bad... but hey, when in Rome...

Laura and I with the beautiful Bride

Wedding Crashers with Laura, the legit bridesmaid

The venue featured a beautiful wrap-around outdoor balcony, where we were able to watch the Darius Rucker concert taking place next door (Katie, it legit lasted about 10 minutes... and from what we could hear he didn't sing any original songs?).

Souvenir Koozie

We didn't stay for too long, but we did get to see the bouquet and garter toss, which I made sure to take a ton of pictures of because I wanted to be of good use.... I'll be sending those to the bride and groom along with an extremely nice gift ;)

Kimberly & Matthew

Growing up, I had an extended family.  Three families, actually.  Mixing our names together, we were the Daveressyhart Family.  We banded together into one and spent every Sunday at church together and summer vacations at VBS and two weeks at the beach in Stone Harbor, NJ crammed into a teeny tiny house where we specialized in driving our parents CRAZY.  Just imagine: 3 bedrooms to fit 8 kids, 3 moms, a parakeet and numerous hermit crabs...

Four of us girls were all close in age, and we likened ourselves to Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy from "Little Women". (if you are wondering, I was Jo...)  We were always the "four girls".  We were always together, printing out pictures from Bop magazine and buying hemp necklaces to wear to the boardwalk where we hoped we'd run into our crushes...

Many many years later we are growing up and getting married.  

Christy's wedding in 2010

The latest to take the plunge is Kim, who was married on Saturday in Monkton, MD.  Kim and I have known each other since before we were born.  My Mom and her Dad actually went to high school together, and both sets of parents worked together early in their careers and have been close ever since.  

The wedding was absolutely beautiful. The ceremony was touching and light hearted, and everyone (especially Kim) looked gorgeous.  

Congratulations, Kim and Matt. Wishing you many years of happily ever after!!!!

Dad walking her down the aisle

Newlyweds!

Joey and my brother, Alex, looking dapper

Me and Corinne, Alex's fiancee

(Notably missing from this wedding was my sister, Laura, who was a bridesmaid in another wedding taking place that same day.  More on that later................................)

Mr. and Mrs.!

Some of the "Daveressyhart" Clan

The Four Girls (and the Groom)
Jo, Meg, (Matt) Beth and Amy ;)

Doc and Chloe Go to the Beach

They had never seen the beach, sand, or ocean before and I was so excited to bring them.  Joey teased me and said it would be anti-climactic but it turned out to be pretty awesome.  

They LOVED the way the sand felt on their paws, and all they wanted to do was run around like crazy.  We ran with them along the beach and even chunky Chloe was faster than me!!! 

They didn't really mind walking into the water, but the foam that came with the waves was not okay.  We carried them out a little bit and Doc was NOT a fan of the waves.  Chloe just wanted to make friends and chase seagulls.  I took a ton of pictures and video and we had a great time. Check it out:

AHHH! FOAM!!!

Pins vs. Seashell

Pins vs. Seashell, part II

And one video, for fun, of Doc vs. the Seashell:

Jess' Bridal Shower

Whew!!! I'm back, people!

After a long week including a Bridal Shower, Beach Vacation, and a Wedding(s), I'm back with a ton of photos and updates.

The first event of my long hiatus was Jess' Bridal Shower at a winery in Gibsonia, PA.  It was a loooong drive, but sometimes it's nice to go on a road trip by yourself.  You can stop as many times as you want, eat junk food, listen to Disney tunes... the list goes on and on...

As one of the bridesmaids, I worked long and hard on many of the crafts in the pictures below.  I was really proud of how everything came together.  Hats off to the other maids- Beth and Kat! :)

Jess had a lovely shower. It was very classy!  Bonus- we got to do a wine tasting at 11am to determine which wines we wanted to serve.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures:

Welcome table with a little game, favors, and recipe box.  We made the "W" out of corks. It was really hard!

One of the tables with pretty flowers, burlap, and the menu (Chicken Milan. OMG.)

Windows with poufs and wine bottles (we worked hard to empty those).

Personal wine-server.

Dessert table. Jess' Mom and her friends got together and worked magic.

Yours truly, hard at work on the Bow-quet.

Opening gifts

The groom came... and brought flowers! HOW CUTE. 

Me and the Bride

Definitely a framer. 7.13.13 here we come!