- Katie's Birthday -

Sum-It-Up Sunday

Who loves a little birthday bowling?! WE DO! 

And we love it even more when it's glow in the dark AND when the birthday girl is Katie H!! Happy happy 26th birthday, you old woman... ;) 

Grab your balls, we're cosmic bowling! 

Loved this party! Love these friends! 


Other week highlights: 

-- All our new appliances were delivered to house, and all the painting is finished! YAY!

- Watch out! -

Painting in a teeny tiny bathroom with his back to a crazy wife...

This guy better watch out! ;) 

- Best Idea? -

Really?! ...Because I think this sounds like the worst idea ever. 

Thoughts???

- Master bathroom -

The makeover attention focused itself on the master bathroom today! 

Light holes...check.

Paint...check.

This little monkey is ready for a hot shower! ;) 

Goodbye house, hello home! 

- This is Love -

People say that only newlyweds think it's fun to paint together...

...We think it's a blast!!

So this is love?! :-*

- Supercross -

Sum-It-Up Sunday

If you know Brian even a tiny bit, you KNOW how much he loves dirtbikes and racing! He has been salivating over St. Louis Supercross for months now; this weekend it was finally here. We met up with some friends for lunch and then spent the rest of the day at the dome strolling through the pit and watching the racers practice. Needless to say, he had a great time!! [And aside from still being high from the fumes and deaf from the noise,] I had a great time, too! :)

Other week highlights: 

-- While Brian spent four days working in Green Bay, my dad and I met up at Home Depot to pick out and confirm all of the paint colors for the house. Swatches ready!

-- We ventured away from the normal tuna sandwich for [Lenten] Friday dinner this week; Buffalo Wild Wings fish tacos to the rescue! Mmmm. We met up with Bill and Kaylyn for drinks afterwards.

-- The house work continues! We are making so much progress! 

- Home Show -

Sum-It-Up Sunday

"Hey baby...last year we were engaged at the home show and didn't even live together, and this year we are MARRIED and getting ideas for our NEW HOUSE!"

True statement. We love some St. Louis Builders Home and Garden Show action, and we love it even more now that we are actually "shopping" instead of wandering aimlessly! :) 

Other week highlights: 

-- Pat, Laura, Mom, and I graced the Villa Marie Winery with our presence! What else is there to do on a snow day? Raising a glass to inclement weather...don't mind if I do!

- More house work -

Weekend #2...and we're back! 

[By "we" I mean everyone except me; I, unfortunately, was stuck catching babies at Mercy.]

Not sure of all that was accomplished, but Brian was in charge of the camera and managed to snap a few pictures.

Some door sanding? 

A little closet painting? 

Maybe some wire fixing? 

Don't even know? 

Good job boys and Ann!

- Nurse Nikki -

Remember that post about Nurse Nikki leaving L&D? 

Guess what, friends? 

SHE'S BACK! We had dinner and drinks at Houlihan's to celebrate!!! :) 

I get by with a little help from [these] friends! 

- ...And so it begins... -

The house flipping is in full swing!  

The first day, we passed the hours by taking out the kitchen cabinets...

...de-screwing all the closet shelves...

...[I learned how to use the power tools!]...

...pulling up the sub-flooring...

...plucking out MILLIONS of floor staples...

...draining the toilets...

...and disconnecting all the light fixtures and fans!

Phew! A lot of people put in a lot of work this weekend. We are so thankful for our awesome families [and their muscles!]! 

- Now what? -

After we claimed the keys and stood in the front yard to take our first picture as new homeowners, we looked at each other blankly and blurted out, "Now what?!" [Actually, *I* said that; Brian has had the plan of action ready for weeks!]

But seriously, what do we do and where do we go from here??!  With lots of brainstorming from my awesome hubby and lots of help from our awesome families, we are planning to flip and fix up the entire inside of the house.  

Oh em geeee.

#biggestprojectever

#atruetestofmarriage

#holyshizaherewego


Check out the raw footage! 


-LIVING ROOM-

-KITCHEN-

-MASTER BEDROOM-

-MASTER BATHROOM-

-MASTER CLOSET-

-LAUNDRY ROOM- 
[Seriously SO STOKED about this room! I am counting down to the day when I will never have to tote 5 loads of laundry down 3 flights of stairs to a bunch of junky coin-operated machines. Dear apartment living: I am so over you! Now to hurry and fix up this utility room...] 

-GUEST BEDROOM #1- 

-GUEST BEDROOM #2-

-GUEST BATHROOM- 

-STAIRS-

-BASEMENT-

This house better get ready for the biggest makeover it's ever seen! ;) 

Here we go! 

Goodbye house, hello home! 

- HOMEOWNERS! -

Sum-It-Up Sunday

We signed the papers, grabbed the keys, and proclaimed ourselves as NEW HOMEOWNERS!!!

And the remodeling work begins TODAY! Lots and lots of renovation and before/after pictures to come! :D


Other week highlights: 

-- Happy birthday Grandma Penny, Mindi, and Kevin!  Happy birthday, Abe Lincoln! 

-- After price shopping for appliances and realizing that our new fridge probably shouldn't have an 8-inch scratch and .5-inch dent across the front door, we bought all new appliances at Best Buy! Refrigerator, microwave, range, dishwasher, washer, and dryer are all being delivered to the house in a few weeks.  [I am MOSTLY excited about never again having to carry loads of laundry up and down three flights of stairs to a coin-operated machine. And for an oven that doesn't have a 10-inch flame shoot up every time you turn the knob.] Exciting times! 

-- The house is making progress! Toilets are torn out, staples pulled up from the floor, and popcorn crap scraped from the ceilings. My hubby and our sweet families have been hard at work. Almost time to paint!

-- LASTLY, we caught the SLU 9pm Mass this week and headed to Humps afterwards! It was so fun to share drinks with the Mass Choir friends and ALSO to celebrate Sean's birthday! Sean-o: Happy 21st anniversary of your 21st birthday, and we hope you are still just as crazy in 21 more years!

- Happy Hearts -

Flowers and chocolates and mushy gushy cards were so last year; my husband bought me a HOUSE for Valentine's Day! Hehe.

Ok ok, so ACTUALLY he also bought flowers and chocolates and mushy gushy cards, too. :) We also enjoyed a turtle cheesecake delivered fresh from Resa's kitchen!

Besides celebrating our first Valentine's Day as a married couple, we also celebrated our unity in Love "with a capital L" and being made perfect in His image and likeness! For our many blessings over the past year and for the gift of being eternally made for Love, we are forever grateful.

"Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is Love." ~1 John 4:8

Happy heart day, everyone. <3 

- Ash Wednesday -

There's that awkward moment when you realize binge eating carries you through night shift...

...BUT the clock ticks midnight and it's Ash Wednesday...

...and it's STILL going to be Ash Wednesday for half of the next night's shift!

Dang, I really didn't luck out with this one. 

Work was busy, busy, busy, so the hours flew by quickly. Phew!

In closing, I am excited to say that we will forever remember Ash Wednesday 2013 by its black remnants on my pink handtowel:

"Baby, I think I might've ruined your towel while you were at work!" *sigh* #men

[As Fr. Meconi said, B is just laying his life down for his wife in good, Paschal fashion!]

Happy Lent, everyone! May your season be filled with prayer, fasting, and almsgiving [oh, and also a little humor to get you through it!].

- Working and more working... -

Sum-It-Up Sunday

Is it possible that NOTHING more exciting happened this week than both of us working?!

In fact, it is possible...

...And it happened!

With the new labor and delivery unit being so busy and our [non-floating] labor and delivery staff being so short, the management is begging us to work extra shifts. Instead of hiring traveling nurses, our staff has agreed to work extra shifts for the travel nurse pay! Overtime + travel nurse pay = $$$$$! Woooo! While the incentive is awesome and the paychecks are even awesome-er, working 50-60 hours per week is getting a little a lot strenuous. And stressful. And kinda stupid. I'm not too thrilled about working, eating, sleeping, working, eating, working, repeat, repeat, repeat. I miss my normal life outside work! :(

Anyway, on a brighter note...

...Speculum exam, anyone??? ;) 

In between Brian's working hours this week, he kept busy with tearing up the floor at the house and patching holes in the drywall. More renovation posts to come!  


Other week highlights: 

-- I met my mom in Edwardsville for lunch on my one day off! We played catch up and shopped for a few things for the new house.

-- Did I mention that I had to work this weekend and missed the huge Mardi Gras celebration in Soulard?! So sad. :( Missin' those sweet college days! 

- Congrats to the Mr. and Mrs.! -

Eileen...is...MARRIED!! Ahhhh! 

We had an amazing time at her picture-perfect winter wedding! :) 

Happy wedding day, pretty girl! I love this picture -- a group of my favorite labor and delivery ladies! 

Congrats to to the Mr. and Mrs.! 

- Priscilla at the Fox -

Sum-It-Up Sunday

My sweet, charming, wonderful husband took both of our moms and me to the Fox this week! [Thanks, Purina, for the awesome box seat tickets! And Brian: you got lots of brownie points from the ladies!] The show was Priscilla, Queen of the Desert; none of us were sure how it would be considering the show isn't very famous AND the 3 main characters are drag queens.....

...but, we LOVED it! Great music and wild costumes and hilarious jokes! Lesson learned to take advantage of some Fox Theatre action any time we can get it! ;) 

Other week highlights: 

-- B and I shopped for appliances this weekend at the Mills! The stuff for sale at the "scratch and dent Sears" was, well, [for lack of a better explanation] very scratched and dented! In the end: we like discounted appliances, but we also don't want our nice, new, remodeled house to be immediately scratched and dented. We took some notes of what was there and plan to keep looking around and comparing prices with other stores.

-- My parents celebrated their anniversary on February 2! Claps for 27 years of wedded bliss and 27+ more years to come! :)