Morning Run and other things...

Running was so much better (and fun) this morning because I went to the park/lake by my house. There is something about a nice view to look at as you run that seems to make it a lot more therapeutic. I think the next few days I will be scoping out the perfect place to run because it was THAT much better. I usually just run in my neighborhood, but I don't like that I get to smell car fumes, ward off people's leash-less dogs, and receive awkward stares from people in their garage. A little weird.

These next few days are crazy because my finals are on Tuesday for 2 very tough classes. I will be so relieved when they are over, but I feel like I have a million things going on at once. I always used to say that I didn't have time to work out because I was so busy for school, but I'm finding that I NEED that time to take a breather from school, cleaning, errands, etc. It's just nice, and helps me to calm down for the rest of the day. Thank goodness I have finally found this peace with running, and that it is feeling like less and less of a chore!

Right now I am studying for my Language class, but find myself longing to be running again. Love that. :-)

Kitchen Progress

So our kitchen's new look has been a huge work in progress for the past year or so. We pretty much gave up on it after our first idea did not go as planned. Well, we reeeeally want to get it complete before this school year begins and so we can have the heart of our home back!

Here are some current updates for the kitchen:
--Bought and installed backsplash, just need to grout
--Began painting ugly maple 70's cabinet white, added crown molding to "modernize"
--Russell is now building our new(er) cabinet doors - the same cabinet doors with inset beadboard
--Bought knobs and pulls.... just need to finish painting cabinets

Need to do:
--Finish painting cabinets, install knobs and pulls
--Take down popcorn, texture ceiling
--Paint walls (our "sunrise" yellow color?)
--Grout backsplash
--Spray paint old hinges to match fixtures and knobs (nickel)

Whew! There's still a lot to do! Hopefully we will have this finished by next weekend. Pictures to come!! :-)

Bathroom Remodel... Complete!

I am definitely the luckiest woman alive. Not only is my husband handsome and wonderful to me, but he is talented at remodeling, too! Not that I didn't know this before, but this bathroom remodel definitely restated the fact.

So I'm going to back up and explain the story of our house a little bit. I bought our house two years ago, right before our wedding so that we could have our own house once we got married. I was pretty determined to find a cheap house that we could make look like a million bucks after we worked on it. So, we definitely bought a fixer-upper. Now, it's SO easy to say something when you're a first-time home buyer, but actually doing all the work required... well it takes time, money, and patience. There have been times when we say, "Why didn't we just buy a new home?!," but then we do projects like this and I know we made the right choice. If we had bought a new home, it would be really hard to make it our own like we can with this house. Plus, so much love and pride goes into making your house your own, but especially when it was completely old 70's gunk before! Haha :-)

Well, to give you an idea of our bathroom dilemma, I will replay a conversation between me and Russell that used to take place quite often.
Russell: "I wish we had a bathroom suite."
Krista: "We can always convert the garage and hire a plumber to make us one with a jet-tub, stand-up shower, and double sinks."
Russell: ::Blink:: "That's expensive."
Krista: "Yeah, you're right. What CAN we do to make it feel nicer?"

And then I proceed to look on Pinterest for ideas. Well, I definitely LOVED this picture I found a couple weeks ago:

I knew Russell could definitely do it because, well, like I said earlier, he's amazing. ;)

So as soon as I saw it, I told Russell, "Doesn't this just look GREAT?" (Or something like that...)

And then we started scheming....

Well, let me just cut to the chase and show you the before and after:

Okay, so sorry about me being in the first pic. Not flattering, but oh well! Look at how not flattering the bathroom is! Icky 70's... EVERYTHING! The old wood cabinets, the weird wanna-be marble counter top, the giant egg-like sink. Plus a huge mirror that takes up way too much space, and a tacky light fixture. Can you feel my frustration? 

Then I'm taken to heavenly bliss when I see the After Picture :-) 

I love the way everything ended up flowing together so well. Most importantly, we did it on a budget. Go Russell & Krista. 

Here are some close-ups:

We got our vessel sink off of E-bay after searching for the perfect one. All I wanted:  An oil-rubbed bronze faucet. Thank you E-bay for such a great deal! :)

Here's a close-up view from one angle. The counter-top is a nice looking piece of wood Russell got from Lowe's. He stained and poly'd it to make it water resistant. Nice!

I got the light-fixture from Home Depot. Again, all I cared about: oil-rubbed bronze. I like it! 

The mirror is one that we already had, but also purchased from Lowe's a while back. As I was walking out to go pick out a mirror, I told Russell, "Do you think this mirror will work? Nah, it may be too big." 

We definitely saved money when we discovered it fit perfectly, and keeps with the oil-rubbed bronze look! Could life get better? I submit that it cannot. (Who knows that comedian?)

I got the hardware from Lowe's and it wasn't bad at all. It totally transforms the look of everything and I am definitely pleased.

Well, this is one long post all about my bathroom. I have definitely done my share of bragging, but I just can't help it!! I'm even BLOGGING in front of the bathroom. Sheesh :-) What do you think of it?

Time flies....

...when you're on summer vacation! So much is going on- it's crazy!! Okay, so our life may not be *crazy*, but it does feel like it sometimes. I'm finishing up my last 3 weeks of 1/7 semesters, and I am soooo ready to be finished! So far my grades have been good and I have no complaints. In the next three weeks, I have to complete quite a few things though, and I know it will get done. Just gotta do it! Maybe I'm writing this to motivate myself?

While I'm doing school work, Russell has been busy remodeling our bathroom. I'm so excited that he has come so far with it. We now have a new vanity area, a unique version of wains cotting (sp?), new light fixtures and hardware, crown molding, and a vessel sink! Wow- that is a lot. I didn't realize how much it was until I type it out.

I'm excited to post a picture of the end result. Hopefully by tomorrow that will happen....

Just wanted to give a quick update while I had "time". I just finished taking a quiz and now I have to complete a brochure and finish reading some articles. Not too shabby! :)