What Have We Been Up To?

Really, what haven't we been up to. The last few weeks have been a blur of activities--most of which have centered around home renovation, but not all. Let's start with the exciting things, and then we'll move on to the boring stuff. That way, if you get bored, you can stop reading.

The first weekend in March, Chad and I went to Charlotte. Chad attended a mini-lypse for i-Stock (the online company he uses to sell his stock photography). While he was taking pictures like this:

I was doing this:

One of my best friends from college just happens to now live in Charlotte with her husband and adorable little boy. Katy, Jacob, and I spent some quality time together on Friday, and Andy joined us for a trolley ride and trip to the children's museum in uptown Charlotte on Saturday. We had a great time. The Burches were the perfect hosts, and it was a blast catching up with Katy. Although, reminiscing with her did make me feel old: I realized our freshman year of college was SEVEN years ago. Wow. It feels like just yesterday we were doing crazy things like riding a greyhound bus to Las Vegas, watching Spanish soap operas together during lunch, riding our mattresses down the dormitory stairs, and sledding on pizza boxes on campus (just to name a few of the memories I share with la otra Katy.) I am so thankful for friends that you can be apart from for years, but when you get together your friendship feels the same.

The same weekend that we went to Charlotte, Santa decided to pay us a visit. "It's not Christmas!" you say? Oh, I fear you must be mistaken, because why else would a little gem like this decide to show up in our mailbox?

Yes, those are concert tickets, my friend. And no, you aren't mistaken, they most definitely do say COLDPLAY! Chad and I are going to meet one of my best friends, Lacey, for this concert in August. They're coming to Raleigh, and we'll be there. This was very exciting news since they are on my list of people to see in concert before I die. The only thing that could make this better would be seeing them in the UK, but hey, I'll take what I can get.

Of course, even when it's Christmas, we can't stop pretending to be on HGTV, so we've continued our own version of My Big, Amazing Renovation. If you've ever seen the show, you've witnessed the frustrations people go through while remodeling. I can't watch this show without shouting out a sympathetic, "I FEEL YOUR PAIN!" every few minutes. If we were on the show, our episode would look/sound something like this:

Katie: "Wow, this bathroom is really ugly."

Chad: "At least it's a good size."

Katie: "With a little updating, it might not be too bad."

Chad: "Katie, hold this mirror while I unscrew it, so we can keep peeling off the layers of wall paper stuck to the sheet rock while you try not to swear."

Katie: "Of course, darling."

Katie (after the mirror shatters all over the bathroom vanity and floor): "Are you OK?!

Katie, again (after noticing the interesting wiring that had been hidden behind the mirror): "Wow. That's up to code."

Katie (around the time that she foolishly thought she might be able to move into her house by Christmas. . . at this point in the show some dramatic music would begin playing, and the narrator would be saying something like "Chad and Katie are now ____ months behind schedule and $_____ over their original budget. In a moment of desperation, Katie has a tear-felt conversation with Chad"): "Let's hire someone to come finish part of the bathroom because I am going to have a nervous breakdown."

Chad: "Because you won't stop crying, I will let you continue to fantasize that we might be able to move into this house soon. You're wrong, but whatever you want to think is fine. We'll call the handyman to come knock some of this out."

Katie: "You know what sounds like fun? Being on my hands and knees for hours! Let's learn to tile our bathroom floor!"

Chad: "Nothing would thrill me more!"

Katie (after tiling for a few hours): "The lines aren't matching up right!"

Chad: "Some of these tile are different sizes."

Katie: "I don't care! JUST FINISH IT!"

(Flash to a few days later)

Katie: "Now that our tile job is done, and the grout makes most of our mistakes not noticeable, let's call a plumber to install a new toilet, without a sea-shell seat. He can also hook up our gorgeous new vanity from Home Depot."

(You've got to admit, folks, it DOES look pretty, darn good.)

Katie: "We will have to do something about the laundry area, because this is going to be an issue."

After handyman, sheet rock man, electrician, and plumber combine, this is the result:

Katie: "After we knock out the window air conditioning unit, remove the jungle vine growing into our house, scrape the popcorn off the ceiling, and paint the walls, this will make a great guest room."

Chad: "Agreed. Let's buy our paint from Lowe's."

Katie: "Let's go back to Lowe's, because the lady who mixed the paint and said, 'I hope this works,' clearly had no idea what she was doing, and our walls now look like a child has finger painted with chocolate pudding for a few hours.

(At this point in the show, there would be one of those dramatic fast-forward techniques used where you would see people going in and out of the room painting, but it would be like they were moving at 10 times the pace of a normal human. Then the room would magically look like the image below.)

Katie: "It would be a punishment to our child if we made him or her sleep in a room that looks like this."

Chad: "Agreed. Let's paint it and make it an office."

Katie: "You're a genius!"

Katie: "Wow, I thought wall paper was bad until I realized the agony that is sanding walls that have been sponge painted."

Katie: "Let's play a guessing game! How many coats of white paint will it take to cover this hideous, green trim?"

(I'm not sure, because I lost count at four.)

Katie: "Wouldn't it be a great idea to tile this room so it feels like an extension of the kitchen?"

Chad: "Because neither of us have tiled before, and we are stupid, I'm going to have to say yes!"

(Again, looks fabulous, if I do say so myself.)

Katie: "Remember that crazy lady at Lowe's who mixed the paint for the guest room? Well, it turns out she's not the only incompetent employee in the paint department. Let's run out of paint, so we can find that out."

Chad: "Great idea. Once they tell us they can match the exact color, and fail, we can repaint our den multiple times!"

Katie: "How grand!"

Katie: "Wow, now that the end is in sight, this looks like a completely different house!"

(Do our floors not look smashing?"

It turns out, our episode would have to be more than an hour long. So tune in later for a look at the finished product.

That's what we've been up to over the last little while. If you're not still reading, I understand!