The Grand Tour

Well, we have lived in our current place for some months and have had much more freedom with our new landlord, a.k.a my mother in law, so we have been able to paint and customize our space to feel more homey :)

We finally have most everything away to where we are proud to show it off (you can't rush these things). So, for all of our friends who don't live around here, you can see how/where we live :)

Without further ado, the Hallway:
I had to show the fact that we have photos in our frames. The sat empty for a really long time.
Gotta hang the keys somewhere.
My cute Bistro sign no one ever sees because our hall is so narrow. I wanted to give it its moment to shine.
The Kitchen:

We love the purple walls. The table is also super cool because it is just a square that has two built in leaves that level themselves when you want to make the table bigger. Thank you Ikea.

Our glass top stove never looks this clean, so I had to strike while the iron was hot for this photo.

The Front Bathroom:

You can't really see it, but the shower curtain is doubled up. The brown tree one is behind a clear one with a green leaf pattern all over it. I love both curtains but the other shower has sliding glass doors on it.
The dog in the mirror is also a permanent feature in any room, because he will follow you everywhere... even into the bathroom.

The Office:

We love Ikea, if you can't tell.

The records and (dun dun na na!) Justin's diploma :)
The record player, which ironically sat in this exact place for several decades before we lived here. But hey, it still works and I can say I have a hi fi :) And yes, that is an 8 track player on top of it.

The Living Room:

Yes, the carpet matches the door mat. Thank you Angela :)
The back view of the office, complete with our fish. And yes, those are wedding pictures.
The super comfy couches.

The freshly completed wall feature. I added the bottom shelf recently.
I needed a space for our all time favorite picture with is also our all time favorite souvenir from a trip.
Our Bathroom:It is purple and green. If you haven't noticed the overall purple and green theme yet, perhaps you will now.
And last but not least, Our Room (my favorite room):

Your eyes are not deceiving you, it really is that green. The color is called "leprechaun."

I had to show this because I'm proud to finally have something in my frames. It took over a year, but finally we have visual proof we got married.
The tree above our bed is our second favorite souvenir. We got it in New York outside the Met. It is actually a paper cutting. It was done kind of like a snow flake but incredibly more complicated. Also, if you have seen our business website, this is the tree the whole site has on it.
I'm proud of this curtain too because I've had the curtain rod up since we moved in, but had nothing hanging on it until maybe a month ago. What makes it even better is that the panels cost me $3 each.
The cleanest our dresser has looked in a long time :)
Overall, I love the look of our bedroom and how it has turned out. I feel so adult and put together when I look at it.

The Shark Review - Continued

So, I have had the Shark Navigator vacuum for one month, and so far, I love it. I find myself vacuuming more frequently than I ever have in my life just because this piece of machinery makes it so easy to do. I know that I sound like a bit like an infomercial when people ask me about it, but I guess I will just have to accept it. I tried out the pet hair attachment today after discovering that the Gordo has started his biannual change of season shedding, which is more like a sheds-a-bit-more-than-normal. His fur was all over the couch after we brushed him, so I decided to test that baby out. I have to say, I was quite impressed.

I have another feature that I don't believe I mentioned very much in my previous posting: the size. This vacuum is incredibly compact for what it accomplishes. It is lightweight, and is so small it can fit into our teeny hall closet along with our steam mop, broom and dustpan, and ironing board that sit in front of all of our towels and such on shelves:
Here is a shot a little backed up so you can fully appreciate the dinky-ness that is the size of this closet:

The one downfall to this mini-vacuum is the size of the canister. I know a lot of it is my dog's hair combined with a wool carpet that sheds constantly, but I have to empty the canister in the middle of vacuuming my one carpet. For the rest of the tile, I can usually use if for most of the house before emptying, but the hair fills past the max fill line fast.

I also have to say, I love the dusting attachment. I cleaned our entire bedroom on Thursday, dusting all of our furniture, including candle holders and picture frames and even under the bed. I was even able to suck the dusty build up off of the air conditioning vent in the ceiling. It even got fur off of slightly fuzzy surfaces that have never looked this good since I bought them.

So, I'm still going to wait another few months before I make my final judgement, but I am enamored with the Shark Navigator thus far. :)

Impromptu Norah Jones Concert

Tonight, I was lucky enough to go and see Norah Jones in concert. It was amazing! What makes it more interesting is that I didn't know I was going until 30 minutes before we left.

On the sad side, my mom is sick with a very painful and very long named illness. The tickets were hers, she was supposed to go with my dad, my sister, and my sister's boyfriend. Try as she might, she just couldn't muster the fortitude to go out to the concert, so she offered the ticket to me. So, I tried not to act to happy, but also not disappointed.

So, we went to see Norah Jones at the Bob Carr Performing Arts Center in Orlando, and we even got roasted pecans :)

Here are some of the videos I got with my phone during the show (I'm sorry they are a bit shaky):

Chasing Pirates:

Don't Know Why:

Come Away With Me:

My Angela Is Gone :(

Well, it is official. Angela left for Queens, NY last Friday and I'm still in withdrawals. At least I had the opportunity to hang out and sort of help with the moving process.

On Thursday, we just kind of hung around the house. Angela picked up delicious Chicken Nachos from Mad Maxx's Grillin Shack - which I highly recommend if you are wanting a calorie filled, delicious meal. Before we left to get the food though, we had this little bit of fun:

Gavin was incredibly excited about having two vacuums in the house. Earlier in the day, he and I did this same routine for at least 20 or 30 minutes. Eventually Angela got the idea to switch it up and move the vacuum and see his perplexed reaction. It was really funny. Then, when Cheryl came over, he had to show her as well :)

The next day, my mom and I went over to help wipe everything down so they could get on their way. We had to wait for the movers to finish, so while they loaded everything up, we hung out in "osh room" - which translates as Josh's room. We had fun holding Harper and playing with Gavin. By the time we were finished, I just wanted to get pictures so I could remember how cute Gavin is right now :)

Justin and I will miss the Smiths and their little family. We will have to bug them in NYC sometime - hopefully soon :)