Wedding Weekend

This past weekend was filled to the brim with wedding festivities and it was such a blast! J and I feel so blessed to know Jenna and Jordan and to have taken part in their big day. Between the rehearsal on Thursday night, a girls salon day Friday and the fabulous wedding day itself, this past weekend was filled to the brim with love and good wishes for the new couple. 

All these pictures were taken either by me or by other people in the wedding and make me so excited to see the professional ones. This was the first wedding J and I have been to since our own and we both definitely had tears in our eyes throughout the night remembering just how wonderful marriage truly is!

nails day with the girls // the only picture of me & my hubs from the whole night // the gorgeous bride

 married in Pine, CO // such a stunning venue

To quote Jenna's amazing maid of honor....

You should never lie, cheat, steal or drink. But if you must lie, lie together. If you must cheat, cheat death. If you must steal, steal kisses. And if you must drink, drink with the friends and family that love you most. 

Homeowners: Brand New Flooring

It seems as if this project has been going on since we moved in (which is somehow already 7+ weeks ago) but now that our "adventures in flooring" are finally complete I can share with you the final product. 

We are absolutely in looove with our new hardwood and the fact that we did it ourselves is a huge confidence boost in the DIY-department. When I say "ourselves" I really mean J and his dad since my "helping" consisted of picking out boards that I thought were pretty and handing them off to the men. 

Previously the entire downstairs minus the kitchen and front entrance was carpet, and crappy carpet at that. J and my personal preference is to have hardwood in high-traffic & eating areas while still having carpet in living spaces to make it more cozy.

After ripping out the old carpet & prepping the subfloor, the new hardwood was finished over the course of a weekend. In total we laid about 250 square feet and then had the new carpet professionally installed a few weeks later. 

The wood we picked is Brazillian Koa in 5" width and the carpet is Martha Stewart from Home Depot in the color "Ganache". One interesting thing about this hardwood is that over the course of the next 6ish months, it will darken into it's final color from exposure to the air and sun which means we have to keep moving our kitchen table around so that it darkens evenly. (hello puppy nose!)

The wood has such amazing character and I love all the grain variations between boards. This little dark board was one of my favorites so I made sure it was placed in a visible place. We ran the new wood in the same direction as the existing Hickory in the kitchen and I love the contrast between the blonde and red woods. 

This was definitely the biggest and most expensive/time-consuming/nerve-racking home improvement project we've ever tackled and we are thrilled with the results. We love how our entire downstairs is coming along and are so happy we put in the effort with the flooring. Even Ollie's a fan!

Another checkmark in the homeownership department for us!

Bachelorette & Dancing Filled Weekend

This past weekend I joined a dozen other ladies to celebrate in a bachelorette weekend for my great friend Jenna. It seems so long ago that her and I first met when we had just started dating our husbands (or husbands-to-be) and now her wedding weekend is upon us!

We spent the weekend sipping adult beverages, hanging out by the pool, making new friends and enjoying two fantastic suites in a hotel downtown. We stuffed ourselves at dinner, danced the night away at a country bar and were thankful Jenna didn't make us wear tu-tus like the other bridal party we saw! It was such a fun weekend even if we were all feeling it the next morning. All these ladies are so awesome and now I cannot wait for the festivities to continue.

Happy bachelorette Jenna, thank you for letting me be a part of your celebration and big day!

Five on Friday v1

Today I'm linking up with Christina from Carolina Charm for "Five on Friday" 

Check out the link up below.

  

[one] Our new carpet got installed today and I looove it! Between ripping out the old stuff and DIYing the hardwood, it's seemed like the downstairs was a constant work in progress since we moved. The flooring adventure deserves a post for itself which I'll be sure to do soon but for now I'll be laying on the super soft floor for the rest of the day making carpet-angels.

 [two] J was out of town on his first business trip since we moved at the beginning of the week and I am a proud wife. We were lucky enough that his job in San Diego has let him work remotely from home so it made the transition much easier around the move. It turns out the trip this week went really well and he's all set up with tons to do over the next few months. I'm thankful for him and his motivation to support me financially as I can't work for the next while.

[three] This weekend I am headed downtown for a bachelorette weekend for a great friend. Jenna was in our wedding this winter and I'm honored to be in her's in two short weeks. We are going to have a blast celebrating her and her soon-to-be marriage and I can't wait for a bit of girl time!

[four] Being back in Colorado has been such a blessing already. Tonight we are headed to J's mom's house for dinner since his step-brother is in town and Sunday we're hosting dinner for my family since my sister is in town from college for the week. I love that we are involved in these types of things now that we're here instead of just hearing about them via Facebook and wishing we could join. 

[five] I start school in 17 short days and I cannot believe how the time this summer has flown by. Whether it's because of our disaster of a move or life just moving too quickly, I'm not sure if I'm ready to jump into school quite yet. I'm sure that a full week of orientation before classes actually start will help me mentally prepare for what's to come but as of right now I want to find a pool to lay by with a cold drink in my hand and a good chick-flick to read instead of thinking about med school yet.  

Happy Friday and happy weekend everyone!

This Weekend I

This weekend I....

+ Spent 2 hot & fun days at the lake

+ Played with puppies and our friends' cute little boy

+ Laughed too hard at my goofy husband on a mini motorcycle

+ Played drinking games, floated in the lake and officially started my summer tan

+ Cried when J cut open his head walking under the trailer because it breaks my heart to see him hurt

+ Broke my favorite pair of sunglasses which dictates a trip to Charming Charlie's sometime soon

+ Finished reading The Language of Flowers and started on Handle with Care

+ Enjoyed a yummy dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings with my momma

+ Repainted my nails and had a relaxing Sunday at home

+ Loved being back in Colorado

Linking up with Syndal & Sar

Currently [v6]

Currently I am:

+ excited about heading up to the lake tomorrow morning for some good old 4th of July fun. J and I have been going there for so many summers now and we have great memories of days spent in the sun. 

+ amazed that this will be J and my 7th Fourth of July together! Holy cow where has the time gone! Our dating anniversary was on Monday so this holiday is always special to me because of that. 

+ prepping our food for the weekend away and attempting to not have to use the grill while we're there. I tried a new pasta salad recipe that I modified with some protein to make it a meal and I can't wait to enjoy many a few adult beverages as well. 

+ shocked at the size of these marshmallows from Walmart. They are seriously enormous, like the size of 3 regular marshmallows. Hello, s'mores!

+ loving our new canvas prints from Costco in our family room. The quality is absolutely stunning, they are so well made and they give such an impact on our large wall. (we went with the 16x48" size) They were definitely more expensive than just doing prints in a frame but I think they are so worth it. Plus it's an awesome way to relive our honeymoon every once in a while by looking up at these canvases.

+ obsessed with French Press coffee after reading this post about how to make iced coffee with it. While we were waiting for our stuff (and more specifically my espresso maker) from the moving company I got a cheap french press and have been loving using it ever since. Plus it's a joy to have coffee already made when I wake up instead of having to fuss with the machine each morning.

+ thrilled with how our biggest home improvement project to date went over the past weekend! Our entire downstairs is getting new flooring and the first step was the hardwood. I promise to do a more detailed post with before and afters once the entire project is finished (carpet is going in next week) but here's a sneak peak anyways. This flooring is just gorgeous! 

Hope everyone has a fun, warm and safe 4th of July weekend!