Everyday I'm hustlin'

This week has jam packed like crazy! But first some background.

Kellan & I have wanted to fix up our place since like forever, but we've always been so busy it's just kind of taken a back seat to everything else. We [okay I] disliked it so much we really never invited people over because we felt like it was a poor reflection of ourselves. ...does that sound super materialistic & shallow? I hope not, but lets move on. So I'd been eyeing this area rug from Ikea for awhile now, but Kellan loathes, and I mean loathes, Ikea so we've only been twice and each time he would just lag behind twirling the cart in circles down the aisle. Yup folks, that's the man of my dreams right there. But he knew I'd been wanting to go pick up the rug so last weekend he finally agreed to go with me! It was incredible. He let me walk through the WHOLE store & only complained like once!

We picked up my rug, I thanked my man, and home we went. All was well....expect things generally never work out so easily for us. We laid her out and I realized the square rug just wasn't jiving with our long rectangular room. I thought all was lost until Kellan offered to go back to Ikea with me again. Twice in one day, let alone month?! What universe was I in!

But it wasn't a joke, we went back, got my new perfectly sized rug, & picked up two more project pieces, score! Then we hit up Rita's Italian Ice to reward Kellan for being such a good sport & so he could introduce me to one of his mission time favorites.

Okay so that was all just last Saturday, but it sparked a fire in me & we've torn our house to pieces since making everything a little more us. Take a look.

It started when we had to move the sectional to put in the rug. I wasn't here when Kellan bought it & set it up so I had no idea how it really broke down but I was shocked to discover there was a whole sofa hidden under all those pillows & we spent the evening rearranging furniture.

Monday after class I decided the console table just wasn't doing it for me & I wasted no time priming it for something new. We threw in Catching Fire, put down the plastic from the rug & I got to work!

From day one, Kellan has wanted curtains for our living room but we have such an irregularly shaped window, finding curtain panels and a rod were never easy. So I decided to improvise, and stay within our teeny tiny budget by making our own curtain rod!

I got some electrical conduit pipe & cut it down to the right size. That was the easy part, next I had to find finials I liked but Home Depot didn't have anything other than ugly wood ones. I wandered over to the hardware department in the hopes that they might have some extra large glass cabinet pulls I could use but no such luck. I was about to give up when it dawned on me. Doorknobs! I turned around & found these beauties!

The doorknobs only came with one long screw though, so I had to send Kellan back to find something that would work for the other side. He had to get a bolt sheared off at the store & the employee told him to not let me on Pinterest anymore. Jokes on him, I came up with on my own!

A sneak peek of the console too

The curtains are my own project so I got to do all the setup! There was a slight hiccup when I installed the supports the first time so this was round two & ended up being golden.

While I was working on the curtain rod, Kellan was putting in new outlets! FINALLY! We'd had crummy, broken, yellow outlets since we've moved in and always hated them because the plugs never stay in. We put in white decora outlets and it was like the whole wall got a face lift. I've never been so happy to turn on the lights.

So that's some of the crazy projects we've been up to this week all while being busy with school. Friday Kellan spent the whole day on the couch working on a big research paper while I painted away on our new nightstands. Exciting!

Today we took it easy and hosted a dinner with my sister and her cute family. We made some lasagna & a chocolate chocolate chip bundt cake. Delish! Then we took Shelby to the park by our house and put her on the swings for the first time ever! She was a champ and LOVED it!

Shelbs & Uncle Kelly

Hope you've all had as great a week as we have!

Paint & Sawdust

It's been awhile, I know. But let's skip all that & just say we're alive & occasionally remember we have this thing called a blog.

Lately we've been incredibly busy with school and all that comes with it, but we've also gotten caught up in some incredibly fun projects. 

You guys it's official. I'm obsessed with power tools. Like a super unhealthy amount because one: I don't have any clue what I'm really doing & two: those bad boys are pricey! 

I've also become obsessed with copper and literally drooled all over my computer screen when I came across a stunning satin copper KitchenAid at Williams-Sonoma. I haven't been able to get her off my mind since February. & yes, I know it's a she, because she's just too pretty to be a boy. This love affair sent me calling every body shop in Provo hoping beyond hope they could paint ours and that Kellan would let me go ahead with it. 

Sadly, my man just didn't see my vision but I haven't given up hope yet. That beauty will one day be mine and we'll ride off in the sunset creating culinary perfection together. 

But enough about my daydreams. That took a turn I wasn't expecting. 

So back to power tools! Kellan & I recently came upon some free time after he quit his job and I quickly filled some of it with my crazy DIY schemes. First on my list was creating some extra counter space in our dismally small kitchen. We borrowed a friend's miter saw (I NEED one now) and got the rest of the tools thanks to Kellan's birthday monies. It took some time because we started it a bit before he quit but the end results were better than I'd even hoped for!

We really wanted a butcher block top, but couldn't find anything in a price range that fit our budget so we decided to make our own faux butcher block top. It took a lot of work & resembles a jig saw puzzle but we love the result.

We also had to do a lot of the work inside because it was snowing pretty hard outside, but it would get sawdust EVERYWHERE. I vacuum got a good work out. 

Why yes I do wear jewelry & chemistry goggles when I work, don't you? 

Do you see all that sawdust flying?!
& he kept arguing with me that he didn't need to wear a face mask.
That boy. 

Please excuse the horrible mess, we've since cleaned & organized.

Building this took lots of nourishment in the form of pizza & cheese dip.

We sanded, painted and stained all while it snowed around us.
That's commitment for yah.

It took some work, but it was so much fun to make! I'm already planning our next big wood working project and have a few smaller projects currently going on right now. Our living room looks like a construction zone but we have some big changes to reveal soon. :) 

Loving you is fun

First off can I just say I have THE most wonderful husband in the whole world. He spoils me so much and treats me like a princess. I really am living my own fairy tale.

So this Valentine's day was his turn to plan and I told him I just wanted something fun and romantic. Boy did my man deliver! He surprised me with night skiing at Sundance Ski Resort and whole day of fun filled adventure (more than we'd bargained for). 

It all started off perfectly as we picked up our rentals and then headed up to the slopes. We drove up the beautiful scenic Provo Canyon and showed up to the ski resort an hour earlier than expected. We thought we'd have to kill some time but Kellan batted his baby blues to the ticket girl and got us in early. Score! 

The weather was perfect and the runs were great. Kellan was doing incredible for only his second time on skis and we thought nothing could go wrong. Until disaster struck. 

It was around 8 o'clock and we were about to call it quits when Kellan dropped his glove from the ski lift. Not a big deal, we'd just pick it up as we came down. But when we reached the spot we thought it should be there was no sign of it. 

Another run it would have to be. 

We got back in line and were nearly on the lift when we happened to ask the man if he'd had anyone bring back a glove. He darted into the booth & tossed us Kellan's lost glove as the chair lifted us off the ground. By this point we were a little tired but were already in the air so THIS would be our new last run. 

As we came the first stop, where we would get off, I waited too long and watched as Kellan got off the lift and then to my horror as my skis lifted off the ground and air filled the space between. 

The next drop off zone was the top of the mountain with black diamonds all the way down, something I was NOT about to attempt for the first time at night. So I yelled down to Kellan that I'd just take the lift back down the mountain and to meet me at the lodge. Crisis averted, or so I thought. 

Turns out the mountain has skiing down the other side as well so the lift go all the way down the other side of the mountain before coming back up and over to our side. Thankfully I saw the signs saying it was closed and to get off now so I jumped off the lift at the top and called out to ski patrol who thankfully had a station across from the lift. 

He told me they usually call up a snowmobile for people like me but it was busy so I could either wait a while or get a guide down the mountain. I figured it would be more time consuming to wait for the snowmobile, and significantly more embarrassing, so I opted for the guide. 

Devin, a very nice ski patrol, and I started off, but not before I called Kellan and let him know what was happening. 

We got stopped along the way by a fellow skier who'd lost his ski going off a jump so we searched around until another ski patrol showed up and we continued along our merry little way. 

After what seemed like an eternity, Kellan & I were finally reunited at the bottom and officially called it a night! 

Romantic, adventure filled Valentine's? Check! 

By this point we were starving but in no mood for a real restaurant so we swung by Cafe Rio & ran into my bridesmaid Shauna! Turns out they were having a very memorable Valentine's day too & had just found out they were PREGNANT! It was incredible & I get to help plan a baby shower for little MJ [Michelia Junior]. We couldn't be more thrilled for them!

All in all, it was an incredible day and one we will definitely never forget. 

Back at it

That's right folks, we're back at school. & Kellan had his 24th birthday to boot!

First thing first, we had to get rid of Kellan's bread he had coming in. No Honor Code violations for us!

And of course, the mandatory "First Day of School" photos. Kellan was not so pleased & made sure to show it. That goober.

The second day of classes, we had to book it to the DMV to get Kellan a new license before his expired. It was fairly quick and not as dreadful as anticipated and we left both official residents of the state of Utah. Woot woot!

Wednesday was Kellan's birthday and we woke to fresh snow on the ground, or as Kellan called it, "a birthday miracle!" I called it awful and griped about it the whole day. But if it makes him happy I guess I can bear it.

We're super excited for all the next semester holds for us and can't wait to be one step closer to being done with school and closer to our careers. Only about 10 years left!

Grow old with me

This weekend marked Kellan & I's one year anniversary! We've made it folks. One year down, eternity to go! It's been an incredible year and we can't believe how quickly it flew by. Everyone keeps saying that the first year is the hardest to get though and I'm certainly hoping so! If this is the worst we have to deal with life will be a piece of cake.

To celebrate I planned out a weekend of fun to surprise Kellan. I'm not good at keeping surprises to myself at all, especially from my better half so this was TOUGH! I may have gotten a little too excited and leaked out a few hints to him, but it still turned out fabulous in the end.

Friday after Kellan got off work we made our way to the Chef's Table for a delicious anniversary dinner. We dined on scrumptious food and talked about our happy year and all the fun memories we've made together.

Excuse all the food pictures but the foodie in me can't resist. Also excuse the crummy phone pictures, it's all we have.

Saturday we got a few things done & then started off! I'd booked us a stay at the Zermatt resort in Midway so we took a nice scenic route and found ourselves in a cute small town right on the side of the mountain. It was absolutely beautiful up there and I may or may not be pining for some small town living.

We spent the weekend relaxing and swimming in the coolest underground geothermal cave.

Then as we were heading home it started to snow, Kellan's favorite, as if mother nature herself was saying "Happy anniversary!"