Thank Heaven for February!

Is it just me or has January just crawled by? January is my least favorite month in the whole year. I'm really excited for February and here are five reasons:

1) The Academy Awards - I don't know why I love the Oscars so much, but I do. It was the first event I ever went to with Dan's Alleman side of the family back in 2008. I look forward to this day every year!

2) Dan's 25th Birthday - I can't believe he'll be a quarter of a century! I don't know what the party plan will be but it'll be better than last year when Dan was alone in Alaska for work.

3) Valentines Day - Working in the Flower Business kind of soured Valentines Day for me last year. But I still love this holiday and I plan to do something really fun (and yet to be determined).

4) 3rd Anniversary of our Engagement - Time really flies! I think we'll have to go to the BYU Bookstore for old times' sake!

5) Leap Year - I don't know if there is really anything special about leap day, but it's kind of rare!

Ten on Tuesday

1. I’m totally loving the snow. I open up my curtains and it feels so cozy in this old brick house. Dan and I took a walk last night when it was lightly snowing. The light is so beautiful and the night is so still when it’s snowing. It was so romantic!

   1 2. Happy Chinese New Year – Little baby girl will be born in the Year of the Dragon. I’m also the Year of the Dragon. As are John Lennon, Joan of Arc, Freud, Reese Witherspoon and Shirley Temple. Dragons are lucky! 

3. Our boiler is finally fixed! It broke on New Year’s Eve and it took until now for the Home Warranty people to come fix it. Luckily, the boiler just heats the up and the up-up stairs so it was still livable downstairs. I’m so happy to have a warm house again!

 4.  I made Banana Bread Muffins today and they were delicious. I may have eaten four. I told you they were good! I got the recipe from here.

5. I had a dream last night that I was working at the Candy Counter. It was present day and I didn't know any of the other girls there. Everyone was asking for Sugarplums. It was really weird.

6. I finally organized my craft room. I actually want to be up there now! Everything has a place and it’s still pretty roomy up there. Now, all I need is a big bulletin board, a cute lamp and a waste paper basket and it will be complete. Now I have no excuse to neglect that quilt that’s been in the works since July!

7.  I feel bad when everyone asks me how I’m feeling because I’m truly feeling great! I have no complaints except for not being able to sleep on my stomach. I guess I should just count myself lucky and thank them for their concern?

8. I did 2 ½ loads of laundry today and actually folded and put it away. I usually don’t get this all done at once as evident in the half – there was a load of laundry from last week in the dryer - I feel quite accomplished!

9. I was looking through old pictures and I really miss my long hair. It was so long and curly! We’ll have to see how my hair changes over the next couple of months, but I’m not going to cut it super short again anytime soon!

10.  I've really been craving Subway like crazy these days. I might have also had a dream about sandwiches last night. I usually get a 6-inch Ham with Provolone, all the veggies (minus jalapenos) and mayo & mustard. We have a pretty sweet coupon so I might be able to convince Daniel that Subway really does sound good for dinner tonight! 

Picture from Here. 

Kristen's Baby Shower

This past weekend, we threw a lovely little baby shower for our dear friend Kristen. She's having a little girl in just a couple of weeks. We kept it pretty simple and had a delicious brunch. Jenny made great homemade granola for our Yogurt Bar, Taryn made amazing (truly) mini quiches, and I made brown sugar bacon and muffins. It was simple and delicious. We played a few party games but the best part was just talking to everyone. Congratulations Kristen! We're so excited to meet this little baby girl! 

Kristen -The Momma-to-Be (Right) and her mom and sisters

What Can $40 Buy You?

Well, if it's Martin Luther King, Jr. Day at Savers and everything is 50% off, it can buy you all of this! Most of the stuff is barely worn and from good stores like Baby Gap and Gymboree. What a major haul! This little girl is going to be very well dressed!

(8 Pairs of Pants, 7 Dresses, 4 Jackets, 2 Tops and 2 Onesies) 

The Dreamer of Oz

It's so weird how random things can trigger memories from your childhood. I was eating a piece of hard candy and it reminded me of one of my favorite movies as a kid, The Dreamer of Oz*. This was a made-for-TV movie that we had recorded on video that I'd watch pretty regularly during my Wizard of Oz phase.

Which, lets face it, was pretty much most of my childhood.

Anyway, I was thinking about the movie and how I had't seen it in forever. Since I'd only seen it on TV, I didn't think it was available anywhere to watch. Oh contraire!  It turns out it's a special feature on the 70th Anniversary Edition of The Wizard of Oz that Dan's Aunt Kris has! So we borrowed it and I instantly traveled down (the yellow brick) memory lane.

I love being all nostalgic and reminiscing about the good ol' days!

*Which for the record, is a totally random nonsignificant part of the movie, but it still it reminded me of it!

May Day! May Day!

Mark your Calendars for May 23rd. 

That's when the Workmans will be adding a little pink bundle of joy to their group.

Hip Hip Hooray! 

Picture from Here. 

A House Tour

Here it is! The House Tour you all have been waiting for! We LOVE our house and it's been really fun fixing it all up. We're nowhere near done, but isn't that one of the joys of being a homeowner? 

When we first looked at the house, it was completely empty. We totally had a blank slate to make what we wanted of the space. 

This is the BEFORE

Looking for a better Television Stand Solutions - I like the idea of an Entertainment Center or Hutch, but that'll be a future project! 

Dining Room: 

Kitchen: 

Done with Kitchen Befores - Time for Afters!

Future Projects include: Curtains and a Kitchen Cart/Cabinet

Dan's Office:

 

Master Bedroom: 

This is the only before picture we had! 

Okay, there are also two bathrooms, two other rooms and a loft. But, they are construction zones or look like bombs went off. So, as those rooms get fixed up we'll post pictures. Hope you liked the tour! 

In October, I was sitting in my living room and there was a knock at the door. I open it to see a random girl - with a camera. She's like "Hi, I'm taking bridal photos and we think your house is so cute and can we take some pictures in front of your house?" I was a little confused as I tried to process everything. I look behind the girls shoulder and see a boy in a suit and a girl in a wedding dress get out of an SUV. Wow. Here are a couple of the photos from that session. I guess we'll need to take some portraits ourselves in front of our house because these pictures turned out really cute! And I promise to post some pictures of the interior soon, I know I've been teasing you all with only exterior photos for too long! 

Photos taken from Here