let the countdown begin!

image via tumblr

one week from now, we will be en route to rome via philadelphia and boston.  i'm so overwhelmed as to how much needs to get done in the next week that i've resorted to blogging about it and looking at pretty pictures online of the places we get to visit.  and not to mention how much of a change it will be to be away from the guys for 10 days. and so far away!  i go back and forth between needing a break so badly to breaking down at how much we're going to miss them.  bryan's parents get the first shift over the weekend, my parents get the week, his again the next weekend, then mine to finish the last leg before we get home on tuesday.  they're all moving in, and i'm so grateful the boys don't have to be uprooted - they don't do well with that sort of thing.  

will try to update as we near the big day, but most likely my next post will be after we've returned and i have 487 pictures to post!

missing/almost finished!

sorry to be such an absentee blogger, but life has been hectic, to say the least.  in our last stage of closing in our screened-in porch, we decided to get our whole first floor re-finished.  they're amazing!! moving out for a loooong weekend to my parents, cramming all of the furniture into the kitchen, bathroom, garage and everywhere else that wasn't being worked on, not so amazing.  but the floors. beautiful!  we haven't let the dogs in because their nails need clipped, i want to sweep after every single meal, i love them.  

and we have reached our final stage of adding on: the built-ins.  yippee!!  a storage bench will line the back wall and the windows will be framed by bookshelves.  i took a few pictures just now because i had the time, but will definitely post the finished product (which hopefully will be done by tonight!).  our contractor is doing these himself and surprisingly, we let him kind of do what he thought would look the best.  turns out, he knows what he's doing.  enjoy!! we are...