OH MY WORD.

There is no better phrase to sum up the last 7 days than "oh my word."  Seriously.  So far, close to 75 man-hours have been logged as we have trudged through the storm named "repainting our kitchen cabinets."  Has it been worth it?  We certainly hope so, but only time will tell.  Hopefully (fingers crossed), the death trap that is our kitchen will be put back together this weekend.

Here's where we started (excuse the slight disaster...I nearly forgot to take "before" pictures, so I just snagged a few the morning before we began).

 PS - if you're a lover of all things natural wood, please avert your eyes.

 Soooooo much honey oak.

 And almost as much dingy brass.

 And a happy huzz.

 Making room for "distant gray".

 Ideally, this will be a usable space someday.

 My beloved cookbook collection.

 I'll provide more accurate stats (and a whole heckuva lot of details and exaggerations) later, but for now, this is how far we've come:

 We've been living in this chaos for a week (#firstworldproblems).

 And it's all about to come to an end. Can't. Wait.

Tonight's checklist:  spray paint hardware, do final coat on tops of doors, purchase those little clear things that you put on the backs of doors and drawers to prevent them from sticking to the frame (that's a technical term), and SIT.  We be sleepy.  But excited.

More deets (and pictures!!!) to come!

Le Tour de Apartment

Currently, our main floor is in shambles due to a bathroom quasi-remodel that is half-done and our upstairs is a disaster due to the installation of a 5-minute fan that ended up taking 45 minutes...and then we decided to call LeRoy, our resident electrician.  I have nothing house-related to show that is remotely interesting, SO instead, how about a tour of our ex-apartment?  Just for nostalgia's sake.

Let's get started!

Guest room, post "mom is here to help me clean it up."

 And yes, that is a freezer  in our guest room. 

 Living room, duh.

 Our room.

 My favorite red dresser.

 And the baby-size kitchen.

And there you have it!  Tiny, tiny space.  The only thing I miss about our tiny space is that it took only 30 minutes to clean the whole place.  HOWEVER, I never felt like it was actually clean.  It was always a little dingy and dirty.  Yikes.

This week's projects include finishing the downstairs bathroom, paying someone to install the ceiling fan, and beginning the epic painting project that is the kitchen cabinet.  Wish me luck!!!

Vacay for Life

We were MIA for 10 days due to the blissfulness that was our vacation.  Colorado Springs, Breckenridge, Moab, and Denver were all conquered in that time.

We began our time by seeing our good friend from college, Cal.

 He's doing an externship for optometry school in the Springs (not a bad gig, huh?), so we stayed with him over the weekend and ran around the Navigators' land (the family he is staying with is administratively connected to the Navs).

Very cool.  Even though Cal looks a little ridiculous and Dans has a knife at his shoulder.

 Omg.  Best buds!

 It's okay, I know we look really awesome.  I mean REALLY awesome.  I jk.  We were slightly not prepared for our hike that day.  But only slightly.  And if you know me, you know I pride myself on being prepared always.  Perhaps a water-proof watch, additional socks, and a hat would have been helpful.

 We biked around Garden of the Gods in the afternoon.  (Our legs were sore after such an intense day.  "Go big or go home" became our motto.)

Don't judge my look.  Helmets may not be flattering, but my life was spared multiple times over. And who says yoga pants aren't for biking!?

 After such a taxing day, we relaxed the next afternoon by learning how to fly fish (Cal is an avid fisherman).

 The water was cold, my legs were white, and I saw no fish.  Seriously, not one.

 We took off Sunday night and headed to Breck.  Pause mid-drive for a look at the scenery.  Notice my hat?  It's a real original from Pikes Peak Fly Fishing Store or something like that.  It even says "Montana" on the back.  If you think this is the last time the hat will show up, worry not, it will be back shortly.

On the drive into Breck from our hotel, we just had to stop so I could get a squinting picture in front of the ski slopes.

Fatty's Pizza was definitely on our list of "things to do in Breck."

Following our brief stay in Breck, we headed to Moab (our ultimate destination).  And we set up camp.  Yes, CAMP.  This is where I could go on and on about my love of hotels, air conditioning, indoor plumbing, etc. etc.  But I won't.  Just know that a tent is not my first choice of amenities.  Love me some amenities.  Don't judge.

 Alas, we set up our tent, went into town to eat at a restaurant (don't judge), and returned "home" for the night.

 While it may have been my most miserable night of sleep all vacay, it was a good memory.  AND I proved to Dans that I can "rough it."  Just not for long. :)

 The hat returns!  (Arches National Park in Moab, Utah)

 Lotsa hiking, lotsa water drinking, not enough sunscreen.  Whoops!

 This was Danzzz' "artistic" shot of my head.  I know, award winning.

 We SOOOO happy.  And only mildly sunburned at this point.

 Dansie under the big arch.

Timid Heidi under the arch.  I may or may not have walked with my arms forming my body into a T the entire day.   There's just something about crevaces on either side of me that make my stomach go a wee bit cray-cray.

 Then a nice couple offered to take our picture.  Dans tried to strike up conversation with them by asking them where they are from.  They said, "California."  And then the conversation died. A sad moment.

 Landscape arch on our HOT afternoon hike.

 After running out of sunscreen at lunch, a sweet old lady gave us a little.  I want to be the kind lady who does that to unprepared tourists. 

 The final arch on our hike.  I think this is the moment when I said, "My arms are fried.  We have to go back now."  So we did. 

 Apparently I took very few pics in Denver.  But we didn't forget to snag a few of our incredibly poorly-packed car. 

 Seriously.  It's embarrassing.  We may have had to slam the door to keep everything in its place.  Oh well.

 

We ended our trip with breakfast with a few wonderful people.   Anybody recognize these awesome individuals?  :)  Fun times.

So there you have it.  A lovely, rejuvenating, energizing, and hilarious vacation.

Miles hiked:  20+
Meals eaten:  22
Nights camped:  1
Embroidered t-shirts purchased:  1
People visited:  3
Miles driven:  2000
Ikea's visited:  1
Different versions of Dillon's sighted:  5
Great time had:  2

And life begins again.  But what a wonderful time to check out from reality for a few days.  We should totally vacation for life...