Chapter 1: Make New Friends

Since this week marks the first full year I’ve been living and working in Pittsburgh, it seemed like fate that the Newcomer’s Club in my city would host its annual Fall Kick-off Meeting on Wednesday night at a local coffee house. I was bound and determined to participant and find myself a buddy or two.

The sad truth is that I’ve been here a whole year now and haven’t really made any new friends. Yes, I realize I’m pathetic. And while I have a few co-workers I like and some of Keith’s co-workers are fun to hang out with too, it’s not the same as having a true girlfriend – someone I can just call up and see if she wants to grab a bit to eat, go shopping, see a movie or get a pedicure.

Sometimes I think I’m being too greedy because I really don’t have enough fingers and toes to count all the wonderful high school, college and after-college group of ladies that I’m so lucky to have as close friends. I know they are all there for me no matter what…except when I have the urge to see a chick flick on a weeknight and they are all at least 3 hours away. That’s a problem. So finding someone here in Pittsburgh to add to my list of close girlfriends is a necessity.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I went to the meeting. I felt like a freshman on OSU campus again – completely shy and afraid that people might see a big “L” (for loser) stamped across my forehead. What I found was a room full (and I mean full) of chatting woman. For some reason I thought it would be a small turnout, but apparently this Newcomer’s Club averages between 70 – 100 ladies. Wow! And it truly is a diverse group of woman – younger and older, working and non-working, single and married, etc.

After I signed-in and got my name badge, I slightly panicked because it was starting to get crowded and all the women were standing in groups chatting. Do I just pick a group to party crash? Will someone see me and welcome me into their conversation? Crap! I didn’t know what to do except bolt for a corner table that had fliers about upcoming events. I think one of the current members took pity on the awkward pregnant lady who clearly “didn’t have a group” and came up to introduce herself. Whew! Ice was broken. I felt a little more at ease and more women slowly started to join our conversation so I got to meet more “newbies” in the community.

Later, the President had all the Department Chairs go around and discuss the various activities of the Club – wine and chat, monthly dinners, book club, theatre club, international club, family events, play dates, couples events, etc. There truly is something for everybody.

I eventually sat at a table with a nice group of women, two of which were new to the area as well. And it felt so good to just talk to them. Granted, I didn’t leave the event with a new BFF (that takes time), but I felt happy and proud of myself for taking that scary first step. It’s not easy being the new kid, but at least I found a group of women who are in the same situation…and maybe open to adding me to their list of buddies too. Only time will tell.

I think I’m going to go to the September book club meeting next Thursday because they selected The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and I luckily read that book this past June. Yay! I’ll keep you posted on how my search for a new friend goes...I’m beginning to think it’s as much work as renovating a house!

Evening Ritual

One thing we’ve had to learn while living in Pittsburgh is how to dodge traffic while walking our baby Walter. If I had to guess, I would say about 75 percent of the neighborhoods in Pittsburgh do not have sidewalks. It’s bizarre to me, but maybe that’s just because I’m just a sidewalk kind of gal.

And I realize that the ‘no sidewalk thing’ wouldn’t be such a big deal if Walter acted like a normal dog on a walk. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. He is a big, crazy, loveable, snuffleupagus on a leash.

Yes, Keith and I look utterly ridiculous when we are out walking him because it mostly turns into Walter dragging us back and forth across the street (And yes, we realize every day that paying the tuition for doggie obedience school would have been money well spent). But we suck up our pride and try to walk him every evening because it’s Walter’s favorite thing to do and we love the guy. (Notice how he is practically in the middle of the road as a car passes by. I swear, he hears a car coming and walks toward it!)

So despite this hassle, I do love our evening walks. Pittsburgh has so many big, overgrown trees that aren't commonly seen in Columbus. And I think our street is especially lovely - the best in the entire neighborhood.

Plus, I like how our walks in Pittsburgh give us a little more of a workout than if we were walking in Columbus. Whatever route we decide to take, we always encounter at least two decent-sized hills that we must crawl up. It’s pretty clear how this area of Pittsburgh got the name “South Hills.”

And once we get back to the house after our walk, Walter is the first one at our front door - waiting for us to let him in so he can slobber water all over my floor, eat his milk bone and happily pass out. Keith and I collapse on the couch and enjoy some TV time...and maybe an ice cream treat. Yup, when we are not busy with our renovation chores, this is our ritual – and I love it. :o)

Going Home

So I realize that all I ever talk about on this blog is the renovation of our house. I have yet to talk about the relocation aspect of our move that has also changed our lives. This week marks the first full year I’ve been living and working in Pittsburgh – Keith was here for about 3 months before me.

One thing I can say about our relocation is how it has made me cherish our trips back to Columbus, Ohio. These trips almost feel like holidays to me. I’m literally giddy the entire week before as I busily try to pack as many dates with friends and family into one weekend as humanly possible.

This past weekend was a big event in Columbus and we definitely didn’t want to miss it – the first Saturday afternoon OSU football game of the season! And this particular Saturday was probably one of the biggest games of the year. OSU was playing Miami! The last time these two teams met was the 2003 National Title Game. Miraculously we managed to score 4 tickets to the game through the OSU alumni lottery. And of course we asked two of our favorite people to join us – Nick and Amanda.

And we were especially relieved to learn their guest room was vacant for the weekend and, like always, they welcomed us to crash at their house like it’s no big deal. And while it might not be a big deal to them, it’s a big deal to us. As much as I cherish our trips back to Columbus, it’s often stressful having to find a place to stay for the weekend. We don’t want to be (or feel like) a burden on others. But our relocation has made Keith and I feel even more grateful to have such loving and caring friends and family who happily open their homes to us and make us feel so welcomed and comfortable without a blink of the eye. We truly appreciate it and can’t thank them enough for their generous hospitality! xoxo

So Saturday morning we were back at the best place on earth…outside the OSU football stadium with our Buckeye tailgate van, hanging out and soaking up some sunshine and good times with friends.

Amanda and Nick are expecting a baby boy exactly one month before we are so Amanda and I already have grand ideas of our children marrying each other so we can plan a wedding…she promised that they were starting to save money so “Hector” could buy “Nugget” a huge engagement ring! Don’t we look cute with our bellies and our Buckeye necklaces?

And Lynette, another BFF, was in town from Chicago so that was an added bonus to being in Columbus this weekend. She was taking Kristy (my oldest BFF and practically a sister) to the game with her so they stopped by the tailgate too. I love how we got Morrill Tower in the background because that is where we lived Freshman year. (We missed Laura not being in town, but I loved hearing her voice that morning when she called to tell me to have a good weekend! That one is nothing, but sweetness!)

Our seats for the game were literally the last row of the stadium, but on the 50 yard line. And while it was a haul for Amanda and I to get our bellies up all those stairs, the view was well worth it.

And just look at this photo of us! I think this may need to be on our Christmas card this year – right?

It was an AWESOME game that even a few showers during the 2nd quarter couldn't change. The Buckeye’s won it 36-24. Go Bucks!

Then Sunday morning Keith and I got to visit with Kristy and Lynette again over breakfast, but this time we also got the pleasure of Reese’s company. Reese is Kristy’s 4-month-old baby girl and the most squeezable little darling ever!

I love how Reese and my nugget will be close in age and can one day share a love of Barbie Dolls like her mother and I once did.

After breakfast I attended the baby shower Keith’s family was throwing for me and it was nice to spend a beautiful afternoon outdoors with his aunts and cousins since we probably won’t be able to see them over the holidays this year (Nugget’s arrival will put a halt on any of my travel at the end of this year).

They prepared a delicious lunch and showered me with some much needed baby gear and books for our little nugget.

And then all of a sudden, it was time to drive back to the Pitts (my pet name for my new city). Every time we leave it makes me long for the time when we have the opportunity to move back to Columbus. But I’m also enjoying this exciting adventure Keith and I are doing together…because trust me, living in Pittsburgh is an adventure!

If I’ve learned one thing about our relocation I would have to sum it up with the last words to The Ohio State University’s alma mater Carmen Ohio:

"Time and change will surely show, how firm thy friendship. OHIO”

Chapter 15: Kitchen Renovation

So this was probably the last major hurdle with the kitchen renovation. Painting. In my head I thought that the color we picked out for our bedroom – Glidden’s Barely Jade – would look great in the kitchen. However, after the granite got installed I realized that was totally not going to be the case. Our granite is so pretty that I really didn’t want a paint color to overshadow it. And even though Barely Jade is a soft shade of green/blue/gray, there are not colors like that in the granite to make it work as a good accent.

So it looks like we would have to go with a neutral color again. I’m starting to get concerned that I have a slight addiction to the color beige because I’ve pretty much covered most of the house in Glidden’s Water Chestnut, Antique Beige and Smooth Stone. Is there therapy for this? But as my mom and Keith pointed out, you can never go wrong with beige and it will allow me the creativity to change the room with décor whenever the mood strikes without the hassle of having to change the wall color. (Those two are so smart!)

So we tested Smooth Stone and Antique Beige on the walls before making a decision. Keith was rooting for Antique Beige because somehow we managed to have 1.5 gallons of this paint left over after we painted the hallways this shade. I was rooting for Smooth Stone because our dining room is this color and I thought it would be nice if the two rooms had some consistency. Plus, I was kind of envisioning the Antique Beige in our sunroom. But, I was not the winner in this situation. The Smooth Stone didn’t work with the granite either, but Antique Beige did.

I thought painting this room was going to be a huge pain because of having to tape all the cabinets and countertop, but it actually went really smoothly.

I will admit that Antique Beige looks better in person - these photos don't do it justice. Plus we still need to paint the trim with Glidden’s Dove White to make it pop. That will come soon though.

I really liked how it turned out. Light and refreshing like the rest of the house…or my vision for the rest of the house because we aren’t quite there yet. Lol

So while the walls are now painted, I don’t think you’ll get the full effect until after we install and paint the chair rail and floor trim, purchase the bar stools and assemble the décor on the walls and counters. Oh – and I’m still waiting on my pendant light to arrive for above the island. It’s on back order, but should arrive next week and I can’t wait!!!! And I did purchase some fun glass jars at Garden Ridge to store my flour and sugars. I love them too! There are a few other ideas I have for the counters and open shelf, but I just haven’t found what I’m looking for yet.

I’ll post new photos as we continue to make updates. Stay tuned!

Chapter 1: Creating a Nursery

I simply could not wait to design a nursery for our little nugget! It probably is one of the best parts of being pregnant.

Keith was a little nervous…okay, maybe a lot nervous…when I started sending him countless ideas for the nursery via e-mail at work. I believe he even e-mailed my parents for advice on how to calm me down a bit! Ha!

To start the process, I decided to take the recommendation of various sources and pick out the nugget’s bedding first. That way, we’d have a color scheme to work around. I must have visited PotteryBarnKids.com, BabiesRUs.com and Target.com a few thousand times. There are so many choices that it can really be overwhelming.

To make things a little easier, I decided to make a list of things I knew I didn’t want for the nursery:

• Primary colors – I wanted to maintain a similar color scheme to what I created throughout the rest of our home and primary colors are not part of the mix.
• Pink overload – I love the color pink, but I knew I didn’t want that to be the only color in our nursery, even though we’re having a little girl and it's very easy to go pink crazy.

Knowing what I didn’t want really did help me narrow down my selection. So much of the girl bedding is entirely pink so that was immediately crossed off the list.

What I did fall in love with was the Hayley bedding collection at Pottery Barn Kids. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the trees, birdies and owls! Too adorable! Plus, it had a nice mix of pinks, blues, yellows, greens and purples in the bedding, which would allow me to have a wide option for paint color.

So we went to Home Depot and purchased about 5 different paint color samples to test on the walls. I highly recommend spending the extra $3 - $5 per test bottle to do this because it’s a huge disappointment after you’ve spent $50 painting entire room only to realize you don’t like the color you picked.

I was initially thinking of painting the walls lavender, but I couldn’t find a color that would really work with the bedding. On a whim, I picked two sample bottles of yellow while we were at Home Depot. I really loved the idea of having a happy yellow nursery, but yellow is notoriously a hard paint color to get right so I figured I wouldn’t like the two test bottles. Totally crazy, but lucky for me, Behr’s Havana Cream was PERFECT!!! It’s the most delicious shade of buttery yellow and it flows very nicely with the rest of the colors in the house.

Here is the before photo of the bedroom we picked for the nursery.

This room is straight down the hall from our bedroom. And since it's in the front part of the house, there is one of the cute dormer window nooks. This was also one of the two rooms in our house that wasn’t wallpapered so we were able to get started on painting it right away. Yay!

And here's the after photo with a fresh coat of Havana Cream. When Keith’s family came into town a few weeks ago his mom Brenda kindly agreed to help me paint and his grandma Helen agreed to supervise. I must say they were both excellent helpers and I think we did a fantastic job!

Isn't that just such a happy shade of yellow? It's so creamy and buttery that I'm starting to get a craving for some yummy mashed potatoes! lol

Then we...well, really Keith...had the fun task of removing the old carpet so we could expose our fab hardwood floors. After a little bit of elbow grease and some Rejuvenate floor cleaner, I really felt like the room kind of sparkled.

And what would a nursery be without a crib? We...well, that would be Keith again...managed to get that put together this past weekend without any trouble. We selected the Graco Lauren crib in white because it was a really good price and received high praise from my current bible – Baby Bargains. (Seriously, every soon-to-be mom needs this book!)

I forgot to take a photo of the crib completely put together, but it's so cute and since there is still plenty more things to do with the nursery, I’ll be posting more updates soon. And tomorrow I promise to post another update on the kitchen because we managed to agree on a paint color this past weekend and get that room painted. Stay tuned!

Chapter 14: Kitchen Renovation

Oh happy day! The granite for the kitchen arrived last Thursday! It felt like Christmas and because I was so excited, me and my belly even did a little happy dance for Keith. At least it got the hubby out the door for work with a laugh and a smile on his face. :o)

A nice perk of my job is that I have the flexibility to work from home one day at week. So it made our kitchen renovation process especially convenient because I simply arranged my schedule to work from home on the days the contractors had to be at the house. Although I have to admit it was rather difficult to work during the granite installation because they used some type of nasty smelling chemical which forced me to take my bump outside on the patio in the blazin’ 90 degree heat. Not fun, but well worth it in the end.

What do you think?

Of course, I was snapping pictures right away when they brought in the first piece!

The granite is a beautiful beige/grey/black/brown swirl of color. It truly is a perfect match with our dark stained maple cabinets.

And look at that perfect hole for my big, one bowl sink. Heaven!

When Keith came home is was especially pleased! Remember, this was his first time actually seeing the granite in person since he wasn’t with me when I went to pick it out. He knew I wanted a lighter countertop to balance the dark cabinets, but I think he had this slight fear that the granite was going to be super, super light – like almost white. (The guy still can’t forget that I painted one room in our old house bright orange so I think he’s waiting for my next big design screw-up.)

Sigh of happiness!

Now, I must admit that the day didn’t go entirely smooth. There was a brief 3 hours when I thought the granite wasn’t going to get installed. The installers thought one piece didn’t match and told me they had to take it all back. In my head I’m thinking, “You’re telling a pregnant woman what?” But the general manager wanted to come and inspect the situation and he was an hour away. I was slightly annoyed because he came and left fairly quickly without speaking to me about the problem. The next thing I know everything is fine and they are going to complete the job…huh?

Here’s where the pregnancy hormones kick-in. I kind of freaked out and told them they weren’t moving forward with anything until I had further explanations. So I made a few panic-stricken phone calls to poor Keith and Paul from Columbus Brother’s for help. I think the “I’m going to burst into tears at any moment” look on my face had the installers on edge so they called the general manager to come back to the house to actually talk to me about the situation in person. (why he didn’t talk to me in the first place is beyond me)

And what it all boiled down to was the fact that he’s the professional, the piece in question was completely fine, the installers should never have said anything to me – crazy pregnant woman – in the first place, and we’re good to go.

The next day, Joe, Jim, Jimmy and Paul came to the house to hang the glass cabinet doors, hook-up the plumbing and make a final inspection. They all agreed the granite was completely fine and the kitchen turned out beautifully. Reminded me once again why I love those guys!

So we still have a few tasks remaining before I consider the kitchen renovation done….painting, finding bar stools and decorating. But that will get done soon and I’ll post a few more updates so stay tuned!

Bump Watch

Here is me and my belly at 24 weeks pregnant. Yup, I’m pretty much all belly at this point. I still can’t believe I’m more than halfway through my pregnancy. December 20th is going to be here before we know it. This stresses me out slightly because there is still so much to do around the house! Lol

But with the kitchen renovation coming to an end soon, Keith and I decided we just need to focus on preparing the nursery (I’ll have detail chapters on that soon), cleaning, organizing and maybe finally hanging up a few pictures on the walls. The sunroom, basement and two remaining bathrooms will just have to wait until next year…or the year after. Plus, let’s face it, I’m not going to be much help around the house my third trimester.

I’m actually looking forward to slowing down our pace for the rest of the year and just nesting. Anyone that knows me realizes I’ve got a mild case of OCD. I like my house to be clean and tidy at all times, but that’s something that’s completely not possible when you’re renovating. So for the past year, I’ve had to deal with the fact that at least 2-3 rooms in our house have been a total hot mess. So it will be nice to maybe just leave the basement as a hot mess, but get all the other rooms somewhat in order before the nugget arrives. Yay!

Keith and I are sticking around the Pitts this Labor Day weekend. The plan is to work on the house (we have a rather long “to-do” list), but we plan to also enjoy the long weekend and relax too. I’ll have photos of the kitchen next week so stay tuned and enjoy your weekend!

Chapter 5: 1/2 Bathroom Renovation

The time has come for the big ½ bathroom reveal! It’s the first room in our happy house that is officially complete. And I must say, I’m pretty pleased with the way it turned out. What do you think?

You can check out the before photo here to see how far we've come.

While I’m still super bummed that our gorgeous marble counter broke, I’m extremely happy with the granite we got from Home Depot. After we placed the order I was slightly worried I wouldn’t like it in the bathroom. But I love it! I think it looks great with the oil-rubbed bronze faucet and lighting we purchased at Lowe’s.

The Glidden Dove White paint on the vanity was just what the doctor ordered. It was easy to do and saved us some money from having to buy a new cabinet. At Home Depot I just found some cheap oil-rubbed bronze hardware for the drawers and the whole thing looked new again.

And we did have a tiny argument in regards to the placement of the mirror. Keith wanted to be lazy and just place it over the hole from the former medicine cabinet lighting fixture, but it was just too high from the counter top. So I made him fill in the hole so we can move it down to be more centered. Much better if I do say so myself! (Although I couldn't get a great angle on my camera to prove that to you.)

I used Glidden Smooth Stone paint on the walls and think it looks fab with the granite and dark fixtures.

As for the items on the counter, the little towel rack is something Keith picked out on clearance at Bed, Bath and Beyond. It’s rare, but Keith does occasional give input on how I decorate. :o) (But I secretly think he just liked the idea that it was one less thing he'd have to hang on the wall.)

The vase is a cheap-o find at Micheal’s that I had in our old 1/2 bathroom in Columbus.

I got the golf picture from AllPosters.com when Keith and I moved into our first apartment in Grandview, Ohio, after our engagement. (I miss that place!) Keith loves golf and I love the vintage 1920s fashion. So it was a win/win. And I think this is the perfect spot for the poster in our new home.

I still might need to find a small plant or something to put on top of the toilet tank, but that's minor.

So one room is off our checklist and only 14 more rooms to go! Lol Stay tuned because we are almost done with our kitchen renovation!