Chapter 18: Kitchen Renovation

Let the happy dance begin! This past weekend we had some helpers come into town to work on the house. The fabulous crew consisted of Keith’s grandpa, dad and brother. Let’s just say we got A LOT done...more than we even hoped to accomplish. Keith and I can’t thank them enough!!! xoxo


Project numero uno on our agenda was replacing the floor trim in the kitchen.

The old trim was plastic and got thrown away during the demolition phase. So Keith and I went to Home Depot and grabbed some new wood to match the trim in the rest of the house.

Keith’s brother Andy and grandpa Milo are experts at cutting precise lines with wood so we pretty much just left them alone to do what they do best.

Along with replacing the trim, we needed to also paint it with Glidden’s Dove White along with the chair rail, window frames, door frames and pocket doors.

One of the things I think is so cool about this happy house are the pocket doors. We have three total. Unfortunately, the previous homeowners did not use the pocket doors because the kitchen tile they installed blocked the doors shut. But now that the doors slide beautifully because of the hardwood, they needed a bit of TLC from us...with Walter supervising of course!

I swear the doors probably were white at one point, but 40+ years have passed and they kinda turned yellow. But nothing a little Dove White paint can’t fix. I envision myself using the pocket doors more frequently when I’m cooking dinner and the nugget is crawling around on the floor. I can simply shut the doors to keep her from roaming around the house without my watchful eye. Brilliant!

Like always, the Dove White paint really makes the wall color pop. We just need to spackle the nail holes in the floor trim followed by a little paint touch-up and we’ll be as good as gold. And we only painted one of the pocket doors – still have to two left to paint along with the door to the patio. Sigh! Painting is our lives.

Stay tuned… I need Keith to help me hang some items on the wall. Decorating is one of the best parts!

Chapter 17: Kitchen Renovation

After a long and arduous search, we finally found the perfect bar stools for our kitchen (insert sigh of relief)! I think we were both surprised by how expensive a bar stool costs. To us, something under $75 sounded reasonable. Ha! We quickly realized that might get us one bar stool at Ikea, but anywhere else we’d need to open our wallet and take out another Benjamin Franklin. So that was reality check #1.


Reality check #2 was the fact that I couldn’t find “inexpensive” white bar stools. I know, some of you might be thinking it’s weird that I would want white bar stools to go in my dark maple cabinet kitchen. But trust me, it can work! Pottery Barn and West Elm had some lovely selections, but the $200+ price tag for one bar stool was slightly ridiculous, in our opinion. We searched Target, Walmart, Garden Ridge, Billiard-type stores and even did some internet searching, but I just couldn’t find what I was looking for – at a good price.


So with two reality checks, I needed to rethink my vision. During a trip to Columbus, I dragged Keith into his first World Market store. Unfortunately, we don’t have any World Market stores in Pittsburgh and I had almost forgotten how much I love this place! And the best part of this trip was the fact that Keith really liked the store too…and that rarely happens! The second best part was the fact that we found bar stools – the Elana bar stool to be specific. I fell in love with the banana leaf fibers and how they were sorted from light to dark and then woven together to achieve an appealing herringbone pattern. It wasn’t white, but it was light and natural.


Only problem is that they didn’t carry the counter-depth height bar stools in the store – it was only available online. And while the price tag was right, we feared the bulk shipping prices would kill us. So we waited awhile to make a decision. As luck would have it, we got a special Friends and Family e-mail promotion a couple weeks later. The discount on the promotion would off-set the cost of the bulk shipping so we jumped on the opportunity and submitted our order.


And kudos to World Market for fast and efficient shipping. We placed the order on Friday before 5 p.m. and the bar stools arrived from California on Wednesday. Holy cow!

Besides looking fabulous in our kitchen, I adore these bar stools for being comfortable. We have a nice wide seat and high back for extra support. As an added bonus, I even think Nugget’s Fisher Price Space Saver High Chair will fit nicely on one of these stools.

The kitchen is getting very, very close to be done! We've been super busy the past couple weeks and I promise to share details soon!

Chapter 2: Creating A Nursery

With the realization that we had very few free weekends open before the nugget arrives, we decided to stay home two weekends ago (yes, I realize I'm behind with my posts). It turned into one of those nothing-special but because of that, so-very special weekends. I just loved the fact that it was just the two of us, running errands and putting items together for our daughter’s nursery.


Friday after work we headed to Ikea. My silly hubby thought we were only going to pick-up the Hemnes dresser and Billy bookcase. Then he remembered who he married and realized I had a few other items I wanted to purchase while we were there. Duh! :o) Extra items included storage containers, napkins, scissors, a trivet, a lamp, a few picture frames and a plant. I know – kinda random. But it was all either for the nursery or the kitchen.


After Ikea we headed to Babies R Us to purchase a shower gift for our friends Nick and Amanda. And right next to Babies R Us is a Half Priced Books and a Michaels. Our stop in Half Priced Books was rather short because they didn’t have a copy of “The Road To Wellville” by T.C. Boyle (the Newcomer’s Club October book selection that I’m not super trilled about reading). Then we had to run into Michaels so I could get scrapbook pages for the baby album I made for Nugget’s first year.


When Saturday morning arrived, I got us started off on the right foot by making some delicious pancakes topped with fresh strawberries and northeast Ohio maple syrup (the best there is)! I’m not sure if it was my yummy pancakes or the Buckeye music I had playing in the background that got us motivated to start putting together the Hemnes dresser.

While furniture assembly is normally a job that Keith completes solo, I decided to help. It was nice to tag team this project and spend time together in the nursery. It made me love the Havana Cream paint color I picked even more!

You can see how we utilized the crib to store the pieces and parts as we worked. This dresser truly is a perfect match to our crib so I'm pumped.

If you ever purchase this dresser, make note that four hands are probably better than two hands. We had to rotate and turn the dresser on several occasions, which I think would be a difficult task for just one person.

As you can see, the dresser is just the right size for a changing table on top. Exactly what we need! And that cute striped liner inside the drawers is yellow - how perfect is that?

And I know I’m going to appreciate the four mini drawers on top – I can have one for hair accessories, one of socks, one for first-aid items and one for diapers stuff...or something like that.

Ta-dah! Here's the finished product! And the cute lamp on top is one of the extra purchases at Ikea.

It took us about 2.5 hours to put the dresser together…just in time to break for lunch and watch the Buckeye’s beat Indiana!

Still a lot more to do with the nursery and I'm 31 weeks pregnant. Yikes! More updates to come so stay tuned!

Chapter 16: Kitchen Renovation

Back with a kitchen renovation update! It’s been a little over a month since our installation was completed and I have to say we’ve thoroughly enjoyed every moment in our new kitchen. If we had a TV in here I really don’t think we’d ever leave the room. Ha ha!

Although, there are a few more things that still need to be done – like replacing trim, painting window frames and pocket doors, finding décor, etc. The plan is to complete this list of "to-do's" by the end of this month. But, I’ve also had to deal with this...

Yes, that’s a sad little light bulb hanging above our beautiful island. Cue the “wa wa wa” sound effect.

For the past month this pathetic light was a daily reminder that the fabulous pedant light I purchased online at Shades of Light was on backorder. Sigh! Being the planner that I am, I ordered the light on August 19 because I figured it would arrive at just about the same time the kitchen installation was wrapping-up. I was disappointed to get an e-mail reply that the light was on backorder until September 10. Slight bummer, but no big deal. However, September 10 came and went and I still had not received my light or even a shipment update. Double sigh! On September 16 I called customer service to check on the status and I was told that my light was still in production, but it was scheduled to be completed the following week. That got a triple sigh out of me because I realized the light would most likely be shipped the week we were at the Outer Banks. So imagine my annoyance when we got back from vacation and I still didn’t have my flippin’ light! This required another call to customer service on October 5. Luckily for me (and the customer service rep who didn’t have to experience the wrath of an emotional pregnant lady), my light had shipped out that very same day. FINALLY!

If the pedant light wasn’t so fabulous I might have cancelled the order altogether, but I hung in there. And it was worth it! The light arrived last Thursday and, of course, it was the first chore I made Keith complete on Thursday evening.

I have to say my hubby is one handy-dandy guy to have around. The installation instructions were not the best, but he figured it out.

I think I'll keep him around for awhile. :o)

Ta-da! I told you it was fabulous!

I just love the design of the pedant. It’s perfect for our kitchen. The soft gray lines pick-up the stainless steel appliances.

Shades of Light named this the “Trellis Linen Drum Shade Pendant,” but I think they should consider renaming it the “Becky Light” because it’s just my kind of style.

Stay tuned because we finally decided on barstools and they are expected to arrive later this week! Double yay!

Chapter 2: Make New Friends

In case you haven’t read my sob story of having no friends in the Pitts, you can read it here. I made my second attempt at finding a friend at the Newcomer’s Club September Book Club meeting. I was again, super nervous upon arrival – especially since I was one of the first to arrive. But I was greeted by one of the gals I met at the Kick-Off Meeting so we quickly started chatting.

The hostess had selected the book “The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo.” I read this book in June and couldn’t put it down. I actually ended up reading the second installment “The Girl Who Played with Fire” last week at the beach and thought it was even better than the first. Now I’m trying to figure out how I can find the time to read the final book “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest” and start our October book of the month “The Road to Wellville.” And let’s not forget I’m going through my whole “nesting” phase right now and I need to get the house in order before the nugget arrives.

Anyhoo, I had a good time at my first book club meeting and I even learned a few things…

1. Book Club never starts on time so don’t worry about getting to the hostess house right at 7 p.m.
2. Don’t eat dinner before Book Club because the hostess has plenty of yummy munchies!
3. I don’t think I really have to even read the book of the month because we didn’t spend that much time discussing…although I can’t figure out if that was just because this was the first Book Club meeting of the year and there were a lot of new members and introductions of how the club worked.

I was brave and even signed-up to host our July meeting. I figured that would at least give me six months to try and get the hang of this “being a mom” thing. Plus, by then I’ll hopefully have a living room.

I can’t really host an event with a living room like this. Yikes! That means getting a sofa, chairs, rug and wall hangings before July! Keith thought it was very sly of me to volunteer to host. It definitely puts a deadline on a project that’s probably at the top of my list, yet more at the middle or bottom of his list. Ha ha! (I love you babe!)

So like the Kick-Off Meeting, I didn’t necessarily walk away with a new BFF, but I’m making connections with other women in the community and getting out of my hubby’s hair for a few hours in the evening. I’d say that’s a success!

We’re staying in the Pitts this weekend to work on the nursery, the kitchen and few other home improvement “to-do” things. I’ll have updates next week. Stay tuned!

Outer Banks

So I’ve been bad and haven’t written a new blog post in the last couple of weeks. Oops! Two weeks ago, the MIA was just a result of my laziness. Last week I had a good excuse. Keith and I took a week off work and headed to the Outer Banks with our friends Nick and Amanda.


It was somewhat fitting to be on vacation with Nick and Amanda since she is due November 20th and I’m due December 20th. I think the new buzz word for a situation like this is called “babymoon.” It’s that last little getaway where parents-to-be can relax and not have to worry about any munchkins. So a week at the Outer Banks seemed like the perfect fit. We definitely got time to relax…only problem was that it wasn’t in the sun.

The east coast draught decided to come to an end the moment we crossed the bridge.

But not even a stormy weather mixture of wind and rain from Sunday until Friday could damper our enjoyment.

Yes, Amanda and I managed to waddled our way over the sandy dunes even with the nasty wind gusts.

And yes, that is a football in Keith's hand. Not sure this was the indeal setting to play a game of toss, but the boys seemed to enjoy the challenge.

We were finally greeted by the sun on Saturday…our last day. Amanda and I even enjoyed a nice cold brew too (the non-alcoholic version, of course). Aren't we cute? :o)

But don’t be fooled to think that I left home decorating ideas off my mind during this vacation. I decided I needed to take my beloved Outer Banks beaches home with me. I want to be able to share a place that I’ve cherished since I’ve been a little girl with my nugget. Of course, she’ll eventually vacation there too, but until then she’ll find a piece of it in our happy house.

So the few moments in the day when it wasn’t windy and rainy and we could take walks on the beach, I made my hubby help me collect sea shells. I didn’t have any requirements for what sea shells we picked other than the fact that I didn’t want any broken ones. I realize I could have gone with a color scheme and only picked black and white shells. Instead, we just picked the most unique ones we could find. The more different – the better! And I have to say we ended up with a nice variety.

My vision is to put the shells in a glass jar on our mantle in the living room as that’s definitely on the list of projects I want to complete before middle of next year. Stay tuned to find out why the living room is definitely on the list!

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!