Shed/Garage

Firstly, because of all the requests, here it is, a picture of the ring!

{Pretty awesome, huh?}

Our (actually more like Travis') first big project was the shed/garage being closed in so we can actually store things in there. This included our first trip to Home Depot where I realized how expensive a piece of wood is. Maybe scrounging for scraps really isn't a bad idea... The wall is only temporary because eventually the whole thing will be torn down (or fall down if I kick it hard enough) It has massive termite damage, making it amazing that it withstood Gustav. The shed is also home to a large group of wood bees. These things are huge and at night when they are in their little wood holes eating away its the creepiest sound. Hopefully this wall will prompt them to find a new home and let me tend to my tomatoes without fear of being nailed. 

{framing}

{termite damage/new wood}

{SO excited about the new wall!}

As you can tell from the pictures, night seems to be about the only time during the week that we can actually get stuff done on the house. Probably not the best time, but it made for a neat picture! 

Stay tuned, the next projects to come:

• Windows, windows, windows
• Exterior lighting
• Gardening

And don't forget to let us know what you think of the blog!

Drumroll....The Proposal Video!

As many of you have been requesting, here it is:

Proposal Video

THANK YOU JAMES FOR YOUR VIDEO SKILLS!!!

I thought we were planting a tree...

I'm guessing by now most all of you know the big news... WE'RE ENGAGED!! Turns out that the tree planting we had planned was slightly more than a tree planting. Everyone was outside as Travis and I were planting a Louisiana Orange tree in our backyard to commemorate our new place. As Travis is toasting, I'm throwing some dirt in the hole, and everyone has their camera out, I looked over at him and he was on one knee. After that it was kind of a blur for probably the next 10 minutes, but I promise I said YES! Luckily, James came with his video camera in hand, so it is all caught on tape. As soon as we have it I will post it here!
And thanks to Hannah for renting an awesome lens and capturing the night! Here are some of my favorite pictures.

 {Just planting a tree, or so I thought}

{The proposal - ps this looks like we live in the middle of nowhere, but I swear it's a neighborhood}

{Awesome picture Han!}

{Cute}

So glad everyone was able to make it to the party! Amid all of this preparation, partying and then a bit of relaxation, we have done some work on the house. Nick came to town to help with some moving - too much fun as always!

{teamwork!}

{Nick discovers just how small our shower is}

Rachel and Michael came by with a housewarming present! 

{Can't wait for their housewarming party!}

And after numerous attempts, we were finally able to get the hot water heater pilot light lit, so we can now actually live here!

{Mr. Fix It}

Our current project is the shed/garage out back. Travis is working on walling the large entry in so we can lock it up and keep the tools and such out there. We made our first trip to Home Depot to buy supplies, so now I think that really makes us homeowners! 

In other news, we have yet to rent out the apartment, so until we do, I'm using as much water over there where I don't have to front the bill! And bumming internet as well. If anyone knows someone in need of an apartment... 

Hopefully now I'll be posting more often. Thanks again to everyone for joining us at the house party/proposal! We had a blast!!

The Weekend, plus some

Definitely a fail at keeping everyone updated on what's going on. Sorry! We've been cramming to get everything done for not only the party, but my parents arrival as well. They are in the air at this very moment!!

So, here are a few snippets from the past week:
1. Nick came down to help move the massively large desk and sofa that I provide little help for. As usual we had too much fun.... Cinna-nots!!
2. We cleaned. 
3. I finally went up into the attic (sort of)
4. And cleaned more.
5. The pilot light for the water heater FINALLY got lit, so now we have HOT water.
6. Most things are moved in, minus clothes and the random things that we don't quite understand how we have so much of.
7. We cleaned even more.

Since I need to hit the road to pick up Iwasko fam in Alexandria I'm just going to leave you with one picture that kind of sums up what we've spent our week doing. I promise we'll have tons to blog about after the party! Can't wait to see everyone!!

{diiirrrrrtyyyyy}

The Weekend: Easter & Refrigerators

Whew. What a weekend, or lack thereof. I guess when you are a homeowner your holidays turn into work days....

 {765}

On Friday I took a trip up to the Habitat ReStore to see what kind of goods they had and to see if it was worth a trip with the truck. I could have wandered around there for hours looking at all the old home pieces, but finally walked away with a bag of knobs for a dresser project for only $4.00.
Saturday we decided to head back up there with the truck but sadly, they were closed for the holiday. That lead us to Sheila's where we picked up a compost bin and a few chairs (Thanks Sheila!!) and sweet talked the guy from Entergy that was fixing her power to drive on over 765 to flip ours on for us. Surprisingly he did, so we didn't have to wait until Monday to get light. That lead to late evening cleaning and some progress in the yard.
Sunday morning we woke up in our house for the first time. Instead of a leisurely morning breakfast, we (Travis) began the day by taking down the warped fan blades out front. New blades to come sometime this week from ReStore!

 {special fan blades} 

{warped}

While outside we bumped into our neighbor, a 94 year old man that is "tough as nails" and quite the talker. Travis got a bit of a lecture on hanging the flag, but then he wandered back over with an Easter basket for us. I'm a fan of him not only because he brought us chocolate, but because he has a 9 week old Border Collie I can play with. PUUUUPPPYYYYYYY!

{easter basket}

Some deviled egg making and brussels sprout preparing and we headed over to Sheila's for some Easter lunch. It was delicious and the perfect time of day for it. 

 {the BEST part of Easter food}

Conversation lead us over to Deb's to pick up her refrigerator she was getting rid of because of their kitchen renovations (awesome timing). It was quite heavy, which obviously I was not much help with, but Trav and Mark somehow managed to get it in the truck. Then the tricky part was getting it back out and up the stairs to our house. Thanks to Michael and Ryan for coming over to help!!

{plan of attack}

{the steps...}

{success...Thanks Deb!}

Of course no moving of the refrigerator could ever really go that smoothly.... We were washing the inner parts of the fridge at our apartment (since we had no running water yet at 765) and in the process of setting the main glass shelf down I managed to shatter the entire thing into a million pieces, all over the apartment. And the vacuum was conveniently located at the house now. Cleaning up glass by rag and sponge is definitely not my idea of fun. But we have a fabulous new fridge!

This morning we got running water so now we can really get down and dirty with the cleaning and moving in.

Celebration

Right after we left with the new keys to our house we headed over for pizza and champagne on the porch. A few stopped by to check out the place, but we didn't end up staying the night. Come to find out you can't get your gas and electric hooked up at the beginning of the month for a couple of days.... so now no lights or cooking until April 5th between 7 and 12 in the morning. Lesson #1 learned already. Woops. Here are a few pictures from last night. There would be more, had we had light.... More to come!

{champagne, pizza and new house keys}

{celebration}