Where Oh Where Have I Been???

So… the last two weeks have been ca-raaaaazy! NYC + Fashion Week + No Computer + Being Sick + House Renovation Overload… And did I mention NO computer? Yes, I’ve learned some things about myself these last two weeks. 1. My entire business relies on a single silver rectangle that breaks very easily when dropped onto concrete. 2. I have not backed anything up. Ever. Yea, I should probably do that every now and again. 3. #1 + #2 = Holy Freak Out Mode.

So Friday before last, Mark surprised me and two other wifey friends with a couples getaway to NYC for Valentine’s Day. So so fun and SO SO cold!! More on that later… So then I randomly got an amazing and dream come true invitation to attend Fashion Week which just so happened to fall the day after the end of our surprise trip and just so happened to be in the SAME CITY! More on that later… And then we got home and my sweet friend’s sweet hubby opened the trunk and we heard a crash…

Yep, so so SO not his fault. I honestly really needed a new laptop anyways but yea, this happened. And the worst part is that my laptop is touch screen. So then it thought a hundred fingers were touching it all over the screen and it started going nuts. THANK GOD we were able to figure out a way for it to cooperate for long enough to disable the touch screen option. Then it was simply a matter of backing it all up so that I can transfer my 4,890,456,237,890 pictures onto a new laptop. Well today we are on day SEVEN of that back-up and it’s currently at 86% complete. I know that’s a rather boring read but the moral of the story is to BACK UP your computer!!! We use Carbonite in case you were wondering. Oh and everything stated above is my round-about excuse for no new posts in about a week and a half. I mean, just saying.

Now onto more exciting news and LOTS of it! First, I got a new laptop! My friend told me the other day that a Mac is the last computer you will ever need SO… I got a MacBook! A MacBook Pro w/ Retina Display to be exact and although it’s taking some getting used to so far, I am loving it! I have blown through so many laptops in my day and everyone swears that these never go out so I am praying for a long-term solution for my blogging woes.

Last night I came home from our weekly “Bachelor” viewing party at a girlfriend’s home to this…

He’s a keeper. For sure. I am very much technologically challenged. Funny I know coming from a blogger but this guy is my saving grace. Always.

Now I promised you that I would eventually be on to more exciting things so here you go. We have been busy little bees lately. Post kiddos I swear my brain can only fully process one or two (at most) things at a time but these last couple of weeks it’s been like… “Where do you want the clawfoot tub drain in the new house? Winter needs lunch money sent in for March. Babe, I need exterior colors for the lakehouse ASAP, they are starting Monday. Addie’s teacher e-mailed and needs a gift sent in. I need you to finalize the location of all of the floor vents for the new house with the HVAC guys by tomorrow. Winter’s belly is spilling out of her size 2 pj’s. All of the lighting fixtures for the lakehouse need to be ordered by next week. And did I mention I haven’t picked out a single one? Addie is about three months late getting into the orthodontist.” Can I get an AGGGHHHH??? As crazy as it all is, I really do love it though. Sometimes it just gets to where one little hiccup throws my brain for a loop.

I had this great blog schedule all figured out several weeks but since that has gotten squashed and crumbled or perhaps shattered may be a better word, I am going to give you a quick peek at everything going on in our renovations right now…

Our Historic Wonderland

Where or where do I even begin? We have done SO much lately! We have honestly probably done about 30-40% of the entire renovation work but it’s all the crucial yet super boring to share stuff. The “pre-work” for the HVAC, electrical AND plumbing are complete! The framing is complete. The original hardwood flooring repairs (will explain later) are complete. The spray foam insulation will be done next week. So exciting you can hardly stand it right?!? Well, it does all mean that we are just 2-3 weeks away from sheetrock. And that’s where every little selection and paint color and finish becomes like Christmas morning. Every single day.

So here’s Winnie’s bathroom and you can see the newly framed door, the tub and plumbing stubbed and electrical wiring run. Jawdropping right?!? 😉

And here’s a peek at our never before shared basement. It’s an AMAZING space! I will share more soon with the full update post. Apparantly this is the current HVAC dumping grounds.

And then the big debacle of this week is about our windows. Mark and I argued, I mean met at the house about them this morning…

I am 199.99% sure that I want to KEEP all of the incredibly beautiful and original, single pane windows in the home. They have this beautiful ripple in the glass and have so many small panes at the top that I am dying to paint dark. Mark on the other hand, came into our “meeting” 199.99% sure he wanted to REPLACE all of the windows. I plead my case, consulted several people who also have single pane windows and I think we are currently at 80/20 on the matter. Winning!

And likely just to make my heart race, he just HAD to look at this second story window and bring my fear of heights to a whole nother level. And yes, that’s a board he laid across the opening about 20′ in the air.

Project Lakehouse Flip

Now onto renovation number two! So this reno is pretty much at the same point on the interior as our new home reno… boring to share-ville. We have done all of the above things plus some great exterior demo and re-building. We changed the front porch and added a dormer plus we added a new roof! And I LOVE the shingle color that I chose. T

he biggest and most time consuming fix is the home’s drainage issue. Now that it is fixed and we have tested it out, we are finishing up sheetrock and starting paint next week! So here’s the current state…

BEFORE