Bathroom reno....SUYL

I've been following along with Kelly's Korner

and her SUYL 'Homes' edition...

but I've yet to be motivated to participate until 

this weeks link-up that included master baths.

Our master bath was one of the largest projects we

tackled since moving in. We finished it in February of 2011

just short of a nervous breakdown and with several

anxiety attacks under out belts...

Bathroom reno's are not for wussys, people.

In fact I think I'm single handedly blaming our bathroom for

 about half of the grey hairs on my head!!

Part of what made the whole thing stressful was that we 

never used a general contractor for any of our renovations,

which saved us a TON of dough, but left me to be the

organizer and designer of all demo, carpentry and tile work.

Fortunately, it all turned out just the way we'd hoped,

and I wouldn't change a single thing.  There is still some

accessorizing that needs to be done, and I'd like to frame

the big mirror that overlooks our sinks....

In due time I suppose....It will all get done eventually!!

Here are some before and after pictures!!

Before.

Please tell me who thought it was a good idea

to put carpeting in a bathroom??

Stupid.

Not much had been done to update this bathroom

since it was built in 1989.

Obviously.

See the giant space in the corner under the windows??

It was just screaming 'PUT A BIG TUB HERE!'

But no, they dropped a tiny little tub in the floor and then

built a bunch of big tile walls around it.

Again....Stupid.

Demo time.

Such a freaking mess.

Kind of makes me want to rock bath and forth 

in a fetal position just remembering it!

Framing.

Yes, that a toilet in my master bedroom.

Just chillin' in the corner.

And that cast iron tub??  Sat there for about 2 months

cause it weighed a BAJILLION pounds and no one

wanted to help us move it :(

Ta-Daaa!!

This is pretty much how it looks now, minus

some hand towel racks we installed 

and some art that I've added to the bare wall space.

This is the most recent addition to our bathroom. 

Attempting to accessorize and increase storage space.

 I got this little cabinet on sale at target 

and shopped at TJ Maxx,

Pier 1 and Hobby Lobby for the other items.

Welcome baby Rowan!!

I figured I ought to go ahead and write my post about the arrival 

of Rachael & Matt's sweet baby girl....

Rowan McKinley Clark (ah-dorable name)

6lbs 11oz (of perfection!!)

born July 1st 20120 (an awesome date if you ask me!)

I'm totally smitten...

I mean, holy moly this kid is freakin' cute...

not that we had any doubts, but working in a NICU

gives me the opportunity to see  A LOT of newborns

so my standard of 'cuteness' is pretty high...

and Ms. Rowan is just beautiful!!

Rachael started pre-laboring Saturday morning 

(much to my overjoyed-ness) 

and by Saturday night when I talked to her,

 her contractions were becoming fairly painful and weren't 

allowing her to get any sleep..

(hence the reason she called the only other night-owl she

knew would be awake!)

I woke up at about 10am on Sunday morning to a text message

I had received at around 5am saying that labor was in full

swing and they were headed to the hospital. 

I literally squealed and then FLEW 

out of bed and started running around my house getting dressed.

A million thoughts were racing through my head!

This is where I got taught a serious lesson in patience!!

I knew that Rachael and Matt didn't want anyone at the hospital while 

they labored, and I wasn't about to try and text for updates so I started the

painful waiting process.... 

I sat,

and I paced, 

I called my mom,

I called our friend Alicia,

and I sat, 

and I paced 

and tried to do anything I could think of to distract myself!

Finally, around 1:00pm I got a long awaited text that read 'She's here"

Well now I was just about to lose it and I had to use every bit of

self control I had, not to jump in the car and go flying up to the hosptial...

but Rachael and Matt both have big families so I knew that there would

be no shortage of visitors and that I'd have to wait my turn!

An eternity later (well 3 hours felt like an eternity...) I finally 

got a text announcing a name and weight and I told Rachael I

was going to lose my mind if I didn't get my butt up there ASAP!

And then I met her. 

And she's perfect.

Rachael and Matt are such an amazing couple and they're

going to give Rowan such an amazing life.

I'm so happy for my friend.

This is all still just so surreal.

I've never gone through this experience with someone

who I'm so close with...so it's been very much the

'vicarious' experience for me...

I know that in some ways our friendship will change, 

but I'm just so excited to get to know this sweet little

life that God has blessed us all with!

So many people love you little Rowan!!

I'm Lame....

If my blog were a dog it would be sad, mangey, 

pathetic starving little creature,

no doubt covered in fleas....

like this guy...

Neglected.

How can I feel too busy to blog?

What the heck do I even do all the time?

I don't even have a freakin' kid and I can't

seem to get it together!! Sheesh!!

Well wait no more!! 

A blog post has arrived!

Unfortunately I am devoid of creativity and

my motivation to write this will no doubt run out

in about 5 minutes, so I better get to it...

bullet point style...

Here's a few things I've been up to as of late.

And PS, I'm seemingly uncapable of getting these pictures

to format and lay out the way I want them too-so excuse the

wonky arrangements!!

• POOL TIME...not nearly as much as I'd like, but hey, any pool time is good time so I'll take what I can get!! I didn't take any photos of my pool time with Alicia, although it was lovely and there was interesting people watching ;)     I did however get a few pics of myself and preggers...she's keepin the belly under wraps at the pool, although I personally think she should set the belly free and catch some sun!!!

• City Market.  One of my favorite summer activities is to visit the farmers market downtown. Usually I only make it once, but I've already been twice this year! Yahoo!! Rach and I went one Saturday morning after working (a nice bonus to working a Friday, I might add..) My purchases included some green beans, cherries, strawberries, peaches and some zucchini. I'd never made fresh green beans before, but after doing some recipe research I steamed and stir-fried them-YUM-O! Don't think I'll ever be able to eat canned green beans again!!

• Becca's baby shower.....well it wouldn't be right if I wasn't going to a baby shower atleast once a month!! Working with 250 women has it's perks and one of those perks is celebrating lots of new babies!! Our friend Becca is expecting a baby boy just a  few weeks after Rachael. A couple of us got together at Megan's and had a popcorn/ice cream social/carnival themed shower! Umm HELL-O-I'm officially conviced that I need one of these popcorn machines in our basement!!  

• Fathers Day.  We celebrated 27 years of my pops being a daddy. And what an amazing father he is!! We met for dinner at one of our favorite go-to restaurants, Macaroni Grill. It never disappoints. Kelly and I were pretty lame in the gift department...we got him white undershirts and a blue polo shirt. I also found this little book about dads that you could personalize, so I hope that gave our gifts a bit more of a sentimental touch..I'm all about making my parents cry with sappy gifts and cards!!

Love you daddy!!

(I've abandoned all hope of trying to arrange my pictures 

side by side or in squares...I'm reverting back to the good ol'

straight down the middle line up....)

• Deanna Rose Farmstead. My sister is the Animal Care Manager at DRCF, so I try to go out there a few times each summer and fall to see the animals and hang out with her.  She always talks about how she could never be a nurse and deal with all the blood and bodily fluids...but holy cow, she has no problem hand feeding dead rats to bobcats and eagles!?!! WTF?? No thanks, I'll take baby poop over rat brains any day sistah....

Cleo the Siamese kitten....

If you dont immediately start singing

 "We are siamese if you please.." from Lady and The Tramp,

then we're probably not gonna get along :)

Most hilarious sequence of photos ever...

Rachel the Donkey (BAHAHAHA)

was showing me her lovely gingivitis and then

sneezed and shot snot out of her right nostril!!

I was dying...

Human Rachael is less than thrilled that she shares

a name with an overweight donkey...

RIP Mr. Ratty

I took these rabbit photos for Roy, he's got 

some sort of affinity for rabbits...which is wierd to me

cause he's not really an 'animal' person.

Bah....My motivation expired about 15 minutes ago,

but I still had two more things I wanted to post about...

I guess this post is To Be Continued..

First Fridays!

I love making lists....

and even more than that, I love crossing things OFF lists!

This past Friday I was able to cross something

off my 'Summer Fun' list...yay!

Rachael, Alicia & I headed to downtown KC

for First Fridays! 

First Fridays occurs on the First Friday 

(duh...that may be stating the obvious) 

of every month...the basic premise is that all the art

galleries open their doors and people stroll around checking out

the art, listening to live music and just people watching in general.

And my oh my, was there some interesting people watching...

I'd probably have to give my awards for strangest sightings to the

3 performing drag queens and the 'zombie' march that went on

for 20 minutes....still not sure what they were 'marching' for, but

I think it had something to do with the whole 'occupy' movement...

hmmm, strange.

This picture doesn't really capture the bloody zombie-ness

that was staggering down the street...but it was quite the spectacle.

As far as the art goes....I'm just gonna sum it

up by saying that I either just didn't 'get' or didn't

appreciate probably a good 70% of the art we saw.

I mean...if I can scribble some acrylic paint on a piece of

cardboard the size of a 3x5 notecard and sell it for $250,

I'm just gonna have to leave nursing and become an artist.

That, paired with all the perverted sexualized art

was just a little too much...note to self: do not go to

First Fridays with my parents unless I want to be in

 the awkward situation of staring at naked people next to my dad...

ummm No Thanks.

Here's some art gazing caught on camera:

This cloud picture was the only painting I took

in the gallery with the awkward naked people--

Even though I think it was supposed to represent boobs 

I was able to stop blushing and pick my jaw up off 

the floor long enough to capture Alicia's reaction...

Rachael: "Are you freaking kidding me?!

they want $3,500 for this crap?" end quote

Interesting bird art made of wires...Rachael made the

comment that these would make an interesting mobile 

in a nursery (the girl has babies on the brain :)

Me: "Rachael! Quit moving I'm trying to take

a picture of you appearing to study the art!!"

Rachael: "oh, ok...here try again..."

Much better..

This was a really cool life sized horse made

out of metal. One of my favorite things we saw.

But what I REALLY enjoyed....was spending time with my

awesome friends. Despite the cooky people and art,

I'm so glad we went and carried

through with something that we've been talking about

doing for awhile now!  Roy has been so busy working

that I've been trying to find activities and make plans

to occupy my time....and theres no two people that 

I'd rather occupy it with than these two!!

What's next on my list for Summer Fun??

-Go to something at the new Kauffman Center

for the performing arts

-Go to a play at Theater in the Park

-Go to the city market on a Saturday

-Go to the 18th Street Fashion Show

-Have a bonfire and eat smores

-Give lots of love and hugs to Baby Clark when she comes

-Ride my bike more

-Go to Oceans of Fun or Schlitterbahns water park

-Spend lots of time pool side!!

Let the fun continue!!!