Weekend Snapshots

We had a fantastic weekend with VABeau's Mother and Grandmother. After a 7 mile run and a fresh hair cut, I picked the ladies up at the airport Friday afternoon and the three of us spent a relaxing afternoon together. When VABeau arrived home we hit up Red White and Bleu to check out the latest cheese and wine arrivals before heading home to our own cheese plate and wine happy hour. We then met VABeau's aunt and uncle in Arlington for dinner at Willow. I used to live near Willow and cannot believe we never ate at this amazing restaurant. The wine list was extensive, the food was delicious, and the service was incredible. My beet and goat cheese salad is just one of many examples of the fantastic food this restaurant produces.

Saturday morning started with a walk to our local Farmer's Market. I am continually surprised by all of the new vendors that appear throughout the year. The latest surprise was Mama's Donuts. These tiny donuts are fresh, warm, and delicious. The perfect Winter morning treat! My favorite part, however, had to be watching the donuts being made. I was mesmerized by the donut machine. The rest of Saturday VABeau and I relaxed while his mom attended a sorority reunion event. We watched the Ides of March which was a fantastic movie. It was so well made and kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. We both loved it.

Sunday morning we attended church where VABeau was appointed as as trustee in front of the whole congregation (I am so proud of him!). After church we took the Indiana ladies to the airport but not before they gave us a little piece of the Superbowl in Indianapolis. We are now officially ready for the Superbowl with our t shirt and hat! After leaving the airport we made a quick stop at District Taco. Our pastor mentioned this former food truck, now restaurant, during his sermon. So of course we were immediately craving it! I now know what all of the hype is about. VABeau's breakfast burrito was delicious and my huevos rancheros could not be beat!

That's our weekend in a nutshell-a lot of eating and quality time with family. How was yours?

Home Tour Tuesday

The Bathroom and Upstairs Bedrooms 7 months ago...

Home Inspection Photos-April 2011

The tiny bathroom

and shower

Upstairs Bedroom #1

and Bedroom #2 which the previous owners used as a nursery

Operation Guest Bed-May 2011

We wanted to make one of the upstairs bedrooms into a guest room. We got the antique bed from my childhood bedroom but immediately ran into a roadblock. Our curving 1940s staircase refused to allow a full sized box spring upstairs.

But I refuse to give up when I really want something. So I did a little research and found a tutorial for splitting a box spring. It took awhile to get VABeau on board with this crazy idea but once we got to work, we had a full sized bed in our guest room within an hour. We essentially cut the wood part of the box spring in the center of each of the long sides, folded it in half, secured it with cords, carried up the stairs, and refashioned the wood with a couple of pieces of wood and screws.

Viola, we had a bed for all of our Summer guests!

and a matching dresser.

July 2011-Updating the Bathroom

VABeau had had enough of the poor caulking job in our shower. So he got to work and devoted a whole weekend to making our shower look ten times better.

We also added a new Pottery Barn Outlet shower curtain for a pop of color.

The Bathroom and Upstairs Bedrooms Now...

A photo from our honeymoon in Mykonos seemed perfect for this blue room

The top of the stairs

Upstairs Bedroom #1

This room has obviously gotten the least attention of any in our house so far

Upstairs Bedroom #2

This room has become our guest room

The perfect yellow vanity really helps to complete this room

and holds family photos from our wedding

The once split box spring seems to be holding up very well

Every guest room needs a full length mirror and welcome basket

Our Guest Basket is always ready for the next visitor!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Future Goals:

-Repaint Bathroom

-Repair the bathroom closet door

-Re-caulk the bathroom wall tiles

-New bath mat

-Hang more photos in the bathroom

-Change out upstairs hallway light

-Add a chair to the guest bedroom

-Add art and mirrors to the walls of the guest room

-Get a bed skirt for the guest room bed and twin bed

-Paint both of the upstairs bedrooms

-Curtains for both upstairs rooms

-Curtain for both closets

*Long Term Goal-Add an addition to the upstairs for larger rooms and an additional bathroom*

Comments and suggestions are welcome!

Happiness Is...

Spring in January

We have had some crazy weather lately and I'm loving it! It was almost 60 degrees Tuesday afternoon. It was so beautiful that I inadvertently increased my originally planned 3 mile run to 5 miles. I just wanted to spend as much time outside as possible in the gorgeous weather! Unfortunately, I know this warm streak will end eventually, it is almost February for crying out loud. But I plan to enjoy it as much as I can now!

Welfare Drug Tests

The Virginia legislature is on it's way to approving drug tests for welfare recipients. On Tuesday the Committee on Health and Welfare Institutions approved one of several bills requiring welfare recipients to be screened for drugs to qualify for government assistance. This bill requires everyone on public assistance in VA to be evaluated for drug use. Any suspicious individuals would be required to take a drug test or will lose their public assistance for one year. Those who test positive for drugs will attend a drug treatment program. I am so in favor of this movement and really hope that the rest of the country follows their lead. Both VABeau and I are subject to random drug tests at our jobs as are many other employed Americans. If one of us were to get caught using drugs, we wouldn't get paid (and would most likely lose our jobs) so if you're receiving a check from the government, I think you should be held accountable too.

I understand that some of my tax dollars (trust me, I'm well aware of how much is taken out of my pay check each and every month for VA and federal taxes) are allocated to those on federal assistance and if they need it for food or shelter, fine by me. But I refuse to be okay with someone on welfare spending my and many other's tax dollars on drugs. I also love that VA plans to offer drug treatment to these people. Then they really have the chance to become productive individuals. I'll get off my soap box now but I just had to share how happy seeing this one piece of news made me this week!

Girl Time

I am embarrassed to say that I tend to go weeks at a time without girl time. Granted, I work with all girls, but outside of work I'm often content to spend time with VABeau and our couple friends. It's an easy routine to fall into when you're married to your best friend! Still I know how important time with girlfriends is. I realized that even more over the past two weeks when I fit in more girl time than usual with a 1101 roommates happy hour, lunch in Arlington with two of my favorite girls, and a L&D nurses wine/game night. Each of these activities only took a couple of hours out of my week but I left them feeling much less stressed and happier. Not to mention, I feel like I'm a much more attentive and generally better wife to VABeau after I spend a few hours with my friends so I'm hoping to keep this trend up!

Jason Wu for Target

I was never on the Missoni for Target bandwagon. While I thought some of the things were cute, they just didn't fit my more basic style. That's why I'm ridiculously excited for the Jason Wu for Target launch on February 5th. I love how classic, feminine and beautiful his Target line is....

*At the top of my wish list!*

*Another favorite!*

*Even the bags are perfectly classic!*

What do you think of the line?

Green Monster Smoothies

Last week I tried Iowa Girl Eat's Green Monster Smoothie and immediately fell in love. I'm constantly trying to fit more veggies and fruit in my diet and this smoothie does just that in a quick and easy way. With 2 whole cups of spinach, a banana, and tons of protein, it's the perfect post-workout snack. It's also perfect for a day full of errands. I make it before I leave the house and sip on it in the car as I run from place to place. If you're looking for a new healthy smoothie that also tastes great, definitely give her recipe a try!

Visitors

I absolutely love having guests! I love entertaining and having an excuse to see the DC sites with family and friends. So I am incredibly excited to have two of the women in this photo join us for the weekend. VABeau's mother and grandmother will be visiting and while poor VABeau will be greatly outnumbered by strong women, I know we will all have a great weekend!

What's making you happy this week?

Stripes Stripes Everywhere

I'm seeing so many stripes in my favorite stores lately and I love them all! I have a feeling they are going to be huge for Spring especially in brights and neon colors! Here are a few of my favorites:

JCrew

JCrew

Shop Sosie

Loft

Loft

Loft

ModCloth

Banana Republic

Banana Republic

Anthropologie

Anthropologie

Anthropologie

What new Spring looks are you excited about?