The 2-year old Cabinet Chronicle

I took this first photo in July of 2010....yes.....2010.  While the shot was intended to catch the headboard Terry put in to provide the necessary support over the French Doors, it also now has a second purpose because it's the only photo I could find as a "before" shot of the large cabinet.  We bought it (a LONG time ago) to help make our entire kitchen a bit more cohesive, not to mention provide us with some form of pantry space.  

And then it just turned into our unfinished wine cabinet for 2 years.  Ugh

Putting your house of the market is certainly a motivator to get things finished.  And our cabinet ranked high on the list.  This past weekend, yes, two years later, we finally get er' done.
Excuse the mess in the next photo.  It was a bit of a war zone for a while just juggling where things needed to go and, er, hide.
It was a free-standing unit that we bought from Home Depot.  Previously the space was just empty, and we felt like putting in a unit there and staining it as we did our cabinets would complete the look of the space.
So, we hauled it out of its 2-year happy nook and started finishing it up.

The sides were just material board, non finished, I guess just assuming it would be a piece in a large set of kitchen cabinets where it wouldn't matter that the sides weren't finished.
Terry bought some sort of wood finishing siding, and extra heavy duty glued it down.  That board isn't going anywhere anytime soon.  Once the glue was set, Terry trimmed off the excess, we stained and polyurethaned it over the course of almost a week, and then...

Voila!
We love it.  Woulda been nice to actually use it ourselves over the past 2 years with it looking like this, but ehhh, it served the same purpose I guess (just a lot more homely.....and that does not mean homey!)  Originally (as in the past week, not 2 years ago "originally") we decided on adding matching handles to the rest of the kitchen, but now we like it as it is.  No muss, no fuss. 

As a reference, here's our full kitchen from when Lara came over to take photos.  It wasn't finished for this shot, it was actually getting it's glue down on in the garage, but it's not perched in the far right side of this photo smiling with all it's new friends. 

Our House is officially listed for sale!!

I can't really explain how bittersweet it is.  I want to sell, and I hope that it goes quickly and smoothly.  Then the other side of me is not wanting to see it go. So much of our lives put into that house over the last 3 years.

If you're interested in seeing all the pictures, here's the link from Zillow:
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/225-Winthrop-Dr-Belleville-IL-62221/5269220_zpid/

I'll be posting professional photos that my friend Lara came and took for us in a few days. They turned out so beautifully. 

Bahamas Cruisin' with Kristen

For graduation, Kristen and I went on a vacation for 4 days to the Bahamas. This is actually the third cruise that we've been on together, but the first cruise for Kristen without her parents (cue 18 year teenager jumping for joy).  This trip was just what the doctor ordered as far as relaxation and unwinding.  Not to mention that it was wonderful bonding time with Kristen before she heads off to college.

We flew out of Baltimore, arrived in Orlando, and hopped an hour long shuttle over to Port Canaveral.  We got the lay of the land on the ship and then promptly found 2 lounge chairs, sat down....and fell asleep until the bull horn went off that we were pulling out of port. 

 At the Theater Show before Dinner night one.

 Our teeny tiny room that actually was perfect.

 Arriving at Cococay, which is a private island of Royal Caribbean.  Much larger straw market than I was expecting since I can't figure out where they lived to run the stores.

 The majority of the day on Cococay was spent lounging.  There was some pretty serious overcast, so it was perfect snoozing weather.  Kinda glad for the overcast because when the sun did come out, it was fierce!

 Our Ship, the Monarch of the Seas.

 

Formal Dinner Night

 On to Nassau! Arggg!

 Nassau Straw Market.  Definitely a change from when Allison and I were there in December!

 The waters were so crystal blue, this photo doesn't do it any justice.

 On our boat ride over to Paradise Island to roam around the Atlantis.

 Back on the ship, Kristen napped the rest of the day away, while I went rock-climbing.

 Our last night at dinner with our dinner mate.

We had such a fun trip together. I hope that there are many more to come for us!

Delaware, also known as "don't stop 'til you drop"

I was in Delaware from Thursday May 31st until Sunday June 3rd.  It was a whirlwind, even more than usual.  Just non-stop.  But it was great seeing everyone and feeling like I really got in quality time instead of the typical rat race and 1 hour stop-ins.

Thursday Lunch with my Grandmother.  We ordered a strawberry shortcake to split for the dessert; the strawberries for her and the shortcake for me :-)

I had a little time free Thursday afternoon so I stopped in to my sis-in-laws job to see her new swanky office.  Then we drove down to Maya's horse-riding lessons. Was a big surprise!  Also did the big surprise to Alexa and Jenna when I stopped in to their house on the way to the beach.  Alexa, your face was priceless!

I stayed the night at Megan and Jasons.  It's so nice having one of those longtime friends that you don't see for a while but it feels like you didn't miss a day. She's such an amazing friend. Of course we stayed up way to late and talked way too much and it was freaking glorious!

 

  

The next day was Aunt Lindsey and Chloe day.  It took a little time for her to get comfortable with me around, and who can blame her when she hasn't seen me in almost 6 months.  Once I mentioned going and playing at the park though, whoa she was ALL ABOUT Aunt Lindsey! We played forever, and I got elbow burns from using them as my brakes going down some of the slides to prove it (OUCH!).  Don't worry though, Chloe bandaged up my "Boo-Boo's" with Dora Bandaids.  We went shopping (at Wawa), we rented a movie (Barbie Mermaid), made lunch together (Grilled Cheese...YUM), we made art (she colored bookmarkers for me), and had such a blast together! Was such a fun day! I miss all my girls!!

 I headed out from Chloe day to go cheer on Kristen in her State Championship Soccer Game.  This picture is not fuzzy below....it was just pouring down rain.  We were scared the majority of the game that it was going to get postponed, which would have been horrible considering her graduation was the next day and we were leaving for the Bahamas on Monday.  The weather cooperated, but unfortunately they didn't win the championship.  It was 2-1 in double overtime.  Kristen had a great game!  (Number 22 below)

The next morning we woke up bright and early for Kristens High School Graduation!!!
The proud parents.  Notice Tims tie is a picture of Kristen in her soccer gear from many years back.  Loved it!

She's officially a graduate!!

Yay!!

After graduation, I hung out with my nieces for a while carting them around to their different birthday and going away parties for their friends, then Jenna and I got Rita's Water Ice and came back to jam out to some Wii party games for a while. 
I went and met up with my Mom for her Birthday that evening.  We went to a really nice restaurant called Abbotts Grill and had a really nice dinner together.  My mom makes 64 looks good!

The rest of the time in Delaware was with the crew in Lincoln.  Lots of time with Alexa, Jenna, and Maya with the Wii and board games and swimming in the pool and just being crazy together.  The time is never long enough it seems!

 

Maya had my phone for an hour or so in the afternoon an was up in her room taking videos of herself dancing.  They were absolutely hilarious.  If I could figure out how to upload them on here I would.  There were a few dance moves that need to be on So You Think You Can Dance!! :-)

 

I'll probably not be back in Delaware until new baby niece is here! Oh, maybe I haven't mentioned that on here yet; Jeff and Kim are pregnant with baby girl #2 due mid October!  Niece Count: 5 Nephew Count: 0  How about those odds!!! So excited!

I finally have a free minute, so lets catch up

Ever since I've returned from vacation, life has been "non-stop go go go hustle lets move" to get the house completed and in a show-worthy status. That's a lie; I did finally stop yesterday, but our home computer I think has a virus as it takes an hour to boot up.  So no posting for almost three weeks.  Whoa!

Short winded:  Going to Delaware was chaotic.  Wonderful to see so many people during the trip, but it was just go go go get to the next person rush rush sleep go go go.  The cruise was amazing.  So relaxing.  We had no plans the entire trip and it was perfect to just unwind.  I needed it.  My anxiety levels thanked me.  Getting back to Terry was/is always exciting (distance makes the heart love deeper), and then we worked on the house for 10 hours two days in a row.  Then we worked on the house every night after work until it was time for bed.  All the rushing with the house is that we finally listed it for sale on Saturday.  Sunday we pretty much played Wii Bowling and reveled in having no house chores.  GLORIOUS!

Will elaborate in future posts about previous paragraphs highlights.  For now, just finally able to get back on here.