Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Memphis- Have you been?


Since Sean and I have yet to take a vacay together since we moved back from Europe, we planned a road trip in October when we both have a few vacation days we can use.  We've decided on Memphis, as it's not a long drive from where we are and neither of us have ever been there.


We have a few ideas for restaurants or food places we want to try: Rizzo's, Muddy's Bake Shop, Deja Vu and Brother Juniper's and we're still trying to decide on where might have the best BBQ.

We also would like to see Graceland, Sun Studios, the Gibson Guitar Factory and the National Civil Rights museum.

So..my question is this: Have you been to Memphis? If so, what do you recommend both food wise, activity wise and attraction wise? We already have our hotel booked, so no suggestions needed there.


Sunday, September 22, 2013

Up, Up and Away!

Last night I had the chance to do something I've never done, I got to see hot air balloons up close and personal. Somehow in all my adventures, I've never been to a hot air balloon festival. How that's possible, I don't know, but when I heard that a town nearby was having one, I decided I had to go and take pictures.

I ended up going by myself because Sean had to work and a friend had to cancel because of a migraine, but it was a fine time and that meant I didn't have to worry about someone getting bored while I was snapping away.

I only have a few pictures edited, but I wanted to share them with you.






Have any of you ever been to a festival with hot air balloons? What did you think? Ours had the option to take a ride (tethered) but the line was at least an hour long, so I skipped out on it.

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

We Bought a House!


I've been silent for awhile, but it's due to a several things. The biggest thing being we bought a house! When I haven't been at work, I've been trying to unpack and organize the house/yard and pool.

I wish I could say the home buying process was a breeze for us, but I'd be lying if I did.  Our realtor was great and I'd be happy to work with her again, but the mortgage company we went through to get our loan was awful. I would never recommend them to anyone and I'd never work with them again.

Anyway, those of you that are on my Instagram or Facebook have already seen photos of the house, but those of you that aren't, I'm uploading some photos for you. Later in the week or next week, I'll try to post the photos with ideas written in and some mood boards of what I'm trying to accomplish in the house, but for now...just pictures. Keep in mind I also took these pictures with my wide angle lens, so that some of the interior shots might look a little larger than they actually are.


This is the outside of the house. It's a little too much tan for me, but I love that we have a three car garage.


The kitchen, living room, dining area and sitting room are all an open floor plan.  I don't love the open floor plan, but it's growing on me. I love this kitchen, because I actually have enough room to store all my kitchen stuff which hasn't been possible the last few houses we've lived in.


More of the kitchen, looking towards the living room.

 
 
This is the living room, looking towards the door that leads to the backyard. Ignore our futon, we've ordered a couch, but it is on backorder and isn't in yet.


This is the view from our front door, the entryway is open, as our sitting area is right off the entryway. 


Another view of the living room looking towards the kitchen.


This is our sitting area. The chairs are hideous, but will be recovered. The decals on the wall were left from the previous owners, but I liked them, so I kept them up. Boomer also decided to photo bomb.


Hallway shot. I'm standing at the doorway of our guest bedroom. The second bathroom is off to the right, the door straight ahead leads to the third bedroom, which we're using as an office.


Our second bathroom. Sean mainly uses this one.


Our guest bedroom, which will be painted, a nightstand will be brought in and painted (I'm using it in our master bedroom right now and art will be put on the wall. You can't see the closet in either this shot or the shot of the office, but they are there. I assure you.


The office, which is currently the messiest room in the house. I keep putting off organizing it. I'm also not sure what's going to go on in here color or décor wise. It's giving me fits.


The laundry room, which opens into the garage.


Nice, big garage. Room for both cars and a whole bunch of crap.


Our master bedroom. It looks ghetto right now because our bed isn't on a frame, but we took care of that last weekend and have one being delivered this Saturday. Woo-hoo! The room also will be painted and something will have to happen with the furniture. Either it will be painted or we'll sell it and get something new.


Our closet, which needs organization, but there is plenty of room for my clothes and Sean's too...of course.


Another view of the bedroom.


Master bathroom, looking towards the bedroom.


Our back porch (which needs to be re-stained) looking towards the right side of the backyard and the pool.


Left side of the yard. The patio area has a sliding glass door into the kitchen.


Right side of the yard.

I know the pictures aren't the best and I don't feel like they show the house to it's full potential, but it gives you guys an idea of what our house looks like. Like I said, in the next week or so, I'll have to put up some mood boards and my ideas for the house.