September Recap

I can't believe that tomorrow is October 1st & that September is already over!  I must say, this month has flown by.  September is one of my favorite months.  It's the month that my husband & I started dating & also the month that we got married! Different years though, of course ;) I love the beginning of fall; the air gets a little crisper, the leaves begin to change colors & everything smells & feels so much better to me.  It's so refreshing, especially after a hot summer.

This month has been a busy one.  Obviously, I've been lacking in blog posts...but at least I'm getting one done before the official end of the month, right? ;) We attended two weddings, celebrated our five year wedding anniversary, took a few day trips, celebrated my brothers birthday, worked some more on our house (never ending project, I tell ya) & we were even able to take a few days to go visit Sean's sister in Spokane.

Last year for our anniversary, we bought a nice camera so that we could take up photography as a hobby & as a couple.  We have had so much fun learning together & this month we have really been getting some good use out of it!  Most of the time this entails getting up super early so that we can catch the sunrise for good lighting.  I am definitely not a morning person, but I have really enjoyed these early mornings with Sean.  It gets us outside & spending time with each other, which has been wonderful!  Here are some of the pictures that Sean has taken this month, with the exception of the one of him...I took that! :)

Doesn't he do a great job?!  I am continually amazed at how good of a photographer he is becoming, I can't wait to see how his pictures turn out as he continues this passion.  I am looking forward to learning more about it, too!

To officially say goodbye to summer, we lit our fire pit last night.  It was a perfect way to wrap up one season & move on to another.  I'm now ready to wholeheartedly welcome fall!  Bring on all of the pumpkin scented candles, haunted corn mazes, fall decorating, kettle corn & salted caramel mochas.  September may be one of my favorite months, but October is my favorite color :)

Birthday Celebration in Las Vegas

Over the weekend, my family and I celebrated my 26th birthday in Las Vegas. It was my first time in Vegas & I had the best time! I was really not looking forward to my birthday this year because...26. Yeah. It bummed me out. But this trip was the perfect way to make it fun & for me to be excited for my birthday! 

We had three full days in Vegas, which didn't seem like enough time. We arrived early Saturday morning and left late Monday night. Our days were jam-packed & we were always on-the-go! I loved every minute of it :)

We stayed at the Flamingo, which was awesome! I love history so it was really neat to stay in one of the first hotels on the strip & to learn so much about it. Did you know that the Flamingo Hotel had ties to the Mob!? I had no idea how big the Mafia was in Las Vegas (& how influential it was in moving it forward) until this weekend.

We got in around 9am on Saturday morning, so we had some time to kill before checking into our hotel. Luckily, we were able to drop off our bags at the hotel & then we hit the strip! We had breakfast & then we walked around for the rest of the afternoon. We rode the roller coaster at New York-New York a total of three times (twice back-to-back) -- it's just that good! 

Once we were checked into our hotel, my mom, sister & I went to the pool for a little bit to cool off & relax. This was the only time we went to the pool. For some reason, I didn't expect the pools to be so crowded! It was pretty much standing room only, so we didn't stay very long. Later that night, we hit the strip again (duh!) for dinner, to watch the UFC fights, explore the hotels & to gamble ;) We also saw the fountain show in front of the Bellagio -- so beautiful!

On Sunday we spent the majority of the day on Fremont Street, which was a ton of fun! The guys (my husband, dad, brother, & my sisters boyfriend) rode on the zip line that hangs above Fremont Street & then we went to the Mob Museum (very cool!) before heading back to the hotel for dinner & then going out to a show. We saw Cirque du Soleil Kà at the MGM Grand, it was so unbelievably amazing! If you ever get a chance to see it, I would highly recommend that you do. I hope to see more Cirque du Soleil shows in the future. 

Monday was my birthday! We spent the day walking around the hotels that we didn't get to spend a lot of time at the nights before like the Venetian, Caesars Palace, & the Bellagio. We ate, shopped & gambled some more. Hey, when in Vegas... ;)

This trip was so phenomenal, Vegas far exceeded my expectations! We had long nights, tired legs, & I'm still recovering from all of the fun we had. There is no other way I would have wanted to spend my birthday. I am so thankful my family could be there to help celebrate, just being able to spend time with them meant the world to me. 

Have any of you been to Vegas before? If so, what were your favorite things to do? I'm already thinking about round two! :)

One Month of Homeownership + Some House Updates

Today marks ONE month of owning our home! We have put so much time & work into it & we're still not moved in. Our main focus in the beginning was getting the rental side completely done so that we could rent it out. I'm happy to say that we finished the rental a couple of weeks ago & we have some great tenants who are already happily moved in & settled!

We have slept in our place one time & it was so much fun! Most of our things are there, but we still need to unpack & organize everything. We are waiting until tomorrow to fully move in because that's when our washer & dryer are getting delivered! :) I am SO excited to finally be in our home!

Here are some of the things that we have accomplished so far:

• painted everything - we painted everything Alabaster by Sherwin Williams, aside from the downstairs bathroom which we painted Polar Star by Valspar & a couple of accent walls which we painted Classic French Gray by Sherwin Williams. I absolutely love how it turned out!
• replaced lighting fixtures - almost all of the lighting fixtures in the house were replaced. I had to get rid of the dreaded boob lights! Oh come on, you know what I'm talking about! ;) all of the boob lights are gone & we put these in their place. I love them so much! They are simple & don't bring your eye up to the ceiling, which is exactly what I wanted. We also hung an old (but new to us) chandelier in the dining room, a new lighting fixture in the downstairs bathroom & a new ceiling fan in the master.
• added hardware to the kitchen cabinets - who knew adding some simple hardware to cabinets could make such a drastic change?! 
• painted & partially rebuilt the decks - most of the steps needed rebuilt and we painted them with Restoleum restore to help them stand up against the weather.
• aded backsplash to the downstairs bathroom - this is one of my favorite things that we did! We picked a glass and stainless steel mosaic backsplash which I feel looks great with the paint color we chose & the new brushed nickel hardware we installed. 

I can't wait to show you more of the house once we get it completely done! I'm dying to do a tour/walkthrough when it's all finished, so check back soon if you'd like to see more updates!

Oh, did I mention that we have an apple tree?! Well, we do. We have an apple tree :) I wonder how many apples we will get? I'm guessing we will have a lot...

I hope you have a great weekend!