Downstairs Bathroom Remodel: COMPLETE!

So, yet again... I find myself here, apologizing for my absence in the blog world. Since my last post I have been extremely busy with one thing: SCHOOL. Since school started I have been bogged down with work and very little free time to tend to my blog. Now that things are settling down I have finally found time.

Recently, Jason and I had a wild hair to re-tile the downstairs bathroom. It's been a long road from picking out the tile to waiting for the grout to dry; but finally, the wait is over.



Here are the BEFORE photos


































Anddd.... The AFTER photos! HOORAY!









































We are so excited about the bathroom and can't wait to use it.


This is my promise: I will not neglect my blog or my three followers ever again. Scouts Honor!

Stay tuned for more posts!

A final thought.

Since I have been a slacking blogger I thought I would leave you with a final post for the day. While we were in Charlotte Brad and Lindsay gave us some great tips on how to eat healthier and substitute some of out favorite foods with heathier options. The first is a substiute for olive oil, which we use a lot. They introduced us to the world of coconut oil. It is much healthier and works just as well. The second fun food is a substitute for sour cream. Say hello to greek yogurt.

Tonight for dinner we bought pork chops and fried them up in the coconut oil. We had collard greens and fried green tomatoes (from our garden), also fried in coconut oil. I always have to have a starch with my meal, so I had mashed potatoes topped with.... GREEK YOGURT.

The meal was simply delicious.
































For another delicious meal idea click HERE to see the low calorie meal that Amanda and I prepared and click HERE for the recipe.

The fun continues....in Charlotte.

Speaking of that beautiful couple... the fun STILL hasn't ended. After a long drive home and a quick load of laundry, we packed up and headed out again. Jason and I trekked a daunting 3 hours from small town Virginia all the way to the hustle and bustle of Charlotte, North Carolina to see Lindsay and Brad D'Amico.

We had a blast spending the weekend with them. We went to a concert at the NC Music Factory. This was where I had my first "Dale's Pale Ale" and let me tell you... they are awesome...in a can!
















We did decide that the can looked a little "redneck" and the name "Dale" didn't really help. Brad did a reenactment of his grumpy neighbor and I caught it all on film. "My Namez Daleee" (I love Brad's face and of course Lindsay looks adorable)

















On Saturday we went to the US National Whitewater Center...check it out HERE. USNWC is home to the World's largest man-made whitewater river with many other water and land activities. We decided to go and read that we had to have "shoes with a back strap". Brad made it clear that if we wore THESE he would definitely make fun of us.

SO.... we went out and found these

















.......are they really any better??



Then we had dinner at Nikko Japanese Restaurant and Sushi Bar in downtown Charlotte. Click HERE to check out Nikko's. If any of you are traveling to Charlotte soon, I would highly recommend eating here.


Brad's new ride (fully equipped with GPS) headed us in the right direction to the restaurant. On the way we saw this beauty... I couldn't help but snap a picture.
































Dinner was fabulous and the company was even better.

The trip was a huge success and we can't wait to go back again.

Smith Mountain Lake 2011

After we left the pageant we headed straight to the most relaxing and peaceful place on Earth: Smith Mountain Lake. I spent Sunday through Thursday with my wonderful parents and some great family friends: Rob, Marti, Madison, and Alyssa.

As soon as we got there I discovered the kayaks. My dad and I raced around the coves in the kayaks and ... I, of course, won!

Tiny Miss Virginia 2011-2012

The past few weeks have been such a whirlwind. We have been extremely busy with various different events. The first of these events was our annual mother-daughter event, also known as, Tiny Miss Virginia. Three times a year my mom and I pack up and head to Charlottesville, Virginia (Go Hoos!) to work our butts off spend time with some great friends. I am the emcee and my mother is the auditor of this great pageant system.

Tiny Miss is a family and each contestant is treated as just that. Each girl wins a Tiny Miss diamond circle necklace (among many other gifts and prizes). The circle represents the circle of family that each girl experiences when she joins this system.

I joined this family when I was eight years old and have yet to miss a year of fun. Everything about Tiny Miss is perfection...starting with the stage.














My pageant sister Sarah attended. It is always so much fun having her around. Check out her shirt, she is clearly my biggest fan.
















Even Winston came. This pup loves pageants!

















This little cutie is Elizabeth. She is the reigning Mini Miss Eastern America. She brought her dolly along to the pageant and decided to name her Blaire. How sweet!


















Congratulations to all of this years beautiful winners.

Click here to check out the "Tiny Miss" website and learn how to become a part of a great pageant system.

Operation Bathroom Make-over. Complete

Last week I decided to take on the daunting task of re-modeling the upstairs bathroom. This bathroom is not used a whole lot, but I still felt like it needed some attention.

Before this endeavor I was pretty confident about my painting skills. I thought that I enjoyed painting. Boy, was I wrong. Painting a dark color against a white ceiling is much more difficult than a light color.

Jason had little faith in me, of course.. so I had to prove him wrong. I painted and touched up and painted and touched up. Then finally... I was finished. Well, finished with as much as I could take.

Don't look too closely at my paint job

After much stress and hairloss determination... the bathroom is finished.

For now...

Take a look.


Before:

After!

Conquoring the Grass...

Today I did something I've unsuccessfully done only once before. I must say, I was quite impressed! My stepdad had hernia surgery on Tuesday and has been laid up all week. Keeping the grass in pristine condition has always been a passion of his. Because he could barely move and the grass was beginning to look like a jungle Jason and I volunteered to go over and cut it for him.

Now, there is a reason that I am very excited about this. Ya know, when you fail epically at something... and you wait until the perfect time to try it again (in order to ensure you will perform perfectly)? Well... about 6 years ago I thought it wise to try and cut my dad's grass on his riding lawn mower. I was doing really great until... I ran into his house...with the lawnmower. At that time I gave up on my dream of ever being a professional grass cutter. Haha... no, but seriously. I had never tried it again until today.










With help from Jason...








& my mother dearest...

We got the grass cut in record time!
Kudos to us!

Fourth of July celebrations... with a very special friend.

My parents recently bought a 2008 SeaRay Sport boat. We thought that the 4th of July would be a great time to put it in the water and try her out. We all went to Buggs Island Lake Friday and Saturday and had a great time! with the exception of my parents getting pulled over by the cops on their first day in the water... really?



















We cooked out at the Parrish's lake house and had so much fun relaxing and hanging out with such great friends. We returned home on Sunday and looked forward to attending my Goomba's 4th of July cookout the following day.




When had the honor of experiencing the first open air ride of the good ole' Jeep's life. Poor thing had never had the top off before. It was such a blast although, it wrecked havoc on my hair doo



I know when my cell phone dings, and I see that I have recieved a picture message from "Jay Willis," than it's gonna be a good one...



This bring me to my "very speical friend" portion of the post...



So, making her debut blog appearance-weighing in at a whopping 2 ounces and standing 10 inches tall (including her popsicle stick)here is...




















FLAT LINDSAY AND THE TOPLESS JEEP... kinda sounds like a lousy Vegas show if you think about it.

Rest in Peace, Baby Caylee

As I'm sure you have all heard, and if you haven't, you must live under a rock yesterday, Casey Anthony the 25 year old "tot mom" charged with first degree murder and aggravated child abuse of her three year old daughter, Caylee was acquitted of these charges. She was found guilty of "giving officers false information"....a simple misdemeanor.

I had not followed this case closely, but began watching the news about mid-way through her trial. I think that it is safe to say that everyone most of us feel that this woman is as guilty as they come.

I'm sorry if this post offends anyone, but if your three year old goes missing and you wait a MONTH to report this to authorities you are guilty of child abuse. Plain and simple. Not to mention if your child has been missing for a MONTH and you finally work up the nerve to call authorities and report it... then three days later you run out and get a tattoo reading "bella vita" which translates to "beautiful life" you must not be much concerned about the whereabouts of your child.

When the not guilty verdict was read, my jaw dropped. How on Earth did this monster get away with a crime like this? This is a perfect example of why there are major flaws with our judicial system. Reminds me of OJ Simpson all over again.

Last night, at 9pm, we vowed to turn on our porch lights in memory of baby Caylee. I encourage all of you to join in and turn yours on also.

What a Wednesday.

Today was .... uneventful to say the least. We woke up hoping to hit the golf course and play a few holes. Of course, when I actually rolled over and looked at the clock it was almost 12 pm. Where had the day gone? Jason went to the gym and I worked on some school work (race, class and gender is not what I would normally choose to wake up to, but hey).

Randy, Aiden, and Blac stopped by for a visit and Aiden discovered the world of pom poms. He put them on Jason's head and told him he looked like a girl.

Around 3:30 the sky started getting black and we knew our golf plans were probably about to get ruined. at 4:00 on the dot the sky opened up and a pile of rain drained down onto us. (I'm sure our tomato plants are appreciative) more about them on a later post. It stormed a terrifying storm, which eventually killed Katt Williams and his stand up show we were watching on the television.

By this point, as you can imagine, Jason's belly is growling and dinner is on the brain. (I warned you, this day was uneventful... it's already almost 6 pm and the above is a play-by-play of what we did today. Not a lot obviously). We had chicken already thawed but no clue what to do with it. Then it hit me...

The perfect semi-healthy summer meal idea.

What is it?


I'll give you a hint.


It's Italian and goes great with red wine.






If you guessed a crispy, pesto chicken, spinach, and roasted tomato pizza you were right!




































The meal was absolutly delicious and we will definitely be trying it again sometime!

What a great way to end a boring day!

Spring-ish Cleaning

So today I got a wild hair and decided it was time to do some spring-ish cleaning. I was motivated enough to even take some before and after photos to share with my blog followers All two of you! I also wanted the documentation just in case it is messy again before Jason gets home from work!

Disclaimer: Jason: don't be upset about me posting the "before" photos. They aren't that bad and no one is going to think we're slobs. I promise!

PANTRY:

BEFORE


















AFTER



















LAUNDRY:


Before

After

Introducing: Dr. Lindsay Willis D'Amico

On the 21st of May Lindsay recieved her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from Virginia Commonwealth University! I was so honored to have been invited to share in her special day. (Especially since I wasn't around for Lindsay and Brad's OTHER special day.. Happy Anniversary, guys). Everyone gathered in to see all of the graduates walk across that stage after, what is sure to have been, a very long EIGHT years! I'm sure that it was all very worth it.
























I know that her parents were very proud of her!
















Lindsay and I had the "leg pop" down to a science.

Congratulations to Dr. Lindsay Willis D'Amico and Brad D'Amico. We wish them all the best and promise we will come to Charlotte soon!