Anniversary Card to Wall Art

I have changed the gallery wall around once again.

Back in April, I changed things up by adding a reading from our wedding that you can see here. Greg since got me a print for our anniversary with the same Corinthians reading, that will most likely end up on the wall.

I  was clearing the mantle of our anniversary cards and it hit me.  The card I got for Greg would look perfect in that frame and would fit perfectly as well.

Before

After

 

Love it! It looks much more subtle and I love how it is around wedding pictures. I like how I can constantly switch up the art and pictures without having to move any frames. 

xo, Erin

Finally... My Own Sink

Painting was completed on Saturday which allowed time on Sunday and Monday for Greg to mess with the plumbing and install the vanity.  We originally just had one sink so Greg had to split the water lines and we ended up with two! It is amazing, I can't believe we waited so long to have our own sinks.

We bought this vanity base from IKEA, but in Gloss Gray. It was being discontinued and was on clearance for only $99.  Then we picked out this double bowl sink top to go on top.

Sunday Greg got the vanity attached to the wall, figured out the plumbing and we siliconed the vanity top on before bed. Things were starting to look pretty good around here.

On Monday Greg got to work installing the faucets and making sure there were no leaks. Of course there weren't any :)

I am in love with how things have turned out so far. We still need the obvious things such as mirrors, lights and baseboards, but it's getting there. The shelf we built along the wall also needs to be tiled along with a backsplash. Don't mind the mirror, it is just there so I can get ready in the bathroom...

The drawers are surprisingly big. I thought we would be needing a lot more storage and baskets in the bathroom, but now I am rethinking that. We bought these organizers from IKEA that are meant for the Godmorgon series.  I love how I have a spot for all my makeup. We may by another one for Greg's side for toothbrushes, face wash, etc.

Lotions, perfumes, hair products on the left
Makeup organized on the right

Greg's side... I took over with my hair dryer :)

Monday night was the first night using the sinks.  We brushed our teeth and washed our faces... at the same time! It was so nice that we didn't have to 'take turns'.  The little things that get me so excited :)

Anyone have ideas for mirrors? I started looking on Pinterest and in stores, but haven't found anything I love yet. I'm pretty set on having two separate mirrors, Greg wants them tall like the one that's temporarily in there. Decisions, decisions...

xo, Erin

Painted.

I know, I know. I said we were painting a few weeks ago, but we finally got around to it. We have definitely been dragging our feet on this whole bathroom project, considering we started it back in January. A combination of busy weekends and nice weather have kept us out of the bathroom.  I can finally say that I see an end in sight. We are now on the finishing stages (the fun part): mirrors, lighting, baseboards, wall art and storage.

We started the first coat Saturday morning. While I taped, Greg started cutting in. Then we switched and I cut in while he rolled the walls.

Second coat was done Saturday night. Since we already removed the light in the bathroom to paint, we had to plug in some lamps which made things a bit harder.

D.O.N.E! I love it. It is so airy and makes the room feel so much bigger. We went with Martha Stewart's Sharkey Gray color, but used Behr Premium Plus Ultra Stain Blocking Paint in Eggshell.

Before & After so far:

More updates tomorrow... our vanity is installed :)

xo, Erin

Happy Memorial Day

I'm going to keep this post short and sweet. Greg and I are busy working on the bathroom (updates tomorrow!) and friends are coming over later for a BBQ.

I was in a crafty mood last week so I made a wreath for the holidays:

I followed this tutorial I found on Pinterest and I'm very happy how it turned out.

What are your plans for this bonus day off?

xo, Erin

High Five!

This week was fabulous and I'm sad to see it go. We celebrated our anniversary on Monday and it was so relaxing. We watched our wedding video and it brought back so many great memories!  Tuesday was my last day at work with kids for the school year, it was bittersweet. I am very thankful to have the same job again next year and have some returning kiddos on my caseload.

I am linking up with Lauren to share my top 5 from this week:

1. Strawberry Shortcake for our anniversary dessert

2. Ha ha ha. Murphy is so studious these days.

3.  This fabulous weather we have been having and that continues into Memorial Day Weekend

4. We celebrated my last school day with students by eating at Bad Frog. You are looking at delicious Snickerdoodle frozen yogurt with yummy chocolatey toppings!

5. I finally have time to craft again. Currently making a wreath for Memorial Day. Just needs some more depth and stars

Happy Memorial Day everyone! We will be spending it BBQ-ing, working hard core on the bathroom and possibly visiting the water park :)

xo, Erin

First Anniversary: Paper

The traditional first anniversary gift is paper.  Greg claimed he took care of that because my early gift was a new laptop. Don't worry, I didn't let him off the hook. A printer prints paper, not a laptop :)

So Greg came home from work Monday with this:

Yes, that is a giant roll of toilet paper with a sweet message on it. Brownie points for making me laugh, but still not off the hook.

When Greg was gone on a business trip last week, I was busy making his gift.  Of course it was going to incorporate paper and I had a few ideas of how I was going to do that. Last year when planning our wedding, I had the intent on writing my own vows.  I found out later that in a Catholic Mass, we have to stick with the traditional vows.  Somehow, I wanted to share with Greg the vows I had written for him.

I came up with the idea of writing them out on a mat around a wedding picture. I bought a shadowbox frame from Ikea and played around with the spacing. I was having a hard time handwriting them, so I ended up using my computer to help.

I typed the vows out, while leaving a square in the center for the picture.  The inside of the frame measured 9x9 and I used 8.5x11 paper.  There was a slight gap on the one side so I found ribbon used at our wedding and glued it down the one side. Perfect. A sentimental way to share my vows and create a keepsake for years to come.

Greg got me this...

I can't wait to find a spot for it on the gallery wall or somewhere else around the house, it just needs a frame! The Corinthians reading at the bottom was read at our wedding which makes it even more sentimental. Greg did good :) I also got Greg a monthly massage for the next year. His back is always so tight and my hands are not strong enough for the job.

xo, Erin

Our Music City Getaway

Nashville was amazing and I'm so glad we picked this destination for our anniversary.  People I talked with for recommendations said we would find things to do and said there was live music everywhere.  Let me tell you firsthand, they were not exaggerating. As soon as the bars open for the day live music is pouring out of them. It is like an ongoing country concert with people having fun everywhere!

Let's get started, shall we?

We arrived Friday night around 6:30 and checked in to our hotel. We quickly got ready then headed to Broadway Street for some dinner and drinks. Our first stop was Cadillac Ranch. This was our first taste of live music and I knew we were in for a great night. Fun Fact about Cadillac Ranch: It's the only bar downtown Nashville with a mechanical bull.  We would have stayed to watch some of the fun if we knew this beforehand.

After we ate some dinner, we wandered down to the Big Bang Piano Bar.  Greg and I love piano bars for the entertainment and good music. By the end of the night, this placed was packed and people were getting rowdy.  We got front row seats and I may or may not have been up dancing after midnight..

We had big plans for Saturday. This was our only full day there so I used Trip Advisor to help me narrow down some destinations.  We ate breakfast at our hotel, got ready, then headed to our first stop, the Gaylord Opryland Hotel. We heard this place was big and beautiful... it held up to those rumors. Parking at the hotel was $18, but we beat the system of course. We parked in the Opry Mills parking lot and walked down a walkway, about five minutes, to the hotel.

There were little shops in the hotel where we picked up a souvenir shot glass. There were restaurants, waterfalls, fountains and more! If you were staying at this hotel, there would be no reason you ever had to leave.

While heading out of the parking lot, we decided to make a quick stop at the Grand Ole Opry. 

The bad news was a high school graduation had just let out and they were not giving any tours for the day. We wandered around the gift shop and snapped a few pictures before we headed out.

We left the Opryland area and were headed to downtown Nashville for some lunch. Before we could make it there, Greg threw a U-turn when he saw these:

Yes, Greg is a car guy, so we made a quick detour to check out some cars from The Dukes of Hazzard show.  There was a mini museum of things inside and an actor that was signing autographs.

We were now hungry for lunch so we stopped at the Nashville Dog for some gourmet hot dogs. This cute little restaurant was on Vanderbilt's campus in a nice area of town.

I went with their most popular, the Chicago Dog, and Greg went with the Chili Cheese.  The hots dogs and sides were good, but when you compare them to Portillo's, unfortunately they fell a little short.

Broadway Street was our next stop.  This was an area downtown where all the bars, cowboy boot shops and music were. This place was incredible.  The bars were open all day until 3:00 am, there were bands everywhere and people having a good time.  It rained for about ten minutes and we hopped into some shops.

While walking down Broadway, we stopped in Honky Tonk Central for some music and drinks. This bar was awesome! It was three levels, had balconies and a different band on each floor. We stopped at the second floor and enjoyed the balcony for a little.

Our last stop before dinner was the Trolley Tour. It was a one hour tour that took us past the Ryman Auditourium, Bicentennial Mall, Antique Archaeology, The Parthenon, Frist Center, Music Row and the Country Music Hall of Fame.  You could hop on an off the trolley at each stop and the next one would come around in a half hour. This ticket was good for 24 hours.  We chose to ride the trolley around for the hour because we were a little short on time. The tour offered history about things we passed and gave us an idea of where we wanted to stop on Sunday.

State Capitol Building

The Parthenon, better pictures below

Taylor Swift's High-Rise. She lives in the penthouse on part of the top floor.
If you look close, the curtains are open on the top right.. she was home :)

We headed back to our hotel to get ready for dinner. We had reservations at Amerigo which I would highly recommend. They had delicious Italian food and a great wine list. I had Shrimp Scampi and Greg had Three Cheese Tortellini with Crab Meat. Yum! Forgot to take pictures so we snapped one once we got back to the hotel between dinner and going out. 

Great backdrop, right?

We headed back to Broadway for the night and the plan was to bar hop. We heard so many good things about the music and atmosphere at all the bars. They don't charge cover so we figured we would get a drink, then move on.  We stopped in The Stage, Tootsies, Legends and Benchmark.  We tried to go back to Cadillac Ranch to see the bull in action, but it was packed! Oh well.

The band was packed on a tiny stage...

... so the singer performed on the bar

This was the scene when bar hopping, it was like a big Street Fest:

We didn't stay out too late Saturday night because we already had a long day. We woke up Sunday morning around 9:00, ate breakfast, checked out, then headed to a few places we wanted to visit more after seeing them on the trolley.

We went back to Bicentennial Park to read about some history of Nashville and see the WWII Memorial.

Quick stop at the Farmers Market right across from the park...

Cool bike rack

The Parthenon, a full scale replica of the original in Athens. Once you get up close, it seems very big.

Last stop of our trip, Antique Archaeology.  Located in the historic Marathon Motor Car Building, this shop belongs to Mike Wolfe, from the show American Pickers. Greg and I like watching this show on Netflix so we wanted to check out the inside and what they had for sale.

That wraps up our awesome trip to Nashville. If you have never been, I recommend booking a vacation ASAP. There is so much fun to be had!

Goodbye Nashville

Will be back tomorrow to share our gifts to each other :)

xo, Erin