To be continued...

I finally got my new counter tops! I love them! It's kind of hard to see what they look like because the walls were brown underneath the old tile. It was very hard for me to choose a color. I ordered them from Lowe's and there were at least 50 different colors! I wanted to pick one that resembled the floor. I thought I would have a warm color for the floor and counter top and then choose a cool color for the walls so there would be a contrast in color.



I even got new sinks and faucets. I love the way they turned out. Amber's brother Andrew installed everything and he did a good job!

Amber and I started texturing the walls last night. Hopefully we will finish before this weekend so I can start painting. I can't wait to get it all cleaned up and finished!

P.S. Please say a prayer for my Pawpaw. He had a stroke yesterday and had to have surgery on his brain. He is still in the hospital. I just hope and pray everything will turn out fine.

Weekend Fun!

This past weekend me, my nephew Ty, and Sophie all went to Arlington to visit my brother and sister-in-law. Everytime Sophie rides in the car, she has to ride in my lap. I wasn't sure how comfortable she would be in my lap for 2 hours so I bought her a soft blanket that I thought she would like to sit on in the passenger's side. I was wrong!!! I even tried putting treats in the seat but she was not falling for it. I figured sooner or later she would get tired of trying to jump back into my lap and just lay down but nope, she wanted to be in someone's lap. So, what does she do?




She just hopped right in the backseat and sat in Ty's lap. He loved it! He kept saying "Sophie loves me" and "I will keep her safe." It was the cutest thing ever. He even wanted me to get a picture of him snuggling her with! She sat in his lap for about 30 minutes!



While we were in Arlington, we went to this drive through wildlife park. Ty couldn't wait to go to "the zoo." It was so much fun. We got a bag of food and all different animals would just come right up to the window and eat out of your hand! My favorites were the zebras and giraffe. The zebras were pretty aggressive but nice. They get their head as far as they can in the window and you basically have to push it back out if you want to keep driving.



The giraffe was very gentle and pretty. He just stuck out his long black tongue and ate his food!




We also went to this self-serve ice cream place called Pure Bliss. You get to choose your own ice cream and all of the toppings you want, then you have it weighed and it's only .38 cents an ounce which turned out to be pretty cheap. Ty wanted a little bit of everything on his ice cream!
It was vanilla and chocolate swirl with captain crunch, cinnamon toast crunch, and cocoa puff cereal, sprinkles, white chocolate, and even chocolate covered sprinkles!

He ate way more than we thought he would. He really liked it!! We had such a good time in Arlington with Coby and Kristin. This was the first time I took Ty out of town just the two of us and I had such a good time with him. I cant wait to take him somewhere else!

Guess what I got...

I finally got an alarm system! I am so excited about this one! Before I moved into my house I knew I wanted to get an alarm system since I would be living alone. But, I figured I would hold out and see how scared I would be without one. I have lived here now for 3 months and I'm not near as scared as I thought I would be but I'm still not completely comfortable living alone. There are still times when I wake up in the middle of the night and get freaked out because I think I hear things coming from inside the house and then it takes me forever to get back to sleep because I'm paranoid! I do feel much safer with Sophie because she lets me know right away when she hears something out of the ordinary. But, I'm always scared that someone will be waiting for me in my house when I get home. Remember, I'm a worrier! So, I was happy when I received a letter in the mail from ADT about a promotion they were having with a $99 install. I thought about how much safer I would feel by getting one so I decided to call them just to get more info. After talking to the ADT guy, I was excited about everything this package included and figured I would end up getting it but I told him I would think about it and call back. Of course, this is when they trap you!! He told me that if I went ahead and signed up today then he would reimburse me for the $99 installation fee. I knew I wanted to do it so I went ahead and said OK! He told me someone could come to my house and install it the next day! I couldn't wait!

The best thing about this package is that it comes with this nifty key chain remote that will set or disarm the alarm from my car or anywhere else! It also has a panic button, so if I pull into my garage and a bad guy is in the waiting for me then I just hit the panic button and the alarm will go off!

The guy that installed my alarm was real nice. He gave me an extra yard sign and like 20 window stickers and I was only supposed to get one sign and 2 stickers! He said the signs alone are a huge deterrent and a lot of people even offer him money to buy signs and stickers from him! I just looked on eBay and 3 stickers are selling for $30! That's crazy! I won't be selling mine! Trust me, I will have a sticker on every window! Ha!

I have only had the alarm system for about 3 hours but I already feel so much safer! Also, having an alarm system will decrease my home insurance by up to 20%! I definitely think it is worth it! So, for all you bad guys out there: Don't mess with my house!!!

Bathroom Updating!!

When I first bought my house, I knew the bathrooms were one of the things I wanted to change right away! They weren't too bad, just very outdated! They aren't completely finished yet but this is what they have looked like over the past 3 months!!

So this is how the main bathroom looked the day I moved in. The wood is the sub-floor. The previous owners agreed to replace the sub-floor because the old floor had been damaged by water leaking. Notice the white tile going halfway up the wall. At first it really didn't bother me, but that changed pretty quickly!!


This counter top was pretty gross! It was 1 inch tile that had probably been painted 3 or 4 times and the paint was staring to chip everywhere. Also the sink was pretty old so I knew I would be needing a new one.


This is the master bathroom. It was in better condition but still very outdated. We replaced the floors and toilet within the first few days.


I had to throw a picture in here of Blake laying tile in the bathroom. He did such a good job!


So this my temporary after picture. It was a lot better than it was before but it still wasn't the kind of bathroom I wanted. We painted and stained the walls and changed the floor and the toilet. But....after watching too many HGTV shows and talking to different people about remodeling their bathrooms, I decided I was going to change this into the bathroom I would love!


I started by tearing all of the tile off of the wall myself. I figured this would probably be the only thing that I would be able to do on my own so I started one night and it didn't take very long. It was actually kind of fun because it made me feel very productive, even though my knuckles did get all scraped up!


So I thought I was almost done until I started taking tile off around the shower. I saw something dark underneath the tile and at first I started freaking out because I thought it was MOLD! Little did I know, there was black tin tile underneath all of the white tile!! It was a lot easier to remove but it took just as long!!


After I took all of the tile off of the wall, I started chipping all of the tile off of the counter top! This got very old after a while because I had to remove each tile one by one and it seemed like it took forever!!


This is my second bathroom while I was in the middle of tearing all of the tile off the wall. It was the biggest mess!!


So this is my second before picture. I am going to texture the walls, paint them a cool brown color (I think), get new counter tops, sink, faucet, mirror, and remove the wood cabinet above the toilet! Stay tuned to see the after pictures!!!!

10 things about me!

I guess it's my turn to say 10 things about me ! Thanks Amber!

1. I have been a terrible blogger!!! I have been so busy non-stop with summer school so I feel like any chance I get to relax at night I should be studying or doing school work! I promise it will get better! School is out this week!!

2. I will graduate from Midwestern this December. I am getting a Management degree but I will still continue to do hair! It has just always been a goal of mine to get a college degree.

3. Just like Amber, I am a worrier! I worry about time, health, cleanliness, safety, money, anything you can think of!

4. I have been a hairstylist now for 3 years and I haven't changed my hair at all, which is crazy because most hairstylist have a new style or color every 6 weeks! Which leads me to my next one...

5. I am not a risk-taker. This can be a good thing or a bad thing. I usually always choose the "safe" option. For example, I always order the same exact thing from restaurants because I know I like it and don't want to risk getting something I wont like! I will never bungee jump or sky dive!! I sometimes wish I would be more adventurous, but for now, I'm happy with the way I am.

6. I have lived in my house now for about 3 months and haven't mowed the yard once. My Dad comes by once a week to mow my yard! I appreciate it so much!! I know how to mow, I just haven't bought a lawn mower yet! I will buy one soon! Thanks dad!!

7. I used to be terrified of bugs! Just the sight of them would freak me out and there was no way I would ever try to kill one because somehow I would think of a way for them to crawl through my shoe and bite me! Since I now live on my own and have no one to kill bugs for me, I have learned to be brave and just do it! Now I am a pro at killing any bug!! Don't get me wrong, I'm still scared of them but no longer scared to kill them suckers!!!

8. I would do absolutely anything for my nephews. I love them as if they are my own! I am so happy that they moved back to town!

9. I am obsessed with my dog! Sometimes I feel like she gets tired of me smothering her but I just can't help it! I hate leaving her at home so if I can, I take her everywhere I go. If you walked into my house, you would think I had a baby with all of the toys laying around!

10. I am a penny-pincher when it comes to things I want. I always try and save money if I can. But, if it comes to something I absolutely NEED, then I'm willing to spend more money because I am a firm believer of "you get what you pay for!"

Now I pass this on to:
Lauren at http://laurenmorath.blogspot.com/
Cooper at http://coopermcmillin.blogspot.com/
Tasha at http://stephenandnatashaross.blogspot.com/

Meet Sophie!

Every new homeowner needs someone to keep them company!!! I am a huge animal lover and have always wanted a dog of my own so I couldn't wait to get me a little puppy once I moved out! I found my new best friend at the animal shelter in Arlington. I am in love already! The shelter said she was a Rottweiler mix. I took her to the vet the other day and she thought that Sophie also had a little German Shepherd and Chow in her. I have already taken a million pictures of her...here are a few!!


She likes the camera!


She wanted to see what I was holding!



Looking at some birds!


Hopefully she will be a good guard dog and keep her Mommy safe!


Just precious!


She was smiling. She has the marks on her tongue like a chow!


Sticking her tongue out at me!


This was after she jumped in the shower with me the 2nd time!! She couldn't stand it so she just jumped right on in and sat at the end of my shower while I finished. Haha I went ahead and gave her a good bath since she was already in the shower and getting wet!!


She loves to snuggle!


So cute!


She was interested in my chips!!


Sleepy girl!


She's a poser!!


This one makes me laugh!!


Playing with her favorite toy!


Chewing on my hand!


Aww I love her so much! She could not be more perfect!

It's about time!!

I know it has been soooo long since I have posted last but I just unpacked all of my computer stuff so I finally got a chance to put all of my recent pictures on my computer! Not only have I been really busy with my house but I also started summer school which is taking up so much of my time right now. I'm just ready to relax with no stress!

So far my favorite thing about my house are my living room walls!!! They are amazing (thanks to Amber), so I figured I would start by posting some pictures of the living room. After Amber textured the walls, we painted them with a warm brown color.

Then we used a bronze glaze to go over the paint. This part was fun and easy!

I love the way my walls turned out!!!

I finally got my TV in there too!

It's still empty in this picture but it gives you a good idea as to how my walls look!! I am so proud of them!!! Below Blake and Greg had to take a break after cutting and laying tile!!!

I bought a lot of stuff last weekend to decorate my living room with so once I get everything where I want it, I will post more pictures!!