Just a little Autumn Sprucing!

It's been a while since I've posted. But we've been busy!

As you all may remember the house was straight out of the movie Jumangii when we moved in:

Well we've pulled up all the English Ivy, and dug up some ugly filler bushes.

Its a little bare now... but I've just learned of a place close by that we can buy squares of grass for a dollar each... I foresee grass in our future.

Reed has been working hard getting everything cleared out while were having this nice weather.

Ain't he purrdy?

He's hung up the lanterns that Mama got us for part of our housewarming gift months ago.

Then in the evenings we've been working like crazy inside...

We painted the office...

Put some decorative touches in...

I'm telling myself I've been redo-ing the guest bathroom. Got a new shower curtain.

 And I'm currently working on scraping up all the linoleum in there.... but that's a slow going. Pictures later.

We also put up ambient lighting on the art ledge in the living room.

I put up some autumn decorations

We've also had some really fun events recently. Reed and I celebrated our First Anniversary. Complete with the top layer of our wedding cake and champagne. We're hoping to have a fun getaway soon, since we got a little too busy to go out of town for the actual anniversary.

Another highlight recently is that Harrison came to visit us!

He brought his mom and dad too... that was nice of him. And cousin April and cousin Mandi came to hang out too! Harrison partied all the way til midnight with his mom and I.... Partied... laughed at us for being tired... I think it's all the same thing to him. :-/

Work has been going well for both of us lately. Reed has partnered up with one of his former bosses in Austin and now is a Cowart Door Authorized Dealer. Cowart Door does most of the high end, really cool garage doors in Austin. The wood overlay doors and even fogged glass garage doors... really cool.

So Reed has started doing doors like these in Houston!

Work is good for me as well. Very busy, doing lots of leases for now. But I am currently working with an investor who is planning on buying a few houses in the next 6 months! Added bonus is that he is wonderful to work with. I'm learning more and more everyday. And the other Realtors in my office are so helpful, always willing to answer any questions and help me out anytime. I really am loving it.

I just can't believe how much has happened lately. We've been married a year, bought a house, I changed careers.... wow. So much. Couldn't be happier though, I love all the projects and new things to come!!

Indoor Progress!

We've finally finished painting the "great room." It's taken quite a while because up until yesterday I did nothing but lay on the couch and take pictures. But after 8 hours of both of us painting yesterday (much soreness today), our living and dining rooms are painted, and 2 of 3 lighting fixtures changed out.

A couple weeks ago. Standing in the living room, looking into the dining room.

Ugly dining room light fixture before.

After! New dining room light fixture, new paint on all the walls (though it is hard to tell because the first picture was taken in the evening).

Beautiful dining room after.... still no table yet... some day :-)

Just another after shot. This time standing in the entryway. The entire house was WHITE. We now have a new neutral color throughout and one accent wall in green and one in mocha brown.

And finally, standing in the dining room looking toward the living room and entryway.... Reed's also a wonderful model as well as a painter/pool boy/gardener/handyman/etc.

Sabrina supervised us while we assembled the new light fixture. She's such a slave driver.

And Stella helped me with my fancy artwork while Reed went to pick up dinner.

We're replacing most of the light fixtures slowly but surely. And next painting project will probably be the master bedroom & bathroom, or the office. But the past few days it's been hard to drag ourselves out of the pool for long enough to do much inside work. 

I'm finally about 95% recovered from my surgery. Only hindrance now is the muscles in my lower back are a little tight so I can't bend as easily or as far as I used to but I'm stretching everyday hoping to be back to normal ASAP.

Hope you're all doing well, LOVE YOU!!

Outdoor Shots

I've gotten a few requests for more pictures of the outdoor space. These are of our back yards. The lot is a pie shape, so we have two large backyards, and one smaller one just outside the master bedroom. The pool/deck was definitely a selling point of the home. I'm also a little bored this weekend... still recovering from surgery, but I did get a call from my doctor this week, NO MORE CANCER!! Lymph nodes were negative, so aside from going in for full skin checks every 3 months for the next two years I'm all good!

This is a shot standing in the part of the yard that will soon be Reed's Man Shop.

From the back porch.

Edge of the pool looking toward the house.

Just a pretty shot of the deck and the house... I'm thinking LOTS of BBQs this summer!!!

Walking from the pool to the other yard, the deck ahead is the separate deck off our master bedroom.

The really big yard. Fun for croquet, and throwing the neighbors oranges at each other. :-)

Standing on the Master Deck looking over to the pool.

Reed's working really hard to get the grass all lush and green. That's the hose you see in many of the pictures. We're still working on the inside as well, just no significant updates as of tonight.

You all need to come see us soon!!

All moved in!!!!

Well we finally closed on our house on April 21st. We've got everything moved in, but not quite unpacked yet. Reed LOVES doing all the home maintenance things, cleaning the pool, watering the yard, trimming the hedges, cleaning up all the overgrowth from the house being vacant for two years. He loves being outside in a yard that is finally OURS, he's really taking a lot of pride in all the work he's done.

We spend many evenings out on the back deck, chatting and deciding what we want to do next with our home, one such evening Reed decided to sweep the pollen off the roof.... well then he started looking at our vine covered chimney.

Still in his nice clothes from the day, the man decides he's going to clear it off! Then he got to the tree that the vines had originally climbed before they reached the roof.

Couple hours and a couple beers later, pristine tree and chimney!

The next day this same urge struck him for the front of the house

Before...

AFTER!!!

I'm quite impressed with my handyman.

Luckily we got everything in the house before my melanoma surgery on April 27th. Since the surgery I'm doing ok, not good, not bad... just ok. Aside from nursing me back to health Reed still can not seem to sit still. So Thursday the 28th, while I laid on the couch, he painted our first wall.

We'll end up painting the entire house... it's currently all WHITE. But all in due time...

I promise I was actually quite productive with this house before my surgery.... but since then, I make a really good photographer!

First comes LOVE... Then comes MARRIAGE... Then comes HOME OWNERSHIP!!!

Reed and I have finally found a home that suits our LOOONG wish list. It's in the Jersey Village area (just Northwest of Houston), only 30 minutes away from my office, and only 5 minutes away from one of Reed's offices. We should close somewhere mid to end of April, and move in as soon as possible. We call it our Little Big House.

Front View

Huge deck with a POOL!

Needless to say we are very excited. The home is move in ready, but we are planning on doing updates to make it more our taste.... so pics of the inside to come later!