floor to ceiling

When I was in Portland my husband started a house project. Unbeknown to me, as I was flying north, he was working at home tackling a project we had talked about since we moved in. When I landed, he sent me a picture of what he had been up to.



Scraping the dreaded popcorn ceiling! (and sanding, and spackling, and priming, and painting) It baffles me why this stuff was so popular. It especially stings knowing this horrible substance was not original to our house.

So, what do you do when you have dirty fiber particles all over your carpet???





You rip it up, of course!

Surprise discovery...these linoleum tiles underneath the carpet. They basically look like barf.



So now that you have bare, ridiculously dusty and dirty concrete floors, one must take immediate action.

So for the past few days a crew of skilled laborers (aka Peter.Dave.Jake)have been busy doing this...








And here is the result!







I LOVE it. The new flooring runs through the entry, to our front room, to the family room, and the kitchen. This was something we wanted to do since we moved in and fittingly, we tackled this project on our first anniversary of living here. I am sooo thankful for the guys hard work. Seriously, they were great and took their jobs very seriously.

I cant wait to install the baseboards for a totally finished look!

Just for a reference...here are a couple pics from when we first looked at the house.

blank wall space

Why not fill it with these?



I love this idea. I have a couple blank walls(in kitchen and guest bedroom)that are just screaming for a fun, creative idea. I like groups of items instead of just one big piece on my walls, so I am anxious to start collecting cute fabric and embroidery hoops.

My grammy would be so proud--she was the embroidery queen and tried to teach me on many occasions. I now regret being such an impatient student.

self portrait

oh, yeah, I was tagged by O.O. to take a picture of myself at that exact moment. Lucky for all of you, I was all set and ready to go out on the town in Portland. Anything less, would have been quite scary.



me. on the balcony of our hotel after a long day of working and way too many cups of coffee. sorry for the extreme close-up.


for more about my trip...read below!

working in portland

I know many of my lovely readers (like, all 5 of them) know what I do for a living. For those of you who dont, I work in the marketing department of a software company specializing in network security software for k-12 school districts all over the country and abroad. I love my job and I love the people I work with. I am very blessed. However, most of you do not know that half of our marketing team resides in Portland, OR. Crissy and I handle everything from our main Downtown Bakersfield office and our boss (VP of Marketing), copy writer, graphic designer, and internet marketing specialist all live in Portland. We all communicate constantly through emails and conference calls everyday and this past week we were able to all meet together in Portland and have an intense planning session. We also had time for taking in the sights of Portland.

Team Building #1
Portland Rock Gym - After our plane arrived in Portland, we had a few minutes to check in to our hotel, then our boss picked us up and whisked us away to the Portland Rock Gym for some indoor rock climbing. So fun! It also showed us alot about our personalities. Me? Less analyzing - more doing. Straight to the top.





crissy and I


crissy, ileana (boss), and I


Team Building #2
Pittock Mansion hiking trails - After the rock climbing, we drove up in the hills to Pittock Mansion (beautiful) and hiked some trails.







HUGE slug...gross


We also had time to check out some of the sights on our own...

Pioneer Courthouse



Downtown Haunted Pizza
I have no idea why this pic is crooked, and I cant seem to fix it--so tilt you head if you really care


***The series of events that followed this dinner include us walking outside to a dark downtown, that seemingly changed in the few hours we we talking in the restaurant, and us wandering lost around the wrong part of town. We definitely stood out in our colorful sweaters and Ann Taylor shopping bags. Act confident. Is someone following us? I have no idea where we are. Dont pull out the map!
Luckily, we finally found an open restaurant, went inside, and called a cab. Crisis averted.

Rose Garden


My favorite part was just driving around all of the gorgeous neighborhoods. I LOVED every single house. Seriously. Our boss lives in an amazing area full of old homes with tons of charm and I was in love.

Ok, but seriously, we went there to WORK. And we did. ALL day on Thursday and Friday morning. Metrics, national and regional campaigns, Salesforce, ROI, budget, consistent marketing, target titles, direct mail, email copy and design, timelines, webinars, web demos....We were consumed with these topics. What resulted was a great planning session outlining our campaigns for the rest of the year and bringing problematic issues to the forefront. I love working with these amazing, talented, smart people. I am learning so much and am constantly being challenged.

post tax

Continuing our tradition of a post tax getaway, Peter and I traveled down to Dodger Stadium to catch our first game of the season and then over to the coast.



We enjoyed Dodger Dogs, garlic fries, and a victory from the Boys in Blue. Perfection.


See those people? (sorry camera does not have a good zoom)



It's the American Idol finalists! They threw out the first pitch (among others). Being a fan of this season, I was definitely cheering. Funny how our whole section was quiet except me. Danny looked cute and Adam looked wierd, as usual.


A few friends met us at the beach house for some great food, perfect weather, and shopping. Always a good time.

Now its back to normal hours for Peter and a short work week for me. I am off to Portland in a few days!

home stretch

April 15. Tax day. So many people loathe this day and its necessary stressful preparations. I have come to love it. Being an accountants wife, this is the day we look forward to most. The day when our life returns to a normal schedule. When we can start thinking about weekend house projects again. Weekend trips. More hours together after work.

We are almost there!

...and I have a weekend project list almost a mile long

it's time for...

Dodger Baseball!



The season has started my friends. And we all know what that means in my house.

The outdoor speakers are installed, the first (of many) Dodger Night BBQ has happened, the tickets are ready, the tv and radio are set for every game, and the mini helmet is at its rightful place next to the tv.

We are excited for the upcoming season and cant wait till our first trip to Chavez Ravine next Thursday!

and just for fun...

Vin Scully



our pup's namesake and quite possibly Peter's favorite person ever

farm love

Farming families....
married to one
know many
love them all

A reason why:

These eggs are pretty.
And farm fresh.
And tasty.
And locally laid by friendly chickens raised by a friendly family.
And delivered to my door.