Home Improvement...or Embellishment Projects

I said I would get around to posting pictures of some of our projects for making our little apartment more ideal for us, SO here they are!   

Practical Projects:: 

Simon enjoys and is good at building things, like furniture, especially when it is to meet an immediate need.  The two biggest problems with our apartment were: 1. Zero bathroom storage space and 2. no desk area.  

The bathroom was definitely the main priority because we quickly grew tired of a living room full of toiletries.  

This is the shelf he decided on.  My favorite feature is the little divided shelf because it's a more pronounced territory-none of that accidental drifting Q-tip business.  But really, it is nice to have the one shelf divided.  This size also allowed out-of-the-way storage for our broom.  Also, in a later home if we don't have a bathroom storage need, it would work well as a book shelf or something.  This was our first staining experience so the wood, especially in this picture, looks more painted than it is.  With this project we learned that with stain, less is more and we think that sponge brushes are the most helpful tool for application.   Also, if we had more wood/ money to spend, we would have definitely preferred doors to hide the clutter and made the piece look a little more complete.  

The second need, as I said, was the desk area.  There was only a tiny area in one corner between the window (as shown) and the closet door which opens to the left.  Because he had to completely custom make this piece for this space we decided to go with as much practicality as possible and worry less about it working later on.  The three drawer thing I already had acts as the right leg and the right side is curved-in to allow the closet to open.  It's exactly what we need so I'm really excited about it.  And we were able to keep the gigantic chair Simon had managed to accumulate during his bachelor-hood.  This was our second staining experience and we liked the results much better.  The wood grain really shows thru and it only took one coat. 

This last practical build is a little older, he made it for me for Valentine's day, but i wanted to add it in here.  It's a much needed asset in the kitchen and I use it multiple times a day.  With such limited storage space, a stepstool has allowed us to use every inch of our kitchen cabinets for everyday things rather than having to only put unfrequented items on the top shelf and such.  ( He's been trying to get me to take the bow off for months but I think it looks just fine with it on)

One thing, looking back now, he wishes he had done differently would be to put a handle hole in the top step for easier moving.

Decoration/Just-For-Fun Projects::

Using the same paint from the step stool Simon made this for our wedding.  At the reception it acted as a napkin and spoon holder, but now it's perfect as a holder for our napkins and napkin rings.  We use cloth napkins to save on trash and money (even though napkins aren't that expensive, it's still something we use multiple times a day and, to us, it's worth it).

For the bathroom we couldn't decide on a good place for wet towels so we used some 3M hooks I had from the dorm and made them fun by personalizing some His and Her bathroom signs Simon had gotten from his cousin, Jessica, somewhere along the line.  We had fun using some old fabric I had to dress them.

I really enjoy DIY decorations as well as using natural colors and materials to decorate so it's always fun when I am able to combine the two.  A few visits ago to see Jessica and Grant we had been looking at random home decor ideas (we Jessica and I, Grant and Simon were not involved in this discussion).  Outside some building there was a huge wall decoration of tree limb slices that made a cool effect.  I decided to try it on a smaller scale.  

We just used some fallen, fresh tree limbs we found and sliced it into 1-inch thick slices. 

 

After I had arranged them all into a pattern I liked we drew it out on paper and numbered the pieces in order to re-create the exact pattern later.  

Using thin plywood Simon cut out the same shape for backing.

Using screws, he attached the rounds to the backing.

We attached a sawtooth hanger (those picture hanging things with the sharp zig-zaggy teeth on one side) to hang it.  We eventually want to add to it; After seeing it on the wall and having the final product we both agree having a larger more dramatic piece would be better, but I'm really happy with the outcome.  

(Please excuse the mess, I decided to take a picture as we were unloading and unpacking from our trip)

While we were on the wood-slicing kick, Simon had the idea to experiment with some home-made coasters.  Again, just slicing the wood - thinner this time- and then putting a protective glaze on top.  We decided that a little thicker than shown is better because, this thin, they have the tendency to bow up in the center.  Not enough to be a problem, but that is a change we would make if we were to make them again.

  

Well, these are the DIY projects we've been working on recently.  It's wonderful that we both have fun doing things like this and it can be a hobby we enjoy together.  It's also been neat, since we both have really similar styles, to hear each others ideas and bring them to fruition.  We are both working on a few other projects now that aren't quite finished so, more to come later! 

Dime Box Again

After Summer classes finally ended, we went back up to Dime Box for about two and a half weeks to work a bit more before starting school for real.  It definitely gets old with just the two of us and Yahtzee so it was really nice to have visitors throughout our stay.  When we arrived Tanya, Wilson, Mia, Ally, Emi, Bill, Toni, Marvin and Kale were there for the weekend, so we were able to begin out stay with friends and family.  

  I think everyone had been in need of some time away from the real world and it was nice for me to have a day or two of fun in between summer classes and starting our work.

One of the best things so far about spending so much time there this Summer has been getting to see everyone in Texas a lot more than normal.  We've gotten to play and spend quality time with the girls during a cute and exciting stage of their life.  It has been so neat to see them get excited about the "special things" in life like a sudden rain storm or a rainbow prism on the wall.  Seeing life through the eyes of a child is a humbling thing and usually a much needed reminder to take life a little less seriously and have a little more fun.

 This is Emi enjoying some Mama attention while Mia and Ally are occupied with Kale

 All ages seemed to enjoy a few good episodes of Wallace and Gromit, I think every one at one point or another could be caught trailing off in mid sentence, captured by a funny scene or the giggling coming from the couch.

Simon got a game for our wedding: Abalone, and Emi was very interested in seeing what it was all about.  She was too cute peering up over the table as far as she could.  Mia at one point came over and was disconcerted to find that there weren't any other colors than white and black in this game.

 As usual, it was awesome to just live among the horses.  However, we did spend a good bit of our time keeping them out of the yard while the gate was being fixed.  Here is one of those times we were unsuccessful and they could have cared less as they munched on forbidden grass.

On the third weekend of our stay, Grant and Jessica, and later their friend Rob, came to visit.  Grant and Simon decided to revisit childhood activities like making rockets out of empty coke bottles, bleach, hydrogen peroxide- and of course fire.

 They successfully, and surprisingly, launched the thing after a lot of tries and a lot of matches.

The take-off scared us all to death because none of us expected it to work by that point.

There were also some less enjoyable moments during our Dime Box time and I learned a thing or two about something called necessary evils: An event or thing that is beneficial, if not necessary to the good of a cause yet is, at its core, characterized by imputed bad conduct or outright immoral disposition.  This said necessary evil is more commonly known as a Guinea Hen.  Many a early mornings we awoke to complete darkness and the unmistakable squawk of the beast.

For your enjoyment or disdain I have included a taste of the little mess that has taken it upon itself to be the trigger happy Dime Box rooster.

I didn't get a chance, sadly, to take a first hand video wile we were there but this makes the point just fine.  Simon thinks they sound like a squeaky wheel, i think they sound like they are being bounced.


Well, between card games, family time, delicious meals by both Tanya and Jessica, stroller races, bean bag tosses, water-hosing unruly horses, giving angry stares at guinea hens and a whole lot of heat, our memories of Dime Box thus far are good ones and I look forward to more opportunities in such a place where God's beauty can be seen in the sound of the rain, the laughter of loved ones, the slow blending of the sky in a sunset and maybe even in the squawk of a guinea hen.

Our Apartment

Last month we finally moved into our apartment!  We had been storing wedding presents and house things at my parents' which was, I'm sure, no fun for them and all together hectic.  We were starting to get tired of the homelessness that had been our married life thus far and were more than ready for move in day!  

Our apartment is definitely only fit for two but it is perfect for us!

Moving in started about like most move-in days do... super messy (this is a sample of how the rest of the apartment looked)

But by the end of the weekend it was more or less the same as it is now. 

 This is what you see right when you walk in (and on the left front by the fridge is where the kitchen table is that's shown covered in boxes in the first picture). The little step-stool was a present Simon made for me and it is completely perfect because most of the cabinet space i can't reach without it.

This is to the right when you walk in.  The hanging pictures got miss-judged a bit during put-up so they are different now.

The bedroom -one and only- is straight ahead between the kitchen and the living room.  Comparatively, it is a huge bedroom for such a little apartment and the closet follows suit.  On the right in the room (not shown) there is a small empty space that will soon be filled with a desk, which Simon plans to build soon, to cater to our much needed "office area".  There isn't much storage in any area of the house and we both managed to bring a ton of desk/office/study stuff with us.  We're hoping that will help a bit.  Pictures of that to come later

The only other room in our little home, and potentially the most important one, is the bathroom.  I probably could have put the lid down before I took a picture but oh well. 

On the right of this picture is a large empty space, next to a sink, (this is another room with NO storage whatsoever) for which Simon built a shelving storage thing. Pictures of that to come with the desk pictures.  

One of the nicest things about our apartment is that it is really close to school so, thus far, i've been able to bike rather than drive (or walk i suppose).

An evening tradition, as it has turned into, and something I want to remember, is having tea together.  (May I point out the awesome yellow tea kettle on the stove in above photo).  These are our favorite cups (ok I'm the one who has cup preferences)  from our friends Larry and Sonja paired with some delicious banana bread from Toni on one such tea night.

My mom bought us a welcome mat to complete our settling in. It's perfect!

Well, this is our home these days; It's nice to finally have one!

Whistle While We Work

Because there will probably be few times in life when we can just stop our lives and move to texas for a couple of weeks to work, when the opportunity arose with Simon's uncle for the weeks after our honeymoon, we decided to take him up on it.  

Simon enjoys and is good at building and fixing etc; I'm not particularly gifted in that department but we're married so he couldn't very well leave me at home.  

We stayed and worked for about two weeks and our main project was building new doors for the shed.  The old ones were in really bad shape

 We had some nosey visitors while we built

 This is how they looked before we painted them.

We also spent a lot of time watering the trees, sweating, painting some other things here and there, sweating,  and little odd jobs.  

We headed back home for a couple of weeks to set up our apartment, which I was really looking forward to after all our traveling, while I took some classes.

European Travels and the Honeymoon Continues

Our fancy hotel and resort experience ended when we left Greece, but our vacationing and fun most definitely did not!  Our next stop was Germany to spend some quality time with Simon's family.  

I was completely excited because i had really only gotten to spend time with them on two occasions: the first when they came and visited Simon at school in the states, and the second was our wedding. 

The first days of being there we explored Wunstorf, spent lots of time talking with his parents, and looking forward to the weekend ahead when even more family would be arriving for our little wedding dessert reception his parents were having for us. One of my favorite things I've experienced in my European travels is the different markets you can go to and pick out fresh fruits, vegetables and in our case, flowers for the party. 

 Here is a peek at all of the amazingly delicious cakes we had at the reception.

It was a lot of fun to meet so many "new family members" and I feel so blessed to have had that opportunity!

The weather was, except for a few rainy days, pretty nice and much much cooler than our recent days in Greece and to take advantage of that we were able to do a lot of fun day trips.  We rode the train to Hannover and went shopping, went to an awesome amusement park, had a wonderful lunch with Kyle and Susan Bratcher and their family, and biked to Steinhuder Meer only to name a few.  

 While at Steinhuder Meer, we boated over to the island with the castle (somehow i managed to not get a picture of the castle) and the views from the island were so pretty!

This is us and the view from the top of the castle... mostly just us.

Simon showed me all the different stores that were typical for Germany and that gave me a more personable conception of the culture and daily life.  I tried to soak in as much of the language and culture as i could while we were there.  

We were able to spend some time with Simon's old friends as well as Hannes and Lea, his brother and sister who were all in town for the reception.  It was nice to just relax and get to know everyone, trying to take advantage of our time with them.  

During our last week we, along with family from all over Germany, went to Filzmoos, Austria to celebrate his Oma and Opa's 80th birthdays. 

   

 The location was beautiful, right in the center of snowcapped mountains and green Austrian hillsides. 

We played an astronomical amount of Yahtzee, rode on a sommer rodel bahn, and looked and laughed at hundreds of old pictures.

 We sat in a little go cart type thing as we inched up to the top of the sommer rodel bahn

and then screamed the whole way down

Yahtzee moment- one of many. It was much more cut throat than it looks.

It was a long weekend and lots of semi-chaotic family moments but definitely a fun opportunity to celebrate in a beautiful place.

Our visit, in one sense, seemed to fly by but as our return home neared we felt the weariness of traveling set in.  We were both really sad to leave because we know that chances to visit will be few and far between, at least for the foreseeable future, but the time there was filled with memory making and quality time so knowing we had made the most of it made leaving a little easier.  

The Never-Ending Honeymoon...

Between our summer schedule and some plans of Simon's family in Germany, we ended up being able to go visit them over the summer, therefore having the opportunity to have our honeymoon in Europe somewhere- Since we'd be in the area.  After lots of searching, we found what we thought was exactly what we were looking for in a honeymoon, his dad booked it for us, and our excitement for our trip began to grow.  

Before we headed off on our international adventure, we spent a couple of nights in The Capital Hotel in Little Rock.  It was an awesome stay, and we both felt completely spoiled with all of the frills of the service.  My personal favorite perk, was the room service breakfast!!

After our hotel stay, our first stop was Germany- just for the evening to get over jet lag and then get back on the plane the next morning and head to our real destination GREECE; more specifically, Lindos Princess Beach on the island of Rhodes.

Upon arriving in Rhodes, we had several funny and unexpected experiences.  For one, we ended up with a hot pink rental car. 

 We also discovered that the speed limits in Rhodes are more of a suggestion than fact and upon meeting several miles of construction and being passed with honks and glares at our observance of the 30 km/h speed limit, we vowed to NOT be the stupid americans who cause the traffic jams any more during our stay.   Our hotel was amazing, just like the pictures and we were so excited to finally be there after are several days of travel

                    

We spent the first days enjoying the sun and free ice cream and cappuccinos from the beach restaurant as well as doing some island exploring. 

This is the view from our balcony.  It was really nice to be able to hear the live music or just people-watch from our balcony and not always have to be down in the middle of everything.

The weather was perfect and laying around in the sun doing nothing was super relaxing but we eventually did do some other equally fun things:  We rented a boat and explored the bay, got massages and experienced our first hammam (kinda like a sauna but different), played an excessive amount of mini golf and ate way too many desserts at the dessert buffet. 

This is us out on the boat and you can get a pretty good idea of how amazing and vast the water was.

We also did some touristy things on the island.  We hiked up to the acropolis of Lindos (the town we were in) and rode donkeys back down!! That was most definitely one of the highlights of the trip for me!!  We drove down to the port and visited "The Old Town"and on our last day, on our way to the airport, we drove all around the island of Rhodes seeing some awesome views of the Mediterranean and some cool castles.  

 This is the view from the top of the acropolis

 Here is one of the views Lindos is known for.  It's the little village at the base of the acropolis.  Who needs a tour bus, we found it all by ourselves!

 DONKEYS!!!

 We had know idea where to go on our trip to the old town.  Our goal was to see the colossus remains but all we had was a map in Greek and no concept of social traffic laws.  We weaved our way through the labyrinth-like streets and managed to see a lot of cool things despite our ignorance. 

The port and the Colossus (We finally found it) 

On the way back we went by this handmade ceramics place-one a little out of town in hopes of less touristy, more artisan items- and got some really cool hand painted ceramic bowls and platter.  I thought that was a really neat souvenir.

Every morning we woke up to gorgeous views and delicious breakfasts (that was my favorite meal of the day while we were there).  During the evenings the atmosphere would change because for dinner you had to dress up a little more.  The kids splashing and running around by the pool during the day were in bed and the whole place was much quieter.  The hotel had some entertainment shows at night but they were a little cheesy so we mostly ended up just walking around the resort down by the sea and enjoying the evening atmosphere.  

Our experience on Rhodes was definitely a good one.  The time together was much needed after the stressful months of wedding planning and school.  It was wonderful not having to think about money or food at the hotel, just lazing through the day and doing whatever we wanted.  By the time the week was up I think we were both ready to leave and get on to our next step of vacationing and continuation of our never-ending honeymoon.