New additions to the house

My in-laws moved out of their house a few weeks ago and had some stuff that they either didn't want anymore or didn't have a place for in their new condo, so they offered us some things. Below are just a few pics of some of the items we brought to our home!

This is a church pew. I know it's weird, but it works.

The church pew and the modern grandfather clock make great entry way pieces!

Sorry for the weird pic, I was trying to get a full shot of the front.

Close-up

This is a end table that has storage space inside

Because D is a filmmaker, he got first dibs on these classic movie posters.

This is just a nice extra piece we picked out, but don't really have a set place for it right now.

This chair is wonderful! It reclines and is so big and oh so comfy.

This lovely armoire!

Adding the leather chair and armoire really added some warmth into our room. Now it's cozy, just the way a bedroom should feel!

Weights (The Block)

And 1 of the 2 matching lamps!

And the most special things we got was D's grandparent's 8 mm projector and films!

41 years

On June 25, my parents celebrated 41 years of marriage! Happy Anniversary Mama and Pops! We love you guys!

And even though she wanted to kill him in Paris (not literally), when we thought he was lost...

they still have lots of great, happy, fun memories to cherish for years to come. :-)

I love this quote. I found this on a fellow blogger's (Rachel) site.

"A wedding anniversary is the celebration of love, trust, partnership, tolerance and tenacity. The order varies for any given year."--Paul Sweeney

Our beans are growing up so fast!

Look at the beans today (Friday)! They are just sprouting like crazy. I've never been so excited about vegetables in my life.

They are beautiful!

I can only imagine how thrilled we will be when we find out we are pregnant! :-)

Life has sprouted

Just 4 days after D planted his seeds, we have life!!! :-)

These pics were taken on Thursday.

These are the cucumber

These are the green beans

Close up of the bean sprouting

Close up of the cucumber

And arugula

And he finished the 4x4 box and planted the cantaloupe plants!

Chihuahua Berry Farms

D has always wanted his own garden, so this past weekend we started ours! D bought a book last week called Square Foot Gardening, on Saturday we bought the necessary supplies and on Sunday we started building. Okay, so I wasn't involved in the building of the boxes--I left that to D and my dad.

My dad cutting some lumber

The empty garden boxes

My dad removing the shrubs that were blocking the A/C units

Getting ready to mix the soil (consisting of 5 different types of compost, vermiculite, and peat moss)

Baby Dan not looking too happy about being stuck inside

You can now see the A/C units!

D measuring and marking where the grid will go

The ladies!

D and I forgot to put the lady bugs out at sundown and we remembered while in bed.

So at midnight, in our p.j.'s, we went outside to let them

2 lizards looking for their shrubs

The finished garden!

Isn't it perfect?!

In the 4x8 box we are growing tomatoes, small hot peppers, red & yellow bell peppers, green beans, cucumbers, carrots and some herbs (oregano & dill). He may or may not transfer his other herbs (basil, sage, thyme, rosemary) and his jalapeno and serrano peppers the boxes. And we haven't started anything in the 4x4 box (which is a foot deep)--this will likely be where we grow our cantaloupe!

And yesterday D officially named our garden "Chihuahua Berry Farms"! I love it!

By the way...WE'RE MARRIED!

We were married in Italy on April 28th in an intimate ceremony overlooking the Amalfi Coast. We could not have picked a more beautiful setting to celebrate our marriage and 12 years of love!

Below are just a few pictures of our gorgeous wedding day (sorry for the crappy pics--I had to make them smaller)...

My father & I

The new husband & wife walking out

Overlooking the Amalfi Coast

Father-Daughter Dance

Mmmm so good!

And the day after....

And today was our 1 monthiversary! YAY!

Happy 12th Birthday Sissy and Baby Dan!

Our "kids" are 12 years young today!  

I can remember receiving messages, on my beeper, in high school from my mom letting me know when each little pup was born.  I was so surprised that Weena (their mom whom my mom owns) could have so many babies.  Sissy was the 2nd born and Baby Dan was the 5th and last born.  

These two have filled our lives with so much happiness, love, and laughter.  We are so very lucky to have them in our lives! 

Home Sick Already

We haven't even left for Europe and I'm already missing my babies!

I'm with them 24/7 so this is extremely hard for me to leave them for 3 weeks.

D and I were just saying yesterday, "What the hell were we thinking planning our trip for 3 weeks?!". I know right now it's tough, but once we're there I know we will have a great time!

I'm probably going to cry when we drop them off. No, I'm definitely crying when we drop them off. :-D In So Cal, I used to have D drop them off so I wouldn't have to see their little faces as they were taken to their room. I don't think he'll let me get away with that this time. ;-)

They will be spend 2 weeks at a pet hotel and then my parents will pick them up and keep them for us. I'm not even nervous about leaving them at the pet hotel because it's a great facility, it's simply about missing my "kids".

Are we pathetic? Nah, we just love our "kids"!

I'm back, with an update on our house

I know, I know, I've been a horrible blogger.

But I have a great excuse, I'm getting married in less than 3 weeks so I've been super busy the last few months! :-)

And the wedding stress is not the only stress we're dealing with right now.

Awhile back I had mentioned here that we were noticing some cosmetic problems with our house.

Well a few months back we had the state inspector come out and take a look at the house, with lawyers for both sides and the builder in attendance.

The state inspector came back with his findings and required that 35 out of the 39 problems in our house be repaired by the builder. That is fantastic news!

We've appealed the 4 problems that were not required to be repaired and have added more items to the list. After we return from our wedding, we will likely have the state inspector return for another look at the additional problems we are noticing.

The good news is that the structural engineer does not think it is a foundation problem, but it could very well be a structural problem (with the frame, beams, etc.) that is causing all of the cosmetic flaws in our home.

It doesn't seem like the builder is fighting to not repair everything, but he is trying to go about everything without our lawyers being involved, which we are not cool with.

This is such a pain to have to deal with, but hopefully it will be resolved. It won't be a fast, nor easy phase because we'll have to move out in order for all of the repairs to be made, but I just want the house we paid for and for all of this to be over! And I want to be able to show the next potential buyer a great house, with a great layout, absent of cosmetic and structural problems.

I will keep you posted, as best I can.

My lovely wedding cake topper

Thanks to the lovely Sarita, I found someone who could make a cute wedding cake topper for us. I just LOVE it! Do you see Baby Dan & Sissy?!

The first pic is the almost final product. I'm asking that the groom have more rectangular glasses and she added more flowers to the base.

The second pic is the first one she showed us--I asked that my groom's hair be darker, no top hat, add some glasses and add some detail to my bodice. I just love how it really does look like my dress--pleated bodice and all!

Recently, Laura (etsy seller oilpainta) blogged about our cake topper in her blog One Happy Hubbard. You'll notice that the glasses are different in the picture in her blog--it was before she changed them to a different metal and there are less flowers on the base.

What do you think?