Winter Wonderdog

Leap Day, 2012 ... Our first (and probably last) snow storm in Minneapolis during the current winter season.  We got between 8-10 inches in our neighborhood - enough to delay our work day. 

The locals have been split ... some are happy that we've had a warm winter, less long commutes, fewer hours spent shoveling/snow blowing, easier to get around - others have been seriously bummed by the lack of cold and snow, short ice fishing season, little to no chances for snow mobiling, and countless cancelled winter festivals.  Kyle and I have been somewhere in the middle - really glad the roads have been good (especially since I have a 25 mile commute in my Camry) but we had a trip planned up north for me to try snow mobiling for the first time that we had to cancel.  Either way, not complaining.

There is one person in our family who has really been missing the snow.  Well, since she's so good at enjoying the little things, she hasn't really pined for it (distracted by extra walks and ice cubes from the freezer) but boy did our little Paisley embrace last week's snow storm.  Judging by the pictures we captured, she was definitely on cloud nine.

If it makes our baby this happy ... we'll deal with snow storms all season long.  :)

Country "Shin"dig

Kyle and I joined our good friends Jim and Rebekah for a concert in St. Paul this past Friday.  Country stars Luke Bryan and Jason Aldean rocked the stage. 

Here I am smiling and having a blast, just before things took a turn toward the end of the show ...



 Some big drunk dude two rows above us was apparently enjoying himself too much, stumbled and fell forward, knocking me and Jim over (along with some other innocent bystanders.)  My shins took the brunt of the hit on the top edge of the chairs in front of us, and my hair took the brunt of the beer that spilled on the way down.  Just outstanding.

After the tears (me) and yelling (Kyle) ... I now have a good story and a couple shins in a lovely shade of purple.

Thanks to Jim and Rebekah for an awesome time at the show and playing Euchre with us into the wee hours of the morning at their place afterwards.  And thanks to the drunk loser that knocked me over for reminding me that I should spend the extra money for floor seats.

Bath Crashers Sneak Peak

Kyle and I took a week off in October to stay home and get some projects done around the house.  The day after our 3rd anniversary, we rolled out of bed, hair in a ponytail (just me, not Kyle) and headed to Lowe's for some materials.

Here's what we saw ...

For those that don't watch DIY Network as regularly as I do, it is a picture of Matt Muenster, the host of Bath Crashers, and his tv crew.  They find people in hardware stores and completely remodel their bathrooms for free!  I was bummed that he was already talking to someone (assuming we missed our chance) when 10 minutes later, they came around the corner and started up a conversation.

After a good conversation on camera (well, I was good, Kyle was a deer in headlights,) an email with pictures and dimensions of our bathroom and a visit with the executive producer at the house, we were told that we made the cut.  We were going to be on tv!

One month later, they showed up to tape us talking about how much we hated our bathroom and what we envisioned our dream bathroom looking like.  We wanted to go for a rustic, log cabin feel, but still high-end, with muted earth tones. Clear as mud, right?! 

Then, just this past January, a crew of about 15 people showed up to "crash our bathroom."  Literally, producers, camera-men, a sound guy, contractors, plumbers, electricians, etc, etc. took over our home for 6 days straight to make this transformation happen.

We had several friends and family help us the first day to demolish the bathroom.  Tons of fun to have some of our favorite people with us that first day.  The host of the show is in the blue hoodie.  (Kyle was exciting to learn that he's from Green Bay and a Badger ... somehow, everything comes back to Wisconsin ...)

It was an exhausting week.  Not that we did a whole lot of work (lots of movie magic to make it look like we helped a lot) but just having that much chaos and a lot of hurry up and wait, we were wiped out.  (We did enjoy the "production assistant" that brought bagels and coffee every morning and picked up lunch - kinda wanted to get his number and hire him permanently!)We were living in the basement with our friends Gary and Scott that came to help out and Paisley was at Camp Bow Wow for a few days, so life was a little upside-down.  Here are a few behind-the-scenes photos ...

Bottom line - the people were great and the experience was priceless.  AND ... did I mention we're going to be on tv!  (and hopefully, Paisley will make the cut as well, if all goes as planned ... she couldn't have been cuter on camera.)  The air date is not known yet, probably May or June, but we will let everyone know in advance so you can set your DVR's. 

If you want the honest truth, the bathroom did not turn out exactly the way we had hoped.  While it is full of expensive materials (copper, granite, slate) and expensive products (radiant heat tub, fireplace) ... the layout is a little weird and the design was much more bright, bold and unique than we are comfortable with.  Still a huge upgrade from our old bathroom and we are grateful for the experience and the gift of a new bathroom.  Nothing a can of paint can't fix!  I mean, it has a fireplace in it ... I can't be that upset.  :)

Here are some before shots ... you'll have to sit tight for the after shots (or we can show you in person.)  We have been instructed not to post any after shots on the internet ...

Here's a sneak peak of Kyle's vanity (affectionately known as the Jenga wall) that is now in the middle of the room ... pretty amazing transformation ...

Big thanks to the crew.  Everyone was super nice and fun to work with and so talented at what they do.  Here's the gang at the after-party.

Big thanks, also, to all of our friends and family that helped us demo ... couldn't have done it without you and hope you had a blast like we did!  Thanks to Gary and Scott for traveling to Independence for the experience and hanging out for a while ... we enjoyed having some friends to party with in the evenings.

Here's to more "stay-cations" in our future ... apparently, they can pay off big in more ways than one.  :)