Shuttered

Today has been a very busy Saturday!! Cody and I have gotten a lot done around the house! I mean he's mowed and I'm thinking about doing laundry..but really we have done a lot. We started last Sunday painting shutters and put them up slowly this week finishing today.

Shutterless

Shuttered (You can also see that we've started the "getting rid" part of landscaping)
Shuttered Close up

Prior to being fully shuttered, Cody's masonry drill bit got too dull, so we ran to Home Depot. On our way to the drill bits we got a little distracted and purchased this outdoor table and rug!!


Now I just need to find a good outdoor centerpiece for our table like these lanterns from Pottery Barn. Keep your eyes peeled!

We also purchased a few veggies/herbs to grow. Cody is growing jalepenos.

And I am growing Sage (of course!!) and cilantro

Yes, the sign in mine does say "Sage!" Please note that mine started out as seeds while Cody's started out as little plants, so if mine do not make it and his do, it is because he had a greater advantage to begin with! : )

Library Card

I LOVE reading books...like i really really love reading. I have come to the end of my own collection and was needing new things to read. Instead of rushing out and buying a bunch of books, I opted this time to get a Harris County Public library card. We have one of the branches right by my school, so it is super convenient. I forgot how fun it is to pick out books knowing that you don't have to pay for them..you just have to bring them back!

Oh and here's a pic from earlier this week at school. Meagan and I both wore bow headbands! Aren't the cute!? : )

Camping Take 2

Last night, Cody and I went camping in Huntsville with Hannah, Alex, Mik and Dinah. We set up camp, made hobo-soup/stew, smores, hot chocoloate and the boys made a big fire!! It was a lot of fun! The weather was SO much better this time!! It got kind of cold last night, but nothing like when we went in January!

With HB by the Lake

With Dinah by the Lake
The boys playing with fire/building one

Chlo all tangled around a tree
The Sages happy b/c its not cold!

The whole group!
The girls with hot chocolate

And the newest decorative addition to the Sage house:
When Cody proposed, he made a video that had the acoustic version of On a Night Like This by Dave Barnes playing in the background. We both love this song and especially since it was included in the proposal, I wanted it in our wedding. As beautiful as the acoustic version was, the piano version (with some cello I think) had a better sound for the wedding. Unfortunately, I could not find sheet music anywhere for it, so I emailed Dave Barnes' wesbite. He emailed me back with the music! Yay!
I wanted to use the music somewhere in the house and couldn't figure out where. At the same time, I've spread out the decorations that used to be in our bedroom and had very little in there....so I've used the On a Night Like This music in our bedroom. I'm still trying to decide how much I like the arrangement/combo of music and sconces...

And thats how they know we're related...

The Traylors got here late last night and we stayed up late talking before everyone went to their own corners of the Sage house for bedtime. We got up today, ate donuts and then Nanc, mom and I went shopping. The three of us have been shopping a lot together and its at times like that, that I realize how much alike we are. Two members of the shopping group, who shall remain nameless, started sorting a clothing rack by style rather than by size as it was previously sorted! haha. We all picked matching blue dresses, tried them on and took a picture! Sounds strange, but it was fun!

Then we picked up the rest of the fam and headed up to the Woodlands for Pappadeux.
After eating we went our separate ways! Mom and I headed back down here and then she headed back to Longview! What a fun visit!
I have since decided how I want to decorate our bedroom, started working on my niece's 1st birthday gift and spent an hour in Target. I just love that store!
Chloe's day:
1. She has needed 2 baths today, count them 2, because she has gotten so nasty from being outside...not loving the doggy door so much right now.
2. Our stairs leading up to the gameroom is a spiral staircase. When we first moved in, Chlo was afraid of them. Then she conquered going up and cried to get down. She then went up and down with ease. A few weeks ago when I was upstairs with her, Chloe jumped on the ledge that overlooks our living room and started walking across it. Not good, so I started putting a doggy gate at the top of the stairs. One day, Cody realized that Chloe was still able to get to the room from the side of the 2nd to top stair. No big deal, so I just moved the gate to the bottom of the stairs. Chloe then was able to get up from the second to bottom step. NBD, I moved the gate to the 3rd step and just knew that I had outsmarted her this time...

Oh but I hadn't. She was using the fireplace to get onto the tv stand right behind the tv. Once there, she was able to get on the stairs and go up to the gameroom. The gate is now on the fourth step...hopefully this time it will do its job!

I am loving Spring Break and am super sad that tomorrow is my last week day off!!!!!

R.I.P. 1st generation iPhone!!

So..on Monday night, I dropped my iPhone on its head and smashed in the top part that has the power button on it. All day Tuesday it continually restarted and was unusable. Tuesday afternoon I took it to the Apple store where they pretty much told me there was no hope for it (sad day!) So today I upgraded to the iPhone 3G!! Yay!!
Mom and I had a very busy day of shopping activities today! We started with breakfast at La Madeline followed by looking at carpet prices for our upstairs gameroom. Afterwards I had my iPhone appt at the Mac store (woohoo!). Then mom and I went to the Houston Premium Outlets where we spent a lot of time and found lots of good deals!! We had the best luck today at Ann Taylor Loft, Tommy Hilfiger, Gap and Gymboree! Then we went to see Confessions of a Shopaholic!! Such a cute movie!!

Afterwards, we went down to the Galleria to meet Cody at the Cheesecake Factory for dinner!! YUM! So now we're stuffed and waiting for my aunt, uncle and cousins to get here!! What a great day!

Old Town Spring

Yesterday, Emily, Lindsay and I went to Old Town Spring! What a fun place! We went in a ton of really cute shops and ate at a place called Wunsche Bros Cafe that had really yummy burgers.

After lunch, we went up to Magnolia (I think) to see Gienne and meet her sweet baby Reese!! I just love babies!! Then we all went on to the Mega Marshalls in the Woodlands and then CRU! What a fun day!!
Here's a sneak peak at the game room before and after. The game room is not finished by any means , but its painted for the most part (we just need to touch up the top of the fireplace).
Before

Gamerom After (thus far..)

BTW, painting a fireplace is not fun..but its really not fun when you see all four sides, its two stories high and it was a darker color before!! I painted the downstairs part and Cody did the upstairs part of the fireplace!

If I were a painter..

Yesterday while Cody was working I started touching up paint around the house and painting the trim upstairs (btw, if you're thinking about painting your house grey, thats fine, but please for the sake of the next owners, do not paint the trim grey also!!).
Today Cody and I went to our Newlywed Sunday school class (for one of the last times! We're about to graduate), big church and Freebirds with some of our fellow newlyweds!
After running a few errands and coming home, Cody and I started painting again. Today, Cody started painting the top part of the fireplace white and I've trimmed out and rolled the upstairs walls Koffee Brown (i'm kind of obsessed with that color right now). Our upstairs gameroom already looks so different and we still have a lot more to do! We're wanting to replace the blue, now paint stained carpet. We're also going to buy a couch (granted not a traditional one b/c it has to fit up the spiral staircase). I really like this one from Ikea, but am not sure if the brown one would make it too brown...i like the purple one too, but i don't think Cody would go for that. Maybe we can just add bright pillows!
I am a messy painter..like really messy. Right now my arms are covered in paint. Yesterday it was in my hair too. Nothing actually takes the brunt of painting quite as much as my jeans though. Aren't they terrible? : ) Its like the Sage house color swatch!

Oh and Chloe figured out how to use the doggy door

And now she looks like this

And might I add that my husband has been making dinner while I've been blogging! I'm a bad wife : )

Before and Afters so far

I'm watching HGTV and realized that I want to give you a full picture of what our house looked like before and then how we've changed things so far!
Living Room Before


Living Room After (still looking for the right area rug)



Kitchen Before

Kitchen After (no huge changes...)


Master Bedroom Before
Master Bedroom After (still working on wall decor and closet doors)


Master Bath Before


Master Bath After (Still working on a mirror solution)


Dining Room Before
Dining Room After

Guest Bedroom Before
Guest Bedroom After

Office Before
Office After


Guest Bath Before

Guest Bath After


Our big projects right now are the yard and the upstairs! This is fun!