Hard at work...

My dear husband is hard at work doing window trim as I type this... 

The drywallers took the holiday off, but have finished the main floor patches and have moved upstairs.  When they finish with the upstairs patches they'll paint upstairs and the exterior trim.  

I've been busy painting the main floor walls.  It kind of makes me wish I would have done it sooner so we could enjoy it, but at least it will show well!  I'll get some photos up of the painting once I finish up cutting in all the edges.  After two days of primering and painting, I've lost my umph to get back at it (might have something to do with the cutting in being my least favorite part of painting?!). 

Tomorrow we meet with a realtor to go over some listing/sale details.  I'm probably being over-optimistic, but if the drywallers/painters finish this week, and we get the trim done, we could potentially get it on the market next week?  The master bath tile wouldn't be done, but I have samples in case someone wanted to know what it'll look like...  Anyhow, we'll see.  The cup is half-full, right?? 

These days Craigslist is my best friend.  :)  We're not getting rid of everything, but definitely purging and trying to only keep what we use (which really isn't that much, but we sure have a LOT of stuff!).

Meanwhile, here's some pics of Peter's work ~

 

So, it's coming along!  There's still quite a bit of work to do, but I'm pretty sure we'll feel that way until we board an airplane.  We have a list compiled of the things we need to complete, and I was pleasantly surprised this morning to be able to cross a few things off!  Baby steps!

For now, I'm off to work on some caulking.  Happy Memorial Day to you and yours! 

Blogworthy photos

No new news to share today on the Kwaj-front... but we're still plugging along.  They threw the "three-week" words out the other day, but I think that might be a leeeetle optimistic.  :-)  Will let you all know when we know! 

** Note - I just can't get used to putting the photo captions below the photos, like blogger wants me to do.  So, going forward, I'm switching back to my old style (can't teach this dog new tricks!) of captioning photos ABOVE the picture.  **

Meanwhile... a quick update.  Doz hasn't been featured on this blog for awhile, but rest assured, he is alive and quite well.  He's recuperating very well from his surgery, thankyouverymuch.  The other day he decided his blanket wasn't soft enough, so he came over and plopped down on the pile of laundry that I was putting away.  How adorable is he?!  :-) 

Last night he and P. were quite tuckered out - they enjoyed a late night snooze before bed... t'was also extra adorable!  You can see his shaved side is still a little sparse on fur! 

In other news, P & I ran some errands today, returning house materials we won't use before we leave, grabbing some groceries, etc.  The old foyer/stairway light we had was a hideous... It was like this one (link), except hanging from a chain.  Needless to say, it was begging for a replacement.  :-)  Low and behold, we found this amazing drum shade pendant type light at Lowe's that I fell in love with.

I.had.to.have.  

My dear hubby eventually agreed it would look SOOOOOO good as a replacement for that old nasty bronze piece (although he was pulling for this pendant, which was on sale for $10).

I LOVE it!!!

 Closeup ~

We're tuckered out again tonight after another productive day.  Soon-ish I'll show you what I've been working on to spruce up the front of the house, but that'll be a few more days.  We've hired a drywall crew to come in and fix our hole-y house... and they're doing a fantastic job thus far.  I believe we're only a day away from being ready for PAINT!  Yahoo!

Clark Kid Reunion 2011!!

My brothers and sis (in-law, but I'll claim her as a sister!) came to visit this week!  D&J were here from the 12th-19th and W was here from 14th-19th.  We had a blasty-blast!  We did a lot of the touristy stuff, yakked, shopped, ate, ate, ate, etc!  Here's a quick photo documentary of the trip. 

These two are just so darn cute.  I think I paired it down to 3 photos of them in this blog post, but suffice to say, there were plenty to choose from!  :)

And these three... well, I'll let you decide!  They're trouble, that's for sure!

Clark Kids!  I miss these guys on a pretty regular basis!  Looking at this photo, we really don't resemble each other much do we?!

J's mom recommended that we check out the view from the tower at the US Postal Office - it was a GREAT recommendation!  I'm just sorry that we only found out about it as we are planning our departure from this area, but glad we got to do it before we left!  Thanks B!

 Some more views from the USPS building:

We stopped by the US Botanical Gardens, but they were closed so we just meandered through the outdoor gardens until they kicked us out. :)

This photo only made it on the blog because of D.  :) 

Tired feet.

Another of J's mom's recommendations - soooo delish!  Fortunately we pre-ordered our cupcakes, as the line was around the block!  For those who don't know, there is a famous TV show featuring this cupcakery.

This is one of the founding sisters, Katherine

We tried Hibiscus Mango, German Chocolate, Strawberry and Red Velvet.  Their full menu is here.

Photo courtesy of my hubby.  Wes is breaking in my new sunglasses. B-)

These helicopters buzz over all day long - transporting important people from the pentagon to the capitol, etc.  Wes was tired of waiting for our ferry and thought he could hitch a ride on a heli instead. :)

Big dude, big heart.

Pentagon

Isn't this a particularly neat photo of the Lincoln Memorial?  I thought so!  :)

The Kennedy Center for Performing Arts

On our ferry ride back, these folks seemed to be having some issues with their kayaks.  They had PFD's on, so we just waved and motored on by (and snapped a quick photo!). 

Great Falls, VA - beautiful park.

Water snake - bleh!

True love.  :-P Hah!

New blacksmith's shop at Mt. Vernon.

Color POP!

Last day together at Mt. Vernon!

Thanks you three for flying all the way out here to hang out with us!!  We really had a stellar time - even with lots on all our minds (new jobs, moves, etc), we managed to have a great time amidst it all!  And thanks J. for putting up with your new extended family ~ I sure love having another girl around! 

We're MOVING!!!

... To a tiny little island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean called Kwajalein!  Who'd'a thunk?!

Peter accepted a position this week with Kwajalein Range Services.  Given there aren't any hiccups with Peter's clearance/health checks and other details, we should be there in about 2 months or so.  Below are some island specs, with more to come later.  :-)

Here's the island from air - It's about 3 miles long and 3/4 of a mile wide

To give you an idea of where it is at in relation to the United States~

And to give you an idea of where it's at in relation to other places!!  It's pretty safe to say it's a fairly long flight from most anywhere!  That being said, planes do land on the island, and we will welcome any visitors who are able to make the trek!!!  :)

 Obviously, we will be working our tail ends off during the next month to get the house ready to put on the market. Oh, and pack... although that really does feel like a MINOR detail in the scheme of things right now!  :)

Master Bath Update

Remember that bathroom remodel we started awhile ago??  Well... we've picked up progress again on it, and I'm so excited to show you how the vanity (used to be bathtub) portion looks as of today!! 

BEFORE!

Cabinet moved in; P. is working on the plumbing.  The plumbing was a pretty major overhaul since this area used to house the bathtub... P. had to reroute water supply, drains, vent pipes, etc.  He's pretty amazing!  Also, the mirror is hung & new lighting fixtures added.

Countertop / Sinks, all molded from one THICK piece of frosted glass... I LOVE this! 

To give you an idea of what the accent tiles and shower tiles will be.  Also, paint colors.  :)

 Now here are closeups of some of my favorite touches:  

:-) :-)

These are from West Elm.  I think we'll get the two-light sconce which matches this set for above the new jacuzzi bathtub.  Nevermind the unfinished drywall above.  We'll get to that eventually!

We will add a 4-6" back-splash to the countertop, crafted from the mosaic tile in the fourth photo of this post.  :-)  I'm pretty sure this will look... amazing!  :-)

I just love this countertop!

Cabinet and floor detail

In other news, we're SOOOO looking forward to my brothers and sis-in-law coming this week!!  I'm sure plenty of photo-ops to blog about will come from their visit.  :-)  Hope you're having a lovely weekend!!