Munich

The last part of our European Honeymoon I shared was our day at Oktoberfest. Obviously we didn't just go to Munich and drink. We also did some sightseeing.

The second day we were there we went to Dachau. Located a few miles outside of Munich, Dachau was the first Nazi concentration camp and is now a state run memorial site. Dachau opened in 1933 when Hitler rose to power. At first Hitler used it to hold his political prisoners and then all enemies of the Third Reich. It has also the distinction of being the training camp of for the SS. All of the worst leaders of SS spent time there.

They're torn done all but one of the barracks but you can still see some of the old sleeping quarters and grounds. When we were there we noted how close was it was to the town. Jonathan and I were shocked to see that German people could deny knowing what was actually going on at the camp. Also it was so cold while we were there and it wasn't even winter time. It really made us picture the type of horrible conditions the camp's prisoners were subjected to.

We also did a little sightseeing in actual city itself. It was really cold that day and we had do a little souvenir shopping so we didn't get a lot of photos but here a few of my favorites. 

And that concluded our time in Munich. Next Salzburg!

The Year In Review: 2013

Happy New Year!

Even though it's the first day of 2014 I still don't feel like a whole year has passed. Compared to 2012, this year was a year of settling in. 2012 was a year of change; we got engaged, bought our first home and got married. 2013 wasn't as crazy but it was still exciting. Poseidon came to live with us and we finally took our long awaited European honeymoon.

I dislike doing the traditional resolutions for the new year. You know... lose weight, save more money... but I still like making a resolution. I try to come up with ones that I can actually keep and ones that will actually make my life better. A few years ago my resolution was to be more adventurous. That year I went in a hot air balloon (big deal when you're scared of heights) and shot a gun. This year my resolution is to be more present in the moment. I want to stop stressing the small stuff and just enjoy the moments as they happen. I mean is it really a big deal if the dirty dishes are still in sink?

Anyway if you want to see how 2013 went for us you can check out our monthly roundups here.

The Month In Review: November and December 2013

I am a slacker. Obviously I haven't been keeping up with my blog posting but here is a little round up the last two months. We...

• Finally finished painting our hallway
• Celebrated our first wedding anniversary
• Dressed up for Halloween 
• Showed off our house decorated for fall and Christmas 
• Shared photos from New York, Dublin and Oktoberfest
• Tore up our old tile floors, survived our own dust bowl and fixed a leak in our wall so we could lay down new floors

Merry Christmas!

Even though Christmas is the 25th my family and I celebrate on the 24th. We eat dinner, hang out and at the stroke of midnight we start opening presents!

Soooo on what I consider to be Christmas... Merry Christmas! The floor project sorted of sidetracked us and I didn't have time to send out our Christmas card this year. But I figured I can still share it here with all of you!

Under "Happy Holidays" it reads "Sending merry wishes to you and yours, Jonathan, Berennisse & Poseidon Stubblefield." 

Our photo with Santa was taken at our local Petsmart. They take photos with your camera, give your furry friend some treats and all the proceeds go to help homeless animals. The best part is that there was no line! Jonathan and I are seriously considering going to see this Santa instead of the one at the mall when we have kids. That way our fur kid can also be in it. 

The top right photo is from our trip to Salzburg, Austria. We are posing in front of the Mirabell Gardens  which some of you may recognize from the Sound of Music. On the bottom you can see us at Oktoberfest enjoying our first liter of the day. 

Merry Christmas! 

Halls Decked!

Our home is finally ready for Christmas!

Our stockings are by the chimney (with care, of course). Poseidon's bone shaped one is in the middle. 

To decorate our coffee table I spayed painted beer bottles with gold glitter. Yes, glitter comes in the form of spray painted. I sealed the bottles with a coat of clear acrylic (also in spray paint form).  I already had the long red and gold branches and Jonathan purchased the short leafy ones. 

I added a nutcracker (free on Black Friday!) and silver acorn to our side table. 

To accommodate the Christmas tree I had to move the console table into the dining area. I placed underneath the mirror and placed two of the dining chairs on either side. I made the wreath with some leftover deco mesh and bought the wooden "S." It also got the gold spray paint treatment. On the console table there's a faux tree that I bought for $2 from Big Lots five years ago. Next to it is a piece of  Styrofoam that I wrapped last year to stick all of the Christmas cards we received. We got a lot last year so I didn't use it this year. On top of it is a big salad bowl filled up with extra ornaments. 

Jon helped me move the dining table around (which I actually like a lot better) to make room for the console table. I left the tablecloth from Thanksgiving on it and added a black runner with gold snowflakes on it from Target years ago. My brother gave me the wine box and I just stuck in the six poinsettias I got on Black Friday. The red and green matched perfectly so I left it alone. 

I wrapped deco mesh, garland and lights around the handrail of our staircase. I added ribbon and decorative picks along the way. I also saved all of the holiday cards we received last year and hung them in between the spindles. 

Originally I wanted to put this little tree by the staircase window but the cord wasn't long enough so I had to place it here instead. 

Outside Jon opted for the traditional color lights but it was my idea to place the tree outside. 

Now all we're missing is some presents under our tree... but I don't really feel like wrapping them all just yet!

Laying Laminate

Finally some FLOORS!!!!!

Okay, so it's not the best photo in the world but that's because all the pictures we took with our camera came out spotted. We think the dust got on the lens and unfortunately it took us a few days to completely clean it. Plus I think the floors are still dirty in this photo. When they're clean you can appreciate the red undertones so much more. 

You can read about the demolition, dust and water leak we had to deal with before actually getting to start the floor.

Before we could lay any of the laminate planks down we had to put down the underlayment first. The underlayment goes in between the concrete subfloor and the planks. It acts a sound and vapor barrier. The sound part is important because it absorbs some of the noise when you walk it (no creaks) and when you drop stuff. After looking at a ton of options we opted to get some Dreamwalk stuff from Lumber Liquidators. 

Jonathan rolled out the underlayment and cut it to fit across the length of our living and dining rooms. He used plain old duct tape to bind the rows together. You wouldn't think it but this part actually took a few hours.

Once that was done Jonathan was able finally lay the very first part of our new floors! 

The laminate came in individual planks that had tongue and grooves so you could snap them into place. Any planks that were going to be on the perimeter had to have the the tongue and grooves part that were sticking out cut off. Jonathan also had to place spacers around the perimeter. This gap was later covered up by our new baseboards. That space allows that floor to expand and contract with the weather. 

Jonathan also had to cut some of the planks so that it would be either a third or two thirds of the original length. Visually this gives the floor a staggered look that all hardwood and faux hardwood floors have but it is also important structurally to keep the planks as close together as possible. The tongue and groove makes it easy to attach the planks but you still have to use a mallet to get the pieces in flush. 

Jonathan worked his way across the room...

And pretty soon we were almost done! Once again- we = Jonathan. I did help by passing him planks and running out to get food. That's important right? I did try to help but Jonathan wouldn't let me since he "had to review all of my work" and he'd "feel better" doing it himself so he could "be sure it was done right." 

Finally we had the last piece of laminate to install!

Success!

We were finally able to move our couch back in. 

In a temporary place anyway. Our first floor is separated into two spaces since there is a small step at the entryway. Jon was able to finish laying the flooring on the larger space (living and dining areas) but we decided to save the entryway area for the following weekend. This meant that dust was still flying around and getting everywhere. We saw a lot of paw prints that week. 

Small price to pay for such pretty floors. Wait until you see it with the baseboards!

Water In The Wall

So after we spent a weekend removing tile and grout from our dining and living room (here and here) I came home to this.

At first I thought Poseidon couldn't wait until we got home and had an accident (so sorry little buddy!). Upon closer inspection I realized that it was water damage and it was coming from the wall. Great (please note the sarcastic tone). Isn't that what everyone wants to home to? 

Once Jon got home he started to investigate. On the other side of that wall is our fridge. Jonathan pulled out the fridge out of its little nook and found the source of the leak. The water line back there had a hole in it and caused a watery mess back there.

He decided just to disconnect the water line and allow it dry overnight. We figured that once it dried out a bit back there we could see what the real damage was. The next evening it seemed a lot better and Jonathan said that the damage wasn't too bad. We don't think it was leaking for too long back there. Good thing I really wanted new floors! Otherwise who knows how long that would have stayed back there. We did have to leave the fridge pulled out into the middle of the kitchen for a few days. See it behind me?

But it wasn't nearly as bad as we first thought. Jon still had to repair the wall with some wall mud stuff but our new baseboards ended up covering where the damage had been. Apart from the patch job the worst part was living with the refrigerator in the middle of the kitchen. As you can tell from the photo above it was a tight squeeze getting in and out of the kitchen but it's a small price to pay when you think of how bad it could have been.

Luckily this mini crisis didn't delay our flooring project and we were still able to proceed with laying the floors the following weekend!