Mark and I are forever indebted to my family because, without them, we would be sitting in an unfinished house silently sobbing into our wine glasses wondering why the renovation isn’t going faster. My dad, mom, sister and brother-in-law helped us all throughout this DIY home renovation, and my Daddio saved our butts again this weekend. In addition to his many wonderful attributes, my Dad is a great painter…he’s clean, careful and precise. All he…

Here’s our idea of a party… Takeout from Pusadee’s Garden (BEST Thai food in the city!) Red wine (I have 1 glass, Mark has 7.) Tunes from Spotify (we like the “hanging out & relaxing” playlist.) We really take it up a notch when we start touching up the nail holes so they’re ready when my Dad comes over to help us paint. I love it when he helps out…but I think Mark enjoys it…

Now that Mark and I have 2 houses in Lawrenceville we need to name them. This is for our sanity and so all you blog readers can keep it straight! Our current (and almost complete) renovation will be called, The Row House. (I know, I know…SUPER imaginative) The new Victorian we’re going to restore will be called, The Grand House. Since we don’t have kids (much to the dismay of my mother and mother-in-law) we’ll…

Move over…the fancy squad is coming through. When you buy a new house, your family comes over to toast your new adventure and to bring the most important housewarming gifts. Toilet paper and pizza. We just closed on an old Victorian house in Lawrenceville. It’s a beauty…a grand ol’ dame of house that needs a lot of love. It’s going to be different from our current renovation. It’s more of a RESTORATION…we’re going to bring…

We are. (Kind of.) Mark and I are THISCLOSE to getting our next fixer upper. After 19 months of hard labor on our current house that included tearing down walls, ripping up floors and inhaling enough dust to give us black lung…we want to do it again. Most people have told us, “You two are crazy.” Maybe we are. But isn’t life more fun that way?! **FOLLOW ILOVE2SWEAT! Just click the “+ Follow” button at…

My husband, Mark, is easy to please. He loves going to the Pittsburgh Penguins games…especially when they play Canadian teams. (Now here’s our obligatory pre-game selfie.) Mark always drinks Labatt Blue (heavy not light) and gets a hot dog while I play on my phone during intermission. His MOST favorite part is when they sing Oh Canada. His second most favorite part is sharing the experience with our supa-dupa-fly friends, Susie and Pete. His third…

All you Sweet Home Alabama fans know what I’m talking about. And those who don’t, just CLICK HERE. My niece Lily charmed everyone in the bar at Monte Cello’s as we celebrated Mama Kelly’s birthday. Lily made a grab for my rosé…babygirl knows what’s up. Kelly lost all her baby weight (and then some) and was rocking crop tops just 3 months after Lily was born. After eating salads and rice cakes and air, all…

We haven’t done much since our DIY home renovation staycation. (Mark did manage to tackle the beer flights at Draai Laag though.) Between nonstop work (as in our real life jobs) and snuggling with my favorite little nugget, our final house renovations are on pause. One reason for the holdup was a corporate rowing club that Mark joined. This past weekend all the teams got to do the final trek down the Allegheny River. My…

That was my biggest concern when Pittsburgh Magazine said they wanted to feature our DIY home renovation in their October issue. I said to Mark…”The other homes featured are like 10 and 20 MILLION dollar renovations…we will look like homeless people!!” Thankfully, writer Jessica and photographer John were kind to us and made our home look terrific and did not make us look like schmoes. 🙂 CLICK HERE for the online version of the story!…

Sooooooo…I have a secret to tell you. Despite my husband’s incredible (and seemingly boundless) home renovation skills, he is not a superhero. Yes yes, I know…you are SHOCKED. And I am sorry to burst the bubble. Because Mark is human and his bones can break just as easily as anyone else’s, I think it’s time to get him some beefy life insurance. For instance, just a few days ago he was on our back porch…