Vodka sodas with a splash of cranberry juice are the best. And drinking them in your backyard is wayyyyyy better than building a firewall. (Trust us.) This weekend did not go as planned. Mark had a big work deadline and was at the office all day Saturday and most of the day on Sunday. Y’all know I’m not building that firewall by myself. So, I busied myself with these Sweaty Bettys. My spin studio, Steel…

Mark and I are on a very tight schedule to FINISH our house. Like, really REALLY finish it. On the agenda this weekend…complete the firewall in our attic. We estimate this will take one weekend. (But it kinda depends on how many beers we have and how many naps we take.) After that, we will tackle the gross monstrosity that is our back bedroom. Whoa. Nelly. It’s the one part of our house that we…

Yes, we picked the hottest day to go up onto the roof and work. Every time I’m up there and see the incredible views, I tell Mark that he needs to build a roof patio STAT! No patio work right now, just measuring the exact spot to put our two attic vents. Thank God for Mark’s huge muscles because it was a lot harder than we thought to cut through several layers of tar to…

They say anything worth doing is hard. And Mark and I can prove it with all the new wrinkles and lines on our faces. Is 32 too young to get Botox? Mark is 38 and already scheduled for a much-needed appointment. 🙂 As we try and tie up some of the loose ends of our DIY home renovation project, we are reminiscing about all the CRAZINESS that led us to this! Remember when we ordered…

Uncle Mark and Aunt Courtney have been out in full force these last few weeks! Lilypad continues to be the cutest baby on the planet and I am smitten beyond words. She has the entire family totally obsessed with her every move. And Mama Kelly is looking sooooo good, it’s like she never gained any baby weight…girlfriend is smokin’!!! I get to babysit Lily BY MYSELF very soon. I must get a pack n’ play…

Mark and I have officially become slow pokes. It’s taken us FOREVER to finish this window project. But when your super fun nephews are in town, you’re going to hang with them and put the house stuff on hold! (Uncle Mark looks drunk in this picture but he’s not.) We summoned all the energy and focus we had and were determined to finish! Mark cut and put up the trim. He hung out the window…

Mark loves being a DIY home renovater ALMOST as much as he loves being an uncle. Uncle Mark was in his full glory when nephews, Lucas and Joey, came in for a quick visit with Mark’s sister, Trish. Leading up to the reunion, Mark went to our local Busy Beaver (his fave spot) and picked out some safety glasses for the kids. He also grabbed a 2×4 and put the boys through a “home renovation”…

Turns out our DIY home renovation lifestyle does not exactly transfer over into the fancy schmancy world of resort living. The first guests in our room at the Bedford Springs Resort wore big hats that probably wouldn’t even fit in our rowhouse. And when we drank champagne at The Tavern, I basically felt like I was on the Titanic and was waiting for Celine Dion to sing “My Heart Will Go On.” The sweet town…

Mark got a little overzealous with the spray foam insulation. I’m not sure if he’s trying to soundproof our room or just wants it to be REALLY insulated. Whatever his motivation, I only think of the white, sugary goodness when I see this. (I think my body is trying to tell me to buy a jar of fluff and eat it with a spoon. MUST. NOT. GIVE. IN.) As we finish our new window project,…

I saw the Blair Witch Project in high school and it scared the bejesus out of me. So, I was not thrilled with this… Tell me you remember those creepy hand prints on the wall at the end of that movie! The ghost (Mark’s) handprints came as he painted and caulked the outside of the window frame. Here’s an even scarier picture from the day. Mark doesn’t blink an eye getting up on that ladder,…