Day with the Molnar Girls!!!

Erica Molnar was my roommate - my first and only roommate outside of college dorm life - just before Stephen and I got married. She was Erica Clark at the time. She knew Stephen way before I did. They went to church together at Colonial Heights Baptist Church in Ridgeland, MS. I visited church and the Singles fellowship one Sunday. This was the first day I met my husband and one of my best friends ever! What a special day - now that I look back in time! When the church greeter took me back to where the Singles met, Erica was at the welcome desk and immediately was soooo sweet and excited (as I later learned is a trait you see all the time with her). She introduced me to some other girls so that she could finish up at the welcome desk. They took me back to their class after general assembly/announcements...which coincidentally Stephen happened to be friends with these girls and was in their class - and they welcomed me into their lives at a moment in my life when I was searching for good, Christian friends. From that point on, she was so great to me. Later, we ended up moving into an apartment together and lived there for a year. During this time, Stephen and I got engaged and she met Art Molnar - now her husband. One of my fondest memories was her baking a birthday cake for me one year...there's a picture somewhere of me holding it up - just outta bed, no makeup, glasses, frizzy hair... I normally left for work before she ever got up in the mornings but she got up that morning to surprise me and spend some time with me. But there are so many more memories that I cherish! Erica was such an encouragement and especially a bright light in my life during that time!

Erica and Art moved to Hattiesburg, MS for a while but we tried to stay in touch, then, Stephen and I moved to Nashville and then Erica and Art moved to Washington, DC. We hadn't seen each other in almost 4 years...I was supposed to have gone to her baby shower last year but that was during the time of Daddy's accident so I was at the hospital during the shower. Erica and Art have a beautiful little girl, Audrey Clark Molnar. She was born in January 2008 (there is a link for the Molnars on the left of my blog screen under my links for friends...).

Erica and Audrey came to Nashville earlier in the week to visit with one of Erica's college friends, Lauren, that recently had a baby. So Friday, I took off work and spent the day with Erica, Audrey, Lauren and Wyatt (Lauren's new baby boy). We met at the Opryland Hotel and had lunch and walked all through several parts of the hotel. Then we headed over to Opry Mills to do some shopping! We had so much fun!

Audrey was sooooo playful! She giggled and played and laughed at me all day long! I have no words to express how sweet it was holding her in my arms and playing with her and hearing her squeal with excitement when I would talk to her or make faces with her. She is sooo beautiful!! I think she's going to have the same beautiful, loving nature as her mother.

We had so much fun on Friday and I hated when we parted ways late Friday afternoon; but Stephen and I are already planning to go visit them in Washington, DC in December!!! I can't wait!!!

Ordered New Furniture

After painting the living room, kitchen and dining room over the 4th of July weekend, we noticed we needed a change in furniture. So, Sunday after church, we drove out to Cool Springs and had lunch at Pei Wei (http://www.peiwei.com/) and then started visiting furniture stores. We found a dining room table at the first store, American Signature, but kept looking at other stores. At the end of the day, the dinnette set at the first store was our favorite. The style is perfect for our little townhouse and the contemporary style we are hoping to move closer to in decor. There's a picture of it below. However, the table we are getting is Black with the stools having black leather and black legs. The only picture of our table on line that I could find was the one below in the lighter brown color.

We had a much harder time shopping for the living room furniture. At first we wanted brown leather but the only leather we were seeing was either the style for a media room, with cupholders built in and such or else they had those big ol' bolt/tack things down the arms and along the base...we didn't like that look...it was too heavy for the look we wanted. At the next to last store we actually started thinking we might not want leather and broadened our search to include fabric covered furniture. At the very last store on our list, Ashely Furniture, we found something we fell in love with. It was perfect. Simple. Pretty. Leather. (see attached photo of sofa)

We found out that it had a loveseat (even though they didn't have one in the showroom) and was even more excited. We took measurements of the sofa and the salesman pulled the measurements for the loveseat and we went home to measure and make sure they'd both fit in our little living room. Because once you buy it, it's yours. We felt pretty sure it would fit! Unfortunately it didn't! So we started trying to figure out if we still wanted just the sofa. Knowing that there wasn't a recliner in the line we knew we would have to buy a new recliner elsewhere so we sort of wanted the rest of the furniture to match so it wouldn't look too much like a hodgepodge. We got to looking online and found that there was a chair and ottoman in the line and we pulled up the measurements and tested them in the living room and decided that was perfect! So Monday, Stephen went to Ashley at lunch and purchased the sofa, chair and ottoman; and after work we met at American Signature and purchased the dining room table. The living room stuff will have a 4-6 week lead time as they make that furniture to order. So it'll be a little bit before we get that. The dining table and chairs will be ready for us to pick up on Tuesday, so we're excited to be getting some of it soon. Also, a little more on the dining set...it is the higher set table (36" H)/pubstyle height and the chairs are actually stools. Its simple, black and SQUARE design will be perfect for setting the more contemporary look in our home that we are looking for. The picture to the right shows it without the leaf which makes it rectangular; but what we loved most about it was that with the leaf inserted, it is a square table that sits two chairs/people per side - a table for 8. Although, we are only getting 6 chairs right now. Also, don't forget, this picture only represents the style of the table and chairs. I don't like this color scheme but as soon as we get it set up in the house, I'll post a picture of the actual, black, table and chairs we ordered. Next step will be to pick out Stephen a new recliner but for the time being, I think we are going to hold off on more furniture and focus on painting the rest of the house and possibly get some hardwood floors - but not sure on the floors yet.

Gonna be an Aunt and Uncle again!!`

We got a call this morning...Richard (Stephen's brother) and his wife Marie are pregnant with number 3!!! Her Chinese Birth Calendar predicts it will be another girl...we'll have to wait and see. They are due in March 2009! Tristan, 5, isn't too happy about it. His words were "I'm too young for TWO babies!!!!!" I don't think he's really gotten used to having to share attention with his little sister yet so he's probably not looking forward to sharing with a second sibling. Anelise will be 2 later this year so we'll see how she does once the little one gets here!

We are so excited!!!

Quote of the Day

My iGoogle page is set up to show me a "Quote of the Day" everyday. There's actually 3 quotes each day... one of today's made me laugh...Stephen probably feels this way about me sometimes. :-)

"I haven't spoken to my wife in years. I didn't want to interrupt her. - Rodney Dangerfield"

My husband is so great!!! I love him sooooo much!!!

Painting the Living Room, Kitchen and Dining Room!

After living here for right at 3 years with white walls. We finally decided to start painting. Early last year we painted the guest bedroom upstairs. Then took the rest of the year off. A year later, a couple months ago, we painted the guest bathroom upstairs. Now we decided to get brave and move downstairs and try the living room, kitchen and dining room. We still have the 1/2 bath, the master bedroom and bathroom, the loft, the other bedroom upstairs and the upstairs hallway and staircase. So lots more to do!

The house is still far from being put back together...paint cans and ladders are still everywhere, so you will see some of this stuff in these pics...but here they are! The living room and the accent wall in the dining room are called Scroll Beige. The kitchen and the dining room are called Fauna. Both are from Glidden (Home Depot). Fauna mostly looks like a charcoal/dark gray color with a hint of brown when you are actually standing in the room. The brown hint only shows at certain angles with certain light. Mostly it's charcoal colored and the living room is more of a light grey color. In these pictures you can't see the true color. The Scroll Beige is a lighter shade than the Fauna and has just a tad more of a beige color to it. They are beautiful together, when you are standing in the rooms.

To see more photos:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=xlnlfq2.2onhebua&x=0&y=qtcstg&localeid=en_US

Front door

Standing in living looking into kitchen and dining.

Bookcase in living room, kitchen down the left side of the photo.

Stephen, exhausted, Sunday night in the living room.

Dining room; the wall on the left is our accent wall. It is the same color as the living room.

The contrast colors between the kitchen and the living room (that black stripe is a shadow; we didn't paint a black stripe down it). :-)

Kitchen color with counter tops and cabinets.

Kitchen looking into the living.


Another picture of the dining room...see the kitchen table on the right wall still full of painting equipment.

Standing in dining room looking at the little hallway to the master bedroom and the pantry door and the 1/2 bath door.

We think these lines are soooo cool!! I'm standing in the dining room. This is the ceiling where the dining and kitchen meet. The kitchen has a slightly lower ceiling than the dining room which reaches up into the second floor a little bit. They meet to make a very cool visual!

Another cool ceiling visual. This is the staircase from the dining room.

With the walls and trim pretty much the same color, I had not noticed (over the 3 years we've lived here) the detail of the baseboards at the stairs. This is in the dining room.

Fresh Veggies over the 4th of July weekend!

Saturday, July 5th, Stephen and I took a break from painting and went to Franklin to pick up this week's veggies from the Farmers' Market. We had lunch at Wild Noodle in Cool Springs(http://www.wildnoodles.com/menu.asp) before heading back home to paint some more.

Included this time was: Bianca Heirloom Eggplant, Green Onions, Kale, Collards, Bell Peppers, Squash, Zucchini, Red Cabbage, Cucumbers, Cubanelle Peppers, One pint of salad tomatoes, Small slicing tomatoes, 3 pound of Newly dug potatoes.

4th of July Painting

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!

Can you tell what Stephen and I are doing with our long weekend!!!


We've just finished putting the second coat on the kitchen and dining room. While it dries, we are going to eat some supper and start clearing out the living room so we can paint it in the morning. More pictures to come once we finish.