Okay, I could NOT figure out how to put the pictures in any specific order, but here are the pics of the new living and dining room! 

Dining Room after:

Dining Room Before:

Living Room after:

Living Room before:

So, what do you think?

Celebrate and Redecorate!

I have nothing more exciting to blog about so you faithful blog checkers will get to hear about our sudden decision to redecorate our house... all in time for Christmas Eve. 

Let me start at the very beginning. We took a lovely trip to L.A. this past weekend to visit our fabulous friends Kirstie and Nick. They have an awesomely decorated town home. They are seriously talented. The way they put colors together and mix the old with the new is something I lack. But I digress. We got to talking and I mentioned that I wasn't loving what we had done to our new town home. It was all a very pale yellow and the room was pale green, pale, pale, pale. So, Kirstie, being the true friend that she is, busted out the color swatches and totally redecorated our town home for us! We loved the idea so much that we chatted the entire 6 hour car drive home about the changes we would make. I began looking on Pottery Barn (where else? some things never change) for cute design ideas. It was there (on my i-phone) that I found a $200 8X10 wool rug! It was marked down from $600!! We bypassed home to trek out to Stanford Shopping Center to buy one! We are loving the rug and the new colors. 

That leads me to why this is all happening so quickly. I mean, we just got home on Sunday night and we want the entire downstairs done by the 24th. That's 2 days. So, being the gung-ho woman that I am, I began throwing color swatches on the wall first thing Monday morning. Then we realized that we were going to entertain for Christmas Eve and we had these HUGE color swatches all over our wall. Hmmm... well, there's no reason why I can't spend the day painting and finish it tonight so that we can clean tomorrow and prep for our dinner tomorrow night. 

Whew! It's been a busy couple of days, but the rewards are amazing! We are loving the colors and the warmth it brings to our house. I will post pictures once it's done and the furniture is put back so, stay tuned...

It's Holiday Time!

If you know me,  you know I am crazy about the holidays! I love the time from Thanksgiving to my birthday (January 11 for those of you who need reminders) more than any other time of the year. Summer runs a close second, but for different reasons!! Anyway, this year we are hosting Christmas Eve at our house and I am just so excited about it! We are having a crab feast with a table full of whole crabs, baked potatoes, corn on the cob, and beer! We are thrilled to host Ritchie's family in what we hope to make a new tradition. 

Our house is looking very festive, too as we celebrate our first year in our home. Granted, we don't have the funds this year to go overboard with Christmas presents, but at least we have a loving home to come home to everyday. We feel very blessed to own our home and to both be employed by companies with visions that we admire and believe in. Overall, we are feeling happy this holiday season! 

Training and so much more

For the past 3 weeks, I have been on somewhat of a health kick. Those who know me know that this is quite a change from my daily life of eating Jack In the Box and drinking beer. So far I have kicked the Jack In the Box. The beer still finds a way to seduce me into partaking in its frosty deliciousness.
So the health kick. I have been running on my lunch hour every day with a couple friends/co-workers. We are gradually working our way up to a brutal 26.2 mile marathon in July. I have found that setting myself up to run a full marathon is a much larger undertaking than I originally thought. We have so far worked our way up to a 3 mile run and I am having a hard time accepting the fact that I will soon be running almost 9 times that amount in a single serving. This has me thinking that there are some life changes in order. First off is the meal plan. If I am to run that far and for such a long duration, I better be properly nourished. Properly nourished has thus consisted of oatmeal in the morning, salad with chicken for lunch, and a dinner of chicken and vegetables. It has been a week of adhering to this menu and so far I have enjoyed the change. It is difficult to stick to, but rewarding.
So much more. Mental commitment to the goal of running a marathon has contributed so much more to my daily life. Breaking through each barrier of physical stress has made me realize that we are much stronger than we let ourselves think. Our bodies are capable of incredible things, but our minds can prevent us from using our full potential. How do we break the mental block that prevents us from doing what we know we can? I have no idea. What I do know is that I am on the road to finding out. So far, I have discovered that simply quitting when you think you've had enough is not an acceptable option. Go beyond what you think you can do and realize what you actually can do.

- Ritchie

Our first blog!

Ritchie and I have decided to start a family blog!! We want to mostly keep in touch with friends and distant family. We hope to be able to share any exciting news and updates through online journaling! We are so hip!

We love you all! 

Ritchie and Jamie