The Brick Cottage

Introducing...

2011-09-12T13:50:00.000-04:00

Miss Willa Elizabeth

1 week old

Willa was born on August 27th--11 days past due!

1 hour old

Our little one turned out to not be so little. She was 9lbs, 2oz and 22" long! She had the chubbiest cheeks we had ever seen and we were instantly in love.

As I've mentioned previously, we took The Bradley Method classes to prepare for a natural birth at a birth center with midwives. Well, it shouldn't have surprised us that our little one had other plans. Here is our birth story for those of you who like birth stories.

On Thursday, August 25th I was 9 days overdue and went to see the midwives for my 41 week checkup. I was told during this visit that I had until Tuesday to go into labor, otherwise I would have to be induced at the hospital. I asked what my options were to get labor started and the midwife offered to stretch my cervix (also called stripping or sweeping the membranes). I was already dilated to 2 cm and 50% effaced (and had been since week 39) so she felt there was a good chance this would get things started for me. If not, I was to call the on-call midwife over the weekend to have it stretched again and to take castor oil Sunday morning if I still wasn't in labor. I felt good with the plan after the appointment and had high hopes of going into labor over the weekend.

That night, I went to bed with mild cramping and a back ache. After a long, sleepless night (which had been the case for a while--it's so hard to get comfortable this late in pregnancy), I was awake when Bryan was getting ready for work. My back was still hurting and I asked for a back rub before he left. During the massage, I realized that I was having a stronger back pain and thought possibly they were contractions. I asked Bryan to stay home from work until we knew if I was in labor or not. I got out of bed and took a walk with Bryan and Bindi to see if the contractions would continue and lo and behold, they did! Truly excited at this point, I decided to do what our Bradley training taught us and ignored the labor. The early stage of labor is the easiest and the longest and to keep from tiring out too soon, it's best to ignore it until you need to work hard. I ate breakfast, took a shower, put on makeup and did my hair (haha--why I thought that would last through labor, I don't know). It was about 11am at this point and the contractions were getting closer together. We decided to time them and they were about 5 minutes apart and 30 seconds long. By 1pm, they were 4 minutes apart and still about 30 seconds long. I decided to call the midwife on call and she said to call back when the contractions were 1 minute long and I was having trouble walking and talking through them.

5pm rolled around and we were getting tired. We ignored the labor as long as possible but with the contractions only happening in my back, the only relief I got was from Bryan applying counter pressure. My contractions still weren't one minute long but they were getting closer together--3 to 4 minutes apart. This time the midwife offered to check my progress. Unfortunately, I was still only 2 cm dilated and 50% effaced. Absolutely 0 progress. She explained that early labor generally is back labor and when the contractions wrapped around the front and lasted a minute then I would know I was making progress.

We went home and did more of the same. I tried to get comfortable and relax and finally decided to give the bathtub a try. I quickly realized that was not comfortable and got out and decided to eat some dinner. After dinner, the contractions were really hard. I tried my best to relax through them but decided the best thing was for me to call the midwife because I wanted to get into their tub (their tub for water births is a large, jacuzzi-type tub and that was our plan for pain relief). We got to the birth center about 9pm and I was a wreck. Still only having back labor, I was so afraid that I wasn't making progress. I was greeted at the door by a nurse who told us that we were the third to check in that night (they only have three rooms and average one birth per day so this was completely unusual) and the tub room was already occupied. I think this is where I really lost it. I started to ugly cry as Oprah calls it. Thinking I was still in early labor and was having trouble with managing the pain (how on Earth was I going to get through the hard part of labor?!) and being told my water birth plan was no longer an option, I seriously started doubting I was going to manage a natural labor.

The midwife checked me and I was dilated to 7cm! Only three more to go! I was so shocked and relieved. My contractions still weren't lasting a full minute and at this point we should have realized that nothing about this labor was going to be text book (the average time for a first time labor is 12-14 hours, I was already into my 14th hour at this point). Once you hit 7cm, you enter the "transitional" phase which is the shortest but most intense part of labor. In a text book labor this phase lasts about one to one and a half hours. At this point, things get a bit intense. I get to my room and in between contractions, Bryan is running to the car to bring in our bags. My contractions were about 2 minutes apart and he had to apply some serious counter pressure to my back. The midwife was also having to insert my hep lock for some antibiotics I had to be given (I was GBS+ which meant I needed to get 2 doses of antibiotics, 4 hours apart in order to not pass it along to my newborn). Unfortunately, needles and me do not get along and it took four tries and two people for my veins to cooperate. I officially got the dose at 10pm and the next dose would be given at 2am. During all this, my midwife was checking the baby's heartbeat and was getting concerned that it was accelerated every time she checked it. After calling their OB, he recommended an IV of fluids thinking I might be dehydrated. At 11pm, her heartbeat was still reading high so the decision was made that I would need to go to the hospital.

We got to the hospital just shy of midnight. Once hooked up to the external fetal monitoring belt, our little one's heart rate was reading perfectly normal. Thank heavens nothing was wrong (and I do appreciate having midwives who err on the side of caution). Our nurse checked my progress and I was only 8cm with a bulging bag. Should have been no surprise that my labor was progressing slowly. Finally, 2am came and I received my second dose of antibiotics. Immediately after, the OB came in and broke my water to help labor progress. At 3:30am, I was finally (!!) fully dilated and ready to push. One hour later, our baby was born. My "short" transition phase lasted over 6 hours and in full disclosure, I was thisclose in asking for an epidural (it was stated in our birth plan that I would ask for pain relief if I wanted it and our nurse told me up front I would have to tell her, she would not ask me). Thankfully, the hospital, nurse and OB were used to natural births and were great at supporting me. Our nurse was fantastic and continually told me how great I was doing working through the contractions (when I felt like I was anything but doing great) and Bryan never let up on applying counter pressure. He felt like he was ran over by a truck the next day. I, on the other hand felt great after the delivery. My endorphins had kicked in and I was on cloud nine! Also, Willa was so alert and ready to nurse upon arrival (which is the main reason we chose a natural birth). While I don't know if I'll forget the pain of labor, I do know that I'll never forget the feeling afterward. Definitely the happiest day of my life.

About 5 hours after giving birth--22 hour long labor

She loves her Daddy

Our happy baby ready to go home!

And please forgive me for not proof reading the above. I'm a happily, sleep deprived Mama who has some snuggling to do.

Baby Bump: 40 weeks

2011-08-17T10:57:00.000-04:00

Well, I made it to 40 weeks!

This bump seems to be growing by the day! I tried to do some weeding in our flower beds the other day and might have toppled over a couple of times. Just when I get used to the size of my bump, it goes and it gets bigger on me. I am so looking forward to the day that she is on the outside of my womb! While I've enjoyed a very healthy pregnancy, I'm ready to walk without waddling. Standing up without grunting. And spending less time in the bathroom. Especially public restrooms because I can't seem to go into an establishment without needing to visit it at least once. And most of all, we're just so ready to meet her! We are still undecided on a name and we're hoping that when we meet her, we'll just know. I really hope that happens! (please tell me that happens!)

Baby Bump: 36 Weeks

2011-07-23T10:47:00.000-04:00

Technically, I am 36 weeks and 4 days which means that in 3 days I will be full term. Full term is 37-42 weeks; that's a long waiting game, guys! Everyone around me seems convinced that she will not make her arrival until after my due date. I wouldn't mind at all if she decided to make her arrival a little earlier than that (but none of the women in my family has ever had their baby before their due date). I have been very lucky with a complication free pregnancy but the aches and pains that come during the last trimester are no joke. I've heard it said time and time again that when pregnant there comes a point when one is so uncomfortable that the fear of labor is no longer a concern. I don't know if I'm quite at that point yet but I do feel it is right around the corner. I wake up everyday with my hips feeling bruised. Or I can't go to sleep due to my hip pain. Or I hoist myself off the couch only to have my legs lock and it takes me a minute to move them (think the tin man in The Wizard of Oz when he gets rusty and needs to be oiled up--that's how I walk when I've been sitting for too long--too long sometimes being as short as thirty minutes). Arghh!

In other pregnancy related news, we have completed our Bradley class training and Bryan received his official Bradley Coach Card! Woot, woot! Yes, he literally has a card called "Official Coach Card" with his name on it that he can whip out of his wallet anytime the fancy strikes. He's official after all. This "coach card" stems back from the days when it was not common for husbands to be in the delivery room and this coach card was issued upon completion of class and it was required for the husband to have it to be in the room with his wife. Now it's a novelty since anyone can be in the delivery room (at least at the birth center, there's no limit on the number of people allowed) but Bryan's awfully proud of it. And I'm proud to have him as my husband and birth coach.

Speaking of my husband. Today is his birthday!

And while I'm sitting in the office typing this, he is putting together our baby's crib. When really, he should be relaxing while I make him french toast or an omelet or some equally delicious breakfast. He's been doing a lot of hard work around here especially since it's getting harder for me to move (just try a couple of squats with a 25 pound bowling ball strapped to your waist and you'll see what I mean). He recently figured out how to install crown molding (not an easy fete!) and it looks so good in the nursery (picture soon, I promise!).

And he brought the electrical up to code in the nursery. An outlet on every wall is a dream!! I'm so excited to not be limited by outlet placement when it comes to placing furniture in the room. (on a side note, I'm not sure why my touch up paint is different from my wall color. I stir the paint through out the process of painting but it seems like the colorant settled. Unfortunately, this was color matched paint and I'm not sure how I'm going to remedy it).

And that's just a small sample of things he's been up to in the nursery. I better hop off here and show him some much deserved appreciation on this special birthday!

Bindi's Favorite Chair

2011-07-21T14:35:00.000-04:00

We purchased a nice, slip covered glider for the nursery off Craigslist and Bindi has claimed it as her own. I believe the nursery will be her absolute favorite spot in the house once our little one is here.

32 Week Bump

2011-06-28T10:22:00.000-04:00

How to get rid of man hands? Grow a big belly!

As usual, this post is going up late. I'm now 33 weeks from my estimated due date. Seven weeks to go and only four weeks left until I'm considered full term! Now is the time where I hope that the weeks go by even faster than previously because I am feeling the pain. An almost 25 pound uterus will cause achy hips (and forces one to consciously try not to waddle) and impedes ones ability to bend over which makes getting comfortable in bed almost impossible. Just for fun, try climbing in bed tonight, adjust your covers and pillows (I use three now, by the way--the third one usually goes between my knees but occasionally is used under my belly) and don't bend at your waist. Then wake up three hours later to go to the bathroom and do it all over again. This time being careful to not wake up your husband. Fun times, I tell ya, fun times!

But I need to get used to it for the time being because I'm not holding my breath that she'll make an entrance in seven weeks if she takes after either of her parents who are procrastinators (it's a running joke in my family that I was born two weeks late and have been late ever since). She'll probably decide a good week after her due date that maybe it's time then I'd imagine a full week after that before she'll mosey around to being born. On the other hand, while I'm convinced she'll arrive late, I'm worried about her arriving early. Yeah, wrap your head around that. Pregnancy has made me crazy! Because of that, we're making a final push to get the nursery (mostly) ready. I hope to have pictures for you soon.

Baby Bump: 28 Weeks

2011-06-03T09:18:00.000-04:00

This was actually a week and a half ago, which means now I am 29 and 1/2 weeks, so only about 10 weeks to go. Time is flying! Would you believe that we haven't even started on the nursery yet?! I'm trying to stay calm and remind myself that it doesn't have to be 100% done when the baby arrives. I do plan on getting it painted this weekend though. If you're interested in what I have in mind for the nursery, you can check out my Nursery Pinboard on Pinterest (and warning, if you haven't checked out Pinterest yet, it can be highly addictive).

Moving on to pregnancy news, I now have Braxton Hicks contractions on a daily basis. They don't really bother me but I hear they can be quite annoying for some women. To me they serve as a reminder that my body is preparing itself for labor. While I may be a procrastinator, my body obviously is not and likes to be prepared. Since I'm planning on a natural labor/delivery experience this also serves to remind me that my body knows what it is doing. I just need to trust it.

Heartburn on the other hand is majorly annoying! I am so looking forward to the day that goes away. Typically, as long as I eat small meals that aren't heavily spiced and contain no tomato sauce then I'm good. Unfortunately this means pizza is off the menu (unless it's a white sauce)--the last time we ate it, my throat was burning before I had even swallowed the first bite. This is particularly sad news for Bryan since we are pizza fiends and were eating it on a weekly basis.

And my belly...well it is a growin'! I can't believe how much bigger its gotten in the past four weeks. My wardrobe is dwindling fast and I'm going to have to venture out and buy a few maternity pieces. Mainly bottoms as I now have one pair of pants, 2 pair of capris and one pair of shorts that fit. One pair of the capris is maternity and they're not as comfortable as I'd hoped. My draw string capris (the ones in this picture) are so much more comfortable. Thankfully, a few of my pre-pregnancy tops still fit and a lot of tops available these days are longer and work even for someone my height (5'9") so I think I can get by without buying any maternity tops.

I was thinking it'd be fun to put together a pregnancy album for our little one to look through when she's older. My Mom doesn't have too many pictures of her pregnant and I wish she did because I'd love to see how she carried me compared to how I'm carrying my little one. I think it'll be fun for our child(ren) to see the transformation. And bonus, it's always fun looking at how fashion has changed over the years, especially maternity clothing. Looking through the pictures that Bryan has been taking, it's becoming apparent that I have to include a section of Bindi pictures. It's actually hard to get a picture without her in it.

And someone please remind me next time to do something else with my "man hands". They're going to dwarf our baby bear when she gets here. Anybody else have "man hands", if so please share your tips on disguising them.

Mega Desk Finished!

2011-05-31T09:36:00.000-04:00

Actually, the desk has been finished for a while. Finished as in we're using the desk, but not finished as in "we love the desk area so much that it's staying exactly as it is". Because there are a lot of tweaks to be made; more shelves to build, new speakers to buy, new lamp to buy, possibly another wall color (haha), and hang something on the walls.

I know it's not the best picture of the desk but until we get back to working on this room, it's as good as it gets. We've been going through the house de-cluttering in preparation for a yard sale which we had last Saturday and all of the yard sale items were stored in the office (hence not getting a great picture of the desk). After the yard sale, we then started clearing out the guest room to get it ready for painting which is why I can't take a better picture for you. So bottom line, our office is still a mess after building the mega desk. BUT we have so much more storage in here and the things we need to find are organized and that was the ultimate goal. We'll revisit this room after we get the baby's room put together and I'll hopefully it'll look more like what I envisioned.

Baby Bump: 24 weeks

2011-05-05T11:20:00.004-04:00

So we've decided to take a picture every four weeks to track the growing bump. And boy has it been growing! It's really amazing how different it looks even on a daily basis.

24 weeks

I'm now 25 weeks so if she arrives on time, only 15 weeks to go! I've heard it said that pregnancy goes by slow but in my case it is flying by! The big news that happened at 24 weeks is that we started our birthing classes. We're taking Bradley classes (ours is a 10 week course instead of the typical 12 weeks since our instructor combines lessons toward the end) and it is making it all more "real". The thought of actually preparing for childbirth is daunting. Plus I plan on delivering at a birth center which means no meds for me barring an emergency situation. The big upside to the Bradley method (for anyone who might be looking into birthing classes) is that it is a husband coached class so the father has to practice techniques to help his partner relax. This week, we have to do two 10 minute relaxation sessions daily which involves massage. Ahh, yes, I could get used to it! Prior to the class, I had been experiencing some sleepless nights (yep, it's already getting harder to get comfortable and stay comfortable through the night) but this week sleep has been wonderful.

In other news, on the house front, we have finished the mega desk for now. I had grand plans of styling the area before the reveal but I'm so pre-occupied dreaming of the nursery space (and figuring out a storage solution for my clothes since I'm losing my closet) that that's not going to happen, so pictures coming soon!

Tickled Pink!

2011-03-30T10:51:00.000-04:00

We're so excited! We both kind of thought it would be a girl but were afraid to say it because we didn't want people to think we would be disappointed if it was a boy (because we wouldn't have been). But being a first born girl is pretty awesome (speaking from experience, I am the first born of three) and having an older sister is awesome, too (so says Bryan--he's has one older sister plus my brother and sister would concur (maybe)). Plus girls kind of run in our family so our new addition will fit right in.

20 week bump

And I am now at the half way mark! Those jeans I'm wearing have seen their last days of being buttoned so now I now have to wear a Be Band (which is NOT comfortable, mostly I wear yoga pants, elastic waist bands are the best!). I tell ya, the first trimester draaaaags along (seriously, it goes by so slow) but now it's going by too fast! We feel there is so much to do to get ready for the baby. Most importantly, we have to pick a birthing class and get enrolled (we're thinking of doing The Bradley Method which is a 12 week course so time's a tickin') but we also want to de-clutter and deep clean our house. We also will be playing musical rooms and move our bedroom upstairs, our current bedroom will become the guest bedroom and the guest bedroom will become the nursery (we want to move upstairs so we'll have more room for things like a pack and play so she can sleep in our room until she gets older, the nursery will be for daytime sleeping). PLUS we want to add a bathroom in the unfinished portion of the attic (or at least get a good start on it). So, all that in just over four months?! Bryan and I tend to be procrastinators so it should be interesting to see what actually gets crossed off the list.

And just for kicks, I'm leaving you with this picture because I think it's hilarious.

Bryan really had to get low to make it look like I got any air, plus look at the strain on my face. I think my jumping days are over for a while.

Adventures in Decoupaging

2011-03-28T15:47:00.000-04:00

Or this could alternately be titled "How a Mistake Led Me To Covering Everything With Maps".

When building our desk for the office, I knew that I wanted one with storage. Included in that storage had to be a filing cabinet (if it's not nearby, I don't file). Otherwise we'd have paper piles on every horizontal surface of our house. Because I'm a righty and I'm the one who does the filing, I wanted a filing cabinet to be on the right side of the desk (Bryan being a lefty would probably work better with it on the left side but he doesn't file so he didn't get a say in the matter).

We used unfinished cabinets for the left side of our desk, however we couldn't find a filing cabinet to match the profile of the drawer fronts (albeit, we didn't do a whole lot of searching) so we decided to make due with what we had for now and we could attempt to build one later.

Here's what we were working with:

Just a regular ole cheap laminate filing cabinet. But we decided that if it was painted white we could make it work for now. So very carefully Bryan primed it, then sanded it (to remove brush strokes) then I painted it using a foam roller and even added Floetrol to the latex paint in an effort to not have brush marks showing. All was going well until I had one little, itty bitty piece of debris that settled into the wet paint (we had the windows opened while painting so a breeze must have deposited it onto the drying paint). I discovered this foreign matter after the paint had dried and just before I was about to do the third and final coat. So I got out the fine grit sand paper and lightly went over the body of the cabinet both drawer fronts. All went fine until I got to that teeny tiny bit of debris. The sandpaper took hold of it and pulled up a nice, long strip of paint with it. I went ahead and covered it up with another coat of paint but realized that unless we sanded it down and started over, it wasn't going to look good.

Do you see the gash in the upper right? Grrr!

So I decided I needed to cover it with something and long story short, I decided to use maps. I couldn't find our old atlas but found one at a used book store for three dollars. I decided that I wanted to use the state of Florida for sentimental reasons (we used to live there, Bryan proposed to me there and our first apartment as husband and wife was there--plus I just love the ocean and beach and warm weather and salty air). After playing around with composition, I came up with this:

But then things took a weird turn and I deviated from my plan and got scissor happy and it turned into this:

What was I thinking?!

One hot mess! Plus I had trouble keeping the paper from wrinkling. So, I spent two hours scraping it all off and started over.

I used up all of my fun scrap paper so I decided to only use maps to cover the entire drawer fronts. This time I used the state of Tennessee since well, we live here and are from here.

The pulls that we bought will break up all the pattern (I hope!). I found the trick for keeping the air bubbles out was to thinly apply Mod Podge to the drawer fronts only (not to the back of the paper like a tutorial I followed advised), then position my paper and smooth it out. I ended up using a ice scraper we had lying around for the smoothing out part and it totally worked (but a paint scraper or even credit card would work just as well).

And since I was on a roll with the decoupaging, I found these storage boxes on clearance at Michael's for $5 for all three. They had exactly three in the yellow so I snatched them up.

Before:

And after:

I just love them! Who knows what else I end up covering with these maps (a road atlas has tons!)?! Have you tried decoupaging? Were you surprised at how messy it is or was that just me? I can only imagine how difficult wallpapering is now after trying my hand at this and my hat goes off to anybody that has wallpapered and lived to tell the tale!

Mega Desk Update

2011-03-25T14:37:00.000-04:00

First of all, I would like to thank ya'll for your "congrats" and kind words! We are just tickled pink (or blue!--we find out in just four days!) over our growing family.

Now on to the mega desk. We decided to build a desk for various reasons and this desk is just shy of 8 feet. I'll touch on those various reasons in a more detailed post about the desk once it's fully completed. This weekend, we'll be adding pulls, waxing the desk top, drilling holes for the cables and building some floating shelves. And maybe painting. Maybe.

Here's a peek at the color direction I'm wanting to take in here. After playing around with blue twice, I've decided to go the turquoise route. Blue was an attempt to make the office more suited for Bryan but I can't find a blue I like in here. This blue isn't bad, but I want something more lively. The only window in here is north facing and under a porch and this blue/gray (Behr's Rhino, by the way--it's a really lovely color in a room that gets a lot of light) is just looking a little dull. Bryan and I both realized that I use this room more than he does so he has no problem with me painting it a different color. And I have read all the advice that in north facing rooms to not fight the darkness and embrace it instead. Rhino was my attempt at that, but what can I say? I'm not a dark kind of girl. In accents, yes. On the walls, no. Although, the experts may have the last laugh here when my new color still falls flat, but well, at least I tried. :)

The fabric is going to be used in place of the chalkboard door. I painted it when I painted the room and loved it. Then we never used it (although our nieces love to use it when they visit) and I decided that I would like to hang the fabric in place of the door to add a little softness and interest to this room. I don't plan on covering the windows at all since we don't need to for privacy reasons and desperately need the light. But our nieces need not fear, we have two other doors in this room that could be (and might be) covered with chalkboard paint.

I hope to have more to share with you all next week on this desk project. I can't wait to use it!

And Baby Makes Four!

2011-03-16T10:43:00.001-04:00

Yep, that's right, folks! I'm currently growing our fourth family member and we're as excited as can be!

17 1/2 week bump (still working on my "mommy pose"--my ginormous hands over power the bump if I'm not careful)

I'm currently 18 weeks or in my 5th month (for those of you who don't speak weeks).

Here's a better shot of the bump.

Big sister to be!

We sent this picture to our parents sharing the news (in a Valentine's Day card from their grandchild to be). I was 12 weeks but had no bump. We took several pictures and the best one happened to be with my eyes closed (ha!) so we used it.

I had an easy first trimester with no morning sickness or nausea. I was tired (especially during the busy holiday season) but regained my energy once I hit the second trimester. Two pregnancy cliches that hit me early on however was the constant need to go to the bathroom (seriously. that one can be annoying!) and back ache. I always thought those happened much later but they happened almost as soon as I found out I was pregnant. The second trimester is easy sailing so far (just like the pregnancy books claimed) and I'm enjoying being pregnant while I can. Being due in August means that I'll go through the heat of summer at my largest so I better enjoy it now before I'm miserable later!

Oh, and we find our the sex of the baby in 13 days. Not that anybody is counting.

Mega Desk and Mardi Growl

2011-03-09T12:08:00.000-05:00

Ok, so this post might be two completely random and unrelated topics but I'm just going to go for it anyway.

First up is our mega desk. Well, just a sneak peek of what we've been working on anyway. Our office has been a mess from the very first day we moved in here. I have come to realize that we needed storage and our small desk and two small bookcases just wasn't cutting it. After much deliberation, we've decided to build a huge, honkin' desk. Here are some shots of what we've completed so far:

Three brand new outlets (this wall previously had no outlets and the whole room only had two--not so great for an office) and one cable/Ethernet outlet (the cable used to come up through a hole drilled into the floor) was added to this wall. In an old house, nothing really gets more exciting than new outlets!

Two base cabinets painted and installed. These were basic, unfinished cabinets that can be purchased at both Home Depot and Lowes.

And this cabinet is where our computer will live. I'm so excited to be getting rid of the cord clutter once and for all! And yes, we use a desk top computer. Bryan is a computer ~~nerd~~ professional and likes to build his own PC's. I just know he'll get on board with a laptop someday.

Now moving right along to Mardi Growl. Mardi Growl is a super fun event held in our city every year (I believe it's always the Saturday before Mardi Gras) and proceeds go to our local animal shelter, Young Williams. Knoxville is becoming a very dog friendly town with four dog parks and a recent law that was passed allowing your dogs on restaurant patios. Mardi Growl starts off with a dog parade at the downtown dog park and ends at Market Square. It's so fun to see so many dogs in one location and it's amazing at how well behaved all the dogs are.

The parade route

This standard poodle makes our poodle mix Bindi look small! She's used to being the big dog among our friend's dogs.

This pretty much sums up what Bindi thought of walking in a parade. Next year, we'll dress her up a little but she wasn't too shy about being naked.

It's starting to look and feel more like Spring!

This little guy was so adorable and well behaved while his owners were grabbing lunch.

And this is why Bindi loves Mardi Growl so much! She gets so much attention (all the butt sniffing is an added bonus).

So how was that for two completely unrelated and random topics? We're hoping the mega desk will be completed in two weeks or so and I will definitely keep you updated on any progress made.

What?! It's 2011 Already?!

2011-02-22T12:18:00.001-05:00

Check, check. Is this thing on? Picture me pantomiming tapping my finger into a microphone, on a stage in front of an empty auditorium. Hello(lo,lo,lo,lo)? Is there anybody out there?

Yeah, I guess it's been a while since I've blogged last. Allow me to clear off the cob webs that must be growing on my site. What can I say? I hate the winter. So I hole up in my house and hibernate. I think bears are onto something.

I spent most of January planning my escape to a warmer climate. Bryan was on board with this and after a lot of research, we decided to take a cruise. To the Bahamas. It was affordable and Bryan had always wanted to go on a cruise. So we left for our cruise dreaming of the warm sun and soft beaches. This is what we got instead...

The. entire. time! Womp, womp. We drove down to Jacksonville and boarded the cruise in barely 50 degree weather. In the Bahamas, temperatures hovered in the upper 60s/lower 70s which felt much cooler since the sun was hidden by a thick layer of clouds and the wind was strong. Finally, on our last day aboard the ship (the "fun day at sea"), the sun came out and we found a spot shielded from the wind and we got a little bit of vitamin D.

Upon returning to port, we were pleasantly surprised by much nicer weather and it followed us all the way up to Tennessee. Yes, that's right folks. Bryan and I traveled down to the Bahamas (through the wind and rain), bottled up some warm weather and brought it back with us. And the warmer weather means the return of blogging for me. We actually have a few projects to share that we completed over fall and winter (I was just a semi-slacker not a total slacker).

Here's what to expect in some up-coming posts:
*garage exterior makeover
*HVAC installation in attic
*A MEGA desk and office makeover

Exciting stuff, huh?! So anyway...how's 2011 treating everybody? Has anybody else experienced a botched vacation? (actually, the vacation was still really nice, the only exception being the weather). What about this spring weather? Please tell me it's here to stay!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-24T09:43:00.000-05:00

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

Run My Renovation: The Final Chapter

2010-12-16T12:52:00.000-05:00

I know, I know! You all thought I had already milked it for what it's worth but I have one last post to share about our amazing attic renovation and then I'm done. Promise!

The pictures and video are now on-line for your viewing pleasure! The following pictures are courtesy of the DIY Network.

As for a link to the video, I can't directly link to it. But if you follow this link: Run My Renovation Full Episodes and scroll all the way to the right, you'll see ours. It's called "Amazing Attic Conversion". And just a warning, the first video in the queue starts automatically so if you're anything like me, make sure your volume is turned down so you don't jump out of your seat when it starts.

And if you're new to my blog and have no earthly idea what I'm talking about, following this link to get caught up on all my posts about our attic renovation courtesy of the DIY Channel: The Brick Cottage Run My Renovation.

Snow Day!

2010-12-13T13:21:00.000-05:00

Aww, yeah! We had a couple of inches dumped on us last night. The city is closed. Bryan is working from home. My doctor's appointment was canceled (woo-hoo! I was not looking forward to that). And I'm about to cook some chili in the crock pot.

Looks like I won't be going anywhere today!

Some colorful neighbors

And now let's bring on the PUPSTER!

She decided to dive head first into a pile of snow while walking.

When we got back home, she took it upon herself to create a masterpiece with our yard.

Taking a moment to admire her handiwork!

Yard officially Bindi-fied!

And yes, it is as much fun as you'd imagine getting off the ice balls that her fur picked up. Ultimately, I had to stick her in the bath tub. And she is now exhausted and napping hard. And I'm going to warm up with a cup of hot chocolate.

Nosy Neighbors Take Two

2010-12-07T10:10:00.001-05:00

On Sunday, Bryan and I once again played peeping toms.

This years tour was made even better since the entire time it was snow flurrying!

Thanks to the 22nd Annual Historic Old North Knoxville Victorian Holiday Home Tour 2010. <--Be sure to click that link to view all the houses on the tour. And click here to view my post of last years tour.

I'm not really sure why they call it the "Victorian" home tour since there are so many architecture styles represented (which in my opinion is the best thing about old neighborhoods; they're full of unique and interesting houses!). From Dutch Colonial Revival to Craftsman Bungalow to Queen Anne's Cottage to Neoclassical; all were represented this year.

There were several houses on the tour this year that caught my eye last year. Such as this house:

Bryan and I toured this home almost three years ago when we were house hunting. We fell in love with it but it was just a tad out of our price range. Coincidentally, while talking to the producer of our Run My Renovation episode, we discovered that he bought this house. Not only that, but he and his wife owned my favorite home store in Knoxville, Abode (that sadly closed last month). So to say that I was excited to tour this home is an understatement!

Here's a peek at the inside of their home. I asked if I could take some pictures and the owner was nice enough to allow me to. This bicycle was purchased for $20 and hung on the wall! It's such a great example of inexpensive, unique and impactful art.

Another idea I loved and took away from this house is they commissioned a local artist to paint custom pieces for them. As a result, the pieces are large and perfectly fit the walls (not to mention the personal sentiment behind each piece). I took a quick snapshot of one such piece:

And one last charming detail in this house was their kid's bathroom.

There's a tree in the bathroom, people! I can only imagine the excitement that elicited from the kiddos. And now I'm going to move on to the rest of the tour (I don't want these owners to think I'm a complete psycho stalker--I think he was leery enough when during the reno I informed him how I had pictures of his house on my blog. But, he went on and told me he'd be on the tour this year, so I believe he was fairly warned. :) ).

To my surprise, that was not the only tree in the bathroom on the tour.

It was such a fun surprise to look up and see this tree above the shower. You just never know what you're going to find in old houses!

This house was not on the tour but I'm hoping it will be next year!

This is just a sampling of what we saw. All in all there were ten houses on the tour. And just like last year, I was reminded not to obsess about all the small details that are wrong with our house (like our botched floor re-finishing job that we did and someday I will post about) and focus on the beauty of living in an old house.

Three cheers for old houses!

It's a Small (bloggy) World!

2010-12-06T12:30:00.000-05:00

So, last Thursday was an especially exciting day for The Brick Cottage. I linked up to Southern Hospitality's vignette party because I was especially happy how my Christmas decor in our dining room turned out. Bryan and I were really busy on Thursday night (we were cleaning like mad people because an appraiser was scheduled at our house the following morning--we've decided to re-finance!). So at about 11:45pm, Bryan climbs into bed and I decide to check my email to see if I had any comments from the party. A minute later, I go tearing into the bedroom (just as Bryan was reaching to turn out the lights) shouting:

"Oh my GOSH, I just got the best comment ever!"...

Then I read him these comments:

And Bryan's response, ever so nonchalantly, "oh yeah, Katy. She's cool, you'd like her".

My reply: "BRYAN, why did I not meet her while we were living in Florida?!!!".

And then I ran and got the laptop so I could check out her blog, Happy Bungalow.

Here are the first two pictures I stumbled upon:

At first, I thought these were inspiration pictures, but no, this was Katy's Thanksgiving table. Isn't it gorgeous?! She hosted this year and she set up the table on her porch! Ah, the joys of living in Florida. I could not imagine a better way to enjoy a delicious meal! I then tried settling into bed with the laptop (at this point it was well past midnight) and Bryan ever so politely asked me when I'd be turning it off (you know, since he had to be at work in seven hours). I closed the laptop and set my alarm so I could get up bright and early to read the rest of Katy's blog before the appraiser arrived.

If I would have stumbled across her blog prior to this discover, I would have instantly became a follower. Her house is beautiful and old (a 1920's Craftsman-which means she has a lot of future blogging material). I am so excited to see what she does with her house and am even more excited to know that she is my cousin by marriage. We've already emailed each other back and forth several times and I might have invited us over to her house this summer (I have no self-control when it comes to old houses!). And it is uncanny the number of things we have in common that I'm really looking forward to this visit!

So if you have a moment, go over and check out the Happy Bungalow (and read her account of discovering the cool coincidence--and yes, I blushed while reading it--and for whatever reason blushed upon seeing my picture on somebody else's blog. Yes, I am weird!) and become her follower. You will not regret it!

And I'm curious, have any of you had relatives or old friends stumble upon your blog by accident? Isn't it an excitement like no other!

Christmas Vignette's

2010-12-02T14:58:00.003-05:00

In our house, the holiday decor only extends to two rooms, our living room and our dining room. The living room is where the tree lives and of course the mantle gets spruced up. And speaking of the mantle, thank you all who weighed in on the decor that shall stay up for the remainder of the season. The results were a tie (with two votes each, ha! possibly I should blog on a regular basis? :)) between "Holiday Sparkle" and "Natural Holiday". For now, "Holiday Sparkle" will remain (it looks so pretty with the candles lit at night) and "Natural Holiday" has been re-purposed in a dining room vignette.

This project started with these wooden frames that I picked up at Target back this summer.

At $3.48 each, I thought they were a good deal and I picked up nine (in retrospect, I should have picked up twelve to really fill the wall space above the buffet). I knew I wanted to paint them gray but was at a loss as to what to put in them (and am still trying to decide what to do after Christmas). Tuesday night, I was feeling crafty and remembered a set of filing folders that I purchased a while back (in March actually as seen in this post) and decided to quit feeling guilty over that impulse buy and put them to use. So I cut the folders down to size and had three prints to choose from and three solid colors. To make things move quickly (because that is sometimes the only way we can get things done around here), I chose to only cut and paste designs on four of the frames.

They make me really happy and who knows, since it's not overly Christmas, I might leave it up to get me through our dreary, gray winter day's we have in East Tennessee.

The other vignette that makes me insanely happy is the one on our server.

I actually borrowed the two vases filled with ornaments from our mantle. :)

The colors just do me in! And weirdly enough, even though I love blue and greens, I seem to steer clear of them when it comes to decorating the tree but I love to fill vases with those colors. These little blue ornaments have been filling my vases since 2005. I need to find more because I manage to break at least one every year.

And one last shot of the room again:

I hope you enjoyed my vignettes. I'm linking up to the vignette party over at Southern Hospitality. Make sure you pop over if you want to see tons of inspiration!

More Mantle Madness: Another Christmas Mantle

2010-12-01T13:52:00.000-05:00

After seeing all the great mantles over at Layla's mantle party, I had to join in on the fun! And I didn't want to link up with one that I've already shown, so I've re-arranged our mantle once again.

This one, I dub our "Holiday Sparkle" mantle.

It was very difficult to photograph and looks much prettier in person. I'm looking forward to seeing it all light up tonight along with our Christmas tree (which I completed last night--well I decorated it, can't say it's complete).

And now I want your opinions (pretty please!). I would like you all to weigh in on which mantle you like best and I'm going to use it for the rest of the season (no more switch-a-roo-ing). Plus it'll help me get the rest of the house decorated (and by the rest of the house, I really only mean the dining room).

Option 1: Cheery Holiday

Option 2: Natural Holiday

Option 3: Holiday Sparkle

All three mantles look good with the tree and the rest of the living room so vote on the arrangement you find most appealing.

And of course, I'm linking up to the party! Head on over for some beautiful mantle eye candy!

Thanksgiving Pictures

2010-11-30T14:09:00.000-05:00

Most years, the best part of Thanksgiving is the food shared with family and friends. And while this year both the food and company was excellent, my favorite part was having a chance to practice using my camera. I finally had more than two subjects! And to make it even better, the weather was perfect. It was in the mid 70's and mostly sunny conditions so we went outside and played around until lunch time. Then we were too full to move. :) Here are my favorite shots:

My sister and her son

Tasha, Xav and the nieces

I learned when going from indoor pictures to sunny outdoor pictures, always check your ISO. None the less, I still love these tractor pictures.

And from the looks of these pictures, you'd think the only ones in attendance were my sister, two nieces, nephew, Bryan and me. In reality, it was a full house. Just not a full house where everyone loves having their picture taken. In fact, I think I heard plenty of "if you don't erase that picture..." threats to know not to post those pictures (well, obviously I couldn't post them because I erased them. PROMISE!). After all, I do want to be invited back again next year.

My Fall Mantle

2010-11-24T09:56:00.001-05:00

Well, this could easily be a Fall/Winter mantle and while it's similar to my Christmas mantle I showed you, it's different enough for me!

Here is a view zoomed out a bit so you can see what our mantle looks like (but not zoomed out further because all those white vases are off to the side and yes, they are put away now :) ). You may remember my plywood solution to the large space we have above the mantle. I still love it, by the way. Although, I only used the other side during the summer and am planning on painting it this winter.

As you all probably can guess, this was a DIY project. Various bottles (included in the bunch, 2 wine and one of each, apple juice, spaghetti sauce, worcestershire, jam, olive oil, a spice jar and a bud vase) spray painted with gray primer and wrapped with jute. I used hot glue to affix jute to the jar at the beginning and end of the run and they are all holding up well. Couldn't be easier!

The First Freeze and a Dozen Roses

2010-11-09T09:32:00.000-05:00

That sounds like the title to a country song, right?! To really make it sound like the title to a country song it should be "The First Fight and a Dozen Beers". Yeah, that sounds more like it. Or tears, that would work, too--"The First Fight and a Dozen Tears". No? Ok, ok so that's not my calling. But while I'm on this train of thought (country songs that is), do you all remember the song "There's a tear in my beer 'cause I'm crying for you dear"? We didn't listen to a lot of country music growing up even though we lived less than an hour from Nashville but that song I remember. Why that song, I don't know but it's funny what sticks with you.

And moving on.

We had our first deep freeze this past weekend. There's still a few flowers hanging on but for the most part, blooming flowers outside is now a thing of the past. A distant memory. Our generous next door neighbor (who has beautiful and abundant rose bushes), not wanting to see his roses go to waste clipped them and dropped them off to his neighbors. We were out of town all day and it was such a nice surprise to come home to these waiting for us on our porch.

They're so lovely. While I was deciding where and how to display them, I came up with my Christmas mantle. I'm actually in the middle of working on a few pieces that I was planning on using for a fall mantle but it seems like Christmas took over. I prefer my mantles and holiday decor to be simple. I've mentioned in the past how I don't respond well to the color red but I do love me some red when it comes Christmas decor. I mean LOVE IT!

Yeah, I don't understand me either.

Is anyone else enjoying the smell of fresh flowers in their home thanks to a freeze? Or should I be envious of you because you live in a sunny and warm locale and are still wearing flip flops and enjoying flowers blooming outside. I might cry right now if that's the case. I miss my flip flops. My shoe selection still reflects my Florida living self even though we moved to Tennessee over three years ago. Obviously I'm in denial over our cold winters. I've gotta go put on some slippers, my feet are cold.

Run My Renovation: Attic Before and After

2010-11-08T10:01:00.001-05:00

Well, I thought I would be able to wait to post the before and after pictures when the professional pictures were posted on the DIY website. But I can't. I can't make you all wait that long (since I don't know how long that'll be). I'll update this post when the good pictures are posted, but in the meantime, enjoy the before and afters of our attic conversion.

Did you watch the show? What did you think? You may recall that I did not choose the green paint choice because it was hard to tell if it was brown or green. We shot that scene outside in direct sunlight on the south side of our house. The color I saw was more of a muddy, murky pond green color. You know, dirty. But now, I love the green, I really do. It looks so nice with the carpet. And so far, I'm liking the carpet. I thought we'd rip it out as soon as they left. It still remains to be seen how long it'll stay on the stairs though.

The big question you all are probably asking is "How do you like having your bedroom in the attic?". And the answer is: as of today, we have not moved our bedroom up to the attic yet. :) We need to install an HVAC unit and we're hoping to do that before the tax credit expires at the end of the year. Then we're moving on up!

Another sweet perk we got out of this deal was we got to keep a lot of the furnishings in the room (we thought it was for staging purposes and all that would be staying was what the voters selected). Included was the lamps, nightstands, dresser, curtains and curtain rod and a really sweet mattress. They hooked us up with The Garden Sleep System by Natural Form. We were beyond giddy when they told us and have been sleeping like babies ever since.

This now concludes my posts on our Run My Renovation experience. But it's far from last you will hear about the attic. Once the HVAC is installed, we have plans to do a little tweaking to the bedroom side plus a bathroom and closet to plan for and build (which will go behind that door).

Anyone else have a converted master bedroom en suite? I'd love to see links to your bathroom, we need some inspiration!