Renovations

When we started looking for our new house, move-in ready was a must.  And, as much as I would like to blame it all on the baby... the reality is: I just hate renovations.

I do, however, really admire the people who have the special remodeling touch… those that can see a run-down room and on their own transform it into something extraordinary. My sister, Liz, introduced me to Young House Love (http://www.younghouselove.com/), a blog about a young family that remodels homes from top to bottom.  However, I am a realist and recognize… I am not one of those people.  To me, even small projects are cause for distress.  At our first home, Tony and I spent an entire afternoon trying to change the faucet on our kitchen sink.  We managed to misread the directions three times, and temporarily mismatch the hot and cold-water dispensers.  Our excursion with changing out the doorknob on the front door wasn’t much better… we placed the handle on backwards causing repeated episodes of grazed knuckles before figuring it out sometime later.  

For our new house, the list for must-have renovations was thankfully short:
(1) Update the Kitchen
(2) Paint Leon's room.

For the kitchen, we love the open concept design.  However, the 1990’s, cracking, sky-blue linoleum counters and dated back-splash needed some adjustments.

With the help of a contractor, this renovation project went more smoothly than our previous encounters.   We enjoyed making the design choices and seeing how it all came together.  Keeping the cabinets, we chose new granite counters and stone backsplash.  We were pretty satisfied by the end result... for once, a renovation we actually enjoyed.

For Leon's room, we chose to update the room that (fondly) became known as... the Vampire Lair.  You can see why it earned its name.

Although the trim is not perfect, we transformed the blood red walls into a pleasant elephant gray color.

Although Leon hasn't been spending a whole lot of time in there yet, we think he will enjoy the change once he finally makes the transition out of mommy and daddy's room.

Home.

It is difficult to pinpoint exactly when a house transforms into a home.  Somehow, over time it becomes something more than its collective furniture enclosed by brick walls.  It has to do with the the little things... finding that perfect, cozy reading spot... the moment you discover you finally can find the bathroom in darkness because you know the path by heart... the feeling you get when you walk through the front door and realize... this is home.

Tony and I have enjoyed placing our own personal touches on our house to make it into our own.  It has come a long way from the mardi-gras-themed decor we saw on our initial walk-through.  We shared the transformation process with parents and siblings, as visitors came throughout the summer.  Kit joined us in August, and I love that we live under the same roof again.  I look around and see reminders of our growing son, movie nights, lazy weekend mornings, winning (and failed) cooking attempts, decorating experiments, investigation spots for an energetic puppy.  And, I realize that somewhere over the course of the last 4 months, this house has become a home.

Our (soon-to-be) New Home!!

Although the timing may not be perfect with Baby Bean's birth right around the corner, Tony and I are excited to announce that we will be homeowners again!  Our offer was finalized this week, and we are gearing up for the approaching closing.  Our little 2-bedroom San Antonio bungalow has served us well this year.  However, we will definitely need more room for baby and visitors in the coming years.

We spent a long time searching, but finally found the perfect house for us.  We discovered the neighborhood before the home came on the market, complete with neighborhood pool, tennis/basketball courts, large playground, and rec center.  We knew it was the right place to live when you could see families walking their dogs and kids riding their bikes around the cute cul de sacs at any time of day.

 My favorite features of our new home: the open ranch floor plan, high ceilings, large kitchen, hardwood floors, gas fireplace, spacious master suite, and big fenced-in backyard with play set for our son and Butters to enjoy!

The 4 bedrooms give us plenty of room for Baby Bean and guests.  We are so happy that my sister, Kit, will be coming to live with us starting at the end of the summer.  She will be working on finishing and publishing her novel while helping us with Baby Bean.  Already, she has claimed the blue room :)

Luckily, the home is move-in ready, a big plus with having to balance moving with a newborn!  But, we are starting to think about a few upcoming projects.  We certainly will be doing a little painting before moving in (the lime green and shocking red bedrooms need makeovers).  We look forward to setting up Baby Bean's nursery in just a few weeks with all of the nice gifts from our friends and family!  Since we plan to spend a lot of time cooking, we are going to upgrade the countertops early on.  We waited until the very end of our home ownership experience in Buffalo to make changes, leaving little time to enjoy the improvements.  This time, we hope it will be a bit different.

 It will be such a good feeling to be homeowners again.  I look forward to making this house or own: filling it with our personal touches, hosting dinners with friends, hanging Christmas stockings by the mantle, and watching our son discover his favorite hiding spots.  Most of all, we can't wait for our friends and family to visit!

Christmas Present (2012)

This past weekend, Tony and I had a golden day off together.  We enjoyed our special time traveling around San Antonio, taking advantage of the many Black Friday Weekend deals.  In the process, we found some additions for our growing Christmas collection.  Bringing home our new finds, we gained some motivation to put our house back together from Thanksgiving and decorate for the holiday season.  

Tony and I continued our yearly traditions... dancing to Christmas music, burning our balsam scented candle (to give our artificial tree that "real" feel without all of the pine needles), and drinking hot chocolate... all the while finding the perfect places for our decorations.  

It was fun blending a little bit of the old...

... with the new.  

And, we were pretty satisfied with the final effect.

We ended the day with one of our favorite parts of decorating... hiding the pickle!  As a kid, Santa would hide the pickle for my sisters and I to find.  The first to discover the pickle would win the coveted opportunity to open an extra Christmas present!  The gift would be shared among the sisters, but finding the pickle was kind of a BIG DEAL to us as kids.  Tony and I have made our own adaptation to this over the years, as we will hide the pickle for each other to find over and over again throughout the Christmas season.

Tony kicked off the tradition with this...

I think he will have to step up his game.  I may be pregnant, but my vision hasn't deteriorated THAT much.

Overall, I would have to say that 2012 is our best decorating year yet!  

We have come a long way from the single miniature tree we had in our first apartment.  And, it is just in time for our first child... whom will surely destroy our comfort level with anything fragile, but will bring us new joys for the holiday season.

Thanksgiving 2012

Before 2012, I had never missed a Thanksgiving with my family.  I would look forward to the holiday season for weeks, heralded by Turkey Day.  Mom and Dad would be up bright and early in the kitchen, prepping the turkey and tasty side dishes.  The morning would progress with all of us gathered around the TV watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, sharing appetizers and enjoying one another's company.  I looked forward to the Dog Show in the afternoon (and anxiously awaited the appearance of the year's winning Cavalier King Charles Spaniel).  When Tony and I began dating, we enjoyed discovering one another's family traditions.  I joined in on the Thanksgiving football games and that fantastic green bean casseroles at the Murek's household.  I had a chance to savor Tony's dad's fantastic pies.  The food was always delicious and the house warm in NY's cold November weather.  But, the greatest part was being surrounded by loved ones, knowing that we had each other regardless of the year's challenges or tribulations.

When Tony and I moved to Texas, the saddest part was knowing this year would be different.  I can see why the holidays can sometimes be a time of sadness for people.  Losing loved ones, busy work schedules, failing health, military deployments... times of challenge and change only become more pronounced when the holidays arrive.  Tony and I felt some heaviness of heart as the holiday season approached.

However, I have realized that many others around us are sharing in that same adjustment.  Working in a hospital, many of us are faced with the prospect of working holiday shifts.  Most of our fellow service members also are many miles from home, missing family as well.  There is a comfort in knowing we are not alone.  Over the last several months, I have discovered so much to be thankful for; particularly, the blessing of newly found friends.

2012 marked Tony and my first opportunity to put on our own holiday celebrations.  Thankfully, Tony and I both had the day off... as did many of our friends!  This Thanksgiving represented the union of old traditions and the formation of new ones.  We had a blast co-hosting with our dear friends, Mamie and Jon.  We all put put on a fun get-together for our San Antonio friends, fusing bits and pieces of our individual Thanksgiving experiences from years past.

Thanksgiving Day started with a full breakfast, just the four of us, to gain some strength for the long day of cooking ahead!  Mamie and Jon cooked their fabulous blueberry pancakes, with sides of sausages and eggs.

Mimosas (and sparkling orange juice for me) were a special treat.  As always, the day started with plenty of laughter... mostly secondary to "food faces" (of course, instigated by my husband).

Butters also put on his best food (begging) face, perching from his favorite spot on the love seat.  The Macy's Day Parade played on the TV in the background, making me feel a little closer to home.

For the main event, we decided on 2 turkeys... my family's traditional baked turkey recipe and Jon's cajun fried turkey.  Tony and I worked together on the oven-roasted bird.  We even had a chance to "cook together" with my parents through Face Time, as we in TX and they in NY both prepared the traditional Lyman stuffing and turkey.  The distance didn't feel quite so far, as we all chopped celery, sautéed sausage, cut up the bread, and added spices to our turkeys.

Meanwhile, Mamie and Jon tackled the fried turkey.

I had never had fried turkey before (probably, because it is too chilly in the north to tolerate anything outdoors for long in November), and enjoyed watching the set-up process for the frier.

We ladies carefully looked after the roasting bird.  Mamie and I were sure to frequently baste to give our turkey that perfect golden tan!

Tony and Jon took on the daunting task of peeling the mountain of potatoes.

The Dog Show came on midway through.  The guys (ehhhem...Tony) seemed a little too excited about the start of the show.  Butters, on the other hand, was more interested in finding scraps on the table from breakfast than cheering on his fellow Cavalier on TV.

By noon, other friends started to arrive.  I met Sean and Sarah, motorcycle friends of Jon and Mamie's, for the first time.  We had a chance to see our friend, Michelle, whom is certainly Mamie's Surgery Residency partner in crime.  Dorian and Jess joined in as well, a couple that Tony and I have enjoyed numerous double dates with since moving.  Everyone brought drinks and dishes to pass, and we all had a chance to socialize while dinner simmered.

We prepared a selection of tasty appetizers to hold us all over until dinner.  Mamie made the fried pickles, and Jon put out his crab dip.

Butters made his rounds too... he offered guests numerous kisses in exchange for (all of) their appetizers.  I did find a sizable amount of dip on those little legs by the end of the night

In the meantime, Tony and I teamed up to make the special cranberry garnish.

It is a recipe that my mom introduced the year that Tony and I started dating... it now is a permanent staple to the Lyman family Thanksgiving menu, as Tony has been such a big fan of it since!  Together, we chopped up the celery, cranberries, and oranges.  I added the messy (but necessary) pomegranates.  I think Baby Bean wanted to help.  I could feel him kicking as Daddy and I worked.

I'd say we made a pretty great team!

As dinner drew closer, the guys handled the very manly task of frying the turkey.

It was seasoned to perfection...

...and pretty neat to watch the whole process.

Jon and Mamie really did an awesome job of prepping that turkey for the big dip!

Mamie and I returned to the kitchen to finish the final dishes: garlic mashed potatoes and green bean casserole (one of my favorite recipes from the Murek household).

And, by the time we were done, the turkeys were ready to be carved.

From our large shopping trip earlier in the week, Tony and I had collected a few too many cranberries.  Tony had thought 3 bags of cranberries meant PRODUCE BAGS full... not the small pre-packaged ones I had in mind.  I attempted to creatively use the (many, many) extra cranberries to decorate the oven-roasted turkey.  It made for a great picture...

...but did happen to make quite a mess when we went to serve the turkeys.

Of course, there was my little "helper," ready to eat up the stray cranberries... a big NO NO for little doggies

Thankfully, Jon was also there... and much faster than Butters.

With all of the food finally lined up, the buffet style method worked out really well...

... and, luckily, Tony and I had the foresight to set the table up the night before

The attempt at getting a decent photo was pretty much a fail... multiple times.

But, it really didn't matter.  As we sat down to our meal, I felt so thankful to be surrounded by such a great group of friends with laughter and good food to fill our bodies.

Although we all (not just Baby Bean) felt pretty much ready to pop by the end of the night, we had to make room for the desserts!  Sarah made a great selection of pies, all with pretty decorations to include dough leaves and braids.  Dorian and Jess added the great key lime pie.  Tony and I had made some apple and pumpkin pies as well, with Tony's dad in mind (AKA, the master pie baker).  It was hard to choose from such a great spread!

Overall, Tony and my first Thanksgiving away from home turned out to be a great success.  We missed our families so much, but had reminders of them throughout the day as we shared family traditions with others.  Being surrounded by great friends made the day special, and gives Tony and I so much to be thankful for.