What's Up Wednesday {July}

Today I am linking up with Shay, Sheaffer and Mel What's Up Wednesday.  This summer has flown by I can't believe it's almost the end of June. I am trying to soak up every.single.minute end enjoy my free time with friends and my family. I haven't done this link up in a few months but you can see my past What's Up Wednesday posts below

April

March

February

What we're eating this week...I'm still chugging along with Weight Watchers. I have lost almost 25 lbs so far.  It's an easy program when you stick to it. There have been a lot of parties, dinners out, social events, etc and I don't always eat as healthy as I should.  We grill out chicken breasts almost every night and I eat those with salad and grilled vegetables a lot.  This summer for breakfast I have been having watermelon with feta cheese.  I bring it almost every day to work and it is delicious. I love the sweet and salty combo.  

What I'm reminiscing about...all the fun I've had this summer!  I have had some great times and I am so thankful for this slow season to hang out with my friends and family in the sunshine.  

What I'm loving...staying up late sitting outside with G after a long day.  We sit in chairs in our front yard and just talk about our day and it's really nice.  

What we've been up to...last week Ava and I went on a road trip with our neighbors and we drove to Cleveland to see Taylor Swift.  That was so much fun!  Also my dear friend Melany and her daughter and son visited our town last week. They moved to Florida and I miss them so so much!!  

What I'm dreading...Thankfully nothing right now-ha ha!

What I'm working on...our rental house!!  See yesterday's long post all about it here.  

What I'm excited about...next month Brock is coming home for a week!  He came at the same time last year and it was perfect.  I am looking forward to hanging out with him and just enjoying him being home. We are going to take a little family trip to NYC to watch a Yankee game while he is here which I think he will love.  He also turns 21 while he is here so we are planning a cookout for him on his birthday.

What I'm watching/reading...One of my favorite shows, The Handmaid's Tale,  just finished a couple of weeks ago.  The season finale was intense.  OMG I can't believe I have to wait a whole year to find out what's going to happen next.  

I also just finished reading The Sound of Gravel about a girl who grew up in a polygamist family in Mexico.  It was one of the best books I have read all year and I can't stop thinking about it.  The writer who is about my age shares stories and memories from growing up in that unique environment.  Her stories about growing up in extreme poverty,  being sexual abused by her stepfather, caring for family members with mental and psychiatric issues and taking care of her young siblings broke my heart.  

What I'm doing this weekend...my bff Rachael and I are hosting our annual summer soiree on her porch.  We have had this party for three years and it's always so fun!  We are going to have lots of delicious appetizers and good drinks.  It's going to be a great night.  I will also be working at our rental house.  

What I'm looking forward to next month...Brock will be home for a week next month and I can't wait!  He's turning 21 and we have some fun things planned while he is home.  

What else is new...that's it...I am just trying to soak up every bit of sun and summer fun.  

That's it for me today.  I hope you have a fabulous Wednesday!

xoxo

Rental House {Before Pics}

In May (or was in June?) we bought a rental house.  We actually owned this exact same house and sold it in 2006.  We sold it  in 2006 for two reasons 1) our kids were 4 and 9 and I didn't want the stress of a rental house on top of working full time and spending time with our kids and 2) because it was at the height of the real estate market and we were able to sell it for double what we paid for it so we were able to put a nice chunk of money in the bank.  

Fast forward 12 years-the house came back on the market and we decided to take a look at it.  G fell in love with this house all over again so we decided to buy it and fix it up.  He loves having a project. 

When we sold it in 2006 it was a cute house.  It was freshly painted inside and out and we made sure that it was maintained.  The person who bought it from us in 2006 had done nothing and I do mean NOTHING to it for 12 years so we have a ton of work to do.

This is our second rental house.  We actually live in our first rental house during the summer and rent out our "real" house to baseball families who visit our area in the summer.  We want our rental houses to be clean, safe, comfortable for our tenants.  Three college students live in our first rental house during the school year.    The house has two-2 bedroom apartments.  The bottom apartment has a long time tenant and right now that apartment will not be renovated.  We are going to renovate the upstairs apartment and have two tenants moving in to that apartment in late August right before school starts.

I took some before pictures and I will share updated pics as we start getting things done.  We are just starting and this is going to be a long process but we excited and happy to be taking on this project.

Outside-G power washed and we started scraping the paint off in order to repaint.  There is going to be a huge job because the house has been neglected for so long.  As you can see we have started scraping the front.  G does the upper parts with the ladder and I do closer to the ground.  I don't like heights or ladders!

  
Back porch-This house has a three-car garage so our tenants come in the back door.  The upstairs apartment has a small back porch.  In this area we need to replace screens in the windows, paint the walls and replace the flooring.  

Back door leading to kitchen 

Kitchen-We have a lot of work to do in here.  We are going to paint the cabinets, scrub the appliances, replace the flooring, move the refrigerator to the dining room, add a new counter and bar area for kitchen seating, new windows, add new countertops. 

I really love this original sink that is in the kitchen.  I hope that we can scrub it out and keep it because I think it's just beautiful.

Dining Room-paint ceilings and walls, redo wood floors, new windows, new light fixture

Bedrooms-paint ceilings and walls, redo wood floors, new windows, new light fixtures

Bathroom-new tub, new toilet, new vanity, new light fixture, paint ceiling and walls, new flooring.  We ripped out the shower surround before we took this picture and we found a hypodermic needle in the vanity which you can see in the vanity pic-yikes!

Living Room-paint ceilings and walls, redo wood floors, new windows, new light fixture

Front porch-new screens in windows, paint ceilings, walls and floor.

This little front porch is my favorite spot in the whole apartment.  I think it will be so cute and cozy when it's done!

This is the view from the windows.  A few of the other houses on this crowded street have second floor front porches.  I just love it! 

Front of house- scrape and paint, new driveway, plant grass, paint porch and ceilings, new driveway

As you can tell we have a ton of work to do on this house and this will be a project that will take some time but we are excited to get to work!  Happy Tuesday!

Xoxo

Weekend Fun

I had two fun parties this weekend followed by a lot of work at our rental house on Sunday.  I am going to take pictures tonight at our rental house to post tomorrow.  We have been doing a ton of work down there and I want to take "before" pictures so one day we can enjoy the "after" pictures.

Friday afternoon/evening my friend V had a Flamingle party at her house.  It was a fun pool party where everything was flamingo themed.  It was a a beautiful afternoon so most of us spent all our time in the pool.  V also had delicious food and drinks.  It was a great afternoon!!

Sunday we celebrated my friend J's 50th bday by renting a poonton boat and spending a day at the lake.   We had so much fun!  It was a beautiful day.  I was the driver of the boat and we went up and down the lake a few times and then parked in the middle and swam and ate.  It was the perfect way to celebrate J's birthday!

There were even a few sailboats on the lake on Saturday.  They are always fun to see.  We also saw a Bald Eagle trying to catch a fish with his talons.  It was amazing.  We were swimming when we saw it and weren't able to get a picture.  

I hope you had a great weekend.

Xoxo

Friday Favorites

Today I'm linking up with Andrea, Narci and Erika to share my Friday favorites.  I have a fun boat day planned to celebrate my friend Julia's 50th birthday!  G and Ava are headed to a basketball tournament and as always I hope to get a few things done around our house. 


Here are my favorites from this week!

1.  My neighbor Heidi and I took our girls to see Taylor Swift in Cleveland on Tuesday night.  It was a fun road trip and we had a great time.  I took Ava and she took her two daughters and a friend.  We left early and got to Cleveland in time to walk around the campus of CWRU.  Heidi's friend is the basketball coach there and he showed us all of the athletic facilities.  

After our campus tour we checked into our hotel and took an uber to downtown Cleveland.  Our plan was to eat dinner by the stadium but there were SO many people and the security lines were so long to get into the stadium that we decided just to go straight to the stadium and eat there.  

I took lots and lots of pictures at the concert.  We had terrible seats in the very top level but we still had a great time and sang and danced to every single song.  

We took some snap chat pics while waiting in the long security line.  :)

Once you got though security you got a white bracelet to wear.  This bracelet lit up to different colors and in time with this music throughout the show.  I have never seen that before at a concert and it was so neat!  In the second picture below you can see all of the bracelets lit up during the show.  

I heard that Taylor Swift puts on an amazing show and she did not disappoint!  She had a huge stage and two smaller stages out in the crowd that she ziplined to in a carriage and fabulous back up dancers.  It was such a fun night and our girls had a great time!  

Wednesday we ate lunch  in Little Italy in Cleveland which was delicious and then we raced home because I had another concert to go to!  On Monday my friend Betty said she had an extra ticket for a front row seat to Mary Chapin-Carpenter and asked if I wanted to go.  I was tired from our trip but Mary C-C was one of my favorite country singers growing up so I was thrilled to go!

2.  My dear friend Melany and her daughter have been in NY visiting our town for a week and I have loved getting together with her.  Yesterday we went to the lake to swim and kayak.  I miss her so much and it's been great catching up.

3.  We are more than 1/2 way through our summer baseball rentals!  Summer is truly flying by.  Our renters last week left us this cute note on the chalkboard in our kitchen.  We only have 5 more weeks of renters left!

I hope you've had a great week!

Xox

Weekend Top 3

Our weekend was a good mix of work and fun.  I feel like I say that every weekend but those really are my absolute favorite weekends!  This weekend I celebrated the birthdays of two of my dear friends, I watched Ava in her annual Gus Macker Basketball tournament, and G and I worked on scraping the paint off  our rental house.  It was a full and fun summer weekend!

1.  I started the weekend a little early by taking a vacation day Thursday and going to the lake to go boating to celebrate the birthdays of two friends-Amy and Sabrina.  Our friend Stephanie has a boat and our friend Shannon has a lake house so we spent the day on the boat and hanging out at Shannon's dock.  It was a beautiful day and a great way to celebrate!

2.  I work part-time for the community foundation in our town.  The foundation gives money to local non-profits and last Friday the Board President and I did check presentations for some of the non-profit organizations that the foundation gave money to during this funding cycle.  I was happy that the foundation was able to fund my friend and neighbor Heidi for an annual soccer tournament that she coordinates every yer in memory of her Dad.  

3.  Ava had a basketball tournament this weekend so I spent most of the day Saturday and Sunday watching her play.  She loves basketball and I love that she loves it.  She and her teammates played their hearts out in 90 plus degree temperatures all weekend.  In the end they came in third place and got the sportsmanship award for their age division.  

I hope you had a fabulous weekend!

Xoxo