My Nemesis...

Ever since I moved into this house, I have held a major grudge against the upstairs bathroom.  Perhaps it was due to the mint green tile, or the green acid washed linoleum, or the white and gold flecked 1950's era sink, or even the 1980's era wooden light fixture and cabinet... Whatever the culprit may have been, I just did not like it.

And, shortly after moving back to the U.S., we both decided that we couldn't deal with such a hideous room anymore...  Needless to say, it was time for the bathroom to get a makeover!  Yippee!! :)  So, we didn't waste any time in pulling up that god awful green linoleum, tearing out the sink and cabinets, and replacing it with much more modern appliances and cabinets.  We also found that the tile under the linoleum was in almost perfect condition, so instead of tiling over the top of it, we simply kept the old tile and gave it a little face lift.

Now, I'm not going to tell you that the whole remodeling process went completely smooth and we ended up with a lovely bathroom in no time... That would just be a lie! :)  No, we were met with our fare share of frustrations during the remodeling process...  Let's see... Where should we begin? :)

The linoleum took forever to tear up and even longer to chip off from the tiles underneath.


While moving the old toilet out of the way, we dropped it and had to buy a new toilet.


The original bathroom cabinets that we wanted ended up being discontinued from IKEA, so we had to find a new set.


After a slight mishap with the stain on the bathroom door, we had to sand it down (again!!) and restain it to match the backside... At which point, we were never able to get both sides to completely match. :)


I spent hours upon hours dremeling the old grout out of the tiles.


The new grout wouldn't stick, so we had to leave it on over night without wiping all of it off, which meant the following day consisted of scrubbing the remaining grout off of each individual tile.


The caulking of the tub turned into a fiasco... At which point, the caulk also ended up on the new shower curtain somehow.  And after not coming out of the shower curtain in the wash, it had to be returned and a new one purchased... Fun, fun! :)   


Needless to say, this bathroom provided us with quite a few headaches! :)  But in the end, it was all worth it, and we now have ourselves a much better looking and more modernized bathroom... Yay!!  

The before picture...
Isn't it pretty... Or not! :)

I honestly don't know what the previous owners were thinking when they decorated this...  Who would put this many colors/eras/finishes together... Yikes!!

The white sink with gold flecks... I think this came straight out of the 50's! :)

The horrendous linoleum...  eeewww!!
Who in their right mind thought this looked good?!  Especially when paired with mint green tile?!  C'mon now!!

Hard at work tearing up the linoleum...

The new sink/cabinet being installed...

Looking better... :)
Look at the tiles that we uncovered... They were in almost perfect condition.  Which begs the question... Who would have covered such good looking tile with such ugly linoleum?! :)

The finished product...
So much better! :)

Sweet Home Chicago...

A couple of weeks ago, we had the opportunity to visit my absolute favorite American city...  Chicago!! :)    For those of you that know me well, you know just how much I love this city!!  I love its character, the architecture, the vibe, the shopping, the bars, the Cubs...  I pretty much adore all that the city has to offer!  So, I was quite excited when Brian agreed to head to Chicago with me for the weekend!

We had such a fun time while we were there!  We wandered through the city, strolled down Michigan Avenue and did a little window shopping, checked out a few bars in the Lincoln Park area, visited some great friends, and had an overall fabulous time!!

I'm already looking forward to my next visit... Which I'm hoping will be in December as I really want to check out their German Weihnachtsmarkt... I'm hoping it'll make me feel like I'm back in Germany for the holiday season! :))

Hello, Chicago!! :)
(This is the giant mirrored "bean" which is located in Millenium Park)

I just love the skyline of this city! :)

No worries... The buildings aren't really bending... It's just Brian's crazy camera lens! :)

Under the "L"...
(The "L" is Chicago's downtown transportation... It's an above ground subway system that runs through the city.)

While we were there, we had to hit up a Michigan State bar and check out the game...
Let's Go State! :)

Enjoying the day with Dave and Katie! :)
It was at this bar where Dave informed me that he has now officially known me longer than he hasn't known me... How crazy is that?!  Yikes!  Looks like we're getting old!! :)

Brian and I enjoying watching MSU win!! :)
Look at that cheesy grin of mine... Can you tell I was excited to be surrounded by some of my favorite things?!
I was with my adorable hubby, I was in the city I love, I was watching my favorite team/school play football, and I was sharing the day with some wonderful "old" friends!! :)  

Me and Sparty! :)

Dave and I couldn't leave the Tin Lizzie without having a little fun with Sparty...
I mean, he's our beloved mascot from our alma matter and all! :)

Strolling through the city on a beautiful late summer day... :)

Katie had to get in on the mascot action too!
Here she is with her beloved Husker! :)

Chillin' in my favorite city! :)

How cute is he?! :)

A view of the Chicago skyline through the "bean"...

So pretty!

One last view of the city before we headed out...
Bis spaeter, Chicago!!
Can't wait until our next visit! :)

A Day At the Zoo...

My sister and Kaden came down to visit us a couple of weeks ago.  We had such a fun time while they were here!  We spent a day at the Detroit Zoo, went for a couple of rides in the Jeep (which Kaden loved!), spent some time hanging out at the mall, ate some yummy ice cream,  had dinner at Eastside Mario's (our favorite restaurant), played outside, and just had an all around great weekend! :)  Thanks for visiting us, Stacy and Kaden!!  Can't wait 'til we can do it again!

We went through the Dinosauria exhibit while at the zoo...  It consisted of life-like, animatronic dinosaurs that moved and roared and snarled and even spit water at the unsuspecting passerby...  Needless to say, it was a pretty cool exhibit to experience! :)

Kaden really enjoyed the exhibit!! :)

There was even a section where the kids could be "paleontologists" and dig for fossils and see dinosaur teeth, claws, and skulls... 

Our little penguin... :)

The three of us... :)

Our attempt at a self-portrait! :)

Going for a ride in the Jeep... :)

Kaden loved the fact that he could climb into the back of the Jeep... :)

Love this pic!!

We convinced him to climb up into the tree so that Brian could take some pics of him...  He was not exactly thrilled with it at first, but he eventually relaxed and started to enjoy himself. :)

Labor Day Weekend 2011...

Wow!  It's already been two weeks since Labor Day and I'm finally getting around to writing about it... Needless to say, we've been keeping ourselves quite busy around here!  :)  We've managed to finish the bathroom project, I started my Master's class, we took a quick trip to Chicago, we brought Riley back home, and we've just been trying to get back into some sort of routine around here...  There definitely hasn't been too much down time as of late. :)

We had such a fun time up north for Labor Day weekend!  It was so great to spend time with family while we were there. :)  Our weekend consisted of spending a lovely evening with everyone at our family reunion, helping my dad cut down trees in the front yard, shopping in Traverse City, volunteering at a concession stand at the Labor Day Softball Tournament, and simply hanging out with the fam.  It was a great way to spend our first Labor Day weekend back in the U.S.! :)

Getting ready to cut down some trees... Yikes! :)

Isn't he such a little cutie?! :)

This is where things got rather interesting...  See that tree that is being cut in the right corner?  Well, the intent was to have the tree fall between the small maple tree and the tree that is already laying on the ground...  My dad's only request was that it not harm the maple tree.  Can you guess what happened after that? :)  The tree ended up having a mind of it's own, and it somehow fell in the exact direction we had hoped it wouldn't... Directly on top of my dad's maple tree!  Oops! :) 

Kaden is such a good little helper!! :)

That was a whole lot of brush to haul! 

Jason and Kaden giving the thumbs up after a long day of stacking their "winter wood"! :)

Working the concession stand at the all night softball tournament...   :)

Brian and Grandma hanging out... :)

Spending time with the family at the reunion...

The kids were having lots of fun! :)

Jason was clearly mesmerized by the windchimes! :)

Aunt Karen and Brian making some authentic German gluhwein... Yum! :)

Holy Batman! :)

The whole fam! :)

Mom and Dad... :)