Birthday Surprise!

My sneak of a husband pulled something cute for my birthday a week ago (not an easy task... you gotta get up really early in the morning to get one over on me). So, I have been wanting a bike for...e...ver. Well, this day Tomm gets home from work and sais that he needs my help unloading "something (meaning: not fun, not shiny and heavy)" from his truck. So I get on my gloves and we are talking as he is unlatching the tailgate and I see it!!!... It's a shiny, new BIKE! I shreiked with joy! I couldn't believe it!

What a darling husband I have!!!

IT is so glorious!
And I'm off! I think I ran over every ant hill that I saw. Sweet revenge!
Going to visit the goats next door.

My fellow hairdressers threw me a little bash at the shop. They are the sweetest!

Chocolate and strawberries! Oh my!

I am so blessed to have these people in my life! I love them so!

Happy Three!

This year, for our Anniversary we made plans to go up to Orlando, FL to spend a few days and go to Disney's Epcot. Tomm surprised me with reservations at the Parc Soleil resort. It was gorgeous!

Driving up to Orlando watching the sun set.

We were driving through the middle of the state and we were passing Lake Okeechobee... it's just on the other side of this hill thingy.
It still amazes me that we are at sea level here! We were passing this HUGE lake and the only thing separating us and the water was a whimpy little hill.

You can kinda see the lake on the GPS to the right of the red line. Ahh, it's so big and close!
Another view of the sunset.
SO pretty!
At the resort. Checked in and already enjoying the pool!
Dinner! We had a full kitchen in our room so it was nice to be able to cook.
Tomm was enjoying the wireless while I made dinner.
Time to get snuggley.
EPCOT!
This was a great ride! Of all the rides, our favorite ride was SOARIN'... (I didn't get a pic) it was amazing! It felt like we were flying and they changed the pictures so you take a trip around the world! Oh we loved it! ... so worth an hour and a half wait!

Here fishy fishy...

Sparkly, glittery fish! I love shiny things.

Getting ready for chow time.

Oh, and there were fireworks!

SO pretty!

Glittery. Only Disney's fireworks have glitter in them!

That was fun... time to go to bed.

We had SOOO much fun at the pools together! We worked on our tans and our books. It was really hot so we really got some good color. I hardly ever drink at all, but I did have a banana colada on this day and it was to die for!

It was so nice and sunny all day and then a big, windy storm started rolling in. By then we were ready to go back to our room anyway, so huh!
Getting a little cold.

Back in our room. Check out our awesome tub!!! The water came out of the ceiling and into the bath! I was so entertained!

Taking advantage of a delicious bath bomb.

Amen!
Tomm took me to Morton's Steakhouse for dinner! It was fancy! I had never been there before. I was really impressed; they bring out all the food and you pick what you want them to cook for you... everything was so fresh! I was so sad for a poor lobster that they brought out... he was ALIVE.... how could anyone look in those sweet lobster eyes and say "I'll have this little guy tonight"?

We had so much fun!

Watching the sunset from our balcony.

We found out we had a view of all the Disney firework shows right from our balcony too! My camera pooped out on me tho... Boo!

When we got home I made a yummy cake to ring in another year. My little tradition I started 3 years ago.

This year it was raspberry white cake. SO good!

We had a bottle of champagne but it wasn't sounding as good after dessert. Got milk?

Happy Anniversary!

This has been a milestone year and it has gone by so fast for us! We are finally feeling settled in Florida and preparing to start our family.

So much has happened in our life this last year. Probably the most exiting was buying our home and fixing it up together. We also had some very painful experiences that we went through. We learned a lot! To me, there is nothing like growing with someone cause life is gonna throw things at you, so it's all about sticking by eachother and keep on smiling. Good times or bad; we are completely committed to each other. Tomm is my greatest passion; he enriches my life and makes me so happy and he let's me know everyday how much he loves me too! Here's to forever and ever with the most amazing man in the world!

Cheers!

The Grand Re-Opening!

I don't know which I am more exited about: the big reveal or finishing this post... that's a lot of dang pictures. We are so glad to be tucked in our new home! There has been a lot of sweat, money, some deep breaths and even a few temper tantrums that went into making this house look the way we wanted it to. But on the up side we have had a lot of fun and laughs doing all this together! It is amazing to see how much it has changed. I am glad we took so many pictures of the steps, because without them we had forgotten how a lot of things looked in the beginning.

Ahh, love at first drive by.

After a haircut.
After a scrubbing.
SO clean!
And now... painted and manicured. Notice we also painted all the doors black! So pretty!
We removed about 12 trees throughout the yard. Here is the island with only 3 palms now.

A closer look at what we planted.

Remember this?

then

then

Today!

A pic of the little palms we put out front. They're called Abacoa palms.

I call these little plants "kitty tails". We thought they were pretty. Some are tan and some are reddish. And they're low maintenance! The garage before...

Now! K, look at the difference in the driveway! It was so yucky before. Tomm had the garage door painted to look like wood. It looks real; you can see the wood grain pattern. Very cool!
Inside Garage before....
Inside Garage after! Everything painted. Tomm is exited that his garage looks all fresh.

The "scary utility closet of death"....

The "scary utility closet of death"... with pretty rubber mulch!
The lizard who lives in the utility closet. See how big he is? Lots of spiders to eat in there. Ew!

The patio!

Our friends bought us this pretty centerpiece. Love it!
The kitties love it outside on the patio! They spend most mornings and evenings out here.

This is something Tomm invented... He built and installed a Misting system! What a studly guy he is for being SO handy! It is so awesome on super hot days to have that cool mist blowing on you. We were outside in the pool today and it really made a difference!

See how that PVC pipe runs along the screen. We'll eventually paint it to be the color of the house.

A picture of the entire patio.

The pool before. Yumm yum!

Canon ball!
A pic of the pretty landscaping. I love the black mulch!

What is summer without a hula duck?

This poor thing is just begging to be taken out back for target practice.

The new one! It kinda looks airplane-esque.

The little lemon tree looking a little yellow....

Looking much healthier now!

That old color scheme... I love peanut butter and honey SANDWICHES only.

Now more down to earth and gorgeous!

Looking in from the front entry way BEFORE....

Looking in now! We painted the doors black on the inside as well. It really made a difference.
The family room and kitchen are like one big open room! I absolutely love it!

Looking back to the front door.

The fireplace before....

and now! We love the stacked stone!

Looking to the left as you come in the front door. Purrl is posing in all the pictures. Hee hee!

The dining room before...

The dining room today!

The kitchen before....

and today! We did a lot of work to the kitchen! I love the black countertops and the stainless appliances! It looks so classy.

Our awesome HUGE pantry! Tomm put extra shelves up in here for me.

My office! It is so nice to have a designated area where I can keep important papers and other things nice and neat.

Looking into the guest bedroom before....

And now! I think it looks so much more cozy with the lighter color.

Inside the guest room before...

and inside now!

The view looking out.

My favorite picture in the world! SO sweet!

The guest room has a half bath....

Here it is all decorated.

One of the bedrooms before....

And now it is the workout room.

The laundry room before....

and now! I love our washer!

The master bathroom before....

and now! We put a new counter top and sinks in.
Before
and now! You can get to the bathroom from either the laundry room or our bedroom. It's neat!

The counter top and new sinks. We each picked out the faucet that we wanted.
This one is mine... it looks nice and girly!
This one is Tomm's. Very manish! Grrr
As you walk in the front door to the house; our bedroom is off to the right.

Our bedroom before....

And now! We love this sage color.

We have doors that go out to a little sitting area outside.... we don't really sit out there unless we want to get eaten alive by mosquitos though :(

The shiney bed next to the accent wall. Blanche wanted to be in some pictures too.
Looking back into the hallway. We have two closets; one walk in and one standard! I love it!!!

The china cupboard in the kitchen. We got this china set as a wedding gift and now I finally have a place to put it out!
The dining room table and Randy taking it easy.

The girls hangin out.

The old kitchen sink.

The NEW sink!

There's something about this picture! Super cute handy man!
The old oven and micro wave....

The NEW oven and Advantium oven/micro wave! So now we have two ovens! It totally rocks!

The old, rude, interrupting dishwasher....
The new, quietest dishwasher that we have ever NOT heard.
The old cook top.

Our new induction cooktop! This little sweetheart will boil water in less than a minute!

The cabana bath before....

The cabana bath now. Painted and decorated!

Purrl watching the water drain; she has a water fetish. Hee hee

The office before....

The office now!

The golf corner.

We had a little fun with an old door tag.