Windows

I'm so excited that our windows for the upstairs bedroom came in today!! We are taking out the door and unsafe balcony and replacing it with five tiered windows!! Yeah!! I can't wait until they are installed! I will post pictures!

Progress Pictures

Progress is Visible, Just not in Photos!

It has been awhile since I updated on the house. Things are coming along quiet nicely. I think all of the destruction is complete and we are on to rebuilding!!

DownStairs

On the first floor we have all of the drywall pulled that we are re-doing. Matt has re-wired most of the first floor and all the dry wall has been hung except for in the kitchen. The bathroom has two coats of paint, but needs a third, and then it will be ready for trim, closet doors, and shelves in the closet! We still need to decide on flooring for the first floor as well as the layout/cabinets/appliances for the kitchen.

UpStairs
The second floor has been drywalled and needs one final sanding before 90% of the walls upstairs are completed. We have ordered new windows for the bedroom upstairs and Matt has started to add personal touches to the house! He found a new favorite store, ShopDemo, in Mt. Pleasant. Matt bought three different types of hardwood flooring to accent around the house. We planed the boards down and stained them. Matt used one set in the office as backing to built in book shelves and as accent on the attic peak! It looks really nice!

I will post pictures as soon as I can get my phone to download the photos! Unfortunately last time I tried to download photos, the computer and phone would not connect and were both being difficult! :(

~Amanda~

London

I LOVE LONDON! It is one of my favorite cities and always will be!!!

We booked our hotel on easytobook.com and I was definitely impressed with the hotel! It was a lot more spacious of a room than I anticipated. The room had two single beds.

The main reason for our entire trip was Amy and Andy's wedding!!! The entire group did a tour to Stonehenge and the City of Bath. The trip was fantastic! Although Stonehenge is really just a bunch of big rocks in a field, to see them, and they way they are arranged really is amazing! The city of Bath was phenomenal! I really didn't research it before the trip but I'm so glad we went there! I would recommend it to anyone travelling to England!

Stonehenge

The Bestest Friends a girl could ever have!

Roman Baths

Part of the Roman Baths

The 'Circus', a part of the city of Bath, it was very neat, it was circular, and the buildings all curved around the Circle!

A Random shot in Bath!

The Wedding

The wedding started in the hotel lobby. We had these delicious Cupcakes and Champagne to celebrate! We also took a few Photographs inside before starting our trek to the Tower Bridge!!

The flowers were gorgeous!

The bride and I!

All of the Ladies, all dressed up!

Amy and Andy said their vows on the Tower Bridge with the Tower of London in the background!

The Tower Bridge, the location of the Vows!

My 'Date' and Travel Partner Candy! :)

(Oh and my personal hair and makeup artist!)

Amy and Andy said their vows on the Tower Bridge with the Tower of London in the background!

The Bride and Groom.

All the Ladies on the Bridge

After Amy and Andy said their Vows everyone headed to a pub for 'Fish & Chips' for dinner! It was nice to kick back and relax!

Candy and I had an extra day in London, so we went exploring after everyone else left:

We saw a lot of sights including:

Big Ben

London Eye

Buckingham Palace

Kensington Palace

Kensington Gardens

Camden Market

Oh my there are really too many places to mention, so here are a few photos:

 

She didn't believe me they were really evil creatures, even though they are pretty!

We were also fortunate enough to see the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace, I would make that a must see for anyone who goes to London!!

Paris

Paris...... What to say about Paris. I had a great time, despite some bad luck!

The flight to Paris was a direct flight, long but at least it was non-stop. I unfortunately did not get much sleep, only about 3 hours, which made for a long first day in Paris. We got lost finding our way to our hotel and while walking the streets of Paris to find the hotel my suitcase wheel fell off of my brand new suitcase!! It was very frustrating to say the least!! We also had some bad luck on Saturday night when we were to have dinner at the Eiffel Tower Restaurant. The tower was evacuated due to a Kurdish protest on the second floor viewing deck!!

The things I learned in Paris were, know common French sayings and Greetings, attempting their language goes a long way, have a GOOD map of the city that includes all streets, not just the 'major' ones, make sure your luggage wheels are strong-- cobblestone tears them apart, and plan two trips to the Eiffel Tower, after all you never know when there will be an evacuation due to protesters!!

Beautiful Street in Paris!

The Lock Bridge..... place a lock on the Bridge with yours and your partners name and throw the key in the river!

The Arc De Triomphe!

Not really sure---it was definitely different!

The Eiffel Tower- Beautiful! Wish we would have been able to go up!

My Trip

I haven't been posting anything because I've been travelling the world. I left March 29th for Paris, France and travelled to England and Ireland as well. It was a great trip and I really enjoyed exploring. I've been busy editing the 1200+ photos I took over the 10 days I was gone. I plan on doing a post for each country along with some of my favorite photos!

While I was gone Matt finished the tile and walls in the bathroom, painted, and installed the shower, toilet, and sink. Yeah!! As soon as we get the wall upstairs installed and finish up a few odds and ends we are going to be able to move in!!

Until Next Time,
Amanda

Update on Construction

Things are going slow at the house during the week. Matt's work and school schedule does not allow for much 'free' time, and what little there is, he usually spends studying for a test or doing homework.

There is not much I can do at the house, so I've only stopped a few times to make sure nothing bad happened to the house. I also have to make sure our newest additions to the family have food and water. Please meet Fluffy and Pickles (as named by my three year old niece)!!

(Fluffy is the brown, black, and white cat and Pickles is the gray Cat)

I posted pictures of the house before we tore everything apart, but I didnt post too many picture of the destruction phase! I have to thank both my brothers Adam and Alex for coming to help out, as well as my Dad, and Mom (when she wasnt playing hangman on her phone!!), and my brothers friend Keith, who is the lucky new owner of a spiral staircase.

Matt tearing our the old bathroom dor, closet, and the small storage closet.

Matt thought to keep me occupied he would have me smash all the tiles to get them off the floor. Luckily I was only halfway done, with a few blisters when I was showed how to lift them off the floor whole!!!

Good bye old bathroom!!

This may be the only time I saw her working! So of course I took a picture!

Taking out the beam that was blocking my new staircase!

Again working on taking the beam out from a different angle.

Monster Man Alex can handle it himself.

The beam piece is gone!!

Maybe if I have time later I will post some photos of the walls that have gone up and my Brand New Staircase!!!!! :)