Did we do this right?

And when I say "did WE do this right", I mean Kyle did you mess up. So Kyle takes me up to the property yesterday to walk through the layout. Now all that's there is what I showed you last week, boards all around set up for the cement footings to be poured. Guys I was scared. I got all high-pitched and was like "Kyle, did you measure this right?!" It seems so small. Obviously it is not, but in that giant outside space, I'm looking from one corner to another and I'm trying to figure out in my pretty little head how two bedrooms and a bathroom-  jack/jill bath btw- are supposed to fit in that space. I just don't get it or SEE it. After my slight hyperventilating (did you hear me Mike and Shari?) Kyle assured me all the measurements are right. I'm just going to have to trust him and some guy named Ted who's helping him out. 

Kyle was a bit annoyed, not at me for the moment, that the county was supposed to come out on Friday and do an erosion inspection. Shockingly, no one came. And of course, we can't have the inspection for the footing braces done until the erosion inspection is checked off...and the cement trucks come tomorrow. Yep. So Kyle was in freak-out mode. But his builder friend Ted made some calls and supposedly the county was going to come out today and tomorrow morning to fix it all up. I am fairly certain that this is going to be the pattern throughout this build.


So hopefully tomorrow the footings are poured, and then I have no idea what the next thing is. I think then they have to do some more rebar stuff...more forms and then maybe the full foundation. I have no idea. I'm trying to figure out what counter tops I want (still) and If I want all white cabs for the kitchen or maybe do the island in an espresso. This is what keeps me up at night. This early stage stuff is boring, but obviously necessary to get to the parts I think are important.


Christmas is this week and I'm still waiting for a few packages to be delivered (please don't disappoint Amazon Prime). I have been eating horribly, and loving every minute of it. Except my pants, they are not loving the tightness. Tis the season.


This weeks highlights were hanging out with Peyton Friday. He was so stinking cute. I had him dressed up in these H&M jeans with suspenders- he asks "are this like daddys work jeans?", and his new NY hat that nana and papa brought home for him. He was at the nail salon with me (kyle cringes) and the owners little boy was there, looked to be 5 too, and the boy told Peyton he was super handsome! Peyton was sooooo shy. My nails turned out fabulous too I think. Then Friday night I had my book club xmas party. No book this month, just wine...so it was a regular meeting :-) Love my BC girls and looking forward to another year.

It's starting...

So things are starting to shape up around Camus Road. Kyle has cleared the property, dug out for the foundation, put in a gravel road and now the form boards are up to start the foundation pour this weekend. We got our bid this week for the framing, $39k! Ouch. But a nice bonus was that included the siding for the house. The power company is lined up to come out the first week of January to hook up temporary power during construction. So looks like the coal is loaded and this train is pulling out of the station! FINALLY!!

Speaking of trains...This past weekend the Camus clan headed down to Portland to visit Kyle's sister Lynsie and her family. We watched the movie polar express Friday night and then on Saturday took the kids to the Mt. Hood Railroad station and did the "polar express" train ride. It was so fun, they really liked it. They all wore matching PJs. Got to enjoy these moments while they last, pretty sure Ellie isn't going to believe in Santa much longer. She's a little on the fence this year. After all that, Saturday night we let the kids make gingerbread houses. That was interesting. I think there was more eating going on that building. And the putting the whole house together is always tricky. Ellie lost her roof about 2 minutes after I took a photo of her completed house.

I am nearly done with all my holiday shopping. I have done 95% of my shopping on-line. I just don't have the time to make it to the stores, and well frankly I don't want to go to the stores and deal with all the people. My Grinch side I guess. Only store I've actually shopped for is at Spruce and Bon Lemon. Other than that, my amazon prime membership has been getting good use. Now I just have to do the whole wrapping thing.

I've actually missed not having my own tree to decorate, or house to put holiday decorations up in. I've never been a huge decorator but of course this year I've found all this things I'd love to get to make a house festive. Next year...

and for my WIWW, well I'm wearing what I wore in my last WIWW: Sweater + Leather. Its been my go-to for the past few Wednesdays.

Have a Happy Holiday!

Inspiration: Master Bath

I am actually a little stumped on this one. One minute I like large marble tiles for the flooring, or tile that looks like hardwood. And then there is cabinet color, I like white or I like grey- light or dark. So...I feel I have no real focus yet for this room. I do know I want a pedestal tub, and we will have a walk in shower (no door thing).


Here is the layout of our bathroom:

And here are photos I'm inspired by, again you'll see I'm a little all over the place. What's your favorite?

Dirt + Dirt + Dirt

This is not a fun stage. I see progress...but its all brown. It was quite muddy on Friday. Then by Sunday it was frozen dirt. All forms of browness. Kyle and my brother-in-laws spent the entire holiday weekend working on our property. They worked on the road/driveway. Then cleared more trees, and burned lots and lots of brush. The dug the trench for the power company to come and lay the power line stuff..or whatever they put in the trench. And at last they put pretty little pink flags on the stakes to mark the corners of the house.


Now I know my house is plenty big. But when you are standing at one stick, and looking at the other stick...it seems so small. I was assured plenty of times that it is just fine. Sue and I went up on Friday to help place the house. Kyle needed to know exactly where I wanted it to sit, angled, etc. In the end, Sue drove us around on the 4 wheeler so we could get to what would be the back yard. That was extremely entertaining. We were all bundled up and creeping along slowing over big mud piles. A boy would have been flying through it, we were squealing.


So I think everything looks right. Again, its all so brown its just hard for me to visualize. I believe the next step is to dig out for the foundation. So maybe that will help me SEE the footprint a little better. Which that's all I heard about all weekend from the BILs "your footprint is so huge!" I get it, its a rambler, its going to be big.
Ron bought a new excavator (well new to him) and brought it home Friday. He was up at the top of the hill with it when I was leaving. Peyton in his totally amazed voice says "Did we get a new excavator!" Boys and big toys are always amazing.


This Wednesday will mark 2 weeks since we turned in our paperwork for building permits. No word yet, but that's not a shocker. Maybe we'll hear something this week, but no one will be holding their breathe.


So while the men were up at the property doing the manly chores, the women were down at the house helping clean out what I refer to as the hoarder rooms. Now granted, Sue's home has been a dumping ground for all her kids stuff, or stuff from their weddings, etc. And because she has had all this "stuff" it's come in handy during family events. But things were just a little out of control, and well she just couldn't see what she even had. So day 1 we tackled the ONE bedroom not being occupied and is a holding area for all these party supplies. Karlye got some shelving from home depot and we whipped that together and loaded it up. We found lots of family heirlooms as well as business paperwork from 1975. By the end of the day we had a pile to burn/garbage, we had a good will pile and there was a clean room with a bed for guests. Very successful


Day 2 consisted of the hoarder closet down in the basement. Let me tell you, none of us will EVER have to buy ribbon for a gift again. Sue has collected every color, pattern and width of ribbon ever made. She is always asked to do wedding flowers, so she has bought ribbon for those projects. She loves making wreaths and is good at it, so she has a ton of ribbon for those craft projects, and then of course there is ribbon just for gift wrapping. I swear I organized over 500 rolls. But now she can see what she has, and I can see what I can borrow.


We survived the holiday with lots and lots of family. We got to make authentic Mexican tamales with my brothers fiancé and her family. That only took 4 hours. I am all about the Costco ones now. Also, I got made fun of because apparently you don't eat the corn husk, its just to keep it all together. Well I did not know that! After spending all that time spreading the corn mix on the husk, and steaming it I figured you got to eat it too. But after one bite, and it was really tough, I second guessed that. Everyone had a good laugh at me. Granted authentic taste amazing. I ate way too much pie. I love it, pecan, pumpkin and banana crème.


Friday, to help do something after eating so much pie, I went to a barre fitness class at Focus Fitness here in Olympia. OMG, it was so great and so hard. I am not a sweater. In fact I've asked my dad if maybe my sweat glands are broken because I just don't really sweat. Well this class proved they aren't broken. Now I know what Ballerina's and dancers are in such amazing shape. I highly recommend a class if you are looking for something different to add to your routine.


Hopefully I can report something fun next week. We are nearing the end of 2014 and my Christmas wish is to be breaking ground by the new year. It'll be close.

 

WIWW: Sweater + Leather

The air is crisp and the rain is here. All I want to wear are boots, leggings and sweaters. Luckily for me, CAbi has been fulfilling that desire with their new Fall 2014 line. And yeah, I'm still bad at the pictures, first I tried bathroom selfies (fail) then I tried outside (better). One day I will have my game together and have more professional photos, until then this is what you get :-) Happy almost Turkey day!!

                        

Sweater: CAbi Fall 2014 Joy Sweater (I'm wearing an XS, you can size down in this one)
Shirt: CAbi Fall 2014 McQueen shirt (I'm wearing a M, I have a large chest)
Leggings: Ann Taylor Faux Leather leggings (40% OFF! USE CODE SHOPANN)
Boots: Frye - I totally forget which ones.


Linked up with: Tucker Up, The Pleated Poppy, and Because Shanna Said So.

WIWW: Bright Print + TWINS

It may be winter, but that doesn't mean you have to wear greys and blacks all the time. Today's outfit is a great spring dress converted over to winter with some tights and boots. Side note- I am not a CAbi rep. I am just a loyal customer. CAbi clothes are perfect for my work wear and my casual wear. So I have a lot of it. Just needed to throw out that disclaimer. Also my SIL Nicole wore this same dress today. Yes we totally called each other and planned it. We love being pretend twins. We have a lot of the same pieces because our styles are so similar. Do you have a pretend twin? Isn't it the best! We call ourselves Danny and Arnold (Twins movie, 1988). Since I am 5'2" and Nicole is 6', its obvious who's who.
                                                                  

                      

                                                                              

I'm loving this dress paired with the cardigans and belt. I'll have to remember that for the next time I wear it. This jacket is fun and lightweight. It is great to dress it up or down.


Jacket: CAbi Spring 2013 Convertible poppy red jacket
Dress: CAbi Spring 2013 Printed shirt dress
Boots: Ralph Lauren, old.


Linked up with: Tucker UP, The Pleated Poppy, Because Shanna Said So.

There was almost another house

In honor of my hate of Mondays, Sarah (Jimmy Fallon) sums it up perfectly.

So some of you have noticed, there have been no inspiration posts for the past few weeks, as well as no real house updates. I wasn't sure what to say about the whole thing, as you see there was an "opportunity". Well that has all been resolved now. I think, I hope, pretty sure....

So here's the summary of what all happened: A while back SIL Karlye went to Gma Lois (house is on the compound/next door to in-laws) and asked if she would be interested in selling it to her and her husband Josh. **Rewind- Gma Lois is now in an assisted living facility.  Gma said no. Karlye left it at that and moved on in their search for a home.  Well time went by, and I suppose Gma thought about it some more. Karlye visited with her, and Gma said she would be willing to sell her house. So how this involved Kyle and I is this: Karlye and Josh weren't sure what the agreeing price would be among the family, and if they would be able to afford it and remodel. Kyle and I talked and decided to halt our process and wait and see. Because if Karlye and Josh were not going to buy the house, Kyle wanted us to.

I was in a little shock at first. We talked a lot about how we would redesign and add-on to Gmas house. It would have been a nice house for us. So we waited, and waited and waited. Everyone waited...hence the waiting place post. Well yesterday a family meeting was held. Karlye and Josh made their offer of purchase, and explained how they arrived at the price. Gma's sons discussed, and agreed it was fair and they would sell to Josh and Karlye. YIPPEE!! Really it's a happy ending for everyone. I'm really excited that they will live on Camus Road with us and our kids will grow up with their kids. We are all pretty lucky. And now we all have a plan!


So I guess this week we will submit for our building permits $$$$$. Not having a plan is extremely hard to me. This was emotionally exhausting for me, and I think all of us. I was not so nice sometimes because I just wanted it resolved.


other updates in our life: Kyle is all done with football (yeah I survived another season, #8). Ellie will begin Cougar basketball soon, this will be her first time ever playing. Should be REALLY interesting. She's also started up her hip-hop dance class. Its scary how well it suits her. They were dancing to "...I wish I was a little bit taller, wish I was a baller, wish I had girl so that I could call her..." OMG, Ellie's lips were all puckered out, she was brushing off her shoulders, putting her hand up to her hear like a phone. Too much. I love watching her dance.


Peyton is again fascinated this week with his penis, how it gets longer then smaller when he pushes really hard when going to the bathroom. I just shake my head. He also is turning 5 here in a few weeks, and Kyle is obsessed with him learning the alphabet. He's terrified he won't know it by Kindergarten. I'm more lax about it.


I've been working hard at getting in better shape. I've lost 3lbs, and 1% body fat! So that equaled like 3in in my waist, 1.5in in my arms and 1in in my thigh! I'll take it.


Oh, in my Sue's stories: I played bunco with her and her friends Tuesday. We almost didn't make it. Sue, me, and 3 of her friends all rode together. None of them knew the address to where we were going. Oh, I felt like I was going to be lost in the car with them forever. I was dying listening to them all try to remember where this lady lived. Finally we had a street name, I summoned Siri and we found it.
And her quote of the week: "I could never do one of those FYI shows", Nicole: "Do you mean a DIY show?" "oh, yeah that kind". I don't know why everything is FYI with her, but it makes us laugh.


And Kyle and I took the kids out to Red Robin Friday night for dinner. I was getting dressed and look up and see Kyle putting on his North Face vest. I was like, hey I was going to wear my vest! I had no energy to change and already had my jeans and tee on. So we were twins. Very Pacific Northwest of us.

                      

Inspiration: Do you know a guy?

Okay, so today's "inspiration" post is more about finding the right guy/company do to the job. Since starting this whole "let's build a house" project I have been asked quite a few times by friends about who I'm picking to do certain projects. I'm fortunate that Kyle is already in the construction business and knows a lot of people already. Not everyone has this connection and it can be really scary to hire someone you know nothing about.

We have all heard the horror stories of a bad contractor. The latest I heard was a family that hired a general contractor to build their dream home. They gave him thousands (!!) of dollars up front. They weren't currently living near the building site so it wasn't something they came to check up on, they just took his word for the things that were getting done. BIG MISTAKE. Eventually they came several months later to check on the project...And they came to learn they were totally ripped off. The contractor had not pulled any permits, the framing had been done- and nothing was square. And of course the contractor was no where to be found and he had screwed them out of nearly their whole budget for the house. They had nothing but a frame to show for all the money they had given him. I felt total heartbreak hearing my friend tell me this of this family who's home was being built behind her.


There are several ways to ensure nothing like this ever happens to you. 1) talk to your friends. Ask them who they have used. 2) if you hire someone you just looked up, ask for several references. 3) Always check up on them. Yes you have hired a general contractor to do this for you, but when it comes down to it, it's your house and it's your money. You have to take some responsibility.


In today's world we go to the Internet for everything. And shopping for a contractor on the Internet is now a possibility. There are several sites that can help you with this. If you don't have knowledge of the industry or any recommendations from anyone, these sites can be really helpful.


One I recently stumbled upon was SmartReno. Here's what peaked my interest about this site/company:

• They find the contractor for you, based on your metro area and the project description you've submitted.
• They gather the bids for you from several contractors so that you can compare
• if you have a complaint or dispute with one of their contractors, they will serve as the mediator and help resolve the issue- huge stress relief you aren't alone!

The contractors are only on here if approved by SmartReno, if the contractor is not fulfilling projects and/or getting several complaints, SmartReno won't refer them.


So how do you work this service into your budget? You don't, because it's free.


I'm all about the one stop shopping. And I like that you can search for anything from a masonry to landscaping to a general contractor on this site. There is a lot of peace of mind in the fact that the contractor is held accountable by this company. This site is certainly worth looking into if you are having trouble finding a contractor to do a project or simply need more options to compare prices. You can never do too much research when looking for a contractor to do a project on your home. And this site does the search for you!


Now I'm off to get my GC (Kyle!) to get some work done. Otherwise I will have lots of complaints to submit.

WIWW: Werkin out

I'm doing an 8-week boot camp at a local gym. I don't know if I would actually call it a gym. When I think of a gym I think of tons of machines and everyone doing their own thing. This is more like a small group that does an intense 30-45min circuit workout. We all encourage each other and plow through these intense sets. I love it.


So when I work out, I want to look cute. But by cute I don't mean slutty. There is a difference. I'm not an oversize t-shirt and sweatpants girl. Nor am I in my booty shorts and sports bra. There is a happy medium ladies. Plus I got two new pairs of NB kicks this week, so I needed to show you both :-)

                                     

   


1/ lululemon movement jacket 2/ CAbi reversible tank 3/ CAbi tech pants 4/ NB classics CW442

                                     

 

1/ Bon Lemon tee limited  2/ lululemon camo crop's (old, similar) 3/ NB classics WL501 High Roller


And because I have to go to a day job and unfortunately can't hang out in my workout clothes all day, this is what I threw on today.

                                     

1/ CAbi confetti sweater 2/ CAbi Ricky leggings (old, similar) 3/ Bon Lemon necklace 4/ Frye Regina wedge boot 5/ Michael Kors Microstud Hamilton Tote (40% off!)

What do you like to WERK out in?

Linked up with: TuckerUP, Because Shanna Said So, The Pleated Poppy & J Petite

WIWW- Camo & Rhinestones

Serioursly, I need to work on photos. Some other ladies have this figured out, I do not. Plus today was terribly rainy here in the PNW, so no outside for me. #IphonePhotoFail.

Top: Ann Taylor Loft Back Button Pullover
Pants: Ann Taylor Loft Camo Print Tailored Twill Skinny Pants Marissa Fit
Jewelry: Bon Lemon and Ann Taylor Loft (old, similar)
Shoes: Me Too (old, similar)
Makeup- MAC holiday collection- Keepsakes/Beige Eyes

Linked up with: The Pleated Poppy, Tucker UP, Because Shanna Said So