NEW BLOG!

Had to make a new blog which was more annoying than it sounds! This one will still be here, just no new updates.  Here's the new one so make sure to add it to your blog roll:)

JIMENEZFAMILY3.blogspot.com

This weekend was home improvement weekend around here. and its about darn time!  Since we originally moved into this place in february 2010, we didn't have baseboards.  We took them off to do the wood floor and they just never got put back on.  However, this weekend, we magno did it!  We started off with the long wall the connects our living room & kitchen.  This one was particularly bad because it didnt have baseboards on 95% of it, then the other 5% had the original brown baseboards along with exposed cable wire.  Seriously, how did I ever have people over with it looking like this!?

So my job was to pound out some of the dry wall in order for the cable wire to be able to fit under & hide easily.

Then I left that job to go to the store & get food for fight night.  Yes I know im crazy to think that its normal to tear apart the house and host fight night all in the same day.  

When I got home, Magno had done a lot of work and the place was already looking so much better!

 After putting away all the food and prepping it, I got to work on the massive patch project.  When we moved in, the previous renters had a shelf up on the wall, randomly placed, for the microwave.  It was so stupid.  So last spring we ripped that down (which was really hard since it they painted around it and on tops of the screws!) so it left some major holes.  We finally went to home depot and got the color match, so I was able to fix it & breathe a lot easier once it was done!

By the end of Sunday, we were able to have the whole place (minus the bedrooms....which will be part 2....most likely another 2 years later....) and the results were nothing short of amazing!  Well, to me they were!  To most people, its just baseboard! 

Then today, the happiness continued when my new oven arrived!  I've been wanting a new one for a while now since the one we were using was the landlords & most likely about 30 years old.  It worked, but it was gross.  I stalked the internet for months waiting for a good sale & saved up reward points so we could get an extra good deal, and we got it!  For something I use every single day, the price we finally got it for was amazing & it'll get lots of use, thats for sure. 

before & after with the new paint, baseboards, and oven.  

Now I can enjoy thanksgiving properly, because YES, not having baseboards bothered me THAT much!;)

going all the way back to Halloween for this post!  here's magnos costume for work.  hes not big on dressing up, but for some reason his work made it mandatory so he kept it as easy as possible!

 we went to my parents house as usual........my mom made delicious food as usual & we were super lazy, as usual!

the very next day I decorated for fall. which was pretty weird considering that way the day that Christmas decor went up in all the store windows at the circle!

a few days later we went to my friend hilaries house & walked to the beach after having lunch.  it was at least 85 degrees at the beach, so it was a really nice day.

i also did some cleaning out and organizing in the kitchen that weekend....since i had my big fall wedding coming up and was leaving to Malibu for the weekend, i wanted to come home to a sparkling clean house. i wouldn't be able to do my job if i was stressed about a dirty house left behind haha

Tuesday was a busy one, running around picking up my business cards for the upcoming weekend, cleaning, packing, emailing vendors, calling the venue...so many little things.  I'm surprised that i made time to vote.  in all honesty, the only reason i did was because it was on my way home and i didn't see a line! plus its at an old movie theatre in the circle with a Starbucks close by, so it didn't feel like such a chore:)

i also made my bride and groom a little gift, it was a very productive day!

Wednesday started the wedding madness.  First thing in the morning, i went to the flower mart & picked up all their flowers so i could start the prep work.  this is what our office looked like

the guy who took my order gave me an extra 2 dozen pink roses which brightened up a few rooms in the apartment

Thursday morning I left kramer and magno, which i hated, but i had work to do! I picked up my wonderful wedding assistant Liz and we headed off to thousand oaks, where our hotel was.  It rained the entire way.  We got to the hotel, unloaded, then got straight back in the car and headed to the venue in malibu for the rehearsal.  When we got there, i was greeted by the sweetest dog ever, he just walked around the meeting room & followed us around.  We later found out he is the owners, and he hangs out there everyday.  I was already missing kramer so I loved seeing this cute guys face!

as soon as the whole bridal party arrived, we went outside to start rehearsal.  it rained the entire time and was so cold i could hardly move.  I was SO bummed because I knew we would have to use the plan B for the ceremony the next day, and i really didn't want to do that!  We headed back to the hotel to begin making all the flowers.  We worked on them from 5pm-midnight & then finally called it quits.

 We woke up at 6am the next morning and finished what we needed to, then began loading the car to get ready to go.  I HAPPILY woke up to beautiful blue skies and sunshine....i was SO relieved! We got to the venue at about 11am and everything from there on out was just work! Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, turned out perfect!  The bride and groom were on cloud 9 and came up to me multiple times during the night saying how perfect everything was.  We were SO tired, but SO happy that everything went so well.  it was about 40 degrees that night, so I was totally numb from head to toe, but it was still so worth it!  I got home about 1:30 am and immediately started telling magno about how awesome everything was....it was seriously the best wedding I've ever worked!

the next morning was monumental because for the first wedding ever, i didn't wake up extremely sick.  Usually I do, not sure if its because of all the stress, being on my feet for 15+ hours the prior day, the lack of food during the day cause I'm too busy......not sure. but i woke up feeling ok. It totally helped that I woke up to a voicemail from the bride saying how happy she was and how they loved every single second of their wedding.  it made me so happy.  So since I wasn't sick, a little later in the day me and magno went shopping together.......something that hasn't happened in.....i can't even remember how long! I got a peppermint mocha, the mall was packed, and their was xmas decor all over....it was so perfect!  We left the mall with everything we needed, a few new work clothes for magno, and his new shoes, and even a cute new pair for me!

I was even happier when I realized I had coupons in my purse for express, so magno got almost $200 worth of clothes for $70...........you'll never know how happy a good deal makes me!
Sunday I was still coming off my wedding high.  Kramer was apparently really happy too, cause he rolled in the dirt all morning and came home looking like this

him and fluffy being cute

After giving kramer a bath, me and my sister went to downtown disney to try to the sandwich place Earl of Sandwich.  the line was around the building, but it was worth the wait...the food was delicious!

after that we went to the mall where I was hoping to find a winter jacket but came home with only candy haha.  After some relaxing we had our neighbor over to eat junk food and watch the walking dead.

It was a long, busy, but WONDERFUL weekend.  I'm happily back home to my clean apartment and still trying to catch up on sleep!

This was the scene at our place on friday night.  I got the idea to switch the tv and entertainment center to the other corner of the room, and magno was the lucky one who got to execute the idea.  before, the Tv was here

now, the mirror is where the tv was and vice versa

i like it better this way because the mirror being directly across from the window makes the room lighter and now theres also no glare on the tv during the day.  win win!i also added some shelves to the living room that were no longer needed in the bedroom

and i also cleaned up and organized my nightstand.  my nightstand is like command central of the house for some reason, so it definitely needed some help,

on saturday i went to lunch with my sister and our friend hilarie.  it was a hot windy day, im craving some more rain!  Then we went shopping at some local thrift stores and it was then that i scored big time.  heres my goodies.

in case you cant tell, im slightly obsessed with white dishes.  I found a williams sonoma lions head bowl for 50 cents, an anthropologie coffee mug (thats going up on ebay!) for 50 cents, a pottery barn soup tureen for $2, milk glass-ish vases for 50 cents each, a dog toy for kramer for 50 cents, and a vintage christmas tree just like the one my grandma had for $3.  I am still so excited about all my finds! its rare that i find that much stuff at the thrift store.  I also picked up my new glasses that day so maybe they helped in being able to spot all this good stuff!;)

I finally got new curtains! Heres the mismatched, weird colored ones we had before..

and heres the upgarded, all the same color, much better ones we have now!

its hard to see in this picture, but one of the reasons I love them is because they are slightly transparent.  While for now, i love being able to get sunlight in and being able to see the trees outside..

i also do like my privacy.  So i might take the two old white curtains that were there before, and attach them to the back of these so they act as a sort of liner.  But im not sold on that yet though since i really love the extra light in the place.  Best part of these though?  CLEARANCE!  I got 4 panels for $30. With these windows being so wide, I kept the ugly old panels on until i found a real good deal, and i finally did!

Oh, and did you notice my chalkboard got a Halloween upgrade?  Its a quote from my favorite halloween movie, Hocus Pocus!I'll be sad to erase it but Im sure i'll find something equally as cute for thanksgiving:)

This past thursday was our little mans 6th "birthday"..aka the day we got him.  Every year he gets a toy & a treat...and most years we get treats too!:) this year was some cupcakes, he got half of an unfrosted one plus a squeaky toy he destroyed in 2 minutes! He also got to share some wet food with the kitties, which they all love!

that day i was also FINALLY able to get into the dr. with our new insurance, which i have spent literally about 5 hours total trying to figure out why we werent anywhere in the system even though we paid! So i finally got my flu shot...I never get those but this year with my big malibu wedding coming up i couldnt risk being sick.  On Friday I was finally able to get our vision insurance sorted out so I went and got new glasses....i've had the same ones for about 5 years and for the past 2 my eyes have been so bad, so its about time.  I had my sister come help me choose my frames and this was the best pic i found on my phone (i took pics of most the ones i liked, cause pictures always look different!)

later that night we made our pumpkins!  well, i made them....magnos not much of a pumpkin guy.

saturday i woke up to rain, which was just lovely!  I went to brunch at bruxie with my parents then headed to the grocery store for soup stuff. I made yummy chicken tortilla soup & it was delicious...the perfect soup for a perfectly rainy and cold day! magno did this..

later in the day magnos mom came over and we watched scary movies & finally got to see all her pictures from her trip to mexico 2 weeks ago.  As usual, she brought back tons of stuff for us!  Magnos family over there is SO sweet and even though ive never met them they always send me stuff! this time was homemade jewelry, little appetizer sticks with guadalajara land marks on them, mexican candy galore, a cute shirt, and this adorable pink coffee mug with built in spoon

this week will be a busy one for me, tying up any loose ends for my nov 9 wedding and having tons of phone meetings with vendors & the bride, and making timelines, and all that fun stuff.  I'll be glad to pick up my glasses on Friday and be able to see again!