Last week in pictures. And a few words.

I spent a week (8 days actually) all alone last week while my wine-loving husband sipped vino in the Pacific Northwest at Oregon Pinot (yes, as in noir) Camp.

This was the longest we've spent apart since the days of the long-distance thing we did between St. Louis and Albany until I moved back to NY in 2007.

Before he left I kept wondering what the hell I would possibly do to keep myself from going out of my mind with boredom.

In the end, I ended up cramming so much stuff into my week that it kinda flew by.

I worked longer days, went to dinner with girlfriends and planned a few projects.

First up: Project Paint The Nursery.

I got it done in a surprisingly short amount of time but can I tell you?  Hopping up and down off of a ladder and squatting repeatedly at almost 6 months pregnant SUCKS.  I literally hurt everywhere at the end of the day.

Here's a picture of the nursery in progress, currently staged as a guest room, although the curtains, area rug (yes, I'm aware that we're insane to attempt to keep a white rug white with an infant) and giant bear will stay.

And since I take terrible pictures, below is the actual color... it's a nice, soft gray with a hint of taupe.  As husband Brad Pitt said, "they say taupe is very soothing".  Two cookies to whoever can tell me which movie that quote came from.

While the painting was happening inside, the following nightmare was occurring outside.  To prep for our pending renovation, we had to remove a rather large tree that sits smack dab (that is the strangest saying) in the middle of where our new master suite will be.  And we figured that while the tree guys were there, we'd take advantage of it and have them remove several others.  

That resulted in a bucket truck, some sort of dump truck with a claw (that's a technical term, right?) and a chipper parked in my lawn for most of the day.  And did I mention the constant noise?  Not from the trucks.  From the dogs.  Who barked their little heads off each time they saw one of the guys walk past a window or heard a piece of trunk fall to the ground.

At least now we're ready for construction to start :)

On Sunday I attended a good friend's bridal shower.  It was a gorgeous June day and the shower was held in a really pretty tent at a golf course in Saratoga.  It was one of the classier showers I've been to.  (Mine aside.  Duh.)  Except maybe for the panty-line.  Anyone ever seen one of these?  It was cute.  And included panties to wear throughout a marriage... from a lacy thong for the wedding night to everyday hipsters to granny panties.

And let's not forget the dessert station.  This pregnant girl had no shame and loaded up.

Project #2: Home Renovation

We've been planning this renovation for months now and since we're quickly running out of time, I spent the better part of the week researching property setbacks, visiting the town and county in search of an original survey and emailing ideas back and forth with our architect.  This process is far from stress-free but will be so worth it in the end.

Since our house is currently a (teeny) standard 50s ranch with  1,250 square feet, 3 bedrooms and only 1 bath, we knew something would have to change before this child arrived.  So we're adding a master suite with huge walk-in-closet and full bath, a breakfast room, powder room and main floor laundry (quite possibly my favorite feature) as well as expanding our living room by pulling it out onto our existing front porch.  We're also expanding our pantry by turning it into a walk-in versus the tiny reach-in we have now and turning our current master into an open sitting room/play room.

After all of my research gave me the proof  I needed to prove our architect wrong on minimum side yard setbacks, we're moving forward with the plan below.  Now we're just waiting for him to submit the plans to the town for approval and permits.  Once those are in place we'll be ready to excavate, hopefully sometime mid-July, turning our little L-shaped ranch into a giant box.

And I know we're insane but we're really aiming to have this all complete before BB's arrival in October.

Pray for me.

Aside from the boring part of a remodel, I've been having fun picking out new furniture, fixtures, paint colors, flooring and designing our walk-in-closet.  Isn't this lovely?  Look at all of that glorious shoe storage.  Too bad I have to share with husband ;)

I should probably start to plan my weeks out like this more often.  I felt so accomplished by the time Nick got home late Wednesday night.  But we all know me, right?  Lazy procrastinator extraordinaire.  And proud of it :)