27

Ben and I are celebrating our 27th month as Mr. and Mrs. To celebrate I thought I'd share 27 fun facts about us.

I did this once before and enjoyed the challenge of finding facts you may not know about us. 

1. I would love to make all of our own cleaning and beauty products. So far I make our laundry detergent, body scrub (which I use to shave my legs), tub cleaner, and hand soap. Next on the list - Windex, cleaning wipes, floor cleaner. 
2. Ben would love to make all of the furniture in our house. He tries but trouble is he doesn't have a wood shop. One day I hope he gets his wood shop! 
3. I could watch The Beauty and the Beast on repeat....all day. Right now... I'm watching it for the second time today. 
4. Ben could survive never reading another book as long as he had the book series; A Song of Ice and Fire. 
5. I love reading historical fiction based on the Tudors (and King Henry's wives).
6. Ben seriously helps with house upkeep. I don't know what I would do without him. If I ever complain about the lack of work he does around the house - slap me in the face - for real. He does so much! 
7. I haven't painted my toes in about 6 months. This is HUGE. Until six months ago I ALWAYS wore nail polish.
8. Ben is becoming a clean freak.
9. I am becoming quite messy 
10. Ben is artistic. He excels at drawing furniture, room floor plans, etc. but in a drawing match he will beat me - every time. 
11. I don't know if I want to be a teacher. I love teaching. I love kids. Just not sure what is in store for me. 
12. Ben hopes to go back to college for a second degree to dig deeper into the career he is in now. 
13. I hope to go to grad school - maybe for social work. 
14. Ben will attack any bag of chocolate chips that I leave in the fridge. It is his weakness. 
15. I won't wear short shorts in public. The shortest shorts I wear in public end right before my knees.
16. Ben changes his outfit more than a teenage girl. 
17. Once I get home from work I change into my PJs and refuse to leave the house for the rest of the day. It is just my thing. Once my PJs are on - I am done! 
18. Ben frequently picks out my outfits. He also makes sure I don't leave the house in mismatched clothes. I'm hopeless.
19. I love Ben's beard.
20. Ben once grew his hair out for me.. we both agree short hair is best now! 
21. We both love the movie series - the Ocean movies (11, 12, 13), Lord of the Rings, Rocky, the Bourne movies, and Star Wars (Ben secretly likes the Harry Potter series too).
22. Our favorite stores are IKEA (furniture store), Kingma's (grocery store) and World Market (home decor and other fun goodies from around the world). 
23. Our favorite color scheme is grey, black, white and some random pop of color like purple, yellow, red, green, etc. 
24. We love games! It doesn't take much to convince either one of us to play a game - board games, card games, video games, games our grandparents played as a kid, etc. 
25. Our ideal weekend would include a few long walks, eating at a local restaurant, and a reading or movie marathon. Actually, an ideal weekend for us is one when we don't leave the house. Yup, we are old... 
26. We are working on some big projects.. can't wait to share what we are up to! 
27. It surprises us how much our love has grown in 27 months. There was so much love between us when we were standing in front of our family and friends professing our love to each other on our wedding day. That love is nothing to what we have together now. I see it in Ben's eyes and I feel it in my whole body. We are so blessed! 

Your turn! Any fun facts you want to share? 

SHMILY Part 2

Remember SHMILY? 

If not read up on SHMILY here. 

Ben and I still take turns hiding our two little penguins in varies locations around our home to surprise one another and to remind each other just "how much I love you."

The penguins hung out in Ben's end table for awhile until I took them out and rehid them. Since then the  penguins have been moving all over!! 

Tonight I was reminded just how awesome my husband is and just how much he loves me!

After a long {not so good} day at work I came home and found this in the fridge...

Ben is too good to me!! He seriously rocks my socks off ALL the time! 

Thanks honey! 

Ben has been BUGGING me because he can't find one of the penguins. It has been almost a week.

To test him to see if he even reads my blog {I think he quickly scans it...} I am giving him a BIG hint! 

Check your pockets Ben.... 

It's here!

Apple candles lit.

Starbucks fall drinks consumed.

Extra blankets pulled out.

Browns, oranges, and greens are being worn. 

Windows are shut.

Slippers are on.

Fall is here! 

(okay okay, I know it is not officially Fall but it sure feels like it!)

OH: Week 29

Organize Your Home: Week Twenty-nine

Organize Your Garage

Still working on catching up on these! I'll get there... 
I don't have a garage but here are the steps for those of you who do! 

Steps for this week's challenge:
1. Declutter Your Garage
2. Make a Plan For Your Garage Using Zones: car zone, workshop, storage zone, kids zone, etc.
3. Organize Items You're Keeping In Your Garage
4. Consider Garage Storage Solutions: hooks and pegs, shelves, storage cabinets, overhead storage, etc. 
5. Label and Inventory Your Garage Storage: free printable available here. 

My future garage would look something like this!

Labeled storage for the kids outdoor toys! 

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Garden Center - with all those cabinets and drawers!

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Ben's work space - I'm sure he would keep it organized too.. 

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Back to School

Well...

Summer is officially over!

Back to school I go! 

Part 2

Last week I wrote about the closet cleaning/purging that occurred a few weeks ago. Two weeks ago Ben and I made a trip to IKEA. We have a running list of items we want from IKEA and Ben made the decision to start updating our bedroom. I was always in the mindset of... it is the room people don't see so we don't need to do anything to it.. WRONG! It is probably the most important room in our home. It is where you relax in the evening, the last thing you see and the first thing you see in the morning. The bedroom should be a place of relaxation and order. A while back we decided we will eventually turn our bedroom into a sea of greys, purples and white.. but here is the beginning stages of our bedroom redo.

We bought two new night stands for our bedroom. They sat in our office for a good portion of a week until I put them together one night when Ben was working. I rearranged the room, cleaned it and put it all back together before Ben got home!

Just a reminder of what our bedroom looked like..

Before

During

Putting together Ben's surprise! 

I first pulled everything out of the cabinets. There was a lot! Everything found a home except for a pile of Ben's things and our extra comforter. 

We crammed a lot in those cabinets! 

Everything in Ben's drawer. 

My drawer. 

My side is nearing completion! 

Love Love Love! 

Eventually we are getting matching lamps with purple lamp shades for our night stands. 

My tiny little drawer. Fits everything I needed! 

Half way! 

A sneak peak under our bed. Two long totes (filled with guest pillows) and Gregory resides here as well. I think Justin is going to be Gregory's new owner. 

Sneak peak at another bedroom project. Notice anything funny? Any guesses as to what we are doing with our head board? 

Here is a BIG hint! 

Ben's latest woodworking project. 

I got distracted... 

Hours later and here is where I am at with the room.

(pictures taken the next day)

Still trying to find a home for the comforter and cabinet. 

Small changes but that is more than we have done in this room so we are happy! 

It is the start to something great! 

(sorry for the delay in part 2.. school is starting tomorrow and life got crazy!)