All Work and ALWAYS Play!

The Anderson's had an HGTV moment today.
Yup.
Calendars marked.
Time cleared.
Cell phones thrown in the trash...
Come on people! Not really! We had to use them for instructions!

All that to be said. WE GOT STUFF DONE!!
There were a few things around our apartment that most renters would call upon their landlord to fix. But we, being the people that don't like to do things the easy way, decided to take on the challenge of fixin' her up instead!
And so...our list looked something like this...
1. Replace back garage door.
2. Paint front door.
3. Replace handles on windows that had fallen off and/or needed Stone Cold Steve Austin to open.
4. Fix back screen door.
5. Rearrange living room for fall season (since we can only have our couch in one place during the summer due to the awesome window AC that we have pumpin' the cool air to keep us alive in this crazy place they call the Central Valley).

Check. Check. Check. Not so much check (but saved for another day). AND CHECK!!

Here are some pics from our "DIY Kinda Saturday"!

Naturally....as any sane DIY couple should...we started the day at the Farmers Market for a nice cup of coffee and...

Bacon on a stick. Yes folks...it is disgusting and life-alteringly amazing all at the same time!

From there...we got to business.

This was our old back garage door....please note the gapping empty whole in between the front and the back of the door. That is because it was hollow and basically made from construction paper. 

 Erik workin' real hard on our new beautiful door from the Habitat for Humanity ReStore!

Project 1...COMPLETE! Lookin' good!!

On to the window handles...what a hard workin' guy!

I was in charge of the "Red Door" project! 

 SOOOOO GREAT!!!

 Um seriously...how hot is that red door?! (and the guy behind it!)

 On to the living room "rearrange"! Here are some before and afters!

Before:

 After:

 Overall...I'd say one crazy awesome, super productive, and wonderful DIY Saturday! I think we are ALL a little tired.

Dreams Really Do Come True

It has seriously been a month...a little more...since we got home from our trip to Ireland and I realized that I didn't say anything about it!

Well...I haven't said anything about anything really! :)

For the sake of not making people look through the exasperating number of pictures on Facebook...and in reflection of the trip of a lifetime...I have decided to make a little post about it!

(Also, in honor of Ellie Gundlach for being so patient with me putting pictures on my blog!)

So...here a few highlights from our trip!

First thing is first...our entire reason for the trip was to go and celebrate the wedding of my dear friend Emma and her now husband Yannic. We felt so honored to be a part of this incredible celebration of two of the most incredible people I have ever known. We made new friends with amazing people from Switzerland and spent some much needed soul time with old friends from many years ago! Honestly, we could have travelled the world and not found a better time anywhere else. It was such a blessing to be with all of these people, laughing, crying, reminiscing, and enjoying life!

 After our time at the wedding, we went into Belfast to see my old stomping grounds while in YWAM! This is the church that we lived at while we served. It was crazy how many flashbacks I had while walking up the street and back down to the City Centre...including walking down to the mailbox with the Teen Squad to mail a letter to Erik confessing my love for him! Wow...

 We also enjoyed some breakfast at Cafe Nero, including those delicious scones! My husband is so good looking!

From Belfast, we headed up to the North Coast! I think (as far as road tripping went) this was our favorite portion of the trip! We toured the Bushmills Whiskey Distillary...a dream come true for Erik...visited the Giant's Causeway...and stayed in Port Rush for an evening of GREAT food and beach walking! 

 From there, we travelled to the South and ventured into Galway! We spent one of the days driving through the Connemara National Park, which felt just like a storybook...or Lord of the Rings...

We stopped by the Kylemore Abbey....crazy beautiful...and the oldest Victorian garden in Ireland!

Our adventures continued and took us to the Cliffs of Moher, where I totally reenacted the beginning of Princess Bride! Ok...not really...but it was completely breathtaking...and super windy!

 We also got to meet up with some great friends of our from Modesto, Larry and Missy Stewart! We had lunch with them in Killarney and caught up on all of our adventures in travelling!

 On our last day in Ireland, we made a special stop at the K Club for Erik! Not only did we get to take in all the greatness of the golf course...but we got to see the Ryder Cup and the whole shrine of pictures that they have to commemorate the event and the golfers! It was like a little paradise for Erik!

Our last evening we stayed with my friend Tom outside of Dublin! He took us for an evening of fish and chips and a walk on the pier! It was the perfect way to end an incredible trip!

To sum it up....

Even these pictures can't tell the full story of our amazing journey! It was truly incredible!