Norwegian Hardwood - Downstairs Edition

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When we first decided to fix up the Holland house for sale, there was one item in particular that seemed like an obvious 'must-do.'

At some point, one of the previous owners had covered up all of the hardwood in this home with carpet. I can't fathom what would possess a person to do such a thing, but my best guess is that they had children or something (personally I'd still rather have hardwood in that situation... less to clean when somebody spills... but we'll see when I get there).

We had never seen the hardwood floors in their entirety, but we had pulled up the corners of the carpet to see what was underneath. It's always a bit of a gamble, because for all you know, the floor underneath could be covered in glue or studded with unsightly nails. But, we took a leap of faith and decided to pull it up.

In strips, it was pulled out of the room and trashed. We later learned we should have saved some of it, but that's another story for another blog post...

It made a pretty incredible and immediate difference in the aesthetic of the house.

Once we had successfully revealed the hardwood floors downstairs, it was time to clean. We didn't want to use too much chemical on a newly naked floor, so I bought basic hardwood cleaner and brought over a swiffer to clean it.

There was a dance party, attendance of 1, and the floors ended up perfectly clean.

Finished with the downstairs floors, the next step was tackling the upstairs of the house. Let's just say it was full of hiccups...

WHAT ABOUT YOU?

• Have you ever ripped out carpet? Did you think it was hard? 
• Thoughts on carpet vs hardwood?

Birthday Weekend One

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I'm extremely fortunate that my family is into birthdays. For proof, see last year's self-guided gangster tour (which we did for my birthday), my sister's birthday last year, my mom's birthday dinner, or this year's birthday weekend (for my fiance's birthday). Long story short, we do birthdays right.

This year, my fiance and I will be in New York for my actual birthday. Don't let that fool you into thinking it means I won't get any celebrating time with my family. Au contraire, mon ami.

Happy to see my mom!

On Friday, I hopped on a train in Chicago and took it up the north shore to see my parents. My mom picked me up, and we stopped for a few errands. It was doing a really freaky snow thing, where it looked like instead of flakes, it was snow pellets.

Snow Pellets?

My favorite corgi was quite happy to see me. She acts like a cat, so when she even comes to greet me, it's a big event.

We got home and she cooked up a fabulous and healthy meal, complete with kefir ice cream with berries on top and a candle!

My last task before leaving was to clean my room on Saturday. I never officially "moved out" in a big way - so, a ton of my clothes and personal items were still there, and there was a lot of purging that needed to be done. I started at 9am on Saturday, took a break for a grilled cheese around noon, but pretty much worked until like 5pm. It. Was. AWFUL.

The good part? During my hour off for lunch, I was showered in gifts. Earrings and watches and wallets, oh my!

 

Back in Chicago, I was far too exhausted from cleaning to do anything big. We walked over to Aberdeen Tap and I got a wedge salad and a vodka soda.

Sunday, we walked to church, then walked to the verizon store (I'm debating between iPhone 5 and HTC DNA), where I wasted an hour of everyone's time before deciding I still wasn't ready to make the decision. Humph.

Later, after many hours of cleaning and re-organizing my closet and drawers to fit the clothes I brought back from my parents', we took another long walk/run before dinner.

And then, we finally booked our honeymoon villa! Can't wait to tell you more about where we're going - another day, another post! But here's how excited we were after pressing "Submit."

Woohoo! We booked our honeymoon!

Overall, my birthday is off to a good start... Other than the cleaning, that is. Can't wait for New York and my real, official birthday! I wonder if Justin will propose... oh wait, that already happened.