Scenes from a 26th birthday

Truthfully, 26 was a hard one to come to terms with.

For some reason this one felt big. UPPER twenties, you say? Nah, I'm pretty comfy at 25. 

But the day came, as it does every year on April 12th, and let me tell you—Drew couldn't WAIT to give me my birthday present. My goodness. For literally two months the guy has been asking, "Want your birthday present tonight?!" He was so excited to give it to me. So I stayed up the night before to unwrap it the minute it turned midnight on my birthday. It was an Apple Watch! I've wanted one for about two years! I like the idea of tracking my runs with it, and also I just really wanted to look cool like all the other peeps who wear them. Drew has had one since Christmas (spoiled brat), and I've been jealous of his ever since. 

But, of course, he didn't just get me ANY old Apple Watch. Nope. This particular color had actually been discontinued, but he knew I reaaaaalllly wanted this one, so he found it. I love it. 

After staying up late to open the watch, Drew had the brilliant idea to get up early and go to BREAKFAST. I do love a good Thursday morning trip to Cafe Capp. 

BUT when the alarm went off at 6 a.m. (Drew usually doesn't have to wake up until about 7:45) he was really regretting this idea. Somehow, he did eventually manage to get out of bed. We took Arden to my mom's so that she could take her to Lindsay's house and we could go eat solo. (Arden isn't always a ray of sunshine when she has to get up early, so she didn't get the invite to breakfast.) I'm fairly certain that Drew was half asleep the entire meal, but the guy gets an A for effort—that's for SURE. 

 Cafe Cappuccino appropriately makes a really great cappuccino. And of course, you better believe I got a giant chocolate chip pancake. BIRTHDAY BREAKFAST, GO BIG.

You know, I don't love attention. I'm not really a fan of my birthday in general. In fact, when our boss said "Happy birthday, Kaylee!" I said "I like your dress!" 

I didn't choose the awkward life, the awkward life chose me. 

I'd much rather it be someone else's day. That probably has something to do with me being a 9. But my sweet friend Hannah hung up some pom pom streamers on my office door and that's fun. She also brought me my SECOND cappuccino of the day in Starbucks form, and I'm definitely of the mind that you can't ever be over-caffeinated. That was a morning-maker. I'd also like to point out the pretty flowers Drew had sent to the office. That was a nice touch. 

For lunch my friends surprised me with a Chick-fil-a party and a pile of chocolate chip cookies—and I mean you truly, truly can't top that in my world. After all, I've said more than five times that my last meal will be Chick-fil-a. So that felt appropriate. 

I like my friends a lot. Even when they read embarrassing emails that I sent when I was a tiny, insecure intern aloud to a group of people on my birthday. ;) 

It's okay. Remembering that I like to get a large tea at Chick-fil-a made up for it in spades. 

For dinner, we went to my Mom's. She made a yellow cake with homemade chocolate icing and THAT is what dreams are made of. Then Drew and my sisters tried to get Arden to dance. Let me tell you, NOTHING has the ability to make you look/feel more dumb than a toddler. I stand by that statement. See video for evidence. 

When we got home I took my first bath in our new tub, ate more cake that we brought home from Mom's, and went to bed before 11. :) It was a really great birthday. 

We're about to go into a really busy season—not just at work, but in personal life, too, so I'm soaking up this quiet birthday weekend. It will be the last quiet weekend for a while...

April 21st | Long run & Kam's first wedding shower 

April 28th | Long run & Kam's second wedding shower (which I'm hosting)

May 6th | Half marathon day 

May 12th | Kam's wedding day!

May 13th | Mother's Day 

May 18th-20th | BIRTHDAY TRIP TO AUSTIN 

May 30th | Memorial Day weekend 

June 2nd | Wedding in North Carolina 

Phew! This introvert is tired just looking at that lineup.

So the standout weekend here is, of course, Kam's wedding weekend. BUT ALSO I'm really excited for May 18th. Drew and I took that day off of work and we're staying at this fun hotel at the Domain called Archer for the weekend. I also somehow managed to snag tickets for a comedy show that I've been dying to go to (Bobby Bones, anyone?) and other than that, I plan to spend the weekend shopping, eating fun brunches, and putting my feet up. 

Since my birthday falls so close to tax day and Drew is an accountant, we aren't usually able to make plans on the weekend right after. And since I can't miss my long runs this close to the race, there was no reason to plan a fun weekend trip until after May 6th, anyway. And with May 12th being Kam's wedding, May 18th it was. We haven't been able to make it to Austin just for fun in a pretty long time and I'm ready to be back. 

Thanks so much to everyone who pitched in to make my birthday grand. It was really such a good time, and it's days like April 12, 2018 that remind me how grateful I am for the people around me who make life fun. Even the mundane, non-birthday days have sunny skies with you people! XO. 

Pink bathroom no more

Everyone loves a good before and after post, am I right?

Well, ask and you shall receive.

Because after about 2 1/2 weeks of renovation, our pink bathroom is as it should be—a thing of the past.

We've still got a few things to do—for example, the shower curtain isn't even back up yet. It needs some color added in, a couple of new bath mats, a plug replaced, a few small touch-ups, etcetera, etcetera. But I thought why not give you a peek?

The whole reno was just as much of a headache as we thought it would be. Things get off schedule fast and then the disappointment ensues. But thank goodness we had a good contractor helping us out, otherwise this would've taken months. 

Previously, this bathroom had vinyl flooring. Not great and hard to keep clean. 

The new tile is from Lowe's. It's called "Style Selections Leonia Silver" in the 6x24 inch size. Check it out linked: here. It was cheap, which was its biggest selling point because every tile option we looked at was so expensive when you have to buy 130 square feet of it. I probably read a zillion reviews on this tile in particular, and my main worry was that it would be a cheap product in general. But so far, so good, and our contractor didn't have any trouble cutting it or laying it.

This dang vanity was a headache and a half. The matching piece of marble backsplash broke during shipping, and the manufacturer has a weird replacement policy. (Basically they won't send the replacement piece of marble backsplash to you in one piece—they have to send it to you in two pieces for you to glue together. Which would then look really cheap with a huge seam in the marble.) So I decided to do subway tile backsplash to match the shower surround. It wasn't exactly what I'd envisioned with the round mirror (which I'd already ordered at that point) but it works fine. Our contractor was impressed with the quality of the vanity and it looks nice, so it does the job. Check out the vanity linked: here. It was the most expensive piece of the bathroom remodel, but we couldn't beat the price since it came with the cabinet, undermount sink, faucet, hardware and the Carrara marble countertops. These seemingly small things add up FAST. 

This pendant light hanging in the center of the vanity is about to get replaced with two brass pendants linked: here. They'll hang on either side of the mirror instead of oddly off center like it is lining up currently. In this pic I'm standing in the center to try to illustrate just how off center it is—it really bugs. But it's gonna be cute!

Of course, the famous stained glass window had to go. We replaced it with a normal picture window and installed some really traditional style trim that I love. Learn how to do it yourself on this blog linked: here. 

 I love this tub. It's so much deeper than the old one and a lot prettier. See it linked: here. But if you get it, don't forget to buy this matching overflow drain piece in whatever finish you like best. You'll need it for the plumber to finish the installation. 

This subway tile is Arctic White by Daltile and the grout color is Oyster Gray. Linked here is the shower faucet trim kit we went with. As you can see, I really mixed metals with the chrome trim kit and the brass towel bar. I would've loved brass finishes on everything, not just the towel bars, mirror and brass pendants that are on their way, BUT quality brushed brass is expensive. So I decided to mix chrome and brass—which I actually think ended up looking fun! Plus, the brass accessories are easy switch outs if it ever goes out of style. 

As you can see, we cut it really close on the toilet fitting after having the vanity installed. Sheesh. Over there to the right of the vanity you can see where there's still a bit of electrical work to do.

 I wonder if I'll miss seeing myself from so many different angles.
NOPE.

We bought our towel bars and our mirror from CB2 which is Crate and Barrel's new more modern line. The mirror we bought with a Crate and Barrel gift card leftover from our wedding! But these super cool hex towel bars (linked here) were a snap purchase when we were visiting the Domain in Austin over Easter weekend. We stopped into their storefront there just to look around and ended up with two towel bars, the toilet paper bar and the hand towel hanger.

Here's a closer look at the second towel bar and toilet paper bar. I love them.

And I am obsessed with these towels that I got on sale at Anthropologie. I wanted the matching bath mat but $$$. I'm going to save my pennies and snag one soon. 

There's still a lot to be done to finish up this cutie little bathroom remodel—like adding add some color to make it look less "50 shades of gray"—but it'll get there! We've really had a lot of fun with it, and it makes our home so much more comfy and practical for us. I've wanted a bathtub that I could actually take a bath in since the day we moved in, and this factor alone is going to make our house feel more like home (the old tub drain was rusting out). Drew even bought me a box of bath bombs for Easter because he knew how pumped I've been to soak. Cute.

The pink bathroom was funky and fun, and we'll miss that novelty factor of it, but we are so happy to have a space that we are proud to show off. I'll update you as it gets closer to complete.