Gone to Carolina

We're in North Carolina! We've already been sunburned from the beach and the pool, eaten alive by mosquitoes, and survived a week of camping and there's still two weeks left! I'm loving all the time with my family and the accents and the heat and the amazing food! I feel kind of torn about leaving in a few weeks; I'm excited to move into our new apartment, but I'm sad about being so far away from so many people I love. For now though, I'm enjoying my time here and not thinking too much about the future.

Last week Daniel and I went to Girl's Camp with my stake. I was an adult level leader over Jillian's group and Daniel was the "lifeguard" (he's not certified to be a real lifeguard, hence the quotes) and waterfront coordinator. He was also a part-time cook and helper to whoever needed him. Everyone was SO appreciative of him, it warmed my heart when people would stop me and ask me to thank Daniel for them for a task he helped with!

My tan is coming along nicely thanks to the abundant sunshine. I think I'll miss that the most in Wisconsin, the sun doesn't come out as much as I'd like. It turns out that our place in Milwaukee is about two blocks from where a family friend grew up, it's crazy to hear how the area has changed.

There are a lot more things happening, but the pool is calling my name. I'll post again if the weather gets yucky and keeps me inside.

And now I'll leave you with this. I've always had a soft spot in my heart for Weird Al...





-Jenn

Home Improvement

Daniel and I have been acquiring amazing Craigslist and WG&R finds recently, my poor in-laws are running out of room in the basement! Here are some of our most recent additions...

Unfortunately, I didn't take a "before" picture of this dresser. We bought it for $50 and it had a medium brown finish. Daniel sanded it down to the bare wood (I helped a little), then we stained it a dark brown. We took up a third of the garage for two and a half weeks, but it's totally worth it.

I did the drawers and the second coat on the sides and Daniel did the top and the first coat on the sides.

 It's not perfect, but there's a sense of pride in looking at something you helped create!

Our awesome TV. 37", 1080p. Quite a leap from our dinky 20" analog in Provo, this is probably our best Craigslist find!

 We picked up this stand for $35 and it is everything we've been looking for. Since we have dark brown couches, we want some lighter pieces for the living room. I kind of wish there were drawers or door or something, but other than that it's perfect!

TV stand + TV

 This papasan chair is my new best friend. $30 at an estate sale. It is seriously my favorite thing. It's comfy and in amazing shape and since it's a lighter wood, it's most def going in the living room.

 Ahhh!

 Daniel LOVES this thing. We were trying to decide between a coffee table or an ottoman, and...

We found something that's both!

Storage too!

Not pictured...
* The headboard (we used the ship-to-store option, hopefully it'll be here in the next week or so)
* King-size mattress (killer deal at WG&R)
* Light blue sheet set (500 thread count)
* White down comforter (great for Wisconsin winters)
* Dark brown bedskirt (hopefully it matches the headboard)

Things we still need...
* Bedside tables
* An end table (or two) for the living room
* An area rug for the living room. Maybe
* A washer and dryer
* All the bathroom stuff

Each thing we get makes us more excited for our new place! We'll be sure to take lots of pictures once we move in!

-Jenn

Madison, Milwaukee, and Marks

Last Sunday we went down to Madison to hang out with Stephen and Meliah and crew and attend Anna's violin recital. I snapped this picture of Anna and Mark on the way back to the car

I think it's pretty adorable!

We found an apartment! Behold our new abode in Milwaukee

(Google Maps and Paint)

As you can see, we're going to live in a brick fourplex with some awesome neighbors. It's on a quiet street with two bedrooms, one bathroom, a big kitchen (we can fit a table and chairs and still have plenty of room), a big living room (which is totally separated from the kitchen), a basement with a storage locker and washer/dryer hook-ups, and a little yard in the back. It's about 7 minutes to the med school, 15 minutes to church, and 20 minutes to the airport. The landlady is awesome and said if we wanted to, she'll supply a neutral colored paint of our choice and we can really make the place our own. The place is officially available July 1, but since we'll be in NC until July 9, we'll just move in when we get back. I think the best part is that this place is $650/month, which is what we were paying in Provo for a one bedroom apartment. Yay deals!

Since we finally have a place, Daniel and I started our furniture adventure this week. We went to several stores and quickly realized that furniture is expensive. But we found a couch and loveseat for $500 at a place called WG&R, Daniel is totally smitten

(Both from WG&R website)

These guys are made of bonded leather and are officially colored walnut. Now we're debating on getting a coffee table or ottoman, feel free to chime in if you love one or the other.

Since we were already out and about, we thought it would be fun to check out this place called Half Price Books, Magazines, Records, etc. and see if they had any good records we could use for our album wall. Instead of getting records of modern artists (Foo Fighters, Coldplay, etc.), we decided to go for more classic albums. We picked these bad boys up for about $5

Born in the USA by Bruce Springsteen and John Denver's Greatest Hits. I thought it would be funny to do this

 Hahahaha!

We also found Silverbird by Mark Lindsay. So we bought it and presented it to our Mark Lindsay

Spitting image.

Also on the list to buy: a TV, dresser(s), side tables for the bedroom, end tables for the living room, a washer and dryer, and a bed. Thank goodness for Craigslist!

On a final, random note, these are the most comfortable pants I've ever owned. I think my mom got them for me, and I love them

-Jenn

PS: NC in 3 weeks!

Posh pad

Tomorrow, Daniel and I are off to Milwaukee where we will tour about a dozen different apartments. Hopefully we will find "the one" and move in mid-July-ish (but I'm sort of hoping it's sooner than that). All week we've been talking about decor ideas and we have some awesome plans! Here are some of our favorites...

* I mentioned in a previous post my love of cheese grater lights. Since we'll be renting we probably won't be able to do any major projects, but I did find some cheese grater lamps that should suffice...

(Courtesy of Google Images)

I think I want to try taking of those multi-arm lamps (is that what you even call them?) and adding cheese graters to the ends.

* On Monday we went to Goodwill for a little bit and found the record section. We picked the best album covers we could find and decided that having an album wall would be awesome. I've been scouting out eBay and music websites for some cheap vinyl from our favorite artists and have been pleasantly surprised with the selection. We're hoping ours looks something like this...

(Both from Google Images)

* We got a Pier 1 gift card for our wedding, so we went to the store in Appleton today to check out the selection. Daniel pointed these out hanging on a wall and I was instantly smitten...

(Google Images)

So this isn't the exact thing, but I couldn't find a picture of all three of the Pier 1 ones together, so this is the best I could do. I don't know why I love these oversized utensils, but I do. Unfortunately, they run about $70 each, so we're going to have to save up before we can get them, but when we do, our kitchen is going to be the coolest kitchen ever!

I'm bringing my fancy "new" camera (it's one of Jeff's old ones that he passed on to me, it's still way nicer than anything I would buy myself) with me tomorrow to take pictures of each place so when we're reviewing them later we can actually see what they look like, I'll definitely be checking to make sure there's enough room for all of our decorating ideas!

-Jenn

PS: Daniel and I will be in Wilmington in exactly one month! Woo!

New Look

This is Scott and Mark, Kendra's brothers and Daniel's uncles...

If you look closely, you'll see that their hair is upside down: it's on the bottom of their heads instead of on top.

Daniel has accepted his fate and is going the way of the Larson. Prepare to be amazed!

This is the Daniel you all know and love...

Clean face and blue BYU t-shirt 

Clean face and blue striped polo 

Clean face and blue button-up

Daniel's side of the closet is PACKED with polos, button-ups, and BYU gear. And practically all of it is blue. It was not hard to find a hundred other pictures exactly like these.

This is Daniel today...

We found the shirt at Gap on sale for $7. We got the shoes at Target for $20 along with these slip-ons, mostly because Daniel usually wears one pair of shoes all the time and trashes them in a few months, meaning we have to buy him new ones several times a year, so I think adding more shoes to his collection will help add longevity to all of his footwear. The facial hair is also a little bit of delayed rebellion for all the times he had to shave at BYU. It's not as good as Scott's or Mark's, but he's on his way!

Anyway, I like it. It's nice to see him in something other than blue stripes!

This is me today, just for fun...

What do you think of Daniel's new look?

-Jenn

PS: Shout-out to my friend DaNae for being my eighteenth follower!