Weekend Recap: Well Lived Life

Back in the saddle this Monday after a weekend that marked the transformation of a house into our home.  Not to get too corny on you (sidenote: the whole Corny thing now has new meaning, and increased use in our house what with being Newly Cornwells..) but last night D and I were watching the Olympics on our new tv in the living room (an Olympics purchase, duh!), and we both commented on how we finally felt settled for the first time in the eight weeks we've lived here. 

What with the constant travel this summer for work and fun, I think it was hard for us both to remember that this feeling would finally come - the constant to do lists with "MUST GET DONES" would subside and that we'd be left with a smaller, "should get done...eventually" list and a house we're proud to invite people to.

We were finally able to relish some of that sweet feeling with the Olympics party this past Friday.  We had lots of Americana going on all over the house - I scored most of our decks from the Hobby Lobby 4th of July sale for 80% off and supplemented with some Olympics printables.  Glow sticks, flags and hamburgers at the ready we watched the sometimes-baffling opening ceremonies with some key friends and fam.

chandelier decks in the dining room

official London Olympics posters at the front

mini flags EVERYWHERE

it took me awhile to hang this puppy

the kitchen decks complete with AMERICA sign found for 80% off, I'm already pumped for the 4th

It was so fun to share our plans and progress with family and was a great kick off to a weekend of Olympics watching and sun. 

We also got to hang out with our sweet nephew S, not once but twice this weekend!  He cheered on the US at our house on Friday and we got to babysit him Saturday and got a taste of babydom.  We learned that two year olds have expert hearing, and that we're super lucky to have the mix of carpet and hardwood in the house.  We also checked out the pool for the first time with S and found that the lazy river was a happy compromise for all three of us.

The weather was SOOO gorgeous on Saturday, it was like a crazy reprieve from all this insane heat and humidity.  The pool was perfect and surprisingly not crowded! That evening while enjoying a homemade watermelon margarita popsicle (recipe from here and SUPER delicious) we thought we'd see if we could push our luck with the good weather and entertaining luck from the night before and try to rile up a group to watch a movie outdoors.  We found some takers and fired up our projector and enjoyed the almost crisp air and the Jack Black/Owen Wilson/Steve Martin flick, The Big Year.  It was not what I was expecting but good none the less.

movie on the garage

We also set up this awesome chandelier my in laws got me for my birthday awhile back.  It was a fun pop of light hanging in the dress while we watched the movie.

it has 3 layers but we only filled 2 of them up.  lesson learned, need bigger, slower dripping candles

All in all, this weekend was AWESOME and for some reason totally unexpected.  I think we forgot how to enjoy ourselves for a bit there, which sounds completely crazy.  We'll keep forging on in our improvements and trial/error home ownership but we're definitely going in the right direction focusing on the things that truly make up a well lived life.

xoxo,

KC



Weekend Recap: Committed

After some harassment from a friend regarding my consistency with blogging (or lack there of) I'm trying to start the week off right with a blog, here we go!

This weekend we traveled to Cleveland to see the sweet sweet wedding of one of my good friends D to his lovely bride M.

It's funny because after you're married you look at weddings a bit differently.  You recognize all the details that went into it and the stress leading up to it and get to experience all that melt away at the reception.  It was a mini reunion of sorts with some of my MOST FAVORITE people in the world and to top it off we met a few new-to-us friends so it was all around great.

This was the groom's cake.  We went to Mizzou and he was a former Oscar Meyer Hotdogger.

Outside of the obvious connotation between wedding and commitment, Dan and I also made a commitment in the United lounge (not switching from my beloved AA, don't worry).  To actually stop being wienies and have our first get together at the new house.  Father's Day aside, I've been holding off on hosting any big events until we get the details wrapped up on our house.  I realized after flipping through my latest House Beautiful that this simply isn't going to happen anytime soon, and furthermore, most of our friends either A) have gone through the process of buying and redoing a house, or B) don't care about all the crazy details that I think will make our break our first impressions.

So without further ado: get ready for Olympics Opening Ceremonies Celebration 2012 and Casa Cornwell!  I immediately started planning our menu (Americana eats like hamburgers and hot dogs, watermelon, corn on the cob and jelly beans) and decor (RED WHITE AND BLUE EVERYTHING)

Here's what I'm thinking in terms of deets:

Lots of these all over the place. via.

These as prereads, duh.via.

Some of these. prosecco please. via

Until then, I'm pulling another unAmerican move and heading to Toronto for the week for work.  I'm thinking of it as researching different countries in prep for the Olympics.  Sidenote: one of my Canadian colleagues' sister is actually an Olympian and playing for the women's Canadian basketball team - she's going to cheer her on, EEK!!  So jealous!

I'm taking the day off on Friday to finish up some final house deets and prep for the party.  Promise for some posts filling you in on house progress in between.

GO USA!

xoxox,

KC