beadboard.

i am having a huge craving to put up beadboard in our house.
then i saw this paintable beadboard wallpaper from home depot. have any of you used it before? the reviews act like it is the best thing ever. i'm a little bit scared, but i think i want to do it.

i mean look at these:

Source: bhg.com via Julie on Pinterest

Source: bhg.com via Kacey on Pinterest

Source: potterybarnkids.com via Amy on Pinterest

centsational girl just re-did her powder room and her beadboard has set me over the top. i think i need to do this somewhere in our house.

the only hiccup is that justin hates hates hates painting so he would probably not be down with this...

house hunters international.

justin and my recent guilty pleasure has been recording and watching house hunters international.

first of all, it is on allll the time. hgtv must have struck it rich with that show.

so bear with me as i dream for a second.
if we didn't live in the good ole state of alabama or even the states (as they say quite frequently on the show)

here are a few places i could picture relocating:

italian countryside.

but for real. ah-mazing view.

[source]

this girl was checking out berlin on a recent episode...it sounded pretty cool.

[source]

this little tower might be a cool place to live near.

[source]

we saw an episode recently in stockholm sweden. the town looked pretty neat, but the apartments were costly. but then again most prices are a little more steep than tuscaloosa :)

[source]

but right now i am 100% happy at our home sweet home.

bye cedar crest

this summer we have seen the progression in cleaning up after the tornado as they inched closer and closer to bulldozing our townhouse.

justin went back in one last time and managed to grab a few more things that were salvageable, thankful for that. the ceiling had caved in and things were pretty nasty inside. i guess anything left exposed to the elements for two months would be gross...

[you can see the sinking roof on the back.]

we stopped by at night when they were halfway finished with the demo to collect a few mementos. we grabbed a couple bricks and our address placard before the bulldozing, but then we also got two window panes. hopefully we can make something special to remind us of God's provision during the storm and in the weeks after.

on our way out of town we stopped and took a couple more pictures before it was all cleared away.

it's tough to picture, but there was our complex and another set of townhouses plus lots of mature trees in this area. it's heartbreaking to remember all that was lost in the storm.

but we are thankful to have closure on our old place as we continue to get excited about our new house. we close on it as soon as we get back in town from colorado! 

it is still surreal to think about everything that has happened since april, truly thankful and in awe of God during this time.

surprise visitor

let me preface this by saying i am not a cat person. never have been, probably never will be.

...so last night, i heard a cat purring really loud. both justin and i were confused about where it was coming from. after searching around to find this cat, i looked out the window over the sink and saw this...

yes, that is a cat. it jumped up on our window sill...which is pretty high. this made me laugh and i might like cats a little more after this one.