Christmas!!! Part 2

So last week we got our outside lights hung, but this weekend we got the piece that really makes the house feel like Christmas...the TREE!

This is my first real Christmas tree and it was quite an adventure getting it. The weather wasn't too kind this past weekend, but that didn't stop us from picking this guy out and bringing him home:

We strung up the lights and hung the ornaments:

Some of the special ornaments that we have already received include two pieces of the Civic Arena from my mother:

It is quite literally a piece of Pittsburgh that we are able to include in our tree. Pretty nifty. We also have a multitude of penguins and a glass wiener dog from Chris' mother:

That isn't the only Lucy themed Christmas decoration we have going on. My Pap-Pap found this cutie who is keeping one of penguins company:

This is getting me super excited for the upcoming holiday. It's beginning to look a look like Christmas...

The Big Chill

This past Saturday I got the opportunity to run in Rutgers' Big Chill 5k with some of my classmates. 

 This 5k was collecting Christmas toys for young children. Although Chris did not run with me (his 'I will only run for puppies and soldiers' rule) he was nice enough to help me pick out a toy. At first, I wanted to get a Barbie, but they only had blondes. As a proud brunette, that simply wasn't happening. I had much better luck with the boys' toys. We found a Hot Wheels set that included a Porsche and a Shark car:

Although this race was called the Big Chill, it was pretty nice out (for December that is). I had a great time and walked away with some cool swag:

I'm looking forward to more running and hoping that it stays a mild winter. 

Yay...Flooring!

So while I was having a very unsuccessful Sunday with the wallpaper, Chris was having a really good day with the flooring. Last week the kitchen looked like this:

The fridge was pulled away from the wall, but he had gotten a solid start. Now it looks like this:

The fridge is back where it belongs and he took care of the difficult part around the cabinets. This isn't the most impressive part of his Sunday. That would be the dining room:

That is really an improvement! Now if only I could steal some of his mojo for that wallpaper this weekend!

Ugh...Wallpaper

So I mentioned last week that I started on the wallpaper in the kitchen and didn't get very far.

Well, I spent the better part of Sunday working on this very wall...and to be honest I didn't get very far.

I'll admit it is much further than last week, but it isn't very encouraging:

The wallpaper just refuses to come off in strips. Oh well, can't get too discouraged...because there is no quitting in the middle of this home improvement job. This is a very visible wall in quite possibly the most used room in the house...whoops! I'll just keep scrapping away. 

Christmas!!! Part 1

So it is December now and I am just starting to get into the Christmas mood. Chris is insistent on doing Christmas this year - real tree and all. The first part of this is getting the lights on the house. When we returned from Pittsburgh for Thanksgiving many of our neighbors already had their lights up - some going much further than others (yea, there is a lighted pig in a Santa suit...idk). Chris has been talking about getting lights for the house for several weeks now. This past weekend we finally got around to it.

We decided to go simple this year. I wanted just white lights, some icicle lights and some for the front tree. Chris wanted LEDs, same brand so we had the same shade of white. Easier said than done. We bought two Targets out of the lights we needed and still could have used more:

Chris strung the lights on the porch and the top of the tree, while I did the bottom:

This being my first light stringing experience, I was shocked at how little one string of lights covers. Four strings and the tree wasn't completely covered - and it's a small tree. Even after all of that, I am happy with how it turned out.

It's nice and simple. And maybe next year when we get more lights we can add on it. Not too shabby for our first year.