Making Progress

I just realized I haven't posted any new photos of our home in a while. We've been in and out of town so much that we haven't done as much as we'd like to the house. However, we *do* have a few rooms done, and I want to show you some additional furniture we've gotten lately. Our kitchen will be completely "done" next week, so I'll post a photo of that very soon. Please keep in mind these are a work in progress, and our list of projects/improvements is about 20 items long! Without further ado...

Formal living room

This is furniture from my Grandma Sara's house. I've had the piano for a while. It was originally my Grandma Sally Wilder's, and I grew up playing it. It's really special to have it now. The nesting tables, chairs and couch are my Grandma Sara's. The cabinet to the right is one we purchased refinished from a friend. Nothing on the walls yet. We have some ideas, but haven't pulled the trigger. Desperately need new blinds and window treatments, a different piano bench cover we're debating on brightly colored pillows for the couch. :-) Where do you get your throw pillows?

Wingback chairs in formal dining room

These were my Grandma Sara's. We're going to reupholster the chairs in probably a teal pattern fabric. Any suggestions of FW reupholsterers or fabric ideas? You can see our new table behind them. More on that in a second.

Formal living room

These marble coffee table and end tables are from my Papa Wilder and Grandma Sally's formal living room (just like the piano). Growing up we spent many happy hours playing at their home. I never thought I'd use them myself, but they really work in our house now.

Formal dining room

I've been dreaming of hosting an honest-to-goodness dinner party for a long time, but we've only got a square kitchen table for 4 and a two-person bistro table. After a lot of deliberation, we settled on this trestle farmhouse table we found through Craigslist. A man actually builds them to specifications in Azle--let me know if you want his info. It was a good price and we're really happy with it. Now... TO FIND CHAIRS. I just can't decide on the chairs for this baby. Ideally, I want neutral linen upholstered like our bed... but I hear linen isn't durable... and we have neutral everything. Second choice, peacock teal chairs from World Market... but they don't have arm chairs to go with it. Plus, they're microfiber. So again I'll ask y'all--suggestions of where to get interesting side chairs? Something traditional but not too fussy. Maybe Parsons chairs...

Formal dining room

This mirror came from my Grandma's house... it used to be hung over the couch in my dad's parents house. The rest of the pictures on the floor... we're still mulling over where to put them. So hard to decorate!

Dining table

Upstairs desk nook

 Upstairs is pretty well done. We're hanging the last few pieces in the upstairs living room and then I can show it to you, and we do need to redo the bathroom wallpaper, but it's fine for now. I'll show you the bathroom another time!

Guest bedroom #1

 This room is pretty much done for now. We call it "the purple room" and I think it looks pretty good so far!

guest bedroom #1

Workout room

This is the room we spend the most time in upstairs. It's so nice to be able to do my workouts at home. We go to the gym every other workout, but the program I do can also be done right here! I love the two giant mirrors.

Well, there you have it. Just wanted to update you guys on the house so far.  I hope to have more things to show you as we get more time working on it!

We are...

Yes folks, the Boatwrights are having a baby! We found out one week ago today, so on March 6. I'm writing this on March 13, 2013--and in exactly eight months (November 13) our little one will be joining the world!

The day I found out, I took several tests over the course of the day. The one in the morning had a faint sign, but any second line means your pregnant. To be sure, I took another one that afternoon. It was an even stronger positive. I went to dinner with a friend on cloud 9. Picked up a jar of spaghetti and a digital test and rushed home to take it.

That test made things so much more real. I was shaking as I set up the table to tell Zach. He was on the phone with my brother, then sending an email, etc. I told him I got him something, and led him with his eyes closed over to the table. After a whole day of not telling anyone, it was such a relief to have my best friend in on our secret. We both started crying tears of happy joy. We'd prayed for a baby, but had really planned on working on it in March. But God said this was the right time.

If you know me AT ALL, what is the first thing I did? Pick up a pregnancy book right? Yeah you're right. I'm such a Hermione. I already had pregnancy books that I was studying to be prepared, so I picked back up on reading. I also made an appointment with a Nurse-Midwife at UNT Health in Fort Worth. I'd visited once before earlier this year, and right now I'm just waiting to get my blood test and meet with the midwife. I don't know what our "birth plan" will look like just yet, but a low-intervention birth in a birthing room attached to a hospital appeals to me the most. I've grown up with relationships with alternative doctors (went to a holistic chiropractor for most issues growing up versus a regular doctor) so I think that idea makes sense to me. We've a long way to go and of course, more research, but this is the first game plan so far.

So this week I've focused on adjusting to the idea that even though I have no symptoms (no morning sickness, thank goodness!) I am definitely pregnant. Zach and I have taken another look at our diet. We usually eat pretty well but the last few months we've been a little lax and enjoyed a lot of wine. Back to fresh organic stuff, less processed food, more protein (for me) and lots more water versus other fluids for me. I thought losing coffee would be awful, but all week leading up to the test I didn't have much of a taste for it anyway (GASP). I decided to just limit myself to one 8 oz cup instead of multiple 12 oz ones. Out of that one cup, I typically only drink half, and it's been great. I feel good and I get my little coffee taste. That has been a blessing. And I've actually toned up after cutting out the extra empty calories.

So today we tried to do a countdown photo. All this time I was counting my "weeks pregnant" from the day I ovulated, which was wrong. Instead of being like 3 weeks pregnant, I realized I'm actually FIVE weeks pregnant. And Baby Boatwright has grown from being a poppy seed last week to a sesame seed. Something about that 5 week mark just made this get real for me!

I have to share about my pinterest FAIL. I love the countdowns that use a chalk board and I had all these grand ideas for my own. I got this tutorial, got a chalkboard from Amazon, got chalk from Michael's, downloaded some fonts to try and designed how it would look on the computer so I could copy it. However, I didn't have a sharpener for my chalk. No biggie right?

Wrong. Instead of a pretty design, it looks like a little kid wrote the design. I don't have the best handwriting anyway--that honor goes to Zach, and my chalk was totally not working for me. Meanwhile the light outside was going away and my hope of getting dinner in the overn before Zach came home slipped away. Zach got home and bless his heart, he was very kind about the board. FInally I got it done and it still looked NOTHING like I'd hoped, but it would do for today. I figure we have several more tries to get it pretty over the weeks. And you ladies with chalkboards have my admiration. Please share your secrets!

***If y'all don't mind or if you're remotely interested, I thought I would keep track of the pregnancy through this blog as well as the rest of our lives. If you're not interested, feel free to scroll on by. I've still got travel recaps and house projects I'll be sharing!***

Montmartre and the Eiffel Tower

La Basilique du Sacre Coeur

Stacy and Jason's apartment in Les Halles

On our second day in Paris, we slept late to get over jet lag. Jason, Stacy, Zach and I stopped at the Gulledge's favorite shawarma stand for a bite to eat and we headed through Rue Montorgueil near their (temporary) apartment in Les Halles on our way to Montmartre.

Shawarma!

Rue Montorgueil

Rue Montorgueil is a shopping area with lots of stalls of food--lots of cool things to look at. We loved it!

Gallette des Rois - French King Cake. Kind of an almond pastry - not like Lousiana king cake

Next, we took the metro to Le Basilique du Sacre Coeur. We rode the Funicular up the stairs and got to see inside the Basilica. This is another place Zach and I have visited several times, but we've never been inside! We couldn't take photos inside, but it was so beautiful!

Sacre Coeur has a beautiful view of Paris.

Jason and Stacy at Sacre Coeur

We wandered around the Montmartre, the former bohemian neighborhood near Sacre Coeur and looked at street art. We grabbed a coffee and some cheese and recharged while we were there.

View from Montmartre

Sacre Coeur

View from Sacre Coeur steps

Macarons!

Old windmill in Montmartre

Stairs in Montmarte

Cappuccino in Montmartre

Deeper into Montmarte is the famed Moulin Rouge. I'm a big fan of the movie, and the area is just so funky. We stopped by for a photo and then went nearby to Bistro Chat Noir. The first time I went to this iconic location, a friend dunked her Aggie ring (study abroad). This time, it seemed fitting to drink absinthe... so I tried it. Not my favorite, but it fit the scene :-) Trivia time: Bistro Chat Noir is located in the Pigalle region, on Boulevard de Clichy. Both Pigalle and Clichy are also designs of Christian Louboutin shoes. :-)

absinthe... tastes kind of like licorice.

The one and only Moulin Rouge

Moulin Rouge

Stacy and I jumped on an air grate to take a photo and our hair went crazy!

After Montmatre, we took the metro over to the Eiffel Tower. Three years exactly from this day, Stacy shot our Day After photos. RIGHT HERE. And three years ago exactly, Jason proposed to Stacy. RIGHT HERE. And now, they live in Paris! Needless to say, it was a really special day three years ago, and on this day as well. We celebrated by re-visiting the Eiffel Tower together and by eating at the same bistro nearby. This was a really wonderful night for all four of us!

Can't get enough of this tower and its sparkles!

Cell phone pic that is now my phone background

FInally, we HAVE to talk about Speculoos. Being a huge Nutella fan, I was skeptical when Stacy made me try a spoonful of this peanut butter-like sweet treat. Surely nothing could top my beloved Nutella? Ladies and gents, I was wrong. Speculoos (known as Biscoff in the US) is made of Speculoos/Biscoff cookies. Crushed into a spread. Seriously amazing. AND THEN... I had it on a crepe. HOLY CREPE.

The shawarma stand (where we ate earlier) also makes crepes.

Both of these are awesome.

Spreading the Speculoos

Look at that happiness right there. Seriously the best one food I ate on this trip!

Notre Dame and Galleries Lafayette

Notre Dame

Bonjour! I'm excited to talk about our anniversary trip. We had such a good time in one of our favorite cities in the world, and also in one of our new favorite cities. You might have seen some photos on Instagram, but I have many more I'll be posting soon. I really write these posts for myself to remember what we did (it's a combo of my journal and my photos). However, if you're planning a trip to Paris or Istanbul, you might get some ideas of things to do and things to eat. It's probably going to take a while to post all of them, so if you want some resources rightthissecond, I have to send you to my dear friend Stacy's new website L'Amour de Paris. More about her in a minute!

Winging over the atlantic. Almost to Paris!

We took an overnight flight to Paris. Due to mechanical problems, we left five hours late--on a flight that's only 8 hours long. So we arrived around 11 am. Our friend Stacy (Reeves) Gulledge met us at the airport and we took the RER train to the apartment she and her husband Jason shared. It was fun taking the train for us Texans used to driving everywhere.

Recharge!

Hotel de Ville

Beautiful Christmas decor in Paris. Saving the idea!

After a quick stop for French Starbucks, we walked to Notre Dame. Both Zach and I have been to Paris about four times apiece, but neither of us had ever been inside this most famous cathedral. We finally got to do it this trip, and it was totally worth it. However, I 1) only brought my point and shoot and 2) massively underestimated the temperature. Only made those mistakes once! :-) Here are some photos from Notre Dame. We felt very fortunate to visit Notre Dame in during its 850th birthday celebration.

Chandelier in Notre Dame

The ceiling is my favorite

Stunning stained glass

Love this wrought iron

Beautiful wrought iron inside

Such a colorful ceiling

View from the back

Sunset at Notre Dame

Sunset

Notre Dame

With Stacy!

Notre Dame

We didn't get to go in the tower at Notre Dame because it was closed, so we headed to Galeries Lafayette for some hot chocolate. It's a fancy department store... not like one I've ever seen before. Exhibit A: the ceiling.

Galeries Lafayette - so beautiful!

We saw some crazy shoes in this place. Would any of you wear these?

cray shoes 

Angelina's Tea Room hot chocolate and macaroons

Onward to Angelina's Tea Room in the store for some hot chocolate and macaroons. It was just the ticket to warm us up. Jason met us there, and we went shopping for a top to wear for a photo shoot Zach and i were doing later in the trip. I also got to wear my jacket and got a giant scarf from H&M.  Parisians are all about these giant scarves. It's pretty much as warm as wearing a big blanket, but it looks cooler. :-)

Trying to look chic :-)

Metro stop - all the tiles are silver!

Some delicious foie gras, my dinner of salmon and penne, our dessert of creme brulee (my all-time fave) and wine!

We went to Le Bistrot des Comperes for dinner. It was one of the Gulledges' favorite places, and we really enjoyed it. It was a great introduction to Paris.

Zach and I and our hosts Jason and Stacy