"zis is vat i suggest"

I am having so much fun thinking about what awesome things I could do to our house! If I could find a way to magically triple my income by staying at home and being an awesome interior decorator (for myself) I totally would.

However, there are many times I just wish someone like Franck from Father of the Bride could come with me and tell me exactly what would be most beautiful for my abode. There are all sorts of questions I have and I don't really know where to turn for answers.

1. Paint. It's not as simple as saying "green bedroom, blue bathroom, bright berry red in the kitchen." I have ~4,000 chips of each of those colors and I am constantly second guessing myself. Aaron is no help - he says leaving it white would be best, so we can avoid a "rainbow house".

2. Curtains. In magazines, the windows go almost down to the floor so everything is shown with floor-length curtains. I just can't tell if they would look silly with these windows that are only on the top half of the wall.

3. Flooring. As soon as we can afford any upgrades, our first interior project will be the kitchen, especially the floor. The house has beautiful mahogany ceilings and I can't figure out what the best floor would be. Slate would probably look best, but the cost of installing it might double our investment in the house.

There are a few really good things that will come from living in the house:
1. No more paying $2.50 per load of laundry in the apartment! I can't believe I ever complained about paying $1.50 at college.

2. No more fighting about whether or not certain things (cutting boards, wooden spoons, ice cream scoops, etc.) can be put in the dishwasher... because there is no dishwasher. Like I said, the kitchen would be our first big upgrade.

3. There is a beautiful park nearby with a river!

a list of happiness

* my dad and Beth came last weekend! Beth and I got some much-needed sister bonding time.
* my co-workers spent all week complaining about how it was supposed to rain this weekend. Instead, it has been absolutely beautiful! T-shirts and flip-flops all weekend.
* Aaron and I went on a little marriage-retreat weekend courtesy of a christmas present from his parents. The speakers had some nice things to say, but it was mostly nice to spend so much time together! We checked out a cool irish restaurant we've never been to for the "date night" and went to Home Depot on our lunch break to look at seeds and paint colors for our new house.
* Oh yeah... we bought a house! We should close on May 1st and move in soon after it.
* Lent = O Sacred Head = Amazing.
* Daylight savings isn't my favorite part of spring (hehe) but with the time change and the way we rearranged our bedroom furniture, I can watch the sunrise for a few minutes after I hit the alarm. I always think of the song "Morning has Broken" with the lines: Praise with elation! Praise every morning!/ For God's recreation of the new day."