YAY! Our dining room is almost done. Here is a picture to remind you of the hideous wallpaper.



When we removed the wallpaper, it was very clear WHY they had wallpapered. The walls were in terrible condition. The paint below was peeling off and there were tons of holes from nails and goodness knows what. We figured we needed more than a little jar of spackle so we had the drywall company (that we are getting to know pretty well!) come in. They did a skim coat on all of the walls which smoothed everything out and made the walls look new. It was amazing how much difference it made! They looked great! The picture looks a bit splotchy but that is because it was still not completely dry when I took the pic.



And finally, THE RED PAINT! I know a lot of you have been wondering about what this would look like... to quote my lovely mother in law "RED? Well, I guess now that you are my daughter in law I need to just smile and say I am sure that will be lovely :)" Well maybe she didn't say it quite like that but I am sure it's what most of you were thinking! Anyways, it is RED now and Jamie and I love it so hopefully you like it too. I especially like it with the yellow/orange kitchen color. They compliment each other really well. I don't know that the picture shows that very well.



Tom and I are going to put up the base moulding this weekend and I still need to finish up the trim. For my birthday Jamie bought me a new light fixture but it's on backorder so hoepfully that will come soon!

So as promised, here are the pictures from the tea! Afternoon Tea at the Ritz

YAY ME! I had a wonderful birthday weekend! Julia came down from Lompoc and stayed over on Friday night. We had a lovely meal (the whole weekend was about eating!) at the Olive Branch here in La Crescenta. It was much better than I remembered it and Julia really liked it too! I am sorry to say that I wimped out on her and went to sleep about 10 ( at least that is an hour past my bedtime!) I was wide awake at 5:30 on Saturday morning but I resisted the urge to wake her! At around 9 we were all up and went to breakfast at one of my favorite places, The Dish in La Canada and then we got pedicures and did a little shopping. Later on we played some scrabble and I was doing soooo well. I was actually kicking Julia's butt! In the last 5 words or so she caught up and on her final piece I kind of rubbed it in that she only needed 7 points to tie me. She sat there for a while and then placed her letter "B" and got 19 points to win the game!!! Can you believe it? She spelled Be and B.O.! She must have had some one much higher up on her side! (j/k :) We then went to grandmas house for my mom's famous vegetable beef soup and gradma and grandpa's famous lemon meringue pie. YUMMY!

Today Jamie made me my favorite breakfast. Jamie sandwiches! We put up a coat of primer in the dining room and I helped start a coat of the red paint. Jamie finished the first and also did a second coat while I went out to a ladies tea at the Ritz in Pasadena. It was so much fun! My mom, grandma, Cousin Renee and Aunt Sue, Aunt Shirley and Cousin Barbara as well as friends Katherine, Carolyn, Debbie, Nancy and Pam. Whew! What a group! I think everyone had a great time. I took some pictures but won't be able to post them until Wednesday. I am off to Chicago for work!

Last but not least, my wondeful husband gave me a new light for the dining room and took me out to dinner and a movie. We saw Borat, which was very funny but also very offensive. I don't think most of my friends would like it, please let me know if you see it and like it! We also went to Pichanas and stuffed ourselves with Brazilian meat.

I am sitting here in my post-birthday glow, full of tea, meat and happiness. Thank you to everyone who thought of me on my birthday and helped make it such a memorable one! I am truly blessed!

Here is Jamie working on peeling the rest of the wallpaper.



We had the drywallers come yesterday and do a skim coat all over to even out the walls and WOW does it ever look better!!! Next step. the RED PAINT!



JUNGLE CAT!

Liz, Ian and Karen here from England!

We had everyone over for dinner last night and I had such a great time! It was wonderful to see Liz, Karen and Ian again! I also got to meet Sean's girlfriend Lea which was great since they have been together for months now! Nancy also brought over a new friend named Pam. It's always nice to meet new people!

YAY!! We got new windows in the front half of the house this weekend!

Old in living room



New



The old ones in the Dining Room were so bad I took a pic after they were almost out!



And the new.... It is so bright in there, I may not even put up curtains, it's really nice!



I had a contractor come by to give a bid on doing a skim coat on the walls in the dining room (the wallpaper is coming off really badly) and put dry wall on the ceiling to cover up the texture stuff. So hopefully that will be done really soon!!

I am back from Spain!!!! It was wonderful!!! Here are the pictures:
Spain