High Five for Friday!

I've seen the "High Five for Friday" posts on a few of the blogs that I frequent and thought it might be a fun post to have on my own blog from time to time.  I've just never taken the time to actually post one.  The essence of a HFFF post is to celebrate the high points or accomplishments of your week...as silly or important as they may be.  The more that I thought about the HFFF posts lately - the more that I thought about how essential it was for me.  It isn't often that I take the time to reflect on the good events in my week.  I'm usually always thinking about the bad points.  So here goes...

1)  Wednesday was a good day overall, so it's getting two spots on the HFFF list.  I was looking forward to Wednesday of this week, as my boss was taking our leadership team off-site for a team building event.  (Now you're probably thinking that I spent the day with my peers making our way through some obstacle course or falling backwards into someone's arms, but it wasn't anything like that.)  We spent the day downtown at the Sprint Accelerator space, which is the venue that was chosen for the event - not necessarily what is done there on a daily basis.  It's only about a 3 minute drive from our condo (which is the other reason that I was looking forward to Wednesday - not having to drive 20+ minutes to work).  It's such an awesome space!  It makes me wish I was one of those creative types working for some advertising or marketing agency.  We had a lengthy break after lunch, so I took it upon myself to play my first Foosball game in probably 10 years.  I didn't do too bad at all!  The team building event was a nice reason to be away from the office.  We capped off the day with dinner at one of my faves - Extra Virgin.

2)  Wednesday afternoon my Grams was released from an extended stay at a nursing facility.  She had a rough end to last year but she's on the mend and happy to be back at home with my Gramps.

3)  Essie 3-Way Glaze!  My nails are so thin and fragile that it's almost worthless to paint them - at least when I do it.  The nail polish always chips off after a day or two.  It's a bit better when I get them done professionally, but I don't always have time for that...and barely want to leave the house these days in this bitter cold.  One of the blogs that I read mentioned this product, so I tried it.  Man, it is fabulous!!!!!  I can go 4-5 days without a single chip - maybe even longer, which is a record for me!  Love, love, LOVE!

4 & 5)  Chad and I have been sick most of the last week - him with his asthma and me with a head cold.  So we've been laying around not doing much...lends itself to a low key week.  So the last two HFFF events are pics of what makes me happy when I  come home each day.  Queue the "awwwww"s. 

 Have a warm weekend!

Before & After

I finally found the time to blog again as I'm sitting here watching the pre-Grammys red carpet fun.  Yay!  It's been such a busy month and a half since we moved in!  We started the holiday travel two weeks after we moved in.  So unpacking and decorating were a bit delayed...but I think I finally have some Before & After pics to share of our new place!

We had the entire place painted (sans the Guest bedroom/bath), carpet removed in most rooms & hardwood installed and some pretty cool lighting installed.  The whole place - prior to the reno - was beige, beige and beige.  As much as I loved it, I felt like I was in a Senior Center.  We decided to use a designer to assist us in locating reputable contractors, as we only had 3 weeks to do the work and didn't want to spend time haggling with multiple vendors.  It worked out well and most things went as planned.  We still working on hanging most of our art, so most of these pics are sans wall decor. 

There are 8 units on our floor and ours is one of the corner units, which we absolutely love!  So much more light than our previous place.  We have quite a big foyer area and long hallway to enter our place, which keeps the hallway noise (if there is any) away from the main living area.  The whole building is super quiet, but we occasionally here other residents in the hall. 

Foyer & Hallway

The "After" lends itself to a much darker foyer but also cozier.  Now we just need to find a foyer table we like and add a lamp & mirror.  Love, love, love our foyer light though.  We ended up getting all our lighting at West Elm - affordable & stylish.  We could make the foyer a bit brighter if we chose different bulbs, but we both love the Edison bulb style.

 

Next up:  Living Room & Dining Area

I realized just now that I don't have a "Before" pic of the Dining Area.  It's just behind me in this first picture.  It's really all one long space lined with windows on 2 sides facing South & East. 

I love how this area turned out and how our current furniture fit into the space.  Future improvements in this space include pipe shelves flanking the fireplace, a mantle, a different rug for the dining area and blinds on the South end of the room.  

Next:  Kitchen & Pantry

The kitchen is truly part of the same space separated by an island/bar area.  I was really not a fan of the beige cabinets, so my plan was to make them look a bit more modern instead of spending the money to paint, reface or replace them.  I think I was successful with the darker paint & flooring.  Now they pop!

We did have one hiccup during our reno in the kitchen.  The flooring contractor was supposed to leave the tile in the kitchen area but ended up ripping it up and laying hardwood in there too.  I think this was a blessing in disguise, as it didn't cost us anymore...and I think I like it better anyway.  (Ssssh, don't tell Chad.)  It seems like it's more cohesive this way.  We also added a fun pop of green in our pantry to add more color to the space - matches the rug phenomenally!

I have probably bored you enough, so I'll save the Master Suite for another day.  We're not quite finished with it just yet.  We're truly enjoying our new place and have met some fabulous neighbors here.  Everyone is super friendly - much different than our last place.  

I'll leave you with some fabulous views.  I heart watching the sun rise and set out our windows!!

Hope you enjoyed the pics as much as we enjoy it here!  Can't wait to have you visit!  Cheers!!