Keeping Up with the Gerges': June 2013

Sunday, June 30, 2013

There's just something about this place...

Martha's Vineyard, that is. Maybe it's because you have to get on a ferry to get there, maybe it's because I don't get great cell service so I'm usually "off the grid" when we're there, or maybe it's just that special. Whatever it is, there is something about the Vineyard, it is literally like heaven on Earth, for me. If you have never been, you have to go. If I could, I'd bring all of you with me each time we went. See.... isn't she so pretty?!

We went up for our first visit of the summer, last weekend, and it was awesome! It takes 5 - 6 hours, on a good day to get up there, so I feel a little bit of pressure to make the most of it whenever we're there. Seeing as it's hard for me to take time off, our visits this summer, will be short ones. However, last weekend was proof that even a short visit (48 hours) can be a great one! The ferry ride over was one of the roughest I have ever had, we were thrown all over the place for the full hour ride. Once we were there, it was smooth sailing. We had fun catching up with family, catching up with friends, and hanging as a family! Madelyn even slept in one day, until 9:30am - a first! We came home, so happy from a fun weekend, and feeling refreshed! There's just something about that place....

Island time - its good for the soul :)

Here are some pictures from our weekend!

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Honey, I'm home!

We closed on our new house 2 weeks ago and it's been a whirlwind ever since. Not really surprising, since we tried to cram a lot into a 10 days, but I'm happy to say everything went smoothly.

We got the keys on Wednesday evening, after some last minute issues with our closing (and added stress, ahhh!) and then Brian, Madelyn and I went right to the house for a tour as a family. This is when I snapped the "before" pictures below. After our visit through the home and showing Madelyn around, my family came over and we got right to work :)

We started the painting in the living room, the real focal point of the house. We did a few coats of trim on the wall of bookcases, and then my Dad and Brian painted the cathedral walls. It was an instant WOW! The entire house is outdated, which we'll live with for a while, but it screamed "tired" with the coffee colored trim and doors throughout. Pictures can't even really capture how ugly it was, not to mention a total pain to paint!! I made my own little project the front entry and main hallway - wall color and trim, while my (poor) Mom spent the better part of the week scraping the wallpaper out of Madelyn's room, and then painting it. She asked for that to be her project, and she saw it through from start to finish - such a rock star! I'm really proud of the work I did too, but even more excited about the change and how well the colors work!

Over the first week, we had the carpet ripped out in the dining room and hardwood floors put in, a fence put in around the yard, and we painted, painted, painted (and striped wallpaper) as much as we could. The fence was in, floors were done and painting was complete (for now) by last Friday night. Just in time to bring everything in and put away. As Brian brought boxes in, I opened and emptied them and put things away. It was a great system!

There is still lots to do and little things to get organized, but we can't believe this is our home. We can see past the rest of the old details and remaining wallpaper, because we really love it! Hopefully we'll be able to host lots of gatherings here with friends in the near future!