2013 In Review...

As we end 2013 and bring in 2014 I thought I'd share the year in review, in photos. I have more than a thousand photos but these were some of my favorites and some of my favorite moments of 2013. 

I continue to be extremely blessed to have a supportive and loving husband and a child who knows no limits with the love that she shows and who's intelligence amazes me daily. (I give that credit all to her Daddy!) More and more frequently as she does or says various things we find ourselves looking at each other saying "all you!!!" Make no mistake though... she is her own girl! And we love that! 

Some of my highlights of 2013:

Katherine graduated from Primrose. We had 3 amazing years at Primrose and made some fantastic friends.  We continue to stay in touch and schedule play dates and parent get togethers. 

Katherine started Kindergarten in July and is doing very well. She's made some new friends and is learning by leaps and bounds. By the end of 2013 she was reading short stories, doing addition and subtraction, counting by 2s, 5s and 10s and continues to astonish us by what she has learned.  She's identifying the phase of the moon... Phase of the moon? Whahuh? If this is kindergarten I'm totally screwed in 1st grade. 

We welcomed a little niece into the family (Isabella) and a new brother (Danny). We love both immensely and are so excited to have grown the family! 

My sister in law Sofi officially became a Sands this year too! Sofi and Nikki continue our tradition of Sunday dinners. We love being able to spend time with them. They welcomed little Phoebe into the family this year too. ;) 

Stephen celebrated 15 years with the same company. I'm so proud of all he's accomplished and continues to do so. He continues his education pursuits and has done exceptionally well. I think he and Katherine are battling to see who gets better grades. (It's pretty even at this point!! Both have straight A's!!!) 

Stephen and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary. One of our dear friends kept Katherine for the weekend while Stephen and I headed to the mountains for a little weekend get-away. It was amazing... We were completely disconnected. (Albeit that brought on a little angst because we weren't able to call/check-in with Katherine but we knew she was in good hands.) We took a train ride, hung out and watched far too much HGTV for our own good, visited a winery and spent some quality time together. 

We spent Thanksgiving in New Jersey and had the opportunity to visit much of the family over the 4 day trip.  We made it to our nephews Senior Night football game, visited our new little niece Isa and my sister and brother in law, visited my brother in Cape May and had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner celebration. Black Friday shopping was done primarily online but we did manage to wake up a bit early and head out for some "shopping in the dark" with the whole family. Katherine finds it quite entertaining! And she's a great helper! 

We continued many of our other annual traditions like heading to Williamsburg for family vacation, hitting Busch Gardens, Colonial Williamsburg (+ cheese shop & Williamsburg in for beverages), 4th of July in Myrtle Beach, Orlando in September, Christmas tree shopping in the mountains and spent New Years in South Carolina. 

2013 was a wonderful year filled with new additions to the family, lots of memories and love all around. I'm looking forward to 2014 and what He has in store for us. 

Orthodox Christmas 2013 Gingerbread house making fun with Katherine's cousin (our niece) Tasha

Cousins hanging out at dinner... Pizza anyone? 

Enjoying a little "cold hot chocolate" from Starbucks. A favorite beverage of our girl. 

Annual Trip to Williamsburg! Laying on the grass after our tradition go wine & cheese at the cheese shop.

She's not competitive at all... (winning at CandyLand)

Williamsburg Busch Gardens

Tea Cup craziness!!

Beach time with my girlie!! 

Building dinosaurs on the beach with Daddy! 

Making some cake! 

A family favorite... Watching the Hurricanes!! 

Goofballs?? No. Never. ;) 

Mean face!!!

Katherine & her BFF Mia

2013 Ballet Recital

Our little Graduate: Primrose Class of 2013

Durham Bulls Game... They announced her birthday at the Stadium. She'd had a *bit* of sugar. ;) 

Bye-bye toddler bed.. Hello Big girl bunk beds in Myrtle Beach

Enjoying some Kohr Bros ice cream (with JIMMIES) in Wildwood 

Katherine's birthday party at the bowling alley... The cake came to get her nose. Or Daddy stuffed her face in it. :) 

Uncle Stephen cuddles with little Isa

Goodberry's ice cream picnic? Yes, please!!

Our little girl at her new school... Kindergarten here we come!

Kindergarten diorama of the book There's No Place Like Space!

Katherine's first pony ride... at the NC State Fair

Annual trip to the Christmas tree farm! A little earlier  this year, but a tradition kept!

Katherine's first WaWa hot chocolate... She's a fan!

Senior Night game for our nephew Marek
Katherine with her cousin Tasha

Annual Disney on Ice... This year with our friends the Mondoks! :)

Katherine holding the very first book she read on her own. A booked titled "Strawberry Shortcake's Filly Friends". This book was shared with us by our dear friends The Kriemans. Special book & special moment!

Annual Christmas ornament painting fun with our Primrose friends

Cookie Making!!!

Gingerbread house 2013

Special Christmas Eve visit from Santa... A memory we hope she'll never forget. 

Many blessings and love in 2014!! xo

The grass is greener...

People say that there are moments that can change your life forever.

It wasn't when a tornado hit our house. Although that played a factor in "the moment". It wasn't when we drove up to our block realizing that something very bad had happened.  No, mine came when I realized I hadn't packed pajamas. 

I've told the story many times... and this year I find myself needing more than ever to remember my "moment". I feel like lately I've started to "forget" and I'm grateful for the anniversary to "remember". 

There was a period of about 30 minutes where I was worried our house was going to fall down. Practical? No. Realistic? No. What does one do when one thinks your house is going to fall down? Well, first you tell everyone to get the h$!! OUT!!! Except yourself. Okay - except ME and my friend Meredith. She tried to keep my head on straight. It was quite a chore I assure you. 

I made the decision when I thought my house was going to fall down that it was the time to pack. Giant suitcases full of stuff. I think I packed Katherine's entire dresser. She's small. It was totally possible to stuff all her crap in one bag. Then I packed for Stephen and I. All of the important stuff... Dress shoes, dress pants, dress shirts, dresses, heels... You know, business clothes. Oh, and my best jewelry. (I'm not all dumb!)

When we arrived safely at the home of our dear friends Andrew and Tina, Stephen looked at the pile of suitcases in the back of my mini van and said (shaking his head)...

Stephen: Okay... what needs to come in? 

Me: Um. All of it?! I don't know. I just threw stuff in!!! 

Stephen: Okay...  which bag do you think has pajamas. 

Me: (confused) Er. Um. Hm. Pajamas? I don't recall putting any of those in the suitcase(S). 

Blank stare. 

Silence.

Stephen: Dar, there are 4 suitcases here. What in hell did you pack? 

Me: (exasperated) WORK CLOTHES!!!!

Stephen: Seriously?

Me: Seriously. 

Stephen shuts minivan gate, pulls me into the house shaking his head. 

It was my moment. I didn't realize it then... but it was at the moment that I made the decision to pack work clothes instead of I don't know... something to sleep in, that made me rethink my priorities.  

Some of you may recall my work tendencies back then. 55-60 hour weeks were the norm. I occasionally had a 70 hour week. My thoughts (and I remember them distinctly even two years later) as I thought my house was going to fall down was "what am I going to wear to work on Monday... I have to go in and deliver performance evaluations to my team!!" My boss, in the wake of the events, told me "don't worry about it - you can deliver them on the phone." This was moment #2 if there was one.  I was facing questions like, can we live here? Is our home structurally sound and I was concerned about, and directed to, give my performance plans on schedule... Just "remotely". 

Two weeks ago I received a call requesting I come to the Trauma Unit at the local hospital. They wouldn't tell me what happened, just that I had to come.  I waited three hours in a family waiting room with no information imagining all sorts of horrible things.  (hard) Knock #1.  

Today a terrible tragedy occurred in Boston.  Your life can change in a split second.  Knock #2. 

I don't think I need a knock #3. Consider me reminded. 

Of what? Lately I've found myself getting sucked into the too late work days. Too many hours.  Too much time away from my family and friends "handling things" happening at work.  

I am reminding myself here and now... There will always be more work than can be done.  There will never be enough time with my family and friends.  

So the deliverables are going to start waiting... I have date nights to be had, cakes to bake, craft projects to make, ballet recitals to go to, pre-school graduations to attend, swim classes to shuttle to and Sunday family dinners to make.  I'm sure you'll understand if I don't respond to your email right away. 

I put together some pictures of then and now... I'm so proud of all of the work Stephen has done outside to restore our yard & grass.  I tease that he's like an old man out there working on his grass to make it "cushy green" but I really do appreciate it so much.  I'm full of pride when someone walking by stops to compliment him on his "lush green lawn".  

I don't cringe thinking about Katherine running around in the grass barefoot anymore. I don't worry about her playing in the garden beds and finding shards of glass, roof, siding and other assorted debris.  

Thank you honey! You're amazing!!! I love you!!! 

This slideshow made with Smilebox

Countertop Transformation

Finished!

Last spring we started our big remodeling project in Myrtle Beach. We removed the popcorn ceiling, painted the whole place, replaced all of the flooring with tile & hardwood throughout. One of our plans for last spring was to do something with the unattractive green laminate countertops. Best laid plans. It got warm. The beach called to us... We answered... The countertops didn't get done.

Winter came... It was cold. We stayed home. Spring arrived (again)... Enough already. We've got to get this done!!! We've had the boxes of stuff sitting for almost a year. Let's do it!! That's what I said. Stephen said, "grumble grumble" when I proposed it on Thursday after hearing that the weather in Raleigh and Myrtle Beach had rain rain and more rain in the forecast. But... good man that he is - He went along with the plan.

Overall Thoughts: Great product.  If you're considering replacing countertops but don't have the money or just plain don't want to spend the money to replace them - Try this.

Our lessons learned:

• If you have the ability to do it over a three day weekend. Do it. We did it in two days but three would have taken a lot of pressure off. If you don't have a three day weekend - Start Friday night with the cleaning & sanding part.
• You need two people. No more than two is necessary but two for sure. It'll help things go a little faster.
• The time frames they estimated were off. Well. Either that or we're super slow. We spent WAY more time sanding, prepping the countertops than their estimated 30-45 minutes. I think we were at least double that. Day 1 was about 4 hours. Day 2 was... 6 or so hours. (We had repairs... See bullet towards the bottom.)
• We bought two kits. We'd heard from a friend who used the product, through reviews & in the videos that you need to make sure your base coat is pretty thick. Technically we had enough with one kit to do the whole kitchen - but because it was just the right amount we were worried. We're glad we did. Otherwise we would have stressed over having enough of the base. We found the additional tools to be useful too. Of the 2nd kit the things we didn't use: The additional spreader, the chips and the extra top coat. Everything else we used.
• REALLY REALLY inspect your countertops for laminate that needs to be repaired. Figuring that out the morning you start the work isn't the best time to be fixing stuff. You want to give the rubber cement enough time to dry.
• We started a humidifier the night before to bring up the humidity for day 1. I'm not sure if it helped or not, but... we did it.  
• We used an orbital sander to rough up the countertops. It helped take the first layer off but didn't prevent the need to sand using the diamond sanding block. Stephen used the sander (because I can't be trusted with power tools) and I did most of the sanding block work. The directions say to sand in a circular motion with both hands. They're right. It's much easier on the hands/arms and you get a more even sand.
• Tape/plastic after you've sanded and wiped down the countertops. You don't want all of that dust in your tape to accidentally get in the base coat. 
• Taping & plasticing is a must. Particularly the taping. And make sure that you extend the tape up at least a couple of inches. This isn't so much because you're going to get paint on the walls but when you spray the rewetting agent if you happen to get it on the walls, and then use the spreader to put the chips on and it hits in the wetting agent that's on the walls... You may have problems getting the chips off the wall. (Personal experience.)
• The base coat is thick. I agree with all reviews, friends, directions - put it on thick! You'll be thankful later when you're tossing on chips and then sanding. 
• Repairs to spaces that you accidentally bump into (with your butt - yeah, no joke) aren't hard to fix. Just make sure you lay the base coat on pretty thick and REALLY toss the chips at it. Throw them hard. And if your aim is like mine you'll throw 5 handfulls and only one will actually hit the spot you're trying to get to. *sigh* 
• After you're done putting the chips down. Walk away. Leave it alone till tomorrow. Leave the plastic, etc and all of the mess as it is. Seriously. Tomorrow is just going to add to the mess.
• Sanding and chipping on day 2 is the messiest part of the whole project in my opinion. Messier than the chips spreading. Messier than the original sanding. That stuff is going to get up your nose, in your mouth.. If you have a mask and can use it - do so. I can't stand it on my face so I took 2 years off my life by sucking in the dust. 
• After we sanded & chipped we took out all of the plastic & cleaned the floors and such. Part of this was because I'd exceeded my time frame for allowing a mess. The other part was that I was worried we'd be moving around the dust when we were putting on the top coat. I'm really glad we removed it. I also removed some of the taped sections that I thought were sketchy (i.e. really painted on and/or chipped) and replaced the tape. This turned out to be a great call. In fact, if I had to do it over again I'd probably retape all of the walls again just to make sure that I didn't hyper glue the tape to the walls with the base coat and then chips & then top coat.
• Plan for repairs. There's going to be a section you didn't coat well enough with chips, that you bumped and didn't realize you bumped or that you just plain missed. You'll need an extra four hours for this purpose alone. If you plan for it and don't need it - great. If you don't plan for it and you do need it you'll be like us finishing at 10:30pm on day two.

When we left the countertops were still a little tacky so I'm not sure how they feel completely finished but we'll find out in a couple of weeks when we go back. Again, great product, easy enough to do and way cheaper than replacing the countertops, even with laminate again.

Good luck!!! :)

Photos of our before/after.