Life Lately and Goal Progress

A random photo montage of life as of late:

Some baby-wranglin':

...Some family (and friend!) time:

(that's me and my Uncle)

...Some (kind of) DIY projects:

...Some watching the Ravens dominate the AFC!!!

...Some being spoiled by my boyfriend:

(Came home to chicken with onions, peppers, and peanut sauce one random evening...smelled ((and tasted)) like heaven! )

...And some new socks, just for kicks:

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As for my Goal Progress, I've made a few small improvements:

1. Add more fresh fruits & veggies into my diet -- I have managed to squeeze in some more fresh produce throughout the day!

2. Work out more regularly -- If walking 2 miles uphill while pushing a chunky 9-month-old in a stroller counts, then YES!

3. Spend more quality time with Sean -- Still many Scrabble nights, and the other night we stayed up in bed talking for hours and it was incredible.

4. Spend more time with my friends -- Just this past weekend, we went to a friend's birthday party, and this coming Saturday we are going bowling with some more friends :-)

5. Go out to eat less often so that we have more money to save or spend on other things -- Doing very well with this one, and meals like the stellar one above make me (almost) not even miss going out so much!

6. Have enough money to take a small trip -- Sean's aunt and uncle live on a lake in Wisconsin, so we are 95% sure our "vacation" this year will include a road trip to visit them, with stops in Pittsburgh (I have family there) and Chicago (just because!). I am super pumped.

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How is your 2013 going so far?

Kitchen Remodel: Before and After

In this post, I mentioned the fact that Sean and I were going to attempt a tile backsplash in our kitchen--all on our own.

A few weeks ago, we finally took the plunge. Here's how it went:

First: We picked out these tiles from Home Depot For only $5 per square foot. Since our kitchen space was fairly small, this didn't cost much at all. 

This is what our kitchen looked like before--very BLUE. We actually used to have different countertops, but we got the granite put in earlier this summer and we absolutely LOVE it.

Then: Sean did most of the dirty work--the tiles are peel and stick, and then you have to grout after 48 hours. Here is a photo of during....

Third: Once the tiles were dry, Sean and I added the grout. This is a photo of the tiles immediately after putting in the grout. See how they look kind of dirty? You have to repeatedly wipe the tiles over and over while the grout in between them dries. It was very time-consuming, but we are all about saving money with DIY!

Finally: Here is the end result! I think it looks awesome. It really compliments the blue walls and the brown in the countertops. What do you guys think?

For about $150, our kitchen is totally transformed.

What's the last DIY project you did? Was it a success? Feel free to link to photos--I love a good home project idea :-)