DIY projects

So we don’t have a lot of interesting experiences to report since I was busy starting school this week. Luckily it went well. I have great classes and great professors, and I am looking forward to learning a lot this semester. Since not a ton happened, I thought I would backtrack to about 2 weeks ago and show you some of the progress Shawn and I made on the house.  I had been trying to figure out what to do with our master bedroom wall. The previous owners had nightstands that had been attached to the wall, so when we removed them there were large holes that needed to be covered.

Shawn and I liked the paint color in the room (and I REALLY did not want to paint the whole room) but I couldn’t find a matching color and wasn’t sure about what to do with the wall. Then it hit me. I thought we should paint a striped wall. I was a bit nervous broaching the subject with Shawn but he was on-board. He has been itching to do more home improvement projects and I have been a bit timid, so he happily got on-board with the idea. Over the course of an hour, I developed a plan for the wall. I didn’t want just one color, and I didn’t want just one size of stripes, so I took into account the size of the wall (93 inches) and developed a pattern. I wasn’t sure about it though so I created a document on the computer with the stripes drawn to scale in color so we could see the effect.

We thought it looked good, so we started the process, first with a shopping trip to Lowe’s. After that, it was time to tape. We started taping the next day, took a lunch break, and continued into the evening. It took us about 5 hours to tape that one wall!

We would measure up a certain number of inches depending on the color that was to go there, then use a level to create a straight line across the room. It was one of those cool laser levels (very useful). Then we would use painters tape to mark off the section that should not be painted. After we made it to the top of the wall, we needed to smooth down the tape. We used plastic putty knives to try and make it as flat as possible so that paint wouldn’t bleed through. We then painted perpendicular to the tape to again help avoid paint bleed.

The actual painting portion took maybe an hour and a half, and that included two coats. By that evening we got to take the tape off, and we were happy with the result. There are two small areas that need to be touched up because I got a little too excited when taking the tape down, but other than that it came out really well and we are happy with it.

And here is the final product! (You can see the headboard that is leaning against the bed in piece in this picture. We did get it put together and now the room is really complete--but I don't have a pic of that right now.) And I am the one who put those side lamps together. :-)

Pizza!

Shawn and I eat a lot of pizza here. There are really two reasons for this: taste and convenience. We really enjoy pizza, so that accounts for the taste issue. As for convenience, pizza is so easy! I mean, you can call someone and get it delivered, but we have it even easier than that. We live about a 3 minute walk from a Little Caesars. Shawn and I did not always know the convenience of the Little Caesar's Hot and Ready but while in Pullman some good friends introduced it to us, and it has been a tool in our arsenal of easy dinners ever since.

Although we like take-out pizza, sometimes you just want to make your own. That is exactly what we did the other night. Here I will chronicle our adventures in pizza making.

The first step in the pizza making process is the dough. Two good friends of ours gave us a KitchenAid for our wedding, so we put it to good use. This was our first time using it, and we loved it! It mixed the dough and kept it off the sides. It was easy to clean too! (Added bonus: It also looks great on the counter).

After you mix the dough, you need to let it rise. We set it in our pantry for an hour, and when we came back, it had doubled in size!

Then it was time to make it into a crust. This is where Shawn got to put his past work experience to use. We have been together more than 9 years now and this is the first time he has tossed dough for me. I was SO excited. Here is a great picture of him hard at work.

 
We then added toppings and let it cook. Fifteen minutes later we had pizza--good pizza.

Now we have another dinner we can add to the list, and even though it's still pizza, at least it's homemade!

One month anniversary...

Ok, so I know we aren't in high school anymore, but since Shawn and I started dating when we were in high school, I figure I can act a bit like a teenager when it comes to our relationship and celebrate even the small milestones. Today is our one month anniversary! In the past 30 days, we have managed to do a lot, so I wanted to provide a bit of a recap.

We had an amazing wedding with all our friends and family at the beautiful Alderbrook Resort right on Hood Canal.

Great weather, good food, and fabulous people made for an exceptional day we won't ever forget.We also enjoyed the cake!

In addition to the excitement of the wedding, we saw three beautiful cities in Mexico while on a fabulous cruise. We then flew across the country with our interesting, and quite large, cat. I think that at the first airport three people told me, "That's a big cat." Thank you. If he wasn't aware of it before, he certainly is now. Jack actually spent the first few days he was in North Carolina dieting. I think it was more that he was too afraid to come out from under the bed to eat. Luckily he overcame that phobia. Then, after moving across the country, we traveled a bit further to tour the nation's capital with a good friend. With all that excitement you may wonder how we chose to spend our one month anniversary? With a quiet dinner and a movie on the couch. Guess all the excitement of the month left us worn out. :-)

Welcome to our blog!

Hello and welcome to the Willoughby blog! Shawn convinced me to start this blog so that our friends and family back on the west side of the country (and the few of you on the east) could easily keep up with the various adventures and experiences we are having in North Carolina.  If you are reading this, you are either curious about what we are up to or just really bored. Maybe you're both. :-) Either way, this blog will just be about various experiences Shawn and I have around and in North Carolina, so thanks for following! 

As for this weekend, there isn't much to report because we have just been getting organized before school starts for me Tuesday, so instead of boring you with information on how we cleaned the computer room, I will talk about our recent trip to Washington, D.C.   

Last weekend Shawn and I took a trip to DC to visit a good friend. The drive up was a bit of a haul. Google maps guessed that from our house to her apartment it would be about 4.5 hours. Google maps was only about an hour wrong when you take into account the enormous amount of traffic that travels I-95. Although there was extra time added to the trip, it was still COMPLETELY worth it. We got to spend time with Cassie and see the city. Here is some info on our jam-packed Saturday… 

We started off with an amazing breakfast Cassie made and then headed out for DC. We got to travel on the metro, which is actually pretty cool. Cassie’s metro stop is really far underground, so you go down this huge escalator to reach it, and it really feels a little like the entrance to Space Mountain. Sadly, no shooting stars pass you as you ride the train. We rode all the way to Union Station (which wasn’t really that far) and then began to explore the area.

We went to the Capitol building, which is huge. 

We went to the Washington monument...also huge.

We then visited a Botanical garden that was amazing. You could walk through Hawaii, the jungle and the Southwest, to name a few of our favorites. Shawn really enjoyed the jungle because it was cool (but still very humid).

Luckily the weather was a bit overcast when we started the day and had a small breeze. By the afternoon though our feet were hurting and it had heated up.

We also visited the Air and Space Museum, and even though we spent an hour in there, we saw just a small portion of it. Shawn really enjoyed all the different airplane exhibits. After all these travels, we were hungry so we tried to find some food. After passing up a McDonald’s that sold $6 Big Macs, we headed for the American History Museum because it had a cafe. While there, we saw Julia Child’s kitchen and a great display on robots. After all this, we went to the Korean War Veteran's Memorial, the National World War II memorial and the Lincoln Monument. We then headed for the White House, which looks small after seeing that great big Capitol building. Sadly, the president was not out mowing the lawn that day. 

After checking out the White House we grabbed some Starbucks and headed for the nearest metro to head back to Cassie’s. DC was great, and I know we will be heading back because there is still so much more to see, including Cassie! 

I almost forgot to mention that while there, we found a place by Cassie's called the Willoughby. Of course we had to get a picture!