Perrycasa Remodel

We are in the middle of our remodel, and Andrea and I are very excited for it to finally get finished. Lot of hard work and of course money has gone into this project, and we cannot thank Tami Michaels and Guy Rosbrook enough for their help on this project.

View of Front Entry from Family room

Mark & Christine's bathroom

Mark and Christine's Bedroom

Master Shower

Hallway Bath

Olivia's bathroom

Olivia's bedroom (the infamous purple room)

Kitchen view from family room

Here is what it is going to look like finished!Here is the perimeter slab showing the cabinet (white) color and the island color (Cafe). It is called Creme Beach.
Here is the island slab.
It is called "Cosmo's" and is a really great centerpiece slab for the island. The white quartz-like stone in the slab is practically translucent/clear -- so we had the idea of putting some lighting underneath it and using it as a night light in the evening. Going to be awesome!!
Doug's Office

Laundry room

Powder room

Dining Room

Living Room

Entry Way Banister. We are putting in a custom made iron hand railing by Craig. This guy rocks. He showed up on the jobsite wearing a denim tuxedo in 98 degree heat and cowboy boots. I hired him on the spot.

Another view going up the stairs. He frames the whole thing in, takes it all down and powder coats it in his shop and then reassembles.

Family Room wall. The hardwoods are going to extend into this room and a new fireplace is being installed, along with new custom cabinetry and a 60" plasma :-)

Master Vanity wall. The previous owners had a 45 degree wall in the corner...wasting precious space so we tore it out!Master Bath

Master bedroom

Lots of work to be done right now, but it will all be worth it in the end!

A Week of Firsts

This has been quite a week for our little family, especially for miss Olivia! We are settling into Doug's parents house for a few weeks while our house is being remodeled, so right now it really feels like we're on vacation...I don't know that the reality of moving will completely set in until we're actually unpacking our boxes!

Anyhoo, here's the adventures of this past week. We started off our big move with Livvy's very first airplane ride! This is us getting ready to leave.



Here she is all strapped in and ready for takeoff.



I was worried about how she'd react to flying, but she did great! Note to those with babies: feeding them on takeoff and landing really helps.

This is how Olivia spent post of her time en route to Washington:



Doug snapped this awesome pic of Mount Rainier out the window.



I think that we brought a little bit of California with us to Washington, because the weather has been ridiculously hot all week. Yesterday was the hottest day EVER in Seattle. Literally, it reached 103 degrees... record breaking heat. So we've spent the week lounging on (and in) the lake.





My Mom came up for the week to help ease my transition into life in a new city, and it was fantastic to have her here. We had such a wonderful time! Thanks for everything, Mom :). Livvy already misses you, and we do too!



My mom getting her float on...



In addition to hanging out at the lake, we also took the boat out for an evening cruise. Of course, Olivia slept through most of it! Notice a pattern here?!? She seem to sleep through just about everything :)



I'll leave you all with a picture of last night's sunset on the lake. So pretty!

Look-alike

Ever since Olivia was born, we've been debating who she looks like. A lot of people have said more Doug than me, but then my parents came across these pictures. Check out the resemblance! (Olivia is on the left, I'm on the right. Both were taken with my Dad!)



Pretty awesome wallpaper in the background of my nursery, huh?

One more of me with my Dad. His shirt is awesome!


This is a picture of me and my grandpa on my Dad's side (we called him Pop Pop :)



The resemblance is pretty crazy... we'll see if it continues!

Our Last Week in California

Well, we made the big move up to Washington! For those of you who don't know, Doug was accepted into the MBA program at the University of Washington starting this fall. I'm so proud of him!

I've been a California girl since I was in first grade, so this is a big move for me. I'm excited to begin this new chapter in our lives, but I must admit that it's hard to leave Southern California (especially with Livvy in the picture now). I keep thinking of ending of the song Closing Time, which says "every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end...". So while it's difficult to end our time in California, I look forward to making a new life with our daughter here in Washington. I've heard lots of promises of people visiting us, and I hope that you all know that I'm holding you to that!

I spent my last days in CA dragging Olivia around and introducing her to everyone, which was a lot of fun! My Aunt Maureen flew in from Arizona to meet our little princess.



We also made it over to Amber's house so Olivia could meet her future buddy Ben. He's two weeks old and absolutely adorable!



I stayed with my parents in OC while Doug made the drive to Washington (having a newborn is a great excuse to get out of an 18 hour drive!). Livvy spent lots of time snuggling with my family, and I was totally spoiled by two built-in babysitters and home cooked meals :).



My mom's birthday fell on one of the days that I was staying with them. While out at a celebratory dinner, we came across a beautiful ferris wheel. Olivia was absolutely mesmerized by the lights!



On my last full day in Cali I took Livvy to Kelly's bridal shower. She's getting married in Pleasanton in three weeks, and we can't wait to celebrate at her wedding!



These girls are some of my very best friends in CA. It's so hard to leave them! They are truly an amazing group of girls, and I feel so blessed to have them in my life.



Well, off to meet with some contractors for improvements we're making to our beautiful new house! I'll leave you all with this photo of Livvy in her sun hat... too cute!

Birthday Girl

Wishing my mom the happiest of birthdays!!! We are so lucky to have a mom (and now a grandma!) as wonderful as her :). We're celebrating with dinner at Javier's tonight... let's hope that Olivia cooperates and lets us enjoy our meal!

Ladies Who Lunch (And a Gentleman, Too!)

I have known Erin, her mom Gail, and Pilar ever since I moved to California when I was in the first grade, so it was so wonderful to have the opportunity to get together for lunch. Erin just had baby Dylan a few weeks back, so we had a lot of fun playing with our two little ones :). And of course, the moms had a blast stealing them away from us whenever they had the chance!

Olivia was hilarious - she was definitely aware of all of the girl talk going on around her and wanted to join in!



Gail and Pilar spending time with Livvy.



Livvy and Erin hanging out.




Erin and me with our two little ones. It's crazy that we were the best of friends growing up and are now spending time together with OUR kids!




Baby Dylan... So adorable!



My mom spending some time with Dylan.