It's alive...

Our wedding Web site, that is. :) Check it out at www.mywedding.com/futureandersons. It's been a beautiful Saturday in southern Indiana! See you Monday.

Go U.S.A.!

Taking a break from domestic bliss and wedding-planning topics today. We are all so thrilled for Emma and her Paralympic adventure! The latest news: in their final race before Beijing, her team competed in Canada last weekend. From what I hear it was a breathtaking race...down to the last one-hundredth of a second. The US team earned the gold, and seeing Emma in this photo (far right) in all her red, white, and blue USA Rowing gear made me a teary-eyed and very proud big sister. LOVE YOU EM! And I also love those two cute kids with her in the second photo, my other little sibs Anna and Mike.


Though it won't be televised stateside (oh, the injustice!), Emma races in China on Sept. 9 and 10. We think it will be streamed on the Web. Stay tuned.

Pretty thing of the day

Cruising around theknot.com usually makes my head spin. So I swore it off. But they keep sending me these fun e-mails. Subject line: "__ months to go!" Now who isn't enticed by that? Anyway, I checked out some "hot florals" today. Wanted to share this very pretty, just-cut-from-the-garden looking centerpiece with you. Mom loves tulips. I've never been 100% sold. But the above is beautiful. Now. Just imagine it in shades of orange, peach, green... Happy Tuesday!

"You're remodeling a bathroom?!"

Many older, married friends and relatives chortled the above question to me when I told them we were tearing into our 30-year-old 5x8 bathroom. Shea tells me that her parents' marriage is most tense when remodeling, moving furniture, or making decisions about the physical aspects of their home. Well, mylanta! I think they all might be onto something.

As you'll see from the before and after shots, the bathroom at dear ol' 7787 was in need of repair. After three full years of complaining, begging, pleading, I finally took my place beside my beloved and picked up a crowbar. April 11 through late June 2008 could be labeled the longest six weeks of my adult life thus far. We managed to survive with few quarrels.

Let's be clear. What HGTV does not show on its clever little programming are the icky layers of demolition, the hours of leveling floors and squaring walls, the painstaking mess of hanging and taping drywall, and the seemingly endless details one forgets while standing in the wood trim or plumbing or tile aisles of Home Depot. Folks, this is no one-weekend project. Nope. Not without a crew of 50. Not even with the handiest husband-to-be on the planet. Even through all the bumps in the road, Patrick (and his trusty assistant!) produced a pretty neat little D-I-Y potty. And Sarah is H-A-P-P-Y!!

before...

NOW!

Cohabitation part II

I am so proud of our home. It's a work of progress, but it's coming along. Sharing teaser photos of the living room, kitchen, guest bedroom, and screen porch. Each room is better than when it began. The house is a metaphor for our relationship: entered into with hope, nurtured and cared for, gutted, refurbished, and renewed by patience and hard work. And better than when it began. Next post ... (drumroll please!) ... the newly renovated bathroom!