A place we call home

I know there are some people out there that have not had the opportunity to see our place, so here is your chance! I will explain every picture and room. Moving into a new home can create some controversy for you and your spouse. For Ryan and I that is exactly what happened sometimes. See below...
When you walk in the front door and you turn around this is what you see. You walk in and the door to the garage is right there. It is a split level home, meaning you walk in and you go up or down the stairs. The rugs are complementary of my mother. We love them!

You choose to go down the stairs here is the first thing you see. All the stuff is hand-me-downs or wedding gifts. We want to thank so many of our caring friends and family for our furnishings in our home. The couches are Todd and Kate's old ones, but brand new for us. The end tables my mothers, the TV Ryan's, and the ark (as Ryan calls it) my mom's at one time. We are torn on what to do with all the wall space, but we figure we will find something to fill it with time. Someday we hope to get a bigger TV.

You are in the basement and turn to your left. This is what you see. One of Emily's favorite parts of the house! Fireplace and built in shelving and cabinets. We decorated the fireplace shelves with some of our loved ones and finished off the room with a sofa table against the far wall. There is a patio door, but not a patio yet. We plan to put a patio on in the next couple summers.

Bathroom #1: All of the painting in the house was done before we moved in. We love it! We didn't have the really, really white walls that people are afraid to touch because they may stain them. It was/is really nice. The people who owned the house before us were so kind to leave some of the bathroom things behind.

This is the purple room. A little bare, but workable. We installed the shades yesterday and let me tell you. That was a chore! It's not as easy as you think. The dresser in this room is also Ryan's old dresser. As we were moving in Emily advised everybody that was helping them move to put his dresser downstairs. The next morning without him knowing the truth. Ryan asked, "where are my clothes?" Emily replied, "well the dresser doesn't match our furniture, so I put your clothes downstairs." That was a five minute argument for us. How are we going to compromise? We emptied half of Emily's dresser and she let him hang all of his hanging clothes in their closet. (You will see the upstairs where our bedroom is later on). No matter how many arguments we had, we were able to come to some sort of compromise.

Office: Here is the room that Emily dislikes the most! It is all our miss-matchy furniture. Emily loves the paintings in the room, but the light wood file cabinet, white plastic drawers, and black desk don't really go-together. We bought the light wood coffee table at our church's garage sale. It was a great deal at the time and thought it would go great by our couches downstairs, but it looked funny. We compromised, once again, and put in the office to cover up all the ugly cords that were against the wall for our Internet. It works well now. Mickey and Minny complete the room.

This is the other side of the office. This is a look at Ryan's favorite part of the house, his Gator football helmet. He loves that thing! Emily tried to pack it away in her box full of knick knacks, but that didn't seem to work. Once again, compromise.
This is the preview of our basement. We have yet to come to the upstairs. Since we like to keep everybody on the edge of their seat, the upstairs will have to come later.

Life is good

The last couple days have been amazing! Warm weather, time spend with two lovely ladies, and spending time every night with my studly husband. What more could a girl want?
I figure I look like a college student, so the last couple days, while Ryan was working very hard, I went to Carlton and laid out with the students. What is better than to catch some sun on my days off! I was worried some would see my left hand, but no one seemed to notice (of course I would worry about little things). I totally blended in! Being on campus brought back some great college memories. Finals, Dew Drop Bop, Plums, St. Mary's dorm room, and not having a care in the world (besides what grade you are going to get on the next Economics exam). Things were so minor, but back then everything was a big deal. I would love to go back to college, but minus the homework portion.
Another thing that has been awesome is spending time with my husband. We have been doing odds and ends around the house. We even whipped out the grill a couple times. (Ryan loves it!) The next big thing we (mostly me more than Ryan) are waiting to install is our shades. They should be here by Monday.

This color will go in the mater bedroom.

This color will go in two of our bedrooms and our office.

Welcome to becoming a homeowner

Lately these places have been our best friends. Today we went to a couple garage sales and the last week we have been to Menards everyday! If Menards was a bar we would be classified as "regulars." I never thought in a million years that I would like to shop at Menards!!! Until I became a homeowner!

Life's Goodness

It seems as though life changes so fast. From the last time I blogged, I have received a new job, we've moved, and best of all spent Easter with the most amazing family EVER!

JOB: I will now be working at the Northfield Hospital. I am excited to be in town, but sad to leave my awesome co-workers at Everest. Working at Everest taught me that each day/minute can change. I enrolled the best students ever! Sometimes it was a lot of work, but at the end of the day I felt like I had changed a life. It is like racing cars...sometimes you have to stop and switch tires and gears=that is what I did now. I won't forget all the awesomeness at Everest!

MOVE: It went very well thanks to our parents, my brother, and our awesome friend Phil. They all took time out of their Friday to come down and carry the heavy stuff. Lately we have been doing projects around the house. Yesterday Ryan was on his hands and knees cleaning the bathroom drain out. I never thought he would be excited to be Mr. Fix-It. I think we have another Al Borland!

FAMILY: This is the best thing yet! Ryan and I spent Easter up north at my Grandma and Grandpa's. They live on Serpent Lake in Deerwood, MN. It is a smaller lake, but perfect for the water escapades that we do on the lake. I love pictures, so I had to take pictures of the people I love the most!

FAMILY PORTRAIT

Blumhoefer Boys Band

This last weekend Ryan and I traveled to Fridley, MN to celebrate Easter with the Blumhoefer clan. It was at Todd (Ryan's older brother, but not eldest(Yes Scott, you would be the eldest)) and Kate's (Ryan's sister-in-law) house. They live in a quaint place just near the high school. This is nice especially because they are super sports fans. When football season comes around you can frequently find them attending high school games. All in all it was a great day and the sun was shining. The day started off with a great meal! (Kate I need your recipe for those potatoes. They were delicious!) Kate and Todd cooked. I think Kate did most of it, but I will give Todd credit as well! :)
After the meal, we made our way down to the basement where the entertainment started. Basically the Blumhoefer Boys entertained us with their mad Rockband skills. Ryan, also known as Jimmy Page, wooed us with his guitar. On vocals was Steve Perry, Todd. Finishing off the band was Ringo Starr, Scott, on the drums. Together Page, Perry, and Starr aced their performances. They eventually made their way to intermediate level. They are definitely on their way to a huge Rockband record deal! (Sorry Dennis I had to crop you from this picture, but I thought our audience could get an idea of the band members.)

Women and Men

There are many differences between men and women. Women like to shop and men would rather be sitting at a Twins game. The norm when Ryan and I go shopping is Ryan will go to a bar and have a beer, while of course I go shopping and hit all the fabulous stores.

However, Ryan and I have never been hard spenders. Every once in awhile we splurge on the checkbook, but on rare occasions. There have been two instances (and maybe more, but two that I can remember) where I HAD to spend money.

Instance Numero Uno: There is this cute little shop called Sisters Ugly in Northfield. It is a small boutique owned by a mother and daughter duo. I absolutely love, love, love the store. They have the trendiest, most comfortable clothes you can imagine. The best part about this store is that it is in the same building where Ryan works. Essentially I have to bypass Sisters Ugly to get to Ryan's office. Pretty amazing, I know. One Saturday afternoon while we were out-and-about Ryan had to drop some things off at his office. I thought oh this would be great because I would finally get a peak at the store (previously whenever we would go into the building, I would be a hurry).
We entered and I immediately went straight into the store and told Ryan I would wait here. As I was looking around intending to purchase nothing, Ryan took his time in the office. 5 minutes passed by, 10 minutes, 15 minutes and finally I gave in. I started trying on new SKINNY jeans (I had always wanted a pair, but never had the guts to try them on). Sure enough I loved them. They felt like I was naked and the best part about them is that I didn't even need to wear a belt! (Most jeans never fit me, so a belt is highly required). As Ryan was locking up his office, he noticed I was at the register purchasing something. We leave and Ryan was curious. After we arrived home and he wasn't driving anymore, I advised him that I just spent $136 on jeans. He almost flipped! He asked me where I would wear them and told me I better wear them all the time to get my moneys worth. Needless to say, he shouldn't have took so long in his office!

Instance Numero Dos: This afternoon a friend and I went to a craft open house. A lady in town creates centerpieces and wreaths for Christmas time, fall, and spring. Her work is amazing! She does this as a hobby and sells them at her open houses. When I entered her beautiful home, her work was spread throughout her home. There were so many pieces I didn't know where to start. She had Christmas decor, spring, fall, and winter. It was a woman's paradise. All I could think about while walking through her home was I have so many places I could put this, or that since we have a new home to fill! I know we have lots of wall space we need to fill. I did end up taking home this...

Ryan was working out at the time so I thought I could sneak in the house without him noticing. Unfortunately that was not the case. I assure you it is going to look fabulous in our new dream home!

Clearly, men and women have different ideas in life. Shopping is just one of them!

Dream House

After a weekend with the girls, I decided I should get on my high horse and blog once again. Alot has happened since last March. A wedding, Ryan passing the state bar exam and finding a job, moving to Northfield, me changing jobs, and the most recent dent in the checkbook, a house. We are super-duper pumped to move in 19 days (not that I am counting).
Now that we are homeowners, we do the usual daily drive-bys. Closing day cannot come soon enough. Usually as we drive by Ryan analyzes the lawn and every other detail about the home, while I envision what the curtains will look like inside. Yes, I have been doing all the womanly thinking...clipping decoration ideas from magazines, visiting stores like Pier One and Pottery Barn, shopping online for window decor, and deciding where all the furniture will be. Ryan of course has little say in decor ideas, but he is the more practical one. He mentions items like a lawn mower, rake, big broom, etc. There is never a day where it is not mentioned in the Blumhoefer family. The H word is all we can talk about these days!
Here is a preview of the house. There will be more to come!