A visit to Grandpa Bunting & Chris's 28th birthday

This past weekend, Chris and I drove down to Jacksonville, FL, where I had the honor of finally meeting my new grandpa -- Chris's grandfather, George. While I have shared many phone calls with him over the past two years, it wasn't the same as getting to finally meet in person the man that played such a key role in Chris's life throughout his childhood.  

Over the past few years -- since the passing of his beautiful wife -- his health has steadily declined, and due to his pain medication and Alzheimer's treatments, he spends most of the day in and out of sleep. 

Despite this, it brought us such joy to spend the day with him in his room, cherishing all the moments he was alert. During our time together, we were able to share some conversation, hugs, and even a few, quiet laughs. When he first met me, it brought tears to my eyes as he lovingly squeezed my hand and told me how good it was to see me. 

Here are a few photos from our time together. Although he appears sleeping, he was awake in these photos, and was happy to be in his first picture with his new granddaughter. 

Knowing how much my grandmother in Virginia loves when we bring treats during a visit, we wanted to bring Grandpa George a few, special goodies to enjoy.

Grandpa George's room was filled with old photos, and I just loved seeing this one of him and his lovely, new bride on their wedding day.

This is such a sweet photo of Chris's mother (far right), aunt, and uncles as children.

After leaving Grandpa George in Florida, we decided to break up our drive home with a stop in Savannah, GA. As it was Chris's 28th birthday on Sunday, it made for the perfect spot for a quiet birthday celebration. We woke up early Sunday, and headed downtown for a delicious stop at a local bakery (Harvest Baking Company -- fabulous!) for a homemade donut and sticky bun (Paleo cheat day!) and then on to an adorable, artsy breakfast cafe for a yummy birthday brunch.

I'd say the name of the cafe were we enjoyed our brunch was quite appropriate. :)

We love our food. :)

Much of their menu came served in cute, cast iron pans.

After our early brunch, we enjoyed walking around downtown Savannah for a few hours, before hitting the road homeward by afternoon. With Chris's graduate school schedule, and work early the next morning, our visit had to be brief, but we made the most of a few hours and took in much of what this charming, southern city had to offer.

Walking Waterside.

A view of the Capitol building.

This lovely, old theater makes me miss our neighborhood theater from our time living in Ghent.

The prestigious SCAD. 

I'm in love with the Spanish Moss that gracefully falls from the trees in Savannah's many charming parks scattered throughout downtown.

I cherish every day spent with the love of my life. Happy birthday to the best husband in the world. I love you!

At last, our frozen (gluten/dairy free) pizza days are over =)

When we first began our kitchen renovation on May 10, I never dreamed that it would take as long as it has, or that it would be so mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausting. Can you tell that I'm a first timer? :)

Two weeks (and one emotional breakdown -- by me) later, we are now two-thirds done and I'm ready to share some pictures. I still have some touch-ups and wall painting to complete, but I have finally begun unpacking and finding homes for my kitchen items. The kitchen truly is the heart of the home, and it sure feels good to finally to be able to utilize this important space.

Without further ado, here are a few photos documenting our kitchen renovation journey.

Before

Step One: 

Back splash Removal

(Labor time: approx. 8 hours -- i.e. my hubby deserves an award)

 Step Two:

Removing cabinet doors 

(Labor time: three hours -- I did this part, thus why it took so long.)

Step three:

Removing funky shelve molding

(Labor time: one hour -- For this, I got to use a handy-dandy fang tool)

See how the surface along the shelves has indents? 

 

Step four:

Removing ugly drawer and shelf liner paper

(Labor time: FOREVER. Several days and hours of ripping, chipping, pulling, tugging, and sanding is what it took to finally remove everything)

Every one of the drawers and cabinet shelves had a layer of glue, covered by cork, covered by glue, covered by some really *beautiful* liner paper that needed to be removed. This by far was the worst part of the whole renovation. Not only did it take forever, but my hands (and back) got pretty beat up in the process.

Pretty, pretty.

Yes, this is me complete with a face mask, heavy-duty work gloves, knee pads, and safety glasses, sanding the sam hill out of the drawers. Two of the drawers were so laden with glue that it took about two and a half hours to get them sanded down. On the bright side, I got an amazing upper-body workout in that night. ;-)

Step five: 

Sanding and painting the cabinet and drawer doors

(Labor time: four days)

Before, in all of their bathwater-colored glory.

Awful, awful, spray-painted over hardware.

This power drill and I have become very close throughout this process.  Together we have removed, installed, removed again (wrong size hardware!) and installed 70 pieces of hardware.

 Paint.

After laying the doors out in the kitchen and finding we had barely enough room to walk, let alone apply paint, we decided to move our happy little workshop to the garage.

Step Six:

Installing the new backsplash

(Labor time: Several days)

Chris is truly my hero. Considering that he'd never done anything like this before, he did an absolutely brilliant job of installing our new back splash.

Chris figured out the perfect system to cut our glass tiles.

Step Seven:

Painting, painting, and more painting: trim, walls, and interior shelves. Plus, Chris installed the first of two new kitchen light fixtures, and pulled out ugly wall switches and wall plate covers and replaced with bright, shiny new ones.

(Labor time: About five days)

After Photos

(Note: there is STILL so much more I plan to do in the kitchen. As of these photos, I have just put up a few decorative items, and have roughly put out dishes, etc. But, we are so very happy how things have turned out! It's just as we envisioned for a bright, happy, cheerful kitchen space to enjoy cooking and entertaining our friends and family.)

But, just in case you forgot...

BEFORE

AFTER

 I love our pretty, new back splash. Chris did such an amazing job, and I am so thankful for all of his hard work! :)

 I will be painting the rest of the kitchen (breakfast table area) this weekend, and will post photos once it is completed.

I should also have updates on our laundry room in a few days, so stay tuned! :)

P.S. I have new appreciation for you friends who have done major remodeling in your homes. You really don't realize how much work it takes until you begin to tackle a project yourself. Chris and I have certainly learned a whole new level of patience throughout this process. :)