Happy Valentine's Day!

Hi Readers!

I hope everyone is enjoying their Valentine's Day so far. My Valentine has promised to make me dinner tonight, so I'm very interested to see how that goes. In the 7+ years that we've been together Raj has only cooked for me once. Not that I'm complaining. I actually prefer being the chef in our household. I'm a lot better at it ;)

In my last post I mentioned that I started a decorating project, and now that I'm finished I wanted to share the pictures with you. I decided to create a gallery wall for the staircase leading to our basement. I have very little experience hanging pictures, but after seeing all of the beautiful gallery walls on Houzz (aka the best home design website ever) I was dying to try it.

Here's what the stairwell looked like before:

It was naked and desperate for attention, like a 2 cent hooker. But after a trip to Michaels and Home Goods, I was able to give it a little face lift. Because I'm a novice blogger, I forgot to take the "during" pictures. So unfortunately, there's not a build up of excitement to the final reveal. I'll remember to take them next time I'm doing a project. I was just proud I was able to hang everything myself, and I only dropped one frame while doing it. Raj still hasn't noticed the dent in the hardwood from that yet, and I'm hoping he never does.

Anyway, 3 hours later it looked like this:

It's definitely a little eclectic, but I love that look. This is the first wall you see when you come into the house through the garage, and I'm glad it doesn't look so bare anymore. What do y'all think??

Yesterday Raj decided not to go into work because of the awful weather, so we spent most of the day hanging up a light fixture. The builder of our home installed a ridiculous number of ceiling fans and we finally decided to buy new light fixtures to replace some of them. Since we were stuck in the house all day (our attempt to get up the icy driveway failed), I thought it would be fun to try hanging one ourselves. It turns out, it wasn't that much fun. Luckily Lauren and Dustin were out getting lunch and we convinced them not only to bring us Wendy's, but also to help us with our half finished project. Thanks again guys! We finally got the pendant light up, but we didn't cut the chain short enough. So now it looks like it could hit someone in the head, but hey, at least it's still hanging on the ceiling (for now). The handyman is coming next week to install the rest of the lights, so I'll just get him to raise it a little. Lesson learned: some things are better left to the professionals.

After the lighting fiasco we all decided to go sledding down the giant hill in our backyard. Of course we don't own a sled because we live in North Carolina, so we used plastic storage bin lids instead (or as Raj refers to them - giant tupperware). They actually worked pretty well. I took a few pictures before my hands got numb.

Raj was brave and went first

Dustin thoroughly enjoyed himself

Lauren too!

 

I got all the way to the treeline and almost had a Sonny Bono moment

So that was our snow day. It was fun while it lasted, but I'm over this cold weather now. Spring can't get here soon enough!


Apparently I'm in charge of dessert tonight, so I'm off to the store to get supplies. I hope everyone out there gets to spend today with someone they love <3

xoxo,
Reema

Meatless Mondays and Tuesdays with Stephanie

Hi Readers!

A few weeks ago my friend Megan introduced me to Orange Theory Fitness. It's a 60 minute interval workout routine that involves using a treadmill, rowing machine, suspension straps, and free weights, all while being hooked up to a heart rate monitor. I took a class with her and ended up liking it, so I signed up for a membership. I even convinced my friend Lauren to join too. I thought we could motivate each other to continue going, because let's face it - when it comes to exercise, I'm a quitter. The 3 of us met up for a class last night. After our sweaty session we decided to have salads for dinner. I figured while I was on this new health kick I'd try out "meatless Mondays". I'm a vegetarian most days without even realizing it, so I can't imagine it being too difficult. It felt good to workout and eat healthy. Hopefully it will last! We are signed up for our next class tomorrow, and I'm actually pretty excited. I'd love to know how all of my readers out there stay motivated to be healthy! Your comments can be my inspiration for next week :)

Today I met up with Stephanie for our weekly coffee date (thanks again Michelle for playing matchmaker!). Last week she introduced me to Jubala Village Coffee, and my life has not been the same since. If you live in this area and haven't been, go now! You'll be so glad you did. I had a raspberries and cream latte and a pimento cheese biscuit (which was very well deserved after eating grass all day yesterday). Stephanie is a fellow stay-at-home who just moved here from Charlotte. She's an avid Yelp reviewer and wants to write a blog about it. I think it's a fabulous idea!

I started working on a home decorating project that I'll be done with tomorrow, so check back soon for pictures of the transformation! Until then, stay warm. I think I just saw a snowflake :(

xoxo,
Reema

  

My Inaugural Blog Post

Hi Readers!

This is my attempt at blogging. Come back often to read about my daily adventures as a housewife. It's a tough job, and I'm glad I get to do it :)

For my first post I wanted to share some adorable pictures of my niece. My theory is that no one can resist cute baby pictures and maybe after seeing them you'll be compelled to visit my blog again. But more importantly, she's just the cutest thing I've ever seen and I will use any excuse to show her off to people. These were taken by Jeff Massey, the amazing photographer who took our most recent Christmas card photo. If anyone is looking for a family photographer in the Raleigh area, I would highly recommend him.

And now presenting Miss. Maya!

These were taken when she was 2 weeks old. She celebrated her 1 month birthday on February 7th and she's changed so much already. I'll have the pleasure of babysitting her once a week after her mom and dad go back to work. Wish me luck!

So that was my first blog post....ever. Actually, it wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. I hope everyone has a fantastic Sunday Funday!

xoxo -
Reema