Home Update: Gutters

the sunsets that week were crazy beautiful!

Last Friday, Matt and I spent the day around the house. Matt was able to take the day off of work in order to get some things done. He put up gutters in the front and I did a lot of cleaning and laundry. I wasn't so sure how the gutters would look, but they are hardly noticeable. 

Currently, the ground slopes towards the front of the house and when it rains for a long time or quickly for a short amount of time, water builds up and comes close to entering our crawl space. We wanted to put up gutters to move the water away from the front. Eventually we plan on building up the ground with new landscaping to help out even more.

I think Matt did an awesome job on the gutters and we are no longer having water problems!!

Is it really November?!

Last night was Halloween. We had ONE trick or treater come to our door. ONE!
I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing? Thankfully, we live in a very quiet neighborhood and all of our surrounding neighbors are older than us (from late 40's to late 80's) and all but one without kids at home. I would have thought that being in an older neighborhood meant that kids loved to trick or treat here to get all the candy, but clearly I was mistaken.
Fortunately, I didn't buy any candy.

Matt and I have been super busy with working on home projects. Almost every day there is something for us to be doing, or at least every weekend. We have finally unpacked every box and I am just now (currently taking a break from) finishing up our last room to put away (the office). There is still much work to be done and the list goes on and on, but we are enjoying the process!!!

A few snippets from life:

Had our 5 year anniversary of being together on October 7th :)

We celebrated with some Starbucks treats after church

I made some killer Bourbon Punch for football Game Day 

4 cans of Ale-8-One (or you can use Ginger Ale)

3 Tbsp of Bourbon (I used Knob Creek)

1 cup of OJ

1 Tbsp of lemon juice

lots of ice & stir to mix

Front Porch pumpkins and mums 

Lowes always has plants on clearance. Got a huge tub of mums (orig. 19.99) for $7!

We had our first successful yard sale

This was actually at the end when we tore it all down to take to Goodwill. 

Sun & Sunflowers around the house

 One thing I love about Trader Joe's is their cheap flowers. Bunch of 6 for $3.99

Hope everyone is having a wonderful fall season. The weather is gorgeous here in Charleston. Except not everyone is enjoying warm, crisp air, sunshine, and hot apple cider...... my prayers are with all those affected by Hurricane Sandy in the Northeast. Have y'all seen the reports and photos? Crazy.

Ways to Help:  Trinity Grace East Village    Redeemer   Hope for NY

Progress

It's fun to see the transition of our house over the past month. The entire house needed foundation repair and the joists replaced, which is a lot of work to be structurally sound. Matt and I close on Tuesday and we couldn't be more excited to move into our HOME!!

Here are some pictures......

I only took them of the living room to compare the differences by week:

1. All you can see is the crawl space underneath

2. The new joists are up and the blocks are secure

3. Water vapor cover is down and the insulation wires are ready for insulation

4. Everything's finished and sub floor is in place

All the gross old boards

Can't wait to update y'all on the hardwood floors we will be putting in sometime next week!

IG update

{December 2011- February 2012}
follow me @lifeasapepin

Week View #9 {Update}

I haven't done one of the InstaFridays in a LONG while it seems.....
{This is usually a week's view of life, but this time it will be the last 2 months! gasp!}

A lot of LIFE has gone on since my last real update, so be prepared (as always) for lots of photos :)

Matt and I enjoyed Charleston's Restaurant Week in September

We went to Fat Hen and High Cotton- YUM

Matt, Mama Pepin, & I playing with the new Photo Booth "Chipmunk" view

at the Apple Store. Hysterical. We were laughing so hard at ourselves.

My first time out Shrimping

Every morning Beaux goes into our room to sleep in the sunshine :)

Such a sweet boy

So glad that I can call this city as mine (for the moment)

Went fishing with the boys, but we left due to the crazy mosquitos

Still, before the sun set, it was beautiful :)

Went to the Kentucky VS South Carolina football game with a few of our dear friends. 

Sadly, my poor Wildcats endured a beating :(

Matt and I enjoy shopping at our local Asian market

It even has it's own restaurant and the sweet lady said she would cook

Gung Bao Ji Ding for me if I ever wanted it!! MMMM!

Tried out HUSK (best new restaurant 2011- Bon Appetit & Southern Living) for lunch

 with a friend from KY and her friend. We enjoyed good food & shopping!

Dessert was superb and I wanted to steal their wine bottle glasses

Dinner date @ Whole Foods ;)

Went to Sullivan's to watch the sunset and had fun playing in the tide pools.

I've never seen so many starfish and hermit crabs in one place!!

Drove with our brother & sister in law to McClellanville for dinner

@ T.W.'s with our aunt & uncle that were closeby visiting.

Went just the other day to get my craving fix at RITA'S Ice :)

(and that's saying a lot when it's less than 10 min away!)

(This was just last night) Matt, his brother, and their friends went

shrimping last night and came home with over half a large cooler full!!!

So, that's all the catching up from the past two months!!

My life isn't as interesting as the photos appear to be, but 

I've been so blessed with our time here and being closer to family.

Instagram: Jamie Pepin/Lifeasapepin

if you wanna follow my adventures :)

Bloggin' Blues

I have been so out of the loop! 

Despite moving into our new place two weekends ago, it's been a little hard for me to find the energy and enthusiasm to blog. I have the time to, but I'm not sure what to talk about or I have too many things to talk about. And I am behind in several posts....

So to catch myself up quickly, I'm going to make a list of what it's been like the past several weeks {in no particular order} :

1. I still have boxes of clothes to put away. Which is very unlike me.....

2. I spent all of last week in Kentucky watching two precious boys (who I babysat during college and were in our wedding)

 

3. While in the beautiful Bluegrass State, I was able to catch up with friends, get some new UK gear, eat and shop at my favorite places

4. I'm starting to have a love & hate relationship with Pinterest. I know I'm creative and I can do so many things- it's just getting somewhat overwhelming.

5. I need to find a job! Or do I? I feel major guilt about not working. I dream about one day owning a store or making my handmade business flourish. I despise feeling like I still "don't know what I want to be when I grow up"!! ......In other news, I made my 2nd Etsy sale :)

6. After hanging out with family, we came home Sunday to spend Labor Day at home.

7. I've made these Halfway to Heaven cookies two weeks in a row- SO good!

Recipe from Broma Bakery

8. Was able to watch my sister's first cross country race :)

9. Love having our sweet boy Beaux pup with us again

10. Enjoyed a rain-soaked concert with Paul & Lauren- Hootie & the Blowfish/Sister Hazel

11. Made around 14 freezer meals with my SIL Lauren and it wasn't as intimidating as I  thought it would be

12. Random crafts & projects I've worked on/took pictures of

  

13. I enjoy having a new Trader Joe's close by again

14. The new Coca Cola Freestyle machine is amazing. Regular coke with Lime. YUM.

15. My hair is SO long and I need to make an appointment....anyone know where I can get a free cut in the Charleston area for donating it?

*16. I've officially hit the ONE YEAR mark in blogging! Whoop!

And in honor of this said milestone, I will be having a little GIVEAWAY! I'll be putting together a little box of goodies to mail to one lucky winner! Stay tuned for the details....

{Coming Soon!}