Splashing the Back

Ryan has finished yet another house project...he is slaying them! I am so thankful for a handy hubby and his desire to work hard all week at work and then come home to be a daddy, hubby, and work on our house! Here is the process...this one took a lot longer than expected. 2 full Saturdays and a few nights during the week. I love how it turned out. Simple.

(disclaimer, the before pictures were taken with iPhone and after with Nikon)

Before:

After:

My husband is a rockstar. Period. 

Life Updates

We have been super busy lately with house reno's, out of town guests, traveling, and soaking up time with our little 16 month (tomorrow) old!

Here is our life in pictures for the past few weeks: 

Before we left for vacation we visited daddy at work!

We had a fun trip to Kiawah Island in SC with our cousins. 

The trip wore her out!

We have spent lots of time reading, Mae's favorite thing to do: 

We have gone to the splash pad with friends:

We even snuck in some Chuy's, mommy's new addiction: 

Mommy and daddy had a fun night out at a local brewery in Charlotte, for the Auburn Alumni Club event. The owner of the brewery went to Auburn!

We got lots snuggles in: 

And love play time with our neighbor Saylor: 

Mae has turned into a monkey and climbs on everything she can:

We have had tons of pool time: 

And love pretending to be a mommy to her baby dolls:

We have had Mae's BB and Buck in town for a nice visit. They were so gracious to let mommy catch up on sleep, play with our girl at the park and pool, feed the ducks, sing and dance, daily. Mae loves her grandparents!

We are loving every second with our girl. She makes every thing, every day, every minute better. 

(PS sorry for all of the bad quality photos from my phone. 

I have full intentions of using my Nikon again soon!)

In other news, our new backsplash is up and running, just needs some grout and electrical outlets changed out tonight! 

Stay tuned for that blog post!

a day late and a $ short

So yesterday was Father's Day! We had a super relaxing, lazy day, which was much needed! Mae and I just got back from a beach trip to Kiawah Island with my cousins and Ryan had a long week at work, plus spent Saturday at the US Open in Pinehurst.

We even played hookie from church, which is so weird for us. A day in our pajamas, eating in, playing with Mae, napping on and off,

and watching golf was just what our little family needed.

We did surprise Ryan with a new toilet and fun father's day sign and card.

Yes, I know a toilet, you are probably shocked. But in all reality, we are getting closer to renovating our master bath, and that was one of the first things on the list! So we got a head start, and Ryan got a toilet! We have been much more practical with gifts this year...hence, I got a chandelier for Mother's Day and Home Goods gift cards for my birthday...as you can see, the house comes first this year!

I think Ryan got his feeling hurt I didn't post a sappy picture or post on facebook or instagram, like the rest of the world, but honestly I don't feel like he is like a dad like the rest of the world. He is better. So I thought I would throw together this little acronym (sorry the teacher in me is coming out!) in honor of our favorite father!

RYAN HARBUCK

R-Real deal. He is the real deal. What you see is what you get. Ryan doesn't sugar coat anything for anybody. He is honest, hysterical, and happy all the time. How he is in public is how he is at home. No faking. I am so proud of the man he has become. From dating for such a long time before we married, I have watched him grow into a real true man, husband, and daddy right before my eyes. I am amazed at all he has become.

Y-Youthful. I always joke that I have 2 kids. Ryan and Mae. He seriously is a big kid. He jokes, plays, and does things sometimes that only a kids should do. He is a mess. A cute, funny, hot mess!

A-Awesome handy-man man. He makes Mae and I all kinds of handmade items out of wood for our home. One of my favorite qualities about him. He can fix (rig) anything!

N-Never complains. I have to say since Ryan is my hubby, partner, best friend, and more, I confide in him in my worries, thoughts, and yes, sometimes complaints. He always takes them and helps me see the light, but I notice he RARELY ever complains. He seriously sees the good that can come out of anything!

H-Hard worker. This term goes often over used to describe someone, but I am so serious when I say Ryan is such a hard worker for our family. He works his tail off at work. He is always the first one in his office by at least an hour and one of the last to leave. When he comes home he immediately takes on the roll of daddy for dinner and bathtime and puts Mae to sleep. Then usually helps me around the house or is in the garage working on another project for our home. The. Man. Never. Stops.

A-Auburn fan. I know this one sounds silly, but I love to see Ryan's love for Auburn, but also how he instill's it in our family. He makes sure Mae knows "War Eagle", has Auburn clothes, and an Auburn shaker in her toy box. He plans a year in advance on games, always buys season tickets, always has the best tailgate to join, and even recently became the new board member on Charlotte's Auburn Alumni club. I love his passion for Auburn. I have it, too! ;)

R-Real estate man. One of our favorite things to discuss and communicate about is real estate. We love watching HGTV and we have 3 homes ourselves. One we live in and 2 as an investment that we rent out. We love talking about ways we can put more money into those homes for bigger investments, or things we can do to increase their value.

B-Banker-One of the many things I love about Ryan is that he is super smart with money. He never makes a rash decision and has been known to be cheap. Dont get me wrong I love a good sale or bargain, but he just leads a simple life with his wants and needs. With that said, we have both grown to love Dave Ramsey and follow some of his tools for our marriage! Love that we can say we are debt free thanks to Ryan's wise banking skills!

U-Unbelievable dad to Mae and Husband to me. I always say I didnt know what kind of husband or father he would be before we got married. I hoped for the best, but he has FAR exceeded any expectations I ever had.

C-Comical. He is hilarious. I couldn't make it through this life without all the laughter.

K-Keeper of Mae and my heart. We always talk about daughters and their daddy's and how important it is for dad's and daughter's to have a good relationship for so many reason. Mae is one lucky girl.

We love you Ryan! Happy Father's day to the BEST!

Shanty 2 Chic

Lately, I have had a slight obsession following these two women's blog. They are 2 normal women that love to build unique furniture out of wood. They share things they make for their house and also share FREE plans! I have been dying for Ryan and I to complete one of their many great ideas, so we finally tackled one last week! Floating Shelves for our kitchen!

To begin, we do not love our kitchen cabinets. We have nice granite countertops, but we want higher, taller,  more elegant looking cabinets. Right now, our first priority is saving for our master bath HUGE reno...so we decided to do some 'quick fixes' in the kitchen that are reasonably priced but make a big difference. On the list is adding a backsplash, adding molding to the top of our cabinets, and then these shelves. Eventually we will get all new cabinets, but now its not top priority. 

So, while my parents were in town last, my dad helped Ryan take down the cabinets.

We repurposed them in the garage for extra storage: 

Then Ryan prepped the space where the cabinets were: sanding, mudding, sanding, patching, painting, etc. 

He then started building the shelves, based off of the Shanty 2 Chic plans: 

And they started taking shape: 

I love how they turned out and they really have opened up the kitchen more. Ryan did a fantastic job and worked very hard on them! I am so lucky to have a handy hubby!