I'm getting nostalgic

When you are in your mid-late 20's, summertime means wedding season. It's when you hear all of your friends boasting (or complaining?) "I have 6 weddings, what about you?" and every weekend seems to be planned for you with showers, bachelorette/bachelor parties and Fridays are taken off to travel to the venues.

If you asked me a few months ago, I was a little anxious about the amount of weddings. To me it was stressful to think almost every weekend in July was booked and about the amount of money I'd be spending. Now, those all hold true, but tomorrow is our 2 yr engageiversary, next month is our ANNIVERSARY (WHAT?! already?) and Nicole's bachelorette is this weekend followed by Veronica's shower and bachelorette. This has me a little teary eyed when watching any love story and looking through photos of our wedding. I'm not kidding, I could tear up just looking at the hubs at any moment. (and... NO I'M NOT PREGNANT) Maybe it's that I just watched Bethenny Getting Married?

I spent about 2 hours looking through our wedding photos on facebook last night. I am so happy to share in the special days with these amazing couples and going through the photos made me more than excited for their upcoming days. Here are a few of my favorites:

Tomorrow night, Jarrett and I will be doing what quite possibly might be the most romantic thing, is going to the scene of the crime, 2 years later- La Campania. Ahhhh amazing. Love you JJB!

I want a pool.

I should simply write enough said.


I.WANT.A.POOL.


badly.....


ever since I was a kid, I wanted a pool in my backyard. I am not even kidding you. 7 year old Jess said to older Jess, you will have a pool someday. I always grew up with neighbors or family that let me come over whenever, unannounced and let me use their pool to cool off, get some sun, and relax. To me, there is nothing better than laying out by the pool, reading a good book or trashy celebrity gossip and taking a nice nap by the pool.

But, as you all know, we do not have a pool. And it's been unbearably hot this whole summer. And the hubs said no. (In his defense, is it worth it? Would it mess with the resale of our house? All good q's). But seriously how awesome is this pool? And please? Pretty please?

Free Samples!

I've learned the best way to make decisions is to order free samples. We have these plan run of the mill white (really off white/dingy/dirty) blinds on the windows that I haven't got to yet, and I HATE them. Basically, the woman who lived her before put them on every single window and they are gross. And half of them don't fit.

Steve's Blinds and Wallpaper has been my saving grace. They've done my window blinds and my bedroom blinds, and they offer free samples. So for someone like me that needs about 100 different examples to make a decision, this is key. I order 5-10 different ones and then I can narrow down my options and see the exact colors.

I was thinking bamboo? That might be fun for the stairway/hallway windows. I found these pictures online, so I am really interested to see the samples. I like the idea of the roman shade look too, so I think I am leaning in that direction. These are not windows that can have any sort of drape, so they need something that will stand out on their own.

We have a thief

Last night I thought I lost my mind. A remote to the tv had disappeared. I was looking underneath the couch, the cushions, EVERYWHERE. It didn't make sense and I was enraged that somehow it had vanished and I was the last one to use it. A week ago, same thing happened and I found it two nights ago underneath the couch. I thought, oh, we must have dropped it and it slid under there while the dogs were playing. BUT, alas, NO! I have found the culprit after I found it in the other room, no where near the tv....and with a tennis ball and rope.

and don't be fooled by this face. He steals remotes! WATCH OUT QUINCY, he's coming for yours next.

Pupdate (June)

What better way than to start your Monday work week than with a pupdate. Lincoln is now weighing in at 60 pounds, with Knight at a mere 55!

I love you HomeGoods...

At one point in my life I would have started this sentence the same, but ended it quite differently. Perhaps in my teens I would have said "If there is one store I walk into and just can't walk out without spending over $100 it's.... Abercrombie and Fitch." In college, it might have been Target. Well these days, it's HomeGoods. This store is amazing. I find myself going down EVERY SINGLE AISLE, at lease twice. I buy things I'm not quite sure how I'll use but I feel like I cannot live without. The prices are extremely reasonable and they have an amazine selection from kitchen to bedding to furniture to bath. Evidence of HomeGoods now exists all over our house and as we are making some great changes I thought I would share.

Old closet doors:

The new closet doors:

The new picture courtesy of HG:

The new pillows for the bed courtesy of HG:

Lifespan of a water heater

When we moved into our house, the inspector told us the average lifespan of a water heater is 10 years...and ours was about 10 years old. My planner hubs put it into the 2010-2011 budget and we hoped, maybe he is wrong and it last 20 years!

Well, we (and by "we" I mean Jarrett) came home last night to a wet basement from a broken water heater! It's failed us. And the inspector was right. 10 years on the dot.

However, if you are wondering, the worst part is not the money we have to dish out..but rather the ICE COLD shower I took this morning and will be taking tomorrow morning until it is fixed. Imagine the ocean in New England in May and add ice cubes and that's what it was like.