Party Party Party

This past weekend a group of my girlfriends hosted an engagement party for us. The theme of the party was "Celebrate the Night in White." Most of our immediate families traveled in for the event (Sheridan slept 14!) so we had a house full. It was a nice preview to what we can expect for our upcoming wedding weekend. It was great to have the opportunity to spend time with friends and family throughout the weekend in different settings. I didn't get a shot of everyone at the party, but here are a few pics of the event.

That's batty!

Last spring Alex ventured into the attic to figure out what was preventing our whole-house fan from opening. His head and shoulders were just barely in the attic when I heard a high-pitched yelp and he jumped down. He saw a bat. He described it as a very large bat with a pig nose that slowly turned its head to stare at him.

The bat must have liked her little habitat because she invited some friends to join her. This spring we heard what sounded like baby bats moving around and squeaking. We also saw bat guano and other drippings on the front of our house near the attic vent. Our guess was our little friend had a few babies. Alex insisted that we couldn't do anything about the bat and her babies until September. If we removed the bat from the attic now her babies would die.

So, we did nothing.

Tonight, Alex decided to sit out front at dusk and wait for the bats to fly out. He expecting to see one or two bats. I thought he was being silly.

About 40 minutes into his bat watching he called me out to see a little bat flying above our house. We weren't sure where it came from but thought it was cute. Then, suddenly, I saw a big bat fly out of our attic. Then I heard the clicking of another bat climbing up the vent to fly out - and it did. And another. And another. And another. 25 in total. 25 BATS!! The babies probably aren't flying yet so who knows how many more are up there. We love sharing our home with others, but I'm not sure how I feel about this bat situation.

Where you been?!

Despite the silence, there is a lot happening at Sheridan. We've traveled a bit, made lots of wedding planning progress, and bought a new house. A house we hope to make our forever home.

Here's our next starting line:

Cave Progress

The downstairs living room is still far from done, but it is a much brighter and more enjoyable space than before. We finished painting the walls white in mid-March. I've been hesitant to post any pictures because it's still not a very pretty room, but it is what it is for now.

Like I said, still far from done. However, it's a huge improvement over where we started.

We considered painting the trim but decided to leave it for now. Neither of us is thrilled to take on the tedious task of painting the windows. We are hoping to paint or whitewash the fireplace, remove some extra furniture, add new window coverings, and potentially paint the ceiling. Given that 75% of the weekends over the next three months are already planned out, I'm not sure we'll be seeing any changes anytime soon....

Family Fun

Sheridan home improvements were put on hold for the last few weekends while we've focused on family. We spent Easter weekend with Alex's family in Maryland and then spent the following weekend with my sister, Jill's family in South Carolina.

We had a big crew for Easter:

Friday and Saturday included a trip to Alex's Dad's farm, lots of Settlers of Catan, a long stroll in Baltimore, and an annual crab dinner.

On Sunday morning 12 Easter baskets were found, bunny ears were modeled, and a delicious brunch was shared.

I don't have as much photographic evidence of our South Carolina trip, but it was equally as entertaining and exhausting. Alex and I always enjoy time with family, but Tad was especially happy. He loved being loved. We all do.

Talla's Black Thumb

Have you ever heard the term: "A green thumb"?  In case you have not, it means that you are good at gardening, or you have a way of making things grow.  Well... Talla has the opposite of that.

This week, I was in Austin and Dallas from Tuesday morning to Friday afternoon.  When I returned, the vegetables that I had been nurturing looked significantly different.

What my plants looked like before I left:

What they looked like when I returned yesterday:

Hopefully I can nurse them back to life, but more than likely, we are going to have to wait until October to get our tomatoes again.

Also, the English Ivy in front of the house has seen better days.

Spring, 2013: 

 As you can see, the Ivy is lush and green.

This is about the same time a year later.  You remember all that lush green ivy?  It's all dead now.  Not really sure what happened...  

Another picture of post ivy apocalypse.   You can see the white azalea about to bloom.

Inspiration

Before I start decorating any room I roam the internet for inspiration photos. Once I get a clear vision I rarely revisit the inspiration photos. It's fun to compare my current results with what I was thinking about over a year ago.

Dining room: I loved the light airiness, splashes of red and aqua, and eclectic choices these dining rooms. Similarities in my dining room include - red chairs, random glass bottles, plates on the wall, aqua accents, and lots of sunlight. I was originally planning to incorporate some stripes and armchairs but they didn't make the cut.

Bathroom: I was at first perplexed about how to work with the blue tile. I found a few inspiration photos using lime green, coral, yellow and orange as accent colors, but ultimately decided to keep it simple and go with white and grey.

Office: We haven't really done anything to our office since moving in other than an initial arrangement of available furniture. I'm hoping it will look like a combination of these inspiration rooms sometime soon.

Here is a peek of what the office looks like now (this pic is from March 2013):

I'm looking forward to getting our office, basement, and kitchen looking more like our inspiration rooms!