primed and ready to go

so her she is ... all primed up with some oil base primer that is such an awful thing to clean up ... i have oil based because that is what the paint guys at Home Depot kept stressing. even with water based paint to go over the top of it ... they said its the best. ugh ... i think i will go oil based once i run out of this quart just to see. (i like to learn the hard way)

here you can see my patchwork of painters tape around the hardware that WOULD NOT COME OFF ... i am still annoyed by this aspect of the buffet/sideboard.


all nine drawers waiting for a few coats of caribbean splash (don't be fooled by soon to come pictures ... the painters tape and caribbean splash are not the same color) ...


her body all empty and primed (kilz brand is what i used).


.... next up painting!

and while i was painting i stole a picture of my cute husband after a long day of work ... he lets me sleep in the wee hours of the morning and i let him nap when he gets home from work (sometimes.) is he listening to his student's oral homework assignments? or watching an episode of the Simpsons ... my money is on the later.

the buffet/sideboard BEAST

i read a lot of design blogs - mostly those that revolve around DIY stuff because let's face it - i don't really want to look at stuff i can't have. sooooo i am determined to do things myself. i enjoy the process and the journey generally. generally. let me fill you in on my latest beast of a project.

Meet the buffet/sideboard:

she was a whopping $19.99 (no sales tax either here in oregon) - marked down several times over a period of weeks. naturally i snatched her right up and i did do a quick on site inspection ... maybe a little too quick.

I was seduced by her details and cool door hardware. she has an asian flare that i was looking for (my husband's influence) because of the piece that will hang above it and the lamps that will go on either side.



here are her guts:


here is her ugly side, also known as her rusted and splayed metal drawer slides and chewed up wooded drawer tracks:




another blemish: her hardware won't come off ... no matter how hard you or your husband tries to unscrew it


i realized the drawers were going to need some attention ... but did you know that drawer slides cost $11.99 a piece (center bottom slides)? there are 9 drawers in her ... that is $107.99!!! I found some options online if I buy 10 ... but its still $53.91 ... more than I am willing to pay right now. so nate had a great idea - paint it and get it all ready and if we really like it and want to spend the money on it ... we will ... sigh ... who knows ... but on we go!

going back ... to cali cali (and in time)

These pictures are from our exciting visit to San Diego in June. I just recently uploaded the photos from Nate's camera and was overcome with a feeling of sadness that I had not documented our awesome trip ... even though two of my sister-in-laws did! I would like my own record and thus ... here is our trip in picture form.

I went to the SD zoo with Sara, Libby, and Jenna and we had a blast. It was fun because this was only the second time spending time with them ... the first time being the wedding. I am sooo grateful to have such great in-laws that make me feel like I have known them forever. Some of the highlights include:


The camels with saggy humps ... that's got to be embarrassing, right? I still thought they were looking pretty good ...



Good enough to have my nieces stand in front of them and say cheese! I am such a great new aunt - aren't I?


This sweet peacock was strutting around the zoo ... just free to do whatever he liked. He was soooo beautiful - I kind of like peacock stuff.


The peacock was hanging out with the elephants - they are such amazing animals! So big! And that trunk is so crazy - it amazes me every time I see one in action.


More evidence that I am an awesome aunt ... I got Jenna to pose like the statue of some crazy sumo elephant ... which in all honesty wasn't that hard to do. I would be really awesome if I could have talked Libby into doing it, but she would have nothing of the sort.

I also suggested to Jenna to put up her hand so that the orangutans might do the same to her (classic move right) but no luck ... the animals weren't as open to the idea as Jenna was. Isn't she just sooo cute!


Jenna try to "connect" with Clyde. He's content with the burlap sack on his head.



Clyde's face was soooo huge - those cheeks! and his eyes are sooo tiny ... he's chillen with the brulap sack on his head still.


Of course we saw the baby panda bear and it was so cute because he was frolicing around while mom ate some bamboo.


Mom panda eating bamboo.


Here is the seciton of the post called: "WHO KNEW!"

1) WHO KNEW that the California Condor was so dang ugly and looked exactly like a vulture! All those days growing up and hearing about, "Save the California Condor" and I was picturing some beautiful majestic bird! Not that ugly birds aren't were saving ... but still ... WHO KNEW!



2) WHO KNEW that there were turtles that had snake like heads! Funny enough its called the snakeneck turtle and lives down under in and around Australia ... of course it would. That's where all sorts of strange creatures were cut off from the rest of the world and evolved into strange strange things ... sooo awesome. Doesn't it look like a long neck dinosaur (also known as little foot or a brontosaurus)? Super creepy cool - I took these pictures to show Nate.



Then we went to the Mariners v. Padres baseball game in sweet PetCo field. It is super duper sweet! Right in the middle of downtown with all sorts of cool things about it. Here is nate with his Mariners stuff on ...


Super cool architecture of old and new buildings.


They have a sand box and a baseball diamonds for kids to play on during the game ... because lets be honest ... baseball can be tough to watch. Thank heavens we had yummy food to eat to keep us distracted thanks to Sara!


Overall we had a blast in SD seeing the Joe/Sara/Libby/Jenna Soelbergs ... it was great!

Nate turned 29!

it was nate's birthday 9 days ago ... thanks to the counter over there yonder i didn't have to hurt my brain and think about how many days ago it was.

we are super lame and moved over his birthday weekend ... but we are planning an August party to make up for it.

oh ... and i made him a three tiered cake that leaned pretty far to the left. so far that it eventually fell over. i am that awesome. we kind of decided that nothing would top our wedding cakes made by my oh so very talented sister-in-law that we should just give up on cake making and stick with the things we are good at ... cookies (for me) and ice cream (for him).

i hope to get my act together by his NEXT birthday (the big 3-0) and celebrate it right ... i just hope he knows how much i really do love and appreciate him.

love you babe ... happy belated.

one of our sexy wedding pictures ...
isn't he sooo dreamy ...
i love this one of him ...
he totally pulls sexy off ...
i on the other hand, am not doing so well.

a change ... will do you good

the n&b soelbergs are in the midst of a change ... a change that has been long awaited for me and hastily agreed to by my dear sweet husband. WE MOVED. not countries or states ... ACROSS TOWN ... technically, we moved cities ... back to eugene (YAY!)

the thing that really sealed the deal for nate was fourth of july sunday. we did not sing ANY patriotic songs at church. no "my country tis of thee," "america the beautiful," or ... gasp ... dare i say it ... no "star spangled banner." he leaned over and whispered those words i had been longing to hear ... "your right, its time to move."

but let me tell you the back story so that you might be as excited as i am ... because you should be excited. and let us remember what our current apartment looks like

here goes.

we lived in springfield, on mill street, in a small (and as of late ... very very hot) one bedroom apartment. its not a great part of town. let's just say that when we tell people where we are moving to and where we are moving from they immediately brighten up and say things like: "oh, you are moving to a much better area" and "have you had your car broken into?" ... so yeah its not the best.

why have we lived here for the past 9 months? IT IS SUPER CHEAP and we had almost NO MONEY. we have fond memories of 10 months back when we got married ... let us remember that nate was still in grad school and i had just graduated and planned a wedding. i was desperately looking for work and we were basically living off of the generosity of family and friends (aka wedding money). our post-wedding plans were to get nate graduated by december while scoping out english teaching jobs in south korea. in the mean time, i would look for work in any form.

as we all know ... we make plans and the Lord laughs and gives us other options. we really were going to go to south korea ... cross my heart we were! i became gainfully employed in nov and just as soon as we updated our passports in december in prep for going abroad ... nate was offered a job teaching at the UO. ... we couldn't say no (not because the pay is so great but because the opportunity was great ... we are talking resume building here people ... teaching at a university looks nice on the resume.) we of course are grateful for the Lords intervention and recognize that He knows much better than we do ... so we go with it.

so the point is this - we were to be living in our current apartment for 2 or 3 months ONLY. this is why i agreed to the conditions and location ... and lets be honest ... i didn't have much of a bargaining chip being unemployed.

so our plans changed but we weren't sure how long the teaching would go on ... so we stayed in the mill street apt ... until two weeks ago!

we moved into a two bedroom townhouse with a patio and TONS OF CLOSET SPACE. i have never seen such deep closets in all of my life (that are not walk-in closets). and i have 3 of them! it seriously is a dream.

i have been decorating the place in my head for weeks now but its taking me longer to get our stuff organized and in its spot than i thought it would ... come to think of it - this is my first time having an entire 2 bedroom apt to organize and decorate myself (with input from nate of course ... hehehe)

we have already purchased a super cool kitchen rack that has made our kitchen sooooo super great. before - lots of counter space but not a lot of cupboard space (a bar like area with no storage underneath) but with our new rack we can display all our pretty dishes and mixing bowls, as well as our not as pretty microwave, pots, pans, rice cooker, wok, blender, etc. we even hung a plant to make it feel all domestic like.

but as soon as i wrangle everything into its spot ... the decorating really begins! this means i have LOTS of DIY projects planned. i.am.super.excited. it also means that we have an extra bedroom and bed for visitors! we hope this will encourage weekend trips!

here are a few things that will be made over:

• a new "buffet/hutch" ... post on this soon as it is becoming quite a frustrating project - a cool "caribbean blue" ... soooo excited
  
• tv stand - i am trying a cool new stencil/painting process - dark grey
  
• painting dresser drawer fronts (the base was painted months ago) - two tone paint here
  
• painting my night stand to match nate's - dark grey
  
• painting a new dresser for the guest room - light grey
  
• hang curtains as a back drop in the living room
• HANG PICTURES, etc.
  

domestic bliss is well on its way. the best part is that my husband is a skeptic at times but once he sees it come together he really likes it ... but of course i knew this about him already, which is why i insist on such things as moving to a nicer apartment/area, or buying a new bed, or painting the furniture.

(sigh) life is good (pictures to come)

more diy home improvements ... its coming along

the weather broke ... for a week or so ... and we had some sunny days - hip hip hooray! SOOOOO i had the chance to use my valentine's gift (the power hand sander ... in case you forgot how romantical nate and i are) and sanded our cool kitchen table in preparation for a new paint job.

And shockingly ... i photographed the process ... sort of ...



i made sure to sand all the really visible and "vulnerable" areas really well (places that could be easily nicked and scratched) and only roughed up the less vulnerable spots.



halfway done on the table and i actually thought ... i should photograph this! i am super proud of that fact.

the final product ... i am pretty happy it turned out so well!


no that is not a rug ... it is my painting drop cloth ... i am still deciding if it needs one more coat of paint or something ... should i seal it? i don't know!


psst ... see those cool pictures in the back left ... those frames are new too ... i framed my friends fabulous screen prints ... i just love them ... and shhhh don't tell nate ... he doesn't notice stuff like that (truth be told he has already noticed these but it took him over a week ... he's just not too observant which i have decided will play to my advantage ... hehehe ... enter devious laugh here)



a view of the legs ...


and check out those awesome plates! thanks mom ... when she came to visit with my dad last month she bought me these pretties ... the plates were only $2! the down side ... only two of them in the store ... but they are soo pretty. don't you just love moms and stores like home goods and ross ... that is where the bowls, plates, and the yellow trivet came from.


the lighting in our place is not so good ... wish it was better and showcased my pretty wares sooo much better. sigh ... hopefully our next place.

in the rear view mirror

the nathan and bethany soelberg family is not too good at the picture thing. we bring our camera, we just don't ever use it. we joke that in this day and age - having the ability to visually document your life in numerous ways - our relationship is somehow less legitimate due to the lack of pictures. we don't really think this ... this joke just illustrates how ridiculous it is that we don't ever bust out our camera during the fun times.

road trip turned international

speaking of the fun times ... we went on a road trip to seattle a few weeks ago for a friend of Nate's wedding. we had all day saturday to do something fun so we tried to plan ahead to fill the day up with fun things. we had heard the week before in general conference about the open house of the Vancouver, British Columbia temple located here:



and it turned out that the open house started the friday before you were headed up! so we packed our bags and made sure to have our passports on hand and planned a lovely day of driving to the temple (super close to the US/CANADA boarder) and over to Vancouver to maybe check out the Olympic venues or attend the aquarium.

Unfortunately we left later than expected and we did not plan for a wait on both sides of the boarder (coming into and leaving Canada). the temple was beautiful and wonderful and the drive wasn't even so bad ... but traffic on they way back into seattle was awful as well and we were scared that we would miss the reception - the whole reason we were in seattle to begin with! we were sooo late in showing up to the reception that we ran into it in jeans and t-shirts (needless to say i was soo embarrassed!) but happy to have caught the happy couple before they left for their honeymoon!

visiting parents and the northern oregon coast

my parents came to visit last weekend so we decided to take a drive up the oregon coast. it really is beautiful country round here and as spring is coming (slowly) to the pacific northwest the trees are a beautiful shade of green and the flowers are blooming. we headed north through junction city (where my mom's parents used to live and we use to visit everyother summer growing up) and then to corvallis (which I think is a really really cute town with great architecture) and then over to the coast. we were able to chat and take in some great views of the coast and some light houses. my mom took some pictures. we did not.

one of my requests on this trip was to go to the Tillamook Cheese Factory ... it was super fun and yummy ... Tillamook cheese and ice cream is sooo good. we kept heading north up to seaside where we spent the night and spent a few hours at the beach watching people fly kites and clam digging. i had never before seen a live clam and its weird little "foot" that it sticks out ... totally freaked me out! the water was super cold but the sky was clear so we were happy. we look forward to going back when the weather is warmer. farther north we drove through astoria and saw some really beautiful buildings. the interesting thing about the oregon coast is that it is still remote and kind of rural. there is something about the small coastal town that intrigues me - like seaside, oregon ... home of seaside high and the seaside gulls ... what is it like to grow up in a tourist spot like that? its not overly touristy ... but it does get a lot more croweded in the summer i am sure. and Tillamook ... that town is adorable! sigh ... i am super facinated by places and situations i have never lived in. while i still really like the city, i do enjoy visiting small towns ... so many fun places to explore!