My Love/Hate Relationship with Home Depot

Stud and I go to Home Depot A LOT. It helps that it is right down the street from my house...but we are very good customers. And I love them. I love the orange aprons. I love going first thing in the morning and every single person asks me if I need any help, and since I am in the Home Depot, that is definite yes. Like I know where to find the caulk. HA.

But there are some things about Home Depot that ruffle my feathers. They try, where ever they can, to take advantage of the lazy DIY-er. The main lesson I learned was DO NOT EVER BUY COUNTERTOPS AT HOME DEPOT. Stud and I did a lot of price shopping for our new bathroom and our contractor had allotted $600 for a vanity. Well Stud can be a bit messy so I had been dreaming of a double vanity. We had the space. But where on earth was my contractor planning on getting a double vanity for $600? I still to this day have no idea. Stud and I found an awesome piece of furniture to act as the base for a whopping $60 which left us $540 for the top and sinks. Off to HD we go. I ask them about undermounted sinks. They tell me it will be $300 PER SINK plus the cost of the actual sink. HAHAHAHAHA. They must think I am crazy. My budget can't even afford sinks - yeah right. Off Stud and I go to McDonald Marble & Stone to check out their remnants. $40/sq.ft. including all finishing - like undermounting the sinks? Wayyy better. And the best part - double vanity with granite top for under $600. Sooo thrifty.

So now I know. Do not buy custom items from Home Depot. We purchased our carpet from a local company and the granite as well. If I put in custom shutters in my bathroom, there is no way I am going to Home Depot to get those.

But I will be there again this afternoon buying some more primer and some screws - the projects never cease.

I want that

Thanks, Caro, for finding yet another must have. At least I can use the "I can wear that to work so I have to get it" excuse.

Target. $24.99. Done.

And Caro needs to get a blog so I don't have to gchat to her about this kind of stuff. I can just stalk her blog. This is my personal push. Caroline, get a blog pleeeease!

YES!!

Spring is here! Engagement party on Saturday - couldn't be better weather!

Daily Fluff

This is Beau pining for me after I left for work this morning. How can you not love this little man????

New fav

Stud and I have a new favorite TV show. Life on Discovery channel. Which is good seeing as I had all about memorized Planet Earth.

It's narrated by Oprah, and while not as good as the cool British dude from Planet Earth, she does a pretty good job. Last night's episodes were Mammals and Fish and it's amazing what exists on our planet. Just like with the Planet Earth series, there were several things that had never been filmed before and the Discovery/BBC team did an amazing job capturing the scenes. And watching in HD was amazing! There are not enough good things I can say about Life. Sooo good. Check it out - Sundays, 8 and 9pm.

Daily Fluff

Thank you, Business Week

Thank you, Business Week for recognizing the hours upon hours spent toiling away toward a degree that recruiters don't appreciate. ESPECIALLY ones in Louisville that think Wake Forest is a school outside of Chicago. No, I did not go to Lake Forest you moron WAKE IS WAY BETTER. And that Calloway is a golf club. UGH.

Check it - #1 in academic quality (for the second year in a row) and #63 recruiter rank. Love it. I should have been an econ major.

Pretty Art

So I am constantly on the look out for good art. It's REALLY hard. I don't just want to buy something because I need it, and I also don't have a huge expendable income to spend on fancy oils and watercolors. But I would still like to replace all my college era posters with something a little more grown up. So naturally, when I saw this post over at Little Green Notebook, I fell in love. FREE ART?? Yes please.

The New York Public Library has a digital collection of galleries of vintage prints. There are endless possibilities. I can't decide which I like the most.

The botanicals?

Fashion? (probably my fav)

Medical images for Stud's office?

I love all of them. And you just go on the website and can print them off. Stick them with some frames from Michael's (the best place I have found so far to find cheap basic picture frames) and voila! Planning on using some in the soon-to-be guest bedroom, so I'll update with a final product.

March Madness

I don't follow basketball. I will watch my teams play - and I use the word my very loosely. I follow Louisville and Kentucky because duh I live here. And then good ole Wake Forest, my alma mater. And that's how I make my bracket. I pick my favorites to an extent and then I choose all the smart kid schools. Example - Vanderbilt or Murray State?? Vandy, duh. And I know people who went to Vandy, easy choice. Wake beating Texas, Louisville beating Duke (ha). So my bracket is pretty ugly.


But for my lack of knowledge, I feel like 9/16 is pretty darn good. We'll see how I stand in the office pool against all my boss' kidos. Probably dead last just like last year.

UPDATE - So I'm third in my office pool of 20 with my guessing techniques. YESSSSSS.

UPDATE UPDATE: Choosing Butler over the #1 Syracuse? Yes please.

I need. I mean, I have all these parties coming up for pre-wedding celebrations...so new summer wardrobe is a need, right??

Ooooh Anthropologie...why can't you open a store in Louisville??

Daily Fluff

Happy Friday!

He's just so darn cute.

Special Leprechaun Flute

Happy St. Patrick's day!

HEADLINE: Bears Make Opportunistic Eaters after Long Winter Hibernation (Billings, MT)

OK so this is my life. I work, full-time. I have a house, a mortgage, bills, a dog, and Bif (hereby known as Stud, per his request). Responsibilities. Well Stud is studying to be a doctor. You’d think it’d be hard since you know, they hold hearts and brains in their hands. BUT NO. This week, Stud is travelling across the country with his cousin (hereby known as Contractor Clak) to visit a friend in Sun Valley, ID. He calls when his stupid iPhone permits and tells me things like, oh did you know the Rockies outside of Billings are amazing? I bet you would really love them. It’s such a nice day here, the sun is shining, I’m in the mountains, I can’t wait to go skiing all day tomorrow. Wish you were here… And what am I doing?? Oh yes, toiling away so you can have a hot shower every morning. And it’s overcast. And it’s STILL COLD. Ugh.

Anyways… I wish I could be there with him to see the lovely snippets of America. I have always wanted to drive across the country and I hope Stud knows he’ll be doing it again with me someday. From the stories I have heard about the places they have seen – I am never ever ever living in South Dakota. I mean, they stopped in Mitchell, which was the biggest town they had seen so far and what was the local news headlining?? Oh yes – Boredom Buster! BINGO at the town hall. I mean, I appreciate a quiet lifestyle and all that, but I think I would go crazy.

So in summary. Studying to be a doctor is not hard. They are all lying. It’s a super secret to keep everyone from becoming a doctor because then they wouldn’t get paid as much. And I need Stud to make a lot of money to buy me presents for allowing him his hot showers. Also – Mitchell, SD is not worth a visit, unless you love BINGO. And stay out of Billings, they have hungry bears.

Greetings!

So I think blogging is a sickness and I really only did this to justify the hours spent checking complete strangers blogs - part of the blogging community and all that jazz. (slash I'm obsessed)

So a little about me - well, that's me and the Bif Stud. After decades of dating (really only about 4.5 years), I convinced him living in sin was the best way of life. He must have decided I'm not a total wack job since we are making things legit in seven short months. But is that really important?? I don't think so. The real love of my life (and probably the main subject of this blog)...

That would be Beauregard, our Goldendoodle. Cuter than your dog...hands down. And here we are. That's me. We'll see if I ever update this again.