Rewarding Ourselves

Two of my all-time favorite things? Top Chef and burgers.

And luckily for me, I happen to live in the great city where these two fantastically American creations collided and gave birth to a restaurant called FLIP.

After B Daddy and I finished up our long day of kitchen work Sunday (me in my usual role of supervisor, B Daddy doing the actual "work") I decided we needed to celebrate our 66% complete kitchen with a trip down to FLIP.

Our 66% complete kitchen

If it's on the menu, a burger is nearly always my first instinct whether we are at a high-falutin' fancy downtown restaurant or Wendy's. And B Daddy is usually able to talk me out of it - except when I'm pregnant. : ) So FLIP it was for dinner last night and oh heaven. It was divine.

If you live in Atlanta or are visiting any time soon - it's worth a trip. Do it for me. And be sure to wash down your burger with a Nutella milkshake. It comes highly recommended by the Squirt.

Bump Watch

I've had to work hard to edit down the pictures I share on Facebook and the blog ever since we found out #2 was on the way.

The way we discovered I was pregnant (at a mere 4 weeks into the process) was that I had developed a bit of padding around my waist that was highly uncharacteristic and just wasn't budging. No amount of time spent with Billy or number of Chick-fil-A sandwiches denied to me was whittling away the extra Katie.

So my baby belly showed up quickly and has been rapidly growing ever since. It's amazing to me that I was able to conceal being pregnant for so long... although staying at home most days really helps.

So now I'm about 16 weeks along and I am very obviously pregnant. Here's a few pics I've edited out of the ones I've shared in the last few weeks:

Merely 10 weeks along y'all

12 weeks along in the AM

12 weeks along in the PM

I mean some girls don't ever get a belly like this! Lucky me...

Bats in the Belfry

As if there weren't enough chaos to manage at Casa Leipprandt this week.

Lately as we've gone down to the backyard to dump our compost scraps and gaze longingly at our unfinished chicken coop, we've noticed this.

Ick. Poop. Lots of little poop. Lots of nasty little rat poop. So B Daddy went up in the attic last night to set some traps and nail the buggers.

Only when he did, he found this.

Ummmmmm - definitely not rats.

I haven't decided if bats are more gross or less gross than rats, but apparently (according to a certain R.N. sister of mine) if you have bats you need to get rabies shots. Ugh. This was confirmed by my pediatrician yesterday.

And oh yeah, most doctor's offices don't carry them. Which means potentially...a trip to the good 'ole E.R. And not just ONE trip to the lovely E.R. ...no no no....the rabies vaccine requires a SERIES of shots. At a $150 co-pay per shot price tag!? Say it ain't so...

If we do end up in the E.R. I can definitely tell you which R.N. will be doing the sticking! : )

- Sigh -

Update from animal control: getting rid of our little bat problem will run us at least $900.

Kitchen Re-model: The Waiting

It's officially Day 15 of the kitchen re-model and I'm ready to be done.

I'm a hugely impatient person and also tend to dive headlong into projects without thinking through the nitty gritty involved. Details!? For little people. : )

I'm always sure I'll be able to get what I need precisely when I want it. On Day #1 of this project I had a picture in my mind but very very few details. I had three light fixtures. Countertops? An idea...nothing chosen, nothing ordered. Paint colors? Same thing. Appliance replacements? Had not even given it a thought.

So here we are on Day #15 and things are moving surprisingly quickly. The granite has taken 3 days longer than I would have liked (supposed installation = today) and there's some nonsense about not being able to hook up the sink plumbing until the granite has cured to the sink (= 48 hours), but other than that this train is running on time.

The optimist in me also glazed over the dirty and inconvenient parts of the project (hence my ridicule of the idea of a temporary kitchen):

DIRTY

INCONVENIENT

But we've recruited some new day labor to help us out; so with any luck there will be some fancy after pictures to share within the week!

If you want to see the whole kitchen renovation process check out these posts: Underway! and Demolition

Big Brother

Just our little way of announcing that the Leipprandt clan is expanding! B Daddy and I found out a few months back that we were going to be the proud parents of No. 2 this year. Make that around December 11th to be precise.

The whole thing was quite a shock to us. I had grand plans for bikinis and margaritas this summer....turns out that June and July are going to be filled instead with long walks and sweet tea.

We're thrilled and can't wait share the baby's gender with y'all in just a little over a month!!

Kitchen Renovation: Demolition

As you may have already heard, the sink is GONE! The menfolk took a moment to bid a final farewell to our big green friend.

There. That's better.

Somehow I'd convinced myself that we would not actually be inconvenienced by our kitchen re-model in any way. When our neighbor asked last week if we had set up a temporary kitchen (this would be Mr. Curious of course) we scoffed and told him we saw no need.

This is a minor kitchen re-model after all. No walls are moving, the cabinets are staying the same, the floor is already in place.

I clearly didn't think through the fact that getting a template made for the countertops and then having them actually installed a week later would require this:

Or that removing the backsplash would entail flying grout, broken tiles and lots of dust.

But in spite of the dust and serious lack of amenities - I'm thoroughly convinced it's looking better already.

If you want to see what we started with, check out this post:

Underway!

To see the kitchen's progress, check it out here:

The Waiting

66% complete

Homestretch

Dramatic Reveal

Desert Oasis: Part 2

The wonders of the Grand Canyon cannot be adequately represented in symbols of speech, nor by speech itself. The resources of the graphic art are taxed beyond their powers in attempting to portray its features. Language and illustration combined must fail. ~ John Wesley Powell

(With that in mind...take this post with a grain of salt and my recommendation to put a visit on your Bucket List!)

On Day 4 of our trip we loaded up the rental car and headed north through Flagstaff and along Route 66 to enter the Grand Canyon through the Eastern Gate.

Most visitors come through the Southern Gate, so we avoided the crowds and drove through a Navajo reservation for much of the journey.

There was a lot of this on the drive. I was a great wife and stayed awake the whole time. Promise.

At this point I'm practically peeing in my pants.

Both from excitement and the long drive with no potty breaks.

We're in!

My first glimpse....

A mini-hike down the Canyon for a quiet lunch

Home sweet home for the next 24 hours

Hands down the best date night in years

Sunset drinks and dinner at El Tovar - the only hotel with these views right on the rim.

Where else can you get white tablecloth dining and then camp out for the night? Heaven on earth!

Day 6

Up early to catch the sunrise and get two different hikes in.

First hike - the South Kaibab Trail with Ranger Pam.

1.5 miles down....and then back up.

Hike #2 - the Bright Angel Trail, the most popular trail in the park. All these trails were originally built for mining back when folks were sure there was gold somewhere out there.

Day 7 was a restful day back in Sedona.

We hiked in this beautiful canyon, treated ourselves to massages and jumped the red-eye home to the Squirt. : )

It was so choice.

If you have the means, I highly recommend a visit.

Desert Oasis

A few weeks ago we spent a wonderfully relaxing week out in Arizona...without the little man! B Daddy's parents were generous (and crazy) enough to keep the Squirt for the entire week so we could enjoy some R&R alone.

I had never been to the Southwest before - what a beautiful part of the country! It was an epic trip with loads of hiking and plenty of relaxation.

Day 1 - We arrived in Sedona, AZ at midnight...crashed and woke up to this lovely view.

Day 2 - Headed out to see some of the famous Red Rocks up close and in person

A little scrambling afforded us some amazing views

This is actually one of Sedona's famous "vortexes"

The second half of Day 2 led us here - to Slide Rock park! How great to visit during the middle of the week when the crowds were thin. I neglected to put sunscreen on for our morning hike and hid out in the shade nursing my toasted shoulders while BJ tackled all of the pools and rocks.

Yummy.

I did have a little fun.

Day 3 - Up for a very early morning hike through Boynton Canyon before a 10am helicopter tour. Apparently there were more vortexes in this canyon...I'm still not sure what a vortex is.

At 10am it was off to the airport. Our helicopter ride would take us over the Red Rocks of Sedona. We were also scheduled to take a charter flight to the Grand Canyon, but 40 mile an hour winds at the Canyon meant all flights that day were cancelled. Boooooo. The views from the air helped me to appreciate just how vast the landscape was...such an incredibly different environment from North Georgia!

Which brings up a pet peeve of mine. It always bothers me when people make comments about the West having "real" mountains and the East coast having little hills. Or when people go to a beach in Florida and scoff at the "waves". Why don't people just appreciate the differences?! Appalachia is so stinking beautiful! Southern beaches are so peaceful. In different but equally wonderful ways.

But back to Arizona.

Since our afternoon flight was cancelled, we spent the second half of the day relaxing...exactly my idea of vacation.

Next up - the Grand Canyon!

Kitchen Renovation Underway!

We're finally doing it!!! The kitchen. And in record time I have to say. With less than 6 hours of on the job time - new lighting has been installed, the cabinets have been raised and crown molding is in place!

This morning we are having the granite template created, and with any luck we'll have some gorgeous granite countertops come next Monday!

Here's what we started with:

Blah faux butcher block countertops, a hunter green sink, a backsplash accented with more hunter green tiles and those icky track lights.

Step #1: Lifting the cabinets

I was excited to find the fake butcher block laminate behind the ugly hunter green tile.

I mean, seriously?

Step #2: Down came the nasty track lights and up went the crown molding...crown molding makes everything better doesn't it?

Step #3: A new table and lights (new seating around the table coming soon)

Ooh I can just see it now shining in its white tile and stainless steel appliance sparkliness! The next step for us is tearing out the backsplash (to be done by Your Truly and the B man) while we wait for the granite to be installed.

Check out our kitchen progress:

Demolition

The Waiting

66% Complete!

Homestretch