Ultimate Teamwork

From painting and installing our garage door, we have moved on to the overwhelming project of a master bath re-do. And I must say, this has been the most challenging of all our projects thus far. Two weeks ago, Grant and I spent a portion of our Sunday afternoon removing our 400lb bathtub in preparation for a walk-in shower. Surprisingly, we accomplished this task without injury or harsh words!

My day job came in handy during this task!

Thanks to Grant's thought-out plan x 4 days, the tub made it through our bedroom, out of the sunroom and onto the patio by way of Grant's tracking system, which allowed us to salvage the carpet and tile.

And here she is, our beloved pink and blue bathroom.
(The first day of ownership)

This is our progress as of today, a few weeks into the remodel. To our surprise, it took longer than we expected to demo everything and we are still working on that part. We are notorious for letting a project linger, but hopefully this one will be different!

(The space is small and requires a wide angle lens)

Bathtub successfully removed.


Our goal is to finish no later than October! Stay tuned...

Near 30

At least that's how I felt when I turned 27 on Friday. Why is it that 27 seems so much closer to 30 than 26?! Not that 30 is old by any means, but there just comes a time in life where you finally feel older and I think that time has arrived!
I had a great weekend celebrating my birthday. My friends at work organized a lunch for me on Friday to celebrate the day and I had a good time listening to my patients guess my age. I heard everything from 18 to 35 (what?!), but most of them were very close.

When I got home, I found these on the kitchen table along with a hidden Starbucks gift card! Thanks Grant! :)

We celebrated Friday night at P.F. Changs with my Mom

And of course she showed out with her beautiful wrapping and cute ideas

I love Martha Stewart and Mom baked 3 different cookies out of the new cookbook she got me. So cute and so yummy!


Grant and I went the Farmer's Market for the first time yesterday and got lots of fresh fruit that I plan to turn into a pie later this week! The weather was perfect last night and we headed to Live at the Garden to hear Joe Cocker and watch old people dance real funny. It was a great night.

And because I love brunch so much, the Burke's took us to Paulette's after church and I so enjoyed their famous popovers with strawberry butter!

All in all it was a great weekend! Next up, Grant's 30th! (Well in a few months).

Near 30

At least that's how I feel after turning 27 on Friday! Why is it that 27 seems so much closer to 30 than 26? (For all of you older than me, don't be too quick to roll your eyes! I know you felt it too)!

I had a great weekend being 27. My friends at work prepared a wonderful meal for lunch on Friday and we enjoyed all kinds of fresh foods that one of the therapists brought from her garden. I didn't even know lime basil existed but I love it! Thanks, ladies!

I got home and found these on the kitchen table with a hidden Starbucks card on the inside!

Global Efforts

I recently finished reading this book and I am contemplating reading it again because of the way Immaculee inspires me. I realize I am behind the times a bit, considering her book was released several years ago. But, better late than never on this one. There were parts of the book I found very difficult to read, but the overall awareness of the Rwandan Holocaust, the reminder of our freedom and Immaculee's trust in God outweighs the gruesome details. Despite the tragic events, there is beauty in her reflection of God's protection and how her relationship with Him deepened during this time in her life. I do wish I could meet her.

Maybe not what you'd consider a normal "summer read" but a good one, I assure you.

And as I made a quick stop at Starbucks this morning, I was happy see to more products available to the public, as a part of the (PRODUCT)^RED™. This summer, Starbucks has released small handbags and tumblers with authentic African fabric created by Rwandan artisans. Click here to read more. I couldn't find any pictures and I didn't purchase one today, so you will have to venture to a Starbucks to see for yourself! This is one of many reasons why I love Starbucks.

Celebrating Love and Friendship

Grant and I celebrated four years of marriage this past Thursday and had a very nice dinner at Flemmings. I highly recommend this restaurant for a special occasion. They even handed us a box of their homemade chocolate truffles at the end of the meal for a gift and they were delicious! It's hard to believe it has been four years. This picture is from our honeymoon and has always been a favorite of mine. Thanks for four great years, sweet husband. Here's to many more!


The day after our anniversary, I headed to Heber Springs (again!) for a different, and much needed celebration with friends. We have been trying to plan a small trip for more than 5 years now and thanks to Bubba and Debbie Edwards, this trip was quite inexpensive! Me, along with 4 of my lifelong friends from high school/college spent a relaxing weekend at the lake in a beautiful mansion!

Back of the house... simply gorgeous!

We threw Emily a small surprise shower on Saturday (yes, in our swimsuit attire!) and topped it off with Muddy's cupcakes. There's nothing like those sweet buttercream treats!

We even spent a little time with sweet Nora

And a lot of time on the boat!

We had the choice of our own room, but chose the "bunk room" instead. And why not, right? Who doesn't love reverting back to the slumber party years where laughter is uncontrollable, secrets are told and random games like "Name as many people as you can from our graduating class of 2000" are played (I'll have you know, we made it to 88/98 people before peeking at the annual!)

Emily's house in Bald Knob (short Eryn :) who returned to Memphis early). The weekend just wasn't long enough!

And now, off to the lake again tomorrow!

Game on

I don't know how it happened, but somehow Grant and I found ourselves engaged in the Belizean favorite, game of "Slaps" tonight.

Yes, this game dates back to the ages, as seen in this picture of Jonathan Jerkins and Grant Burke in Belize. Possibly 1997?
(Excuse the quality. We don't have a scanner)

For those of you unfamiliar with this game, let me explain. It involves two people standing face-to-face with hands positioned in a "stop" fashion, ready to slap hands together in hopes of throwing one's opponent of his/her feet and thus, becoming victorious. I might add that in the past, this has turned into " Ok, best of three" or "best of ten". When I was in Belize, this game would last forever.

And in tonight's match-up, let it be known that I dominated. But because I was victorious SO many times, Grant thought I might be cheating. Thus, our debate of the rules.

So the questions I pose to all you who love Belize and this game are:

1. What if one person loses his/her balance and begins to fall forward, but feet have not left the ground and one's opponent moves first. Who's out? (Grant votes the one who initiated movement first).
2. Is one disqualified for reaching forward with all his/her might and accidentally pushing the chest vs the person's hands even though the opponent still moved his/her feet first?
3. Is there a rule stated, " You are pushing too hard." (because this was Grant's comment each time he fell.)
4. What exactly are the formal rules, if any?
5. And really, how many of you think I cheated? Come on... I'm stronger than I look right?

So, if you could shed some light on the rules, that would be great because I think this will become a new game in the Burke house.

On a different note, make your way over to 6660 Poplar Ave(corner of Poplar and Kirby) to the newly renovated Kroger for some great deals and free stuff like :
-Blueberries, strawberries, raspberries and blackberries for $1.50 each
-California cherries for $2.88 lb.
-USDA choice boneless ribeye steaks for $5.97lb ( We had one tonight and it was great! One is enough for two people with sides)
-Beautiful flowers at various low prices.

And the best part: Free items (about 7) to the first 200 people each day between 4pm and 6pm. Also, just by using your Kroger card, you are automatically entered to win a gift card for $500, $750 and $1000. Given away June 13th, 20th, 27th and July 4th. Good luck!

Two years later...

and we finally finished painting our garage door! There are a few people in this world who realize what an accomplishment this is for us. We have many projects that are only 50% complete, but we are slowly making progress. Now, before you take a peek at the door, you must know how it came to be and the irony that exists with the finished product.

When we bought this house (2 years ago this week) there were all kinds of treasures to be had for someone in love with the 70's. Maybe I'll post pics of all those sometime :) Anyway, the garage door had a diamond-shaped stained glass in it and the kitchen door (which we removed for space sake) had a "beautiful" tree motif stained glass window. Unlike other friends and Grant, I was not particularly fond of this "Tree of Life" door. Did you give it this name, Leslie?! Well someone did, and it stuck. The door has been in hiding for 2 years because we weren't using it and quite honestly I never planned to.

So, Grant began his project this week of stripping the door, removing the diamond glass stained window, etc. And to make a long and dramatic story short, during the re-do process, Grant tripped over the stained glass and crushed it, rendering it useless.

Now, do you see where this is going? If you guessed that the "Tree of Life" window is now being used and adored then you are right. How's that for karma! But I'll have to say, I'm sorry I ever made fun of that window because I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. What do you think?

Here's the door before, garage view and inside house view.

Inside view after Grant shattered the window. I still can't believe it took us this long to re-do this thing! As you can see, we painted inside the house around the door, but somehow never reached the door itself. :) Don't miss the 2-tone quality... brown when you come in and primer white as you leave! (Yep, this is the main door for the house)



And the finished product with our "Tree of Life"



Not too shabby with the sunlight, right?