HAG*

Last week we went to Colorado for a Dullea family vacation. We had an impromptu rescheduling of a long planned Christmas vacation in the mountains because some things occurred: bad winter storms, Sonny got sick, we were moving to Houston on NYE, among others. It was the first time to see all of Layne's family since we moved here so it was great getting to see everyone, especially those two little nuggets of nephews we have. Wednesday evening we flew to OKC to meet up with Nic and Cam, and then on to Denver.

Side note: Layne hates flying. Seriously despises it. For many reasons, too. The fact that we are 30k+ miles up in the air with no stable-ness on the ground, the stale nasty recycled fartish coughish air, turbulence, other random smelly things, waiting in line to board the plane {which that process takes forever. and they do it in the wrong way. it is supposed to be the people in the back of the plane go first, so then we don't have to wait standing on the plane for people to put their junk up.} And the plane ride from OKC to Denver was absolutely, completely, terrifyingly horrible. The wind in Denver was 1,000 miles per hour and the plane just kept moving the way it shouldn't {side to side} and while landing one wheel touched, then the other, then the other again. It was like the plane was a three-legged ballerina doing pirouettes on the runway. Good thing L&K had a G&T or two to keep us grounded {ha.}

First thing we did when we got to Denver was hug. After all the hugging we tried to pack Joe's car and the rental full with 8 adults and 2 babies and all the baggage that came with it. Pun intented. Stopped at a BBQ place on the way up to the mountains and it was perfect. Spent a little too much time eating because the drive up to Keystone was a little scary. Actually, a lot of scary. A snow storm had come and the wind was crazy. Looking out the windshield, it looked like we were pushing light speed in the millennium falcon. By this point Layne had had enough of the wind and terrified-ness.

Thursday morning Layne, Kyle and Callan, woke up early to go on a run through the beautiful mountains. It was beautiful.... for what we could see. It was snowing again. And having the wind and snow in your face while running made it even harder to see, and to run for that matter. After the run Layne and Cam made breakfast for everyone. Yah we we're that nice. Pancakes, eggs and sausage {well, the sausage was pre-cooked and microwavable for little Son-Dog because he loves it}. Then we made a family outing to Breckenridge. It was pretty much 60 below in Breck that day. So cold. But that night we warmed up and played Kings Cup. Just an idea on how it went down: dance moves, chins on tables, riding the bus, stomachs hurting because of laughing, chugging PBR {thanks Cam}, accents, animal noises and some crappy conversations.

all because she said someone's first name at the table.

Finally we went skiing {boarding for Kyle} on Friday. Let Layne's legs tell you how fun it was. As sore and tired as they were is equal to as much fun as we had. Got that? It was such a perfect day for it too. Sunny, not to cold or windy, some pretty fresh snow, not crowded at all. Couldn't ask for much better.

Next day was the day we were headed home and got to see Jim, Melanie and Connor {the Colorado Dullea clan} for most of the day. But this day was probably in the top two of Layne's worst days ever. Maybe even top of the list. She was sick. Real sick. Stomach flu, food poisoning, little fever, exhaustion, dehydration, etc. So the driving out of the mountains, driving around Denver, stopping to eat at a Mexican restuarant {which L had to stay and sleep in the car the whole time}, sitting in an airport {which our flight got delayed} and then flying home didn't make her feel any better. Next day Kyle had it. Sorry boutchya.

Us and our sweet godson.

Expecto Patronum! {just missing his straw wand}

CAN WE JUST TALK ABOUT HOW CUTE THESE NEXT COUPLE OF PICTURES ARE??!!

*HAG - High Altitude Gas. There were a lot of farts during this trip that we attribute to HAG. Farts from everyone {mainly Leo and Cam, though}.

beware: cat on face

Our little home is finally coming together. Actually it's pretty much finished. Just need a couple things and then it will be completely finished {for now. is it ever really finished?}

This entry will be all about our home; it's one of those necessary "talk about your home, show pictures once you move away so the family and friends can check out your new dig" posts.

The kitchen is amazing for an apartment. Or really, its just plain amazing for any home. We hope one day our house's kitchen will look similar. Layne loved the fact that it had a great big island to cook and bake on. Kyle loved the fact that Layne had a place so she would bake.

we are totally obsessed with these bar stools. saw some similar

from WestElm we wanted, but didn't have all the dough

to spend on them. so we kept searchin', and we finally got lucky with these.

bar area.

amazing painting by Haley, Layne's cousin, to remind

us Tulsa is Home, and always will be.

instead of a man room, Kyle got a man area. this is the bar

cabinet Layne's parent's made by restoring an old record cabinet.

joe put in all the shelves, wine glass and wine bottle holders.

works great! {it's truly not as purple and pink as it looks.

it's much more of a purplish-grey and pinky-red-orange. got it?}

dining area.

these are old handkerchiefs mostly from Layne's grandma,

great and great grandma. she saw a similar idea on the amazing pinterest

and thought it would be a cool wall piece. it was a biznatch to hang up. long story.

living room. mix and match furniture and styles. totally us.

that's the ottoman we DIY-ed in the previous post.

not too shabby with all our other furniture.

other side of the living room or, aka, the mirrored wall.

once we get curtains it will be finished. for now.

Our guest room/office/studio/craft room has the Travel theme {trying to fit all of our stuff in a two bedroom apartment was a true challenge. so when you come visit {and you will}, sorry that you stay in a room full of random things. hopefully when we move back, we'll get a place with more rooms so we can have a craft room and music studio and then also a guest room andoffice. dang, just realized we will obviously need a 7 bedroom house.} We decided to bring home a cool painting or map of a place we visit when we go on a vacation over seas. We started this on our honeymoon and then also got some from on a cruise we went on this past summer with Kyle's parents. Our favorite place that we've been to is London and we have an amazing map of Old London and an awesome painting of Big Ben that we need to get frames for, then we are going to put them above the bed. They are obviously not in this picture so when we do find frames in the right size and put them up we'll put a finished picture up. Sooo, soon there wont be a huge space above the bed. Also, we still need curtains, which Layne is going to make {will be a post later on, we're sure}.

guest room. hi Zoe. and hi blatantly blank wall.

painting of La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona and

maps from Naples and Cinque Terre.

Our master bedroom is definitely mixed and match of styles. It's still a work in progress, but we guess the whole apartment is. We also still need... whadaya know... curtains. And to hang up some pictures, but mostly its finished. Layne and her mom painted the stripes, which brings in some texture. It was going to be chevron striped, but they figured too much work for only a place to live for a little bit. The regular stripes still give us what we wanted. We may actually change it, perhaps to just grey stripes instead of navy. Not as nautical looking.

diy project Layne made last summer.

the best way to start each morning reading this.

Char loves her dog bed....

but so does Zoe.

And now for one of the best parts about our apartment: our amazing balcony. It's huge, and Charlie and Zoe love it {it's nice not having to worry about Zoe running off out in the 'hood. she can't really go anywhere seeing as we are not on the ground floor.}

our courtyard. we grill out there and just hang.

we want to get one of those seemingly comfy outdoor

couches so we can drink coffee and read.

So that's our home. Obviously there are bathrooms, a laundry room, closets, storage closet, water heater closet, miscellaneous plumbing areas, linen closets, and pantry. Sorry there are no pics of those important spaces, but we're still working on decorating them...and it's becoming a long post.

Catchya skeezers. Getcha butt down here and come stay a while at the Culhane B&B. Honestly, we will give you a bed and a breakfast. But beware, you will have a cat sleep on your face and one incredibly adoring aussie following you around.

things cost a lot of money these days...

That's why we've become homemakers, DIY-ers, builders, upholsters. Or in the most recent case, ottoman makers.

When we had started to pack up our stuff to move to Houston, we realized we had nothing to pack. Because we hadn't opened up any wedding gifts yet, they were still packed up and not used {turned out to be the smartest idea to not use our stuff until we moved... so much less stress and time} We also noticed we didn't have any furniture. None. Well..... no living room furniture at least. We had two beds and a set of bedroom furniture that we pretty much split up between both rooms. So we started looking for other pieces.

Then, Kyle had such a smart idea. He wanted to be a manly-man {his words exactly} and to build an ottoman. The thing that took the longest: figuring out the dimensions we wanted and that would fit into our apartment. Layne found fabric she wanted to make something in way before the idea to make the ottoman took place. So once Layne heard Kyle wanted to build it, she went straight over to the fabric store and bought some yardage. {In doing that she knew she sealed the deal that Kyle had to make something now or else we wasted money. Smart move by L}.

Kyle was stoked to start using all his tools he's been racking up since our wedding. He get's a new tool every christmas from Layne's parents {well, it's only been two Christmas' in a row, so maybe it's a coincidence, but we think it's a tradition. A good tradition we might add.} This year he used the awesome drill and circa saw he got last year. But he didn't have a palm sander, so he had to borrow Joe's, Layne's dad, for a while. Usually not a problem, but it was during the same time Joe was fixing up a piece of furniture for us and needed it as well. So it went back and forth between houses for a couple weeks. Finally our project was done so no more borrowing. Guess which tool he got that year for his Christmas present? Shouldn't have been a surprise. Joe was probably more excited because we don't have to borrow his sander anymore.

It was pretty chilly when we decided to start the building process. Kyle loved it, Layne on the otherhand did not {Kyle got to wear his flannel utility shirt, which is probably way he was so excited, which also in Kyle's eyes, is extremely burly shirt}.

The bones of the ottoman. Kyle did a great job building it. Definitely a solid piece of furniture. Heavy as crap. Layne can barely lift it by herself.

The finished product. We love how it turned out. This was Layne's first time covering something all by herself. So, not too bad for the first time, but there are some areas that could use a little more help. We covered it in high dense foam, so it's comfy, yet supportive {just like your favorite undies}. But for us, it's great and does the purpose of being an ottoman: let's us relax by putting our feet up and is a stable spot to hold our beers.

Layne loved the crazy colors and design of the fabric. Fits our lifestyle and design style perfectly. And it adds great color and texture to our apartment. It was so much fun building this together. We love finding old furniture and repurposing it. We've done a couple other projects and hopefully will share them with you, but we wish we had more to do! Hopefully Houston antique shops will have some great finds.

26 feet of crap {nice crap though}

The next couple entries will be about our move to Houston, decorating the apartment and the finished product {finally}. This exact one will be about the drive down and move-in process weekend.

We set out early New Years Eve morning, 5am to be exact, for the long haul down to Houston. We had our 26 foot U-Haul and our two highlanders packed with all our belongings, 2 sets of parents, a dog and a cat. Kyle drove the 26-footer the whole time. Layne switched Highlander's half way through because the cat's meow was finally getting to her. The dance parties during the drive made it a little easier. Finally, we got to Houston about 3 pm. Made pretty decent time with that huge U-Haul.

The day before we left, we had a 'goodbye lunch' with Layne's family. Missed a couple of important family members, but most were there.

Drive down: One highlander was packed with the two pet carriers, paintings and some suitcases. Zoe didn't particularly like the idea of being stuck in a kennel for 9 hours right next to Charlie's kennel, crowded by things, not being able to see out a window and generally being unable to be a lazy cat for 9 hours straight. We obviously had to drug her. She was the happiest cat when we got to our place and let her roam around the laundry room. Even though it was only the laundry room, it was much better than a kennel.

Zoe confused.

Made it to Houston.

Almost there.

Moving in: At first it seemed as if it wasn't going to be a bad move. But then we realized a couple crucial facts: fourth floor, pretty much the farthest apartment from the elevator, huge pieces of furniture, one dolly, humid, hot, almost started raining on us and again a 26-foot U-Haul packed with boxes.

Zoe loved the boxes. or just the fact that she wasn't cooped up anymore.

Next day we decided to take Char to the dog park. Test out the new Houston waters for her. She loved it, to say the least.

The rest of the weekend was spent eating, drinking and hanging out around Houston trying to figure out our new home and lifestyle. So far we really like it. We live near an English pub that is amazing. It's the Arsenal fan based pub to go to for EPL games in Houston {or really any soccer game}. We literally feel like we are back in a London pub. A couple weeks ago when Arsenal played Man U {yes, bummer we lost} it was so packed that it was standing room only. Pretty much full capacity. Fan songs, beer glasses clinking and lots of banter. And it was only 10 am.

Cheers to exploring a new city!