Home sweet half-finished home

The kitchen isn't quite ready yet, but we are! After 3 months in the condo and with summer (and my parents) almost here, it is time to be home. The house is still a little dusty, and the kitchen is still a construction zone, but the fridge is in, so I think we can make it work!

The big delay now is the countertops -- our top pick was out of stock and they didn't let us know until the day it was scheduled to be cut. We're on to plan B and I think I've convinced myself I like the new countertops even better. As of now, they are scheduled to go in on June 15. Unfortunately, we'll have to wait until then for our sink, too. 

Here are a few pics of the kitchen, in its current state:

Our new, glorious, enormous refrigerator, in a new location away from the back door

The other cabinet color -- marine blue. There is an L-shaped peninsula under the tarp, also in marine blue, where we will be able to have barstools. Yes! Barstools!

The range is in the same spot, but you can see we now have a double oven -- hurrah! It's a little hard to see, but the pantry is to the left of the back door where that wood wall is. The right side (not shown) has a bench, shelves, and hooks for our coats

This is the money shot. The unobstructed view from the kitchen into the dining room. I LOVE how open it is. The photo is a little dark, but you get the idea

Friends 4-eva

There's just something so easy about being around old friends. It doesn't matter how much time goes by, it seems like we can still just pick up right where we left off as soon as we get back together.

On that note, it's been a pretty good couple of months for seeing my friends from high school. Lindsay lives here of course, and now that my schedule is more flexible, we've been able to pick it up a bit with Friday lunches every month or so. Then at the end of April, Jason and I went back to Cincinnati for a music fest (National Homecoming on Smale Park along the Ohio River ... it was amazing). We got to see Dana and Lauren while we were in town and also see how much cooler Cincinnati is than when I lived there (Covington, KY and Over-the-Rhine neighborhoods especially).

Natalie is the farthest away, but she is so good about visiting Chicago. It was my turn to get out to Arizona though, so Jason, Molly, and I went to visit Nat and her family over Memorial Day weekend and had such a good time. It felt like the kick-off to summer. They have a huge group of friends in AZ and had a big BBQ one of the nights. We got some swim time in at the pool, checked out Top Golf for the first time, and then we also got to see another friend from high school, Eric, and his brand new baby Declan. Declan is a magic baby -- so cute and so good. He never even cried once when we were at dinner. He just looked around at everyone and let us pass him around until he fell asleep. Aww.

It's hard to believe I've been friends with this crew for more than 20 years! We've got our reunion coming up in Sept. I was on the fence, but think I'm definitely going to make the effort to get back for it now.

Out in Cincinnati with Dana and LT

Molly at the pool with Natalie's two darlings, Eva and Cole

Finishing up dinner with baby Declan. Jordan, Natalie, and Meredith are in the photo. Jason, Eric, and I were on the other side of the table. I always say this ... we should have taken more pictures!