Who's up for some renovating???

At the beginning of this month, my sister and I decided that it was time to re-evaluate our situation now that our other sister was married and out of the house. More importantly, we now had to redistribute the free space in our shared 160 sq foot bedroom. So we figured out a plan to not only change the space around but to do a complete transformation... change the paint, change the flooring and get new furniture. It took just over 7 days with the help of my favourite cousin (ejm. u know who u are!) and some other muscles now and then but now its August 11th and the room is finally totally completed! Now what your going to read and see may shock you, even have you in total disbelief but don't let yourself be troubled... it was all DIY- 80% of it by 3 very resourceful and stronger-then-they-appear women.

So at the start of a very warm Tuesday, my cousin and I began packing and removing the stuff from the bedroom. My sister readied some bags and boxes for give-away and we took everything down into the living room which then became full of stuff. It took us almost 2 whole days to clear the room of stuff and then we had to take apart furniture. Check it out!

living room full of stuff...

After removing the furniture from the room, we worked on getting the carpeting off of the floor which was no easy feat.  Beyond having to constantly move and work around that giant armoir in the picture, we had to deal with all manner of tacks and staples.. without work shoes cuz flip-flops is how we roll *relieved giggle*

The Carpet before we ripped it out..

The Foam that was under the carpet once we ripped it out..

Fun Fact: Did you know that carpeting is held in place on the floor by (typically) either glue or tack boards?? Yes ma'am it is! Let me tell you, we learned just how fun it is to remove carpeting... loads. *cough-sarcasm-cough* But check out the fruits of our labour...

The Wood Flooring under the previous two layers..

Tack boards that were not all   tacked but also nailed to the floor.. 

And did I mention we had to put dry wall compound on the walls to fill ALL of the holes?? I lost count about an 1/8th of the first wall...  We "spackled" and sanded and painted before tearing out the carpeting?? of course during this process you can't help but become one with the dust and fun stuff.

After we sanded the drywall compound down- the following day- we went to the hardware store and picked out the paint and flooring. Now keep in mind that we needed to purchase and transport at least 14 boxes of laminate flooring from the skid to the cash, from check-out to the vehicle, from the trunk of the car to our upstairs bathroom. Sounds monumental no? It was psychotic!! But we felt more like Women after all that heavy lifting and moving *hehe* Go Us!!

After some tiny disagreements and stubborn moments the floor was installed properly- the second time around- by a family friend and one of our cousins (the 2 guys make up the remaining 20% in regards to who renovated) and we managed to keep the reno-momentum going by bringing up all of the boxes from your favourite store and mine... IKEA!!  We had purchased a new bed frame plus mattress, two side table drawers and two bookshelves along with a small table- everything in the classic Black/Brown IKEA colour.  Each piece matches with the flooring wonderfully and the colour on the walls pulls it all in somehow.  I was a bit concerned when my sister wanted to change from our true blue to a lighter, brighter variation but between that and her other choice (cappucino brown) I like the purple that we ended up with. Check out our awesome painting job!!

The linen closet door and wall are the old colour. The door turned white and the wall became the colour on the right. 

The space between the closets mid-repaint. 

The drying of the first coat on the windows wall. 

A glance at the new flooring and wall together. 

We took out the large cumbersome armoir at the end of the story- even though we had worked around it all week) because it not longer fit in the room with the new bed in place.  Surprisingly the room seems smaller because of the redistribution of space.  I can't believe we ever had three beds in the room. Absurdity! Well we spend two days opening boxes and putting together furniture but it was worth it. Here are the various pieces that are now apart of our masterfully renovated room:

my cousin with one of the two bookcases. 

My laptop sitting on one of the newly built bookcases. 

The frame of the bed frame.

The movable bed table that I built at 1:30am. The wheels went on the next day. 

The finished bedframe avec mattress.

the two bookcases and the small table. 

The bed, bed table, right bookcase and jewelry armoir are all black/brown. 

The linen closet door, now white. 

Et voix-la! The Finished Product :)

Although it was a lot of stress and pain, hard work, sweat and tears... we did it!  The room looks better than ever and I am proud to say that we did it ourselves.  All it takes is a little willpower, some cooperation and loads of hope.  There were no injuries to report; physical, mental or emotional and everyone ended feeling rather pleased.

Renovating the room ourselves brought my sister and I closer together and definitely closer to God- every minute someone was praying hard *hehe*.  It also gave us a chance to become closer with our wonderful cousin- EJM we couldn't have done it without you and your extensive know-how and hands-on abilities!! WE LOVE YOU TONS!!  Even though my cousin and I swear that we could have put in the flouring ourselves- as we had originally intended- it was fantastic of the guys to give their time and effort to our cause.  R&G you guys are the greatest!!! It was hotter than hell in our room and outside but you both came through for us- sorry for making you sweat :D XOX

So there you have it.. the room is finished now save for some paintings and a mirror that have to be secured to the wall and we are content.  I thought I wasn't going to be accomplishing much this summer beyond my sisters wedding but somehow the Lord gave us the strength and encouragement to take on such a monumental task even during the most horrid heatwaves.  Thank you God, for giving us the strength and endurance, the courage and intelligence, the ability and willingness to create together.

  

I am so pleased to have been writing this post from my new room, on the new bed with the help of the bed table that was the best purchase I've made in a long time!! Hope you've enjoyed coming along the Reno Journey with us.  Comment or e-mail, I'd love to hear from you :)

XOXO

Nothing like a Monday Morning...

Well this past month has just flown past me faster than a flock of seagulls at a left over picnic site.
Mmm maybe I'm not exactly sharp with my comparisons this morning... *note to self: be more awake before trying to be humorous*
     Anyway, this past Saturday- the 28th- was the day my entire family has been waiting, hoping, preparing and praying for the past 2 years.. my older sister's wedding day! She and her boyfriend of 12 years finally tied the knot at one of our home parishes in the presence of God, both sets of parents, all forms of relations and numerous amounts of friends.  Even my sisters personal fitness trainer was there.. it was certainly the most anticipated wedding of the year..even of the decade!!!
     My sister looked stunning in her ivory dress and the groom with his purple vest also caused quite the happy stir among the crowd.  In plum coloured satin, the bridesmaids led the bride to the altar and met the groomsmen who were decked out in true GR fashion- though there were a few mishaps in the menswear department, the groom- a salesmen for George Richards- managed to have everything fixed on time to have his "oomsmen" so so stylish. From the ring bearers pillow to the flower-girls matching pick-ups, the BP (bridal party) looked simply wonderful! We had beautiful weather and the ceremony went off without a hitch. I sang for the ceremony, with the responsorial psalm in Spanish and the rest of the mass parts and hymns in English or Italian.. not to ring my own bell *ding dong* I was pretty on vocally and rocked it out for my sis and new bro-in-law! *high fives self*
     At the wedding reception I was up and down and all around both during dinner and after but it was all worth the efforts just to see my sister so happy and enjoying the evening that she'd worked soo hard to plan.     
     From the first dance to the last everything was just magnificent. I danced up a storm with some of my cousins and got to chat with some others throughout the evening and that was really awesome. It was a nice intimate gathering as everyone knew everyone else in the room (pretty much) and were able to get to know the few non family members as well.  My sister and my brother-in-law said that they couldn't have been any more pleased with their wedding day.

*sigh* I just love a good wedding. Everyone cried, laughed, drank, danced like fools- you bet your boots we did the macarena!- and now two families have "officially" become joined :)

     So a big thanks to everyone who played a part in making their day special- the Bilich-Morales families send loads of gratitude to you all!

     The newlyweds left for their honeymoon in Florida this morning and couldn't be more happy or more in love!

**aside**
Now my other sister and I are going to start clearing out our room and starting our much anticipated reno project!! We are going to tear down everything in the room, fill all the poster holes, repaint, change the flooring and put in the new IKEA furniture we got! Wooooooo! So look forward to seeing the before and after sometime soon!

Have a magnificent Monday!
XoXo

Just another date with insomnia.

Since I can't sleep I thought id post a picture of my totally awesome graduation gift!

My only brother, to whom I owe my love of all things rock and metal, got me a gift which is not only useful, but epic too!

Check out my new nightmare before christmas ear buds!! In the true nightmare black and purple fashion, they have heads on them! And yes, they also come with a little baggie that also has jack skellingtons head on it!!! Not only do they deliver great sound but they are also noise reducing! So now when I'm on the bus trying to ignore weirdos with my music I actually won't hear them annoying me! Yay!

Thanks for the amazing gift bro! You rock! :p

That's all.

Xoxo

Oh Sant'Antonio Prega Per Noi.... Baby you're a Firework!

All week the parishoners at St. Anthony of Padua have been preparing for our two big days of the year outside of christmas/easter: June 13th and June 16th.  These two dates mark our annual feast of Saint Anthony upon which bread is giving out in the spirit of Anthony who served the poor with the Franciscan brothers back in the 14th century (don't quote me on that**). The entire week leading up to those days involves a 3 day tridium wherein 3 nights of masses and special prayers are offered along with a blessing with a relic of st anthony for his intercession.. the 16th being Fathers day we end the week of numerous masses and exhaustive singing on my end with the big feast day- mass, procession, stadium night.

Last night my church celebrated our annual St. Anthony of Padua feast day and tradition called for a mass packed with people the parishoners refer to as "gli antonini"- because they only come to church the week of the feast- and a procession of cross, priests, bishop and religious groups, city, country and national flags.  Tradition also calls for ridiculous heat and overcast and we were certainly not disappointed! *hehe*

The feast concludes at our city's football stadium for 5 hours of italian music, and vendors of italian food and bric-a-brac, jerseys, hats etc. At the end of the night they call out the raffle for which tickets had been sold throughout the evening and then an incredible fireworks display tops it all off.

My family and I are there every year and enjoy the cultural, religious and social aspects of the day.  I took pictures of the fireworks and some of them turned out simply unbelievable!

My cell phone camera has a setting for fireworks and the clarity of my shots is amazing.. not to mention the crazy (almost) artistic looking shots I got.. and all I had to do was keep pushing the button *teehee* Enjoy!

I did it.. i did it! I said that i could do it and indeed i did!

Convocation day today. Went really well! I'm officially a university graduate with the official documentation to proove it :)  we were the 501st McMaster U convocation which is a pretty awesome milestone!

Thanks to everyone who has helped, guided and supported me these past 5 years xoxo love you all!

The ceremony was 3 hours but totally worth it, from the epic bagpiper to the speech by the presently conferred doctor of letters honoris causa- AA Bronson! (If u don't know who he is.. check him out.. definitely a giant as far as canadian artists and free thinkers go)..

Here's a picture of the convocation guest ticket I had for my family.. ps they were actually blue but you know how camera flashes change everything lol and Check out my diploma too! Its stylin!

So I'm off to bed with a final ecstatic Wooooooooooooo!
As we were told by the chancelor at the end of the. Ceremony, "your future, and the future world, begins as soon as you leave the building" and now that I'm home I feel the change more than ever!

Life is for living.. its time to go forth into the future and navigate the channels of my existence!

Xoxo

What goes around comes around..

I spent multiple days over the past few weeks helping an energetic and almost insane hungarian franciscan friar learn english and what does he give me in return???

Any guesses??

That's right! Cake! But not just any cake... a traditional hungarian Dobosz cake! Its epic!

Although I had no intention of receiving payment for the english lessons, it Just goes to show you that kindness and generosity do get returned.

Here are some pics of this wonderfully tasty dessert and if you're still not convinced about it then google it for a description *too lazy to copy and paste one*

Xoxo
Ps so nervous for my university convocation tomorrow.. 13 hours and 20 minutes to go!!! wish me luck as I fear public humiliation *eep*

My current week..

As you know, since May I've been sitting around not doing much besides family time or trips to the local shopping centres but the past two weeks I've been pretty active visiting friends, sewing and helping a hungarian priest with his ESL classes.  Its really an experience for me as a university English major because
while I know how to "turn a phrase", the construction of sentences, words and their sounds is a completely different task. I suppose I should have taken a semantics or linguistics class but I'm not big into word trees (hehe). All in all, its a nice experience helping him and since we are using italian as the primary language I can finally get back into practicing it regularly so I don't lose it like I had feared when I was using my spanish more the past two years. Sometimes I think that my head is going to explode and all anyone will see are words and phrases in various languages.. here's hoping I can keep it all in :)

So last night I went out for a quick jaunt to the local Tim's and I can't believe how clear the evening sky was! If you've been following the local southern ontario weather forcasts and updates as of late, you'll see that we finally got the storming rain that they've been calling for. In the immortal words of chicken little, I thought for certain that "the sky was falling" but interestingly enough it just misted and dripped and thundered around. Much to my excitement, it was a wonderfully warm and clear evening. There are some pics of the sky around 9pm and one really epic shot I got of our driveway tree.. ah! The amazing things that a camera flash can do!

So this past weekend we had my sisters bridal shower, and it was really just a beautiful day! We ended up with a some lovely fresh cut flowers and surprisingly they're lasting quite some time.. check out the pics of them I took the other day!

I'm going round to one of me old haunts today... a few friends and I are getting together to revisit our alma mater for a little "reunion".  Its so peaceful this time of year and I intend on taking pictures to update my albums with. Later on I'm going with one of the girls to make risotto and have a "ladies in their sensibilities" BBC Jane Austen movie evening. I wager it will be a romping good time!

Anyway enough rambles! Check out my pics and drop a comment or email if you like.

Xoxo
C