easy as one, two, three!

these workers are moving really fast. I can only hope the electrician, HVAC, dry wall people, etc are half as fast as these guys. Day after day I've been pleasantly surprised with the progress on the house and today was no exception. We went over  mid day and saw this:

Then this evening we drove by and saw this... (drumroll please)......

count it!

1,2, 3!!

I really wish I had one of those things the fashion police have on the red carpet, you know when they dissect every outfit and draw on all the stars to point to certain things that look ridiculous. Or, maybe you're more familiar with it on a football field. When they circle certain players and draw arrows to where they should be going. Since I don't have either, I have to resort to my Microsoft Paint so bare with me. It ain't going to be pretty but I think it helps to explain. Also, at the bottom of this post are the drawings of the future house for reference.

no, i'm not drunk. it's hard to write in paint!

Get it now? Good. Moving on. Since the workers were gone for the day we went inside to take a look but on the way in we noticed this:

That red brick on the side is the back of the house. It's gone!!! It's tricky though, because it's not all gone. Remember back when we gave you the initial tour and I showed you the barbie room, with the white molding outlining what seemed to be a window? No? That's okay, I can't remember what I ate for breakfast so I totally get it. Real quick reminder:

now you remember?

so the middle room had no window but it had this molding that looked like a window-a Faux window, if you will. Back in October I told you that it used to be a window and I'm sure you didn't believe me because.. why would you? But now, you have NOOOOO choice but to believe me. I have proof!

RC took this picture standing inside the new extension looking at the existing house.

Crazy, huh? Who would cover up a window?! I guess when you put a nice mirror like this and a beautiful bathroom like this it's totally worth it:

Needless to say that window will also come out eventually. This is another shot from down stairs looking up into the pink room and out the window:

This is a look at the back extension while standing in the front bedroom:

And some more pictures of what inside the extension looks like:

it's so cool to think about how old that brick is.

this is standing in the old "bathroom" looking into the new extension

this is standing with your back to the extension and looking toward the front of the house

this is just cool. old house/new house

notice the arched brick above the door

I just noticed the arched brick above that door. Back when the house was originally built they all had those decks off the back of the 2nd floor, apparently these owners closed it in and turned it into a bathroom. Check out our neighbors, this is the best shot I have but you get the idea

see the open deck next door?

That's all I have today. What do you think? Below are the drawings to give you an even better idea of what you're looking out. I know it can be confusing!

xoxo
E

ketchup.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I spent mine in the Bahamas with my family, it was all kinds of amazing! It was strange to be jet skiing and wearing flip flops on December 25th but it's a strange I could get used to. RC stayed in Baltimore, thank God because there was a ton to document while I was gone! So sit back and get ready for a ton of pictures. A lot happened in the last week so let's take a quick trip back in time...

 I'm not sure how this all happened so fast, maybe Santa sent his elves to our house after they were done making all of their presents?! ..it's really the only explanation I could think of. Last time I showed you really dark pictures of the back yard, I went by last Thursday morning with my two girlfriends and I saw this!

the guy in the red loved having his picture taken

RC went by in the afternoon and saw this:

look at that!!!

We peaked our heads inside and look, they're starting to frame the walls! Framing is when they put up the wood to then secure the dry wall to it. I'm sure they'll run electric, heating, plumbing, AC, etc before putting up the dry wall but it's still starting to come together.

you're looking at the temporary "stairs" to the 2nd floor

on the left (behind the green ladder) is the wall  (running from left to right on the screen) that will be between the stairs and the living room, hole in the floor behind that is the future stairs

again, future wall between living room and stairs

 I then went on vacation on Friday and RC saw this, Friday morning!



sooo cool

 Saturday, Sunday and Monday everyone took off but when RC stopped by on Tuesday night this is what it looked like!!!


an addition on the basement level!!!!



hard at work!!!





Now we're finally starting to see what the extension looks like in real life. I can only imagine so much on paper, ya know? It keeps getting better though, we stopped  by last night and look what we saw!!



soooo purdy. (the house, not the guy)



What you're looking at there is the 2nd level of the extension but the 1st floor/main level/kitchen level's extension. Since we're on a hill the basement level looks like a real level.. does that make sense? You understand the words that are coming of my mouth? We'll still need a 3rd level on the extension, which will be the 2nd floor of the house. Hoping that when we go by today that will be on it's way to being complete!!!!

check check check it out.

I went by the house the other night on my way home from work and crossing my fingers WORKED!!!! We have progress people! It was still semi-light out and the workers were sill there!!! now. thats. what. I'm. talking about. the pictures are dark and kind of blurry but that's the backyard!!! The cement fence is gone, the toilet in the backyard it gone and there is a 3plus foot trench (technical name?!) around the perimeter! See the guy in the red hat in the pic? bottom left hand corner..

Can you believe it? Kind of crazy/scary, right? The back brick columns are also gone, I guess that one piece of wood is holding my house up for the time being? Maybe? Hopefully!! Just a reminder this is what the back looked like a few weeks ago!

My plan is to go back during the day to get some good pics! Hopefully we'll have even more progress!

keep up the RAKs

we've been staying busy with the RAKs! Tucker has even has gotten involved! Our apartment has a parking garage and this past week the doors were broken so the poor concierge had to sit outside(ish) and check every one's parking pass before they could enter. It was really cold too!! Tucker and I went out for a walk and he decided that he wanted to bring the the guy (name, tbd) some hand warmers. Isn't he so sweet?



so excited that he has his teeth out.



 anxious to complete his first RAK. (PS- nice chewed molding. thanks, tuck.)

RC and I did some winter cleaning and donated two full bags of clothes!!

abercrombie sweater from 1997. i was 12.

abercrombie sweater to the face after my age comment. whoops

the monkey is a big help... or just big.

if only I was allowed in there without RC supervision...

looks like a lot of people had the same idea!

how great are these things!? So convenient!

We eventually got all of the clothes in the box. No thanks to me. We also scored some cheap dog food to bring to the shelter along with a very expensive dog bed that Tucker doesn't understand how to use/not eat/not rip/etc. So off to the SPCA it went!

discount section of Safeway. it's weird but great for this stuff.

While I was in Florida for work I still had RAK on the brain! I drove from Tampa to Sarasota and had to drive across this incredibly long bridge. I tried to get a picture of it all while driving safely in my rental car:

can you see it in the distance?!

It's the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, spans over 4 miles and is beautiful. This however wasn't what shocked me. I grew up on an island and a bridge is really the only way to get on or off so call me jaded. whatever. What shocked me was the price of the toll on the bridge! It was ONLY $1. $1!!!! You need to take two bridges to get to LI,  and the Outerbridge and Goethals are both $12 EACH. $24 just to get back on the island.. no wonder why nobody ever leaves! JOKE. I was so excited about how cheap this bridge was so on my way back to the airport I paid for the car behind me. I mean, it was $1 how could I not?! The old man collecting the toll money was so sweet (another anomaly) and was so happy to be the messenger.

Most recently, this morning I went to get my car washed and since I was cashing in on a free car wash I donated $10 to the Patterson Park Chater school that was there raising money for their trip to Spain!

accidentally shoved in my pocket.

Lastly. Just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has reached out to tell me about their RAKs! My little brother has helped raise money to buy toys for underprivileged children, my Dad organized a toy drive at work, my friends Mike and Shannon in Atlanta are on board to RAK, co-workers have written letters to troops over seas and I can't even remember the rest of them. Keep them coming and keep me updated!!! I would love to share all of them.

Have a wonderful week. Remember, Santa and Tebow are watching. xoxo