Can't Keep Up

I can't keep up with the blog because I can barely keep up with life! It has been crazy busy lately, and any spare moment I get is designated for quality time with loved ones or sleep (normally sleep wins!)

Here are some pictures to get you up to speed! 

Well this picture of Roco is just too cute not to share :)

My sweet friend Ashley got engaged, and we are so excited for Seth and Ashley as they start their happily ever after! I am looking forward to all of the festivities involved, and I am already planning my work travel accordingly!

I was honored to be in on the surprise, and I am so glad that Ashley loves her gorgeous ring!

I travel a lot for work (more now than ever), and I seem to go to Texas pretty frequently! The last time I went to Houston, I decided to take a walk around the city. It was gorgeous weather, and I am going to try and venture out into the cities I travel to more often. I normally work 15-18 hour days when I am on the road, and combined with the time difference it is hard to find a free minute to explore. I normally end up working in my lonely hotel room and ordering room service for the sake of convenience. 

Valentine's Day was one for the books! I surprised Shane with a trip to the mountains. We had a technology free weekend, and it was just what we needed! No social media, no TV, no work! 

I gave him a bottle of whiskey for his growing collection, and he gave me a 90 minute massage (which is one of my favorite gifts)

We slept late, enjoyed time with the dogs, went shopping in downtown Elijay and enjoyed spending quality time! 

I am not much of a rule follower, but these I can handle! 

It snowed recently which equated to working from home and a 

snowball fight with the boys next door! 

My girls and I got together for 50 Shades of Mays to celebrate Ashley's birthday! 

It was so much fun! 

We went to see 50 Shades of Grey, exchanged gifts and went out to a nice dinner!

Shane's birthday fell on a Tuesday, so I told him to meet me after work so I could surprise him. I took him to Local Three for a bourbon tasting and fancy meal, and he seemed to really like it. 

I wanted to bring him lunch to work that day, but I was stuck in meetings and couldn't get away. To improvise, I ordered lunch and had it delivered to him instead. Not nearly as sweet, but at least it was thoughtful! 

I am so in love with his precious grin! 

Of course we had to take a birthday selfie :) I can't believe he is 28! 

Rocky always lays on top of Polly, and she normally doesn't seem to mind. 

Sometimes, I let him lay on top of me and he will take a nap. It lasts until he gets too heavy or his snoring gets too loud. 

We finally got our fence painted. I haven't snapped a finished picture, but this is half way finished! We hired out this project (which is always my preference even though Shane is so handy) and it turned out really great! 

This is a huge transformation from when we had an ugly deck. and the yard was not level. 

Shane does a great job with all of the landscaping, and he seems to really like doing it! 

We also redid the office recently, but I don't have a finished picture of that either. We rearranged the furniture, bought a new computer with dual monitors and decorated with lamps and a nice upholstered chair. 

I still want to frame all 3 of our diplomas, but Shane could care less about that! Ha... one day! 

Shane recently earned a promotion at work and will need to work from home a bit more which prompted the decision to work on the office. I hope to decorate our master bedroom next!

Shane works so incredibly hard, and he is ridiculously smart! His company is lucky to have him, and I am so proud of his new promotion! :)

This past week, we celebrated the March birthdays at my parent's house. Rowan couldn't be there because she had the flu (poor baby!) but we had a great time laughing and sharing memories around the kitchen table! 

Tina recently emailed me this picture of Mak, and I can't believe how grown up she looks! 

I am very excited to see them both in April! 

Weekend Update

We had a great! It was good to spend some quality time together! Friday night, we ate a crockpot meal and watched a RedBox movie. I went to bed after the movie because I was exhausted, and Shane stayed up watching some of his shows.

I wasn’t able to sleep in at all this weekend because my body is so used to waking up at 5:30. I was able to relax on the couch each morning and catch up on some of my recorded shows which was nice. We ran errands on Saturday to prepare for hosting Thanksgiving at our house. Shane made the mistake of getting our BJ trial membership in his name with his picture, so now he is stuck going with me. He went to Wal-Mart with me too even though I warned him Saturdays are crazy and it would be even busier since it was the weekend before Thanksgiving, but he was a good sport and spent a majority of the time looking at guns and picking out the turkey he is making.

We went home and he put together the fire pit that I bought with some of my birthday money while I unloaded a TON of groceries.

We packed the car full of groceries for the week and Thanksgiving supplies

#firepit

 

That night, we invited our next door neighbors over to watch the GA game and make s’mores. They have 2 sons that we just love. It was a lot of fun! We ate pizza and enjoyed spending time with them.

Jackson

Bryson

After Skydiving on Sunday, we went through the Wendy’s drive-thru, and somehow Shane agreed to watch The Vow with me. We cuddled with the dogs on the couch which was a nice treat for them because we rarely let them get up there!

Hangin' out at the skydive place

Love

Rocky drooling in my lap

Polly cuddling on Daddy

Sunday evening we folded some laundry and got ready for the work week ahead.

We are very excited to host Thanksgiving at our new house this year and have both sides of our family (that live in GA) under one roof!

XoXo,
The Clancy Clan

 

We Put The PRO In Productive

I haven’t posted in a while now because we have been SO busy getting the house together. It is finally starting to come along! This past week, we hired architectural landscapers to level our backyard by building a retaining wall. It looks like a totally different yard!

I spent the weekend running errands and organizing while Shane built a pergola. He is so incredibly talented! He drew out some plans and built a beautiful pergola all by himself! I assisted by bringing him beer ;)
 

Before



After --  "All Decked Out" 

 

Day 0 compared to Day 1

 

Day 1 compared to Day 2

 

Day 2 compared to Day 3

 

 

 

Angela brought us a piece of her butterfly bush. It is the tall green stem in the back corner... fingers crossed we can get it to grow!

 

This is Shane's drawing for the pergola

 

He went to buy the supplies. We had to rent a truck because it wouldn't fit in the Prius.

(We sold his truck this weekend!!) 

 

He measured and drilled. He had to custom build it around our bay window.

 

One side was up in no time...

 

Then the frame was complete

Such a perfectionist...

 

Almost finished....

 

 

On Saturday night, we went with our next door neighbor to another neighbor’s house for a low country boil. It was DELICIOUS. We had such a great time playing Apples to Apples and spending time with our new friends!

On Sunday, I went to church with them while Shane worked to finish the pergola before the rain. Church was incredible. I loved the message, and I can’t wait to bring Shane next week! I have a feeling this is the church that will put our “Church Search” to an end!

Shane worked in the yard in between downpours the rest of the day while I ran a few more errands and organized the house. I was feeling a bit overwhelmed with all of the clutter on Saturday, but my sweet mom and grandma came over and helped me tackle my craft room. We have so many bedrooms that I get to have a room dedicated to my crafts and decorations. How fun is that!?

 

Before -- YIKES!!

After -- All of the decorations are organized by season and I have plenty of space in the middle to set up my card table and create my Pinterest Projects.

I also organized the kitchen cabinets, pantry, coat closet, linen closet, and the infamous “junk drawer”!

This week we are going to hang pictures and curtains and maybe even get the Man Room started! We also need to pressure wash the fence and stain it... maybe we just put the PRO in projects!

Thanks to all my prayer warriors who have been praying for my poor Daddy. He had kidney stones and shingles, but has passed the stone and is doing much better!  

XoXo,

The PROductive Blogger

All Decked Out

First of all, let me admit the obvious and say I am not good at keeping up the blog every day. Our life isn't THAT eventful, and we are spending so much time after work with projects for the house that I go a few days without posting.

This past weekend, the dreaded "deck project" continued as soon as I got home from work on Friday evening. Shane and our neighbor Bryan began ripping out the hideous stage/deck that came with the house on Thursday night, leaving Friday to dig out the concrete posts. I try and stay as positive as possible on the blog (and life in general)... so let's just say I am glad this project is behind us, and we are extremely grateful for Bryan's help (and his sledgehammer)!

 

Before

Before

 

Demolition

 

All Decked Out!!

 

Saturday I was invited by my sweet neighbor, Angela, to a women's Bible study at a local church. Cass is a member at Hillside Methodist, so the three of us rode together. What a wonderful group of women I met. I am so blessed the Lord has placed these people in my path, and I am excited to begin my weekly Bible study on August 21.

After church on Saturday morning, Shane and I continued the never-ending yard work until it was time to grill out with Bryan and Cass and their adorable sons Jackson and Bryson. Once they left, Shane and I fell asleep watching a movie... we were both so worn out!

We took all the blinds outside and hosed them down, cleaned them with Clorox and hanged them over the fence to dry.

 

Polly and Rocky got a bath, too!

Sunday we were able to sleep in, and then my Aunt Alison came over to help measure all my windows for curtains that she and I are going to make. (Alison did the measuring while I sat in awe of all the intricacies of the sewing process) I don't even know how to sew a button, and somehow I am determined to unbox the sewing machine that Shane gave me for Christmas and make curtains for the entire house. Hey... ya gotta start somewhere... right? I enjoyed spending the day with Alison shopping for fabric and picking her brain for decorating ideas!

Alison made this gorgeous candle holder!

Check out her website filled with her AMAZING work here!

This is the rug we have in the kitchen with the fabric samples that

Alison and I picked out for the house!!

 

Sunday night, Shane finished putting up the garage door openers. I am so thankful for all of his hard work. He is so handy, and we are able to save so much money since he can fix/build just about anything!

Our weekly date night to Moe's was a blast (as always)! We love having something to look forward to on Mondays (besides the Bachelorette of course). We ordered our food on our Moe's App so we didn't have to wait in the ridiculous line that forms around the building on Mondays. I joke and say that is the only place my husband can order a naked homewrecker ;)

Shane and I are having such an incredible time building friendships with our new neighbors and making our beautiful house feel more and more like our HOME!!

Shout outs to ALL of our sweet neighbors who have made us feel so welcome and prayer requests for my poor Daddy who is battling shingles and kidney stones at the same time. :(

XoXo,
The Deck Free Blogger