it's the final countdown

closet systems: up. [at least the preliminary arrangements. there's a collection of baskets, shelves, bars, and shoe racks to fiddle with.] mirrors: installed. electrical inspection: passed, as of 20 minutes ago. plumbing and final building inspection: "between 10 and noon."

we are planning to sleep in our new room tonight. no, we don't have window coverings yet. we'll get creative for the next few days and make do. but we're dying to get down there.

last night's storm knocked out our power and let me tell you, without fans, it was sweltering upstairs. i came down to the main level and sleep on the couch. so we're just really excited to sleep in our well-insulated, first-floor master suite.

i was also concerned that we wouldn't have power for our electrical inspection. how ironic would that be? but God graciously restored our power at 7:46 this morning. He is so good to us. what a blessing to have such a beautiful place to live. i must remember that this is not our eternal home. we're just pilgrims, sojourners, wanderers—we're just passing through.

noticing good design

this is a box of matches. so simple and yet so lovely.

i think i first started paying attention to really good design in packaging after reading through some tom peters, recommended by ben, of course. i mean really, a ziploc bag is pretty amazing.

my sister-in-law, maggie, was in los angeles this past week and visited tom colicchio's restaurant. she told me she was bringing me back biscotti, and the matchbox came with it. those lowercase letters . . . that sans serif font . . . that orange . . . slam dunk, craft restaurant. gorgeous. thanks, maggie!

[p.s. it took me like thirty tries to get these shots—you must know i'm really into close-ups and select focus. i had to pull out the manual and try switching to manual focus, but in that last one, you'll see the focus is not in the center of the image. a mistake? creative license? i'm so excited to take my free nat cam classes later this month! now about that biscotti . . . ]

shower glass

installed! yahoo yahoo. i'm kinda nervous to take off that blue tape. i mean come on, we've all read the green ribbon. and the reflection makes it look like there's a big window in the middle of the shower. i assure you, that is not the case. we're only giving a peep show to each other, not the entire neighborhood. [was that bad? come on...you were thinking it.]

someone asked if we were installing frosted glass. the thought didn't even occur to us. we both like the look of the clear glass and this way we can see all that gorgeous tile! i'm really glad we chose a slider, too. a space saver that looks good.

the trim is installed, caulked, and puttied, so i'm off to do one last coat of white paint before carpet is installed tomorrow. hip hip hooray!

a misprint

i was thinking about my last post, and i'd like to print a retraction. dave and lauren's baby is not my niece-to-be—she's my niece now. some might call this semantics, but i think it's a really important distinction. life begins at conception.

onwards! here's the link to the burp rag tutorial i used from make and takes. i actually had it stored in evernote. [do you use evernote? if not, you should. i'll do a post on it someday.] from what i read, using cloth diapers is the way to go (very absorbent). here's another one to check out. way to go, hannah!

a shower for niece-to-be

last thursday, me, my mom, and my sister threw a shower for lauren. she and dave are expecting their first baby—a little girl!—any day now (she's due the 17th).

unfortunately, the white balance must have been off on my camera, because many of the photos turned out very poor. i'm sharing some of my favorites that turned out decently.

for a gift, i sewed up some burp rags using instructions i found online (all about the google search—let me know if you want the steps and i can dig up the link). they didn't turn out perfectly (first time using bias tape), but i got a chance to use a new stitch on my machine.

we had an absolute blast putting together food, favors, gifts, a game, and flowers. it has been so sweet to think how God is knitting together this little one in lauren's womb. a big thank you to everyone who came. you are all blessings in our lives and we were so thankful for your presence at the shower!

as a thank-you, lauren gave me this gorgeous plant. i got a little choked up. she's so wonderful, and will be a great mom. can't wait to meet my little niece! we pray she will walk with Jesus all the days of her life and treasure Him above all else.