my navy blue house

If you've spent any time around me, my casa, or this bloggie, you'd know that I looooove color. When I moved into this house, I loved the colors that were already in here with the green dining room and the red kitchen. The outside was.. meh. A grayish blue that wasn't bad, but wasn't me. Well I noticed the paint was chipping on the front of the house and knew it would have to be repainted sooner or later. I chose sooner. Why would you paint right before you move out?! I wanted to enjoy this for a few years (or however long I'll be here). 

When I thought of what color I would want to paint the outside, there was only one answer in my head: NAVY. I did some google searching and confirmed that I loved it. I found that it looks best on wood sided houses (check) with white trim (check). Here is a mostly before shot:

I say mostly because the painters had pressure washed it at this point, so the paint really chipped off the front and trim. This was definitely not a DIY job. I didn't have all the tools, and I probably would've killed myself climbing on a ladder to the second floor. Also, I researched it to see if I could do it, and everyone I found that attempted their own houses said they would never do it again. Besides, it took me about 3 weeks to paint the staircase.. I'm sure the neighborhood would've enjoyed watching me paint the outside of the house for 19 weeks. 

You all know I like to skip steps sometimes, but I knew this was not the place. Do not do not do not pick out exterior paint colors without getting a few test pots of paint to try out. They're only a couple bucks each, and you get a lot of coverage. Here are three colors I tested out. We put the first two on the left up first and I wanted to see was an in-between color would look like so I went and bought the third.

I tell ya, it took me a while. I'd look at it up close, from the road, from the side, when the sun was on one side of the house, and then the other. The winner was the grayish navy on the far left! It's called Night Tide by Behr. 

They started off with painting the trim and shutters white. 

This is the back door by the side porch that has been scratched up by the dogs. With sea foam green paint underneath..

Little did I know, it looked like the ENTIRE HOUSE had been painted sea foam green. Say what?!? I really need to find a picture of it back in the day to confirm. 

Progress! I was already in love! 

Oh what's that back there?

A yellow door! EEE!

So I was conflicted at this point. Leave the shutters white, or glaze them to look like natural wood? I felt like it was too much white if I left them that way.. 

So I went the natural wood route! 

Some more shots, shall we? 

That weird side door in the den.

Cotton loves it!

The back door and the laundry room door.

And at dusk: 

Ten points if you spot Diesel. 

I love it! Of course now, this makes me want bright green boxwood hedges out in front. Anyone giving any away? Har har. 

Here's a before and after:

I need to add the flower boxes back to the windows. Any suggestions on what to do with them? I can't leave them black! Perhaps cover them with some barnwood? Whatever I do to the outside, I think I'll put something bright green in them, or something with yellow flowers. 

ha class of 2003 reunion

A couple of weekends ago was my 10 year class reunion! Woowoo! I was on the planning committee, and after planning mom's 60th bday party and this, I am here to let you know that planning is not easy! Everything turned out great, and everyone had fun, so it was all worth it! 

A little background: I went to Houston Academy down in Dothan, AL all the way from kindergarten to 12th grade. Our class graduated with 48, and the majority of us were there from 5k - 12, some even longer, from 3p. A lot of us keep in touch, and if you read my bloggie, you'll recognize familiar faces, because I still hang out with most of these people. In fact, about half of our class lives in Birmingham. Aw wee! 

Friday night we met at Oak and Olive, an awesome restaurant/bar in Dothan. It was a meet and greet thing, so there weren't as many of us there as at the other events. 

Kaki, me, Andrea, and Katie 

group shot with Andrea, Katie, Colby, Deavours, Zach, me, and Matt

I said: open mouth smile! and got most of us to participate. Of course there was a finger in front of the flash, but oh well! 

me, Matt, and his lovely wifey, Keisha

Saturday during the day we went to Tootie Greens, my farmhouse that you may remember from my ma's 60th bday party. 

Jensen, Caroline, and Laurie

Saturday during the day was a family gathering, so parents and kids were welcome. Here is sweet little William, Caroline (above) and Grant's son. 

David, Elizabeth, Sarah, and John David

Isn't Matt and Keisha's little Piper just the cutest thing? Especially in her AU gameday dress!

Dr. Crittenden assisted Zach with the cooking. 

I made this little poster really quickly to display bc I desperately wanted to get a hashtag going.. I'm pretty sure I was the only one who participated. 

PS: that black blob above? LOVEBUGS!!! Dothan is FULL of lovebugs. They come towards the end of the summer, and they were swarming around Tootie Greens while we were there. 

Deavours and Kelsey. plus a lovebug. 

Jensen with Andrea's daughter, Harper. 

Zach, Ragan, Colby, Deavours, and me.

 Andrea and her sweet baby Dane. 

Mrs. Terri, Keisha, Colbs, and Kaki. 

Colbs, Chris, Kaki, and me.

Melissa, Katie's sister Lauren, and Katie

Ragan, Jenny, and her new nugget Quinn

Elizabeth, Jensen, Laurie, Amy, and Andrea

Some of the parentals, Ms. Karen, Mrs. Becky, and Mrs. Crittenden 

See all the black dots against the cars?? LOVEBUGS!

You could not swat your hand without wacking about 5 of them. The downside to these suckers is they ruin your car paint, so you have to wash your car as soon as possible. I've noticed they're only in the deep south of Alabama (I never saw them in Auburn or above).

Melissa, Mr and Mrs Hicks, and myself

Ashton, Laurie, Melissa, and Josh

Jensen, Andrea, and Harper 

Jenny and Quinn

The school let us borrow our composite picture! It was so funny to see how everyone had changed. I'm on the third row down, second from the left with my ol' short hair cut.

Sarah, John David, Trae, and Becky

Matt and Keisha

The sweet wifeys were good about letting me get in pictures. 

Caroline, Jenny, Andrea, Amy, Ragan, me

All the class members that were present! 

Brittany and Drew with Trae and Becky. Brittany and Drew were both in our class and are engaged! 

Katie, Andrea, and me 

 One of the funniest things we did was open the letters we wrote to ourselves 10 years ago right before we graduated high school. 

Some were funnier than others. Curses to 18 year old Rachel for not writing something hilarious! 

Laurie basically wrote a short story about the party we had been to the night before we wrote the letters. So so funny. 

After the dinner, we had an after party at Matt's parents house, and it was fun to continue catching up with everyone. I had so much fun! 

Big thanks to Deavours and Ragan for being on the planning committee too, Kelsey for catering dinner, Zach for cooking lunch, Colbs for running errands, Caroline for the slideshow, and EVERYONE who attended for RSVPing and getting yo' money in! WOO! In addition to classmates, a big shoutout goes to Ashton, Laurie's husband, for keeping me updated on the Auburn football score throughout the night. I think I asked for an update every 15 minutes. We won against Arkansas State, which sounds like an easy team, but Gus Malzahn (our head coach) was their head coach last year. He also brought almost the whole staff over with him, soooo emotion was a big part. I'm clearly a few weeks behind on blogging, so I'm trying to catch up! EEK!