The Writing on the Wall

When Justin's mom and sister moved into a new house, it was their daily routine to say to each other "Hey...guess what?...we live here!"  Although we haven't made it a daily routine here, we do find ourselves saying it every so often.  On several occasions when making big house changes, we've had to pinch ourselves and realize that not only do we live here, but we're the adults in charge of doing what we want!

Here's one house change that made us giggle about being grown-ups:

Yep, that's right, we're writing on the walls.  The paneling in the kitchen is dark and ugly.  We can't wait until we take it out this summer.  But, we also realized that we want to spend our first year of marriage doing some things that don't involve a paintbrush or hammer.

Some people have a "bucket list" of things they want to do before they kick the metaphorical bucket.  We have a "panel" list of things we want to do before the paneling is removed.

For example, go to Corks and More (a local wine restaurant) - CHECK!, play frisbee in a nearby park (CHECK!), try cross-country skiing (CHECK!), and visit Scranton, the home of our favorite show The Office (upcoming....?)

We have to thank my sister, Maura, for her spring break artwork on the wall.  She got a little excited with having the permission to take Sharpies to the wall, and we ended up with a "Maura was here" on the (not yet finished) ceiling, as well as a little drawn spider (also on the ceiling).  It makes me smile that she colored outside the "lines," and it's a good reminder of what this project is all about ~ having fun!

The panel list has been quite the conversation piece when we have people over for dinner.  Don't you think it adds an element of class to fancy dinners, such as Easter?

Justin & his mom, Easter 2011

And, not to worry, in addition to checking things off our panel list, we are most definitely taking the time to enjoy life and this special first year of marriage.  Case in point: our decorated Easter eggs!

Anybody have any fun suggestions to write on the wall?  We're game for fun things....but not too many, as we want to finish them all before we renovate in here ~ and I'm pretty excited for renovation day!