Remember when?

I'm back for my "housiversary" celebration ~ a week long blog party celebrating our survival of a first year of renovation.  Perhaps more accurately, it's a celebration of the house surviving a year being owned by two naive kids who were determined to tear apart the house and put it back together again; with relatively little knowledge.  It's a celebration of 365 days of progress.

As if I wasn't already feeling sappy enough about this anniversary, I've added some country music to the mix.  Feel free to listen and be emotional with me.  Or just skip this part and make fun of me for a) liking country music, b) applying a song more appropriate for 50-year wedding anniversaries to our tiny little one-year house anniversary and 8 months of marriage, and c) getting teary eyed over all of the above.



So it's true that Alan Jackson's "Remember When" is reminiscing of milestones Justin and I have yet to meet, but that doesn't stop me from liking the song.  Nor does it stop me from providing my own version of Remember When.  Here's a look through the last year ~ most of these are pictures I've never posted on the blog.  I wholeheartedly invite all of my readers on this memory lane journey, but it's really written to one special person.  You can probably guess who that might be <3

Remember when you let me unlock the door, then carried me over the thresh hold?

Remember when we owned the house for 3 minutes and were already tearing it apart?

Remember when our lifetime spending at Lowe's was still under $1,000?

Remember when we had our first picnic in the back yard?

Remember when we still didn't know the kitchen ceiling was falling down?

Remember when you could see the roof when you stood in the kitchen?

Remember how proud you were the first time you installed a new light?

Remember when our stairs were crazy green?

Remember when they spent even longer being sticky and gross?

Remember when we couldn't go inside without masks?

Remember when we found the hardwood under the carpet?

Remember when we had a contractor over to look at the roof, he offered to sit down and discuss it with us, and this was the only chair we owned ~ inside OR out?

Remember when you slept in the kitchen?

Remember when we slept in the den?

Remember when your desk was still in the kitchen?

Remember when you stayed up all night sanding the floors?

Remember when I got really tired of sanding drywall?

Remember when you built a closet on Christmas Eve?

Remember when I believed that our Christmas decorations could possibly distract the eyes from the crazy mauve walls?

Remember when there was this much construction dust...everywhere...yet you left me love notes anyway?

Remember when the sewing room was still paneled?

Remember when the upstairs bathroom still looked like a junior high locker room?

Remember when we had the crazy blue door to our bedroom?

Remember when you first got the Internet to work?

Remember when we put our dreams up on the wall?

Remember when the carpet came and the upstairs was clean for the first time?

Remember when we ate our first homegrown food?

But most of all, remember when...

...you made my dreams come true?

and being on top of the world on our honeymoon....

...was nothing compared to making my home with you?

I love you, Justin.  Thank you for indulging me in this crazy project we call home.  Thank you for being by my side throughout this whole year.  Thank you for your sweat and blood you've poured into building my dreams.  Thank you for putting up with my incessant planning and scheming about the next project.  Thanks for being you.  And don't ever forget all that we've done in a year!

For anyone else who is reading, seeing as you don't see the house everyday, you might not recognize some of the "befores" or remember some of the "afters" to give all of this context.  I plan to show some more specific "hey, look how far we've come" pictures later this week!