shutters and my dad.

i am going to try to finish and publish my post about our week sometime tonight.  but i wanted to blog this quick exciting little post while both girls are napping (even though i have a million other things that i really need to be doing - like clean my closet, write a hundred thank you notes, clean out my dining room, etc. now i have anxiety!)

anyway, if you recall THIS post then you remember my wanting to replace our grey shutters with black ones.  well, for my birthday trey granted me my one birthday wish and gave me black shutters!  i love them and i think it made the biggest difference in our curb appeal.  we may stay in this house forever, who knows, but if we don't then i feel like we just made our house a thousand times more appealing to a potential buyer.  and most importantly, it's a thousand times more appealing to yours truly! =)

the before pic (from this spring, hence the azaleas):

and now....

some side views (i got a little camera happy)

thanks, trey!!  he hung most of them yesterday and completed the job this morning.

he also hung some of hayes's wall art today.  her room is still not 100% ready but it almost is...

i ordered those prints from THIS etsy shop.  she is out of savannah and has the coolest prints.  love her stuff!

and as for my dad.  i mentioned his alaska hiking trip in THIS post.  i didn't want to say when he was leaving because although i haven't ever really made my blog public knowledge, it is in fact "public" so you just never know if some psycho is reading. i didn't want anyone to know that my mom was "home alone" for over a week.  anyway, he left on aug 8th and made it back home safely this past thursday on aug 16th.  thank you to anyone who read my post and said a little prayer for his safe travels.  he had a marvelous time - said it was the most difficult thing he has ever done.  he hiked 40 miles in 5 days and climbed about 5,000 feet.  all in some pretty harsh conditions.  it didn't rain and the weather was nice, but he was still hiking over snowy ice. he said the golden staircase was magnificent.  he came face to face with one bear and saw 4 altogether.  i think he really enjoyed the different people he met along the trail, but i think he is really glad to be back home with "his people."  it was a trip of a lifetime.  he's glad he did it.  now that's done and we can all just breathe and get on with our lives. 

my mom said, "where are you going next summer?"  and he replied, "wherever you want to go."  good answer, dad, good answer.