Living Room Update!

Alberto continues to cut and lay tile in record time!

He set up the wet saw outside in the front yard, and once again, Dudley had to be the apprentice.

We are getting close to putting the sealer in...Here is where we are at this moment:

We have nothing to eat

Ok, completely emptying the kitchen in an attempt to prep for the remodel was a *good* idea....packing up everything I need to actually cook and/or prepare meals in the interim was a not-so-good idea. After I ponied up and cleaned out the whole place in less than a day, Alberto told me they'd start demo'ing the cabinets on Saturday. As in, 2 days from now.

I am going to have to get creative here...

Emptying the kitchen

I spent my first day of unemployment completely emptying the kitchen. The cupboards are bare, the utensils have been boxed and all that we have left is disposable plates and cups to get us through the next couple of days.

I'm doing this because we are on the verge of remodeling our kitchen now! What a long twisty road that has been, with designing the kitchen "of my dreams" with the guy from Home Depot to packing our garage with all the cabinetry, to picking out what countertop to order, to ordering appliances, to the minutiae to the nth degree about everything and everything else. And we still have to buy the vent hood, the sink, the faucet and fixtures, the lighting....I'm exhausted, and we haven't even demo'ed the first cabinet yet!

I am looking forward to my new kitchen though. With any luck, it will be completely done by the end of July and I'll be able to post some beautiful photos. Crossing my fingers........

Living Room floor

Alberto started working on the living room floor this week. We have ripped up that hideous carpet that was there and are laying down another original Alberto Serrano masterpiece :)


Here's a reminder of what the living room looked like originally:






Here are some photos of the progress so far:


The bare floor, after laying down the membrane

You can see all the tile bundled in the lower right of this photo. That's Alberto mixing the stuff that seals the tile to the floor -




Dudley doesn't quite know what to do about it all, so mainly he just hangs out close to Alberto and makes sure to get in the way!




Here's the design, beginning to take shape:


Alberto started this on Monday, and promises to have it all completed by Friday! And yes, he is still working his full time job in the midst of all of this...

I'm unemployed

Today was my last day at Collins. I liked working with everyone there, and I am going to miss the camaraderie.

I will NOT miss the stupid bullshit that came out of my boss's office. It is not the best environment to have to prove oneself in - things change depending on the mood or which way the wind is blowing.

That's not why I left though. I left because he made a commitment me from the day that I interviewed that I could ease into working from home on a partial basis. Then the rug got pulled out from under me. I'll sacrifice a lot to make a job work out, but giving up on the biggest goal I've had for the last two years is not one of them.

Adios Collins. Thanks for all the memories!

Flip Cup Champions

Tan Tu called us a few weeks back and asked if we wanted to play Flip Cup with him. Not knowing what it was, but confident it had something to do with beer, we said yes without hesitation.

It turned out to be a great time! The charity tournament was held last Saturday at Mission Beach, and there were 8 (9?) teams. We DOMINATED! Fun was definitely had by all. Check out the pics:

The Tan-Tastic 4

Your favorite Serranos

X and Tan

Alberto and X

Our Victory!

Firepit

Alberto decided that the firepit in the backyard needed to match the fireplace in the living room, now that it has been redone with the beautiful stone mosaic that he did. Here's how it's coming along:







Here's what the fireplace looks like. You can see how they will match:

Recessed Lighting

Alberto tried his hand at wiring and lighting and put recessed lighting in all of the rooms in the house. It looks great, and better yet, he didn't get zapped once! Here are some photos:



Getting to the wiring behind the wall


Two of the four lights installed in the home office


Alberto going up into the attic - it's damn hot up there!


Guest room, post lighting installment

Some photos from our Houston vacation

We went to Houston and Lafayette for vacation and to celebrate our 2nd wedding anniversary at the end of May.

Our first stop was Lafayette so Alberto can see where my family came from. We also spent a lot of time in Butte La Rose, helping Mark and Stephanie put up a screen room at their camp.

Then on Memorial Day we barbecued at the camp, and had a great time drinking orange drops, paddle boating in the rain, playing games next door and eating some damn good down home cooking! Grandmother even enjoyed the festivities with us.




We burned up all the wood generated from our labors the day before and had a huge bonfire, a longstanding tradition at the camp.



We had a great time and Alberto really enjoyed seeing Lafayette and Stephanie's camp in Butte La Rose.

Back in Houston we were super busy.

We did all sorts of stuff, including:

Space Center Houston/NASA, toured downtown, went into the tunnels, went to the Houston zoo (much improved since last I was there!),
checked out Rice Village,

went to an Astros game with Tracy and Lorella (we were good luck - they won!) ,










had a fabulous stay at the Hilton Americas and ate dinner in the clouds at the Skyline Grill,

went to Europa with Desirae and danced our tushes off,

and got to hang out with some friends and brothers from school at University of Houston.











We jam packed our week with tons of stuff and had a great time!

Oh yeah, and while I was there I became a small business owner! Check out http://www.backstagepresence.com/!







Houston, we miss you already!

Gonna try this as way to give updates on happenings

Check back for updates on your favorite Serrano clan

My goal is to use this to make updates on all the cool stuff we are doing. And if there is nothing cool to report, that won't stop me from posting things that no one will find interesting.

Cheers!

Natasha