Secret Project Revealed

Last year my favorite carpenter Anna White revealed what was behind her daughter's closet. I was so amazed and knew right away I wanted to replicate it! Life got a little busy and several months later I was a bit stressed out and needed an outlet. I decided to buy some wood and go from there. I sanded, drilled, and painted and felt so relieved and happy. I remembered how happy the closet plans made me so ladies and gents, my secret project revealed:

My inspiration:

ANN WHITE

Images by Anna White

This ended up being a lot simpler than I thought. I was driven by my lack of storage and closet space plus our new baby. Every square each in my home is claimed for....but not the inside of my closet doors! Genius I say! Simply genius!

This is what we call the Harry Potter closet. It's a utility closet underneath the stairs. There is a 2 inch gap of unused space when the door is closed. This is why I think it's genius- you're using a space that would otherwise be wasted. I painted the inside of the closet door a pretty green thanks to Martha Stewart paints. 

Here's where I added a touch of my own. I decided  to paint the whole bookcase with chalkboard paint! I can imagine saying to Clara, "here's a piece of chalk, go write on the bookcase :)" 

I gave Jon a piece of chalk and told him to write whatever he wanted. This is what he came up with! 

Here's an angle view, the bookcase has wheels to help support the weight of the bookcase. 

Jon told me this was to be my last project :( I wish I had a garage so I can always be working on more secret projects. All of the projects on my blog have been done in my living room. I guess after a while it gets annoying and messy!

I was so excited when it was done. I felt like I was blessed to be able to do this. What do you think of my secret project?

Secret Project Coming Up!

I've been working on a secret project for the past week. I'm almost done with it and will be posting pictures this weekend. Stay tuned- I am super excited!!

The Man Of my Dreams

The man of my dreams did something very sweet a few weeks ago.  It was a lovely Sunday afternoon and I was getting sleepy.  Before my last yawn I mention to dream man I craved pizza.  Up I went for a nap. 2 hours later I smelled something burning.  I ran downstairs to yell at dream man for making my house smell so stinkin' bad but then I gasped.  My lovely man had spent 2 hours making a pizza for me!  He made the dough from scratch with 4 different types of toppings.  Oh that man of mine!

Jon's rotations have been time consuming. You would think it would be a walk in the park compared to his classes and in some ways it is.  However, my husband's work ethic is beautiful to watch.  Yes- I complain to him that I miss him terribly and why on earth is he going the extra mile especially since he isn't getting paid!  But at times I catch myself admiring that bead of sweat from his brow because I see the satisfaction in his eyes. You must understand that he does this all for me. For his little growing family. So when I catch myself complaining I shake my head and pull myself together. My Jon is insuring my dreams come true.  Because after all, he's my dream man!

Jon preparing to sing to me at our wedding- a dream I've had since I was a little girl

Quick

I've been busy. Very busy. But I love this here little blog so I will give it a few minutes to update it.

This past weekend Jon and I went to Cocoa Beach. Jon's great uncle Julius was in town staying at a beach side rental property for 2 months. See, he's from Chicago and it gets very cold over there. He turned 91 and so we celebrated. By coincidence my big sis Janeth and her crew were is Cocoa visiting with some of her hubby's childhood friends and so met up...at 10:00pm *gasp* as many of you know that is way past my bedtime. But if Jon's 91 year old uncle can stay up past midnight (which is when the party ended), so could this 26 year old.

Uncle Julius holding my baby nephew Kevin

I just want to say that I am completely and utterly head over heals for Kevin Conte. Who is Kevin Conte some of you may wonder and why is occasionally claudia so in love with him? Because he loves me just as much! He is calm and big eyed and drools all over me when he's having fun.

These two boys hold my heart!

Work is time consuming, I won't lie. I don't talk much about my job because it's too related to Jon and I never want to catch myself accidentally saying something that can be misperceived. Yes- I work for the College of Pharmacy. I never thought I would... you see, I started off as a temp. When the temp agency called me and asked me if I would accept this job for a few weeks I said sure! And then 5 weeks later they hired me! I have been there for 6 months now and plan on being there until I give birth :)

For now, let's get back to Cocoa Beach:

Uncle Julius

Christine and Cousin Judy

Jared, Janeth, Kevy and Me!

Us

My sweet love- the man of my dreams, my best friend, my heart flutterer

Christmas with the Perez/Boress/Conte Family

Christmas was a joy this year! Our nephew Kevin was a delight to hold and play with. I deifnitley believe the Holidays are a lot more fun when babies and kids are involved :) 

We made our usual trek down to Orlando. It's very convenient having our parents living so close together. We know this will not be the case for much longer seeing as a possible move may be in our near future. My younger sister is planning to go on a mission this fall which is another event to look forward to. I tried to find moments reflecting on all of us being together. I loved it!

Click on the collage to see the pic's up close!

We're Expecting a Baby Girl!

Here's the story:
I made an appointment for a 3D/4D ultrasound for December 27th, 2010.  It was our Christmas gift to each other.  We were so excited!  All I wished for was that our baby was cooperative and allowed us to find out the gender. Well, she had other plans in store!

The 3D/4D place was very nice.  It's also a pregnancy spa so the atmosphere was calm and smelled good :)  Our technician was a sweet guy who's birthday is on my due date 6/20.  We payed for 15 minutes of viewing time so we knew we didn't have long.  Now here is where it gets interesting.... when he pulled her up on the screen our baby had crossed legs with the umbilical cord on top of her private part and her hand was on her face!  This was not cool at all!  Jon said she was acting demure.  Well, I think she was acting shy!  Can you imagine!  Crossed legs, umbilical cord in between her legs, and her face covered up!

Lucky for us our guy was very determined to tell us what we are having.  He had me flip around on all sides, jiggle my belly, press down real hard to try and get her to move.  On top of that she had the hiccups so her poor cute little 5 ounce body was jumping up and down!  Awww!!

30 minutes later and he announced it was a girl!  Jon and I were thrilled, even though everybody and their mother (years before I was even pregnant) had predicted a girl.  After our appointment we headed to Babies R Us with Jon's mom.  She purchased Clara's first outfit.  It was such a sweet gesture :)

On a side note: No one knew I was pregnant until recently. At 6 weeks I told my sister Stephanie and my brother-in-law Jared (he and Jon gave me a priesthood blessing at 6 weeks).  At 9 weeks I told my co-worker and boss. At 10 weeks I told my parents and Jon's parents.  I announced it on my blog last week (for my 2 loyal readers :)  And finally I facebook announced it on Monday.  Having had 2 previous M/S I found it comforting to keep it ultra-secret.  So please don't be offended if you just found out.  To be honest I'm still a little worried and pray that the next 5 months can be as smooth as possible.

Just because I can't resist, here's one more pic!

I know you can't see much but check out her bony hands!  Too funny!!

Goodbye 2010!!

(Your occasional bloggy Claudia in front of Georgetown cupcakes in D.C.)

Hello.  I have fallen into the category of world's worst bloggy.  Well, it's still 2010 so how 'bout I squeeze one out for kicks :)

This year is finally (almost) over.  I have a confession to make... I started the first second of the year in tears.  I had waited and counted down for the year 2010.  It was the year my husband would graduate and I would be a mother.  But wait, my husband still had one more year of schooling left (MBA degree) and I was still too tense to try and conceive again. I thought this year would drag like for eternity and I/we would continue hanging out in limbo.
But.......
2011 is right around the corner and I know, I know, President Monson has taught us to live for today and not focus so much on the future.  Here's the thing though, my marriage although wonderful has been revolved around school.  School delayed me from motherhood, school has caused debt, school has...do I sound like I'm complaining? What's your point Claudia? Well here it is folks, hubby graduates in 4 months, April 29th 2011 and May 2nd, 2011. April=MBA and May=Pharmacy.
June brings us a baby and so that is why I can't wait for 2011 to start.  There will be no tears from this gal (ok, there totally will be but these will  be tears of happiness!)