Garden Stepping Stone

Last Wednesday I did something I never do...I went to a Relief Society activity.  Whoa, I know!  Crazy, huh?  I dragged Becca with me and we had a good time!  The first part of it was gooood food and then Devanie gave us a cool demo on using vegetables and making healthy dinners.  She gave us samples too... yummy!

The next part of it was the craft, making a garden stepping stone.  I am SOOO uncreative, so I was super intimidated at first, but with Becca's help and the encouragement from all the other ladies there, this is what I came up with:

For the time being, I put it right next to our front door, but I want to find a cute spot for it somewhere else.  This is what it looks like for now:

Not too bad, if I do say so myself!



My Newest Creation

Since we've decided we'll definitely be in this house for a while, I've been wanting to really make it our own.  I got all of our pictures out of the garage and starting to imagine where I want to hang them.  Then I went on pinterest (my new favorite obsession) and found a cute tutorial for a key rack.  It had a picture frame with a big block letter in it and a few hooks to hang the keys.  I thought, "Man that would be easy to make!"  So I did.

I didn't want to do exactly what was in the picture, so I made it our own.  I had this frame that said "Our Home" and had two slots for pictures, so I decided to use that one.  What a better way to hang our HOUSE keys but from on a frame that said "Our Home"?  So perfect.  Here's the finished product:

We hung it right next to the door to the garage.  I LOVE IT!!!

Another ginormas catch up...

Well, seeing as it's been over a year since I last posted...I think it's high time I get back on here and update my faithful readers (all zero of you at this point, huh?) on what has been happening in the Erdman household.

Last we left, Clint and I had just moved into a cute little apartment in San Luis.  This was the closest we have come to Clint's dream of living in downtown SLO.  This place turned out to be...not so great.  It was close to the airport on Broad, so very busy.  Also, right behind us was the creek, so we had the HUGEST problem with fleas attacking Chase every single day.  We have spent so much money, time, flea shampoo, etc. to get rid of those damn things.  Everytime we thought they were gone, it was like they had just decided to take a nap to get more energy to come back with a venegence.  It was fun.  Not.  It was also super small - we had no privacy from each other, and that is crucial.  As much as I love my husband, he certainly can annoy the crap outta me and I sure did not have a place to go to be alone. 

We were at this place for just under a year.  I think I was ready to leave after about 6 months, but it wasn't the right time.  In March of this year I was told that I was being transfered to the Paso Robles Bed Bath and Beyond to be a "keyholding department manager" which is a step up from just a regular department manager, but not quite a senior manager.  I am in charge of the hardside departments (kitchen stuff, cleaning stuff, home decor, organization, etc) and pretty much do everything a senior does.  I can open and close the building and make decisions like other seniors do.  Hopefully soon I will become a senior though.  So, when I got the promotion and transfer, Clint and I really sat down and started trying to figure out what we were going to do.  Should we stay in SLO or move up over the grade?  For those who don't know, Paso Robles is about 35 miles north of San Luis.  I happened to live on the very south end of SLO and would now be working on the very north end of Paso.  Super.  I know, I know...35 miles is not that far of a drive, but for me...man I hated that drive.  We decided that we wanted to move a little bit closer to Paso.  When we first were married, we live in Atascadero and didn't really like it all that much.  We decided to try Atascadero again, and hope for the best.  We found a place right off the bat and really liked it.  It was a two bedroom one bath apartment in the middle of Atascadero.  It had its own garage and a swimming pool on the premises.  Sweet deal, right?  We said that we would move in to the place in two weeks, had the lease with our names on it and were about to sign when we got a call from the landlord.  He said that he had another couple interested and able to move in there in 3 days...could we possibly come up with almost 2 grand in about 3 days?  Ummm...thanks a lot a-hole.  So that was a scrap.  We spent the next two weeks SCRAMBLING (see, when we thought we were moving into the apartment, we told our current landlord we'd be out in two weeks; the next day we got the lovely call from that jerk) to find a place to live.  We found a cute little house...yes a house!  It had JUST gone up on craigslist, so Clint called and set up an appointment for the next day.  We went and FELL IN LOVE with this place.  It's a two bed, two bath house with a small patch of a front yard and a cute backyard.  Uhhh yes please!  We immediately put in our app and hoped for the best.  We moved all our crap into storage and moved into Clint's sister's house for the time being.  We thought we would be there for about 3 weeks, but we found out on the 2nd day of being there that we were approved for the house and the current tenants would be moving out that weekend.  We were at Clint's sister's place for just over a week and then we were able to move into our CUTE HOUSE!  I would post pictures, but there are on my phone and I still can't figure out how to upload to my computer...I'm so lame I know.

So here we are now, sitting comfortably in our cute house, two full bedrooms and baths.  I have privacy! Yahoo!  We have been in the house since the end of June and are loving it.  I love have central air conditioning (this summer heat is harsh), a door on my bedroom to shut (some of you will know what I mean!), and a full size oven. :)

Clint has been plugging away at his schooling and (thank GOODNESS) he's almost done.  He's been going to school for about 2 years now and is certainly ready to be done (as am I).  Hopefully, he'll be able to get a job right away; that way maybe we can start thinking about having a baby...*fingers crossed*

Chase is still being our cutie little pup!  He's 4 and a half now, so I can hardly still call him a pup but he sure does look like it still!  Clint and I always talk about how LUCKY we are to have gotten such a great dog.  He's like a little kid so I find it great "mommy practice" but that doesn't mean that I'm set - I still want to be an actual mom someday!

Well, I think that's about it...as far as the big stuff anyway.  We are still happy and healthy and more in love with each other than ever.   Hope you all have a great day! :)

A Ginormous Catch Up

Okay I suck...I know. A lot has happened since...October?!?! Geez, I do suck! Let's do a rundown and figure out why I've been a slacker...

In September, we moved to Clint's parents property and spent 6 months there. As much as I enjoy being around family, it was a VERY trying time for Clint and I. We were in such a teensy place and we spent much of our time arguing about how much of a mess we would make for being in such a small area. There were times when I just felt like giving up, to be honest. It was so hard to deal with. That and we were just getting nowhere in saving or anything. With the gas and food prices just SKYROCKETING (or at least I felt like they were), we just couldn't take it anymore. Finally, in March, I broke down and asked my mom if we could move into her house for just a couple months to really get on top of things. Clint and I were both working in SLO and driving 2 cars up and over the grade EVERY day was ridiculous. So we moved into Mom's guest bedroom and stopped filling up our gas tanks every couple days - it now is every couple WEEKS. SO MUCH DIFFERENCE!! We lived there for about 3.5 months until we finally found our cutie little place...but more about that in a bit!

We celebrated Christmas pretty quietly this year. I love Christmas time! It's such a great time to reflect on all that the Lord has given to us and all that we can give back. It makes me want to serve others! My mom, sister Becca, and I decided we wanted to do the 12 Days of Christmas to one of our favorite family's, the Kiahas because they have the CUTEST little girls and most adorable baby boy. They are a super great family! We had so much fun doorbell ditching some fun treats for them for that almost 2 weeks. There was one night near the end where as I was walking it up to the door, I saw one of the girls coming down the stairs in the window on their door and I just hit the pavement! I had to jump up (or halfway up, really!) and race back to the car and we had to circle the block a couple times to make sure the kids didn't know we were there. They are sneaky kids though!

We spent Christmas day with my family and had a blast. It was just a quiet, fun day. My big gift was a Nook, which I LOVE SO MUCH!!!! And Clint got a bunch of fun, little things - the new game he wanted for his Xbox (which he had just gotten a new Xbox - a sleek black one - on Black Friday, so that was his other big gift) and, of course, Chase was spoiled like he always is. Tons of treats and and fun new stuffed animals to tear apart. But if you know Chase at all, all he REALLY wants is a new tennis ball to throw around. He's a sucker for a pretty, new tennis ball. What a cheap date :)

We started the new year out quietly and got back into work full force. Then in March, I got some great news: I was promoted to a department manager! That came with longer work days, but a substantial raise! I now work 10 hours (minimum) per day. Not too much different from what I WAS doing! I also started doing a (fairly) intensive training program to get me "up to speed" on what a manager at Bed Bath and Beyond does. Unfortunately for me, since I've been with the company for 7 years, they decided I could do it all on my own instead of going to Pasadena to BE trained. In some ways it was good, because I could go at my own pace and I got a lot accomplished in a short amount of time. But I didn't get to go to a different store and get away from the people in my own store, so that was kind of lame. In the training program, we have to pick a room (normally, new managers are given an actual department on the floor, so its easy for them - they just pick a room on their side of the store. However, for me as the Customer Service Manager, I don't have a side, so I had to pick just a random room that I would only get to work in about 2 days a week). That room would be the room that is MINE, mine to plan, mine to order, mine to make moves, etc. At the end of the training, the DM and any other district staff come to test the new manager in what they call a "Big Walk." They test to make sure the manager has an understanding of the ins and outs of the company and how to do "manager things." Its a big undertaking, and unfortunately for me, since I had no idea what room to pick, 2 of my senior managers "helped" me to pick one of the hardest rooms in the store. I picked Tabletop - dinnerware, flatware, glassware and serveware. Our store is set up different than pretty much any other store, so any of the maps that Corporate sends out won't match our layout. UGH it was so frustrating sometimes to try to map that dang room! But my big walk was June 7th, and I'm still here today so clearly I didn't die. Or fail. :)

On July 1st, we officially became renters again! We found a super cute little apartment/cottage house or whatever you want to call it. Its actually an old barn workspace that has been converted into a little house. We live in the downstairs area and our friend (who's aunt and uncle own the property) lives in the upstairs studio apartment. His place has its own entrance and everything, so we hardly ever see him, if at all. We got the keys on the first and slowly started moving things in. We got our new (to us) couch and loveseat on the 3rd and spent our first night in the house on the 4th. Our place is great - its technically one bedroom with a weird room to make it a two bedroom...I dunno, you'd have to see it to understand it. I don't have my camera working at the moment (can't find my dang charger!) or else I'd take tons of pictures of the place. The one bedroom is teeny, right now its kind of like a giant closet (we keep the door shut mostly). And the second bedroom that's not really a bedroom is OUR bedroom. It's not really a bedroom because it doesn't have a door. Weird, huh? We haven't yet, but I want to hang a curtain so that its closed off from the rest of the house to give us privacy. And also to hide it when it's dirty :) But I finally have my own kitchen, even if it is small. And my own laundry area, even if it is small. I love my house, even if it is small!!! :)

For the 4th, we decided to take Chase with us to the beach - bad move. He's such a scaredy cat and a nervous nelly! He was so anxious sitting with us while we were waiting for the fireworks to start, just watching all the people! Then when the fireworks actually started, oh geez! He was so scared! So we took him back to the car (which was only about 2 blocks away) and watched the fireworks from there. Well, Clint and I watched and enjoyed them - Chase sat huddled in the back slightly shaking and definitely cursing his mean, mean parents. Enjoy these little pictures:

Clint and I :)
Clint and the scaredy cat, I mean Chase

The next day was my birthday. Blah. I don't even really want to talk about it...I turned old. Just kidding! I turned 25 and thank goodness there wasn't a whole lot of hoopla! The only thing was that the kids sang to me in Primary the Sunday before and made me wear a crown with my name on it. And Becca sat in the back snapping pictures of me...thanks, sister :) She did get this super cute one on the way home:

And next up is Clint's big birthday...his big day is one week from today and he will be 30! Any ideas on fun things you did for a big milestone birthday? I need ideas! I'm going to get some yummy cupcakes from Brooke's cupcake shoppe (check out her website here, she's AMAZING!)

So we have been busy, too busy to blog? You be the judge (I'm gonna say NO, just that I'm kinda lazy...)

See you next time!

New obsession

I found a new website I'm obsessed with...maybe a tad too much, but who's to say? :)

I discovered it while at the Bridal Show at the Madonna Inn a couple weeks ago (so much fun by the way...delicious cakes/food, fun vendors with freebies - I even got a toothbrush and toothpaste!! SCORE!!!). She's a local jewelry designer and she makes the CUTEST jewelry. I've already started dropping hints to Clint for Christmas, so we'll see. I think I'll make a wishlist and then send it to him...

Anyway, here's the site. Poke around and tell me what you think! Great gift ideas for family/friends (ahem...me...ahem) and great jewelry for yourself too!

Pretty Jealous

I'm pretty jealous of this girl and her craftiness...I'm pretty jealous of anyone who is crafty because I'm the farthest from crafty there is. Just check her out HERE...you'll get jealous too!

My life is now complete!

I just got back (well, a few days ago) from the most amazing trip of my life! As previously mentioned, my best friend's boyfriend got us tickets for MICHAEL BUBLE! I have never seen a more amazing concert in my entire life.We left Atascadero around 8:30 am on Tuesday and started our trek to Sacramento. Well, after a few stops, we arrived between about 1:15 and 1:30 and we went to check into our hotel room. It was an Extended Stay type of hotel, so it actually had a mini kitchen and ginormous bathroom in it. SO AWESOME! The sucky part, though, was we were about an hour and a half early to check in and our room wasn't ready, so we had to go play around for a bit before we could actually check in. So we went to Taco Bell and then over to the Starbucks next door to it to get on the internet and figure out exactly where the arena was (we were literally 5 minutes away...and our hotel was cheap...and awesome...and we're awesome). Then we decided to drive to find it, so we wouldn't be the crazy tourists that night like everyone else seemed to be. After we drove around it (I tried to convince Michelle to go into the parking lot in hopes that maybe we could sneak inside and possibly hear him rehearsing...but no), we realized that the street next to the back entrance was actually a street that ran parallel to our hotel's street (I think the hotel was pretty much backed up to the arena). WE FOUND A BACK ENTRANCE! The mapquest directions were taking us off the freeway so we figured everyone would take that way, and since we're smart, we took the back way! So we go back to the hotel, check in and just chill for a little bit. Then we got ready and went to BJ's for dinner. The wait wasn't horrible, it just sucked because since it was so close to the arena, everyone and their mother (literally) came there, so it was packed. And as we were waiting, I (stupidly) stood by the door, so that every time it opened, I was greeted with a gust of HOT air. Yes, it was late afternoon and still in the 90's. Michelle and I (mostly me though, since I am SO not used to hot weather) were DYING.After dinner, we ran to the car and drove as fast as we could to the arena. We finally got to the arena and parked and ran to the door. Upon entering, we noticed a giant poster of Michael Buble, set up by Nordstrom, where you could take your picture with it. So we did.The concert was at the Arco Arena, where the Sacramento Kings play. Our seats were in the upper balcony, and this is the view from our seats. The opening act was a band called Naturally 7, who are AMAZING! They are completely a capella, but the coolest thing is that they make the sounds of the instruments with their voices! It is completely brilliant! One of them can sound exactly like a drum, one was a bass, one sounded like a DJ mixing beats. Ahhh, it was awesome!

After they finished it was intermission and we went out to buy some merchandise (I got a shirt and key chain, and we also bought the CD/DVD for Naturally 7). As we were running back to our seats, we saw another poster of Michael, so I did this: Then we ran back to our seats, with only about five minutes to spare until the most amazing man in the world (besides my husband, of course) came out and graced me with his presence! :) He is an amazing performer, very personable and friendly! He was interactive and funny and just all around so good! I can't even put into words how great of a concert it was.
My life is officially complete.