the HOUSE of Hansen...

So, I thought that I would update all of you on the fun house projects that I have been doing lately. Lets start with the office and the spare bedroom. The office is still a bit of a work in progress. I have learned since purchasing and decorating this house that I'm not so great at picking out paint colors. Our office was SUPPOSED to be a tan/kahki color and black. However, what we ened up with was pretty yellow/gold. I would really like to re-paint it, but I don't know if I have the energy right now, what do you think? Paint it or leave it? Currently our massage table is under the window, but we are hoping to put a pull-out couch there someday for more sleeping space for guests (that means you all should come visit us soon!!).

As for the spare bedroom, this was where I really got to get creative. I love the navy blue and bright yellow color combination. So, we already had the old dresser that was painted white, I made the wall hangings out of a painter's canvas and covered it in a fabric that I liked (you will see that again later), and the curtains were finished off with a yellow ribbon. The painting on the wall my Grandma painted of Greece, I have 4 of her paintings in our house and they are all beautiful! I also still have thoughts about getting a new comforter, but we are hoping to someday convert this room for a little Hansen, so in the effort to save some money, I'll wait on putting too much more into this room.

The half-bath downstairs I painted right after we moved in and I LOVE it! I'm pretty sure that some were weary of my paint choice, but I think it turned out great. I did the same type of wall hangings here that are in the spare bedroom, but I used a toile pattern in black and white. This happens to pretty much be my favorite pattern EVER!

And finally, the spare bathroom. This bathroom is in-between the office and spare bedroom. I just finished this a few weeks ago and it is hands down my favorite paint color that I have chosen thus far. It's called Cathedral Gray. After all of the asseccories were in place, the entire bathroom reminded me of a spa. Our master shower was out of commission for about a week and I did not mind at all having to get ready in this bathroom. Target has a whole new brand of Shabby Chic accessories right now and I'm pretty sure that I could spend my entire paycheck on that stuff!!

I have been working on some fun easter decorations, but you have to wait until they are all finished, so hopefully I will have another Arts & Crafts post up soon!!

I Promise To Be Better...

I know, I know, it has been WAY too long since my last post. But, in my defense, our computer has been on the fritz. So, here I am, ready to be a very good blogger, but before we move ahead, we need to catch up!! Since Suzi's weedding, we had our very first Thanksgiving in our new house. I cooked the Turkey all by myself (ok, my Mom and Suzi totally helped) and Jeremy carved his first Turkey.

December seemed to fly by with all of the Holiday parties, shopping, decorating, more shopping and especially since we left the week before Christmas to go hang out with the Hansens in Montana. We got to meet our newest nephew Eric. We went sledding and visited Red Lodge. Then we drove out to Sidney to see the rest of the Potts/Hansen crew. We spent Christmas in Billings at Rick and Pam's, Jeremy even got to read The Night Before Christmas to Eric. Overall, it was an amazing trip - I definitley hit the jackpot when it comes to my in-laws. We then proceeded to have 3 more Christmas' with our California families once we got back to the west coast.

And because my mother-in-law has the CUTEST Christmas decorations, and I didn't take any pictures of ours, here is a little Christmas treat...

January was pretty un-eventful, but we have made up for that in February! We started out the month by heading out to Denver to celebrate Jill and Ryan Gum's 30 birthdays, but really just so that I could hold Sophia all weekend. Again, I didn't get too many pics, I think mostly because I was too busy hanging out with Sophia...

We didn't do much for Valentine's Day, but I did make a special heart-shaped pizza - Pam's recipe and Jeremy's favorite. Two weeks ago, we did our annual trip to Big Bear and as always, we had an amazing time! But, I have no pictures from our trip!! I think that might actually bring us all up-to-date! I have big plans to do some more house stuff and definitley more Arts and Crafts, so I will be sure to update as soon as possible!

Suzi & Mike's Wedding

Well, as with most of my posts, this one comes a little bit after the fact, but such is life, right? Suzi and Mike were married on November 6th, 2010 here in San Diego. It was a beautiful wedding with a whole week's worth of fun events. The Wednesday prior to the wedding, my parents had a small BBQ at their house for the family that arrived that day. Thursday, Suzi and Mike had a get together at - where else? Pizza Port and then the Pub. If you've ever been to Pizza Port, you know how awesome their pizza and beer is, and you know how terrible it is to try to find a seat. Suzi tried to make sure that there was a section saved for their party by talking with the staff ahead of time and putting up cute little signs. All of Carlsbad obliged, except for one surly gentleman that thought he was exempt from moving because we wasn't at a table - Suz let him know what was up...

From Pizza Port, we went to the infamous Pub, which of course, is where Suzi and Mike met. We got a pic of them sitting on the exact seats where they first laid eyes on each other.

Friday started off with the girls getting their nails done and then heading to a bridesmaid luncheon, the boys were busy all day playing golf.


The rehearsal was later that evening and I'm pretty sure Suzi cried more at the rehearsal than she did at the wedding! From there we went to the Rehearsal Dinner at Gregorios in Carlsbad and it was quite delicious.

The morning of their wedding day, Suz and I woke up at the hotel and began getting ready as the rest of the bridesmaids and moms began shuffling in. We all rode down to the church in an awesome limo bus, and if you were wondering, my feet were already hurting. The ceremony was perfect and Suzi held it together pretty well; however, I'm pretty sure that we began giggling during one of the prayers...and that I almost fell over just standing still, but hopefully no one noticed! Once we hopped in the limo after the ceremony we headed to the beach to take some more pics and it was perfect out, and how can you not have a great time in a party bus with champagne with an awesome group of people - and with Jeremy there to entertain! I danced my little tail off at the reception, I was mostly just glad that my speech went well and that I kept it together enough to get through the whole thing - even after my own husband cut me in line for speeches and preformed the mom dance, the moonwalk and the worm. Yea, I had to follow that. Once the reception was over we all headed over to the after party at 20/20 lounge in the Sheraton, I had a great time hanging out with our friends and family, until I noticed Suzi finally letting go and crying - I knew it was coming sooner or later. When I told her maybe it was time for her to go to bed, her response was "I don't want this day to end, so until every single person has left this bar, I am staying right here!", which pretty much sums it up. I could have slept for 2 days straight after that. So, CONGRATS Suzi and Mike - your wedding couldn't have been more perfect for two of my most favorite people in the world!

Halloween...a little late!

Oh, how I have missed you little blog!! Haha, I was creating this post and trying my hardest to get all of my halloween pics into cute little frames when my computer crashed. So, I managed to just get the one looking all cute, but here are the rest of our halloween decorations. We kept things pretty low-key this year since Suzi's wedding was less than a week after Halloween, but I still had a great time answering the door for all of the cute kiddos in our neighborhood. I promise to make a McDonnell Wedding post ASAP...








Our table all dressed up for Halloween, Jeremy asked me why we have to leave the table set all day long, and I said because it looks better that way - leave it!





And lastly, these adorable little pumpkins I made. While Jeremy and Mike were out of town, my mom had Suzi and I over for an arts and crafts day and this is what we created. They are fake pumpkins with puffy paint, sequins and whatever fun stuff my mom had. The white one was stamped with regular craft paint.

Arts and Crafts - A Few of My Favorite Things..

Yes, creating cute things is one of my very favorite things to do, so I figured that I would take some of those things that I have created over the last year or so and share them with you.

Firstly, I love to decorate cakes and since I have posted a lot of those pics on facebook, I thought that I would just add in some of my favorite cupcakes I made a while back.



This is a wall hanging that I made for our spare bedroom - I just bought 4 painters canvases and covered them in a cute fabric I found. I will post pics of the entire bedroom soon..


I made these girly headbands for all of the little ladies in my life - Madi & Shelby Hill, Sophia Gum and Sloane Claude.

So, speaking of babies, let's talk about little Sophia Gum. Her mommy is my best friend in Colorado and before Jill knew if she was having a boy or a girl, we named the baby "gumdrop". Therefore, when it came time to have the shower, it only seemed appropriate to have a gumdrop-themed shower. Anyway, I made the invitation and a few gumdrop topiaries. I also included some onesies that I made for her including a gumdrop and a birdie - since of course her Aunt Bird made it for her...

Lastly, I also have been into making specialized wine/beer/martini glasses. I forgot to put these pics up from Suzi's shower. These are the favors that I made with everyone's name on the back. I also included the martini glasses that I made for another good friend's bridal shower (she collects martini glasses). I made a USC beer mug for my Uncle Chris for Christmas last year, but apparently I forgot to take a picture of it. Probably because I was doing everything last minute, as usual... That's a lot of arts and crafts - no wonder I feel like I have no time haha!!

Suzi's Bridal Shower

Well, it's finally over with! Haha, I have been working on this shower for probably 3 months now, trying to make sure that my sweet little sister had the best shower ever, and I think it was pretty all right. Actually, it turned out great! We got to see both of our grandmothers, Aunts, friends and we got to meet some of Suzi's co-workers. My backyard was turned into a pink and gray wonderland. Due to the nature of a "Wine tasting bridal shower", we ended up having a pretty long night and with the exception of how I felt this morning, I thought it was perfect. The wine was great, the stinky cheese was good, the stupid chocolate fountain spewed chocolate everywhere, but still tasted great, and that beautiful bride-to-be looked amazing! I am SO excited for Suzi and Mike's wedding, this is just the beginning of the fun!
This one is my favorite, my grandmothers look beautiful - no wonder I have such great genes!!


Me and all of my hard work - totally worth it, I love arts and crafts!!


Suzi with her other two bridesmaids Carolyn and Katrina.



At my bridal shower, my mom gave me a plate similar to this one with a cartoon of Zeus and me, so to follow suit, she got one for Suzi - this fits her perfectly!!


And last, but not least - the happy couple! Don't worry, he showed up after the shower was over, and yes, Suzi still looks great!

Hansen's Summer of Fun

Ok, well it has been a VERY long time since my last blog and we have been doing a ton of fun stuff (hence, the no blogging business...) Anyway, since I really don't feel like doing a post for each of these events, I will lump them all into one big post - the Hansen's Summer of Fun!!! So, since moving into our lovely new house we began our summer with a grand tour of LA with Mike, Suzi, Gram and Gramp where Jeremy and Mike got to really enjoy all Los Angeles has to offer (even the Watts Towers!).




Next on our summer agenda, I went to Colorado to visit our friends Jill and Ryan after they welcomed little Sophia ELIZABETH Gum into this world. Not only is she one of the cutest little girls I have ever met, but Jill and Ryan are pretty amazing parents as well. Apparently I was too busy holding that baby to take more than just 1 picture!


The weekend after I got back from Denver, Jeremy and I left for Seattle where we met up with his parents and sisters, crammed 8 adults and 4 children into one RV and drove 13 hours to Whitefish, MT for his family reunion and Pam's 50th birthday. While we were there, I also celebrated my 28th birthday, we met our new nephew Jaycob and Jeremy's sister Melanie got engaged to her now-fiance Dave. It was an amazing trip in a beautiful place. Hopefully I will post all of our pics to facebook soon...

And lastly, after we returned from our Montana trip, it was time to celebrate my, Jeremy and Suzi's birthdays. On Jeremy's birthday, he and I went to see Dave Matthews in concert - which was awesome! Then, the next day, we hosted a "Golf Pros and Tennis Hoes" party at our house and as always, had an excellent time!