Not-so-extreme makeover, Stewart home addition!

Okay, so I have been meaning to post this for a long, long time. Now that (most of) our household goods are over here in Deutschland, our apartment is very different looking than the first pics I posted! Thank goodness. :) Like I said before, there was nothing wrong with the apartment...boys just don't decorate. Or care at all what their surroundings look and feel like for the most part. Enter wife. Things change. Picture frames go up. Things are more organized and colorful and inviting. So, I wanted to post a few before and after pics. (Sidenote: if we had anything that remotely resembled a craft store here, things would be WAY cuter, but I just have to do with what I sent back in November and what I can get Mom to mail me that fits in a flat-rate box.) Looking at Pinterest while living in Europe is so hopeless. So many ideas, so little resources...

ANYWAYS! Remember the before pic of our bedroom?? Okay, I didn't think so. Here is a refresher:

Now, I realize I should have taken a bunch more pictures from different angles, because our room is much cooler than it looks! We have a big window that opens to the main hallway of the apartment that you can't see at all here.

But now that stuff is actually in our room!:

This is probably the least re-decorated of all the rooms, but still an improvement... :)
(Katie, Mary - my Crocs in the pic are for you.)

I just hung the 3 wreaths up yesterday. They're from our wedding ceremony - our pew decorations. We didn't ship anything big enough to go above the bed (the ceilings in here are SO tall!), so we had to get creative. But it's nice to have stuff around that reminds of us the wedding. We have a few other things out in other rooms that I will get to later. It's hard to tell, but the shelves are also girlified now, too!

To the left, my dresser that made the trip all in one piece, thank goodness!

And to the right, facing the doorway...Jason's childhood dresser complete with, what I believe is, a smiley face Kroger sticker. Classy! A TV we have never plugged in once is back there on the window sill. I love those window sills! I put tons of picture frames on them going down the hall.

On to the living room. Here's the before...

And here is what it looks like when you have couches that were not provided by the Army, Jason's boxes are in the attic, and decorations are hung:

That big window is actually the door to our patio. And now that it's not sub-zero temps, we can actually start using it again!

New TV! New TV stand! (The monogram was from our guest book table at the wedding. :))

I will have to do a part 2 of this post today or tomorrow that shows our dining room and kitchen. They are too messy to take pics of right now!

Feels like home more and more around here...and that's a very good thing.

Home again...

I almost had to get my password emailed to me for this it'd been so long since I logged in!

I debated whether or not I'd blog about what I did back in the States, but look, I didn't even take one picture while I was there, so how was I gonna blog about it?? I've heard of people who purposely leave their cameras at home when they travel, so they can truly appreciate everything they are seeing and doing, rather than worrying about capturing it with a lens. Maybe that's my excuse. Or maybe...just maybe...I was extremely lazy.

I DID, regardless of the fact I have no photographic proof, have the most amazing trip back home though! Without going into too much detail, I got to do all the things I wanted to pretty much. I got to:  spend time, most importantly, with the 2 people that gave me life; see my sister quite a bit; spend time with Barry & Joyce; hang out with my BFF since 6th grade (I know she's really my friend because she befriended me when I was the new girl, saw me through a bowl cut hairdo in 7th grade, and took band with me in high school), Mary; go on Lakeshore/TCBY/dinner dates with my SoulCate; spend too much $$ at restaurants and see Hunger Games at midnight with Ashley; have dinner dates with Al Pal & SB; visit all my JTV family one more time; see all my favorite people in Savannah for St. Patrick's Day; and spend a couple days in the most perfect city of all time - Charleston, SC.

I wouldn't have changed one thing about my trip. Except maybe stayed longer if I could! (I ran out of time to eat at Tomato Head...big sad face.) It was such a blessing that I was able to get this 3-week visit in while Jason was in the field. We head back to the States in just 9 days, but this will mostly be his time to see friends and say bye to everyone before another deployment this summer. I'm, of course, so excited to be back again, but this time it's only for 8 days. And I can't help but keep thinking about that goodbye at the airport. I mean, come on, I bawled like a baby when I left this time! There is just no hope of me ever holding it together again in an airport. But really, it's just going to be perfect to be home with Jason this time. He's always so good at making the most of his time there. I'm just along for the ride...

"Welcome home, Kate!"

Well this wasn't a bad thing to come home to last night! It was a LOOONG day of travel, but it is so good to be back in Knoxville!

I thought just Mom was going to be at the airport, but as soon as I walked through security, these girls popped out with Coke Zero (on ice!!!), an American flag, Twix, and Samoas to greet me! They know me all too well. :)

I had the best night's sleep of my life last night...now please just say a prayer that they find my missing luggage today and get it delivered! It's going to be awkward walking around with no pants on for the next 3 weeks if they don't...