early birthday + sneak peek

so even though my birthday isn't for another 3 months, my absolutely amazing/wonderful/truly great husband gave me an early gift today. AND- i couldn't be more excited!

however i may or may not have switched over to the dark side...

i've always been partial to Nikon, but we got a great deal and all the reviews/articles i've read out there make comparable models seem pretty equal. anyway, i started playing with it tonight, and i am already in love. so, so stoked. tomorrow we are heading to Sacramento. while mr. phipps is in a business meeting i will be making friends with my lovely birthday gift. YAY! 

also, as a side note, we are making tons of progress on the house. our bedroom is nearly finished; the bathroom is coming a long nicely. everything is slowly but surely finding a home and ideas are actually materializing. we have been greatly blessed the last few days with mega deals all over the place. furthermore, we are officially a grown up, married couple as we just purchased a new table that seats eight. it works perfectly in our dinning room & i can't wait to get it all together in there so we can have a fabulous family dinner! or maybe a housewarming party. or BOTH! 

here's new progress on the room: 

hopefully, now that i have a new camera my posts will include more photos. which was part of my original plan, but until now just hasn't always worked out. 

moving, unpacking, organizing

things have been so crazy for the last week. we finally got into our new house, and although it's been stressful, we are finally making progress. it's actually looking like a home. we don't have internet until wednesday, so blogs will be minimal. either way i'm getting stoked on being at our place, and all i want to do is get it all together. i'm loving our space! the house has so much character, and i cant wait for it to all take shape. last night we did some decorating in the bedroom; i'm really liking how it's coming along.
also, there are a lot of little projects we've talked about and are working on. our refrigerator looked totally beat up and had been painted, which was mismatched, so i gave it a face lift. my dad installed our washer/dryer and a mini chandelier in the kitchen. he's been SO amazing through the move. well, he always is, but especially so. i have some big ideas for the living room and i'm hoping to get some sketches going so i don't lose motivation or ideas. i'll be sharing more when i can.
here's a peek at some of the happenings: