5 STATES IN 7 HOURS

Hello friends - I know, my lack of blog posting has gotten out of hand - over a month since my last post and so I will attempt to update you on all things Hewiett that have been happening...

Josh is getting busy with Midterms which will happen over the next 2 weeks - he definitely has Senioritis all over again - and I think I do too?!?. He is excited and ready to start his internship which will begin in May. He will begin his residency (internship) at Huntsville Hospital. Huntsville, AL is about an hour and a half north of Birmingham and we will therefore be moving to Cullman, AL which is a VERY small town about half way in between (so I can keep my job) and we will both commute. We have spent a couple of weekends looking for a place to rent and I think we have found one - more on this in a later post...

I have been traveling a ton for work - visiting lots of job sites for projects installing this summer and next summer. Most recently I went on a trip and visited the great state of Ohio - somewhere I had never been before. We are opening a property this fall that is currently being remodeled. It is in Oxford, OH which is where the University of Miami (Ohio) is. For this trip I flew into the Cincinatti airport which coincidentally is actually located in Florence, Kentucky (also a new destination for me...) And here's where the name of this post comes in - on my trip to and from the jobsite (although I did fly) I had to go through 5 states. On the way there I started in Birmingham, flew through Memphis, landed in Kentucky, drove through the tip of Indiana and finally arrived in Ohio. On the way there I actually got delayed (due to all of the ice/snow in Birmingham) and had a long layover in Memphis so I did not make it in 7 hours... but on my way home I flew through Detroit instead and everything was on time so I actually did "5 states in 7 hours": Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan and Alabama. Probably way TMI - but I felt like I needed to explain my blog post title :).

The upside to my long layover in Memphis was that I got to have lunch with my best friend Sarah. It was my first visit to Memphis since she lived there and so we were excited even though did not have a ton of time. We had some much needed girl chat time and were both admitedly upset that we forgot to take a picture of our lunch to document the occassion on - you guessed it - our blogs. (Insert mental picture of Sarah and I at lunch here...)

While I was in Ohio, I had to decorate some models again for the complex - our company is remodeling each of the units to include new finishes in the kitchens & bathrooms, paint on the walls and new flooring. I have selected furniture and am managing the purchasing and installation. For the model it was the usual drill - shop beforehand to get items to make the units look "lived-in." I actually did the shopping for this one in Birmingham and had the items put on the truck with the furniture to meet me up there. Funny side story - Josh offered to help me shop for these models since I was by myself. He was excited... 14 buggies at Homegoods later maybe not so much but I think he did a great job. So... without further delay... here are the finished model pictures of the Ohio job that (Josh and) I did last week.

It looks like I will be home for a little while which is definitely a nice break - I will be getting ready for my marathon of a traveling summer with 3 installations in Ohio (above), Gainesville and Baltimore, MD.

Now that February is almost done - Next big event: Jessica's baby shower here in Birmingham on March 12! I am in charge of decorations for the shower and she is having a sweet baby girl. Will update with how it turns out.

BATON ROUGE AGAIN

So do you remember the project from August in Baton Rouge that I complained about here? We went back again earlier this week on a short 2-day trip for a follow-up and this is what we saw...






Not too bad, huh? Maybe all the hard work (and sweat) was worth it? Please tell me YES!

GAINESVILLE PROJECT

Last week I traveled to Gainesville for a site visit to the project that I told you about here. It was so great to see the progress of the project at the beginning of construction. Hopefully the next time I see the project, it will be complete and I will be managing the furniture installation sometime next summer.

Just a refresher on this project - what you see in these pictures is the building that formerly housed the First Baptist Church of Gainesville, FL built in 1922. The church sold their building to a development company (us) in order to get out of debt and move to a smaller, newer facility. The sanctuary building will now be the "front door" to the housing complex that we are developing. Inside will be housed the leasing and management offices for the building, the fitness center for use by residents as well as several retail vendors (restaurants, cafes, shops.) Most of these uses will be in the lower level of the building - former sunday school classrooms and church offices will now be the leasing offices, etc. A vendor to lease the actual sanctuary space has not been found yet - it will be interesting to see what they do with the space. In the agreement with the church and the City of Gainesville, the sanctuary has to be restored inside and out and the original architecture and detailing must remain. I can't wait to see it all fixed up by next summer!

We are building 3 housing buildings and 1 parking deck that surround the sanctuary building. There is not much to see right now - but you can sort of see the concrete framing for the first building through the construction fence in the photo above. While I was there last week, I helped set up the temporary leasing office for the facility in one of the old pre-school classrooms of the sancturary building. It is not much to see right now as we did not want to spend a lot of money since this office will move in about 9 months or so when the final one is complete. We did a teal accent wall and dark vinyl plank "wood" flooring that shows potential tenants what finishes they will get in their units.

My main contribution to this project will be the furniture... I am designing it, presenting it to the project team, purchasing and coordinating the installation. We will have over 600 beds which means a whole of furniture and money!! Since the units will not be ready until move in day - we decided to contract out and have a workroom make scale models of a couple of the unit types in order to show tenants what the furniture and finishes will look like. I was amazed by the models when I saw them - all those long hours in the architecture studio (just a few blocks west of where this temp leasing office sits) made me truly appreciate the time and detail (and money) that went into these models... I can say one thing, I am so glad I am not spending my days (and nights) making scale models anymore... (can I get an "AMEN" from any former studio girls out there?!?!)

Being in Gainesville for work was great! I felt like a tourguide to the management staff that was there with me. We took a drive around campus to view all of the important sites such as Shands, Turlington, The Reitz, Jennings Hall (my freshmen residence) and of course all of the off-campus good eats such as Leonardo's pizza, Burrito Brothers, Satchel's (which is still cash only by the way!) and the Swamp. It was great to be in my second home so close to friends and family - on Monday night I got to have dinner with my good friend Laura and on Tuesday my Mom drove down from Jax to take me to lunch!

When I got home, I had someone who was beyond over-joyed to see me (which, of course made me feel good!) We spent the next hour sitting as you see below, waiting for Josh to get home. Molly says, "Don't leave me ever again!"

Visiting Gainesville and my project was a lot of fun, but I am definitely looking forward to being home for the next few weeks! The next trip will be in November (on my birthday...) to Baltimore, Maryland to visit the other project I am working on at Towson University. Until then, I am home for a while and very exciting about some guests we have coming very soon! Sarah (who I have not seen in over 2 years!) is coming this weekend and my Mom and Aunt Lala are coming the next... can't wait!

WORK AT FAU

I love my job as an Interior Designer, but as seen in the pictures here - it is not quite as glamo- rous as shown on HGTV. Last week my boss and I traveled down to Boca Raton, FL to decorate an apartment model for a new dormitory that our company is developing and building for FAU. Since the site is not yet complete and we do not yet have a CO (Certificate of Occupancy) from the city, hard hats, safety vests and construction boots must be worn at all times. While we were stylin' this gear, we staged the apartment over a 2 day period. It was a lot of fun to be in a Boca and to check out the site as it was in progress. Although I miss Josh (and Molly) terribly when I am gone - I really do enjoy getting out of the office and traveling for work.

I am hitting the road (or the airways?) again this week - I am going to Gainesville to check out the progress and set up the leasing office for the project that I told you about here.

IN LOVE W/ WALLPAPER

Well not literally... but I really like this. It is official - Wallpaper is back! I must admit I am probably a little behind the times when it comes to this recent development for two reasons - 1. Josh and I rent our apartment currently and so spending the time/money/effort to purchase and install wallpaper is out of the question and 2. the early 90's influx of wallpaper has permanently scarred my opinion (I'm not sure if I will ever recover from this?!?)



Despite me personally being out of touch with this new trend, it is here none the less. I am excited to see such cool graphic patterns that make such a bold statement. If you are thinking about wallpaper - I would totally go for it! I think it is a great way to spice up a room and can definitely bring a whole new meaning to the phrase "accent wall." I think it would be great for a dining room, accent wall in a guest room or office or maybe even above a chair rail in a nursery. Check more cool wallpaper/ fabric out at Mod Green Pod.

DINING ROOM RENO

When Josh's family was in town a couple of weeks ago we stumbled across a great buy on a new dining room table and chairs. (I would say that our previous dining set was probably our least favorite piece of furniture for both looks and functionality.) We inherited the old table from my dad's condo which we were so thankful for but were ready for a change. We had been keeping an eye out for a new table that would be bigger but still fit in the smallish space - and hopefully be able to fit in the kitchen of a future house! Here is the picture of the dining room before...

After finding the new table... we decided to give the dining room a mini-makeover by painting above the exisiting chair rail and trying to give the room a little more depth. It only took us a couple of hours to paint and I think it made a big difference. Nothing too loud like our other accent walls - but interesting and maybe a little more sophisticated?

We absolutely love our new dining room table!! We got it at Z Gallerie on clearance and they also threw in a nice designer's discount for yours truly. (I love my field!) It is a dark solid wood with charcoal gray legs. The wood is somewhat distressed which we think will be great for future little ones - this way we don't have to worry about it getting damaged. Yet, it is not "country" by any means... the metal legs give it a contemporary feel.

While Josh's family was here we got to immediately test out the functionality of the table by having a full dinner for 6 people where everyone and all the food could fit at the table. Very nice.

Even Molly's area was part of the dining room reno... we picked up these new food and water bowls for her at Homegoods. Very cute and it was time to retire the hot pink ones seen here. Josh was very excited as you can imagine.

NEW JOB!

Things have been so hectic lately that I am just now sitting down to update the blog - I GOT A NEW JOB! Starting next Thursday July 1 I will be working for Capstone Companies here in Birmingham. I will be working as an Interior Designer in the Capstone Interiors group. I am so incredibly excited and thankful for this wonderful opportunity. It is such an answer to prayer! (Thank you to all of you who have kept me in your prayers through this process!) I will be working in the commercial design field again for a company that primarily builds student housing. I will be space planning, selecting finishes and selecting and managing furniture installations all over the country. Check out some of the projects that they have done in the past - here is one in Gainesville, FL (God's Country) and one that I really liked in Arizona.

This Thursday will be my last day at Calico Corners. I am sad to leave all of my friends at Calico - they were so sweet and understanding about me leaving for this new position. They already gave me a card today as it was the last day we would all be there together. I will miss their friendship but will definitely keep in touch.

The timing pretty much worked out perfectly that Josh and I are able to take a long weekend trip this weekend to visit our friends Emily and Spencer in Austin before I start the new job next week and before Emily has their identical twin boys in August (also very exciting!) We are so excited to see them and to be able to relax. We have been really busy this month with working, class, interviewing, etc. Can't wait!!