Lately I've been itching to play the lotto because my luck has been so great. When I think about my life and the worries I've harbored it has usually been the case that things have worked out in the end. Although I occasionally fear that the amount of luck one experiences could be finite, I try to remember the absurdity of that worry and stay positive. Otherwise my impulse and my unthinking reaction is of (often unfounded) doom and gloom. Most recent luck involved getting hired for a tenure track appointment. And before that, fellowships from the Smithsonian and the American Association of University Women made me feel immensely lucky.
But recently the luck I've experienced has been material. Chris and I came into some appliance upgrades and purchased a stove and a replacement face for the dishwasher to match. After a good deal of labor everything is installed and lovely.
Some "before" shots:
It is still a work in progress but so far in the kitchen we have also painted, Chris removed the vinyl flooring and stained and refinished the wood underneath, we are installing a new light fixture/fan, and eventually new counters. This weekend we will go get a matching hood for above the new stove.
My mom came upon an opening in the schedule of Heinz Chapel, our top choice of wedding ceremony venue, on our date and during our preferred time slot. This happened only four months prior to when the wedding is scheduled and after Chris and I had spent hours trying to get through to the event planner the day they opened the calendar (nearly a year ago).
And a much less meaningful, but still kind of lucky mail call came.
Free stuff thanks to online promotions and coupons! Blueeyesbecky from Fashionism.org posted about a coupon for the Fekkai website. Though my skills are far less seasoned than the incredible "
Full Price Never," who is hosting a great giveaway,
here. I did manage to get some free leave-in conditioner from Frederic Fekkai and a free Revlon lipstick from Walgreens.com.
And outfit post will follow later today!
10 comments:
I love the kitchen updates! The floor makes a ton of difference, and the stainless steel appliances are gorgeous. We're looking for a new place right now and I'm always drawn to stainless kitchens! Dare I ask if the replacement face for the dishwasher was pricey?
P.S. That chapel is incredible. Congrats on scoring it!!!!
OH MY the kitchen looks fantastic!
What gorgeous reno's - they really frame your adorable pup much more effectively! And that's lovely news about the opening at the Heinz Chapel - what a great time for your luck to kick in.
Beautiful kitchen repairs! I am assuming that you're staying in the same city for your TT job? Awesome.
And yeay for the ideal locale. Isn't nice to find a place to get married that you can be proud of? We felt the same way about the very cute uber humanist Unitarian church (that had a big gay marriage sign up front). It was very "us."
Congratulations! and keep it up!
That's amazing about the chapel- that always seems to be the hardest thing about getting married (still waiting for my family to just throw me a surprise wedding).
And yay for the Reed shirtdress- the 'love of my life' in orange!
Kate, thanks so much! It was $50 after tax to get the sheet of stainless. And it was swapped in like 3 seconds so super quick and easy! We got the idea from HGTV.
Jessica Thank you!
A-dubs, I agree! It is a clutch year in which to have so much luck.
Rad, I am extra lucky that I can stay in Pittsburgh once I begin my job for fall. This is a place so inexpensive that I could buy a home with my partner on two grad student stipends! I will be able to spend my first months of marriage living in the same city as my partner and close to my family. I braced every non-academic loved one for years that I would HAVE to move once I got my first job, expecting it to be inevitable. So I felt shocked and immensely fortunate to have had such a successful local search (even though my search was also national, of course and I applied to everything for which I was qualified). I was asked to interview for tenure track jobs at every nearby university to which I applied. Though I didn't end up visiting all of them because I had already taken a job by the time some were calling. It definitely went against my expectations and the norm of what I've been told about never being able to choose where you live as an academic.
Sarah, thanks so much! We were going to have the ceremony in the same venue as the reception once we couldn't get Heinz Chapel and couldn't fit into the other places we liked. So it felt exceptionally fortuitous to have our top choice open up!
Also, Rad we too contemplated the nearby Unitarian church in part for their politics. Instead we ended up at a University-owned nondenominational chapel that will enable us to be photographed on the intellectual grounds where we fell in love so it is all super fitting. I am so glad to hear you and your partner found a fitting spot true to you and your beliefs!
yay for freebies!!! I somehow missed that thread *iz sad*
your kitchen looks so good with all the upgrades, I can't wait to redo our kitchen. We bought new appliances last year and went with the black because they were cheaper. Wish now that we had sprung for the stainless steel but with a baby on the way, we were trying to economize
Brianna, thanks so much! We would have totally gone with black for the stove too but the fridge was free to us and the panel for the dishwasher was cheap.
We bought the stove from the Sears outlet so the price was significantly below retain. All of that is to say, economizing was absolutely on our minds, even without a baby on the way. I am of the opinion that black appliances look great!
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