COUNTDOWN

4 days until we go to Texas!

6 days until Thanksgiving!

7 days until Christmas Music!

9 days until we get a Christmas Tree and decorate our house!

35 days until Christmas!

Kelly Clarkson

I've been pretty lucky this month because I went to 2 concerts. Brad Paisley at the beginning of the month and Kelly Clarkson yesterday. Who was better? KELLY CLARKSON BY FAR! She was amazing! Her voice is awesome, her songs are fantastic, and she has tons of energy. Sure, Brad Paisley was good too. He had a lot of flashy lights and funny videos, but Kelly is pure talent and entertainment. The crowd loved her too! She performed at the Arizona State Fair last night.




Joseph and I met up with Kristina & Brendon, Cheryl, and Elaina at the fair. When it came time for the concert, the boys went to a demolition derby and the girls went to the Kelly Clarkson concert. Here are some pictures and a video. She was so amazing!

Sammy

Since before we were married, Joseph and I have been talking about getting a dog. We decided we would wait until after the wedding and until after we finished the backyard... Well, we made it almost 2 months after the wedding.

About 2 weeks ago, my co-worker Frank asked me if Joseph and I were still looking for a dog. I told him we were going to wait until the backyard was done. Then he started telling me about Sammy. Frank already had 2 other golden retrievers when his wife brought home a 3rd. She said she was afraid he would be sent to the pound. At the time Sammy was about 6 months old. Their other dogs are about 5, so they wanted nothing to do with this energetic pup. Sammy is still pretty small, so they would also push him out of the way at feeding time. After about 6 months, since he wasn't getting the attention (or food) he needed, Frank and his wife agreed to find another home for him. So that's when he asked me if I wanted him. I told him I would have to talk to Joseph about it. The next morning Frank sent us some pictures of Sammy. He was SO cute! We couldn't resist... well, maybe I couldn't resist.

We decided we would get him on a 2 week trial. After the 1st day Joseph decided we weren't giving him back. He is such a good dog! He doesn't bark, chew, go to the bathroom in the house, or beg for food. What more could anyone ask? We bought him a rope toy and learned he is very good at playing fetch. He will play forever. Today we brought home a blue tennis ball and I think he fell in love. LOL. He was so happy to have that ball. It's fun to watch it bounce off the wall and him try and guess where it's going to go.

A funny thing about Sammy is that although he hardly ever barks, he snores... a lot! He snores when he's sleeping, when he's happy to see us, and when we are rubbing his ears. I've decided it's almost like his way of purring. It always makes me laugh. So far he is the best dog! He is really smart too. We taught him how to sit in 1 day.

Joseph likes to lay on the floor with him. It's pretty cute :)




Another fun thing is that I finished painting the living room. I really like it. Here are some pictures of that too.

Before:



After:

Justin Timberlake #2

So I think Mr. Schuester from Glee is just the teacher version of Justin Timberlake. He has the curly hair and everything. Take a look at this video and tell me what you think.

It's official!

Joseph and I went to the Social Security Department after work yesterday and officially changed my name. I am now Stephanie Joan Cooper :) It's still kind of weird getting used to Cooper. I've been introducing myself as Stephanie Cooper since the wedding, but sometimes at work Berman still slips out. Then I sound pretty silly when I say... I mean Cooper.. Sorry, I just got married and I'm still trying to get used to my new name. LOL. Tomorrow I'm going to the DMV to have my name changed on my license.

Update on the painting project:
I started painting the living room last night. I finally found a blue that I like! I still have 2 more walls with that color. I want to get all of the walls painted their solid colors and then I'm going to start adding stripe accents in the living room and the checker board on the island in the kitchen. I'll post before and after pictures when I'm all done. I hope it looks good! Our home teachers came over while I was painting and Joseph was doing his homework. They seem really nice. Our ward is great so far.

My New Favorite TV Show

I didn't watch tv for about 4 years. I was either too busy, my roommates were watching tv, or I didn't want to pay part of the cable bill so I decided not to buy a tv at all.

Now that Joseph and I are married, I'm going to blame him for my recent tv watching habits. I have 4 shows that I really like watching. 1. House 2. The Office 3. Glee and 4. So You Think You Can Dance.

A few months ago, Joseph and I started watching the first season of House. We are about a quarter of the way done with season 4 now. There was a point when we would watch at least 2 episodes a day. Luckily we've cut back some.

Now I am obsessed with the show Glee. It is so stinking funny! If you haven't seen the show yet, I'm going to challenge you to go to hulu.com and watch all 5 episodes. I actually laugh out loud several times during each episode. Not only is it funny, but the music is really good too! Here is a clip of Kurt dancing to Single Ladies. LOVE IT!

The Never Ending Paint Project

When I first started picking out colors for our house I thought it would be easy... I was so wrong! My kitchen and upstairs hallway were/are pepto bismol pink, the master bath is sea foam green and every where else is covered in crayon, dirty little kid hand prints, and boogers... that's right, I said boogers.

I decided to go with Classic Taupe for the main color inside. I figured it was a nice neutral color... which it is. My dad and I spent about 2 hours painting the front entrance way. It looks a lot darker in there because there are no windows. I'm not too fond of how dark it is, but I guess I can live. Then on Saturday I spent 4 hours painting my massive kitchen. Needless to say, the taupe is a vast improvement from the pink! The color also makes my oak cabinets not look so ORANGE. But there are still a few problems with it. My kitchen has 2 TALL French doors which let in a lot of light. The classic taupe is a lot lighter here than I expected it to be. I never realized how much the lighting of the room will change the color! I can still live with the light taupe though. I actually like it more than the dark front entrance way. The only thing is, I have gray (or at least they looked gray when next to the pink walls) counter tops. Now that the taupe is on the walls, my counter tops and walls look like the same color. My island looks like one big taupe block. LOL. I'm trying to come up with some creative ideas to break the color barrier so I don't have to worry about repainting the entire kitchen... because I really do like the color. I'm thinking of painting the front of the island a dark blue gray (one of the samples from my living room) and then putting a back splash along the top of the counter. Maybe a white tile with blue accents?

Now for my living room we have a dark chocolate brown sofa and a brown carpet. I decided I wanted to paint this room light blue/gray. Right now I have 8, yes that's right 8 different paint samples on the wall to try and figure out which color I like the best. I think I've narrowed it down to one :) We'll see.

I am grateful to have a husband who will support me through this and who also doesn't think I'm too crazy for changing my mind all the time :)

This is the before shot. I'll have an after shot later on.