Painting the House

After we bought our new house back in February, Andrew and I had been debating for quite some time whether or not to paint the exterior of our house, which is part brick and part siding.  Here's a before pic:

BEFORE

We never really disliked anything about the "before" look, but we were really looking for a fresh, new, updated look.  We had been spotting some remodeled houses that had newly painted brick, and really liked the look of it.  But we were scared.  Painting the brick is so permanent.  Once you put any paint on, you had to go for it.

So we went crazy and did it.  I decided to test out 2 colors I had narrowed it down to.  Both were a kind of khaki color, with just a hint of green.  One was "Fenland" from Sherwin Williams and the other was "Heath" by Martha Stewart.  I believe the siding color was "Grecian Ivory" by Sherwin Williams and the color for the shutters and the gutters was "Urbane Bronze" by Sherwin Williams.  With the first brush stroke of paint, I absolutely loved it.  I knew we had made the right decision to paint it, we just had to choose the perfect color.  We ended up choosing "Fenland" but it was a close one.

At the beginning of June, Andrew and I took a quick little vaca down to Destin with our friends, Jeffrey and Mary Melinda, so that we could go to the MS Dental Association conference and get some CE and some sun.  We opted to have the house painted while we were gone.  I think I was partly crazy for doing that, but Andrew's parents live down the street and popped in everyday to oversee it and update us on the progress.  When we got back, we had a brand new house!!

AFTER

I spy an Izzy girl...do you?

While the colors don't show up quite right in the pictures, you get the idea.  Hope y'all like the change as much as we do!

From Bachelorettes to Brides

Andrew and I attended several weddings this spring and summer.  I also had some very fun bachelorette parties to go to, too!

My High School Friend: Jocelyn ~ now, Mrs. Dill!

We had her bachelorette party in Nashville and the theme was a "Boot-Scootin' Bachelorette Bash."  Her wedding was April 2, and was so sweet and chic at "The South" in Jackson.  It was so Jocelyn.  

cute Nico & Lala bachelorette basket

pretty in pink

My Sorority Sister: Amy ~ now Mrs. Burns!

We had Amy's bachelorette party in New Orleans with a "Bourbon Bachelorette" theme.  It was perfect with a balcony overlooking Bourbon Street.  Her wedding was June 18 in Savannah, TN and at Pickwick Lake.  It felt like a getaway for Andrew and me!  It was lots of fun with lots of friends!

fun on bourbon!  

getting ready to walk down the aisle...

fun college friends! 

the mister and me

My Dental School Friend: Jenny ~ now, Dr. Shutt!

Unfortunately I didn't get to go to Jenny's bachelorette party in Memphis, but Andrew and I both got to be a part of her wedding.  We both read together during the ceremony.  Jenny and Spence got married July 23 in Senatobia.  We had so much fun catching up with everyone.  All of my pictures are on my camera, instead of my phone, so here are some pics of me with them a few weeks before the big day.  

Senior Awards Banquet at the end of dental school...miss these girls!

out eating crawfish with the cute couple

My Oldest Friend: Anna ~ now, Mrs. Jeffries!

Anna is my first friend ever.  We don't even really know how long we've been friends, but it's at least since 4 or 5 years old.  I can't even put in to words how much it means to still have a friend from that long ago. Anna's bachelorette party was over the 4th of July weekend at Orange Beach.  We had a "Red, White, and Blue Bachelorette Bash" theme.  It was so cute and unique.  The night we went "out," the bride-to-be wore white and the rest of us wore red and blue.  Her wedding was on July 30 in downtown Memphis.  It was breathtakingly beautiful.  The groom cried. I cried. Then we partied hard at the reception at the Cadre Building, complete with Elvis sunglasses for all.    

red, white, and blue!

a break from the dance floor

the elvis shades made the night

{Evan Baines Photography}
How amazing is this??  Check out more of her pretty pics on her
photographer's blog.

Andrew and I split a room with Carley and Bobby at the Peabody.  It was a big weekend for all 3 couples because us Rosses were celebrating our 2 year anniversary {August 1st}, the Reas were celebrating their 1 year anniversary {July 31st}, and the Jeffries were officially inducted into our "anniversary club."  We are taking nominees for the next couple to join our club...who will get married on July 29, 2012??

Recap

Wow.  So, it's been a while, huh?  I thought it might be time to catch y'all up on the Rosses.  This will be a little summary of some of what we've been up to in the past few months.  I will try to break up the pictures into a few different posts.

RECAP:

Andrew moved to Oxford in January and opened up his own private practice dental clinic.  I am so proud of him!!  It has taken a lot of hard work and a lot of prayers!  I, however, was still in Jackson until May, trying to finish up school and graduate.  In between that time, I traveled to Oxford every weekend to work with Andrew on Saturdays at the clinic.

In February, we bought a house!  It was my brother-and-sister-in-laws' house and we love it.  We painted the outside of the house (pictures to come), and it totally freshened things up a bit.  We are now tackling on some inside painting jobs.  We don't have to or even need to change anything in the house, we're just doing a few small things to make it more our own.

Speaking of the house, there are several reasons for my blogging hiatus.  The top two are: I was trying to GRADUATE and we didn't have internet or cable at our house from February to middle of July.

In May, my sister and I graduated ON THE SAME DAY.  Talk about some chaos.  I graduated in Jackson at 10:00 and she graduated in Memphis at 1:30.  We had all come to terms with the high probability that we would miss each others graduations and that my parents would have to split up.  My smarty-pants mom was able to "hood" me so she stayed with me (and so did Andrew, of course), while my dad and Kelly's godparents went to Memphis.  I got special permission to keep my cap and gown a little longer, so when my graduation ended we booked it to the car.  I didn't even pick up my diploma!  BUT it was all worth it because we MADE IT to see Kelly walk :-)  Her nursing school class was one of the last ones at the UT graduation so we got there just in time.  I am sooooo proud of her.  She graduated with her masters in nursing and CNL (clinical nurse leadership) certification.  It was the 1st class of this new nursing program and the 100th class of UT Health Sciences.  Here are a few pics:

so proud of her!

I was so glad we were able to take pictures together in our gear!

Sweet Husband!  Now we're the Doctors Ross :-)

Right after graduation, I moved up to Oxford to finally LIVE with my HUSBAND!!  Oh happy day!!  For most of June, I worked on unpacking our house and settling in....and still have a ways to go.  I also helped Andrew out by working on and off at his clinic.

I started working at my new JOB in July :-)  I am working for a community health clinic in Batesville and loving it.  The administration/main site is in Clarksdale, so I travel there about 1-2 times a month.  I am the only dentist at the Batesville dental clinic, which is a part of a larger medical clinic.  I love that I get to work hand-in-hand with 2 internal medicine physicians and 2 nurse practioners.  I also get to go to a lot of the schools and put on health fairs.  There is something different every day and I love being out in the community and the schools.

Another big event happened in July...SAM!!  Andrew and I are very excited to be and aunt and uncle to this sweet little baby.  Samuel Perkins Ross was born on July 4th :-)  We are having so much fun loving on him!  Here's all of his info:

is this not the cutest door sign you've ever seen?

Hope this catches y'all up on us.  I'm sure I'm leaving out a ton of obvious and important things, but I'll post more!

39 years!

 Today, April 8, is my parents' 39th wedding anniversary!!

Tom & Shirley...aren't they cute?

My parent's are still happily married 39 years later.  They have set such a great example for Andrew and I for marriage and life in general.  We are so grateful to celebrate this special day for them!  I love you both!

Dining Room Dilemma

Big news - we bought some new bedroom furniture!  We found a set that we both really like, and we are really excited to upgrade to a king!!  I know this sounds ridiculous but the master bedroom is really big, and only a king looks remotely the right size in there.  At least, that's what I convinced Andrew of :-)

So that leaves the living room and dining room as our two other rooms that need the most work.  We are contemplating a sectional in the living room, again, kind of because of the size and layout.  I never have really liked sectionals, but we found one we like, so now we have to measure it out to see how it will fit. 

The main dilemma we're having is with the dining room.  We don't have any furniture for this room.  I can't decide whether to have more of a china cabinet type piece of furniture or something more along the lines of a sideboard/buffet type piece.  My parent's have both, a sideboard/buffet and china cabinet, and Andrew's parent's have 2 china cabinets.  I'm not sure that we have room for 2 big pieces of furniture, so I can't decide which way to go if I can only fit one.  I like the sideboard/buffet idea because I can put lamps, frames, decorate, and even serve food on it.  I like the china cabinet idea because I can display our china and crystal.  

If you have a dining room, what kind of furniture do you have?  What are you're pros and cons for each?  Any help or advice is appreciated!