Regular Carpet is Such a Thing of The Past

Now with the wood floor project out of the way, we can enjoy our humble abode ... wait, what's this stain on the carpet? And that's how it began.

The el-cheapo builder carpet in our family room and master bedroom had seen better days so we added "new carpet" to our home project 2011 list. I hit up all the carpet stores in search of the perfect replacement. I came across Mohawk's Smart Strand Carpet at Creative Floors and they had me sold when they told me about the Rhino Challenge. This carpeting was a-okay after Ricko the Rhino lived on it for two weeks. Durable, yes. Stain resistant, yes. Eco friendly, yes. That's a winner in my book. Plus, compared to the other carpets out there, this was the most bang for our buck.




After installation we had our little Rhinos test it too. They appear to love it as much as we do.

Let There Be Light!

I'm on a roll in the home improvement department. The wood floors are finished, the baseboards and shoe molds are caulked and painted but, before the monstrosity (the pool table) went back up, I hired a electrician to add some much needed lighting above the monstrosity. Insert "ooooh" and "ahhhhs" here.

Karma Is One Bitchy Bride

It has been over 5 months since I last had contact with Leigh or Andy Taylor of Leigh Taylor Photography, the photographer we hired for our wedding. I've sent numerous texts and emails and have also left a few voice-mail messages to no avail. Unfortunately I am not the only one of Leigh Taylor's clients who is getting the shaft.

I'm still in shock that the majority of my married life has been spent dealing with this nonsense and it is still not resolved. It will be nine months next week. NINE! All I wanted, and still want, is my dang photos in color and my $250 credit back. Is that really too much to ask for? Maybe? Well, I even asked for the un-edited images to save them time. Yeah, I won't be getting those either and I probably won't be getting jack from them ever. I still haven't made peace with that fact.

Saying that I feel ripped off is an understatement. I feel violated. It would be a heck of a lot easier to deal with if they had only charged $1,000 because I could at least rationalize the situation with the "you get what you pay for" saying, but we gave them over $3,000 and we didn't get even close to what we paid for. I will never have those amazing "Leigh Taylor" pictures unlike her other clients. I am envious of them. Although a good portion of her 2010 brides and grooms still haven't gotten their photos back, they will eventually and it will be like nothing ever happened. They will love their amazing photos and the debacle of Leigh Taylor will be nothing but a distant memory. I, on the other hand, cannot stand to look at most of the photos that I was provided with as they are a constant reminder of the Taylors and I do mean a literal reminder.

My story has made it's way through the local wedding vendor and photography groups. I've recently discovered that many think I, along with many of Leigh's previous clients, are just a bunch of bitchy brides. I have never asked for more than I thought I was entitled to or deserved and neither have these other "bitchy brides". The bitchy brides just want their pictures and communication of when they will be getting them. Yes, it is that plain and simple. There are no crazy and outrageous demands. They want what they paid for. This bitchy bride just wanted Leigh to show up and photograph her wedding and when she bailed, this bitchy bride just wanted an album. To think this could of been resolved eons ago with something as simple as an wedding album.

In sharing my story with anyone who will give me the time of day, it was my soul purpose to get Leigh and Andy's attention and hold them accountable for their behavior. I am flattered to hear that they are blaming me for "messing with their livelihood". Little ol' me brought the big, bad wedding photographer down! Oh but a mere fairy tale. I would be honored to take credit for their loss in business but unfortunately it was all their doing and Leigh and Andy have really shown their true color ... green.

Want the back story? Check it out here, here, and here!

Goodbye Carpet, Hello Grass!

Chad and I purchased and built our home back in 2005. We were excited about all that we were going to do to the new place. I've learned over the years, home is always a work in progress around these parts.


We had plans to pull the carpet up and replace it with wood floor before we moved in but we decided to get our money's worth out of the carpet first. It was cheap builders carpet. How long could it possibly take to wear it out? Five and a half years apparently. We could of dragged it out longer but after stepping on one of the tack boards where the carpet had pulled away from I had it. Our carpets were in great condition minus the few cat barf stains and the traffic wear. I still was happy to seem them go though.

For the last 4 years we have been trying to find a wood and color we liked. We picked a Engineered Bamboo Flooring with a dark, cherry color stain. The engineered bamboo is harder than the other bamboos. It is also less susceptible to scratches and dents because of it's hardness. It is comparable to Oak, looks like an exotic wood but for half the price and the best part is that it is Green! Bamboo is actually a grass! It grows very quickly and does not need to be replanted so it only takes 3-5 years to harvest good quality bamboo whereas wood usually takes decades. It is an easy-to-maintain resource. This is a double winner in our book! Affordable and Green!

The Georgia Sense of Direction

Last weekend the Hubs and I went to spend some time with my parents in Georgia. They own a vacation home near the Blue Ridge Mountains. It was just what we needed. Four days of lounging around in our pajamas, watching movies, and getting lost ... a lot.

Getting lost wasn't our plan but Georgia has some pretty bad signage. Even the airport was horrendous. You would think that the large international airport in Atlanta would have the best directions and signage for all the different kinds of travelers but no, they don't. We walked the wrong way to the main terminal (maybe our mistake), had to look at the directory to find the car rental area which didn't help because we couldn't figure out where we were on the directory, walked passed the car rental agency, and spent about an hour trying to figure out how to get back to the airport arrivals to pick up my parents. We didn't bring our GPS so we used our iPhone maps application. It couldn't figure out where we were. It was an adventure to say the least.


On Saturday, the guys and I went on a hiking adventure. Of course we got lost again. The first time we missed the exit off the highway and after that it was at the ol' fork in the road which really wasn't a fork; it was a backwards fork. After finding the correct fork in the road and about about half way up the hill to the hiking trail we here BING. Car is low on gas. Fabulous. As we are chuckling away and joking about being stranded in the middle of the Georgia mountains with no gas or cell service we hit a patch of ice and the little rental yelps out another BING. This day is getting better by the minute.


We finally made it to the Bear Creek trail and started hiking. This is a fairly easy trial so it was more like walking at a slight incline. Easy-peasy. Crossing the little streams? Not so easy. I was trying so hard not to slip off the rocks that I ended up putting my foot in the water 3 times. Thank goodness I was wearing Dryfit socks. They dried out before we reached out 1.5 mile marker ... the Gennett Poplar.


The Gennett Poplar is the 2nd largest tree in the state. I forgot to mention, this is the whole reason we came-a-hiking. Getting lost, possibly stranded with no gas, and almost careening off the hill - all for a tree.

We came, we saw, we conquered. Another 1.5 miles back and we hit the road and headed on home. We got lost again. Gotta love Georgia.