Mismatched insulation?

Progress continues at the future Johnston home! Drew and I stopped by for a visit yesterday. The electrical work appears to be finished and most all of the insulation is back up. We did discover that we have two different types of insulation in our home – one set is brown and one set is pink. Has anyone ever seen brown insulation? We hadn’t but figured out that it’s the brand.
Here are some more pictures of the inside. I hope you enjoy! We’re always looking for feedback on what you think the builder will get accomplished next. Let us know!
garage edit
master bath editmaster closet edit
upstairs with drew edit
While outside we dabbled with panoramic shots. Notice anything odd?
Panormic 1




panoramic 2
I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Yesterday's Visit to Mi Casa


So sadly the sheetrock has not gone up and the siding has not been painted. BUT there has been progress...I think...but this is not what I do for a living.

If I find out in any random conversation that you have some experience in construction, I will ask you a thousand questions about my house. Bless his heart, this usually falls to Drew. He built and installed cabinets for six years before moving to Tuscaloosa. At least in my mind, this makes him qualified to explain every stage of our house construction. He constantly reminds me that this doesn't mean he knows all the ins-and-outs but I think he's lying. :-p

To the best I could tell, the electricians were hard at work this week. I saw more wiring go up and more protection go around the wiring. I snapped a few pictures below. Up until now most of you have only seen the exterior. It's difficult to get good lighting inside so I took the best angles that I could. Enjoy!


Pictured from left: Front entrance, kitchen view (from dining room),

Pictured from left: Second floor (from stair landing) and kitchen view (from stair landing)

First off, if you're wondering why most of the pics are from the stair landing and none are of the rooms upstairs...I have a confession to make. I am scared to traverse the stairs on the way down because there's only a couple of boards on each step and I can see through them. And no one was there yesterday to hear me if I fell. I got as high up as I dared and snapped these shots.

Second, yay pics! I love our entryway. We have arched doorways into the hall and dining room. Our kitchen has a bar that looks into the living room. We have a second floor with 3 bedrooms and a game room.

Anyone have any idea what they might finish this week? Any guesses? You're guess is as good as mine lol.

House Update

I had planned to visit our house today after work but I couldn’t because of the bad weather. Also, Drew is working this weekend and it feels odd checking on the house without him. :-/
I get so excited seeing it progress. Each week it’s like opening a new present! Tomorrow I can’t wait to see what the builders have accomplished. I’m hoping for walls! And a painted siding.
What do you think has changed in a week? I’ll post pics as soon as I get back tomorrow!

Civil Rights Field Briefing

Today my dad is speaking at the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Field Briefing in Birmingham. His school has a large hispanic population - most of whom are citizens. He has advocated that no child should have to come to school in fear of its government. For more information on the event you can follow this link: U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Field Briefing


One Brick, Two Brick, Red Brick…House!

House! outline  

Shortly after we were engaged, my fiancĂ© and I sat down and worked out a plan for the first years of our marriage. There is still a LOT we don’t know but we believe that figuring all of this out is meant to be the fun part. :-)

We have a lot going for us. We both have stable employment and regular paychecks – a true blessing. But we live and work in two cities about an hour away from each other. So where should we live? In the middle of course!

We started by finding a realtor and visiting homes in the area. We struck out on the houses we were shown and decided to be adventurous and drive around some. We stumbled across a newer subdivision in Bessemer. The houses were everything we wanted for our first home. And so, after crunching the numbers, we realized we could build a house and start building our credit with the same money it would take for us to rent.

So building a house it is!

bigger house

Our house is going up so fast! We get so excited turning onto our street to see the newest changes. We are very proud owners and have taken several friends and family members on a tour!

Last week the bricks and siding went up! I can’t wait for it to be painted. I will admit - I have been discouraged at times and not able to focus on the end result. For a while there it only looked like lumber. But the more work that is done on our house, the closer I feel our wedding day coming. This is a very exciting time for the future Johnston family!

Here’s the latest sneak peak. I’ll try to post updates regularly on our progress.

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Building a house can be daunting. Have you faced this before? Any tips for the newbies? We’d love to hear some advice!

Eye of the Storm

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Today I was in Barnes & Noble scrolling the sections when the book Eye of the Storm caught my attention. It is a photo documentary of the tornado that ripped through Tuscaloosa, AL on April 27th, 2011. There are a lot of sources out there that talk about that day but the cover is why I stopped. The cover photo is of my church family gathering in the parking lot for prayer on the Sunday after the storm. Drew and I were both there. I flipped through the rest of the book and saw him in a couple of other sections as well.
That day was so traumatic for all of us. To see it immortalized in a book is an odd experience. We know we lived through a historic moment but to hold it in your hands is an altogether odd sensation. The pictures are testimonies to all acts of service that were done for the months after the storm.
There are several others I know pictured in here but I doubt any of them know about it. It is a gentle reminder of all of the love that was expressed by our friends and community during that time. This will definitely be soon added to our bookshelves.

Lego Movie Premiere – A Broken Joke: Avenged

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I have made my debut into the movie biz! The premiere is scheduled for Friday, August 24th.
***SPOILER ALERT*** A Broken Joke: Avenged is the sequel to the film A Broken Joke produced and directed by the amazing Somerville Production studio. The trailer was released yesterday here! And my character makes an appearance – can you spot me? Looks like it has the makings for a great success. I knew I should have signed a contract for my vocal talents…

COUPON <3

Last night we decided to have wine and Italian food for dinner. We are not super fancy and by the time we finished discussing all of the Italian restaurants in the area, we decided we really just wanted pizza. :-D Then started the hunt for the best prices in the area.
I am not an avid coupon-er at all but I do like getting a good deal. Drew stumbled across this site and we got a great deal! 2 LARGE specialty pizzas for only $12 total! Regularly that would cost about $25.
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We used the first coupon  for 50% off regular menu price. It really worked! Anyone else out there had a good online coupon experience? Please send me some links if you do!

11.26.2011

November 26th, 2011 - The biggest news from this day was not Alabama's solid victory over that other team Auburn...well for most people in Alabama it was a big deal...but for me it was HIS PROPOSAL!


So I kind of love this fella a lot a lot. Above is a picture we snapped outside of Jordan-Hare stadium. Little did I know he was hiding a ring in his pocket! Though looking at this picture now he does look a little mischevious. :-)


And here is a pic he snapped of me while I'm trying to tell my parents we're engaged! It was only a teensy bit loud in the stadium.

His proposal? Pretty A-MAZ-ING. But before I can get to that a lil bit of history: Drew and I are college football fans for rival teams.
I support Alabama and he supports Auburn.

For any of you reading this not from the State of Alabama:
1 - You need to come visit.
2 - When you get here, before you find a place to live, a job, or even stop to grab a bite to eat, you must choose either Alabama or Auburn. You can never switch and your choice will define how well you get along with your neighbors (and family and friends and church members...etc.)

Enter into this environment us! Two years ago we went to the Iron Bowl in Auburn with some friends. We had the best time. Looking back, Drew says that was when he knew he wanted to get to know me better. A few months later, he worked up the nerve to ask me out! We have been together since, have had some fun adventures, and make sure to be nice, understanding, relatively cordial/not that mean every time our teams are playing.

Now for the proposal!

Last year, as the Iron Bowl started getting closer, Drew told me he won two tickets to the Iron Bowl! Sweet! And he was going to take me! Double sweet! We planned a trip up and I was excited to proudly wear my Bama colors back in enemy territory. Hehee. We tailgated before with friends and family then as the gates started to open, I could tell Drew was getting anxious to get inside.

Another mischevious smile on our way up to our seats

By the time we got up to them, he said he needed to go to back down real quick. I promised to watch our stuff and off he went. 10 minutes...15 minutes...30 minutes...later I start to worry and begin the obligatory texts of "Where are you?" "Are you ok?" "Was it the food?" lol About this same time I see a camera crew start making its way thru the stands with Drew in tow behind (I probably should have connected the two).

When he made it back to the seat, he said he was sorry for taking so long. I told him that was fine and was starting to tell him what he missed when I notice he is getting down on one knee! In his hand was a ring and he was saying the sweetest things then asked me to marry him! He says all I said was "Really? Really??" and made his heart pound before saying yes. :-) I was so ecstatic and my hands were shaking so much. Everyone around us was starting to cheer and take our picture. Then I noticed this huge news camera RIGHT over Drew's shoulder.

That's right - Drew had planned for the news crew to do an entire story on his proposal. It was on the air that night in Birmingham!

A lot has happened since that moment but that is all subject for another post. Do you have a favorite team? Do you think your love could survive such a big rivalry?


Roll Tide Y'All!



Blog? Oh hi there!

So much has happened since my last post that I'm not sure where to begin! I had forgotten I had a blog until I started seeing all of the fun posts from
It has inspired me to start up again. I'd like a way to document the journey I've been on and the way my life is continuing to go! I hope you enjoy!