Project House Update: The Living Room Reveal

I know I've been promising this pictures for months, but the house was actually clean this week so I've got them! I've got pictures of our updated great room/kitchen/breakfast nook.

A little bit of back story first. Our house was built in 1983 and basically NEVER updated. When we moved in, the previous and sole owners of this house hadn't even touched up all the holes in the walls from moving out. So, it was livable, but pretty ugly. Also, when they moved out, they took their washer, dryer, and refrigerator. Every other appliance they left behind in the kitchen was from 1983. The range, the oven, and the microwave were all brand new when the house was built.

Before: Kitchen (with previous owner's stuff)

I never had a problem with using the oven and the range, but I would go nowhere near that microwave. Who knows what kind of radiation it was emitting after 30 years? So, we kept my old microwave from my apartment on the counter for the longest time. Add in the fact that the cabinets are incredibly dated and the surrounding wood isn't as sturdy so it's becoming sun-bleached and you don't exactly have a kitchen to be proud of.

Next is the great room. This room has always been my favorite room in the whole house. I love the high, angled wood ceiling with the rafters, the stone fireplace, and the wall of windows with our awesome view. The problem was we didn't have any use for the room. With the stone fireplace on one wall, the windows on another, and the kitchen opening up to it, there was only one place we could have set our TV. It would have meant reflections and glares from the window and having our backs to the view all the time.

Before: Great Room

Oh! And it was lavender! Lavender! Who paints a room like that lavender?

We've basically been working on this area slowly since Thanksgiving as the pieces fell together. My lovely husband volunteered us to host Thanksgiving and that started the ball rolling. I didn't want to have to deal with cooking this huge meal with two semi-functional microwaves, so we began looking for one from this century. Fun fact: our old microwave was so large and low that we couldn't get some of our pots onto the stove under it. There's also a lovely burn spot on the back of the counter top when the previous owner must have tried to make something fit that wouldn't.

Once we started researching microwaves, apparently ours wasn't actually as huge as we thought. It was only about an inch thicker than the slimmest wall mounted microwave we could find. It was just poorly mounted. So, Dan, being awesome like he is, removed the cabinets that the microwave mounted to and shortened them. It was a good thing our cabinet fronts are simple and plain otherwise this wouldn't have worked. All said and done, it gave us probably another four inches above the range. No problem for pots now! Problem for the wall though...

When the old microwave was removed, we realized that when the kitchen was first painted, they just painted around the microwave, rather than removing it and painting behind it. With the additional four inches of space over the range meant four inches of white on my purple backsplash. I have to admit, there were definitely a few minutes of panic. In the midst of preparing for my first time hosting Thanksgiving, we'd accidentally made our kitchen uglier (who knew that was possible?) In what turned our to be a good decision, we ran to Home Depot, picked out the color we wanted for the great room and kitchen, and raced home to paint the backsplash.

We decided to paint just the backsplash and that should be able to patch things up until Christmas time when wed have the time to paint the rest of the space. Since it's a contained wall, it actually didn't look too bad.

After: Kitchen Backsplash

Between the stainless microwave and the fresh green color, the cabinets actually look a lot better too! We were going to paint them, but with these couple of changes, we don't mind them so much anymore. They feel more vintage than just old and crappy.

Anyway, over Christmas break, we painted the rest of the room. We started with the breakfast nook. A fresh coat of paint and a new ceiling fan and you go from this:

Before: Breakfast Nook

To this!

After: Breakfast Nook

I love this fan! It's got an art-deco feel while fitting with the rest of the space. And the light is sooooooooooooo much better than the old one (who hangs a chandelier from a ceiling fan? That thing was blinding!)

The next day, we tackled the kitchen:

After: The Kitchen

The great room itself has been a work in progress from Christmas time up until about a week ago. We wanted to use this room as our everyday living room and that meant moving the TV. We needed to tackle the problem of where to put the TV. After a lengthy debate with my husband, he talked me into mounting it over the fireplace. I refused to mount it to the fireplace itself, though, so he found a mount that mounted it to the beam that ran over the fireplace.

Second problem, we hate our sofa. It's my grandparent's old old old sofa and while we were grateful for it, we wanted something better. In a twist of fate, over Christmas, we were helping my mom clean my grandparent's house after they had moved. It was completely empty except for one sofa, which they were trying to sell. While it's not really our style, the second we sat on it, we were sold. It was a really nice Lazy boy sofa that they were selling for about a tenth of the cost. So, for the second time, we ended up with my grandparent's sofa. Only problem? We had no way of moving it.

Well, the stars aligned and at the end of January, Dan ended up buying his dad's jeep. A couple of weeks later, he got himself a trailer, called me at work, and we spent my lunch break that day loading up that cheap, wonderful sofa.

And without further ado, here's the updated great room!

After: The Great Room

There's still some work to be done, but we basically spend all our time now in this room. The next thing we need is a new entertainment center. Because of how the TV is mounted, we decided to store all the TV equipment on this wall and run the cables up through the wall and around the corner to the TV. So, we just want a nice console type cabinet to house it all, something with a glass front so the remotes still work. We'll finish it off with a big mirror and a collage of pictures I've been collecting.

Before: Entertainment Wall

Lastly, this is one of my favorite parts of the room. After spending some time in the great room, we realized it was like we were living in a casino because there was no sense of time. A trip to Target and we ended up with this gorgeous and remarkably cheap clock (it only feels cheap, but since it's mounted, who can tell?).

6:13 departing the station...

I feel like I live in a train station and it's awesome!

So, here's the list of everything we did:

• Removed 1983 microwave
• Shortened cabinets
• Painted backsplash
• Installed new microwave (including new venting)
• Painted breakfast nook, kitchen, and great room
• Removed two ceiling fans (there was this awkward one off center in the kitchen)
• Installed one new ceiling fan
• Patched hole from old ceiling fan
• Installed TV mount
• Cut notch in base board to route cables and installed hidden outlets
• Rearranged furniture and hung new clock

Here's what's left to do:

• Finish routing cables (yes, they do look kind of ugly and unhidden right now)
• Buy new coffee table with storage
• Find two end tables for a high traffic area
• Buy console cabinet
• Hang art
• Install new pendant lighting over bar
• Buy three new bar stools

Maybe it's because we've lived in this house for more than six months now or all the work we're putting into it, but it's starting to really feel like home.

Crazy Politician Update #1

Last week, I wrote about the drama that it currently going on in my state with our local government. If you haven't heard, there is a bill that has already passed the state house of representatives stating that an employer can choose to not cover birth control pills in their company insurance if they wish. While there are loopholes in the bill, it is still a terrible set back for women's rights in this state. Similar bills are being pushed in other parts of the country, it's getting particularly ugly in Virginia right now, so apparently coming after women's rights is the trendy thing to do.

Since this whole issue has been constantly weighing on my conscious, I decided to do something about it. First, I wrote a lovely email to the state representatives (it's great that you can get their emails from our state's website). I also wrote a stronger version of the email and sent it to everyone directly involved with sponsoring the bill to their facebook pages. (You can click here to see the one I posted on one of their walls, I'm amazed it's still up!)

After sending all these emails, at least 60 emails, I didn't really expect any responses. Amazingly, I got two!

• Response #1: Daniel Patterson, a Democrat rep for Tucson emailed me saying that he completely agreed with me. I was so excited when I got that email because it made me feel like there might actually be redeemable politicians in my state. They all aren't crazy. 
• Response #2: Terri Proud. Rep Proud was one of the quoted sponsors in my last post. She believes people are blowing this out of proportion. Her email basically said that all my information was wrong and I didn't know what I was talking about. Well, Ms. Proud, let's say your were able to prove all my facts were wrong (which she was NOT able to do), it doesn't make this bill any better. It still comes after the rights of women. It still targets women, not only their reproductive rights, but their rights in the workplace. This bill doesn't target vasectomies, which are also a method of birth control covered by insurance. It targets women and their right to make decisions about their own bodies without being judged, or worse, being fired. I still have yet to reply to Ms. Proud's email. I figured I would wait a week, let her think she got the last word in, build up a bunch of evidence, and let her know I came to play ball. 

The biggest victory in this battle came this morning. Former Republican presidential candidate and Arizona Senator John McCain has spoken out against this bill. AGAINST IT! Yay! This is a huge victory for a whole bunch of reasons!

1. John McCain is highly respected in Arizona. Whether or not you agree with his politics, he is definitely a good politician. He's an upstanding citizen. He's been a senator here forever. He makes smart political moves. He often goes against party lines to represent what his constituents want. He's just on the ball. And while he's been a politician forever, he doesn't just sit on his ass, he gets things done. 
2. He went against party lines, yet again. This bill was sponsored by a Republican committee in the House. He's a Republican senator in a Republican state with a Republican governor, but he spoke out against the stupidity of this bill. Just because Arizona is a red state doesn't mean we always vote that way. We elected Napolitano as our Democratic governor before she abandoned us. Republican voters don't always agree with the Republican party and just don't vote blindly. 
3. His points are true and awesome.

McCain thinks there's no way this bill will get passed. I hope he's right. I have to think the fact that he's throwing his weight behind our side will be a great help. My next steps will be to respond to Ms. Proud (bleck) and to email the state senate before they vote.

I've lost a lot of faith in the political system because of this whole ordeal and I would love for the universe to prove me wrong. 

Another Blimish on My State

If you are unaware of the stupid decisions regarding women's health that are currently going on in Arizona, our state politicians are pushing a bill that will let employers choose if birth control is covered by their insurance. Additionally, this bill will eliminate the language in the current law that state that women cannot be discriminated against because they use birth control. Click here or here for more coverage of this story and here to view the actual bill.

There are so many reasons why this pisses me off. Let's go through them one by one, shall we?

1. Birth Control should be covered by insurance. Employers, honestly, should want their employees to have as few children as possible, right? Think about it. Any time a female employee has a baby, that's maternity leave and productive is hurt. I don't know about you, but at my work, I am given certain projects because I don't have kids. My manager knows I can travel easily for work because I don't have to worry about who's covering for me with my kids. I don't have to leave early to pick them up. I don't have to work from home when they are sick. My manager should want to make sure that I have the tools to be kid-free as long as I choose to. Also, birth control is used for more than just preventing pregnancy. I was on birth control pills for years to regulate my period. Other women use it to prevent painful ovarian cysts, which can cause infertility.
2. Why change the language of the law? I heard an argument that it shouldn't matter if the discrimination language is removed because federal law will still protect us. Well, that's just dumb. It's like saying you don't need side airbags in your car because the front ones should save you. Why remove a level of protect for no reason? There is absolutely no logical reason to remove it. 
3. State politicians don't know the details of the bill they are supporting. If you read the link I provided above, one of the sponsoring politicians admits that he doesn't know what the bill entails. "Pratt told us he didn't know enough about the current state and language of the bill to answer questions about it." A different "representative" then said that the ACLU is making this sound worse than it is. "'How do you motivate people?' she said. 'You motivate people by fear. This is just one thing that they're doing.'" She may be right. I may be motivated by fear. But I have every right to be scared of this stupid piece of legislation. 
4. Arizona has MUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCH bigger problems. First, we seem to always be in the bottom 10% of education in the country. Especially in math and science, which, as an engineer, hurts my soul. According to one study, we are the dumbest state in the country. Second, border security and violence is a constant issue. Since it's spring break season, there are near daily warning of college students to not go to Mexico because of the increasing drug violence. Almost every day there is another story of the conflict flowing across the border. Third, here in Tucson, we are in a constant state of trying to revitalize our downtown, but we can't get businesses to stay open long enough to make an impact. We can't seem to keep businesses and our politicians talk about it, but never do anything about it. Wait, that's wrong. We built parking garages and then argue about where the money came from after the fact. AFTER THE FACT! Our sheriff is investigating Obama's birth certificate. How that affects my life? I have no freaking clue. Why they think this is a good idea? I have no freaking clue...

So here is my plea. Please go to this website and let the Arizona legislature know how you feel. It doesn't matter if you don't live here. As a person with a sense of logic and human rights, let them know how you feel. They need to know how much of an embarrassment this has become, on a local, national, and international level. This sort of change for the sake of change is abhorrent and these people need to understand that it will not go unnoticed. 

UPDATE: My friend sent me this link. Apparently something similar is happening in Virginia and the talented women of Virginia have taken updating their congressmen with the ongoings of their vaginas through Facebook. The congressman mentioned in this article no longer allows commenting on his wall (I wonder why...), but here are links to the sponsors here in Arizona: Rep #1, Rep #2, Rep #3, Rep #4, and Rep #5 (two don't have facebook pages, how sad...). And don't worry if they don't all have campaign pages, I'm sure they would appreciate a heart-felt direct message.

Project House Update: Sampling Grays

Although we're still in the middle of working on the front rooms of our house (and by the middle, I mean we haven't done anything since my last post), we decided to pick up some samples of gray paint for the guest room. We agreed on gray because our house is quickly becoming very colorful. While the hallway is stark white, the front rooms are lemon and the great room is green (I swear I'll actually post these pics someday, maybe once it's actually clean). We wanted a guest room that's neutral, but also clean, modern, and young. Gray's the new trendy color, don't ya know? Much better than the old cream/ivory/off-white color it's currently sporting.

While we usually agree pretty quickly on a color when we look at swatches,once it's on the walls, we usually panic. It always ends up darker than we expected, and even though we do love the yellow in the entryway, we made a deal to paint on some samples from now on. So, the three winners were "Full Moon, "Gentle Rain", and "Silver Drop" (the middle colors on each chip).

Left: Full Moon - Center :Gentle Rain - Right: Silver Drop

We were both sure that "Gentle Rain" would be the color for us, but we committed to swatching at least three different colors. (Side note: don't you just love that blanket? It was waaaaaay overpriced at Target, but after thinking about it for weeks, I had to have it.)

Here's the thing: we know we're busy. We know we aren't that motivated to get this room painted. It wasn't a priority, but we could get a start on it by throwing some color up on the wall. At the same time, it's the guest room. Who know when the next time will be that the in-laws will come down for a visit? It's not impressive to have a bunch of streaky paint all over your walls.

So, we came up with either a genius or idiotic idea (still too early to tell): we painted the samples in a pattern. In an "artistic" way. Something that might pass for art if we had company.

I picked two walls and taped out two different patterns. The wall with the squares gets direct, Northern light from a window on the opposite wall and the wall with the rectangles gets very little light because it contains the window. This way, we would know what all three colors looked like in two different types of light.

Left: Silver Drop - Center: Full Moon - Right: Gentle Rain

Left: Silver Drop - Center: Full Moon - Right: Gentle Rain

(Side Note: The rectangle picture basically shows all the things that need to change in this room: the vertical blinds, the chain to the ugly ceiling fan, the hand-me-down green bedframe, the hand-me-down beat-up end table, the holes in the walls from the outlets and switches we no longer need.) (Other side note: I'm battling a cold, hence the constant box of tissues.)

Once the tape was removed, Voila! Kind-of Art!

Left: Silver Drop - Center: Full Moon - Right: Gentle Rain

Left: Silver Drop - Center: Full Moon - Right: Gentle Rain

It's hard to tell because I'm a terrible photographer, but it's a good thing we did the swatches! "Full Moon" is basically white. We have a shade of white we like, we need a gray! And "Gentle Rain", the one we loved so much? It's so dark! Much darker than we wanted. It's a color, not a neutral. No more colors! It's hard to tell from these pictures, but "Silver Drop" is the perfect shade for this space. It's clearly gray, but it's also not overpowering. The reason it's hard to see in the pictures because it is the same level of darkness as the current color, which doesn't really feel like a color.

Two downsides to this "art" method. 1) It really doesn't look like art. It looks like shapes of paint. I like it better than just random brushstrokes of paint (yay, miniroller!), but if I did this again, I'd spend more time figuring out how to lay it out. It could definitely look like art if I thought about it more. 2) Because it is taped off shapes, there is a defined edge around each color. Once we actually paint the room, it's my job to sand the edges of the shapes so they don't show through. I don't know how that happened, maybe it was a trick my husband used against me in my cold stupor, but sanding them is my job. We'll see about that...

Anyway, "Silver Drop"! Agreed?

Closet Orphans: Week of 3/10/2012

 This outfit was a total accident, but since it works, I'm going to count it!

I have a lot of trouble styling this beautiful lace cardigan I bought from ModCloth. First, I think it looks weird wearing it over any sort of sleeve. Unless it has a sleeve that is the EXACT same length or no sleeve at all, like a tank top or cami, it just doesn't look right. Secondly, I have problems working with two different patterns. While the lace is subtle, it is still a pattern, which makes it more difficult to wear it over another pattern. Lastly, it has a very classic, romantic feel so the rest of the outfit has to fit with that. And given that most of my tank tops are in very bright colors, there's really only one cami I ever wear it with. 

However, Friday morning I got a little inspired (ok, nothing in my closet was looking great and I was forced to get creative) and I threw it on over a muted floral tank top from Target. (Note: my tank top looks almost nothing like this one, but it's the closest polyvore has. It is light blue with clumps of flowers, but that's where the similarities end.) I just hooked the bottom couple of eyes on the cardigan, topped it with a long gold necklace, and instant outfit!

I really should just changed the title of this series to "Shopping in My Closet" because that's really what it has become. It's kind of nice, given my self-imposed shopping ban. Less money on clothes, more for the house, yes?

Fan of Friday: Week of 3/9/2012

Oil Rubbed Bronze

It's been slowly growing on me (AHH! Help! Get it off! Hahahahaha...). It's like black, but not as harsh and sterile. It's dirty black. It's cool brown. While the default sheen in our house being brushed stainless (brushed stainless fridge, brushed stainless microwave, brushed stainless washer and dryer), I'm thinking of keeping the brushed stainless as the standard and incorporating oil rubbed bronze in some more unconventional ways.

We've got a small breakfast nook with a round wooden table. Right now, it's got some fairly crappy white leather rolling chairs from my grandparents old house, but I want a change. We've got two beaten up mismatched wooden chairs and I think if I find two more mismatched ones at garage sales and spray paint them all oil rubbed bronze, it might be a really cool look. If it's not, I'm out $10 in cheap chairs and $5 in spray paint so it's worth the risk, right?

Project House Update: The Chandelier Dilemma

It's been awhile since I've posted about our house and we definitely have been busy these past couple of months!

This past weekend, we started tackling the front rooms of our house. This consists of the entryway, the formal living room, and the dining room. While these are three very distinct rooms that will have to be dealt with in three rather different ways, we've been lumping them together for one simple reason: they will all be the same color when we're done.

We first started talking about painting the formal living room because it probably needs the most work of any room in the house, besides the master bedroom. There were two problems we ran into when deciding on paint colors. First, the fireplace.

Living room fireplace

This is a very typical Southwest fireplace. Conical corner placement, stucco texture, the Latin tiles. We could either redo the whole fireplace or pick a color that would work with the existing feel. While the plan of record is to scrap it all eventually, it will be much easier and cheaper to just accommodate it for now.

Secondly, the living room archway opens up to the entry way and the dining room. This meant that the color across these three rooms needed to coordinate. This is actually a lot more difficult than it seems. The living room and dining room have giant windows, filling the space with bright, South facing sun through most of the day while the entry gets a small amount of indirect natural light from the small window above the door. Any darker shade would work in the living and dining rooms, but feel claustrophobic in the entryway, while a light color would be very hard to fit with the fireplace without being some shade of tan. I hate tan...

After a lot of thinking about it, we decided on one color for all three rooms and settled on a color. We started by painting the entry way because we didn't have to remove any furniture. Here's the before (including the light that came with the house):

Entry Way: Before

And here's the after (well, more like the almost finished)!

Entry Way: After (Almost)

We went with yellow! It's the perfect color for these rooms. In some light, this color almost looks off white. In others, it's deep and buttery. Against the dark wood, it's warm and almost has that Southwest feel we needed, but against clean white, it's almost cool and country cottage-y.We also decided to paint the ceiling bright white. If we had painted it yellow, it would have made the room feel smaller, but the white keeps it light and airy. You may also notice how shiny the paint is. We accidentally bought semi-gloss and didn't realize it until it was too late, but it actually works in our favor because it reflects light in the small space and lightens it up.

(Side Note: I am a horrible photographer. The color really doesn't come across well in the picture above. When compared to my stubby, little hand, this is a more realistic color.)

My crazy, little hand. Oh, and some paint!

The problem we have now is choosing a new light fixture. We were originally going to put the old one back up until we found one we liked. However, once we got it off the ceiling and got a close up look at it, we can't bring ourselves to put it back up. It's just too wrong.

So, after a late night trip to Lowe's on Saturday night we came home with this beauty.

Lowes Pendant Lamp

It looks vintage, classic, simple, and unique. It was everything we wanted, but it was just too small. With a diameter less than a foot, it just didn't fill the space.

Now, with almost every free second I have, I've been researching chandeliers and pendant lights. But I just can't seem to find anything that feels right. Here are some of my favorites, but I'm not really sold on any of them. There's no real theme, but they all have the same things (for the most part) in common with the one we are returning: vintage, classic, simple, and unique.

Any opinions?

CB2 Firefly Pendant

Lamps Plus Maxim Meridian

Lamps Plus Possini Encircled Crystal

Lamps Plus Kichler Fremont Olde Bronze

Overstock Hanging Bloom

Overstock Crystal Ball Chandelier

World Market Metal Bel

Pottery Barn 16 Jar Pendant

Closet Orphans: Week of 3/3/2012

I actually wore this outfit to work yesterday and it included not one, but TWO of my closet orphans: my green silk tunic and my amber necklace.

My tunic is actually a lot different than the one shown, but it was the closest I could find in polyvore. Mine has short drawstring sleeves, is darker and grayer in color, has larger blossoms, and is silky shiny. And the necklace is nothing like this one. It's a hunk of polished amber on a chain that my mom bought for me at the annual Tucson gem show (biggest gem show in the world baby!). And it encases a tiny little fly so that I can one day grow my own dinosaur!

Anyway, here's why I think this outfit works:

• Since the top is flowy and loose, it's best to pair it with tighter pants to avoid looking sloppy. 
• With skinny jeans, I don't pair it with heels if I'm wearing it to work. It's just a little too casual and unprofessional. These flats work well, though, because with my skin tone, they are basically nude with a hint of pizazz. If I were wearing this around town on a weekend, I would definitely step it up a notch with some platform sandals.
• The neckline on the tunic is very high so I wear my hair up to show off my neck. 
• While you would think that the color of the tunic and the color of the amber wouldn't work well together, it actually looks amazing. I would have never thought to pair the two, but with the little bit of purple that is in the blossoms, it really connects.

If I have the time, energy, and motivation this weekend, I fully intend on spending a good amount of time organizing my closet and purging the stuff I just don't want to wear anymore. And replacing all of the hangers. Dan had a mental snap last weekend and decided all of our hangers needed to match, so he went to Walmart and bought dozens and dozens of them. He's a weird fella sometimes...

Fan of Friday: Week of 3/2/2012

Gardening! Last weekend, I hedged my bets (ha! hedge! I'm so punny!) that all the chilly days were behind us and headed to the local nursery. $40 later, I've got a dozen petunias, some snap peas, mustard greens, spinach, and another mallow shrub.

I need to update this picture because my petunias have definitely overgrown this cinder block now

This was a fairly risky trip because I only know how to really keep the petunias and the mallow alive, the others were in grave danger. Either they would dry up or other animals that frequent Turtle's home would eat them (or be demolished when Turtle wakes up in the upcoming weeks).

So, every day after work, I spend about an hour watering, weeding, and doing whatever it takes for these plants to thrive. I need them to grow big and strong before Turtle finds them. I need my peas to start climbing the tree. I need the parsley to straighten up. I need the spinach to take root.

Hopefully, once they are a little more established, they won't need this much constant care because, although it's very relaxing, I can only take good care of them for so long.

My next task will be to plant some really pretty vine-like plants on the front of the house. That'll be even more risky because what happens if I keep them alive long enough to grow up the whole house and then they die? Am I just stuck with a dead vine-y house?

When Bad Decisions Happen to Good People

A couple of weeks ago, two of my friends got engaged. And while I'm happy for them, I can't imagine that this is going to end well.

It's not like there are big, red flags that they're ignoring, but it's the little things. They've been together long enough, at least a couple of years, and they live together, so I guess an engagement is the next logical step. I also know that she's been pushing for a ring. I can't count that as a bad sign, a sign of desperation, because I was incredibly pushy about my ring (but to my defense, who takes a girl ring shopping and then waits 3 months to propose?).

Although they've built a life and are now building a future together, I just feel in my gut that they are going to implode. To my knowledge, they are on the same page about the major things and have a lot in common, those are just the walls of their house. The visible part you can change and compromise if you need to. It's their foundation I don't trust. Their personalities just don't mesh well. They don't complete each other.

I guess that's not fair. One of them does complete the other, but not vice versa and that's what worries me. One day, the one who isn't complete will wake up, be unhappy and not know why, go home the coworker they've been innocently flirting with for weeks, and destroy the formerly complete one.

Here's the thing: what am I supposed to do about it? There nothing I can do about it, right? It's just a feeling, a reading of this couple. My gut is rarely wrong, but that's not enough, is it? It's not enough to make two people question the biggest decision of their lives. If it were their own gut, yes, but it's not my place to interfere. Neither of them are going to come to me asking for advice. I can't subtly hint at taking more time to think this through. I'm on the outside, as it should be.

So now I'm in the awkward of just sitting back and watching the storm roll in.  If it weren't so sad, I could make good money betting on it. Aw, screw it. I'd give it five years, max.