My husband, the rock star

This is a boring, no picture post because I'm at work (oops, don't tell), but I had to share what an amazing rock star my husband is.

I left LA on a red eye in the wee hours of Thursday morning to spend a long weekend in Connecticut and New York for some family visiting and a bachelorette party/bridal shower.  Sean stayed home in LA since he didn't finish work for the summer until Friday, and bachelorette parties aren't really his speed anyway.

When I talked to him over the weekend, he kept mysteriously mentioning a surprise.  He had mentioned possibly tackling painting the office while I was gone, so I was cautiously optimistic to see some fresh paint when I got home.

Flash forward to late Monday night, when Sean picked a somewhat cranky Julie up at the airport after a long trip and a stressful delay in Dallas where I almost missed my connection.  To my surprise, there was a toilet in the back seat of the Civic - in a box, of course.  Sean told me that he had planned to replace the leaky and old (and probably horribly inefficient) toilet in the main bathroom, but at the last minute on Monday the plumber recommended switching toilets so it wasn't done yet.  He said he was hoping to surprise me with it but it just didn't work out.  As a side note, I think it's funny that after 8+ years together and buying a home, a new toilet counts as a special surprise...and it really was, I'm super excited to get a new toilet with separate flushes for #1 and #2. 

I also figured that this was the mystery surprise Sean had been referring to all weekend.

Then we got home.

And I discovered that Sean had:

• Stained the entire new fence a beautiful dark brown color (a job the contractor had quoted us $1-2k for)
• Painted the shiny silver fence supports
• Painted the ugly brick hearth in front of the fireplace (an idea I had and thought he didn't like)
• Painted the office (including the trim)
• Painted the guest room
• Painted a bunch of yellowed trim in the living room
• Painted over the LIME GREEN paint in the bathroom (which apparently took a coat of primer and 3+ coats of paint)
• Done an insane amount of nail/screw removal and spackling to complete the above
• Given both doozins a much needed (and much cute) summer haircut

I was/am seriously SHOCKED.  Did I mention his summer vacation only officially started on Saturday, meaning he was literally working non-stop to complete all of the above in THREE DAYS before I returned home from the East Coast.  Wow, just wow.

I am a lucky lucky lucky girl.

(and is it bad that I kind of want to book another trip next weekend so I can come home to more surprises?)

Pictures of the above, as well as other updates, to come as soon as I unbury myself from work after taking 3 days off.  Blogging right now is not helping.