Ikea Shopping

I love Ikea. I could live there – really who couldn’t? They even have bedrooms, kitchens, bathrooms and more set up for living. Yea the TVs and Computers might not work but still they’ve got a lot going for you already. So this past Saturday Drew and I went down to see our friends Serah & Gabe in Kenosha. Since we were half there already, we figured we’d add another hour to our driving time to visit Schamburg, IL.

We arrived at opening (10am) – did some exploring and got their awesome 99 cent breakfast, Drew even said you couldn’t even buy all those items at the grocery store for 99 cents. The main reason we went is because we are thinking of getting the Karlstad sofa sectional for our living room – I’ve seen it on a lot of blogs recently and I love the fact it’s got modern lines to it, the grey color, and it’s slipcover, meaning you can wash it. I really love the set-up and layout of Young House Love’s Karl sofa, as they call him.

young house love huge sofa ikea karlstad

My goal for this trip was to get Drew to fall in love with it. Right after sitting down he said it himself, I really like this one. (SCORE!) We also tried out a few other couches because we’ll need to eventually get some new ones for the family room. Here are a few others we liked.

Also while we were there, we wanted to check out the Vittsjo pieces. I’d recently seen them done in numerous ways via Pinterest and was wanting them for our new house. We were all ready to get them when we got down to the lower level – and saw the box was 100in long. Yeah, that definitely won’t fit in our little scion. Luckily my parents were up in MN near that Ikea over the weekend and brought home two of the pieces we wanted – just one more to get next time we bring a larger vehicle.

I’m hoping to paint those yellow, like the photo below from Centsational Girl, as long as that goes with our color scheme in our living room – still got to figure out the vision for that room.
colorful vittsjo shelving

Overall our trip to Ikea was a success, even though we ended up only buying ourselves cinnamon rolls that time – but we’ll be back! Funny: when we got in the car to leave I discovered this facebook post Drew posted – that kid! The trip wasn’t that bad, no idea what he is talking about! 🙂

Blast from the Past

Today we got to see our amazing friends Serah and Gabe – we drove down to Ikea, and on the way back had lunch with them and to see their adorable little twins. Somehow we brought up this play (Sound of Music) where Drew had to wear makeup that was really hard to remove. He even had to go to Applebees wearing it and look like a complete weirdo. Also, I just now realized the huge height difference between us…. so much so that I barely made it into the photo. Thank you, photographer-whoever-you-were.

Drew Graduated!

msoe 2012 graduate mechanical engineer drew wyler

Today has been a day we’ve both been waiting for, Drew’s graduation. At 10pm on May 26th, he walked across the stage and received his diploma (well – actually they mail that later) as a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. I’m sure you’ve heard, but he will starting officially full time at Milwaukee Electric Tool as a Mechanical Engineer on June 6th!

I’m so proud of him and the crazy amount of work he has done – most of it I still don’t understand, but I try! Congrats Drew, I’m sooo super proud of you – now here is to a hopefully semi normal life for awhile 🙂

msoe 2012 graduate mechanical engineer ceremony

msoe 2012 graduate mechanical engineer drew wyler

Drew’s Graduation Announcements

Drew will officially be a graduate of Milwaukee School of Engineering on May 26th, and we can’t wait! We are so excited I designed our own unique grad announcements instead of getting the standard white ones that the graduation cap and gown company gives you. We also wanted to update our friends and family about Drew’s job at Milwaukee Tool as well.

I also took some photos to use on his announcement and include a blooper reel, he’s pretty funny and is always making me laugh.

Goals 2012

With the start of the new year comes new goals, not just new years resolutions, but real life goals. Here are some of our biggest goals this year:

TOGETHER:
1. Pay off Vanessa’s School Loans
2. Take a vacation
3. Save up for a down payment on a house!
4. Get better at doing our laundry and keeping our house clean
5. Go rock climbing together
6. Start to pay off Drew’s loans

DREW:
1. Graduate MSOE
2. Start at Milwaukee Tool
3. Relax

VANESSA:
1. Read a book in entirety
2. Blog more to document our lives
3. Sew something
4. Do less freelance

Drew’s Job!!!

We are soo0000 excited to say that Drew just found out he was offered a position at Milwaukee Electric Tool as a Mechanical Engineer. AND he accepted!!! He’ll begin his position in the Rotary Hammer Department upon graduation in June of 2012.

Drew briefly interned with Vanessa’s uncle Scott, just learning the ropes and the design process at Milwaukee Tool in October 201o. He began a second internship in June 2011 in the Rotary Hammer Department. There he designed, manufactured, assembled, and tested a rotary hammer prototype. Towards the end of his internship, he was asked to stay on through the school year. In October, he began the interview process for the position, which included numerous events and four 1-hour long interviews at the end.

He is super excited, because he loves the people he gets to work with and that it continues to challenge him and that he gets to apply all he has learned to this job. As he finished out his school year, he keeps in mind how things he is learning can benefit Milwaukee Electric.

Good News for Drew!

Drew has been doing a summer internship at Milwaukee Electric Tool this summer, working with the hammer engineering department. He is learning and doing some pretty snazzy stuff… stuff that I have no idea what it is. Either way, I, Vanessa appreciate him and that he had this awesome opportunity (and the fact that he did three summer classes this summer – go Drew!).

And so the good news is that he was asked to stay on for the fall as an intern again. He had to rework his school schedule to make it possible, but we are super stoked! No more weekends at Brennans for him!

This is what he has looked like for most of the summer… well until now that his classes are finally done and he can enjoy the last month of summer!