Once you label me, you negate me

I heard this earlier this morning on Super Sooooul Sunday (such a breath of fresh air!), "Once you label me, you negate me." Often times people identify themselves by their occupation, political party, gender, and even religion. Haven't you heard someone say, "I'm a sales rep," and "I'm a Republican," or even "I'm a Christian!"? While our occupation, political and religious beliefs share apart of us, these titles are not who we are.
 
I love people for who they are, not what they are - a play on words, perhaps? While this statement might walk a fine line, the fact of the matter is, I find too often people proclaiming that they're "this" or "that," and not showing the true essence of themselves. Call your religion what you will - scream from the mountain tops that you're a Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, I will not blink an eye. It's when you show me who you are when I truly appreciate you for you, and not the lable society attaches to you.

"Once you label ME, you negate ME."

-- Our First Place --

My fiance & I purchased our first place a little over two weeks ago....& let the walls come down! We dived in, head first, into our first major renovation: The Kitchen....dun-dun-duuuun, hah!
The kitchen when we purchased the house:

.....& here's our progression thus far - Carpets up (oh yea, we're also taking up ALL the carpet in the house & sanding while this is going on - eek!), and the built in bookshelves coming dooooown:

Bookshelves down, closet gone!

Bulkheads out & cabinets coming down:

We're extending the kitchen/eating area into the following room:

Shot 2:

Shot 3:

So that means....we're working on renovating this room as well:) Good-bye cedar paneling! [Don't worry, my brother-in-law is making good use of that cedar - lining their closets!] Hello...wood beams:)

Not sure if you noticed - there's a half bath off the hallway, next to the kitchen. While it's nice to have a half bath available on the first floor, it's not aaaaalways that nice when it's, literally, a step outside of the kitchen (ick!) - so we're moving the placement of the original fridge over to where the hallway once was (after we drywall the opening, of course). Our much needed wall in progress:

Close - up:

...moving onto the floors! Before:

Freshly sanded!

& here comes the stain:

(We'll touch up those baseboards, I'll keep you posted;))

Phew, what a work in progress! While we've endeavored on a massive undertaking, we couldn't have done it without the help of our family! They have been beyond helpful, words cannot justify the help they've contributed: Completely rewiring the house (!!!), taking up weeds/landscaping, antiquing our kitchen cabinets (I'll have pictures later!), demolition, trips to Home Depot & Lowes, the list goes on! We are soooo lucky to have all their support & help, we wouldn't know where we'd be without them?! Probably here:

Hah! I'll keep everyone posted on the new & latest developments of our house. I've been inspired by so many of you bloggers out there, that I can only hope to return the favor!

Regards,

Kate:)