Decorating and Those Short Shorts...

I love decorating our home. I can't help myself when there are sales at places like Homegoods and TJ Maxx. When I was younger I used to shop for clothes. Tons of clothes. Clothes that I look back on and wonder, "what the hell was I thinking?"- I was the queen of graphic tees and everything Abercrombie & Fitch. When I started to lose a lot of weight in high school I wore short shorts. I still look back and wonder how I was let out of the house in those short shorts. I put on those barely theres a few months ago once I accomplished my weight loss goal and found out that I fit in those size six A&F shorts from when I was 17. Oh yea, I fit in those yellow shorts and felt like a million dollars. I met my ultimate goal. To always be able to fit into these shorts, is my way of measuring my health and success. But wow, are they short!

Hubby says they look great. But then again, I believe he thinks I would look great in a pair of oversized sweatpants and his old t-shirts. Actually, he tells me that he loves me in those exact things because that's my normal garb for sleeping. He is pretty amazing.

Back to decorating. I've been looking for an entryway table for months now and I haven't found anything that has really caught my eye. The things I have found are in the price range of $400. A price I'm not really willing to spend for a table that will most likely just collect our keys. So I've held off the need to just buy something already. I'm glad I did. Yesterday I headed into TJ Maxx and found that they've expanded there home decor section. Although I still like to randomly buy clothes (albeit a lot cheaper than the clothes I wore in my teens), I was thrilled to see more stuff for the home. I found a table I loved, but it was with a brown finish. I thought to myself, "only if this was in black, I would totally buy it!" Then I turned around and found that it was indeed in black! ChaChing!!!! For $79 I purchased this amazing little table.

And after struggling to fit it into my trunk and then successfully in the passenger seat of my little two-door Civic, I finally was able to bring this treasure home. Into the kitchen entryway it went. With my brand-new tea set placed on top and my mother's pitcher and flower bud vase, I am happy to say that I have the look I was going for. Our house is finally starting to look like a real honest to goodness home. I finally have the little nooks and crannies coming together so each little corner of our house is feeling like us. With a collection of things from my mom and my grandmother, plus little finds that I've been able to obtain, it finally feels like ME; the combination of all things woman from our family.

My mom also gave me this vase that matches the pitcher, bud vase, and bowl (that's in the center of our dining room table).

For Christmas, she had the flower shop that we used for our wedding (and every other occasion) put silk flowers into it that are an exact replica of my wedding day bouquet. This is one of the best presents ever. And the red candy jar next to it is a gift from my brother. When I was a kid my grandmother had a dish exactly like this. For a wedding present he found one at an antique shop. It was a perfect gift. I love these things. They remind me of being in my old home when I was a kid. They remind me of family. This is another one of those nooks that I can't stop staring at. Reminded how thankful I am for all the things God has blessed us with, I'm off to church. I love our home.

Another Month in Our Home...

Every month my hubby announces that it's time to pay the mortgage and that by successfully doing so, we're "allowed" to stay in our house for another month. We're always early with our mortgage payment in the fear that the payment might not get to the bank in time. So now I bring the payment down to the bank personally. But it still has to be early. I think he still can't believe that this house is ours. That he owns something and isn't renting. For 36 years of his life he's never lived in a home. I think it's a shock to his system. One of the quirks of my hubby. Another reason to love him.

We finally hung some of our wedding pictures in our bedroom. Although I envisioned a collage of many photographs, the hubby wasn't showing the same enthusiasm. After weeks of trying to find the right hooks to hang the pictures with, he finally found ones that he trusted. So I now have some wedding photos on our wall and I couldn't be happier. And yes, that's my childhood teddy bear, Snuckems, laying on my side of the bed. That's my buddy. Don't judge.

Here are the photos that are on the wall by the AMAZING Mike Bloom. Words could not describe how I feel and how everyone we know feels about his photography. He captured our day better than we ever thought possible. You will not regret checking out his site.

It's a New Day...

I've been a little busy lately. I decided to reinstall my InDesign program that I used for my copyediting and layout class, in order to play around with some ideas I've had. One was to make a new banner for my blog. I think it turned out pretty good. What do you think? The other InDesign project was to do a drink menu for the restaurant I work at. Business has been great, but having a drink menu on a table is like bringing a kid to the check out lane with candy at Walmart; you know somehow they just can't resist. I have to do a little editing, but I'm pretty happy with the outcome, so hopefully they'll be coming to a table near you. Well, if you eat at the restaurant I work at.

On top of being sick for the past few days, I've been emotionally drained as well. My internship with the magazine is overwhelming. I just can't understand why the PR people for these companies don't contact you when you're basically offering free publicity. I've sent out so many e-mails in the past two months. So many are unanswered. But I have to admit, when the editor/publisher showed me the mock up of the one section I worked on and I saw my name in the byline, I couldn't help but smile from ear to ear. I know it's cheesy. I know it's nothing too exciting other than product information, but look mom, I picked those products! I wrote that product information! Pretty exciting stuff right? Not really, but it did make me smile. And I'm sure my mom will too. But I've found out through this internship that this is not for me. I want to write. I want to be creative. I want to not stare at computer screens looking for products that I'll never be able to afford. I want to write about lives and impact lives. One day I'll get there.

I'm trying to live with this in mind

My hubby is a great person to get advice from. At the beginning of last semester I thought I was going to absolutely fail all of my classes, but the hubby wouldn't let me get down on myself. I was wrong about failing the semester. Even though it was my hardest, it was also my best. I grew so much as a writer and had amazing teachers. I also learned to use InDesign, which I plan on playing around with more and more. I may not be great at it yet, but it's just fun to play around with.

Right now I'm trying to get things together after having contractors in the house. I still need to call the painter and I still need to have the new mirror put up. I'm still staring at the plastic covered shower wall when I take a bath. But then I sit there in the warm bubbles with the jets pressing against my skin and I actually forget that this is what I'm looking at...

Under the Weather...

So I'm sick. Again. As my husband says I'm the healthiest, sick person on the planet. For some reason I can eat healthy, exercise, and get nine hours of sleep, but somehow end up to be sick as a dog. Maybe it's because I had a busy weekend at work or because I'm stressed out about the tub situation that is occurring in our house. Why was I busy at work? Because we had a great band on Saturday and on Sunday the Colts and Jets played. I work in Jets territory. The husband is a Jets fan. Everyone around me on Sunday was a J-E-T-S fan. But then there is me. An honest to goodness, COLTS fan. I love my Colts. I love my football. So to say the least, Sunday was definitely an enjoyable day. But Exhausting! Why am I stressed about the tub? Well, the tub is perfect. It's in and is bubbly and warm. But the company we ordered the walls for our tub from happened to send us two right side walls and somehow forgot the left one. I know what you're thinking, "Just switch it upside down"- nope, not possible because we got a higher end version that has molding on it. No switching around. Just a lot of waiting around. Waiting for lying salespeople to get their shit together and waiting for this company to finally deliver the right piece. Do you think it's possible that these things could contribute to me getting sick? Yea, I think so too. But until everything is settled, I can still take a bath and enjoy my time in it's bubbly goodness. I think I've without a doubt fallen for this tub. I can't wait to show pictures of the final product. Until then, I have plastic and duct tape on the wall without a wall. It's not fun to look at, but I can still enjoy it with my eyes closed.

Oh What a Feeling...

I'm feeling really good right now. Upbeat. Optimistic. Just plain old good. I spent the day with my mom doing some shopping for the house (well for my bathtub that will be put in exactly a week from today!) I love being able to spend time with mom and enjoying the wisdom that she has from her heartaches and downfalls to her optimism and loving heart. I can't think of anyone better to learn from. I just love being with her. We hit up Homegoods (with no success for the entryway table I'm looking for) our favorite jewelry store and then a plumbing store so I could purchase the faucets for my new tub. Oh yea, my new tub. Oh lovely, warm, bubbly tub. I always get a little sidetracked when I think about soaking in it, my bad. Avocado turkey burgers were on the plate for dinner. Overall it was a great day. Especially since I went to the dentist after two years with a clean bill of health other than an old filling that needs to be replaced. I just worry about my teeth after having an accident when I was thirteen that almost tore them out of my mouth. Memories. Sigh. I guess it couldn't be too perfect of a day.

Tonight I went to Jen Murphy with my best bud and bride to be. I love the feeling that I get after a workout with Jen. I just wish I could motivate myself to do it ALL the time when I'm free. On a good note, the bride to be and me are also planning on stepping up for some more one on one sessions with Jen. Here's to my beach body for our next trip to Aruba in June. Can't wait to feel even better in shape.

Getting Back into the Swing of Things...

Let me be honest, I've been trying to slack lately. I've been trying to cuddle up inside my robe and blankets and keep inside the house as much as possible. I keep thinking that doing these things are going to make me feel better, that this laziness is going to make me feel like I'm on vacation. But to be honest, it's put me in a funk. An honest to goodness funk. So these past couple of days I've been determined to get out of it. I've finally taken down the Christmas tree, I refinished the pantry that I bought a few weeks ago, I trimmed my hair, and I've gotten back into my workout routine. And as good as it felt to sit on the couch and do nothing, it's felt even better to get out of this funk. Do you ever get this way? Do you get the feeling that no matter what you do, it's not enough? So you'd rather just sit on the couch and watch day turn to night without ever leaving the comfort of home. Oh winter, how I hate you and the funk you put me in! But I refuse to let it bring me down. I'm officially declaring myself, funkless.

Here's what I've been up to...

I bought this pantry a few weeks back and finally got around to doing a finish on it. With the unbearably cold weather, this took longer than I predicted to dry and a second coat was definitely needed. I'm still going to work on "antiquing" it a little bit with some sandpaper, but I'm really happy with the end result, and the extra storage.

I bought some new bed side table lamps for me and the hubby. He's never had a lamp and I've been looking for some matching ones for a long time now. These were a steal at TJ Maxx for $34. Once I get these pictures hung, I'll show the end result of how our bedroom has turned out over the past year of so of living in our home. I just love shopping to help get me out of my funk...

The office with my hubby's new computer is next on my list. Although we are definitely keeping the desk (it was my grama's and I will never part with it) I need to get some paint color on the walls to make the space more inviting.

These pictures are finally framed from our wedding, now all I'm waiting for is for the hubby to get out his trusty hammer and nails to hang them. I can't wait to have some memories from our wedding day hanging on our walls.

So much to do so little time. At least I'm finally getting the ball rolling and not just working on the magazine that I'm interning for. There's just so much research involved that by the end of the day, there seems to be no me time. I guess I finally realized I was using my "me" time to sit on the couch and do nothing and that was defeating the whole purpose of me time. Soon (two weeks to be exact) I'll be soaking up the bubbles of my new jetted tub. The date is set for two Fridays from now and I can't wait. Now I'm off to do some pilates and pick out some bathtub pictures before work. The sun is shining, but I know it's deceiving because it's still unbearably cold outside. But I've gotta suck it up, I've got things to do!

Happy New Year...

to everyone! I'm so excited to start the new year. I'm hoping that 2010 will be a happy year. Although 2009 was filled with the happy wedding celebration of my hubby and I, it was also filled with sadness, loss, and sickness. Let's hope that 2010 is a year filled with only happy memories.

This year I plan on doing some reinventing, decorating, and ambitious plans... less facebook and more of picking up the guitar and finally learning how to play... more writing for myself and for my goals... doing projects around the house (like the one I just started: a new pantry that I'm finishing myself, I can't wait to show the before and afters)... learning how to speak another language (here's to hoping rosetta stone is all it's cracked up to be). I'm going to do all the things that I promised myself I would start doing once I graduated college.

So here's to 2010 and all the things I plan to do, not the things I plan to stop doing or plan to take away, but to the things that will make my life and my hubby's life a little more spectacular!