My So-Called Blog

News

2012-02-06T17:24:00.004-05:00

This is a scary post for me to write because it makes something that I've been safely thinking about doing but not taking action on more of a reality. But let me back up.

First things first, I don't post much anymore. Have you noticed? No, because most of the readers I had in the beginning probably moved on to blogs that posted more regularly, and I don't blame them. When I was posting a few times a week, it was because I was doing creative things in my spare time that I was excited about and I wanted to share them. Are you starting to put it together? I hit a dry spell creatively and therefore had nothing to write about.

But then in 2007 I decided to do a painting of a friend's dog June as a birthday gift. I had a small canvas already so I gave it a shot. She really liked it. My mom's birthday was a few weeks later, so I thought, okay, I'll paint a bird for her! She loves birds and she loved the painting. Another friend's birthday was a few weeks later, so I thought, I bet she'd love a painting of her dog Zoe...let me tell you, I was on a roll!!

Then 3 years passed. Yup. Classic Libby style.

But then in 2010 I got the itch to paint another dog, and my friend Al was coming to town, so I painted her dog Bandit. I was so scared that the other 3 paintings had been flukes and was pleasantly surprised when Bandit turned out well.

Another year passed, and the itch came back. My friends Barry and Mike were taking care of Ruby again, and I wanted to do something to let them know how much I appreciate them taking care of my little blind, elderly dog. So I painted their girl, Dusty.

That's when the wheels started turning in my head. Maybe I should turn this into a business. No, that's too scary...what if all those others paintings were flukes. Then a friend posted a super adorable picture of his dog Rhonda that was begging to be turned into a painting and I thought, Okay. Paint this dog and if you like how it turns out, it will be time to put that fear aside and make something happen.

I like how it turned out. And I am starting an Etsy shop.

!!!!!

That is a super scary thing to put out there, but its time. And today I bought 15 canvasses so there's no turning back now.

Of course there is a lot that needs to happen before I can start accepting orders. I need to do a ton of research about how selling on Etsy works, and I need to decide how much I should charge, and oh yeah - I need to come up with a name! Suggestions/advice on any and all of those things is more than welcome.

So that's it! That's my news. I am excited.

Kitchen floor

2012-01-11T16:33:00.004-05:00

I was thinking about placing my order with Modularity for a black & white checkerboard floor this week, but then I got scared. I don't know why its so hard for me to make a decision! I guess part of it is that I'm worried all you'll see when you walk into the kitchen is FLOOR! And I really don't want that to take over the room because I like the cabinets and the wall color so much. Plus it will cost a lot to send the tiles back if they don't work.

I came across this today and I really like some of the designs...but I also know that whenever I start seriously considering an out of the ordinary design I end up pitching it because it will compete with the cabinets.

Maybe all my fear is coming from the fact that I've gotten used to the drab, forgettable floors that are in there now and something bold will look fabulous. Aghh! Decisions!!

Ho ho ho!

2011-12-25T08:00:00.000-05:00

Wishing you a wonderful holiday season and a happy new year to you and yours :)

Finally, I am satisfied!

2011-12-03T12:34:00.006-05:00

Have you ever had one of those rooms that you just can't figure out what to do with? The guest room has been that room for me for the past 4 years. First it was just a den with a futon, and I painted it yellow not long after we bought the house. Not pretty. Over the next few years, I painted it the blue/green that it is now, hung drapes that my mom got for us, brought in the vintage pink metal desk, and put an iron headboard on the bed. All seemingly good improvements, but the room still just felt like a sad mix of random things shoved in a room. I toyed with the idea of painting the walls for a 3rd time, but eventually decided that it wouldn't work with the drapes, and it wasn't an option to remove them because they had been such a generous gift from my mom.

So a couple months ago my friend Stacy was over and I was complaining about the guest room...telling her all my ideas and how none of them felt right. I had been obsessing over it for so long that I needed a fresh perspective. She said that the biggest problem in the room wasn't the wall color or the drapes - it was that the room had no focal point. DING DING! She hit the nail on the head. Because this is a guest room, she suggested that I make the bed the focal

point and really go all out on it, and that's what I did!

I already had the Missoni zig zag pillows from Target...something I bought on that frenzied day that the collection was released as a consolation for the zig zag throw I really wanted being sold out at both Target locations I went to. And now I'm happy I didn't get that throw because I like this so much more.

Then I ordered the chevron duvet cover from West Elm and had to wait 2 months for it to arrive because it was on backorder. Super frustrating but well worth the wait. The throw is something I got at a friend's yard sale last year. The funny thing about that is I bought a total of 7 throws trying to find the right one and it ended up being one I already had!

The next big change was the headboard. I painted the one I had I think 4 or 5 different colors, finally settling on oil rubbed bronze. After having it up in the room for a few weeks, I realized it didn't matter what color it was...it was too ornate for the room.

So off I went to find a new one. I ended up buying a brass headboard for $10 at the Habitat for Humanity thrift store and painting it charcoal grey.

I freaked out when I brought it in after priming and painting it only to realize that it didn't fit on the bed frame, but a few weeks later I rigged it with a piece of wood painted the same grey and it works great.

The lamps are vintage pink ceramic lamps I got on Ebay, and the shades were $9 each on clearance at Kirkland's.

I like how they are a subtle nod to the pink desk without being in your face pink (just like the desk). I discovered that its hard to find pink stuff that doesn't scream baby girl's room.

I also picked up another vintage lamp for the dresser and organized my jewelry in my grandmother's old jewelry box. I never posted pictures of that part of the room because my jewelry was all over the place and the lamp was ugly and sitting on a box because it was too short. It also had a binder clip on it to keep a piece of fabric over the shade. Classy! :)

Finally (and this happened yesterday), I found an awesome set of Syroco flower wall hangings from 1964 that are the cherry on top of the bed. I LOVE them. They add even more drama to the bed, and they tie in the color of the drapes.

And that's it! Again, a big thank you to Stacy for helping me figure this room out. I really don't think I could have done it without you! I'm so glad to finally feel content with the room, and now I'm ready to have a house guest over to enjoy it. So...who's it gonna be?? :)

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-25T15:36:00.003-05:00

This year Seth and I hosted Thanksgiving at our house and it was so much fun! We had green bean almondine, whole wheat couscous with cranberries and pecans, and wine...

...deviled eggs, Parmesan crusted butternut squash, roasted broccoli with pine nuts, turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes...

...and of course a fake turkey for me and Seth (a Quorn Turk'y roasted in the oven with olive oil, sage, and s&p).

My sister Lana was a huge help in the kitchen, as was my sweet mom.

I was in the kitchen cooking from 9:30am until 2:30pm, and I loved every minute of it.

I love Christmas, but I might just have to pick Thanksgiving as my favorite holiday. Its just hard to beat a full day of cooking, eating, being together, and remembering all the people I have in my life to be thankful for!

Thoughts on stuff

2011-11-02T10:44:00.003-05:00

Every day this week I have been day dreaming about going home and getting rid of a bunch of stuff, and every night I get home, cook dinner, and then realize that I just don't have the energy to start a project like that a few hours before its time to hit the sack. Its frustrating having to wait until the weekend to do a lot of things, and I worry that by the time the weekend arrives, I will have lost my motivation (which happens alllll the time). But I really hope I don't lose my motivation this time...I feel such a strong urge to purge! Not that I'm a pack rat or a dreaded hoarder, but I still want to have less. I want to open a closet or a drawer and see unused space, and I want to know that there is nothing under the bed. Wish me luck this weekend!

And on an unrelated note, the guest room redo is really coming together! The duvet cover should arrive in a few weeks (stupid back order), I found vintage lamps for the bedside tables and for my dresser, and the bed frame has been spray painted oil-rubbed bronze. One day I'd love to replace that bed with something simpler, but for now it works. Here's a (very small) sneak peek:

One of these lamps will go on my dresser in front of the mirror. It is the perfect size, the pale pink references the pink metal desk, but mostly I'm happy about the deal I got. I've had my eye on these lamps for almost 5 years but they were too pricey at $75, and they finally went on sale! Sometimes it pays to be patient :)

Basil Hummus

2011-10-27T18:45:00.005-05:00

Its supposed to frost this weekend, so I figured I better use up the rest of the basil from the garden before it was too late. Since I'm trying to stay away from cheese these days, pesto wasn't an option, so I opted for basil hummus instead.

I didn't have the full 2 cups of basil that the recipe called for, plus my food processor is one of those crappy attachments for my blender, so it didn't turn out the way it was probably supposed to (not green and much thicker). But it sure does taste good!

bouncy

2011-10-15T16:42:00.002-05:00

Its no secret to my close friends that I became mildly obsessed with Beyonce's Single Ladies video. I'm not normally a get-obsessed-with-videos kind of person, nor am I a Beyonce freak. But come on, that video was amazing! And now I'm obsessed with her new one.

Can you blame me? :)

outdoor activities

2011-10-15T15:35:00.001-05:00

Decided that I needed some dark brown on my toes for fall and some sparkles on my fingers just because.

yummy fall cooking

2011-10-11T16:39:00.001-05:00

I am incapable of roasting a normal amount of veggies for two people.

Same goes for soup beans in the crock pot.

Good thing we love leftovers! :)

fun in the backyard on a perfect fall evening

2011-10-10T16:58:00.002-05:00

Yes, I married a monkey :)

I love you so much, family!

new project...gone awry

2011-10-08T19:18:00.007-05:00

Today/tonight I painted the metal bed in the guest room 4 times. After all that work I am still not happy with it and I'm suuuuuper frustrated. I can't seem to come up with the right color combo! So I'm begging for some input. Here's what I've tried so far.

This is the "before"

1st attempt. Tried to pull in the pink/coral color from the zig zag pillows that you'll see later on in the post, and also tried to tie in the black from the rest of the room (inspired by this):

All I can say is...yuck.

2nd attempt. Decided to use a pale pink on the bottom and the coral that I previously used on the bottom on the top.

Better, but still not great.

3rd attempt. Left the pale pink on the bottom but tried a muddy version of that pink on the top.

Luckily I realized pretty quickly that this wasn't going to work so I stopped. Its not that it looked bad with the pale pink...it just didn't relate to anything else in the room. Felt random.

4th attempt. I tried to bring in the color of the drapes (sorry for the crappy picture...its night now and I didn't want to use a flash).

This reminds me of a fire hydrant and valentines day.

See what I mean? Arg.

So at this point I'm either hoping someone will come up with a brilliant color combo in the comments, or I'm just going to paint the bed 1 color and be done with it. In that case, I'm thinking it should either be pale pink or a much grey-er version of the red that's there now. I'm leaning towards pink. Or, maybe I'll just spray paint it oil rubbed bronze, which reads as black but has more dimension than just a straight black. There's already so much going on in the room..it might be nice if the bed is more neutral. Thoughts?

Oh, and in case you're new to the blog, I have a pale pink metal desk on the other side of the room (that's why I keep trying to tie it in with the bed).

UPDATE: Now that I see the painted bed in the daylight, its pretty clear to me that it doesn't need to be a color. It just competes too much with the wall color and everything else going on around it. I guess I'll be spray painting it oil rubbed bronze!

Exciting news

2011-09-10T11:08:00.002-05:00

My kitchen is in the new book, Design*Sponge at Home!!

I've been reading the blog Design*Sponge for years now, so when the author, Grace Bonney, announced that she was publishing a book, I was so excited! I pre-ordered it months ago and yesterday it finally arrived in the mail (by the way, isn't the cover so pretty??). I was flipping through last night and there it was: Libby's Kitchen.

I can't believe it! The author had asked for before & after submissions on her blog maybe a year ago or something, and I sent in every DIY project I've ever done. She asked for better pictures of my kitchen, so my friend and photographer Mike came over for a photo shoot. I sent them to Grace and she thanked me for the pictures, and that was the end of it. She certainly didn't say anything about it being chosen for the book, so I just assumed it hadn't been chosen. So that's why I was so surprised to see my little yellow kitchen on page 347 in the Before & After section of the book!

YEA! So exciting :) And regardless of the fact that my kitchen is in it, you really should get this book. Its beautifully done and has almost 400 pages of homes, DIY projects and before and afters to inspire you.

the beach

2011-08-31T11:55:00.003-05:00

aka. The Best Place On Earth

my happy place

last night on the beach...stayed from noon until 9pm

riding the wave, man

arr, matey!

I avoid the sun in my "hut"...

...Seth worships the sun

just chillin'

a fish out of water

couldn't be happier to be back at the beach together

my favorite picture, maybe ever.

Two projects, long overdue

2011-08-06T17:36:00.006-05:00

Today I tackled two very easy projects that I should have done, oh, 4 years ago when we moved in. Especially the first one. This was the state of our mailbox this morning:

To say that it needed to be replaced is a staggering understatement. The red flag was pretty much impossible to lift up and down, and the thing wasn't even attached to the post!

I had originally intended to scrape the paint off and spray paint it to look new, but it was just too rotten. So I picked up a brand new metal mailbox at Lowe's for $17 and set to work. Because of the old post set up, I couldn't drill the piece of wood used to attach the mailbox to the base (it is meant for wood posts), so I had to rig it a little. I slathered the part of the post that touches the mailbox with epoxy and hoped for the best. I still don't know if it will work (it takes 24 hours to cure), so keep your fingers crossed for me! It sure does look a little nicer, though, and I KNOW the mail carrier will appreciate a mailbox that doesn't fall off the post every time s/he opens the door.

Next I tackled the really ugly house numbers above the breezeway door.

Yikes. I debated a few options, but ultimately decided to paint the wood plaque and attach new metal letters. I looked through all my half full cans of paint and decided on a light brown color. I really like different shades of brown together, plus I thought it would play off the color of the Crab Orchard stone that covers the house.

I picked up inexpensive numbers from Home Depot and that was it! Oh, and I put a coat of varnish on the wood before installing the numbers just to make it last longer. It not a huge change, but I do think it looks a whole lot nicer than it did before.

Note: Sorry about the weird pixelating of the house numbers...I just felt weird about posting them on the internet.

the guest room

2011-08-02T12:31:00.004-05:00

When we moved in, the guest room was pink. Then I painted it yellow. Then I painted it green/blue. Now I want to paint it...pink. I know, I know! But something about the color combo in there has just always bugged me and I won't relax about it until it feels right. And it won't be the exact pink that was in the room before. It'll be more of a soft peach. I know that sounds horrible but look (via here)...

...it could be beautiful!!

I love how this room is soft b/c of the peachy pink walls but is also grounded and feels substantial with all the dark wood tones. And I really love how warm it is with the red-orange and yellow thrown in. I think that's the biggest thing that bugs me about the room right now...the blue/green on the walls isn't warm enough.

So, getting down to logistics. There are a few things that have to stay as is...the curtains and the pink desk. The good thing is that those items will fit right in with what I'm thinking. The metal headboard and the dresser can be painted (or replaced) and the bedding can be changed. The tricky part is what to do about the nightstands. I painted them a few years back and I LOVE them, but they wouldn't really work in the new room. Or maybe they would, but I'm doubting it. Of course I could always paint them another color. I used to get more attached to the way I had a room fixed up and would never dream of changing it once it was finished, but I've moved away from that these days (hence, the living room overhaul). I think its healthy to change things up every now and then.

Anyway, I'd love some feedback!

On running and other things

2011-07-21T19:13:00.004-05:00

If you know me at all, you know I hate to exercise and I am not an athlete. But as I've gotten older, I've realized that eating the right things is not enough, and even if it was, I don't want to eat the right things 100% of the time. Sometimes (meaning ideally once a week), I like to gorge on Mexican food and margaritas. So about 2 months ago I bought a 1 month pass to a gym to see if I could get into a routine and actually utilize a membership. The last and only time I joined a gym, I signed a 1 year contract and went exactly 3 times. The gym I tried has something called a cardio theatre...basically a dark room with a big screen that shows a different movie every day, and it makes the time pass while you're on the treadmill, bike, or eliptical. I tried all 3 machines and discovered that I liked the treadmill best. At first it felt like pure torture to stay on that thing for a minimum of 30 minutes, but after going a few times I actually started to enjoy it, and before I knew it I was running! I liked the simplicity of it, and I liked sweating, but mostly I liked it b/c it was the only time in the day where there was no temptation to multi task. Just run and think. Run and think. Or don't think! Zone out for 30 minutes...it doesn't matter.

After a month of the treadmill and actually going to the gym 3 times a week each week, I decided to take the plunge and sign a 3 year contract. Yikes! It was scary, but at the same time I figured that knowing I was paying $29 each month would be extra motivation to go....if not for my health, for the sake of frugality.

Then about 1 week after I signed the papers, I hurt both my knees. Ughhhhh. Very frustrating. I'd finally gotten into a good routine for the first time in my life and I had to stop and give my knees time to heal. It has now been almost 3 weeks, and today I decided to go back...not to run, but to power walk with a knee brace on. I dreaded going (see what a 3 week lapse does?), but forced myself b/c my skirt felt extra tight today, and guess what...it felt great to be back. It was hard to stop myself from running, but I knew I'd better not push it and risk re-injury. It was great for all the reasons I've already mentioned, including the thinking part.

Which brings me to the next part of this very long, picture-less post. I figured something out on the treadmill today: it is impossible to lead a truly balanced life 100% of the time. I have always been one for extremes...I'm either being super responsible and crossing all the t's and dotting all the i's in life that I'm supposed to, or I'm letting all my adult responsibilities fall by the wayside (what I like to call my f-it mode). But as I get older and I try to find more of a middle ground, its hard not to get caught up in trying to live up to a certain standard for every aspect of my life.

I'm either going to be super diligent about keeping the house clean and cooking beans, bread & granola bars from scratch to save money and I'm not going to have as much time as I'd like for down time and socializing, or I'm going to put relationships and fun on the forefront and the house is going to be a wreck and I'll end up spending money on eating out when I know full well its cheaper and healthier to cook all meals at home. I just can't find an in between, and at this point I'm not sure it exists. Something always has to give.

So I guess my next task is to find a way to make peace with that. Find a way to quit feeling guilty if one aspect of my life suffers when I tend to another one. Find a way to be in the moment and revel in the fact that I've got a meal planned and food stocked for the whole week when I'm in ultra responsible mode and fully appreciate time spent with loved ones when I'm choosing to spend moments with them over crossing things off my to-do list.

I have a feeling this lesson might take a lifetime to learn.

the front door

2011-07-04T09:27:00.004-05:00

This morning I saw this blog post and all of a sudden I wondered - why has it never occurred to me to paint the front door?! That front entryway nook has absolutely no color in it...just the gold mirror and a brown and white print in a black frame on the wall opposite the door. Of course I wouldn't paint the outside of the door...just the side that shows in the room. My first thought is to do it in a more muted version of the built-in bookshelf color. Thoughts? I just feel like painting the door might be a great opportunity to bring some life to that part of the room since its not really big enough to put much of anything else.

Oh, and excuse the dark picture. Its early so the light in the house isn't great yet, plus I normally take pictures with the door open to make the room look better.

random

2011-06-22T12:10:00.004-05:00

Today I'm in a foul mood. TN is getting crazy storms all the time these days, and last night another one came. Our house has been without power since 8:30 last night and I'm so annoyed that I can't call my husband for our mid-morning chat, my hair is greasy and gross b/c I refused to take an ice cold shower this morning, and that all the food in our fridge/freezer is rotting as I type. I know it could be worse...one of the many super-tall pines around our house could have fallen on the roof or our roof could have blown right off (it happened to other people)...but I still feel irritated so I'm going with it.

Next topic - does anyone have a SmartCar? I'm seriously considering buying one and would love some input. I know its a tiny car but the gas mileage is amazing - 33 street and 40 highway! My car now gets 17/23. Terrible. Of course ideally I'd get an electric car like the Nissan Leaf but I just don't have $33,000 to spare right now.

Final topic - a friend of mine suggested that I paint the old linoleum floor in the kitchen as a cheap alternative to replacing it. Brilliant! I'm not 100% convinced but I am definitely considering it. Cons: it might looks crappy with the texture of the old floors, plus I'm worried that Ruby's sharp talons might scratch it up in a week. Pros: it would be super cheap and it could potentially look as awesome as this:

via mintedlife.com

Oh, and I'd do a thick chevron pattern just like this, either in b&w or something more subtle like this one (I'm leaning towards the latter).

This is why I'm scared to put b&w checkerboard tiles in my kitchen

2011-06-16T09:16:00.004-05:00

via pinterest

I know the yellow on my cabinets isn't nearly that bright (and my walls aren't yellow), but all that contrast still makes me nervous. If I had simple white cabinets like all the inspirational pictures I've posted in the past, I wouldn't think twice about it.

addicted to chevron

2011-06-15T11:28:00.001-05:00

Oh what I wouldn't give to have these floors in my kitchen!

image via marieclairemason.com

kitchen floor development

2011-06-09T10:21:00.006-05:00

photo: Modularity Tiles

I'm so excited because I think I might have finally found a solution to the kitchen floor redo and it doesn't involve asbestos removal or thousands of dollars - yea! A company called Modularity Tiles has modern tiles in all sorts of colors that you can stick right on top of your existing floor! And they look way better than the peel and stick tiles you can get at Home Depot. I figured it up online and it would cost around $250 to do basic checkerboard tiles in our small kitchen. If I want to get fancy and use some of the circle or square cut tiles it would be a little more expensive, but I still might be able to do that since I won't have to pay anyone to professionally install it. And speaking of, installation looks really easy, plus if something happens to a tile down the road, I can just pry it up and replace it (sort of like Flor carpet tiles).

I know I've got hours of playing around with all the possible tile configurations ahead of me, but I put together a few ideas for now in the super awesome Modulizer tool they've got on their website (assuming I don't got w/black & white, which I still might):

What do you think? Do any of these designs jump out to you or should I stick with basic b&w checkerboard tiles? Here's a fairly recent pic of the kitchen if you need a refresher.

dance fever

2011-06-03T14:01:00.003-05:00

I saw Saturday Night Fever for the first time last week, and I gotta say...it was GREAT. Sure there are tons of cheesy parts (and some really disturbing parts that I could have done without), but its totally worth it to watch John Travolta dance. He was so little and sassy on the dance floor! Oh, and all the Bee Gees music throughout the movie is awesome. I'd give anything for discos to still be around so I could get snazzy and go dancing every Saturday night. Sigh. I grew up in the wrong decade.

2011-05-26T07:59:00.002-05:00

via pinterest.

I feel like Ira Glass wrote this just for me. I have absolutely gotten in my own way and its time I start fighting my way through the frustrating phase. I am happiest when I make art (and I mean art in the broadest way...painting, decorating, anything creative really), and its time I start disciplining myself to do it regularly and push past the tough part.

I wasn't sure if I was going to mention this on my blog, but I recently got a new job. The short version is that I'd been at my old job for a decade, the office culture had gone downhill in recent years, and I'd gone as far as I could go professionally. A few crucial things fell into place and here I am - at a new job that is better for me in every way. Its like it was meant to be. However...I'm still in a job that uses mostly the math side of my brain...this one even more so than the last one. And I'm okay with that. I love being creative but I also love working with numbers and spreadsheets and this kind of work fulfills that need for me.

But I also need to engage the other side of my brain, and with the house projects few and far between these days, it might be time to start making art again. In fact, I'd love it. But this is where I get tripped up by those things Ira is talking about...I'm overly critical of art (I blame all those hours of critiques I sat through in art school), and I'd rather not make art at all if I feel there's a chance it'll be "bad art" (and there's always that chance).

So I'm thinking that its time to get over that. The idea of working at my number-crunching job all day and coming home and making art is wonderful to me. It sure beats the hell out of what I've been doing...work, cook, watch TV. Its so boring. And lonely. And I get nothing from it. When I lay on the couch watching the tube, I don't feel excited or even awake. Its just something to pass the time, and in the long run its my life passing by and that's not good. I know that sounds dramatic, but its true! I don't want to be 80 and think, "I sure am glad I watched all those seasons of American Idol!" (which I quit last year, thank you very much). I know there's a time and a place for TV...its a good way to unwind and it can be fun. My point is that I need to watch less of it and make art instead.

So that's what's going on with me right now. I'm not sure what the next step is. Get a new sketchbook? Those things intimidate the hell out of me. Search around online for a project to do? Oh what I wouldn't give for an art teacher to come over one night a week and give me some awesome project that I never would have thought to do myself. If you have suggestions, I'd love to hear them. And if you're like me and you get in your own way (whether its about art or anything else!), let's encourage each other to start doing again.

scary, deadly gas

2011-05-23T16:54:00.002-05:00

...and no, I'm not referring toots. I'm talking about radon.

I hadn't heard about radon until I ready this post on younghouselove.com, and it scared me. You can google radon or read the post I just mentioned and get all the details, but the short version is this: radon is a radioactive gas that comes out of the earth and into our homes, and if its coming in at a high enough level, its super cancerous and is often referred to as a "silent killer." Yikes!

So when I first read that post, the possibility of having high levels of radon and spending over $2,000 to get the issue fixed was too scary, so I did the mature thing: I decided to ignore it all together and enjoy the bliss of ignorance. Then a year passed and I read more things about radon, and eventually decided that it would be really dumb if Seth and I both got some awful, preventable cancer down the road just b/c I wasn't brave enough to face the issue. So, I got the free test in the mail, followed the instructions, sent it back to the testing center (also for free), and crossed my fingers.

That was 1 week ago today, and last night I had a dream that I got a letter in the mail stating that our house was a-okay on the radon front. It was so exciting! Until I woke up and realized it was a dream. Well, apparently it was less of a dream and more of a premonition, because the results came in today....and we are radon free! Okay, not radon free, but well below the EPA's standard which is 4.0 pCi/L (ours is 0.5 pCi/L). Yahoo!!

Anyway, I just want to spread the word and encourage everyone to test their house as well. I can't find a link for how I got the radon test kit for free, but I searched around online and most are only $15. Definitely worth it, especially considering that radon related lung cancer kills approximately 22,000 people each year.

big anniversary

2011-05-13T13:43:00.012-05:00

Its hard to believe that its been 5 years since Seth and I got married! On that day I woke up around 9 or 10, and I think I ate a bowl of cereal for breakfast. I didn't have the whole makeup/hair/getting ready with a bunch of girls thing. I remember standing alone in our tiny apartment bathroom, putting my insanely long hair in a simple low bun and then applying the very little makeup I knew how to apply: a little eye shadow, mascara, and some high beam...all things that my friend Stacy had taught me for the wedding, and it was just enough so I looked polished but still natural and like me. I also remember my skin being amazingly clear and glowy that day, something that pretty much never happened back then. It was a wedding day miracle! Haha.

in the car, just pulled up at the Ramsey House!

My friend Ryan showed up and I was ready all except the dress. He drove me and Ruby to the Ramsey House, and we snuck in about 20 minutes before the ceremony was supposed to start. I'm not sure where Ryan and Ruby went, but the next thing I remember is being in this kitchen, putting on the short, simple dress I'd picked out that was inspired by my mom's wedding dress from 1968 ($44 on clearance!), and all of a sudden a bunch of my girl friends showed up to send me off. It was a great moment! They were standing around me, we were all beaming, and I felt more excitement than I'd ever known. After a few minutes, they all left to take their seats, I took a few last sips of the pinot grigio I was drinking to calm my nerves, and it was time.

My dad came to get me and as soon as we walked out of the little house I was getting ready in, I started to get choked up. It wasn't the kind of choked up where one tear might have slipped out...I was feeling a full on (happy) bawl coming on. I said, "Dad, I'm going cry! I can't cry!!" Without skipping a beat, he started telling me about the history of the Ramsey House as we walked....when the house was built, what it had been used for, etc. I don't remember a thing he told me, but it took my mind off what was happening just enough to calm me down and stop the tears. Genius!

I'll never forget the feeling of walking down that aisle, eyes fixed on my beaming soon-to-be husband standing at the front. I know all my friends and family were watching me and smiling too, but I didn't see them. I finally made my way up to Seth and we had our ceremony. Ruby was our ring dog, and I remember being so happy we included her when we were untying our rings from the blue ribbon around her neck.

At the end we kissed and then gave each other a huge hug, and the feeling was something I can't describe. Happiness, peace, love, JOY + some other feelings I can't name. When it was over, we walked down the aisle together arm in arm, and as soon as we passed the last row, I let the tears out. What a moment!

I left out a lot of details from that day (like Seth walking down the aisle before me, instrumental Led Zeppelin song playing and Ruby in tow), but these are the things that I remember most from my perspective. We took a nap after the reception, then partied like it was 1999 on the 3rd floor of Sassy Ann's with a bunch of close friends. I've always thought the term "high on life" was pretty corny, but that night I could have floated away.

And that's my story! Best day of my life. Thank you for marrying me 5 years ago, Seth! I love you so much!!

Decisions, decisions.

2011-05-07T09:11:00.003-05:00

Source: annesage.com via Libby on Pinterest

Okay I'm really, REALLY ready to get these kitchen floors done but upon further investigation and a tip from a reader, I now know that I'd have to pull up the existing floor to put cork tiles down. Not only does that scare me b/c it'd be a lot more work (and might require a professional), but there's also a huge chance there'd be asbestos under there since the house was built in 1953. Yikes. Would VCT tiles really be so bad after all? It could go right on top of the existing floor, and it'd cost less. Thoughts? This blogger did congoleum which is similar (I think) and it looks great...

I'm also thinking a way to make cheaper tile look nicer is to lay it out into bigger squares.

Source: designspongeonline.com via Libby on Pinterest

I could always buy some returnable tiles at Home Depot and play around with the layout just to see. Hmm...I might just do that today! Stay tuned.

drooling...

2011-05-04T11:06:00.001-05:00

Okay, this might have just inspired me to get off my ass and finally do something about my much blogged about kitchen floor. I LOVE this (found here).

2011-04-30T09:01:00.004-05:00

Have you checked out Pinterest yet? Its so great...I'm completely addicted. Basically you can pin anything you find online that interests you to boards that you create, and everything is nicely organized and all in one place. You can also look at what other people have pinned, get inspired by their stuff, repin it to your own board, and even follow people that tend to pin stuff you like. Trust me, its awesome...just sign up. Oh, and what you'll do is request an invitation and it will take about 2 weeks, then you're in. Not sure why they make people wait but its worth it.

Here's a link to my boards if you want to check them out!

put a bird on it!

2011-04-29T10:10:00.003-05:00

A friend of mine made a "word bird" for my blog...isn't it cute? Thanks Jeannette! :)

latest Ruby developments

2011-04-28T13:39:00.004-05:00

Her nose has gone bald so the black shows all the way up her snout (so cute)
She's been doing this weird air tread with her back leg when she tries to stand up (also cute, a little sad, but mostly hilarious). Its sorta the dog equivalent of when an elderly person has to try a few times before s/he can get off the couch.
She turns into Slowpoke Rodriquez after half a block of walking...this one is mostly frustrating but I let it slide. She is 14 years old after all.

My new favorite nickname for her is Ruppert, and I think its because of all her "special" new tricks. I love my sweet girl so much!

Jillian is not my friend.

2011-04-27T16:27:00.004-05:00

You know what I hate? The fact that working out is a non-negotiable part of living a long, healthy life. It makes me so mad that putting the right stuff in my body isn't enough. I'm not one of those people that gets an adrenaline rush after working out...I don't enjoy it in the least and I don't feel invigorated afterwards. The only thing I feel is the absence of guilt for working out that day. It just sucks and if I ever met a genie and got 3 wishes, you better believe wishing away the need for exercise would be one of them.

2011-04-23T10:25:00.003-05:00

Okay, here they are! If you missed the last post, these are the images that were supposed to be at the end but blogger wouldn't let me post them. Arg. But at least on this post you can click on the first image and enlarge it. The second image won't let you do that, however, and I have no idea why (and I'm too frustrated to keep trying to figure it out).

I could do this for every room in my house and it'd be the same...everything comes from a myriad of places and they were all acquired over a long period of time and after much deliberation and trial and error. Its definitely been a lot of fun, though!

Evolution of a room (aka why I'm not cut out to be an interior designer)

2011-04-19T12:18:00.012-05:00

This is something I've been wanting to write about for awhile now. I remember when Seth and I first bought the house in 2007, I instantly felt an overwhelming need to get every room looking complete as soon as possible. I knew that there was no way that could happen right away (especially for very little money), but that didn't matter...I still went to thrift stores every day on my lunch break and searched online for things to fill my new space constantly. It was a full-on obsession.

I slowly found things here and there, and the thrift store stalking really did pay off. Some of the things I got ended up right back at Goodwill a few years later, but other things are still in the house and probably will be for years to come.

A lot of the things I brought into the house that didn't make the final cut were still functional for a time, and ultimately helped me realize what worked and did not work by trial and error.

Perfect example: a really long, tan sofa and a red carpet do. not. work.

Now that we're approaching the 4-year mark in the house and I am only just now finally satisfied with what's happening in the living room, it has become abundantly clear to me that there is no point in trying to force a room to come together in a short period of time (at least not on a budget). And honestly, even if money was no object I don't know if I could do a room in a short time frame, or if I'd want to. I've really enjoyed the process of it all and that it took me lots of searching at lots of different places to collect all the parts of the room that make it work for me. I honestly have no idea how interior designers do this in a matter of months. I've toyed with the idea of going back to school to become an interior designer because I love doing it in my own home, but the time constraint is the thing that stops me every time.

So all this gets to the thing I've been wanting to do for awhile, and that's pick a room and pinpoint where everything in it came from and where I got it. If the awful pictures above don't have you convinced that it takes time for a room to evolve, I think this will. Plus I just got Photoshop on my computer at home and wanted an excuse to try it out :)

And.....blogger won't post these pics big enough for you to click on and be able to read. UGH. I'm really getting so tired of blogger these days; its just so cumbersome to use anymore. I'd love to switch everything over to a better blog site but I don't think I post often enough to go through all that trouble. As for the pics I can't post right now, I'll put them up on a separate post in just a few minutes.

When I said I was really into hot sauce these days...

2011-04-05T20:17:00.001-05:00

I wasn't kidding :)

New living room

2011-03-18T12:06:00.005-05:00

After lots of Photoshop mocks-up, tons of advice from friends (Stacy, Lauren, and Joe especially-thank you!), hours of searching online for the perfect pillow or the right shade, and working my tail off every weekend for about a month and a half, the living room is finally done. What used to be a room I felt "eh" about is now my favorite room in the house!

The wall color is Amazon Stone from Behr, and it did what I was hoping it would do - make an oversized living room feel cozy. Its just amazing the difference color can make! It took me 3 years, but I'm so glad it finally occurred to me that blue recedes and its probably not the best color to have on the walls of a giant living room. Besides the wall color and the white painted trim, the left side of the room got a few other changes. I hung a large mirror that my interior designer aunt gave me on the far wall by the front door. She gave this to us over a year ago and I'm so glad to finally find a place for it. It wasn't popping off the wall quite as much as I wanted, so I just touched it up with a little liquid gold to brighten it up and it was good to go.

I painted the back wall of the built-in bookshelves orange (which didn't work), then a really bright red (also didn't work), and then finally settled on a tomato-y, coral-y, orange-y red (Fiery Red by Behr). Even though I spent a lot of time painting those shelves 3 times, it ended up being a super cheap project. The orange was leftover from the hallway and I bought Behr paint samples for 2 different reds, and didn't end up needing to buy anymore to cover the shelves. And because its not a straight-up red, it helps to tie in all the different color accents around the room that are in the red family (the orangey-red pillow, the fuchsia in the vintage lady pic on the opposite wall, etc.) I also pared down what I had sitting on the shelves so it looks less cluttered.

I also got a new print from Australian artists I found on etsy.com called inaluxe. I've wanted this print for months and months, and once I started redoing the room I realized that this could really tie in some of the colors. The frame used to have a vintage rose in it and I reused it to display my new print (just had to get a mat cut to fit the print). This little switcheroo is sort of indicative of what I was trying to do in the whole room...go from a totally 50's looking space to one that is a more updated "vintage modern" as a friend put it.

Another major change that took away the stuck-in-time feel was getting rid of the 60 year old valances, sheers and traverse-hung drapes and replacing them with bamboo roman shades (overstock.com) and the same drapes hung on a simple black rod with rings (JC Penney).

Of all the changes in the room, I think updating the window treatments made the biggest difference. The room feels so much more current without those dusty valances (or skirts as Seth calls them, hehe), and I love how the warmth and texture of the bamboo plays off the contrasty grey walls and white trim. I almost got white fabric roman shades for the windows and I'm so I went the bamboo.

And that's it! It really was so fun to have a project to work on, and for now I'm just enjoying it. I know its just a matter of time before I get the itch to make another big change soon, so stay tuned :)

Pour

2011-03-10T16:00:00.005-05:00

This is one of the coolest things I've seen in a long time...the colors are absolutely mesmerizing!

Found here

Yesterday was...

2011-03-09T20:00:00.000-05:00

International Women's Day

Fat Tuesday

source

...and my birthday! I turned 32 and I gotta say...I genuinely love getting older. Of course I don't really enjoy the slowing metabolism, wrinkles around the eyes, and the special pillow and firm mattress I require not to throw my back/neck out, but mentally I'm loving it. As time starts going by faster and faster (another aspect I don't especially like), I'm starting to sweat the littl

e stuff less and less. Its liberating!

The way I spent my birthday was a little odd for me. Even though I didn't go to work (I never work on my bday if I can help it, and neither should you), I woke up at 7:30. I made some oatmeal, opened a few cards, then did a workout with Seth. That's right - I finally tried Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred! And let me tell you...it is tough but it is awesome. Its only 20 minutes long, but the way she can promise the results she does with such a short workout is because it is so intense. I really liked that aspect, though. The less time I have to realize my body is hurting, the better. Plus she's just a good motivator.

After the shredding (haha) I cleaned the whole house and did some laundry. Again, probably not most people's first choice of activities on their birthday, but its what I wanted to do so I did it! After that I ran a few errands, made dinner, and then played a little Wii Pictionary (my present from Seth and its SO fun). It really was a great day, and thanks to all the cards, calls, and FB well wishes I felt very loved all day long. 32 is gonna be a good one, I can feel it!

Best present ever! Thanks again, Seth! :)

Unpaid product endorsement

2011-03-09T15:21:00.004-05:00

This stuff is so awesome! I'm not a lipstick person but sometimes I feel like I just need a tiny bit of color...apparently as you get older you start losing the natural pigment in your lips. Yipee. Anyway, I've been a loyal Burt's Bees lip balm user for years and I'm so happy to find something that will give my lips a little color that's not sticky/sparkly/shiny, it won't chap my lips, and of course its all natural.

Trim

2011-03-04T14:05:00.004-05:00

Today I'm working on a very un-glamorous part of the living room makeover - TRIM PAINTING. This isn't my first day working on it, either. The baseboards took a weekend, the built-in bookshelf trim and the doors took a weekend, and this weekend I'm tackling the trim around the windows and the crown molding trim. Most of the trim in the room was a cream color, so those parts are sorta fun to paint because I can see an instant improvement with the bright white popping off the dark grey walls. The baseboards were especially satisfying because the inch at the bottom was stained green from previous carpet.

Such a difference! And don't worry...one day I'll get quarter round on the baseboards to finish things off and cover up the dried glue marks around the bottom.

But today...not such a big transition. The crown molding is already white, so I doubt anyone will notice a difference after I'm finished. So why paint it at all, right?! Well, the white isn't as bright as the other white trim in the room, but the biggest reason is because its painted with flat paint and just looks dull now that all the other trim is all bright and shiny with the semi-gloss white paint on it. Plus you can't wipe anything off flat paint so there are tons of blotches of the old blue paint and now the new grey paint on the crown molding that I have no way to get off.

So here I am painting trim that's already white with more white paint. I tried to talk myself out of it but I've put so much work into the room that I didn't want to sell it short by being lazy about this one thing. And honestly, its not taking *that* long...it just kills my neck and arm painting above my head so much. I've been wanting to be a better blogger lately which is partially why I'm writing now, but mostly my neck just needed a break from looking up.

That's all for now. There are just a few other small things that need to happen in the room and then it will be DONE! And I'll be on here sharing all sorts of pictures once that happens.

Happy weekend everyone!!

This living room project has taken on a life of its own

2011-02-25T09:47:00.008-05:00

So what started off to be just a few coats of paint and a window treatment update has turned into something much bigger. With every change I make I find a new project to work on and honestly, I'm loving every minute of it! None of it feels like a chore...I feel excited for the change and invigorated by working so much with my hands every weekend.

And this weekend is no different. I've got this weekend and the next to get everything finished before out of town guests arrive, so my to-do list is long:

1. Paint this mirror frame b/c it doesn't pop off the walls as much as I'd like it to. Sorry for the weird angle...I had to open the front door to eek out enough light for the shot (its really gloomy here today), plus I didn't want to show too much of the room before the big reveal:

2. Repaint the newly repainted built-in bookshelves. I painted them the orange from the hallway a few weeks ago b/c I already had the paint and it seemed like it would look good. Two thing happened since then...I realized that I don't want orange to be the main accent color in the room anymore (going w/tomato red and bright, buttery yellow), and I had to accept that I just didn't like that color orange in the room. It looks great in the hallway, but colors can change so drastically depending on the light in a room and this one changed for the worse. I know it doesn't look that bad in this picture, but trust me...its pretty jarring in real life.

Sample colors to test for the shelves:

3. Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred. Let's just say I've noticed some extra fluff these days and everyone says this workout video is amazing. UGH I hate working out so much. We'll see if I can stick with it....

Okay, I'm off to get in my painting clothes and get to work! Er, "work" :)

living room sneak peek

2011-02-11T10:47:00.002-05:00

I'm not quite ready to do the big reveal on the living room yet because I still have more trim to paint white and a project that's happening with the built-in bookshelves. In the meantime, here is a little sneak peek at all the changes that have been happening in there.

Inspiration and trying to decide on a color (which ended up being a VERY long process):

All prep work is done (which took a full day); finally ready to pick up a paint brush:

A glimpse at the wall color:

Its a totally different room now and I am loving it!

The sheers....

2011-01-28T11:27:00.003-05:00

ARE GONE!!! I can't even tell you what a relief this is. They were great at first because they looked nice and Seth and I didn't have to spend $$ on window treatments when we bought the house. But lately they've been driving me crazy, mostly because the traverse rod system that was holding them up didn't really work anymore (which isn't too surprising...I'm pretty sure they've been up for 50 years).

It would have given me great satisfaction to rip these things out of the wall with my bare hands, but of course I didn't. I painstakingly took out every screw and let me tell you...these things are COMPLICATED. I feel sorry for the person that had to figure out how to put them up in the first place. After an hour and a half, I finally got every piece removed.

What a mess. Traverse rods are crazy! All those screws and all that hardware just to hold up a few drapes. Talk about overkill. What's going up next is much, MUCH simpler. Stay tuned.

PS. Those things above the window are temporary shades that I put up when we first moved into the house and the sheers scared me (too transparent). We haven't used them in years but now they'll come in handy...I'll use them to at least keep peeping eyes out of the big window until the new shades arrive in the mail.

Pho good

2011-01-23T19:08:00.003-05:00

Tonight I made pho for the first time! I used to eat it a lot when I lived in Austin and I've missed it ever since (if you're ever in Texas, check out Kim Phung...so good). Pho traditionally has a beef broth, but I found a vegetarian recipe online and decided to give it a shot. I managed to find all the ingredients except for giant pho bowls, but it still turned out great I think.

The are so many crazy flavors in this dish. The broth has cinnamon, cloves, onion, garlic, shallots, star of anise, ginger, and soy sauce. Some of the "toppings" seem logical...green onions, bean sprouts, lime. But others are ones that I would never think to add to a dish like this - like fresh basil! But all the flavors magically work together. Add a bunch of chile garlic sauce and sriracha and everything works. So filling and fun to eat!

I probably won't make this one too often because it was so time consuming, but it was really fun to turn my dining room into Lib's Pho Palace for a night :)

big news

2011-01-12T12:25:00.007-05:00

I'm finally ready for the sheers to go.

This is a picture I took right after we bought the house, and the reason I'm using this one is b/c I could only find one other picture of the sheers on my entire blog (and they looked weird in that pic b/c of Christmas candles in the window). So obviously they're not something I've been showing off.

I really have liked them all this time though, and when the originals got a few rips in them a few years ago I didn't take that opportunity to revamp the window treatments...I got super cheap thin curtains from Ikea and rigged more sheers. And I think that's been part of the problem. The sheers no longer open and close with ease thanks to a little pull on the side. Opening them is still easy, but if we want to close them its a whole process of lining up and pulling and getting the folds just so. It was okay at first but now its annoying the crap out of me. Plus I'm just ready for something new! And updated!

I have a few ideas but I haven't even gotten close to nailing down what I'd like to do on those windows. I do know that I want the sheers and the valances to go, and I'm thinking I'll still use the drapes but put them on a rod and use rings so they slide open and closed easily. For the big middle window, I'm thinking maybe a roman shade? Or a roller shade? Not sure. Definitely open to suggestions (in fact, I'm asking for them).

Anyway, I'm excited. Its a new project and a big change! And its not the only change I'm thinking about for the living room. I've been brainstorming about revamped built-in bookshelves and a new color on the wall...I'm craving something warmer that will make the room feel more cozy. Yea!

And just for kicks, check out this before and after:

Pretty crazy, huh?! Doesn't even look like the same room!

soup beans

2011-01-10T15:38:00.004-05:00

Well, we got the snow storm that was promised and I got the day off work!! It looks like there might be more snow coming tonight and luckily we have plenty of food in the house. Last night I made my first batch of vegetarian soup beans and they turned out great. The recipe made a TON...I really had no idea how much it was going to make. I'm glad though. I've been inspired by Elise who writes the blog Hungry Hungry Hippie (specifically this post) to start making big batches of a protein, a whole grain and veggies to have on hand for the week. It really is a simple way to have healthy, inexpensive food in the house when you're too busy or too tired to cook a whole meal from scratch.

This time I did the soup beans, a big batch of brown rice, and roasted butternut squash, brussels sprouts, and onion.

Ah, the crock pot and the rice cooker...2 appliances I could never live without.

This was my first time cooking brussels sprouts and I am hooked. I know a lot of people had bad experiences with them as kids, but give them another try. Just remove the darker, outer leaves and cut the tough stem up, then roast in a 400 degree oven in olive oil, kosher salt and pepper for 45 minutes. So tasty!

Once everything was ready I just threw it all in a big bowl and had a yummy, very filling dinner that cost next to nothing per serving.

I didn't make quite as many veggies or rice as I should have (there's just a little bit of each left), but I have tons of beans for the week. Tonight I'm going to make some cornbread from a mix and have traditional soup beans and cornbread for dinner. And since I can't get to the grocery store tonight b/c of the snow, I might heat up some frozen green beans just so there's something green on the plate :)

cookin' up a storm

2011-01-09T13:34:00.004-05:00

We've had a ton of snow already this winter, and its pretty awesome. I've gotten to miss a little work, and its just so much more festive and pretty than the 34 degree rain that Knoxville normally gets every winter. We had what I think was our 2nd big snowfall 2 days ago, and we're expected to get a 3rd storm tomorrow. I don't know if its knowing that we might get snowed in for a few days or just that I've been sick and am finally feeling better today, but I woke up this morning ready to cook!

First I put on my first ever batch of vegetarian soup beans (recipe here). I always thought I couldn't make them without a big hunk of pig in the pot (or whatever people normally season it with), but it turns out that I can! I'll know at 6:45 tonight if it worked out (it takes 8 hours on low to cook). Then I baked a loaf of Seth's breakfast bread, which is seriously the easiest and cheapest thing ever....and SO GOOD. Here's the recipe for that one. Next I made another batch of granola bars...something I tend to dread making even though I only have to do it every 4 weeks to have one for every work day.

The last thing I made was batch of sweet potato hummus. This one doesn't have a recipe, something that normally scares me. But I'm trying to trust myself more in the kitchen and just try stuff. A friend of mine on Facebook posted a status that was something like: "just made sweet potato hummus and it was amazing" so I commented asking for the recipe. She said she didn't have one...just put a baked sweet potato, 1 can of chickpeas, the juice of 1 lemon, olive oil, cumin, cayenne pepper, and salt into a food processor and blend until it tastes right. I did just that, tweaking it until it "tasted right" and it turned out awesome! I guess Facebook isn't all bad ;)

To all my friends that don't have a lot of experience cooking and want good starter recipes to try, try this hummus. It is incredibly healthy, cheap, and you don't have to be nervous about screwing it up. Its pretty much foolproof, and if something does go wrong then you've only lost about $2 and 10 minutes of your time. Here's what I did more specifically:

1. Wash sweet potato, poke several holes in the skin, then microwave it for about 7 minutes between 2 paper towels (this will depend on your microwave, but you can feel the potato and know when its soft).

2. Once the potato is cooked, cut it in half and scoop out the insides into a food processor.

3. Add 1 drained can of chickpeas, the juice of 1 lemon, a shake or two of cayenne pepper, roughly 1 teaspoon of cumin, 2 pinches of salt, a few glugs of olive oil, and a little water. Remember that you can always add more spices, oil, etc. later but you can't take it out.

4. Blend until mostly smooth, taste, and add more of whatever it needs. I ended up having to add more oil, water, salt, cumin & cayenne.

That's it!

trying to start the new year off right

2010-12-31T16:44:00.003-05:00

I made all sorts of yummy, healthy snacks for New Year's Eve tonight so I thought I'd share the recipes here:

1. Kale chips (here, courtesy of allrecipes.com)

2. Cannellini bean & spinach dip (here, courtesy of Giada)

3. Roasted chickpeas (here, courtesy of allrecipes.com and I added garlic to chickpeas before roasting)

4. Cocoa roasted almonds (here, courtesy of hungryhungryhippie.com)

Every recipe is insanely easy and I had almost all of the ingredients on hand already. Enjoy, and happy last night of 2010!

2010: a retrospective

2010-12-22T14:50:00.006-05:00

Lately the cold weather and dark days have been getting me down in a big way. Since I can't pick up and move to Hawaii for the next 3 months, I've been exploring the options out there to make myself feel better but I can't decide on what to do yet (leaning towards this). In the meantime, I thought I'd think about 2010 and reflect on some of the positive things about the year.

I can't say that there were any big milestones...no graduations, marriages or moves. But it was a good year! I made a concerted effort to get out of my comfort zone (and out of my frugal zone) and traveled a bunch. I also started feeling more comfortable in my own skin than I ever have in my life.I know a big reason for that is age...the older I get the less I care what other people will think of me, and I am so thankful for that. It is liberating! I've always said that I can't wait to be an old lady so I can do what I want and not worry if everyone around me thinks its crazy, but lately I've been thinking, "why wait until I'm old to start?!" :) I got the vintage caftan I've always wanted and I've been having so much fun strolling around the house with a cocktail pretending I'm Endora from Bewitched.

And finally, I learned to love 3 things that I always hated:

1. Hot tea, which I love to drink at night after dinner to curb the urge to snack. I even picked up a tea kettle at Marshall's to make it really official that I'm a tea drinker now.

2. Hot sauce, which makes my kale, cannellini bean & brown rice hippie bowls so much more exciting to my taste buds.

3. Whiskey. I don't know what happened, but I love the taste now and how it warms me up on a cold night. Plus it makes me feel like a bad ass, haha. And I can make hot toddy's now! Next time you're sick whip one up...you won't be sorry.

So I'd say all those things made for a pretty good year indeed :) I doubt I'll blog again until after the holidays, so I'd like to wish everyone a very happy new year!!

sounds in the night

2010-12-16T10:56:00.005-05:00

Last night I thought there was a stranger in the house. First I heard someone in our bedroom, then I heard someone in the hallway. I was too scared (and too cold) to get out of bed to check, so I went back to sleep. This morning I checked all the rooms and found no signs that a killer had been in the house, so I figured I was losing my mind...great way to start the day, I know. Then I saw a note Seth left me about the roads being icy so I looked outside and realized what the noises had been.

Pretty much every limb on the west side of this tree is on the ground, and our view from the bathroom is now very different (those limbs hung really low and completely blocked the view into any other yard).

Seth and his chainshaw have a lot of work ahead of them, but all in all I feel really fortunate. Our roof appears to be intact, the giant tree in the middle of the yard didn't fall and crush our house and the electricity and heat are still on. But most of all, I'm just thankful that the sounds I heard last night were branches braking and not the sound of me losing my mind :)

no more crazy cords EVER!

2010-12-11T13:04:00.004-05:00

I've been feeling like Joan Crawford in Mommie Dearest lately, except instead of wire hangers, its this grossness lurking under our desk that's been driving me insane:

It was even worse than that believe it or not, but I forgot to take a before shot until about 20 minutes into tackling it. I'm proud to say that this is what it looks like under our desk now!

YEA! And it didn't take much money or time to make it look like this. The longest part of the process was brainstorming on how to fix the situation...about an hour here at the house and then another 45 minutes in Walmart, looking at all the options. Of course there wasn't a pre-made solution for billions of cords, modems and power strips made just for a vintage metal desk that I don't want to ruin, so I had to get creative. I finally came up with a solution involving metal bathroom baskets with suction cups on the back ($5 each), magnetic hooks, and 6 3M picture hanging strips.

One basket holds the cable modem on the left side of the desk and the other holds the Vonage box on the right side of the desk.

The right side of the desk has drawers and therefore the most space, so I used 6 3M picture hanging strips to hold up my very heavy power strip under the other basket. I used metal hooks wherever I need to keep a cord in place and out of view. The great thing is that everything is removable...suction cups, magnets, and magic 3M strips...so the desk isn't ruined and I can move everything around if I need to later.

It looks crazy from the back, but you can't see any of that once the desk is pushed up to the wall.

Hurray!! I'm sitting at this desk now and its so nice to be able to stretch my legs out and not run into a pile of cords. Its nice not to have to look at them anymore either :)

connected

2010-11-29T17:40:00.005-05:00

Lately I've been feeling really weird about Facebook. I always talk about how things were better before we had technology like digital music, cell phones with the internet, GPS, and the Kindle (don't even get me started on how wrong this is to me). But Facebook somehow slipped in and now I'm one of the billions of people that goes on there every day for who knows what. I see and post pictures, and that's nice. I have mini-conversations about random things with random friends, some of whom I haven't talked to face-to-face, over the phone, or even emailed in over a decade. And the weirdest part to me is that, even though I don't act on it most of the time, it now occurs to me to announce what I'm thinking or feeling to the 218 people that are my FB friends. I think that's STRANGE, people.

I want to revert back to how things were before, when people would actually be surprised by how their classmates have changed at high school reunions and when I didn't know that a friend from middle school's baby finally slept through the night. But if I quit Facebook, I'm cut out of a loop that I already feel pretty out of. I text maybe 12 times a year (almost always at loud concerts where I couldn't call if I wanted to), and it takes me about 10 minutes to write 1 sentence. I've never bought a song on iTunes. I thing all internet should be blocked from cell phones (and maybe we could just get rid of cell phones all together while we're at it? Just a thought...). I'm scared for the next generation because they won't know how to read a map, they won't hold actual books in their hands and dog ear pages, they won't bring a CD or record home and read the liner notes cover to cover while sitting on their bedroom floor listening to every song for the first time, and they won't know what its like to wonder about something and just say "huh...I don't know" and be content not knowing for the time being (Google).

So as you can imagine my outlook on these things already sets me apart and sadly, it alienates me sometimes. I feel really strongly about all this though, and I'm not about to buy a G4 phone just so I'll feel more included. And this is where Facebook comes back in...I'm really starting to despise it, but if I quit then I'll be cutting off the one techy thing (apart from email) that I can participate in with my friends. Its a catch 22, really. Is anyone else feeling the same way? Can we all make a pact right now to quit the whole thing once and for all?

ps. Seth feels just as strongly about this stuff as I do (maybe even more so - he's not on Facebook at all), and I love him for that. At least I don't feel like a lame old fogey talking about "the good ole days" when I'm around him :)

3rd time's a charm

2010-11-24T16:00:00.005-05:00

Sad news first: my favorite vintage store in all of Knoxville is closing at the end of the year. Happy news: I got an insanely good deal on the couch of my dreams because of it. This will be couch #3 for our living room, and I'm confident it will be our last for a long time.

The old rug didn't look right with the new couch, and I've never been crazy about it in the first place, so I took the opportunity to find a suitable replacement. I wanted a cream colored shag from the get go but all of the ones I found online were insanely expensive (like $700+ for an 8x10). Then someone mentioned Home Depot to me and I found one there for a great deal. An added bonus is the size...this rug is quite a bit bigger than the old one so it fits the proportions of the room better.

I also picked up the matching chair because it was 36 DOLLARS. Insane! I think it looks great in that corner...makes for a nice, cozy record listening nook.

I moved the chair and rug that used to be in that corner into the guest room, and they work much better in there. There used to be a shelf there that was the same size as the desk, and its nice not to have matching rectangle boxes under each window. Its also nice to have a place to sit and I'm already imagining my mom reading there in the mornings when she comes to visit. Oh, and I'm glad to have a rug in the room now too...helps to warm it up.

For the first time I really feel like the house is starting to come together in a new way. I know I've made a lot of big changes in the last few years, but now its starting to feel more cohesive or something. When I look back on the different stages of the house on my blog (the progression of the living room and the many couches/rugs is particularly funny to me), its cool to see it come together over time. And it just shows that you can't throw together a house at one time or even in one year (at least I can't). I don't know how interior designers do it, even with their budgets. I think time is so important to develop your style and keep your eye open for just the right thing...and be open to changing what you originally had in mind if it doesn't work out the way you thought it would.

Now I'm getting even more excited about the b&w cork tiles in the kitchen...I think they'll look extra good from my new and improved living room :)

cork tiles

2010-11-19T11:27:00.003-05:00

Even though it'll be awhile before I can actually start laying tile (need to save up the $$ first), I think I'm getting really close to narrowing down my choices!

All of these are cork samples (the real tiles will be 12"x12"). At first I loved the ones on the far left because they'd bring warmth - the off white tile is a similar tone to the floor that's there now, and the other tile is a really dark brown instead of black so it'll also add warmth. But then more samples came in and now I'm leaning towards the 2 options in the middle.

I know its hard to tell in the photo, but the one on the left is an off white and a true black. The one on the right is a true white and a dark brown that reads as black. I paired them like I did so each option had some warmth (either from the off white or the brown instead of black). I can see the benefit in each - the white will look crisp and clean, but the off white will look warmer and won't show dirt as easily.

Thoughts? Like I said, I not in the position to buy tiles tomorrow or anything, but I want to be confident in my choice by the time I am able to put the money down.

turkey day

2010-11-18T08:20:00.003-05:00

I can't believe Thanksgiving is 1 week from today! And while I'm at it, if anyone can give me a scientific reason as to why time goes by faster and faster as you get older, I'd really appreciate it. It drives me crazy that I can't figure out why this is, but it is definitely something everyone I know can attest to. A solution for slowing it down would be great too. Thanks :)

Back to Thanksgiving...I thought I'd share a really easy way to not eat meat but still get your turkey fix: Quorn Turk'y Roast.

All you have to do is rub some olive oil and herbs on it (I use rosemary & sage...just standard poultry seasonings plus salt & pepper), then throw it in one of those roasting bags and stick it in the oven. It turns out great!

In case I don't post again before then, I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving!

a glimpse into my brain

2010-11-16T10:45:00.005-05:00

I get obsessed with specific foods randomly and with a vengeance. Example: I was just reading something that had the word tchotchkes in it and I immediately thought about Schlotzsky's and now I am full-on obsessed with how I can get one of those delicious sandwiches in my mouth ASAP. I looked online and the closest Schlotzsky's is 84 miles away in Somerset, KY (all the Knoxville locations closed down I guess). AGH. I hope I don't end up in KY one of these days. I once drove all the way to Dallas and back (3 hrs each way) just because I wanted Waffle House in the worst way and Austin didn't have one.

via

drool......

In case you haven't noticed...

2010-11-02T11:27:00.003-05:00

...I am full-on obsessed with my kitchen floor. The floor that's there isn't horrible...in fact I designed my cabinet makeover around the floor because I knew replacing it wasn't going to be an option for awhile. The floor is also in pretty good condition, and it certainly isn't an eyesore when you walk into the room. But...

I would like a floor that actually looks clean after I've cleaned it. And I'd like a floor that really looks great with the rest of the kitchen and house. But I think the #1 thing driving my obsession is just a craving for a big change in the house. A big reveal. I'm sure you've noticed my drastic slow down in blog posts. Once the big reveal stuff in the house slowed, the posts did too. Those are the things I like to write about the most, and I'm pretty sure those are the things readers like best as well. But I haven't done anything like that in so long...I think the last fun big reveal project (unless you call dry wall repair fun) was finishing up the den.

I don't know when I'll make a final decision...in fact I saw this today and now I'm wondering if black and white checkerboard is the way to go again (which I could still do with cork, by the way). But I really am enjoying thinking about all the options. Hopefully soon I'll be able to get actual boxes of tiles to lay down and see for myself because I'm convinced that's the only way I'll know for sure. In the meantime, here are some images that are inspiring me today:

via (and this is cork, btw)

via

ps. Thanks so much for the input on my last cork post!! I am still very excited about that idea and have been playing around with cork samples at home all week.

Kitchen floor, part 4

2010-10-20T14:49:00.008-05:00

Guess what - I think I might have figured out what to do with the kitchen floor! As soon as I saw this floor I immediately thought about how cork could work in my kitchen too. Check out this very rough mock-up:

I've thought about cork before but I hadn't thought of this color combo for a checkerboard look. These are the things I like about this look:

1. It is a modern take on a retro b&w checkerboard floor without screaming 50's DINER!

2. It is warm (remember how bad grey looked in the room) but doesn't compete with the yellow cabinets or the orange accents.

3. It works well with the wood floors in the two adjoining rooms (dining room and living room).

4. Cork is a 100% renewable resource! Yea!!

This is by no means a final decision...I have hours of Photoshop mock-ups and obsessing ahead of me. But I gotta say I feel more excited about this than all the other ideas combined. I'd love some input. If you've never commented on my blog before, now's your chance! And if you think its terrible I want to hear that too. I'm on my 9th hour in this cubicle so my judgement could be off right now.

hole in the wall

2010-09-24T11:43:00.005-05:00

A few months ago, we had a major plumbing problem in our bathroom and the plumber had to cut a huge hole in the wall behind the sink to fix it.

I've fixed small holes before with a little patch and some spackle, but this one was way too big for that. The idea of major drywall repair really intimidated me, but I figured I'd do a little online research as usual and see how hard it really would be. I found this how-to video from Bob Vila and decided I could do it. But before I went to Home Depot to get the supplies, I realized that my wall didn't just have a simple hole -- it also had a big pipe sticking out in the middle of it.

I got back on the computer and searched and searched, but I couldn't find any clear instructions on how to deal with a pipe like this. I started to give up on the idea of fixing it myself and started calling around for quotes from professionals. The absolute lowest quote I got was "we start at $150 and go from there" -- which means they could end up charging a lot more than $150. The idea of dropping a big load of cash when we already have a broken dishwasher that needs to be replaced made me start thinking that maybe I could do this job myself after all :)

So I went to Home Depot and told a man that works there my situation. He told me that all I needed to do was somehow carve out a hole in each piece of drywall to put around the pipe. It still seemed tricky but I decided to go for it anyway. I got all my supplies and headed home, and these are the steps I took over the next few weeks to patch that hole:

1. Cut into the dry wall to make the irregular hole into a rectangle. I used a utility knife so I wouldn't have to buy a drywall saw just for this project, so that made it a little harder than it had to be. But I saved $9!

2. I cut 2 pieces of drywall to go above and below the pipe, then I sawed into the drywall so each piece would fit around the pipe. This was HARD and my hands hurt for days afterwards, but it worked.

3. Screw both pieces into the stud with drywall screws.

4. Fill everything with joint compound, then cover with mesh drywall tape.

5. Continue to spread joint compound over the entire area 3-5 times, spreading the compound out a little further each time and sanding between each layer.

6. Prime and paint the area, and voila! The hole is gone!

All in all, this was one of the easier house projects I've done, and I'm so happy that I didn't pay a contractor $150+ to fix this for me. That reminds me -- I spent a total of $22 to fix this myself!! That's a savings of at least $128, but it probably would have been even more.

This project reminded me once again that you can do so much more than you think you can. I have no training in this kind of work, but I have access to a computer and time and that's really all you need. Sure there are some things that I would call a pro for, like electrical work or bigger plumbing issues, but I'd say 80% of house projects are things that most of us can do for ourselves, and the money we can save doing it is just incredible. And not only that, but the feeling of figuring out how to do something that you thought you couldn't do is priceless.

Anyway, that's my latest project! It actually inspired to start on another project in the bathroom, but more on that later...

cute stuff

2010-09-17T14:08:00.004-05:00

My friend Stacy put together the most adorable room* for her new baby Clara Lou. Its sweet and creative and doesn't scream BABY the minute you walk in (which is great since it doubles as a guest room). It is so cute, in fact, that it was featured on ohdeedoh (a design site that focuses on kids rooms and is part of apartmenttherapy.com)...check it out! Congrats, Stacy!

*photo by Michael Lantz

More than a feeling

2010-09-13T14:53:00.005-05:00

Today I am remembering when Seth showed up at my apartment 7 years ago today for our first date. With the help of my friend Karen, I had called him two nights before and asked if he wanted to come over Saturday night. He showed up with a 12-pack of PBR under his arm and I was wearing a black tank top with a silver tiger on the front. I had a Boston record playing and was beyond nervous. Two of my friends were also at my apartment, and Seth gave everyone a hug when he arrived but me. Turns out he was a little nervous too :)

It feels like a million years since that night, but it also feels like no time has passed. I always thought Seth was the coolest guy in the room from the time I first met him (and still do), and I'm so glad that he saw past the shy girl and wanted to get to know me too. I love you baby! Happy 7th first date anniversary!!

Hmm....pasta.

2010-09-13T11:21:00.004-05:00

I know my blog has been all over the place lately, but I gotta share this recipe for arrabbiata sauce from Casual Kitchen:

http://casualkitchen.blogspot.com/2008/07/how-to-make-arrabbiata-sauce.html

It is perfectly spicy and insanely easy, and if you use whole wheat pasta (I always use w.w. spaghetti with this sauce), it is completely healthy. You don't even use salt! Just like when you cook onions in olive oil on low heat for 30 minutes or so, something magical happens to this mixture of canned tomatoes, olive oil, garlic and red pepper flakes after about 25 minutes of simmering. It is even better the next day, and since Seth and I love a lot of sauce I always double the recipe...it makes the right amount for 1 16 oz. box of pasta, plus a little extra to dip the garlic bread in :) Enjoy!

Austin

2010-08-31T08:19:00.009-05:00

For our summer vacation this year, Seth and I decided to drive all the way to Austin, TX to see friends and hang out at all our favorite places. We hadn't been back to Austin since we moved back to TN in 2006, so this visit was long overdue.

Its a long drive from Knoxville to Austin...about 17 hours according to Google Maps...so we did all sorts of things to stay entertained on the drive. We kept track of how many butterflies flew into the car (7), how many deer we saw on the side of the road (5), and how many signs for adult bookstores we saw (14, and those were mostly in TN and Arkansas). Oh, and we tried to see a license plate from every state in the US and got all the way up to 42!

We thought it was hilarious to take pictures of Seth pretending to take a nap while driving...

...and saw a beautiful sunset.

Once it got dark I started playing with the different settings on the camera and got some cool shots.

We broke up the drive into 2 days on the way down, and it was nice to be leisurely about getting there. On our first full day, we did a little nostalgia tour:

The old house on Depew I lived in from 1999-2000.

Waterloo Records, Seth's old stomping ground and one of the best independent record stores in the country.

Dirty's Kum-Bak burgers, where I used to get my double cheeseburger for lunch almost every day in 2000. So good. Unfortunately I didn't go in this time since I'm not eating meat right now...just couldn't bare get a bean burger at this place.

My old gym from 1999, and I'm still not sure why I chose to get a year membership at this place. Notice the veiny arm sticking out of the side of the building. It is a hardcore body builder's gym with no machines, only free weights and mirrors. I stuck out like a sore thumb the 3 times I went :)

Our old apartment. We weren't there long but have some good memories there.

We finished the day with Conan's pizza...just as good as I remember.

The nostalgia/must-see Austin stuff continued for the rest of the week...

Beautiful Barton Springs, which stays 68 degrees all year round.

It was way too cold for me, but Seth got in and swam for a bit. I think I'm getting wimpy in my old age.

The Austin Zoo with my good friend Mimi! We saw the cutest pig sleeping in the mud.

We also saw Some Kind of Wonderful at the Alamo Drafthouse, sang karaoke at Ego's (Seth did a great rendition of Stayin' Alive), ate at one of our favorite Tex-Mex places, Guero's, and had lots of good friend time with all our Texas buddies. I wish I had taken more pictures...I hate that I didn't get a single one of our friends Heather and Patrick. Boo. You guys will just have to come to TN to visit so we can get some then, okay?! :)

Oh, and did I mention it was hot??

After 6 nights it was time to head home. We had planned to break it up into 2 days again but ended up driving all the way back to Tennessee in one trip...it was a fun-filled 16 hours and 45 minutes in the car! Actually it wasn't that bad, and we'd done it once before in 2005 so we knew it was possible. Plus we were anxious to get on home to our gal Ruby.

All in all a great trip! Thanks to all our Austin pals for being up for anything and hanging out with us so much (and for giving us a great guest room to sleep in, A & J!!). We miss you all already and our guest room is ready for you anytime :)

Love this man

2010-08-30T21:23:00.003-05:00

This is what he does on his day off :)

Love this girl

2010-08-30T21:06:00.002-05:00

In case you ever wondered why they're called blue heelers...

its time to give up those plastic water bottles!

2010-08-12T09:51:00.001-05:00

Via: Term Life Insurance

One of the best ballgames ever

2010-08-03T16:10:00.001-05:00

Saturday night Seth and I went to one of the best ballgames ever. It had poured rain all day and the sky looked like there was more to come, but we decided to risk it and go see the Smokies anyway.

It ended up being one of them most exciting games of the year (3 home runs and a triple!), and we got to see a gorgeous sunset.

It just doesn't get any better than that. I love the summer so much!

water and fire

2010-07-13T19:58:00.005-05:00

Since I am incapable of making a decision about the kitchen floor, I'm going to post some pictures from 4th of July. We spent a good part of the day at Seth's grandparents' house, and it was so hot that Seth ended up jumping in the lake.

Then we headed home, set beach chairs out in the front yard, and had fun with fireworks.

If you can't tell by Seth's face in that last shot, it was really fun! :)

Kitchen floor part 3

2010-07-03T09:54:00.006-05:00

So this weekend I went to a local flooring store and got a box of tiny Armstrong tiles (to see the colors in person) and a box of full-sized tiles that have been discontinued (read: cheap!!). I laid out the entire box of full-size tiles to see how it would look.

First of all, it was cool to see most of the old floor covered up! And secondly, this is not the right tile for our kitchen. When Seth and I were talking about the floor options yesterday he said that, since the walls are grey, we need to be careful not to have the floor be too grey because then the room will be overpowered with it. I wasn't totally in agreement at the time, but now that I see such a grey floor I completely agree. The floor needs a little more warmth and some light color in it too. Good call Seth! Onto the tiny tiles...

The box of tiny tiles was really fun, plus it was important to see the tiles in person since the way color looks on a computer screen is not always accurate. I tried a couple of combinations from my last post:

Soft Warm Grey + Field Grey (definitely too much grey)

Sandy Beach + Coaster Greige (this one is the runner up)

And finally a new combination: Sandy Beach + Earth Green:

Even though the name of the tile is Earth Green, its really not green at all...just a nice, warm neutral. Plus it is similar to the wall color but not as dark.

So, the two tiles together in the bottom left corner of this photo (Sandy Beach & Earth Green) are the ones! I think. I haven't ordered anything yet so if you've got any input, let's hear it!

Vegan mayo

2010-07-02T10:49:00.001-05:00

I've made about 5 batches of vegan mayo but have never gotten it quite right...until today! This recipe is based off one I found on recipezaar.com but I've tweaked it a little. Whether you want to cut out animal products or just enjoy mayo w/out the cholesterol, this is a great recipe to have.

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup soy milk

1 cup + 2 tablespoons safflower oil

3/8 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard

1 1/2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

DIRECTIONS

1. Combine all the ingredients except the apple cider vinegar in a blender; blend until smooth.

2. Slowly add the apple cider vinegar while the mayo is blending.

3. Enjoy!

Kitchen floor, part 2

2010-06-28T16:41:00.009-05:00

Last weekend I went to a local tile store, Home Depot, and Lowes to check out the flooring options in person. I got pretty overwhelmed and started thinking...maybe the floor is okay the way it is...I don't know if I can do this afterall. I pretty much go through that stage before every project I work on, and it mainly comes from fear and the inability to make a final decision. But after thinking about it some more, reading the comments from my last post and talking to a few people about the different options, I've decided on doing VCT tiles in a checkerboard pattern (not diagonal).

Here are 4 new mock-ups that I put together from Armstrong VCT tiles that I can order from Lowes (and return if I lay them out and they look bad). They're in order from my favorite to least favorite...please vote in the comments for which one you like the best!

#1: Soft Warm Gray + Field Gray

+

#2: Coaster Greige + Sandy Beach

+

#3: Coaster Greige + Shadow Blue

+

#4: Charcoal + Field Gray

Kitchen floor

2010-06-23T11:59:00.012-05:00

I've wanted to replace the kitchen floor ever since we moved in, but its never been a high priority because I don't hate the floor as it is. It never looks clean no matter how hard I scrub, and it has a few blemishes, but all in all it goes pretty well with the rest of the kitchen. But all of a sudden this week I have become obsessed with finding the perfect thing to replace it with. Here's the floor now (although it looks more yellow in real life):

My first instinct was to do black and white checkered floors, but the more I thought about it the more I realized it'd be too much contrast in a room (or rooms if you count the dining room) that already has so much contrast as it is. I did a very rough mock-up in Photoshop and that confirmed it for me: no b&w tiles.

Then I saw this kitchen floor on The Brick House and thought, oooh solid speckled tile is the answer! After spending hours making mock-ups of every possible speckled VCT tile I could find, I realized that that wasn't going to work either.

This one is just so horrendous that I have to post it:

Hahaha. It looks like my kitchen floor is covered in hot lava.

So back to the serious ideas...now I'm thinking that the way to go is checkerboard tiles, just not in black and white. Like all my mock-ups, these are very rough...but if you sort of squint your eyes and and look at the big picture, I think you can get the idea. I did one with the tiles lined up straight, and one diagonal (I'm definitely leaning towards the diagonal one).

I know I haven't posted anything on this blog for a month, but if there's anyone out there that still reads it, I'd love some feedback! Which one of these options do you like best, or is there an option that I haven't thought of yet that might work? I'm not really interested in ceramic tile because its expensive, harder to install, and if you drop anything breakable on it, it shatters. Pretty much I'm thinking vinyl tiles, VCT (commercial grade vinyl tiles), or marmoleum/linoleum tiles. I got really excited about the possibility of rubber tiles for awhile (and spent hours doing mock-ups with them), but then I found out that they're not good for kitchens because grease/oil can have a bad affect on them. That was a bummer because I thought they'd be great for my feet/back since they are very shock absorbent and I spend so much time in the kitchen.

So anyway...that's what I've been thinking about lately! I'm pretty excited about it because I haven't been pumped about a major house project in awhile (hence the lack of blogging). Its fun to have the wheels turning again! :)

Garden update

2010-05-21T12:53:00.003-05:00

The garden is really coming along! Here's what it looked like on May 5th:

And here's what it looks like today (May 21st):

I can't believe how fast its all growing now! The broccoli is huge and I think ready to start harvesting (its getting little yellow flowers on it), and the tomatoes are getting so tall too. I just put in some zucchini and yellow squash this morning so hopefully those will follow suit and grow fast also. The onions don't seem to have worked at all but that's okay...those are pretty cheap to buy at the store. Its more important to me to have homegrown tomatoes, zucchini and squash anyway.

4th anniversary weekend trip

2010-05-10T16:43:00.006-05:00

Our 4th wedding anniversary is coming up so Seth and I took off to the mountains last weekend for a little trip to celebrate. We camped at an awesome campground that I highly recommend: Turkey Creek campground in Almond, NC. The setting is beautiful and wooded and the bathrooms were the nicest I've ever seen at a campground. Our site was right next to the creek and the sound of it running by was so peaceful. It was also a nice built-in sound machine at night :)

We also drove on the Blue Ridge Parkway a little bit and stopped at a few gorgeous overlooks. It was so nice not to have an agenda, and to spend 3 whole days with my husband. Because of our different work schedules that hardly every happens, and I enjoyed every minute of it!

The mountains in NC are so unbelievable beautiful, and I can't say enough how great it was to get out of town and away from obligations, responsibilities, the telephone/tv/computer...all that stuff. I always feel strange putting on my "work costume" and doing what I do 40 hours a week, but after my weekend in nature it is feeling especially hard to put on my business casual garb and sit in the cube this week. It makes me wonder what I am really doing all this for. And it also made me want to sell everything, quit my job, and get a shack down by the river with Seth and live the simple life :)

I saved the best for last, and its actually the first thing we did: whitewater rafting down the Nantahala River. We did this 2 years ago and had so much fun, so it was great to get back and do it again. I didn't think that anything could top the pictures from the last rafting trip, but these sure do :) And by the way, they are in order of how they were taken as Seth and I each went down Nantahala Falls at the end of the trip.

Seth looked like a pro (aka. no fear) in every shot...

I, on the other hand, looked like every killer I've ever imagined was coming for me:

I just missed the giant rock and felt some relief that I survived...

...then things went downhill again.

Hahaha. Good times! :)

filling in the blanks

2010-04-21T14:18:00.012-05:00

I haven't done one of these in awhile and I don't have any new projects to write about, so I thought I'd do this short questionnaire that I saw on another blog recently.

1. When do you feel happiest? When I'm laying on the beach with Seth. Or better yet, when I'm jumping waves in the ocean with Seth. I don't know if its the sound of the waves crashing that drowns out my usual thoughts of to-do lists and worries, or if its being away from telephones/computers/bills on the fridge, but there's something about being at the ocean that makes all my cares go away. But since I only get to the beach for about 1 week out of each year, luckily there are things that make me happy too...spending face-to-face time with people that I love, taking the first bite out of a meal I just prepared and realizing that it is delicious, and working on and completing a project like this or this because it is a challenge and gives me a sense of purpose.

2. How do you take care of yourself? Right now the #1 thing I do to take care of myself is eat well: lots of whole grains and beans, organic veggies and fruit, and very little dairy or meat. Sometimes I get overwhelmed trying to eat the right things and get the right about of B vitamins! and iron! and leafy greens! etc. etc., but luckily I have people to remind me that I can only do so much and getting stressed about eating healthy enough is counterproductive.

3. Are you internally or externally motivated? Internally, 100% (or 1,000,000% as Randy Jackson would say). If someone else tells me I need to do something, not only will I not do it, I'll probably do the opposite. But if I make the decision to do something, there's no stopping me. I've been that way since I was a kid, much to my parents' chagrin.

4. What do you do for fun? Go out for Mexican food. Seth and I are currently trying to scale back a little on our Senor Taco addiction...their margaritas and salsa bar are so irresistible that when a friend asked me if they put crack in their food because I was craving it so much, I honestly started to wonder if they did. I also love to cook new and exciting veggie/vegan meals, go on road trips (esp. out west), kayak down the Nantahala River, and watch movies that I love over and over. I think its interesting how my list of things I do for fun has changed over the years.

5. What intimidates you? Trying to make conversation with someone I don't know well, poaching eggs, and picking a career path. I've tried and tried but I just can't seem to do any of those things! The idea of planting a garden used to intimate me but not anymore :)

6. What is something you are proud of? I paid off $15,000 worth of credit card debt. It was really hard and took forever, but I did it! And the whole experience turned me into a freakishly frugal person so hopefully I will never let that happen again.

7. Finish the sentence: I never...want to feel like a grown up, no matter how old I live to be.

8. Favorite vacation spot? The beach, but only when its out of season and there are hardly any other people there. I also love driving out west for vacations (New Mexico, Utah).

9. Today is a (rate from 1 to 10): 6. Nothing too exciting has happened today, but nothing bad has happened either. And my health is good and its nice outside, and I'm cooking one of my favorite things for dinner tonight, so I can't complain.

10. Finish the sentence: If you knew me really well you'd know...I tend to be one way or another, no in between. I'm either $15k in debt or I'm a cheapskate. I'm eating McDonald's every day and sporting an I ♥ McDonald's bumper sticker on my car (gross, I know) or I'm eating kale/quinoa/bean hippie bowls for dinner every night and telling everyone they should see Food, Inc. (which is showing on PBS tonight! check it out!). I've got long hair down my back or its super short. I couldn't change that even if I wanted to, but I like being this way...at least I always know where I stand.

And that's it! I would tag some friends to do this too but they all quit updating their blogs years ago. Somehow, amazingly, I'm still hangin' on.

Our first garden

2010-04-10T10:06:00.008-05:00

Well, we did it! We finally planted our first garden. I've said I wanted to do this every year since we bought the house, but every year I get intimidated and put it off too long and then its too late. But not this year! I got more intimidated than ever because I researched waaaay too much and it was really overwhelming. The internet is great but sometimes the information overload can be paralyzing. Last weekend I spent 2 hours watching how-to videos and was just about to give up the idea of a garden, but Seth gave me a pep talk and his confidence that we could do it was just what I needed. I ran out to Lowes for a mattock and a hoe and we got started 45 minutes later.

First we picked our spot and started tilling up the ground that was already there. I'd say we went down about a foot or so.

And let me just say that tilling without a tiller is HARD. I think the last time I was that sore and worn out was when we refinished the hardwood floors. But its also totally doable! Its a lot more work but you also don't have to figure out a way to get a rented tiller to and from your house, and it is cheaper too. The mattock and the hoe cost a total of $30, and we'll have those tools to use on future gardens and other yard projects for years to come.

The next thing we did was get the dirt out of the hole and mix it with several bags of compost mix (I don't have a picture of that). We put that mixture back in the ground and then covered it all with this mesh stuff that's supposed to keep the weeds from coming up. You just cut an X through it when you're putting the plants in the ground.

The next thing we did (on day 3...this was not a 1 day process by any means) was plant! Finally the fun part. I put in broccoli, onions, tomatoes, and left a spot for either a zucchini or squash plant. The marigolds around the perimeter are to keep the bunnies and squirrels away. Plus they look pretty :)

Seth dug up a bunch of large rocks that were around our shed to create a raised bed, then he added a bunch more potting soil on top of everything. He also dug up some old wire fencing that was in the way back of the yard and put that around the garden too...just extra deterrent for the critters.

We planted some herbs too, but because there wasn't enough room in the garden, they went into pots. We've got dill, cilantro, basil and sage.

And there you have it! Even though we haven't gotten to use anything out of the garden yet, it has already been such a rewarding experience for me. It was great to work with my hands and be out in the sun...and I just know its going to be an even better feeling when I pull out my first veggie and cook dinner with it. I can't wait! I also know that its not all going to work but that's okay too. This is a learning experience and I'll be that much more prepared for next year. I'm already planning to do a garden double this size in 2011 :)

SquirrelGate 2010

2010-03-21T16:31:00.005-05:00

It all started with a feeder that my mom gave me a few years ago...now we have that feeder, a suet feeder, a finch feeder, and a smaller sunflower seed feeder in the yard. I would have 100 feeders if I could afford them and the food. I love it!

But lately the squirrels have become Public Enemy #1 in our yard because they get on the small feeder, eat all the seeds, and knock it down (the feeder my mom gave me is squirrel-proof). I used to think it was so funny how mad my mom would get about the squirrels getting into her feeders (she's a huge backyard bird person), and now I'm just like her! And so is Seth :) We've been getting so mad at the squirrels lately, and have tried lots of tricks to keep them away.

First I tried spraying the feeder pole with olive oil so they'd slip down it. That worked for awhile, but I'd have to keep spraying it every day and I can't keep that up. Seth tried scaring them to death by running outside every time they got on the feeder, but again...he can't keep that up forever. So today Seth had the great idea to turn an old tennis ball can into a squirrel deterrent.

He melted a hole in the bottom of the can, then pulled it over the pole and secured it with a random metal tightening thing from our old rake. And it seemed to work...we saw a few squirrels climb halfway up and then give up once they reached the tennis ball can. High fives ensued and we thought we had won.

But no...about an hour later one of the squirrels tried again a few times and eventually made it over the can!

I swear he was smirking at us through the window.

So we went back to the garage to see what else we could rig to keep them away. Seth found an old frisbee so he put a hole in the middle and secured it above the tennis ball can.

So far so good, but I won't be surprised if they find a way to get around this too. If all else fails we can buy one of the products they sell for this very thing, but I kind of hope we don't have to...this MacGyver stuff is too much fun :)

One more den development

2010-03-13T11:36:00.008-05:00

A few weeks ago my friend Stacy gave me an awesome headboard...it was originally brass but she painted it to look like an antique white iron bed. I had planned to put it in our bedroom, but it just didn't work with everything else in the room. So I tried it in our new guest room and it ended up being the perfect final touch to finish off the room.

It adds some interest to the bare wall behind the bed, and the shape references the shape of the mirror over the dresser on the other side of the room.

Thanks again, Stac! In other news, Ruby got her first diaper.

Its not something she'll have to wear all the time. She just gets a little too excited these days when new people come over, so I picked up a pack of doggie diapers to help with the dribbling. I think she looks adorable :) Other than that, she's doing really well these days. Seth and I were talking about what a rough year she had last year -- she went completely bald on her back from the flea allergy, she got bitten by a snake, she had a pretty traumatic experience at her 3rd annual (and final) Smokies game, and then she almost died from whatever it was that had her so sick those two weeks in July. And now its a new year and her coat is full again and she's put the weight back on that she lost...its just amazing what a tough old girl she is. As far as I'm concerned, there will never be another dog as great as my little Ruby Fruit.

I love you, Ruby!

Den development

2010-02-26T17:50:00.006-05:00

Its not a den anymore! Now its a real guest room (that also houses the desk/computer), and I'm so excited about that because I love having people stay over so much. The futon worked pretty well, but after awhile it became a hassle to turn it into a bed every time someone stayed over. So a few weeks ago Seth and I got a new bed for our bedroom and the old bed moved into the guest room. The room really has come a long way...here's a shot of what it looked like when we first moved in a few years ago:

And here it is now!

In addition to switching out the futon for a bed, I repainted the other bedside table to match the one I did before.

I know the bedding is sort of all over the place, but it works for now and I'll find something better eventually. I've definitely learned that working on a house or a room or even a small project to go IN a room just takes time to come together.

Happiness is...

2010-02-07T17:00:00.005-05:00

Watching birds through the kitchen window

A refrigerator full of leftovers

Snow in Knoxville during the winter instead of the usual cold rain

New desk

2010-02-05T10:51:00.005-05:00

We've been using an old dining room table as our computer desk for years now, and it just doesn't function. The top is glass so its constantly dirty, there are no drawers for storage, and look at those wires:

I was starting to feel like Mommie Dearest, except instead of wire hangers I was screaming "No more visible wires!!!" Haha. I've been on the hunt for a new desk for several months now, and I almost bought several that were just so-so. So glad I held out because I found the most adorable vintage PINK metal desk at a local vintage/thrift store.

It has lots of drawers for storage and a formica top that's in great shape. And it makes all the difference in the room:

Yea! The den has gone through some other big changes that I'll share later. Working on the house and getting it decorated/set up has been a slow process, but also so much fun. I sort of dread the day that the house is finished!

Dining room drapes

2009-11-30T14:54:00.012-05:00

If there's anyone that still checks this blog, I guess you've figured out that I'm not really posting very often anymore. I felt guilty about that at first, but now I'm okay with it. When I finish projects that I'm excited about, I'll post...otherwise, just assume that I'm either being lazy or working on a project that's boring/hard to photograph. For example...one of my latest home improvements was replacing the ripped, 50-year-old sheers in the living room with rigged Vivan curtains from Ikea - both big windows for $30! As exciting as that was for me, it doesn't make for the most interesting blog post :)

But I think this next project might be blog worthy! My mom gave me the linen drapes that were in the den before they redecorated and I have been wanting to put them up in the dining room for over a year now. When we moved in the windows had horizontal wood blinds (white) which were okay, but they actually blocked a big chunk of the window when they were pulled all the way open. Also, the cords were always tangled and they just didn't feel right for the dining room. The new drapes just happened to be the perfect length and width for this big set of windows, so I feel like it was meant to be!

Its pretty impossible to get a picture of both sides of this window, but you get the idea. I'm still amazed at how much bigger and taller the room looks now, and also how much more modern the curtains look when they're not hanging from a huge brass rod.

Now I just have to figure out what to do about the big brass elephant in the room - the chandelier. Any suggestions? There are 2 issues here: 1) its brass and ugly, and 2) its not centered over the table. When we first bought the house I thought I'd just spray paint it, but now I think I need to get an electrician involved to move it over the table first (I don't want to do a swag). And if I'm going to go to all that trouble...maybe I should think about finding a new fixture all together. The other option is to leave it where it is and just replace it with a regular light fixture to light the whole room (not one that's specifically for over a dining room table). This of course would be the cheaper of the 2 options, but also the scarier option...I don't know if I'm up for playing around with the wires in a 56 year old house.

Have you seen Food, Inc. yet? You should! I won't go into all the details here, but I've been making an effort to change some of my eating/food shopping habits because of it, and that led me to making granola bars from scratch. I don't know if I'll ever go back to the boxed kind - these are too good! I followed this recipe, and the only changes I made were 1/3 cup brown sugar instead of 2/3, almonds instead of peanuts, Earth Balance instead of butter, and I added flax seeds. And it was really easy!

I guess that's all for now! I can't believe December starts tomorrow. I'm going to try again to not get all stressed out over Christmas shopping this year. I didn't spend a penny or get out of my pj's on Black Friday so I think that's a good start :)

2 DIY makeovers: table + lamp

2009-09-29T11:49:00.016-05:00

Ever since we moved into the house, the den/office/guestroom has always been my last priority as far as decorating goes. Its been the room that all the old furniture goes as I've found/made replacements in other rooms of the house (like the TV stand). But recently I've really wanted to make that room look good...so Seth and I can enjoy it, but also so guests will feel nice and cozy in there too. After I finally settled on a paint color I liked, there was still not much on the walls, piles of junk in every corner, and furniture that functioned but didn't look all that great. So I de-cluttered, hung some pictures on the wall, and did a couple cheap DIY projects.

The first issue was the end table. It wasn't terrible...just not the style I like, plus it didn't work with the futon too well. So I painted it and changed out the hardware and voila! Totally new and updated end table for next to no $$ and roughly 4 hours of work. Here's the before (its sitting on top of a similar, smaller table so I can paint it):

And here's the after:

The light blue/green on the panels is leftover paint from the walls and I already had the red knobs (bought them for the TV stand but didn't end up using them), so all I had to buy was a quart of green paint. The whole project only cost about $12.

The next issue was lighting. The lamp I had on the end table was way too small...another leftover thing that I just stuck there because the table needed a bedside lamp for when people stay over. I searched online and at almost every thrift store in town and couldn't find anything that would work. Finally I stopped into the only thrift store left that I hadn't checked and found this "beauty" for $4.45!

The brass was terrible and the shade was stained, but the size was exactly what I was looking for. Plus...you can't beat that price! I still can't get over what a great deal I got, esp. since I didn't have to rewire it. So the first thing I did was spray paint it, first with a primer and then with a few different colors until I finally decided on Oil Rubbed Bronze by Krylon. It reads as black, but it has more depth than just plain old black. Here's the finished base:

Next I had to figure out what to do about the lamp shade. I bought several new lamp shades at Target and none of them worked...they all just looked too short on my 70's lamp. So I decided to cover the existing shade with fabric instead. I also decided to use the lamp shade as a way to solve another thing that's been bugging me about that room -- the big blank wall behind the futon.

I've been trying to figure out what to put on that wall for months and even considered vinyl decals and wallpaper. But finally I decided that its okay if that wall doesn't have anything on it. There's already so much stuff happening on the other 3 walls with the curtains, wall art/photos, and furniture, so it might be nice to have a wall without so much going on ("a place for the eye to rest" if you will, haha...that brings back so many memories from art critiques in school!). Anyway, since that wall was going to stay empty, I decided to use the lamp shade as a chance to bring some pattern to that wall and tie in the fabric of the curtains (particularly the tiny yellow dots on the curtains).

I found some fabric in town and followed the step-by-step tutorial on Young House Love to cover the shade with a glue gun. It ended up being a lot harder than I expected since the shade is so big and its not the same size around on the top as it is on the bottom. The finished product is not perfect by any means, but thankfully one side of it faces the wall so I just turned the bad part (where the 2 ends of the fabric meet) towards the wall :)

The pattern comes through nicely when the lamp is turned on, too...gives the room a warm glow.

Total cost of the lamp makeover: $4.45 for the lamp + approx. $5 for the spray primer and spray paint + $18 for the fabric = about $28! Not too shabby. Now I just need to tackle a few other issues from the other side of the room (notice that side is conveniently left out of all the pictures, haha)...and the den will be finished! But until then, I'm really happy about these small changes, and I've already caught myself spending more time in there than I used to.

Latest project

2009-07-27T14:44:00.006-05:00

I know I haven't posted anything on this blog in a month. After I wrote about Ruby's snake bite and rough baseball game, she got so sick and we thought we were going to lose her. I didn't write about it because when things really REALLY scare me I tend to not talk about them too much (esp. not on the world wide web)....mainly because I don't want it to feel any more real than it already does. Thankfully Ruby made a full recovery! She is still pretty skinny but back to her sweet and neurotic self, and it is wonderful.

Switching gears now...I finished a project this weekend that I am so excited about. Seth and I are not digital music people so in turn we have a large CD collection. I've been trying to figure out a good way to store all those CDs for years now...I've searched online for furniture or organizing systems that aren't $500+ but will hold all the CDs (no luck), and I've brainstormed new ways to organize them using the furniture we already have (no luck), and generally I've just felt frustrated because I couldn't figure out a good solution. Until a few weeks ago when it hit me...a media closet! We have a hall closet and a living room/entry way closet and both have been sort of half full since we moved in. I consolidated the contents of both so I could free up the living room closet and dedicate it to CDs.

First I measured everything and the width of the closet was 34 3/4"...1 1/4" too short for the pre-made shelving systems (36"). So I bought a bunch of lumber to build a custom shelving system: 1x2' and 1x8'...the guy at Home Depot cut most of it to size for me and I used my miter box and saw for the rest.

Then I installed the smaller pieces on the back and sides of the closet to provide support:

Then I attached the bigger boards to the supports:

And voila!

Okay so it was a *little* more complicated than that, but not much (especially compared to the stemware rack project). All it took was a little planning, helpful Home Depot employees, and an insane amount of pre-drilling holes and screwing screws (screwing screws? clearly I don't have the pro lingo down yet). Anyway...that's my new project! Oh, and the whole thing cost less than $40, so you really can't beat that. I know I'll probably have to take it down whenever we sell the house but it is completely worth it. Look at that face! :)

3rd Annual Dog Days of Summer

2009-06-30T08:32:00.010-05:00

Last night I took Ruby to her 3rd Dog Days of Summer at the Smokies ballpark. I had to carry her most of the way to the grass and she was nervous at first, but seemed okay once we got settled in.

Unfortunately Seth couldn't make it this year, but I still got to go with my pals Barry, Mike and Dusty.

When Dusty wants a bite of something, she has a look that's hard to turn down :)

Ruby didn't end up doing too well the longer we were there, and I'm sad to say that this was probably her last ballgame. Its just too much for her now.

She dozed off for a little while but we ended up leaving about halfway through to get her home.

I'm still glad we went but a loud ballgame just isn't the best place for ole Rube anymore. She was a trouper though!

She's a tough ole girl

2009-06-29T11:17:00.003-05:00

Poor little Miss Ruby has had a rough month. We discovered a puncture wound on her a couple weeks ago, and we're pretty sure she got it when we boarded her at the beginning of the month. She's an indoor dog so really, that's the only time that anything could have happened. Also? We're pretty sure its a snake bite...pretty upsetting. I took her to the vet and got her started on antibiotics but it just wasn't healing. So a week later I took her back to the vet and she got 5 staples and (dun dun dun) - a CONE. Some people call them Elizabethan collars, but basically its a rigid plastic cone you put around a dogs neck to keep them from licking/biting a wound. I always thought dogs looked so funny with a cone on, but now I know its not really funny at all, and especially not on a blind dog. We tried it the first night and she couldn't even walk through a doorway. She just kept slamming the cone on the wall over and over. Then she'd change directions and slam it again. Awful. So last night we tried a new tactic to keep her away from the staples:

She looks so tough! And it seems to work as far as we can tell. Poor little thing though. Its just so hard to watch her deal with all these new challenges on top of being blind. Seth told me this morning that she's started limping and there's something wrong with her left front leg. I know she's old (12 1/2 yrs.) and its natural for her to start deteriorating, but man...its hard for me to see her having trouble. She's such a sweet little thing and we've been through so much together...I just want her to hang in there and have a peaceful life. She definitely deserves it.

What a weekend, part 2

2009-06-02T14:51:00.004-05:00

After our deer encounter, we kept driving around Cades Cove for a little while until we got to the entrance for the 5 mile Abrams Falls hike.

That's right, 5 MILES. This was no big deal to Karen, Miles & Seth, but to me that was a HUGE deal. I'm just not a hiker and I don't have much experience hiking trails that long. At one point I wondered what would happen if I just laid down and refused to get back up :) But I didn't, and what I got to see at the end was well worth the work:

So pretty. And miraculously I made it back to the car...still not sure how that happened.
The next day (after Seth literally had to drag me out of bed at 7am), we headed east to Hartford, TN and Karen did a stellar job guiding our boat down the Pigeon River.

None of us fell out and the boat never flipped, so it was a complete success!

And........that's it! That was our big adventurous weekend with Karen and Miles. So much fun. I miss you guys already!

What a weekend, part 1

2009-06-02T14:04:00.007-05:00

I love it when good pals come visit, and last weekend's visit from Karen and Miles was so packed that I'm splitting up the pictures into 2 posts. They live in NYC and understandably wanted to spend lots of time outside...so of course we headed to the beautiful Smoky Mountains!

We went to Look Rock first...its blows me away every time.

Then we hiked a mile up to the big tower thing in the woods to get an almost 360 degree view.

Seth said Karen and I looked like high school kids that skipped track practice :)

I love this shot...it looks like Seth is showing Miles how he can move the clouds around with his hands.

After that we got back in the car and headed to Cades Cove. We were excited to see this guy right by the road...

...until we pulled off the road a little later, went into the woods, and were surrounded by at least 6 deer. They blend in so well...can you spot one of them?

Here's one right behind Seth.

We stood in those woods for a good 15 minutes, silently watching them wander by and slurp up leaves (and get REALLY close).

They seemed like young deer and we all agreed later that it would have been pretty scary if they were bigger, grown up deer.

Highway to the danger zone

2009-05-18T08:28:00.002-05:00

I know I'm 23 years late but I saw Top Gun for the 1st time last weekend. I'm glad I finally saw it since its an 80's classic, but I have to say...it was pretty bad. I just about died when Tom Cruise was playing beach volleyball in skin tight JEANS. No wonder he was sweating like a pig! And actually, he was sweaty for pretty much the whole movie.

I still had fun watching it with pals and laughing at all the ridiculous dialog, but I don't think I'll be watching it again. Sorry Tom, but I gotta give this one a thumbs down :)

3 years ago today....

2009-05-13T15:23:00.007-05:00

...Seth and I walked down that path and tied the knot. Has it really been 3 years already?? I feel so lucky to have found someone to be weird with...life is so much more fun that way :)

Happy Anniversary, Seth! Thank you for 3 great years!!

When it rains, it pours; baby animals

2009-04-23T08:00:00.002-05:00

I've got a lot going on right now that's keeping me at a constant low to mid-grade level of stress. Car issues, expensive (and painful) dental work, a computer on the fritz...so I'm choosing to focus on something positive right now.

SPRING IS (FINALLY) HERE.

Or is it summer? This weekend its supposed to be in the mid 80's! Either way I don't care. All I know is that everything is beautiful and blooming and the animals are coming back out.

Its no secret that bunnies are my favorite, and they are popping up everywhere! You never know when you're going to glance out the window and see one. Out the front window...

By the car...

You just never know when you'll spot one. Seth saw one building a nest out of pine needles yesterday and I am soooo sad I missed it. He said she was kinda fat so you know what that means - baby bunnies!! I'm in heaven. It doesn't matter what kind of terrible mood I'm in...if I spot baby bunnies playing in the yard I am instantly cheered up.

I'm also really getting into all the birds lately. They are everywhere these days and so fun to watch. Several people have told me I'm turning into my mom (she loves birds)...but I consider that a compliment. Check out what Seth discovered nestled in the tree by the front walkway:

I guess these are robin's eggs? Pretty neat :)

I just love all the green and new growth and blooms. Its rained so much this year and its making for such a gorgeous spring. When all the trees start filling in again and the animals come back out, its so exciting...like things are finally right in the world again.

Seth's been working his tail off in the yard and I love that too. He does such a great job, plus I know it makes him feel good to be outside so much. Check out what he did with one of the bushes in the backyard:

He made it into such a perfect little heart. I love it!

I guess that's all for now. Hurray for spring! :)

I think I'm the only one that still loves ER

2009-04-02T08:26:00.009-05:00

One of my favorite shows of all time is ending and I'm gearing up for the 3 hour finale tonight. That's right...3 HOURS. If it were 6 hours I'd gladly watch it. I'm expecting to be choked up for most of it...I've been getting choked up every Thursday night for the past 15 years (!!!) so I'm sure that will be magnified tonight with this being their final show and all. What a bummer.

On a brighter note, I got a Wii!!! I've been saving every dollar and gift card for months (birthday, Christmas, etc.) and I finally had enough. Here I am getting it set up for the first time...I'm beyond excited :)

My sisters, mom and I had our 2nd Annual Girls Weekend in Atlanta last weekend and it was a big success! We mainly just ate and laughed a lot...and it was perfect :) I already can't wait for next year.

This weekend I have no plans and I'm thrilled. I'm overdue for a low-key weekend to relax, meal plan, grocery shop, play some golf on the Wii, cook, and have no big plans. Happy (almost) weekend!

Stemware racks

2009-03-19T08:53:00.006-05:00

The following things have happened since my last post:

1. I said goodbye to my 20's and am officially a grown up now. So far...30 rules! And I don't feel old or freaked out or anything like that.

2. Seth turned 32 and is also not feeling freaked out about getting older. For his birthday we saw Kathleen Edwards at the Square Room. She is GREAT...check her out here.

3. I finally....FINALLY...finished building the stemware racks in the kitchen! Ever since we moved in, its been a bit of a struggle to think of things to put in the open shelving between the kitchen and the dining room. Everything needed to look decent from both sides, plus I wanted everything to have a function...not just a bunch of empty vases collecting dust. Since we don't have a ton of cabinets, storing wine glasses in the open shelving just seemed like a great solution...it cleared out some cabinet space and also looks good from both sides! Here's how I did it:

1. I drew up some plans. Nothing fancy...just a sketch of how it was going to work, what all the measurements needed to be to accommodate the glasses, etc.

2. I bought several 1x1 pieces of wood and sawed them to size with my new miter box and saw:

3. I made templates out of cardboard just to make sure all my measurements were going to work. I'm so glad I did this because I ended up having to adjust some of my measurements to accommodate some irregularities in the shelves.

4. I used leftover plywood from when I mounted my metal art piece to make the wider pieces of the stemware racks. I cut most of the pieces with a utility knife and this was a HUGE mistake. It took hours and hours and really hurt my hands and my back. When my friend Barry found out I'd been using a utility knife he couldn't believe it! And fortunately he let me come over and use his tools to finish cutting the final few pieces. One day I hope to have a whole workshop full of big power tools!

5. I sanded, primed, and painted all the pieces.

6. I pre-drilled 2 holes in all of the 1x1 pieces.

7. Because I needed the screws to be flush with the 1x1 pieces, I used my biggest drill bit to make a little space for the head of the screw to sink in to. I'm sure there's a technical term for this but I don't know what it is :)

8. I screwed all the 1x1 pieces into the shelves. This was a little tricky and I ended up screwing them in by hand.

9. Then I attached the wide pieces. I bought a nail gun just for this job and I was super excited about it (I've always wanted a nail gun). But unfortunately it didn't work well at all and the brad nails wouldn't sink into the wood like I had hoped. I guess that's what I get for buying the cheapest model, but I just wasn't willing to drops hundreds of dollars on one of those awesome air powered ones. So I ended up driving brad nails in with a hammer...and it worked great!

So that's all there was to it! Actually, this project took a LOT more time and effort than I ever thought it would, but it was completely worth it. Here's the finished product:

I already had the plywood, paint, sandpaper, etc., so the only thing I had to buy was $15 worth of 1x1 wood. Well, and a $50 piece of junk nail gun that I'm hoping Home Depot will take back even though its been over 90 days since I bought it. $15 for custom stemware racks...you can't beat that! :)

(no title)

2009-03-03T16:01:00.009-05:00

I just wanted to share this picture I took of my little blind baby basking in the sun last week. Doesn't she look so stoic? I've got a real post to write soon about a project I've been working on that's almost finished. The next step involves using my new nail gun for the first time and I can't wait!

. . . . .

I also can't wait for the time change, which is Sunday. Spring is just around the corner...I can feel it!

New chair

2009-02-13T15:26:00.008-05:00

I finally found the perfect chair for the corner by the built-in bookshelves! After we took the Christmas tree down, the yellow chair went back to its normal spot and that empty corner has been bugging me ever since. Then yesterday I stopped into one of my favorite vintage shops on my lunch break and found The Chair! I had almost gotten so many other chairs that were just okay and I'm so glad I waited. Its comfy and cute and it I got it for a great price.

What's really crazy is that I found some fabric in a trunk in the backyard shed about a year ago and its almost an exact match to the chair fabric. I'm hoping my mom can make a few throw pillows out of it for the couch to tie everything together. I'm so glad that I haven't made a Goodwill drop in awhile because that fabric has been in the give-away box in the garage for months! Funny how it worked out this way.

GO CARDINALS!!!

2009-02-01T16:02:00.003-05:00

I'm really in the spirit this year ;)

What a tease

2009-01-28T11:37:00.004-05:00

Today started off 63 degrees and looking like this:

And now it looks like this and the temperature will be down to 28 degrees by tonight:

And no, I didn't change the setting on my camera to b&w...it really is that grey outside.
Spring: you are are taking way too long to get here!!

New den

2009-01-26T09:34:00.005-05:00

After months of being in denial, I finally faced the facts this weekend - the yellow in the den just wasn't working. Back in September I spent so many hours painting that room, and I didn't want to admit that I didn't love it because that meant painting again. But then my mom came to town and we found these great curtains, and when I realized that the curtains weren't going to work with the wall color, it forced me to fix the problem. Here's what the room looked like before, and trust me...the color looks a lot better in this picture than it did in real life. Most of the time it looked almost like a neon orangish-yellow, which was strange because it didn't look that way at all in our old apartment. Anyway, here it is before:

And here it is now!

This room is tricky to get a good picture of, but hopefully you get the idea. Here's a close-up of the new curtains:

They're heavy and have texture and they really make the room feel like a DEN. Finally! :) I'm so sore from painting all day, but it was worth it. I've been slacking on house projects lately because of the cold weather and it felt great to make a decision to do something and then just do it.

I hope everyone has a great week!