Random Snapshots

august goals

As of August 10th I will be officially finished with school so I expect to have more free time for the last 3 weeks of August.  I'm ready to re-claim my life and get some stuff done.  In the words of Big Black, I'm going to DO WORK SON!

1.    Control my eating out and get to the gym more often:  I anticipate having more time at night to plan my meals throughout the day which will result in less eating out.  I'm giving myself 2 months to get back on track and shed a few lbs.

2.    Finish a knitting UFO:  This is ongoing for me.  I really need to begin finishing what I start.  I'm shooting for finishing the 2nd Lindsay sock and possibly my Hey Student! cardigan.

3.    Start a date-night tradition with Adam:  This has been on my mind a lot as school winds down.

4.    Get in the habit of tackling a small cleaning project in the house every week on a certain day:  For example -- Every Wednesday try and purge/organize a small portion of a room such as the "junk drawer."  I can manage something in small bits like this and think it will really add up.

5.    Do something that I haven't had time for: Edit and order a bunch of photos, learn to embroider, get back to reading, or do some home project.  Something along those lines that I haven't had time to do in the past 2.5 years.

home decor

I wanted to share some new additions to my home decor that I've added over the past few weeks.

First is a print that my Dad gave us for Christmas.  This was one of my favorite gifts this year.  The painting is done by Jack DiMaggio who is a local artist in our hometown.  He was also my favorite art teacher in high school.  I've always been a huge fan of his work and it's really great to have my own piece.  This print is extra special to us because it's focused on our hometown.

 

We painted our living room 2 years ago and I believe this is the first thing we've hung on the wall since.  I look forward to having some more time once school is finished this summer to decorate more.

I filled another blank wall with inexpensive frames from Target filled with patterned scrapbook paper.  I still have a ton of scrapbook supplies despite the fact that I haven't completed a layout in years so I figured I'd put some of it to good use.  

  

I really like how this turned out.  I'm almost considering filling the rest of the wall.  Any thoughts??  

The last addition is a bright orange blanket and two pillows for our couch.  Last month we were browsing Cost Plus World Market and they had this set on display on a red couch.  I loved the look and picked all three pieces up.  Our couch came with several pillows in the same fabric as our chair/ottoman.  I've always hated that matchy matchy look so I think I'm going to cover the rest of the pillows once I get some time.

  

I don't like the display on the floating shelves right now.  I think I'm going to hang some art or photos around the shelves - maybe a big canvas or two.  I really like the shelves, but everything I seem to put up there ends up looking really disproportionate in relation to the big couch and big wall space.  In hindsight I would have moved the shelves over and centered them on the wall instead of over the couch, but it's too late now.  Those suckers are firmly anchored into the wall!  

I'm open to suggestions on the shelves too!

I love the color of our living room, but the combo of the deep golden yellow and red makes it really hard to photograph this room.  In real life it's a really warm and inviting room - at least we think so! 

affordable Christmas decorations

I've been noticing a lot of inexpensive Christmas decorations on the 'net lately and I thought I would share three of my favorites here.  I especially like the ones that reuse items and don't involve any purchases. 

Recycled Christmas Tree by Lilly: I love this little tree and the endless decorating opportunities.  I think I'll make a few up with the Christmas catalogs I've been getting in the mail. 

 

Christmas Card Tree:  Martha used inexpensive store-bought branches, but I've seen many variations with braches from your yard.  Either would be good.   I haven't gotten any Christmas cards yet, but I think I can expect a few.  Maybe I'll make this up to display them with.  Last night at knitting we decided you could also display tiny knit mittens, socks, or sweater ornaments. 

 

Glitter candles:  It's no secret that I love glitter and shimmer.  Aren't these gorgeous?  I've done this with pumpkins before -- as a project with my Grandma.  I would suggest that you buy the most super fine glitter you can find.  It will adhere much better.  

  

My little trees are up and I'm hoping to decorate them tonight.  I also want to decorate my floating shelves above the couch and the cutout above my fireplace.  Maybe I'll have time to make up some of these decorations this weekend. 

Yesterday...

marked the 1 year anniversary of the closing on our condo.  Another 1 year anniversary that has come up very quickly.  On hand it's hard to believe that we've lived in our place for a year and on the other hand it's not because it feels like home. 

We've been slowly trying to make it a home...really taking our time choosing paint colors that we'll like for a while, collecting things to hang on the walls, etc.

The other weekend we picked this up at Marshalls and hung it over our closet door in the living room.

It matches the reds we've been accenting with perfectly and also fits nicely up there. 

We also hung some shelves above our couch, but I don't have a photo of those yet.  I'm collecting things to fill them up and then I'll share. 

I was finally able to get the last of the boxes (for now!) that I need in my art room.  Yesterday I worked a little more in there organizing and will also do some more tonight.  I hope to wrap it up in there soon.  We had an extra TV in there taking up some room, but were able to sell it on Craigslist last night within in minutes of listing it.  The guy came last night to pick it up so I've gained some space in there.

Tuesday starts my week off of school which is very exciting for me!  I can't wait to finally be able to get some things done around here.  :) 

Have a nice Sunday....go Seahawks!

Coming along slowly...

This past Sunday Adam and I were in Target getting a birthday gift for our niece so we decided to browse the housewares section.  We've been looking for new drapes and a rod to hang over our sliding glass door in the family room that we just painted.  We hadn't been able to find anything that we really loved, but we lucked out at Target.  We found both a rod and a pair drapes that we both though would look great.  I was anxious to see how they would look against the new paint job so Adam hung them when we got home.  I'm really happy with how it came together. 

The drapes are deep red & gold in a small basketweave pattern.  They're Waverly and so is the bronze rod. 

One more project finished!  We just have to hide some wires by the TV and the room will look presentable again.  Our next big project will be replacing the flooring and building a mantle, but that will probably have to wait until early next year.  There's always something...   :)

   

A little peek

Here's a quick peek at the paint color in our living/dining room.  It's difficult to get a true representation of the color because those rooms get very little natural light against the walls.  This is pretty close though, although it will look darker on regular monitors I think.  It looks good on my laptop.

The color is called Harvest Gold or Harvest Wheat I think.  I can't remember exactly, but it's a rich, gold/yellow color and really looks perfect against the white doors, door frames and molding. 

The room isn't totally put back together yet, but when it is, I will get a picture of the total view.  I'm hoping to finish up this weekend.  Then it will probably take me another 4 months to decide what I want to put on the walls and how I want to decorate.  :)

Hope everyone had a great 4th.  Ours was very low key.  I wanted to get some things done around the house, but it was really hot in our place so we decided to cool off by going out to lunch and then catching an afternoon movie.  We saw Knocked Up finally and I'm so glad we did.  It was one of the funniest movies I have seen in a long time.  I think we'd both agree on that.  We laughed (along with the rest of the theatre) the entire time.  I read somewhere that a lot of people in the industry think Seth Rogin is going to be the next big comedy film star great like Will Ferrell.  After this movie I would have to agree that he has a very good chance.  He is hilarious and I can't wait to see more of him.

Have a great Thursday.  :)

I like guacamole

on my food and on my kitchen walls.  =)

Before:

After:

We survived painting the kitchen yesterday.  It actually went really fast and we finished putting everything back together this morning.  The wall color is guacamole and we're both 100% happy with it.  It looks so great in person and it's exactly what we wanted. 

Here are a couple more photos:

The red valances and rug are from Target and the white curtain rod is from Fred Meyer.  I am searching for 8x10 frames in red for a couple of photos that I have to hang.  They will go on either side of the window. 

Next weekend I am going to paint the cabinets white.  I don't like the light color that they are right now.  It should be pretty easy to prime and paint them.  I also plan on collecting a few more red accents to throw in there.  Eventually we are going to replace the flooring with some nice tile too.

Hope you all had a great weekend and Easter.  Until next time...

     

It's 80 degrees out...

right now and I'm blogging from my back porch.  :)

I can't believe how nice out it's been these past few days.  It is supposed to hold strong through the weekend too.  I'm really hoping that this taste of spring is for real.  I'm over the cold weather for the year.  :)

I've made a little progress on Wicked.  I got through the shaping decreases and it fits.  It's very fitted, but I heard that KP Superwash Swish tends to stretch out.  I think it will be alright - I might not be able to wear a long sleeve shirt underneath, but that's ok. 

Here's a picture that Adam just took:

Now I've got a bunch of boring stockinette to do.  I plan on making it a little longer than the pattern is written for. 

In other news, tomorrow we're painting our kitchen.  Finally.  I'm not really crazy about painting, but the kitchen is very small so it should not be too terrible.  :)  I will do some before and after photos once the kitchen is put back together. 

We do not have any plans for Easter, but I hope to color eggs on Sunday afternoon.  I love dyed eggs!  We'll probably make a nice brunch too and maybe get out to a park if it is still nice out.

I hope you all have a nice weekend and a nice Easter. 

Until next time...

Just What I Need....

Another project to complete!  =)

Can you really resist that Waverly fabric though?!  Because I can't. 

I've decided to TRY and sew some curtains for my new art studio that will be in our 2nd bedroom.  I wanted to find a funky pattern fabric and take the wall color from there.  I'm thinking the light turquoise blue that's in scalloped flourish in the top left corner of the picture.  I went and picked up paint swatches tonight. 

Notice the "Sewing Patterns for Dummies."  My Mother and Aunt will get a kick out of this.  I should have learned to sew more than a pillow case when I had the chance!!  I will end up either with some nice single panel curtains or 15 pillows - I'll let you know.  =)

We closed on the townhouse this past Friday and are taking the next 2 weeks to move in.  We took the first load of boxes down last night and measured the rooms to get some ideas for furniture placement, etc.  It's all very exciting, but it's a lot of work.  There are so many things I want to paint and change, but it all can't be done at once.  I can't wait to get settled in and relax - that will be the best thing. 

That's all I've got for tonight - there are boxes waiting to be packed.  =)