Rut no more!

So after my last post I realized my in-laws coming into town would be the perfect motivation to start on my re-decorating project! I always get nervous before family visits and it's my natural instinct to want to impress, so I got started right away with a little (ok... A LOT) of help from my handy husband. I got excited and forgot to take "before" pictures, but I figure the after ones are the only ones that matter, right? So take a look and let me know how you think it turned out!

New blue/green curtains (favorite color) and new coat of "Soft Suede" paint.

(If you are noticing those small bright white marks on the ceiling, that is the result of Josh trying to touch up with bright white ceiling paint that we later realized didn't quite match the existing paint. . . it's a small detail so I'm sure we will get around to painting the whole ceiling another time. I'm done painting for QUITE a while!)

My sister-in-law, Sara, gave me the framed letters of our last name for Christmas. It originally was done in a font I wasn't a big fan of, so I tracked down a vinyl lettering pro and got some new ones more to my liking and picked out ribbon to match. Those are new (and also FABULOUS) blue silk pillows to match the curtains thanks to Target, $19.99 each.

Isn't this adorable?? This is my favorite detail of the room. I got to pick out the lettering myself!

I re-vamped the entry way with stuff I already had and hung up my old framed art pieces I got at Shopko for $8 each. And of course the doggies are comfortable in their new environment, how could they not be?

In our Home Depot adventure we decided it would be cheap and easy to make these box shelves. The wood was $3 each (Home Depot cuts them for you) and with a $1 can of black spray paint you got yourself some functional & fine lookin wall decor.

On to the kitchen. . . we re-painted the grass green wall to a more toned grayish green called "Moss" that matched the rug we already had and continued it on to the adjacent wall. We also finally got around to centering the chandelier which tremendously enhances the lighting.

I had this great idea to make some shelves to showcase my fine china that I got as a wedding present. They have been sitting in my cabinets the entire time and have never been used. Both pieces of wood added up to $3 and I spray painted them white. It helps break up that huge wall and gives you something to look at.

So. . . how do you think I did for making this happen in less than 2 weeks?? I'm happy to say that when my mother-in-law came by she said she loved our place and the simple design, and mentioned that she needed to make her house decorated more like mine. What a compliment! Just hearing that made it all worthwhile. Not to mention that I am SO happy now when I come home and look around, I'm very pleased and comfortable.

The only trouble with re-decorating is that once you reach your goals, there is always something else you want to do! I can't help but look around and think of other things I can do to fill in the blanks. Josh says it's a "work in progress" and I need to cool my jets. While that's true, I've already decided on my next project. . . creating a magnet board (like Nicki's) and painting it to match my kitchen. Oh yes. . . it's gonna happen- and soon!

De-stress

God I hate being stressed.

It makes my whole body ache, mostly in my shoulders and in my head. When I'm stressed I hate the person I become. I start getting selfish, I have no energy when I come home, I put myself in this negative frame of mind and I pretty much starting hating on everyone. So I figured instead of being a grump throughout the week, I would research some ways to de-stress.

Below are a few ideas I scrounged up on a Google search. I hope you take a few of these ideas and apply them to your own lives to help you calm your nerves and get yourself back to that lovely person you are inside:

Be aware of your body.

"Slumped shoulders and a bent spine can actually induce moodiness. Tensed stomach muscles can induce mental anxiety"

So stop slouching at work when you are sitting in that chair for hours. Keep your shoulders back and maybe do a few head rolls through the day. Another way to de-stress at work is by laying on the floor with your legs straight up against a wall, and scoot your bum as close to the wall as possible. Then lay there, with your arms out, palms up, and just take 5 minutes to meditate. Hopefully your co-workers won't catch you..

Listen to music that makes you feel calm and peaceful.

Since I don't have an iPod (and because I'm cheap and I don't want to pay a dollar for every song) I listen to Pandora radio and I get to choose a genre I would like to listen to that day. Then I steal songs from there and look them up on playlist.com and make special mixes for my different moods. When I'm feeling exceptionally stressed I will put on some classical music, piano, or Enya. It helps me from swearing at people at work :)

Take a warm bath.

I love taking a bath after a long overworked day. It's so nice to feel the hot water release all of the tension in my body. Just listening to silence and focusing on myself really makes a difference. I swear someday I will have a nice jetted tub in my house just for me!

Breathe.

Deep breathing can reduce stress and increase relaxation. Try taking a deep breath, and then releasing it twice as slowly as you inhaled. If only I could stop smoking and just breathe... damn that nicotine!

Participate in activities that leave you with a sense of relaxation and peacefulness.

This is why I love yoga. The breathing and stretching helps me calm down and find peace. I also love to unwind by reading a good book with a cup of tea while relaxing on my couch. Any activity that helps you get your mind at ease will work.

Take a nap.

Studies show that a quick 30 minute nap will help boost your energy. So if you're feeling really tired, lay down for a bit and close your eyes. Don't overdo it though or it will have a reverse effect.

Pray.

Even though I don't really go to church anymore I still like to pray every once in a while. Just telling someone about my fears and stress helps me get those negative feelings off my chest. Its kind of like having a personal shrink. Only the shrink is Jesus.

(ideas provided from this awesome website)

Christmas Cards

This year instead of going out and buying Christmas cards I decided to hook up with my crafty friend Brook and make them instead.

Brook is very, very talented when it comes to paper crafts. I knew she would be most helpful because she has given me a card a time or two and I loved them! After looking through all of her past Christmas card ideas I came across the wreath designs. It was so simple!

All you needed was some different colored cardstock. I used red, green, and cream colors for the card, then cut out a dark brown square piece that you glue in the middle. Then you just need to have a variety of different Christmas colored paper in a mix of designs. Luckily for me Brook was generous enough to let me use all her stuff. She had 2 different sized hole punches so you go through all your different paper and punch 'em out. Then arrange them in a circle, glue 'em down, and tie a cute little ribbon and glue that on the top. Easy right?

After doing a lot of these my creative mind started to drift and I just made them up as I went- it was more fun for me that way. This one turned out to be one of my favorites. Doesn't it look like it's got an Old Navy theme to it?

It was so fun to do these, and the best part is that when your family and friends receive them with your hand written note inside they will know you spent some extra time on them.

Hope every has a Merry Christmas!

Pretzarollo's

So I want to share with you this amazingly quick and easy Christmas treat recipe that I got from my lovely mother-in-law over Thanksgiving break. (WARNING: They are highly addictive!)

Ingredients:
Square Pretzels
Rollo's
Holiday Peanut M&M's (red & green)

Start with conning someone into unwrapping a bunch of Rollo's (because this part sucks). While they unwrap, spray your cookie sheet with cooking oil and line up your square pretzels, as many as you possibly can fit on there (my pan fit 88 so you know one batch will make plenty!). Then take the Rollo's and put them on top of each pretzel. Heat your oven up to 175 degrees and bake for 8 minutes.

When you pull them out of the oven the Rollo's will be soft but not melted. Push each M&M in the Rollo. Then put them in the fridge, still on the pan, and let them cool down and solidify. When you sneak one for taste, you will understand why you unwrapped so many Rollo's!

They are DELICIOUS!! And the best part is that you don't need to tell anyone that they were actually Rollo's... people will think you made your own caramel and chocolate by your own Betty Crocker self! (I'm just nice enough to let you all in on the secret)

...you can thank me later :)

My Dream Home Design

Happy Friday everyone!

I'm going to practice my writing again today, especially because I love the prompt.

One Minute Writer's prompt today was on Design:
"You are designing your own house. Describe it."

My home will have a white vinyl exterior with black shutters, cottage style, residing on a quiet tree-lined street somewhere in the country, with lots of trees and a flower garden in the yard. A cobblestone walkway will guide you to the front porch where I can sit out and drink my coffee in the mornings, or maybe paint. The front door will be a dark hunter green with a wreath hanging in front. Warm distressed wood floors will go through the living areas with neutral colors and pops of color in each room, combining old style with the new. The kitchen will have white cabinetry and tan granite counter tops. The ceilings will be tall and there will be a wall of windows overlooking the backyard. There will be big comfy couches and a brick fireplace. And of course lots of style throughout in shades of brown, white and green. It will be comfortable and cozy, somewhere you can just relax and enjoy yourself.

Ok so that was a little more than 60 seconds but I got a little excited there!

Someday this will happen for us... but for now I'm perfectly happy where I'm at :)

Do It Yourself!

So I have this huge blank wall above my couch and I've been wondering what the crap to decorate it with. Then I had this brilliant idea to gather all my picture frames and make a collage! It would create a nice focal point when you walk into the room and will also give it warmth and personality.

When you have tons of picture frames like I do you tend to scatter them around the house, but how cool would it be to group them all together and create a personalized piece of art? I plan on gathering all my favorite photos, printing them out in black & white and cropping them to my liking. I got this image when I searched in Google to show what I'm talking about:


To make the pictures pop even more you can block out the designated part of the wall with moldings and paint the inside a bold color to match your living space.

Don't have picture frames? I bet you can get a screamin' deal at thrift/discount stores or even garage sales. Make sure to get all different sizes to create interest.

You can leave the wood frames natural if that matches. Or even better- pick out a color that matches your space, lets say brown, and pick out 2 different shades in spray paint, and go for a two-tone effect!

What do ya think?? I'm totally doing this- it is so cheap and easy! I'll make sure to post pictures after I'm done!

The Simplest Things Are Often the Truest...

Henry David Thoreau once said, "As you simply your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness."

I got to thinking about how complicated life can get. When me and Josh first got married, we had tons of opportunities in front of us and there was so much to think about: decorating the house, what credit cards to open and how many, what bank to use, what plasma TV to get...etc. To put it plainly... when we had the money we definitely found more reasons to spend it.

As time went on and the credit card balances went up, it was like a huge slap in the face. What to do now? Move to a smaller place, sell our valuables, get a loan... etc. To put it plainly... the shit hit the fan!!

Recently I've been learning how to live with just the simple things- back to the basics! You never think you could live without your precious Blackberry, your designer shoes, or your HBO channels but I'm learning there are ways around these things!

SIMPLICITY IS KEY! We have simplified our life- we downgraded to basic cable (and still get to watch Family Guy, Simpsons, Seinfeld... simple entertainment!), we sold our plasma and now use our old TV (without HD thank you very much!), we don't have fancy cell phones- just the ones that came free with our plan, we don't get to go shopping every month but we do something fun together every once in a while. We still have the same old raggy comforter set we got 2 years ago and it keeps us warm at night. If I do get to go shopping I don't buy pricey items- no one can tell the damn difference anyway! And our dog Sam doesn't have any new toys but still loves his good ol' squeaky. It's like I've been blinded by thinking I'm so poor and comparing my possessions to what everyone else has. Who says anyone's life is any better?

In the words of Carrie Bradshaw, "I admit it's tempting to wish for the perfect boss - the perfect parent - or the perfect outfit. But maybe the best any of us can do is not quit, play the hand we've been dealt, and accessorize what we've got."

It's amazing how it feels when you can be perfectly happy with what you got. I kept obsessing with what I want and everything I don't have that I forgot about all the amazing and good things that I DO have. We have a roof over our heads, food in our fridge, gas in our car, good jobs, and most of all each other... Isn't that all you really need anyway?

I once told Josh a long time ago when we first started dating that I would love him and be happy with him even if we lived in a cardboard box. I'm not so sure about the box... but you get my point.

I was reading an article on "Ten Ways to Simplify Your Life." Here are a few of them that stood out to me:

Define your values

Determine what your values are and live to those values. We often feel conflicted because how we are living is out of sync with our values. For example, if your number one value is family and your job requires you to work 65 hours a week, is it any wonder that you feel unsettled and unhappy? When you're clear about what is important to you, it will be easier to let go of things that don't fit.

Create priorities

Determine one or two things you want to accomplish within the next year for your career/business, home life, relationships, and self. Work only to those priorities. If your goal is to develop a new income-generating product line, then that is where you should spend significant time focusing your attention.

It's very easy to get distracted from our priorities, because there is so much information out there that attracts our interests. How often do you get diverted to other projects and never finish what you were originally working on? What happens? The year goes by and you did not accomplish any of your objectives. When new ideas do excite us, get an idea notebook and write all of your new ideas down for future projects. One note, if you find yourself working on everything but your stated priorities, it may be time to reexamine what you think you want.

If you are struggling - let it go

If something is a real struggle, or you can't come up with a solution, drop it for a while. Giving yourself a mental break will allow your brain to rest and therefore create new ideas. Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night and had an aha? This happens for two reasons, 1) because you are relaxed, and 2) because you were not trying to direct your brain's thoughts. Giving yourself a mental break from a challenge is a great way to consciously create that aha.

Have fun

Why is it so hard for us to have fun? Make time each week to do something that brings you joy. Do something completely silly. Have fun with yourself. Laugh. Forget all the other stuff for a while and just have fun. You will feel a whole lot better.

HOW TRUE! Hopefully you can take a bit of this and apply it to your life. I highly recommend it :)

To Tattoo or Not to Tattoo? That is the question.

So I've been thinking about getting a tattoo now for quite a while. About a year to be exact.

I always hated tattoos growing up and thought they looked dirty. Now it seems the tattoo trend has grown.. everyone wants to get one now a days! Shows like Miami Ink and L.A. Ink showed me that it's more than just a tattoo.. it's an art form... and they are very deep and meaningful to a lot of people. Like a constant reminder of who you were at that time in your life. It's just so PERMANENT! Kinda freaks me out a little that I will be an old granny with saggy tats. HAHA.

So here are some of my ideas, tell me what you think:

I would love to get one symbolizing my Gemini zodiac sign. I was thinking of getting 2 women figures on my back, one an angel and one a devil. That's where my mind starts to wander. Should they be on opposite sides of my back, maybe looking at each other? Or I thought they could have their backs showing, holding hands, and looking back over the shoulder. Or back to back. I'm not quite sure, but I know I would want something symbolizing the Gemini and not just the sign itself. Or maybe a mix of both...

And then there's my crown idea. My mom named my sisters and I after queens for our middle names because her daughters are her queens! My older sister's is Amber Elizabeth, then there's me, Kristen Victoria, and my younger sister Alecia Catherine. I was originally thinking of getting a really decorative cursive V with a queen crown on top of it. Or maybe just the crown itself. I was thinking to get it on the back of my neck or the back of my shoulder. I'm still searching for the perfect crown design though.

And then there's another one I have, I will probably save this one for later when I've gotten used to having tats, not to mention the crazy amount of money it would cost. But I thought it would be really pretty to have like a string of orchids or different flowers going down my stomach area, starting up on my side and then coming down to around my belly button. I'd have to start liking my stomach to get this one but I love the idea.

Nicki's wedding in Vegas next month? Sounds like the perfect amount of time for me to decide what to get!