It's Always Something

Last September we moved into a new place.  The home is in a wonderful area and I just love living here. We are, however, just renting now, and unable to make updates to the home. Not being able to remodel is KILLING me because the house is from the 1970's, and nothing inside has been updated since then. Besides the Brady Bunch look, the worst part of the new place is that it doesn't get much natural light.  In addition to that, our furniture is dark brown, and it looks like we live in a cave. This weekend, I decided I was going to try and lighten up the room by painting some furniture turquoise.  I didn't really ask G prior, so I was a bit nervous that he would be upset when he got home. Before After I just LOVE what the turquoise has done to the room.  The splash of bright colors opens up the room and gives it a more artsy/loft feel.  Thankfully, G loved the final room, otherwise, I would be busy priming and painting instead of t...

Valentine's Day snuck up on me this year. Mostly because it is the same day as G's birthday, so I was busy planning that rather than getting prepared for the holiday. Brooke needed cards for all of her classmates and I just hate purchasing those ready-made ones at the stores. I just feel like they don't quite capture Brooke's personality accurately.  Afterall, she is just so full of spunk and love that I feel anything that represents her should be as unique as that little girl. One afternoon when Brooke got home from school, I grabbed my camera and took a picture of her holding her fist toward the camera.  I used photoshop to add a Valentine greeting to the picture, then we hopped in the truck and headed to Kinkos.  We ended up printing 35 copies.  When we got home, we used a blade cutter and lollipops to make a personalized Valentine's Day card.   I was very please with how it came out and Brooke absolutely LOVED them.  How couldn't you??? ...

Many years ago, I bought this Kenneth Cole coat that was way too big for me because it was on sale and, at the time, I needed a warm coat for a winter New York trip.  It served its purpose well and fit over many layers of clothing during that trip to keep my warm.  Unfortunately, I have not worn the coat since then because it is oversized and boring. As I was browsing through Mod Cloth , I ame across this jacket: This jacket became my inspiration. I will attempt to convert the coat collecting dust in my closet to this beautiful, classic coat. I started with this: And ended up with this: Since this was my first repurposing project, I am quite pleased with the outcome and I am surprised at how easy it was to do! I am in love with the fact that I made this coat my own and it is one of a kind. I think I have a greater connection to this cheap coat over any of my expensive ones. This coat will definitely be worn more versus hanging in the coat closet.

Funny is sexy.

It has been an interesting few months filled with ups, downs, and to-be-continueds. Such is life, there will always be challenges and obstacles to overcome. I never expected child-rearing; however, to be something I needed to constantly work hard and improve upon. Previously, raising kids has always come intuitively. I didn't think about how I wanted to raise my kids or how to parent them. I just did. Over the past three years, however, I have noticed myself become increasingly over-concerned with my daughter's education. So much so that I have started stressing my 4th grader into tears over schoolwork, more specifically math. Perhaps it's because I believe the higher success in math translates to a higher success-rate in other subjects inevitably meaning a higher success-rate in life. Or perhaps I have gotten myself caught up in an entirely different rat race of life. I have somehow enlisted myself into a small yet overwhelming demographic of parents who believe school gra...

I haven't been able to sleep well ever since nursing school ended earlier this month. At first, I thought my body was used to the late nights/early mornings routine. But it has been almost 3 weeks since pinning now, and I am still up... thinking. I started doing yoga in the mornings. Nothing fancy, just whatever is available for free OnDemand. I am hoping some daily meditation will help clear my mind or at least organize it. So much to do and I finally have the time to do it all, but I don't. Instead I spend my days (and nights) distracting myself by starting new projects that I know I will never finish. Today, I thought it would be a good idea to look through an enormous library of personal photos and organize them. That task took precedence over looking for a job, studying for the state boards test, or doing my taxes. And after an all day walk through memory lane, those photos are no more organized than when I found them. Now, I lay here at 3:30am feeling guilty I wasted anot...

Five years ago I started an annual holiday tradition- a gift wrapping party with my closest friends. Over the last year or so, I have lost touch with several girlfriends. Life + family keeps all of us pretty busy it seems. So this year, that party consisted of just me + the kiddo. To try and keep our wrapping Eco-friendly and cost-effective, we wrapped our gifts in old newspapers + red yarn. We made the tags out of brown paper bags + stamps. And the final touch was a tree branch from our Christmas tree. The result was eye-catching practical gift wrapping with a personal touch. The downside to using newspapers as gift wrap is black fingers from the newsprint. It rubs off easily, so be sure to wash hands immediately after wrapping before touching + grabbing other things. Other than that, we were very pleased with our earth conscience choice. - xoxo