Our Bathroom Transformation!

This has been a loooong time coming-- and I can't believe I'm finished!

When we bought our little house in July 2008, one of the first things we did was replace the carpet in the bathrooms (yuck) with ceramic tile. These bathrooms were a mess! Carpet, horrible wallpaper (on un-primed drywall no less!!) Every time I even thought about tackling that room I practically broke out in hives. But, I am proud to say that it is finished!! A lot of blood, sweat and yes- actual tears were shed but I am so thrilled!

Here is her transformation:

and after the tile, we worked on the hideous wallpaper! The previous owners decided to be lazy and put their tacky wallpaper on bare drywall. It was an absolute nightmare to deal with. I had to remove the paper, patch the walls, prime about a million times, texturize the walls and actually paint them...

See the little hook? The bathroom didn't have anywhere to put towels and we couldn't figure out a good placement for a towel rack. So, I decided to use a hook instead. This one is a 3M Command hook- so it was super easy to install and will be easy to remove or reposition it if we ever get tired of it. And we finally have a place for our hand towel!

I'm married to a 12 year old.

Mike shaved his beard. I prefer him with the beard and he agrees to have one in the fall & winter-- but since it's spring, it came off!

He looks so young!!
P.S.- here's a pic of Mike with his beard:

randomness

I was erasing all my saved pictures from my camera today and found a few to blog about. Yeah, I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel for a blog post!

that's a topiary behind me, I don't have green hair!

Mike is out of town (Boston!! I'm jealous.) which means Jack Bauer can do all kinds of naughty things-- like jump on the couch and pose. Dad would not be happy!

And now some house pics:

I love these little houses on the mantel- they're from Pier One.

and I picked up some more books at the flea market- I love using them around the house.

a real grown-up bedroom. part one

When Mike and I moved in together back in August of 2005 (yes, we lived in sin until we got married in November 2006!) we had such a hodge podge of furniture. Everything was a hand me down, some better than others. Over time we've slowly replaced almost everything-- except the bedroom. Mike received a great yearly bonus last week and with some of it we're getting a privacy fence for the back yard and new bedroom furniture! Here's what we're getting:

We decided on the Canopy line of furniture from Walmart. Now before you have visions of tacky particle board crap, relax-- I did my research! The Canopy stuff is solid hardwood, with a birch veneer. It's really substantial heavy furniture. 

We have new nightstands:

a new tall 5 drawer dresser:

and the long 6 drawer dresser:

check out the resemblance between the Pottery Barn Hudson dresser with the Canopy dresser:

plus the Canopy dresser is only $299 (well, $270 with our discount!) compared to $1599.00 for the PB Hudson.

The long 6 drawer dresser should arrive next week, and I can't wait to share pictures of our totally revamped room! For now, here's a few shots of just part of it:

I think this shows a better shot of the wood tone:

Oh, and did I mention I talked Mike into a new flat screen for the bedroom? LOL What can I say, it's been a good week!!

I can't wait to post the finished room in a week or two!

May 15th!!

We already have tickets. I am so excited!!!

a preview of the preview

Bothered

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It's March 1st!!!

That means it's time to start putting out some spring touches:

-and yes the flowers are fake *gasp* but they're made out of paper and I think they're kind of interesting and cool. So there.

I'm working on some major sewing projects today. If I don't screw it up too badly I'll post about it later this week.

Food Rules

I picked up a great little book today- Michael Pollan's Food Rules. It's a really quick read- only 112 pages and mainly just common sense stuff, but it's fantastic. I highly recommend his other books if you're interested. 

Here's the info from amazon.com:

A pocket compendium of food wisdom-from the author of The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food.  Michael Pollan, our nation's most trusted resource for food-related issues, offers this indispensible guide for anyone concerned about health and food. Simple, sensible, and easy to use, Food Rules is a set of memorable rules for eating wisely, many drawn from a variety of ethnic or cultural traditions. Whether at the supermarket or an all-you-can-eat-buffet, this handy, pocket-size resource is the perfect guide for anyone who would like to become more mindful of the food we eat. 

Here are just a few of his rules:

See, not earth shattering stuff, but definitely makes you think! Tomorrow kicks off the 21-Day Vegan Kickstart. "Based on research by Neal Barnard, M.D., one of America’s leading health advocates, this program is designed for anyone who wants to explore and experience the health benefits of a vegan diet. Low-fat vegan—plant-based—diets are the easiest way to trim excess weight, prevent diabetes, cut cholesterol, lower blood pressure, prevent and reverse heart disease, and reduce cancer risk. They even trim our carbon footprint." 

I'm participating even though I already follow a vegan diet. I think it will be a great way to get some new recipes and to learn more about how to easily incorporate the vegan diet into my lifestyle. If you're interested, here's the link: 21-Day Vegan Kickstart

Flea Market Finds

Last week I made a stop at a local flea market. I found an adorable vintage apron and some cute s&p shakers. Here they are:

The apron is handmade and obviously pretty old. I love that it's been worn and used and I wonder who owned it before me. :-)

It has a few tiny holes and worn spots, but I love it all the same--and it was only $3!

The salt & pepper shakers are from my favorite line of vintage cookware. They're Corning's Spice of Life and I remember my mom using this pattern to cook with when I was growing up. I've started collecting some of it and was so excited to run across these and only $2.50 for the set! :

Thankful Thursday

I'm thankful for lots of things today, some serious and some not:

• My husband. This past week hasn't been the best but his support and love for me is awesome. I'm a lucky girl.
• Discovering a fantastic candle maker on etsy. I'll be posting about it next week!
• Re-connecting with a dear friend. I didn't realize how much I missed her until she was back in my life. <3
• An impromptu Jack Bauer photo shoot in the backyard. That dog cracks me up.
• Watching the Olympics! 
• A fun afternoon of sushi and shopping with a girlfriend.
• Buying a new planner. It's striped and colorful and fun- and I love filling it out. I'm a huge dork and I don't care!

keeping it real.

Because not every picture I take of Jack Bauer is cute:

He was running and in the middle of a big head shake. Yikes. Not cute.

And since I can't embarrass him without posting something adorable:

Luckily Mike was at work so JB could lounge on the ottoman. 

That's a big no-no when dad is at home!

wishing for SPRING!!

I went to a great local boutique today called The Purple Armadillo. It's furniture and home decor items and I loved everything. They just put out their spring stuff and I had to pick a few things. I am craving spring and warm weather and FLOWERS! I am so over winter.

Ignore my half-dead cheapo grocery store flowers... but see the two little glass jars? I got those today.

Yes, they're faux but wow they look real in person! The label says "baby tears in a jar" (which Mike & I agreed is the creepiest name EVER). They were like $8 or $9 a piece and will be great to use around the house this spring and summer.

My other purchase was the black box with the moss & rocks. I've been wanting something new on the entryway table and this was perfect- and on sale!

I'm one of those annoying people that decorate for every single holiday/season so I can't wait to bust out the bunnies and flowers and green stuff for spring! I can wait until March 1st... I think.

I also hit up a local antique store/flea market and got some cool stuff-- a vintage apron, some vintage s&p shakers and some cool books from the 50's & 60's. I'll post about those later this week!

I want to bring them all home!

My friends know that I am super passionate about animal rescue. I volunteer with a local animal rescue group-- you can find their link on my sidebar. These are some of the sweet babies that are up for adoption at our local shelters. If Mike didn't have a say I'd probably adopt them all!!

Andrea:

Jasmine:

Ellie:

Naina:

Rascal:

Shadow:

too cute for words!! The last two are senior dogs. So many times these guys are overlooked because of their age. Older dogs can be great- Mike and I both decided that our next rescue will be an adult dog. We had our fill of raising a puppy with Jack Bauer!

another day, another hair style

My hair grows super fast- I had it cut into the bob in the middle of December. My stylist couldn't believe how long it was when I came in to get it cut again! So here is the new style: a little shorter, a little bit more layered and a little more angled. LOVE IT.

this shows the angle/layers a bit:

and p.s.- yes, I'm wearing a Guns-N-Roses shirt. What's it to ya?!

Hello, Lover!

These pictures are all over the internets today and I had to share! Some glimpses of Eclipse: