My Craftiness

Looky at my latest crafty project! I finally finished it on Thanksgiving this year (I know, a little late to use this year, but all ready for next!).
This particular piece was about 4 years in the making. I wanted to have a cornucopia arrangement of some sort shortly after we got married, but could never find one that I liked or was willing to pay for. About 2 or 3 years ago I found this one at DI (like Goodwill) for a whopping 25 cents. I bought it, and did nothing with it until this year when I finally got the gumption to do this little project. It was fun and I was very happy with the way it turned out. YAY!

A Brown Kitchen

Oh I'm so bad. I totally haven't posted in ages. Sorry people. Please forgive me.
Ok, all better? Great. Here are some pictures of my kitchen becoming it's appropriate color. I promise it's a different color than the nursery, er upstairs room. It just looks the same in the pictures... and in person.
We painted on November 18 - like all day. Seriously. I prepped the night before (taped) and caulked that morning, then painted all day. Then Aaron came home from building shelves with a friend and helped me. We were still late to our dinner appointment with Jordan and Spencer (Which I still feel bad about. Sorry guys. Do you hate us? We promise not to do that again.). After dinner we went home and finished everything except touch ups, which waited until the next Tuesday. Anyway, it was done in time for my family to come see over Thanksgiving!Here is a picture of the new curtains and the new paint together. The paint is really helping pull the overall feel of the house together. I am loving it. Oh, and I was informed that the curtains look very non-stripy in some of the pictures. FYI, they are goldy/tan/green striped and very attractive. If I do say so myself. ;)
So here is the mostly completed look! What do you think? I think we're ready to paint the rest of the house now! (Cue Aaron screaming in the background).

Adoption Profiles are Time Consuming.

sometimes it is hard to smile.

The Curtain Quest

Our quest for the perfect curtains is finally over! YAY!!! We have a sliding glass door in our dining room that has not had a covering at all since we moved in. We decided against vertical blinds, so we set out to find the perfect curtains. Being me, I know how picky I am and I guessed that it would be tough to find what I wanted. I also knew that it would be super easy to make curtains, so although we looked at curtains in many stores, I really thought I would be sewing them. We picked out some wonderful fabric. It was a freebie I got from Richmond (though not nearly enough to make curtains from). Isn’t it pretty? I thought it would be perfect.The only problem? We couldn’t find any fabric that looked remotely like it. Vertical green stripes must not be in this season. I think red is the new green. Except I didn’t want red. I wanted green. Blast my decisiveness!
So we searched and searched and couldn’t find anything that we liked. Wait, that’s a lie. We found a few fabrics that we really liked. We just weren’t willing to pay for them. $25/yard? Are you kidding me? I needed 6 yards! I was NOT about to pay $150 for curtains, no matter how perfect they were. So we continued to go without while we waited and looked at more stores. Then, we came upon them at Linens N’ Things. Ding ding ding! A winner! Look how great the fabric is! And the price was pretty darn good too!
Not an exact match, but a great one! I like them even more than the original fabric! They look wonderful. And guess what? The paint that we picked out for the kitchen/dining room/living room matches the little tan stripe in there almost perfectly! Amazing! I love it! The fun doesn’t end there though! We didn’t have a rod (we couldn’t agree on the perfect one we were willing to pay for), so we went to JoAnn’s Fabric. Sigh. I love that store. We found a great rod for $35, and I had a 40% off coupon, so it would be about $20, which was pretty good. We went to check out and when the cashier scanned it, it was $15! So with my coupon, it was only $9! And I love it! Look at the beautiful finished product!Guess what else? (I know, after all this lovely news the mind reels that there could be more). Because we have beautiful curtains now, we get to paint this weekend! We are going to buy the paint tonight and do the prep work so that I can paint tomorrow! YAY!!!! A pretty decorated house! I’ll post some pics when I get them! I’m sure you can’t wait! I can’t!

Confessions of a Harry Potter fan

I honestly must say that JK Rowling is the greatest person.

In addition to writing some of the best books ever, she’s a completely fascinating person. Here are a few reasons I love “Jo”:

1. Harry Potter. Need I say more? I love Harry. And Hermione. And Ron and Ginny and all the others. Mostly Harry and Hermione though. I’m still rooting for them to get together. I know Jo said it won’t happen, but a girl can dream, right?
2. Although I hate waiting 2 whole years for the next book to come out, I completely support and admire her decision to stay home and not work for an entire year after she has a baby so she can bond. Why isn’t the rest of the world like that?
3. She’s the first author to ever become a billionaire. A BILLIONAIRE! She’s one of only 5 women in the world who are self-made billionaire’s and is the richest woman in Britain. She’s richer than the Queen! Props to Jo for going so far!
4. I love that she hasn’t become all Hollywood-ized. She’s an author and a wife and mom. What a great life.
5. As a huge advocate of literature, I love the fact that her books have promoted increased reading in children (and adults!) around the world. The books have been translated into all the major western European languages, as well as languages like Turkish, Farsi (what is that?), Latin and Ancient Greek (taken from the website at the bottom). Amazing. She’s changed lives.
6. My most recent thing I love about her can be found on her website: www.jkrowling.com. Choose English (or whatever language you want). Click on the hair brush on the right of the desk and on Miscellaneous. Choose the first one, "For Girls Only, Probably..." I love that she took the time to write about this.

I can’t wait for the new Harry movie and book to come out next summer! YAY!!! If anyone wants to read more on Harry’s creator, try this link (and her bio page on the link above.) http://www.internetwritingjournal.com/aug05/rowling.htm

Great Deals Anyone?

Guys guess what my new favorite website is? www.spoofee.com! Ok, here's the background story:

On Tuesday I was talking to a friend whose husband informed me that Safeway (a grocery store) had Betty Crocker Super Moist Cake Mixes on sale. They were regularly priced at $1.98 each, but were currently buy one get one free. Not a real amazing deal, but good for that kind. Then he told me the real deal - somehow, if you bought 10 and used your Safeway swipey card, you got $10 off your bill, well for all those of you doing the math in your heads, let me end your suffering - that's 10 cake mixes free!

I was completely skeptical, but I decided to see for myself, since if it didn't work I still got a fair price on the cake mixes. Over to Safeway I drove and went in to do a little shopping. I got my cake mixes and a few other items and went to check out. All of my stuff rang up at quite a price (something like $40). Then I gave them my Safeway swipey card and, walah! My bill dropped to $6.82! I got an 18 lb turkey, 10 cake mixes, a box of pizza bites, and 2 lbs of bananas for less than $7!

I called Jordan (who told me about spoofee) and told her she was my new best friend and went to check out spoofee.com the next day. You should all go see it because there are amazing deals for all around the country! Best of all, spoofee is updated each and every day so there are always new deals! If you keep checking back I'm sure you'll find something you love. For example, if you go check on page 2 right now, you can get 5 Disney movies for only $30!

So here's the jist of it: I love Jordan, I love Spoofee, and I love all of you! That's why I'm sharing my lovely site with you all. Thanks for reading!

We Be Painters

Great news guys: We painted the nursery! I know, you're all so excited and can't wait to come see it.

This weekend we did lots of prep work: we removed outlet covers and taped all the trim and windows and ceiling and even caulked them with special paint caulk. It was neat stuff. Then last night we painted (and graffitied our walls in the process) and finished everything! It was so fun! We were really excited when we took the tape off to find out that the caulk worked! It was amazing and we have extremely clean edges and lines. So pretty.

Guys, I officially love painting. I mean the prep was not so cool, but it paid off and I totally love it! Here is a picture of the room this morning after we took all the tape and everything away.

The pillow is the one that will sit in my rocking chair (in the right corner). It matches all the crib bedding and curtains and basket liners (all from the same fabric!). I am so excited! I guess now we need to get the nursery furniture and I need to finish sewing everything! Fun! Who wants to come see it?