Aren't you Jealous?

Aren't you jealous that this is what I look like when I wake up in the morning?!

Recovered chairs

I was kinda unsure about the fabric that I picked for the chairs, but now that it's done I am totally glad that I pick it. I think they look awesome. Whatta you think?

Before

After

Tis the Season

It's amazing to me that we are entering into "the holiday season." Here are some things that I am looking forward to.

• Having family in town. 2 of my Aunts and their families are coming into town for Thanksgiving. It will be fun to see them. (I really really wish my siblings would all be home, but I guess I'll live.)


• Food!! Pies especially


• Snowflake Lane is always fun to take the kids too. Will and Mickayla loved it last year.


• Bellevue Botanical Garden Lights


• Nutcracker - one of my friends nieces, who I totally love, will be in the PNB Nutcracker this year, so it'll be especially fun to go to. (this is a picture of the beautiful Maddi.)


• Christmas lights in general. It's been SOOO dark on my drive home lately. It'll be nice to have a bit of cheer in the darkness.


• Christmas music - I know, I know, not yet. But I'm excited for that time to come.


• Gifts - I love giving gifts. I love wrapping gifts. I love organizing gifts under the tree. I love recieving gifts. I just love the idea of giving. Not in a monetary way, but in a heartfelt, show people you care about them way.


• Christmas break off of work! Enough said


• And probably my favorite... having a child to share Christmas time with! He makes it all much more enchanting.

Disaster turned into laughter

I've never been superstitious about Friday the 13th (and really I'm still not) but this last Friday, the 13th, made me question it for a bit.

Friday after work I planned on having a nice quiet evening at home, mostly by myself, other than a friend, Ryan, stopping by to help me hang some things. I started working on cleaning up my condo and putting things away as I'm still in the process of getting settled into my new place. While cleaning my bathroom I thought, "I should hang these pictures over my toilet. They're light, so I don't even need a nail, I'll just use a thumb tack."

I was straddling the toilet, trying to hang the pictures, when one of them slipped. It dropped straight down behind the toilet. The next thing I knew there was water spraying everywhere, at what seemed like a million miles an hour. Luckily when I had my inspection a few weeks ago the inspection guy showed me where the main water turn off was. I quickly turned off the main water, but my bathroom was completely filled with water and the water was beginning to go into my closet and bedroom. I threw down towels and began to clean up the mess. I used all of my (white) bath towels, so I went and grabbed the only other towels I had, the beach towels. Not a big deal, except in my panic to get things cleaned up I threw all the wet towels in the bathtub to deal with them later - not thinking about the wet red towel laying on the white towels. ugh.

Once the water was dried up I went to asses the damage. Right away, when I grabbed the cord to the toilet it sliced my finger open. Really?! ugh. It wasn't a bad cut but was at an angle, and needed a band aid on it to keep it closed. Naturally, I couldn't find any band aids.

Then I got a call from Ryan, who had been at the gym working out. He's said "are you ok?!" I said, "I think so." He says, "I keep getting emergency texts from you. 'my bathroom is flooded', 'I cut my finger', 'I can't find any band aids.'" He also said, "weren't you supposed to wait for me to help you hang things?... don't do anything else, I'll be there soon."

Feeling a bit relieved I decided I would change my focus and start making dinner. Rice and steak, no big deal right? Easy.

Ryan got there and I answered the door. I felt pretty UNcool. My hair a mess, my pants rolled up from wading through the water in my bathroom. I scrambled back into the kitchen to continue making dinner. My knifes were sitting on one part of the stove top, but out of the way of what I was doing. Unfortunately, I turned on the wrong burner, and melted my knifes. We sat down to eat and things just got worse. He said he liked his meat somewhat rare, but I mean this cow was still moo-ing. I threw them back on the pan (since I don't have a grill.) and tried to cook them longer. We tried eating them again, but finally gave up. *ugh, I felt like a loser*

We then realized that if we wanted to try to come up with a solution for the bathroom problem that we should head to Home Depot. We got there at 9:52, right as their closing announcements started. We quickly grabbed some parts that we hoped would work and were quickly ushered out by the employees who were anxious to get home.

We did what we hoped would be a good enough repair (which I found out the next morning did not work.) No fault of Ryan's as he was a bit rushed when we were at Home Depot trying to find a solution.

Finally, I tried to relax. But not before dropping the bag of dog food, when trying to fill up Decko's bowl, which resulted in dog food spilled all over the kitchen floor.

Eventually, we sat on the couch, and talked and laughed. (We had been laughing all night, but it was a bit different because earlier we were just laughing AT me.) After all of the ciaos of the night everything felt ok.

New Favorite Etsy Shop

So now that I am moved in to my new condo, I am of course dreaming even more about how I want to decorate. I'm still in the dreaming stage because I haven't even unloaded all of my boxes, but I'm getting close to being able to start decorating. Today I decided that I'd start looking around for throw pillows to tie together my living/dining area. From the last post we all decided that the walls will be painting a dark blue-grey. The wood in the kitchen and living area is dark cherry or walnut. My sofa is a sage-ish green, and then I will have 2 brown leather accent chairs. I'm thinking that because a lot of this is very dark, that I will need to accent with pillows and decor in lighter colors.

I ran into this wonderful Etsy store and fell in love with just about everything that the seller makes. I was thinking these 2 pillows would be great on the accent chairs to help lighten things up.

Let me know what you think, take a look at her store and let me know which ones you think would look best. She also has the most adorable framed prints that make me feel happy just by looking at them!

dreaming... livingroom

So now that I'm going to have a living room that is MINE, how shall I decorate it. The living room, dining room and kitchen are all open to each other so I need ideas that can go throughout. This is what I'm currently thinking of doing. Let me know your honest opinions.

• All of the wood (cabinets, floor in the kitchen, dining table, coffee table) is all cherry or dark walnut.


• My sofa (Candice, aren't you proud that I said sofa, not couch?) is a sage greenish color.


• The walls will be a bluish gray


• And then accents such as picture frames, throw pillows, etc will be lighter colors.

Here are a few pictures that I made on the Benjamin Moore site that give you an idea of the colors. I wont use all of those colors on the walls, I just put them on the walls to give you an idea of the colors.

Do you like the lighter blue for the walls (the bottom picture) or the darker blue (from the first two pictures?)

I'm even thinking of getting this fabric for the seat cushions on my dining room chairs. It's bold, but I figure it's a small use of it, so it shouldn't be too much. What do you think?

Almost Mine

Sorry I haven't been very good about blogging. I've been stressed with the whole -trying to by a condo - thing. It's looking like it's all going to pan out. I gave up on the short sale that I had an offer on. Because I found another unit, in the same complex that I think it better for Will and I. It has a second bathroom, which I think will be good as Will gets older and we each want our privacy. The master bedroom isn't quite so big, but big enough, and has a bathroom and big walk in closet attached. Other pros to this unit: lots of light, hasn't been lived in since the renovation (brand new kitchen, bathrooms, floors, walls, appliances,) and it also looks out to a grass area, which is great so that Will can play outside and I can watch him from inside. I think we'll be really happy there.

The inspection and appraisal have been completed, so the paperwork just needs to be wrapped up. We are aiming to close the first week of November. I'm excited (but still stressed!)

These pictures don't really do it justice, and I didn't get pictures of everything, but here's a little taste of it.

Kitchen with Cherry cabinets and floors and stainless steel appliances

Kitchen and dining room are open to living room
Will's and guests bathroom (bathtub not shown, but he does have a full bath.)

Master Bath, that is connected to my room and also leads to the large walk in closet

Girls Night Out

My friend Joy hosted a girls night this last Saturday on her dad's yaught. She called it a "Boa Bellini" and we were all required to bring a boa.

We ate some yummy snacks, hung out and talked... played "the fun game', and laughed a lot...



brought out our boas....

danced....

And then... a weird thing happened... we ended up doing a wall sit competition...

maybe we felt bad after eating all of those calories? I dont know how it happened actually but it was entertaining.

I LOVED girls night. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. Thanks girls for a fun night!

this dog (?)

This is my dog, Decko

Well actually my Dad and I have decided that he is 1/4 Dog, 1/4 rat, and 1/2 cat, but the pet license I have for him is for a dog....

Anyway, I love my dog. He's 6 years old and weighs about 11 pounds. We don't know what breed he is. Chihuahua, mixed with something bigger. We say he is half cat because he snuggles just like a cat. As soon as you sit down, he's on your lap. Decko will also eat anything! That must be the dog part of him.

This morning at 4:30 I woke up to Decko whining. I figured he needed to go potty, so I let him out to take care of business. Usually he'd go right back to sleep, but for the rest of the morning he was completely restless, which also meant I didn't get any sleep. He would snuggle up, then after 2 minutes he would walk around the bed. Then he'd snuggle up again, then he'd walk around the bed.... finally I got up and started getting ready for work. Normally Decko stays in bed, but not this morning. He sat between my legs while I stood in the bathroom doing my make up. And every few minutes he would put 1 paw on me, like he wanted my attention. I would give him loves but it didn't make him feel better. I don't know what his deal was.

Maybe there is going to be an earthquake, or maybe I'm sick? Dogs seem to sense things before humans do. ... then again, maybe he was just being annoying and didn't want me to sleep. Who knows.

Was anyone elses animals acting weird this morning?

Embracing Fall

So I thought I was excited for fall. I love layers. Boots, scarfs, gloves... So I was excited for the change in season, until about 2 days ago. I was driving home and the traffic was horrible because the rain was coming down so hard. That's when it all came rushing back to me, fall in Seattle is not like what you see in the movies, it's just a LOT of rain. But I tried to think of the rain as soothing. I was somewhat successful until I got home to my parents house. They live at the bottom of a hill and have a driveway the slopes down to the garage. Their was so much rain that the garage was flooding! And to make things worse, I had a bunch of furniture sitting in the garage that I've been spending hours painting and re staining in preparation for my new condo. (still no for sure word on the condo, but I'm still hopeful.) My furniture was sitting in 3 to 5 inches of dirty, freezing cold water. I ran inside, slipped on my little sisters rain boots, grabbed a large bowl and headed out to bail out the garage in hopes of saving my furniture.

Once my mom and sister got home they started helping me bail out all the water. A neighbor was also kind enough to join in on the fun.

UGH! That's all I have to say about that. It looks like my dining table and chairs will be ok. Will's dresser is ruined, and a few other things have minor damage, but hopefully I can sand them down and repaint them and they'll look ok.

So in effort to get back into loving fall I was looking through this slide show of "leave crafts". I particularly love the 11th one. I think I am going to try to make something similar to the top butterfly. I think it'll be a fun project to go out collecting leaves with my son. I'll let you know how it goes.

Sexy boot

I just had the easiest jean shopping experience in my entire life!! So I've read on a few blogs that the new Gap 1969 Jeans are amazing. I was doubtful because 1. I love my sevens and 2. Gap jeans/pants have always made my butt look awful. But I was in need of a new pair of flat shoe jeans. (I've been in need for a while, since this incident.) So I decided I'd stop by Gap, expecting to try on like 10 different pairs and to walk out feeling fat and awkward and all of those other horrible jean shopping feelings. I started by looking at the "Perfect Boot" cut. The sales lady told me that they were mid rize and that I may want to try the "Sexy Boot," which is a low rise. I grabbed a pair of each and headed into the fitting room.

I put on the Sexy Boot cut and was instantly amazed! They fit nice. Fitted but no muffin top. And TOTALLY comfy. But then I did the butt check. Since these were low rise I assumed if I bent over my booty would be hanging out the top. Nope! Perfect. Low and "sexy" but no crack-il-lackin'. I was in love!

Oh and another wonderful thing, that most of you don't have to worry about, but I do... I ALWAYS have to have my pants hemmed. Regular length is always too long, but short or petite length is always too short. But Gap has the "ankle" length. It was the perfect length to wear with flats or kitten heels. Can it get more perfect!

Oh yes it can! Seven for all mankinds usually retain at about $160 or so. These Gap, fit my body so right, jeans were only $69 including tax!

Yay for an awesome jean shopping experience!!

The good life for less

That's what we all want right? To live well, dress well, be well... but for less. That's what I want at least.

One of my favorite blogs that I've been reading lately is http://goodlifeforless.blogspot.com/ Jill, the blogger, is a genius. Well at least I think so. She's SO wonderful at pairing clothes, and giving suggestions on super affordable clothes that make you look like a million bucks. It's inspirational! She also gives ideas and shows before and afters of projects that she has done around her house, or food that she makes. She's so real and normal, and yet amazing! Take a look at her blog.

I especially love her ideas for dressing for the fall. Look at http://goodlifeforless.blogspot.com/2009/09/good-look-for-less-jackie-of-sppn.html love these ideas!

My heart is touched!

My friend Antonella lost her only brother to Suicide a couple years ago. I have seen her and her sister stuggle with this loss. Last year they did an over night walk to raise money for suicide awareness and prevention. This year I decided to join her in the walk (not over night, just a 3 to 5 mile walk) to show my support to her, and her family. I set my fundraising goal to a measly $100 but feared that I wouldn't even be able to raise that much. I was completely amazed when within 5 or so minutes the donations I received were over my goal.

This is Antonella's son Jackson. He walks for his Uncle Jimmy.

Thank you to those of you who have donated! And for any of you who would like to donate, please do not let my small goal hold you back!

Here is where you can go to donate: http://afsp.donordrive.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.participant&eventID=937&participantID=69542 Every little bit helps!

And here is a link to Jimmy's virtual memorial page so you can learn about him and his awesome life! http://jamesvincentduruz.virtual-memorials.com/

Food for thought

Here are some books that I love and have helped me and continue to help me in my pursuit of a happy life. :)

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz. I read this book every few months. It helps to keep me in check. Synopsis of this book: it's about freeing yourself from others judgements and making your own decisions about who you are and what your personal value is. (Also check out The Mastery of Love, also by Don Miguel Ruiz, its a great relationship book.)

Another one that I just finished reading is The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman. I think this is a must for every couple, and really any single person. Synopsis: this book helps you identify the ways in which you need love expressed to you in order to feel truly loved. People are generally 1 or more of 5 different love languages. By understanding your partners "love language" you can better express your love in a way that they will feel and appreciate it the most. This can also apply to friends, children, family, anyone around you.

Does anyone have any other must reads?

Iron Girl Walk

Ok let me just start this off by saying we do not deserve the title "iron girl" we did this walk as just that, a WALK. In fact our finish time for the 5K (3.1 miles) was a whopping 1hour and 4minutes. So it was hardly even a stroll. But we enjoyed it and it was well worth the time.

Our group participants were, Myself, my sister Mickayla, my friend Antonella, her daughter Bailey and my other friend Courtney. Let me just say that I completely love all of these people. What an awesome group to stroll around Greenlake with!

Antonella, Courtney and I have decided that we (mostly me) need to be more active. Courtney and Nella are both personal trainers, and my desk job has done horrible things to my body, so they are going to be my encouragement to get out and be more active.

Apparently Bailey likes to be carried!

Side note: Antonella and Courtney are both AWESOME trainers and uplifting positive people. I became friends with them when I worked at Golds Gym in Redmond. If you are looking for a personal trainer then definitely contact them.

Courtney works at Golds Gym in Redmond: 425-883-9494

Antonella trains out of her home. Visit her website at http://www.ichooseactive.com/ She also sends out newsletters with tips and monthly active outings. The active outings are no cost and just a fun way to get out and have some fun while being active. Comment, or contact Antonella or myself if you'd like to be added to her newsletter email list. The more the merrier (and the more people to encourage me!!) ;)

LOL

Maybe I'm just in need of a laugh as I watch the clock tick by on this Friday afternoon, but I thought this picture was great! It wouldn't let me copy it so click on the link below.

http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/07/24/2009247.aspx

Yummy treat

Each year for Christmas the CEO of our company gives all of the employees in our office a "Fruit of the Month" membership from Harry and David. Although I wouldn't mind just getting the cash for the price of this gift, I do enjoy getting my fruit each month.

Yesterday, my September fruit arrived. I box of peaches. They smelt delicious and were perfectly ripe. So I decided to have the below as my dessert. Peaches, crumbled graham crackers and a (large) dollop of whipped topping. DELISH!

not feeling 100%

I feel exhausted. This picture is what I saw on my phone last night while laying across 2 airport seats. UGH!

I had a great weekend in the Bay Area, visiting my 2 oldest sisters. My flight home last night was supposed to be late but not too bad. Well... it got delayed. It landed back in Seattle at 2:17am but after catching the shuttle to my car, retrieving my car and driving back home, it was about 3:30. Then I couldn't fall asleep because I was worried that I wouldn't wake up at 6:30 when my alarm went off. There for I got less than 3 hours of sleep. Oh joy!

Happy thought: It's TUESDAY! I love weeks that start on Tuesday!

(To read about my adventures this past weekend visit my other blog, littleprincewilliam.blogspot.com)

Utah Mom meets Gothic Skater

Ok, so it's too late now.... I did it. I dont know how I feel but I guess it's growing on me. The cut is short! and I feel like it's a total mom cut. As my brother in law told me, it's like a Utah mom cut. (Which by the way I know he meant that in a positive way and I'm totally not offended.) Utah moms are always trying to be stylish. The color is really dark. I wanted dark, but this is way dark. I know it'll wash out a bit, and I'll probably get used to it too, but yah, it's way dark.

Oreos

Today I broke into my stash of Oreo's that I have hidden in the bottom drawer of my desk at work. Did you know that a serving size of Oreos is 3 cookies!? Seriously, 3! No way. I got out 6 and sealed the (resealable) package. How many oreos do you usually eat? Am I a pig or is it normal to eat more than the "suggested serving size?"

I was talking to my friend Rachel a few minutes ago. I mentioned to her that I was eating oreos and Milk. To which she replied, "You know what goes well with Oreos?" I thought she would tell me something like peanut butter or something like that. She sent me a link, and when it opened up this is what I saw.

I think he goes well with just about anything. Wouldn't you agree?