2.21.2016

life as of late!

I realized I haven't blogged about what we've been up to in a while. Admittedly it isn't anything too exciting- just ordinary, regular day-to-day life. Sometimes that's where the best stuff happens! The stuff I want to remember anyway.

^As much as I hate the snow, they love it! What kid doesn't though, really? 

 ^A couple weeks ago we took the girls bowling for the first time! They both really loved it. Olivia had a hard time understanding the concept of taking a turn, and they both pretty much lost interest around the 7th frame. Jillian actually got the highest score...which isn't embarrassing at all.

^I love my expression in this picture realizing Olivia is getting yet another spare. I mean they DID get to use the gator and the gutter rails, so it was somewhat of an unfair advantage...but still...getting beat by a 4 year-old doesn't do much for the ego!
 
^Jillian went to one of her good friend's birthday parties recently where they were pampered at a hair salon. She told her stylist she wanted to look like Aurora. I texted my Mom a picture and she said, "Before you know it she'll be getting ready for prom!"And then I wanted to cry. Haha! It was fun watching them get dolled over though!

 ^My friend Kristen bravely invited us to her Valentine's party with her joy-schoolers at her house. There were 18 kids altogether! Surprisingly it wasn't as crazy as you may have thought. Give kids some balloons and Sweethearts and they'll be happy no matter what.


 ^We met my cousin and her kiddos for a play date at the dinosaur museum. They moved back from Indiana a few months ago and it has been the best thing ever!! Her oldest and Jillian will both be starting kindergarten this fall so I'm glad I'll have her to call and sob to after drop off on the first day of school. ;-)

 ^Olivia is cracking me up lately. She's such a ham and is talking so much. She loves being goofy and will follow anything and everything Jillian does. She's recently figured out how to scurry up the bar stools and get onto the counter, which is basically driving us nuts.

 ^Cubby's! I went there for the first time with James for our Valentine's date and it was probably one of the best burgers I've ever had. If you've never been, get the Houdini burger. And those sweet potato fries?! Let's just say I already have plans to go back this week. 

 ^Over the weekend we had plans to take the girls to the indoor trampoline gym. We knew it would be a little crazy with Monday being a holiday, but the wait to even pay to get in was at least 30 minutes long! No thanks. So we opted for an arcade instead. Jillian had a hard time understanding how to execute an underhand throw in skee ball (and was thus a little dangerous)...but it was fun playing games together! Plus we had a delicious Dole whip!

^We went for pizza Saturday night and it was deeeelicious! Nicolitalias was a place we went to often when we were first married, but realized we hadn't been in years! Taking the kids out to eat with us for dinner is always risky...you know, melt downs, spills, general rambunctiousness..but they did pretty well. The free suckers they passed out at the cash register definitely helped. There was only one spill and it was my fault. Oops!  

^In October I started Weight Watchers! I have been working my tail off and have lost 20 pounds with 5 more to go until my goal. It has been stinkin' hard, but so worth it! I think what I love most is how much stronger I feel- physically and mentally!

February was a pretty ordinary, but pretty wonderful month! It's starting to warm up now and has made me SO excited for spring. As much as I hate winter, it makes me appreciate the other three seasons a thousand times more!!

2.02.2016

master bedroom makeover

 

I'm finally done updating our bedroom! It took a bit longer than expected, because you know...life! 
When we moved into our place (almost) 4 years ago (four years?!), I put up the things I had from our apartment and didn't really think much about our room since I was focused on updating the main floor of the house. Once that was done, our room started to bug me more and more! Plus we'd had the same lamps since we'd been married 7 years ago- time to move on. Haha! Yes, fortunately ruffle lamp shades are no longer my thing.  

Some lovely before pictures:


I will never miss that wall color.
 
^Once the curtains came down (well, fell down because I didn't use drywall anchors the first time and Jillian gave them a tug and whoops! Lesson learned. Drywall anchors are actually really important). But take note of how tiny the window looks!

And now some afters:


I wanted to keep it light, airy and color neutral, as well as really punching up the textures. It's a thousand times more interesting than it was before! I think one of the biggest impacts is the DIY plank wall-she's a beaut! 

I'll link all of the sources at the bottom.

^Remember the tiny window? Tiny no more! I took down the random corner shelf that served no purpose other than to remind me how much I don't dust. I hung the curtain rods almost all the way to the ceiling and hung the curtains on the outsides of the actual window, to make it look a lot bigger than it actually is. We also took down the blinds and opted for a pull down shade, made prettier by some matchstick blinds.
 


I really wanted to get a fiddle leaf fig plant, but those are really hard to find (apparently), and had reports of being difficult to keep alive- no bueno. I found this one at Home Depot that looks somewhat similar and is hopefully a little more durable! I put rocks in the bottom to detour the kids from pulling dirt out- and if they start messing with those I have every intention of hot gluing all of the rocks together. Yep. 

The headboard was an $80 DIY project that is still working beautifully! 



The jute runner was sort of a last minute addition, but I love the way it anchors the bed and makes the bench stand out. And adds to my whole texture spiel. 

The mid-century bench was another cheap DIY! One of my favorite projects to date, actually. (And yeah I just noticed my sheet is awkwardly pinched into the mattress- oops ;-) bed wedgie!)





I can't get over how much bigger it looks!! And I'm really glad I decided to do white paint instead of some of those blues I was playing around with...

 It was so much fun to find and add all of the elements I wanted to in this room- I'm sort of sad it's all finished! All of the rooms in our house are pretty much done. I'm still dabbling with the playroom and James won't let me touch his office, so we're basically there. :-p

Next up is a furniture refinishing project- love those!

 Sources:
Captains mirrors: Hobby Lobby
Lamps: Ikea
Night stands: Ikea
Headboard: DIY
Bench: DIY
Curtains: Ikea
Matchstick blinds: Lowe's 
Runner: Ikea
Yellow & leather pillow: Target
Monogrammed pillow: So Vintage Chic 
Alarm Clock: Target
Plant basket: Hobby Lobby
Square photos: Parabo prints  
"Prayers come true" sign: Salty Bison