what i did on my summer vacation

a couple of weeks ago i took a week off of work in order to get some things done around my house. the main goal was to clean, which i did some of monday and tuesday. then wednesday night janna came over and kicked my butt into gear to get my craft room organized and cleaned out. we worked very hard and i appreciate her encouragement/berating =) more than i could ever say!! with all of the dirty work done i was able to get to stuff that i really wanted to do...the crafty things!!

painting my bedroom furniture had been on my mental "to do" list since i moved, and i finally did it. i love it!! it looks better than i imagined!
this is the dresser that i've had in my bedroom since i can remember. seriously, i remember it as early as age 4 - it's o-l-d! the "dream" was given to me as a gift by the morel's, and i love the way it looks on the black. the silver tray was also a gift, from a friend at church, and it also pops nicely on the new color!

that's original photography by kara blankenship, it's the trunk of a huge, very old tree. i've had that for a long time!!

this chest of drawers i got some time when i was in high school. it came with three more drawers, but at some point i decided i wanted a tv inside it, so i took them out and vic added the shelf in there. when i started scrapbookin i realized this was the only place i have tall enough to house my 12x12 albums, so that's what lives there now.

this vanity belonged to my grandmother. when she passed away in 2002 this was the only piece of her bedroom suit that i took. at the time it wasn't really my style, but i wanted something that was her's. i have wanted to paint it for a long time, and got really mixed reviews on doing that. i was hesitant, but i ABSOLUTELY love how this turned out. i need to touch it up, but i love it!!

this is something i visualized a few weeks ago and it just kind of came together. my craft room has been kind of a catch all room, and i really just wanted it to be cohesive and cute. now i feel like it's seriously on it's way to cute!!

these are those wooden crates that i just hung on the wall with gorilla hooks. gorilla hooks are amazing!! seriously, these two crates are full - one of paper, the other of magazines - and the gorilla hooks are not budging!!

the one with drawers needs another coat or two paint, and i'm trying to figure out a cute labeling system for them.

i was originally going to make the curtains myself, but on a recent trip to walmart, i saw this panel and decided it would be much easier to just cut it and make it fit. it has all the right colors!

i bought this shelf at the thrift store for $10 about 6 or 7 years ago. i love the color, but it made me nuts to be able to see all of the crafting clutter that i was storing on it. the curtain works great. i might repaint this so the shade of green is closer to whats in the curtain, but we'll see.

every thing is hidden!!

this is my little bistro set that's outside, last summer i painted it a bright aqua, which i really liked, but everytime i saw it from outside i just thought "that doesn't go", so for the cost of three cans of spray paint and 3/4 a yard of fabric, it's all new!! and goes much better with the inside of my house.

that hook came from my dad's house and i found the star lantern at home goods (i love that place!)

i saw in a magazine or a blog somewhere some one had put a bunch of their initials on the mantel. well, my mantel is not that big, and is pretty much already full, so i decided two was enough. i love the color that they add (on the other side of my mantle is my willow tree nativity scene which has really muted colors).

i bought the letters at joann, and decoupaged them with strips of scrapbook paper.

these little ditties "blossomed" from something i saw in the anthroplogie catalog. there's was much simpler (small silver buckets with little numbers on the front with grass in them). these were the smallest number i could find at joann, i couldn't find any grass that i liked, and i was going to sit them in my front window, but you couldn't see them from the outside. so big numbers with sunflowers on the shelf inside the front door it is!! i like the way they
turned out!

update

i have been doing really well with food this week. i think the thing that works for me best is writing things down, so i have a little journal that i write everything i eat in. my daily calorie goal is 1600, which is not crazy, and i am eating 5-6 times per day. my goal per meal is:
breakfast 300-350
lunch 350-400
dinner 400-450
snacks 450-500 (spread throughout the day)

i got these numbers from a book called calorie queens which talks about eucalorics and how many calories you should eat each day to maintain your goal body weight. i think the equation is the weight x 12 = calories. they go into a lot more detail in the book , but that is the basic formula.

i am trying to cook more, eat out less, and eat at least one salad each day. salad greens (lettuce, spring mix, spinach) are really the only green vegatables i like, so i try to get one in each day. cooking sometimes seems like too much trouble, but i did buy a bunch of different kinds of food at the grocery the last couple of weeks to mix things up, so maybe it will be easier.

drinking water is not hard for me...i like water, sometimes i just decide i like cokes or tea better, but i've been doing really well with that. i try to keep track of how much i drink, but i forget a lot! all i know is that i have been going to the bathroom non-stop!!

i also wanted to start moving more, and in an effort to do that i ordered this:
and started the work out this morning. it is a set of 2 dvd's with alternating workouts that you do for 6 days then rest for 1 day and start all over. it came with this cool tracking calendar that i have posted up in my living room. i'm going to get up every morning and do the 40 minute workout and see what happens! this morning was alright - i am terribly out of shape and could not keep up the whole time, but i did keep moving, and went at my own pace. there were not many moves that were terribly complicated, but there were several that i just couldn't do...but i will get there!

flowers on my fence

i saw this project in a diy magazine a couple of weeks ago and loved it! i have a very small back "yard" and since i live in a condo there's not really much i can do back there, so i loved the thought of decorating the fence. i got these pots from my dad's house (the previous owner left them) and cleaned them up and spray painted them this morning. then mom and i went to lowe's and she helped my pick out the plants. i love the bright colors and the fact that all of these should hang over the pots in a while. i put the hangers up and mom and i potted the plants, and voila! i LOVE how this turned out...i can't wait until the rain stops and i'm able to sit out there and enjoy them!!

mother's day and getting it in gear

i love mother's day. why? first because i love my mother, and i love spending the day with her, doing what we do. second, i love my grandmother and spending time with her. these two ladies make me laugh, make me think, make me mad, make me strong, make me smarter, make me better, and make me who i am. God has given me who i need to have. my mom is a smart, independant woman, and some days i wonder how she puts up with me. my mema is amazing to me. she has lived a long life, and continues to live by herself, keep a garden, go to church every sunday, and excercises every single day. she is a very straight forward woman who says what she thinks (even when we don't always agree), she has survived some pretty bad stuff and is all the better for it. i lived with her for about 8 months a few years back and i swear i learned more in those 8 months than i have since =)

every year for mother's day we take a picture of the three of us, but we usually forget to do it until we already have our "play clothes" on, but this year i remembered to do it right after we got home from church...

then i took several pics of mema's new cat, who doesn't have a tail. she says that's the sign of a good hunter...i don't know. his name is "bobbit", i kid you not....i don't think it has any connection to john bobbit, but she's a shard lady, so it very well could!!

after lunch my uncle and aunt (larry and judy) came down and judy and i went a cut some of mema's peonies...they are so beautiful and smell so nice in my house!! i forgot to take pictures =(

speaking of my house, i am starting to get that in gear...i am having a party in june and my goal is to have the house good and clean and do a few projects before then. i am working on the cleaning this week, and this weekend hope to get busy on two of my projects.

first i am putting some flower pots on the fence in the back of my house...i got some from my dad's house that were left when they moved in, so i am going to clean them up and paint them, then i'll hang them with these things. I ordered them yesterday and I can't wait to see how this turns out!! i am also going to re-paint the patio table and chairs i painted last year to match the chairs i bought from walmart last week.

second i am painting two dressers and the vanity in my bedroom. i have been "gonna do this" since i moved in, and it is just time!!

third, i am re-doing my craft room. this area has been a hodge podge of leftover furniture and things, and i am just ready for it to me usable and cute!! i have a plan, i just have to get in there and get everything organized and cleaned out.

well...

i think i'm going to do this. yes...i am. i am putting this out there for all (2 or 3 folks who read this) to see.

for more years than i care to think about I have needed and wanted to lose weight. i have done most every diet program or pill you could name. some of them have worked for me. and some of them didn't. i'm sure that most of them work for if you work them, but for whatever reason (probably my lack of dedication at the point i tried them) the haven't worked for me. i have read book after book (although most not all the way through) and the ones that really hit home with me are the straight to the point ones that say if you eat less and move more you will lose weight. so that's what i am aimig for.

don't get me wrong, i do not want to lose weight to be happy...i know that i can be happy at any size and unhappy at any size, and i don't want to lose weight because nobody likes me...i think i have the best friends and family in the world, at this point in my life i NEED to lose weight. i NEED to be healthier. i wake up most mornings with hurting feet, i wake up every morning with hurting knees and lately with a very painful back. It is time!!

i am putting all this out there to help motivate me. i am walking some, and hope to do that more consistantly. i am working on cooking more and eating out less. i got a bunch of cooking for 2 magazines and am looking through those to get some ideas. it's just hard sometimes to cook for just me, but i guess i need to look at it like i am doing something for myself. but if you'd like to come over for dinner anytime, just let me know!!

so ask me how i'm doing, ask me if i'm walking, and i will update here, too.

inspired

so it's been forever since i've felt like i had anything to write, but i wanted to share something. i'm sure i've already told most of the folks who read this, but at least putting it here i will be able to look back at it later.

the past few weeks i have really felt convicted to take care of some financial issues i have had. as most people who know me well know, i am not known for my sound financial decisions. it's just not one of my strong points. but this year i have been trying slowly to change that. last week i had a bit of a "come apart" because it seemed like i was taking one step forward and two steps back. so i talked to my mom and with her help was able to get current with several things that i was behind on. so on friday, having only one check out that had not cleared, i had an additional $1.31 in the bank. i was ok with that knowing that i was to get paid from the skate center this week, and that nothing else was due. well, over the weekend a service charge for something came out of my account that was $6.95. now, since the check had not cleared, there was money in the account, but i knew that if the check cleared it would bounce. my first thought was to borrow a few bucks from someone, but then i just felt like i needed to take the consequences of this...so i had resigned to pay the service charge if the check came through before i got paid. well, yesterday morning i was looking at an explanation of benefits from my insurance company, and there was a $20 check attached to it!! GOD is SO GOOD!!! seriously...i could bot have been more excited if that was a $1,000 check!

i am so thankful to serve a God that is so faithful. He blesses me over and over again. this is just one example of the many blessings...my cup runneth over!

movie reviews by me!

this weekend seemed to be the time for me to watch some movies i'd been wanting to catch, so i did just that! on friday night, kim and i watched mamma mia. we had been to the play when it was here in nashville a couple of years ago, so we were excited to see it on screen.

of course it wasn't the same as the stage show, but it was really good. at times it seemed like they were just singing song after song, but that is what makes mamma mia mamma mia, so that was just fine. i loved meryl streep and her two friends, their chemistry was great! and i also loved the greek chorus...it seemed like they would just pop up out of no where and start singing and dancing, but it wasn't like "oh, where did they come from?" it worked.

i had been wanting to see the secret life of bees since i heard it was coming out. i read the book a few years ago and loved it, and i'm always curious to see how they translate books to screen. they did a wonderful job this time!

if you haven't read the book or seen the movie, the secret life of bees is the story of lilly owens (dakotah fanning) and the boatwright family she comes to live with when she is 14 years old. the movie is set during 1964, just after the civil rights act is signed. the boatwright sisters live in tiberon, south carolina, and own a home and a good bit of land. august boatwright (queen latifah) tends the bees and takes lilly under her wing. this is a sweet story of a young girl desperate to find out who she is. a good girl power movie!!

this next movie, I had not heard of until i was looking at the redbox on friday. the lucky ones stars tim robbins (which is why i rented it), rachel mcadams, and michael pena. they are u.s.army soldiers all on leave from the war. as luck would have it, they end up traveling cross country (new york to las vegas) in a mini van. along the way they have many mishaps and there are many points when you think "oh, this is it, they are going their separate ways after this one!"

although these three are pretty much strangers, they come to know each other on a very deep level and kind of straighten out their lives along the way. although there is some language and other inappropriate talk, i thought this was definitely worth watching.

when i saw the preview for the bucket list at the theatre, i thought it would be a good rental. and it was. i'm glad i didn't pay to see it in the theatre, but it was a nice movie. i usually like both jack nicholson and morgan freeman, and did again in this movie, there were just a few points were i was thinking, "when are they going to die, already?" i really liked the ending...i love when movies bring things full circle, and it did make me think about what i'd put on my own bucket list if i had one. not bad for a lazy sunday afternoon!

so there's my completely unsolicited opinion of 4 recent movies!! have you seen these? or others that have been good lately? leave me a comment and let me know!

monday...again

so it's monday again. i woke up this morning, not feeling very well (i've had sinus crud for over a week now), and just thought "here we go again". don't get me wrong, i love my job, and i am so thankful for it....but sometimes i just wonder what it would be like to have a different lifestyle where i didn't have to get up and come to work 5 days a week. i think i would like to be able to not work and just travel around or just hangout around town. when i become independently wealthy i will get right on that!

so as we start this week, tell me what you'd like to do if you didn't have to work to pay the bills =) oh, and have a great monday and wonderful rest of the week!!

happy birthday, mom!!

friday, january 9 was my mom's 60th birthday...she got flowers at work and a massage that afternoon, and then a little surprise party for dinner at red lobster!! melissa, mr. & mrs. morel, john, janna and alana got to the restaurant before us, so they were already at the table when we came in. janna and mrs. morel made this cool basket...very cute!!

mom had to guess each "O" item based on the clue attached to the package.


alana was tearin' it up with the play-doh!!


mom was pretty embarrassed when what seemed like the entire wait staff sang happy birthday to her!

the next day we went to mema's house for lunch (yummy soup and corn bread) and her amaryllis from Christmas was already bloomed, and beautiful!!

happy birthday, mom....may this be your best year yet!! i love you =)

a few pics

a few holiday highlights:

alana's recital was the saturday before Christmas. it was so fun!! she did a great job! (this picture is blurry b/c we weren't supposed to use a flash "for the safety of the dancers")

she's so precious!!
the next tuesday, alana spent the the day with auntie melissa and i. we went to the adventure science center and out to lunch. then we just lounged around at my house and watched movies in the afternoon....we had a great time!

i love her in this hat!! she didn't keep it on long, though!!

i always take pictures of mema, my mom and my aunt fixing lunch...i've always done that!

my aunt juanita made some yum-yum...my absolute favorite treat!! it was awesome!!

at grammy's house, the main attraction was the guitar hero eli got for Christmas....i even tried it, it was pretty cool!!

every year the boys get some kind of little gift that they compeat with after we open gifts, this year they were jumping frogs.

john michael was the winner, but rick took the "bling" because it matched his watch! they are two cool dudes!!

a couple of times a year mel, janna and i get together with mrs. garrett...we were able to meet her for lunch and catch up the saturday after chistmas!

any free time that melissa and i had, we spent scrapping...this is our stuff spread out all over my craftroom table.

not sure which day this was, but we're still scrapping!! i think i got about 65 pages done all week (from feb. of 2006 almost to the end of 2007) I might catch up someday!!

she blogs again

yes, it's been a while....lots of things going on, but i won't bore you with my excuses for not blogging. i have been thinking a lot today about my new year's resolution...and yes i only made one, but it's a big one!! i didn't even know what to call it, but last night when i was driving i saw a sign in front of a church that said it perfectly...it's time in 2009...that's my resolution. i am resolving to make things happen this year. big things and small things...i am cutting the crap and just getting to the business i need to get to. it's time!!

i'll post some holiday pics later!!