Longest day ever.

I don't know what your "everyday" looks like, but when I get to school, I pretty much feel like this...

And then this comes this....

And when that leaves then I have to grade this...

(Yes I took this photo and yet, it is normal)

All the while while maintaining this...

Strike that previous image....this is the 21st century, people....I mean this...

When I feel like this...

I've been jealous of some friends recently with "regular" jobs.  That have the energy to throw mid-week get-togethers, go to the movies when they feel like it, and don't fall asleep at 7 pm on a Friday night. 

 I want that, too!

But when I start to question God's calling in my life, I take a step back and I am reminded of how much He has worked on my heart through my job and why I was born to do it.  And, if I didn't do it, why I would feel like this...

 

"trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding but in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths"   ~proverbs 3:5-6

Fall Friday!

It's finally fall!!!  Yay for that.  The weather has been beautiful here.  Low 70s, a slight breeze, and sunny.  It makes me really happy.  I wish it was always like this...

We don't have much fall decor, but I figure I'd share what we have :)  Outside is where it counts IMO.  I'm going to pick up some pumpkins next weekend....looking forward to Halloween!

Here is my AC Moore wreath.  I found the little spider to go inside, and when Halloween passes I'll take him out.

The entryway has a few little things.

And my favorite part is the mantle and my wreath.

I love the berries, and it will transition to Christmas as well.

Happy start of fall!!!

Decided.

Ashville is known for amazing fall colors!

Charlie and I are going to Ashville in two weeks.  We need a romantic getaway.

We want to see the fall colors and the beautiful Biltmore.  I think after 5 years in Charlotte, it's about time.  We originally planned on staying at a Bed and Breakfast, but everything is pretty much booked this late in the game, so we are packing a picnic lunch and heading up.

Biltmore

  I think it's well worth getting up early on a Saturday, don't you?

Room finished! (for now :) )

We finished our formal living room!!!  So, because I'm a sucker for them just like you are, here are some before and after pics.

Before:

And the after:

Here is the before from another angle:

 

And the after from the same angle...

Here are a close-up of some of the things that made the room:

1. Behr Paint.  We love Behr paint now.  We've totally crossed over to the "dark side" with this one.  (Sorry, Lowes!)  The color we chose was, you guessed it from the prior post, "Contemplation"  It makes the room, and the color is the perfect green, blue, grey. 
2. Pillows!  I found pillows at Steinmart.  They were originally marked down to about $15-$20 a piece (from $30 to $40 originally) and then they were an additional 50% off of that for a limited time.  I scooped up 5 for under $50.  Yeah.  Winning.   
3. This art...I owned the frame and I took the "sepia" print myself in Girona, Spain.  (I thought it played well off the brown gold in the flower print.)  We originally had a collage of pictures of Charlie and I, which was pretty with the frames, but looked exceedingly vain.  So that was gone promptly.  The only thing we paid for for this part of the project was the matte from AC Moore.
4. The rug...ah, yes the rug.  I knew I wanted high-pile, and I knew I wanted and ivory, stain resistant guy.  I searched high and low online for something, but found nothing that was under $200.  They were all $250, $300, or upwards of $500.  He** no am I paying that much for a white-ish rug.  Enter Walmart.  Walmart how I hate love you.  I bought this guy for UNDER $150.  Yeah.  It was a major score.

 Yay...but if you think I could go about my little amazingly discounted life and sit in my amazingly "perfect" room you would be wrong.  You forgot to factor in the "discount" dog....

Luna is very smart, but (and I have said this many times) I often feel she is so smart that she over-thinks things.

Oh, this is new.  It is smelly.  And white.  And white means something is wrong with it.  Why would they put something of this horrible color of white in this room?  Let me smell it.  Yes, something must be wrong.  It is white and too clean.  Why is everyone spending so much time in this room now?  Oh, I know!!!  Ah, it's grass!!  It's grass for me.  But of course.  They want me here because I am supposed to pee here now.  Thank you for my new grass, everyone.

 

And now my perfect new room is far from perfect.

 Fraggle rock.  Well, this picture will have to sit in my head until my rug dries and I get my room back...

Happy almost Monday.

Living room and dining room...

Click here to see it!

...are gettin' painted!  But deciding on the paint color is the hard part.  I went with Grandma's timeless advice (thanks Grandma!) and picked one thing in the the room I'd really, really like to base the color off of.  And it was....my favorite painting we own.  I eyed it for a whole year before I bought it from Bed Bath and Beyond, but $100 was too much to spend on something like a painting.  I'm too cheap for that!  After our wedding, BBandB sent us a 50% off coupon on any one item in the store.  I allowed myself to snag it for $50 in 2010.

A couple of weekends ago, Charlie and I stopped in at Ikea and used a free, $25 off anything in the store to pick up some white frames that will accent this painting.  I am going to put photography I take in them with my new camera.  (I was thinking of using sepia nature photos.  We'll see where I take it).

Then, tying everything together, I came up with this mood board to see how the room would look with the wall color, Behr's "Lime Light":

Art: BB&B, Frames: Ikea, Dinnerware: BB&B, Geometric Fabric: Front Door Fabrics and on our dining chairs, Mini Vases: Ikea, Brown swatches: Art Van Furniture fabric and wood colors, Color: Behr "Lime Light"

The living room AND the dining room would be this color, so I want to make sure I picked it right.  I picked up a sample from Home Depot to try the color on the wall...and it looked AWFUL.  Too bright.  Too intense.  Too funky.  Not warm and cozy enough for my taste.  Too bad it looked so perfect on the computer screen.  Back to the drawing board....

I got some samples from Home Depot and tried them all on the wall together.... and I think we've narrowed it down to two....

My analysis:

Lime Light, the original pick, actually looks okay in the picture, but like I said, it is far too bright in person.  More of a bedroom color.

Valley Mist was ruled out almost instantly.  It was too in-your-face and very, very bright aqua.

Smokey Slate really caught my eye.  I LOVED this color but Charlie hated the way it looked on the computer screen, so he was hesitant to get the sample.  I liked how it brought out the green undertones of the painting.  However, I worry that, because it's so dark, it will swallow up the room.

Contemplation is a gorgeous color and very mature.  I love the way it plays off the painting, and I think it is a great color for two rooms.  It wouldn't overhwlem.  However, I worry that because it is such a good match with the painting, it will almost loose it's "pop" on the wall...



So what is your vote?

Contemplation:

Smokey Slate:

Here are some other rooms painted these colors...

Contemplation



Smokey Slate

Leave a comment and tell me your gut reaction!

"In" night

I slept in until 9 am today.  It felt glorious.  I usually feel really guilty about this.  But the laundry, the chores, the errands, I'M BEHIND!   But then I remembered that it only matters to the anal part that is often best left ignored.  So I continued to lay in bed.

But the apples will be overpicked at the grocery store.  The only ones left will be the bruised ones.  And my free couponing items will be gone!

Well aren't we lucky that the world doesn't depend on apples and the stock of Kleenex?  Lie here I shall. 

I'm glad no one in the world has to directly experience my inner monologues.  ;)

My ignoring of the other part of myself turned out to work in my favor.  I was rested, AND the grocery store wasn't even overpicked.  It even feels like fall today.   Like REALLY like fall.  I love it.  I think the high hovered around 68.  A very Alaskan day if you will.  Charlie and I even had smoked salmon from Alaska that Vicki and Chuck brough back for lunch.  And then we went and bought a Christmas tree.  Yes, a Christmas tree.  I found one (fake) on Craig's list for $25.  Now when our family comes down for Thanksgiving, we can get the season started right!

I felt like we've been out and about so much these past few weekends (all fun things of course) but it's leaving us exhaused.

My friend Andreia's birthday party!

Fireworks at the National Whitewater Center

Tonight is an "in" night.  I don't know what your "in" night things are...ours revolve mostly around the TV.  As sad as that is, it thoroughly entertains us.  Here are our favorite things to watch when we are "in."  We are always looking for new shows!!!

• Breaking Bad.  We don't do meth or deal drugs or almost die on a daily basis.  Probably why we love the show so much.  Plus the acting is great.
• Mad Med.  Another favorite.  We are watching them on demand on Netflix, so we are only in season 2.  But we love it.  Life in the early 60s with a modern twist.

• Catfish.  A recent documentary we watched about online love...with a huge twist.  It was good, and we still debate on whether we think it was 100% real.  But I guess all documentaries beg that question, no?

• The King's Speech.  Everyone told me to see it and we finally got around to it.  It was stellar.  And surprisingly funny.  In a dry, British sort of way.  

If you have any shows/movies to recommend, leave a comment below.  We're always looking for something new!

Lighting fixture update.

I hate gold finishes.  And when we bought our house, it was pretty much full of them.  Gold door handles, gold fans, and gold lights.  Lights of golden lights.  There was one in our powder room.  A really ugly one.  Here is the room:

And here is the light fixture.  (I cut it out of the picture above because I hate it so much...hehe!)

The worst part is I think someone actually painted it to be like this.  They took a bronze base and painted golden flecks/streaks all over it... sorry if it's your style.  It's just not ours.  To be honest, though, Charlie didn't even notice it first. 

Me:  Hey, hon, I'm going to fix our light fixture.
Charlie:  Um, okay.  We have an ugly one?
Me:  The one in the powder room.
Charlie:  It's really that ugly? (Walks over to powder room).  Eeeee..that IS ugly. 

I suppose from a guy's perspective, his back is to the dang thing anyway every time he pees in there, so he never noticed it.  If you sit on the toilet because you are a chick, you have to look at it!  Sorry.  That was graphic.  But I am illustrating a point here ;)

Anywhoo...

We are slowly but surely converting into Home Depot people.  Their paint is better.  Their color selection is better.  And their prices are better.  So yeah, we went there for the supplies.  Plus, Katie Bower recommended this spray paint called Oil Rubbed Bronze that you can't find at Lowe's.  So Home Depot it was.

Rust-oleum Metal Primer: $4
Krylon's Oil Rubbed Bronze Metallic Finish spray paint: $4
2 glass lampshades: $14
Total: $22  (Not bad, considering a new one would have cost between $80 and $100)

New shades on the left, old ones on the right.  We originally just wanted to re-used the old shades, but I soon realized that they would look far too golden with the new paint color.

I taped everything off (including the wires) and went to town! 

And here is the final product 24 hours later!

It took about 10 minutes to prep the area, myself, and the fixture, and about 5 minutes for each coat.  20 minutes in total.  Easy peasy.  The best part?  There was plenty of spray paint left for the 3 brown frames in the bathroom so they match the new fixture.  Much improved.