dining room art [Etsy goods!]

now that we've acquired the big ticket items for our dining room (the chandelier, the table, the buffet, 4/6 of the chairs), it's time to decide what I'll put on the wall to really bring in a pop of color. we only have one big open wall to work with, as the rest of them host a wide doorway and windows all around. 

I've been on the hunt for a giant statement piece that will take up a majority of that wall... meaning it needs to be 24" x 36" minimum. as usual, I've been perusing Etsy to see if there are any reasonably priced options for us.

I love this print from IKEA, and was originally going to buy it, but I really want to invest in a unique and one of a kind piece, so I know going handmade is the only way to accomplish that. 

I'm not picky in the type of art at all, as long as it's got some great green hues to tie into the rest of the room (the galley kitchen) and that it matches our style, which I like to think of as being more modern than traditional. I like quirky pieces and paintings with a lot of texture. 

ANYHOODLE. here's what I've had my eye on. 

Lush Forest

A Walk Through Central Park

Through The Seasons

Summer Breeze

Large Modern Map Print Poster

Turbulence

The Pear Tree

White California Poppy Field

Forest

those are the ones I'm really loving at the moment. I might end up attempting to paint my own. I've been wanting to build up my supply stash anyway, so creating a personal piece for our home would be the prefect excuse to get some paint and canvases. 

which one is your favorite? 

come on, Irene

I know, I know.
it's Eileen. 
I can't help it... it's stuck in my head and it just so happened to work with our lovely little hurricane.




so, here's my recap on that nasty bitch that hit the east coast over the weekend.


first, let me make this clear: I was scared. I've never experienced a hurricane before, and even though Irene was set to be a mere CAT 1, my mind immediately reverted to the tales of Isabel, which hit in 2003 (which, by the way, was lessened to a tropical storm by the time it hit Maryland, yet still completely flooded Baltimore and Annapolis and caused more then $800 million in damages) and left my town under water.


now... if I didn't own a home a mile away from the Chesapeake Bay, there's a good chance I wouldn't have been worried. if I didn't live on a peninsula, I probably would have brushed it off as "just a little rain and wind." but the fact of the matter is that I DO live on a peninsula in the Bay, and there is only one way in and out of my town, and I live on a crawlspace that is prone to flooding with more than 6 hours of steady rainfall. so yeah, I was freaked.


oh. in case you think I'm exaggerating... this is where I live:

when the severity of the storm became clear through weather reports on Thursday, I made the decision that being TOO prepared was better than not being prepared enough. so after work on Friday, we went over to Home Depot (along with the rest of the citizens of Maryland in it's entirety) to look for sand bags to place around our doorways. no such luck. so we then headed home to prepare the house by rounding up candles and flashlights. I also packed an overnight bag for us, in the case that we did get flash flooding and had to evacuate quickly.


the next morning we woke to grey eerie looking skies. I woke up before Sean did (must have been the anxiety, I'm sure), and took care of some exterior things, like moving the loose trash cans to the garage and cleaning up anything that would blow around in the wind. one of our neighbors stopped by and told us that he wasn't planning on sandbagging, and informed me that it would take a 9' storm surge for the Bay water to reach our house, which was a HUGE relief. he said that the one thing he was worried about was the tree situation, since the winds of 50mph+ would be strong enough to knock them onto his house. thankfully, we only have one tree near our house, and it faces the garage and not the main part of our home.


we took what we knew would be our last hot showers, and because we still knew that there was a very real possibility of being without power for a week, we took our chances and drove up to the store to get some supplies, even though we knew it'd be a madhouse. we picked up some water bottles, a few games and a deck of cards, and nonperishable food items to get us through. after filling the truck with gas and taking out some cash (for if we needed to go to the store and their credit card machines were down), we headed back home to hunker down for the storm.


I put our packed bag and some cat food out in the truck in case we needed to leave. I filled the bathtub with water to flush the toilet when we lost electricity, and then we parked ourselves on the couch and watched the coverage of the storm on the news. the storm ended up taking a slight turn east, which was great for us, but not so great for those north or east of us. the rain started at about 11AM and the winds began really picking up around 2-3PM in our area. we watched the storm progress throughout the day/evening and the power flickered on and off for a few hours. just as we finished eating our grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner at 7:30, we lost power for good.

we already had our head flashlights and candles ready, so we promptly got to work with an intense game of Phase 10, followed by a game of rummy, and some devouring of Little Debbie cupcakes. the winds got stronger, which was pretty scary to hear once the sun went down and it was pitch black outside. before it got dark, we did see that our neighbor's tree was knocked over before the brunt of the storm even hit us. around 10ish, we laid in bed and read for a while... Sean fell asleep first, but I was too riled up to sleep, especially knowing that the worst of the storm wasn't expected to hit us until about midnight. I finally fell asleep around 1 after a thorough checking around the house, discovering that we had no trees or flooding yet.

terrible cell phone self portrait. 

I woke up a couple times throughout the night listening to the wind whipping around the house and the sound of the rain, but overall I slept through pretty well. I woke up right as the sun was coming up and walked around the house to make sure there were no damages. looking out the windows, I could just see branches and leaves everywhere, and a only little standing water, which was a relief. after walking around outside, I realized how lucky we were. not one branch hit our home, and although our crawlspace flooded with about 12" of water (which was expected), we were very fortunate in that it didn't make it's way into the house or the garage.


we opened all our windows on Sunday to keep the house ventilated and drove around the see what kind of damage other areas suffered. right down our street, there was a HUGE pile of trees sitting on a power line, so we knew the source of our power outage. luckily the main roads were clear, but there were several smaller back roads that were closed due to flooding and downed trees/wire. after having lunch, we went to my brother's house to pick up a generator for the fridge. my only concern about losing power was having our food spoil. after we got that all hooked up, we headed over to my dad's house (who, amazingly, didn't lose power at ALL) to take hot showers and have dinner with family.


having no electricity has not made Bear feel different at all. he's still doing mostly this. 

we finally got our power back this morning around 3AM, and I feel lucky that we even got it back that soon. there are still thousands of people without electricity right now, and hundreds that are dealing with insurance claims and damages to their homes. BGE is estimating that mostly everyone in our area will be restored power by Saturday. compared to the photos I've seen of the northeast, we made out pretty well. I'm grateful that we were as prepared as we were and that we remained safe.


sheesh. I know, that was really long, but I really wanted to make sure I documented our Irene experience thoroughly in order to remember it. it's a shame that it occurred at night, or I'd have pictures to show everyone. even though Irene was not as forceful as the weathermen predicted she would be, she still did a LOT of damage!


ANYWAY. did you experience Irene's wrath at all?

fall fashion inspiration

there are not many things I love more in this world than hoodies. and pumpkin pie. and leather boots. needless to say, I love dressing for fall... layering fabrics, patterns and prints. comfortable and chic is the look I attempt to achieve when it comes to fall clothing. 


I've pinned a couple different Polyvore sets and fall fashion images to my Style board on Pinterest to help me get inspired so that I can concentrate on a few key items to purchase for my closet this season...

source

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this year it seems that I'm really drawn to... deep purples, navy, and mustard yellow (of course), flare jeans, stripes galore, feather accessories, mixing metals, and fun prints. I'm going to keep my eye for a great pair of flares, a scarf or two, a brown leather handbag, and a few tops. maybe I can also convince the hubs to get me a nice gold watch too. ;) 




fashion or otherwise, what are looking forward to this coming fall?

wee bit Wednesday!

{one} what's your guilty pleasure tv show?

I don't feel guilty about it, but I watch a LOT of reality TV... Big Brother, LA Ink, Bad Girls Club, Hell's Kitchen. oh, and Army Wives, which is absolutely terrible, but I can't help it, I'm hooked.

{two} ear piercings on men: yes or no?

not on my man. 

{three} do you have dish or comcast?

Comcast.

 

{four} what's your favorite current fashion trend?

I am not the right person to ask about "current" trends, but I love high waisted flare jeans. and feathers. basically, the 70's. 

 

{five} if you could learn to do anything, money not being an issue, what would it be?

I would love to learn how to be a millionaire. ha! 

 

{six} red or white wine?

white, please. 

 

{seven} what type of food is your favorite (ex. italian, mexican, etc.)

lately, I've been loving Mexican, but overall, I think I probably love American the most. burgers and fries win my heart. 

 

{eight} hp or mac?

I've never owned a mac, so HP it is. 

 

{nine} what color is your bedroom?

it's tan. specifically, Oat Straw by Behr.

 

{ten} what's your favorite form of exercise?

honestly? sex. sorry family. :)
I do love me some spin class too, though. 

tidbits & updates [long post]

grrrr, I caught a chest cold at some point in the last week or so and have been at home in bed for the last 2 days. thankfully, I'm feeling MUCH better and am back at work today. woo! so... now for some updates on what's going on lately... 




SCHOOL
I started fall semester courses last night. I will be taking classes on campus this semester for the first time in 5 years. I'll be at school three evenings a week... Monday nights (Drawing I) from 6-9:45 and Tuesday/Thursday nights (Physics... barf) from 7-8:15. Sean is taking classes on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, and he also has season tickets to Ravens home games, which means that we'll really only see each other and spend time together on Friday and Saturday nights until December. super sad face about that. 


I'm really nervous about the physics class. in high school, the highest level of science that I took was biology, because it wasn't a requirement to take anything further... which means that I never took chemistry or physics or any of that. the instruction is on light & sound, which makes total sense for my degree, but I hope it's not as scary as it sounds. 


the drawing class, on the other hand, is going to be a lot of fun. I went and got all my supplies last night, which included a couple 18x24 size drawing and newsprint pads, a bunch of different kinds of charcoal and graphite pencils, and other tools such as erasers and a portfolio to carry everything in. I wish I would have held onto all my supplies from years ago, and I would have saved a lot of money, haha. the main project in the course is the homework portion, in which we have to do 7-8 drawings a week in our sketch books, totaling up to 100 drawings at the end of the semester... which means my social life can pretty much be thrown out the window. I think it'll be interesting to see how the quality of the work changes from now until December. 




READING 
thanks to vacation, I've been on a roll with getting through my to-read list. I just finished Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah over the weekend, and can't wait to review it. while at the beach, I also finished Uglies by Scott Westerfeld, and am now reading the second book in the series, called Pretties. I'm glad I scaled back my goal for the Good Reads Challenge, because I'm right on track. I'm extremely proud of myself for reading so many books thus far, and I have no doubt that I'll reach my goal of 35 by the end of the year. 


here's a list of what I've read so far this year... 


1. Water for Elephants - Sara Gruen
2. A Scattered Life - Karen McQuestion
3. The Help - Kathryn Stockett
4. Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
5. Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins
6. Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins
7. 19 Minutes - Jodi Picoult
8. Something Borrowed - Emily Giffin 
9. Something Blue - Emily Giffin
10. Baby Proof - Emily Giffin
11. Matched - Ally Condie
12. Delirium - Lauren Oliver
13. Love The One You're With - Emily Giffin
14. Dead Reckoning - Charlaine Harris
15. If I Stay - Gayle Forman
16. Where She Went - Gayle Forman
17. Homer's Odyssey: A Fearless Feline Tale, or How I Learned about Love and Life with a Blind Wonder Cat  - Gwen Cooper
18. The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner - Stephanie Meyer
19. The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
20. Lies That Chelsea Handler Told Me - Chelsea Handler
21. Uglies - Scott Westerfeld
22. Firefly Lane - Kristin Hannah 



KITTIES
Skillet went to his new home on Friday night. I'm going to be honest. I may or may not have cried a little bit. he was that poor little sick cat that, at one point, was being medicated for three different illnesses and had to be quarantined in my bathroom. he grew to be such a little lovebug, and therefore, I grew VERY attached to him. and while I'm very happy to sleep past 5AM without a little purring, I miss him SO much. I know that his new mama will take good care of him, and I look forward to getting updates and watching him grow. 


the other kitties are doing well, with the exception of Pheobe, who is still on eye drops for a little conjunctivitis that she received via Skillet. her eyes are looking much better than they were last week, so she should be off the meds soon. Bear seems to be ecstatic that Skillet is out of the house, and relieved that he is no longer the object of playful torture from a little kitten. 




HOUSE
not a whole lot of updates on the home front. the table we bought from IKEA is still in a box waiting to be put together, which will have to happen soon since I'll need the space for art stuffs. we did finally order roman shades for the windows in the kitchen and dining room, and since they were all custom sizes, they took 7 weeks to arrive. they showed up at our door last week, so hopefully we'll have time to install them this weekend. 


I also want to take time in the next few weeks to get more things on the walls. I have a mirror and a few prints that I bought a looooong time ago that I want to hang in the living room. photographing the gallery wall in the entry wall is on my to-do list as well... especially since the frames actually have prints and photos in them now. 


now that we're not constantly taking care of kittens, we should be able to get quite a lot done inside. what I NEED to do is make myself a list of things that need to be completed in each room and start attacking one room at a time. I'll put "list making" on the to-do list. ;)




HEALTH
as of the 12th of August, I am 10 months smoke-free, and it feels AMAZING! I honestly don't even think about smoking anymore, unless I smell it, and in that case, I think nothing but "GROSS." I still can't believe that I was a pack-a-day smoker for so long, and that it completely ruled my life for years and years. 


I'm still eating pretty healthy... not perfect, but much better than I did a year ago. we eat at home most nights, but will treat ourselves to a meal out about once a week/every two weeks. I very rarely eat fast food anymore, and it upsets my stomach if I do have a craving for a greasy burger. when we eat at home, we eat mostly quick meals like breakfast (eggs, bacon, toast), pasta (usually salad, ravioli, garlic bread), or chicken (marinated chicken with fresh/steamed veggies). we have a bunch of regular recipes that we stand by during the week and usually introduce new things on the weekends. I drink 1 cup of coffee and 1 20oz soda everyday, and other than that, it's water ALL day long. occasionally I'll have a cup of sleepytime tea at night. 


with both of us in school, I'm not sure how dinners are going to work. I brought a sandwich for dinner tonight, but I know that's going to get old pretty fast. if anyone has any easy to-go dinner ideas that don't require heat, they'd be much appreciated! 


as far as exercise goes, I'm sad to say that it's pretty much non-existent. I do work up a sweat doing things around the house, and I've been pretty busy running errands on weekends, but I'd hardly call either of those things true exercise. although because I'm eating healthier and not being AS sedentary as I was before I started my workout program, I've maintained my weight... so while I've not lost any, I haven't gained any either. 


so even though I still eat fast food once in a blue moon, and I'm not working out as much as I should be, I FEEL great, which is the most important thing. instead of coming home and sitting on my ass most nights, I try to do things around the house or stimulate my brain with words instead of mindless TV. don't get me wrong, I still watch TV at night, but I feel much more active in taking care of my home, and my mind and body are grateful for it. 




EARTHQUAKE
this just happened. please never ever let me feel one again. at first I thought a military plane was flying over (I work right outside of DC and next door to Andrew's Air Force Base), but then I realized that I didn't actually hear the plane, and that the floor was shaking. and then my desk... and then the walls. and I looked outside, and the cars in the parking lot looked as if they were bobbing along in a body of water. my heart is still pounding and I may or may not have peed myself a little bit. 






ummm. so I guess that's it, I think. I figured I'd write up a little post for you guys full of updates, since it seems pretty rare that I actually dive into those subjects here lately. I'm sure you'll be hearing MUCH more about school though, since it's sure to rule my life for the next few months!


on a completely unrelated note... is anyone else ready for fall weather? I'm ready to decorate my house in warm colors, and I'm excited for boots and hoodies! 


Happy Tuesday! 

fill in the blank Friday!

playing along with Lauren @the little things we do, 

who found out this week that she is having a baby girl. 

head over there and tell her congrats! :)

1.   My idea of pure perfection would be   an uninterrupted night of sleep.

2.    Knowledge       makes the world go 'round.

3.  If it weren't for    the fact that I just got back from vacation    I'd   be at home nursing this sickness.

4.  Bloggers are   a lovely group of people who are so creative and encouraging and sweet. Some of my favorite people are bloggers.

5.  If I had    the money & connections    I'd buy you    everything necessary for a monkey rodeo.

6.  I'm glad it's Friday because     that means I get to watch two lovely couples get married tomorrow... I love weddings. AND I get to see my giLs. <3

7.  Something I'm excited about is     the beginning of fall semester next week, in which I'll be taking a drawing class, as well as a physics course. I may retract that statement in a few weeks when I'm completely burned out. 

Friday loves

this photographer, who refuses to photograph ugly people. 

I want to buy her a drink and high-five her repeatedly. 

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zig-zag quilts... specifically this one that Jenny made for her baby boy. 

it's so gorgeous, and even more special that his mama handmade it. 

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John & Sherry's new yellow front door. 

it brings so much character and really adds so much curb appeal to their home. I'm thinking that a re-painting of doors is in our future if I can get these kinda results. 

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the new bag I ordered from thirty-one for school... the Retro Metro Bag.

since I'll be on campus this semester (for the first time in about 5 years, eeeeks!), I figured I should have a new bag to tote all my books around. 

[via]

I ordered it in Mod Dot (shown above) and had it personalized with my monogram (MQM) too, so I can't wait to see how she turns out. 

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Erinn's post about wedding bouquets. 

I love this post of hers because I just so happened to also be perusing my wedding inspiration pictures at the same time, and we had a lot of the same photos used for ideas! we both loved big white and fluffy bouquets! you can see my big old creamy buncha flowers here. 

you see, she & I got married in the same month two years ago, and have been e-friends since. andplusalso... seeing wedding posts from the girls I planned my wedding with makes me feel mushy and sentimental... we've all known each other since our engagement days and still stay in touch to this day. it's amazing who the internet can introduce you to. 

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receiving the Versatile Blogger award from my friend, Rebecca.

she is another Nestie friend, and I was fortunate enough to meet her in person back in the beginning of the year. I'll make sure to post about the award later. :) 

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gradient/ombre nails. 

I did mine last night using this color palette. I love the look of it, but they're really, really sloppy looking because I was halfway high on Ambien when I did it. I think I'm going to attempt to re-do them tonight. when I do, I'll post a picture... the only picture I have right now is blurry, because the camera on my phone SUCKS (thanks to the spill it took in a river). 

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what I DON'T love today: the fact that I am getting sick, and I have TWO weddings to attend tomorrow. wahhhhh. also, I have a ticket for the Redskins/Ravens preseason game next Thursday evening, and I just realized yesterday that I can't even go because I have a class that night. I'm super bummed about it... hopefully I'll have the chance to go to another football game this season in between work and school and house work. 

Happy Friday, ya'll! 

eye candy

[all images via decorpad]

The Book Thief [book review]

SUMMARY:

this book made a huge impact on me, and along with the fact that I really just want to review it, I honestly don't feel that I could accurately describe the plot and impact of The Book Thief (uh, and I'm lazy this week), I'm borrowing this description from GoodReads:

It’s just a small story really, about among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery. . . .

Narrated by Death, Markus Zusak's groundbreaking new novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a young foster girl living outside of Munich in Nazi Germany. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she discovers something she can't resist- books. Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor's wife's library, wherever they are to be found.
With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, Liesel learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids, as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement.

REVIEW:
I won't lie... it took me a long time to get into this book... months, in fact. I started this book on March 6th and finished it on August 5th... took me almost 5 months exactly to read it. that's not to say that I spent a continuous amount of time trucking through it during those 5 months, because I've obviously been reading other things since March... but I got to a certain point in the book where I was completely and utterly STUCK. I wasn't sure whether the story line just leveled out or if the narration was annoying me too much to want to pick it up, but I put it down on page 80 in April and picked it back up in July and finished it in about 2 weeks. 


ANYWAY. 


as a whole, I really enjoyed this book a lot. it took me a bit of time to get familiar with the narration, but through the eyes of Death, a beautifully developed and heartwarming story unfolded. any author who can turn Death into a positive voice with true emotions and connections to the souls he must take will receive a standing ovation from me. I should also mention at this point that if you only like books that are happy and are all wrapped up together nicely with a bow on top, you should not read this book. this is a book centrally located within the confines of Nazi Germany and there are many tragic and painful events that take place... I physically cringed several times. 


the relationship between Liesel and her books is so special, it's as if the books are human beings, with whom she is completely infatuated with. Liesel's innocence and childlike naivety make her an especially likable character, and her genuine curiosity into the world of literature helps to shape her personality throughout the years. the several other relationships within the novel flow together organically and allow you to really know and love those in Liesel's life as they grow with her. from her Papa, who heroically takes on the task of teaching her to read, to her best friend Rudy, whom she playfully taunts through their whole lives... the entire cast is displayed vividly and with a certain care that makes you cherish them immensely. 


as I said, I think Zusak did a fantastic job with this book, and while some parts are truly heart wrenching, the overall message is astounding. it shows how the power of words can influence the minds of those who learn to appreciate them... either in the way of propaganda in a time of war and destruction, or in the way of discovery and hopefulness in the eyes of a young girl.