Friday loves

John & Sherry's (and Clara's) DIY sand rock box. 

definitely something I'd like to try to conquer once the peanut is old enough to enjoy it!

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this gift idea for brides. 

you give them 6 bottles of wine in a basket to share with their husband during their big "firsts" of marriage - first fight, first baby, etc. 

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these utensils. 

not only are the bright colors outstanding, but the handles are weighted, which means the "head" of the tool is always in the air and won't rest on a dirty counter.

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Lauren's DIY party favors. 

bonus: they also double as decor! these would be awesome to use for just about any occasion.

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birth photography makes me weak in the knees.

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these two cute fellas. 

it's kitten season and I'm so sad that I won't be able to foster any this year.

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I know I'm late on this, but textfromdog is fucking hysterical. 

seriously. read it. it'll make your day. 

I can't stop laughing.

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HAPPY FRIDAY! 

:D

kitchen prints

I promised to show you a picture when I got them hung, so here you go!

yes, it's blurry. thank you water logged Droid X. 

and yes, there's a Lily in the picture. 

and yes, that's the gallery wall in the background. 

I would have taken a picture of the entire kitchen, including the prints, 

but uh... it was dark. 

andplusalso, my kitchen was a mess at the time. 

the vintage inspired crate label prints are from Vol25. 

I got all four prints (uhhh, in April 2010) for $65. 

and the frames from Home Goods for $7.99 a piece. 

Happy Thursday! 

around the house & random tidbits

- I finished our gallery wall in the entryway! thanks to 3M Command Strips and these guys from Amazon, it was a piece of cake. the most time consuming part was the planning process - figuring out where to put each frame. and then my OCD kicking in, which meant I had to map everything out and then measure between each frame and break out the mini level to make sure everything was perfect. and it was. 

this picture sucks (ever since I dropped/plunged my cell phone into the river, the camera is wonky), but you get the idea. most of the frames are still empty, and I will be working this week to find permanent art prints for them! 

paint color: Sparrow by Behr. 

- because I've discovered the awesomeness that is the 3M Strip, I also have these prints (scroll to the bottom) ready to hang in the kitchen. will photograph when complete. 

- our new curtains arrived and they are AMAZING. the quality is just so much nicer than the cheapos we bought from JC Penny a few years back. they are a silk/rayon blend, are lined in the back, and have sewn in weights to keep them hanging correctly. 

the only problem is that they're a smidge too long... an inch and a half, maybe two inches too long. I'm debating on whether to have them dry cleaned in the hopes that they shrink juuuust enough (and risk them being too short or never hanging right again and paying a pretty penny) or to just buy an iron hem kit and bring them up an inch or so. 

thoughts? does anyone know how much rayon/silk shrinks up when washed? 

- we still haven't put together the dining room table yet. slackin' big time, I know, but hopefully this weekend, it'll get done. 

- remember back when I started that wee little ink project? well, you probably don't remember the start, since I wasn't blogging back then, but you probably remember the beginning if you've been here a while. 

well, it's finished. I went up to Black Anchor on Saturday for my last sleeve session EVER, and I am honestly so happy it's finally complete. I sat for another 3.5 hours, which was rough, considering the longest I've sat under the needle previously was 4 hours. total chair time for this piece was about 14 hours! 

again, horrible cell phone pictures, but my camera has been in Sean's truck for weeks and I keep forgetting to grab it! I am so, so, so excited that it's finished, and now I can move onto the next! ha! I'm thinking I'll move onto the lower half for my next tattoo(s)... I really want to put something on my calves next. 

- I suck at reading lately. I'm still making my way through The Book Thief and while it is definitely getting better, it's still kind of a slow read. in my defense though, little kitty Skillet has been taking up a lot of my time in the evenings too. 

- I'm on the hunt for a local CSA to deliver organic fruits & veggies (and possibly farm fresh eggs) to us. there are a lot in the state of Maryland and even in DC, but none that deliver to the city where we live OR where I work. super bummed about it, but I'm still searching! 

Friday loves

the Savona Stripe pillow from Crate & Barrel. 

and the Pierson pillow too. both are in my cart right now, because both would look amazing on my couch. the green ties into our Grape Leaves wall color, and the orange is a nice pop that matches our new storage items we picked up from IKEA.

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Big Brother is back. 

I am completely annoyed that Brenchel is back. but also? SO FUCKING HAPPY to see Jeff & Jordan again. I love them and I want to be friends with them IRL.

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I watched our wedding slideshow today. 

our 2 year anniversary is only a month away. on one hand, I can't believe it's been 2 years already... and on the other hand, it feels like 50. I'm so lucky to have such an amazing, handsome, supportive, and hilarious husband to call my best friend. I hope he knows just how appreciative I am for him and everything he does for us.

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this much more hysterical version 

of the cat lady eharmony video (yes, I am aware that the original is a fake).

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Erinn's window shopping collection of white pants. 

I want a pair very badly, but I will have to lose a few pounds first. maybe next year. 

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the new Misfits Dinnerware from CB2. 

actually, pretty much every new item in the CB2 and Crate & Barrel catalogs. why am I so obsessed with these stores?! 

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Happy Friday! 

IKEA goodies!

we made our first trip to IKEA over the weekend. insane, I know. I feel like I've been there before, maybe as a kid while shopping with my parents or something. but this was our first trip there together, as homeowners, and it was everything I expected it to be AND SO MUCH MORE. since we moved into our house in December 2009, we've had an ongoing "IKEA list" so needless to say, we spent a few hours acquiring everything we needed! 

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our main goal was to get everything we needed for our dining room, including a dining room table. yeah, that's right, we don't have a dining room table. we've been eating in the living room at the coffee table for the last year & a half. we went with the BJURSTA dining table because we are able to extend it to seat 8 people. 

once we get it put together, I will take pictures of it in the space! I can't wait to see how the dark wood looks against the light walls and trim! 

along with the table, we knew we wanted to purchase 4 side chairs. I wanted something more modern casual with the chairs so that they'd be easy to keep clean (ie: not upholstered since we have a multitude of felines). 

I loved the look of the grey TOBIAS acrylic chair, but I felt like it just didn't fit with the table. so instead we chose the ERLAND chairs in white (which were also $40 cheaper per chair... bonus!), which will really pop next to our grey walls (Gravity by Valspar) in the dining room. 

we plan to find two apple green leather Parsons chairs for the ends of the table in the near future, at which point we will probably buy this piece of art for the large wall in the room. I'm so excited to see this room finally come together!

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along with the big ticket items for the dining room, 

we also picked up a bunch of random little kitchen items:

a dish scrubbing brush

a pasta spoon

a grill pan

a flour sifter

a chopper

(6) little ramekins 

green coasters

cork trivets

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another item we really wanted to invest in while we were there was a nice duvet. we "tested" them all out... basically squeezing and petting (sexual, no?) and comparing softness... and eventually chose the MYSA 2 - we both like a cooler covering, so it seemed perfect. the true test will be once we get it on the bed! 

I also picked out a new duvet cover for the bed, but can't seem to find it online. whomp whomp. it's a basic grey comforter with horizontal pleats across it. I'm pretty confident that it'll look wonderful in the room. oh, and this pillow is a new addition to the bedroom as well. looks SO good with the other pillows and our rug. 

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as far as decor goes, we really didn't pick up a whole lot, which was pretty surprising considering little doo-dads seem to be my weakness. it may have been because by the time we got to the accessory section, I was SO worn out from hiking that morning and walking through the entire store. anyway, here's what we picked up there. 

(2) orange KASSETT boxes with lids

(2) orange KASSETT magazine files

(2) RIBBA frames in white 

a few candle holders:

BIGARRA

SKIMMER

RONAS

and this cute vase

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whew, I think that's it... although I'm sure I'm forgetting something! kudos if you made it through all that. oh, and IKEA didn't pay me to tell you all that I spent an obscene amount of money on their products over the weekend either... however, that would be nice. 

I hope you all had a fantastic holiday weekend! 

did you take advantage of any sales like we did?

Happy Wednesday!

the kitchen. FINALLY.

I know you guys are in terrible suspense over this, so I figured I'd go ahead and post my COMPLETED, albeit messy, kitchen pictures. ya know, so you can finally get some sleep. it's only been about... oh... almost an entire year since I first posted my inspiration post for our kitchen. 

here's a little reminder what our 50's kitchen looked like before:

and (insert big sigh here)... the after:

excuse the mess. I was too excited to NOT take pictures right away. 

I'm so, so, SO happy with the results... of course, I'd eventually love to have a new backsplash and counter top, but that's not in the budget right now. we did have our floors replaced back in April, which you can read about here. we didn't end up doing the work ourselves outside of removing the cabinet doors and sanding the base, but we bought all the materials and just paid for labor. 

if you'd like to get a source list, I posted about our giant trip to Lowe's right here. the kitchen handles came from a website online that I can't remember the name of, but I'm sure I could dig it up if someone really needed to know.

Happy Wednesday, folks!

Caps + snow + renovation update

welp, the Caps lost again last night, making it 7 in a row now. we still had a great time at the game despite the loss, but it was definitely disappointing to walk out of Verizon after losing.

our seats were great, but when the teams came out for pre-game practice, I quickly realized that we were in puck flying zone, and I was MORE than terrified that I'd end up getting hit in the face with a puck. I was scared for my life, I'm not gunna lie. I made sure to tell Sean to watch out for me, because I have a delayed reaction time when it comes to those kind of things. luckily, I was safe and no pucks made it over the net to our seats. 

 from our seats before practice started (section 115, row x)

hello, my loves. 

yikes, my hair is lookin' rough. but he's cute in his pea coat! ;)

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OH, and guess what I get to look at all day?

that's right - we're finally getting a decent amount of snow here in the DC area, and I couldn't be more excited! now, ask me again how I'm feeling when I'm driving home tonight, but for now, I'm happy. I love the snow... as long as we're not getting multiple feet of it, of course. I'll be content with just a few inches on the ground... just enough to make it look pretty. 

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also - the contractor's are juuuust about done with the kitchen in our house, and I can't wait to share it with you guys. it's been a long journey with this room and we ended up cheating and just paying someone to do the work because we just couldn't find the time to complete it. I'm so happy with how the kitchen looks now. I'm going to try to take pictures tonight, but I might wait til the weekend when I can get some good light (and a good cleaning!). 

they're also working on replacing the ceiling that caved in a few months back, so things are kind of a mess right now - we have an oversize chair and ottoman in the kitchen and baker's racks in the living room! I'm not digging the chaos, but I know it'll be worth it when it's all finished. I can't wait to have my home back to normal! 

 this is what my living room looked like when I got home on Tuesday =/

Happy Thursday!

PS - if you're joining me from the ALMOST Friday blog hop, welcome! 

have a look around, take a seat, and grab yourself a drink. enjoy!

paint paws

the contractor's finished painting all the cabinet bases, doors, and drawers yesterday. they also painted the walls that lovely Valspar Gravity that I obsess over. 

the Bear is super friendly with strangers, and he will walk right under your feet if you're not careful. needless to say, these worker bees got a little shock when they realized he was not your typical scaredy cat. they love him though... they hold him and call him kitty kitty and meow to him. 

I came home last night from the gym to discover little white paw prints on my end table and coffee table. I searched until I found the culprit... the Bear Cub. his little back paws were caked with paint, and not only did he have it on his side from where he blatantly rubbed up against it, but it was on his stomach and his underarms too. 

I text my fellow crazy cat lady friend, Nicole, and asked her what the best way was to get paint off of cats. she said dish soap is the most affective, and most gentle for his skin. I decided I should hold off for a few days until the contractors are completely finished with paint... until he started BITING the paint off his paws. freaking idiot cat, I swear. 

the scene in my house at 10:30PM last night was quite the interesting one. I had the water running in the bathtub with a red solo cup of cold water sitting in it. Bear was climbing over the edge of the tub to get to the water, and I was readying myself with soapy hands to grab his little ass when I had the chance. it started off pretty well, but he ended up growling at me after his water cup was empty. it was pretty much impossible to scrub him and get the paint out, but it did get SOME of it out of his fur. I made sure to wrap him in a towel and dry him off well before I sent him back out into the living room with the other kitties. 

I'm really hoping he stays his out of the paint today.

blogger's block?

I want to write. I LOVE to write. but I can't think of anything to write. the home improvements have been on a bit of a standstill with our summer plans cutting into every single weekend, and I'm kinda giving up on Wedding Wednesdays... not that they require much writing anyway. I've always loved writing, and have always loved making people laugh through my words (or horrible jokes... whatev).

I could post inspiration pictures everyday... I know that I like to see those as a reader of many blogs, but I want to WRITE. I want to put my words on paper and allow others to read them. so that's what I'm going to do. I'm just going to write about daily life and what's on my mind, and no one reads it, I'm okay with that. :)

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let's see... I haven't read anything great lately... book wise, I mean. I started The Time Traveler's Wife a few weeks ago, but I really can't get hooked into it. the dates and all the jumping around between ages is a little irritating, and while it IS entertaining, I can't keep focused long enough to finish it as quickly as I would like to.

I just picked up Chelsea Handler's new book for a lighter read, and it's hilarious so far. of course, being an easier read, I can get through it in a matter of a few days - I'm about halfway through and I always put it down in the midst of laughter. she really is one funny bitch, I gotta tell ya. I wish I could meet her... I feel like we would be best friends. and if not, I would just openly stalk her and convince her to be best friends with me.

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I rescued another kitten at work this week. well... I can't say that I rescued him, because my coworker found him, and is keeping him at her house until she decides whether she's going to keep him or find him another (yet still loving) home. we have stray cats at work that multiply like crazy, and we knew there were newborn kittens out there, but we didn't want to risk scaring the mama into leaving them. well, it turns out, she did that anyway - cause Renee found this little guy all by himself.

wittle milk face! love it!

he's about 3-4 weeks old, and is extremely dehydrated, has a bad upper respiratory infection, and a head wound from being attacked... but other than that... he's pretty healthy! I went through the same healing process when I rescued Bear, so I was happy to help Renee take care of him at work - yesterday, we got him drinking some kitten milk and using the litter box. I tried to feed him the milk through a little bottle, but he has a lot more teeth than Bear did, and consequently, tore the nipple right off the bottle with those chompers and got milk everywhere, hahaha. and today he was eating soft kitten food and drinking water. he's making slow progress. oh, and I guess I should mention how fucking ADORABLE this cat is - he's ALL black - I mean black fur, black paws, black lips... everything! he has big giant ears and resembles a bat, so I suggested she name him Bruce Wayne, after Batman... but she's still deciding.

I'm really happy that I'm not the one who found him, because Hubs would KILL ME without second thought if I brought home yet another feline.

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I made a big trip to Home Goods a few weekends ago, but I have yet to post pictures of my goodies. I need to get on that. let's just say that I got approximately a bazillion things for about $185, including something that lights up, something that smells good, something that shines, and something that reflects. promise I'll take pictures and post them soon!

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we finally have all our new lights/fans installed that we bought from Lowe's a while back, mentioned in this post. see what had happened was... we took down all four lights that were in the kitchen, dining room, and entry way... we were ready to get them all installed... and with each light removed, we discovered gross, brown, rotted looking wires.

paint color = Grape Leaves by Behr = LOVE


I decided right then and there that I was NOT hooking up any fixtures to faulty lighting and possibly burning my house down. so we've been waiting for an electrician to be able to come out and check it out. they finally came this week, fixed the problem and installed all our new lights. SO, since we haven't had lighting in the kitchen, we haven't really been able to finish the sanding and the rest of the work that needs to be completed in the kitchen. I tell you what... next house we buy will have my dream kitchen in it... because this damn room has been the biggest headache. it's bad enough just trying to find the TIME to do with our busy summer schedule, but then when we DO have the time, we have to prep and remove everything from the room and blah blah blah. P.I.T.A.

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ANYWAY. I have a sleeping Bear on my lap right now. he's like my little mini-heater. I still can't believe how much he's grown. he was a little 6-7oz baby nugget when we first brought him home, and now he's fully grown and crazy as ever. you'd never know he had/kinda still does have the balance issues. he's so active, and SO funny. I'm convinced that he thinks he's human.

I mean look at this face. how can you not be completely in love with him?
so handsome. I love his grey nose. I just wanna poke it and go "boink!"
I'm weird. I know. I've learned to accept it.


Happy Friday!

I apologize for any misspellings and/or improper use of grammatical terms. my Ambien is kicking in. ;)

kitchen floors!

I mentioned in this post that we finally have new kitchen floors. they don't match the rest of the wood in the house (it's technically not even wood, it's laminate), but that's alright - I think they look fantastic!

keep in mind that we're still in the middle of renovations and remodeling, so there's CRAP everywhere.

sadly, these are the ONLY before pictures I have of the ugly ass flooring that was previously in our home. I took these when we bought that new microwave rack. I meant to take pictures before the contractors started working, but the guy called me on a Monday evening and they were on scene the next morning. good timing for us, but not so much for proof of hideous flooring. ;)

so just imagine this gross yellowish linoleum ALL over my kitchen


our contractor referred us to this flooring discount store, where we chose this material. like I mentioned in the linked post above, we were positive that it matched the rest of the floors in the house... but it doesn't. so, without further adieu, here are our brand spankin' new floors! I'm going to do a budget run down once everything is completed... it always helps me to see how inexpensive renovations and DIY work can cost, so hopefully I'll be able to proved the same motivation for others.

oh yeah, don't mind the cats that appear in these photos... they're kind of hard to avoid around here. a couple other things to ignore: the curtain over the sink window, the dying roses by the sink, the vertical blinds, the uncovered baseboard heating, the towel rack on top of the cabinets, the litter box in the corner - all to be changed in due time.

that reminds me... does anyone have any good tips on hiding litter boxes? I hate having them out in the open, but I don't have a spare room or anything to put them in if we have company.


here's the difference between the kitchen floors (on the left) and the floors that run through the rest of the first level of the house (on the right, obviously).



aaaand here we are in the middle of out cabinet reformation. all the doors were removed from the bases, and there's CRAP everywhere. it's driving me crazy, but I really can't wait until everything's completed! just the floors alone make for a brand new room, so I'm thrilled to see what kind of room will appear after crisp white cabinets and sleek new counter tops appear.




so there you have it - our new floors and the proof that I'm not being a lazy ass when it comes to my cabinets any longer! I can't claim that I've actually done any work yet, because Mr. FoFandee just started the sanding today, but I fully intend on being an equal part of this project.

stayed tuned into TBNT for more updates and hopefully a reveal in the near future!

I will be undergoing a root canal on Thursday afternoon, so I won't be around much through the weekend. I'm still posting Wedding Wednesday this week, so no worries!

I hope everyone has a fabulous week!