Thursday, June 30, 2011

living room sneak peek

Here's a little sneak peek at the pillows and curtains my mom and I made this week. Okay, so Jan made most of them, I did a little pinning (which I'm terrible at), ironing, and snapping on some grommets. It was definitely a labor of love at points, but I couldn't be happier with the outcome- curtains especially! I can't wait to see them up at the house along with some other projects that Aaron took care of while I was in the burgh this week! Stay tuned for lots of living room/house project updates next week. For now, here's my mom's handiwork and a new pattern I found to change up the look a little. (I'm still searching for the perfect olive green or mustard yellow to complete the pillow ensemble.)  Whoop whoop!




Monday, June 20, 2011

Stalking Craig and his list

It's official. I spent over 2 months stalking Craigslist. I needed a new couch. Okay, so need is a strong word, let's say wanted. I wanted a new couch. We had a plaid couch with 2 great recliners, but I was tired of them. Not so much them, they were still clean and comfy, but I was tired of their plaid. The plaid that left me no room to change up colors or ideas or even throw pillows. Case in point:



So, I convinced Aaron to sell them. We bought them on Craigslist for 400 bucks and I ended up selling them (4+ years later) for $360. I was pumped. I then went on a Craigslist selling rampage and put my other couches up for sale too. They were in the basement and no longer being used. I "sold" them to a woman for 300 bucks (It fell through--- anyone need some nice play room/basement couches?). Aaron let me know that I was allowed to spend only what I made from those two couch sets on our new furniture. Boo. He was right though, so the stalking began. I am picky and wanted quite a few specific things. 1- I wanted a sectional. 2- It had to be microfiber. 3- It had to be in fantastic condition. 4- I didn't want the cushions to detach. 5- It had to be less than $660. I had my work cut out for me. When I say I stalked Craigslist, I mean I went to the Craigslist website at least 3 times a day and searched for sectionals. Ridiculous, but that's what you've got to do if you want to get the best stuff on there. I did that for 2 months. 60 days times 3 times a day and it took me over 180 hits on their website to finally find what we'd been looking for. Let's be real, Craigslist is not for the faint of heart. Anyway, it paid off because I ended up getting the deal of all deals. I found my mint condition, meets all my requirements sofa plus some. You see, I got a beautiful almost brand new sectional AND a nice big leather ottoman that has storage space AND he threw in Rockband for Wii. I'm not kidding. If you're reading this kind UPenn doctor, I thank you for the awesome deal. He was relocating and it was too expensive to ship his stuff. I got all of it for $650. Crazy!!! So here are some pictures of the new loves. The green curtains that I posted about on Saturday are up. Nice color, not so nice fabric choices. I already returned them and am hoping to get the curtains made with my mom this weekend! So there's the living room furniture update and thank you Craig for your stalk-able list.










Saturday, June 18, 2011

pinterest addiction = idea overload

I've been in the process of re-doing our living room. We've got new furniture (which I'll post about asap) and it's very neutral, which leaves me with lots of options. I am usually pretty decisive and had picked navy blue and a bright green as the main colors to change things up. I had found bright green curtains and had been basing my living room colors around them. I had pillows to recover and went to a bunch of different fabric shops. I found some awesome fabric, but nothing with awesome prices. Case in point, these two swatches were $16/yd and $22/yd. I love them and love these patterns lately; however, I'm a stickler for price and 22 for a yard just doesn't cut it.


In the middle of this living room redesign, I found pinterest. Actually, Missy did and she made me do it :) I love it. It's got so many good ideas about design, kids, etc. I found that there were SO many spaces that had yellow in them that I just absolutely loved. I had the green curtain swatch and had been taking it around with me to the different fabric stores, but was having trouble finding fabric in the same family of colors for at a reasonable price! I came across a fabric and Jo-Anns and loved it; however, the green in the fabric just did not match the curtains. It got my brain going and after a few days I decided to completely change the direction of where I was going in the living room. I returned the green curtains and bought 6.5 yards of this fabric:

Beautiful- eh? I love it. The top pattern is to make curtains (insert my mom here) and the bottom is to recover pillows. It's Waverly fabric, so it was of course expensive. Originally $20/yard, I got it on sale at $9.99/yd plus an additional 20% off. Pretty sweet if you ask me! So there's your sneak peek at the living room fabrics. Plenty of living room updates coming soon!

Friday, June 17, 2011

bittersweet

That was today. I have been anticipating this day for the last 15 months. The day that would finally be my last as a teacher and the end of being a working mama. And while I am full of joy for this next chapter, I couldn't help but be sad to leave Downingtown. In fact, I was a blubbery mess this morning. Amidst cleaning out my desk and writing thank yous to the many people that I have come to know and love, I couldn't get the lump out of my throat. Saying goodbye to the school that made me a teacher and that gave me the opportunity to teach and invest in the lives of over 500 kids was hard. It was weird to leave something that I love so much and had worked so hard to become. I went to lunch with friends from the social studies department and then ran a few errands with Sara. Missy texted to tell me that she was hanging out with my friend Carla and to pick up Everett over there. I pulled up to the house and saw a few cars of friends that I recognized. My mind was kind of a blur and I was in my own little world as I walked around the back of the house. Kids were playing and I assumed they were having some kind of Providence (my church) mom's gathering. I walked through the doors and there were 10 of my friends yelling surprise! I cried. My sweet friends threw me a surprise party to celebrate my "retirement" and new career. It was such a blessing, so unexpected. I felt so loved.

So, today was bittersweet. There were lots of tears and moments of pure happiness with the realization that Everett is my only job from here on out. And, I'm thankful for 5 years in a career that I have loved and that has made it hard to leave.

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

buddies

Everett and Nolan. Nolan and Everett. These boys love each other, partially because they've been subjected to hanging out regularly because their parents want to! As they've grown, the boys have started playing and interacting and loving each other.  It's so fun to watch!  Saturday we were hanging out with the Lusby's at my in-laws pool. We got a one year update pic to compare to our pictures from last year. It's crazy how quickly these two have grown from tiny babies to crazy toddlers. Yeay for great friends and especially for great friends with a great kid! 




Wednesday, June 1, 2011

sometimes you just have to stop and play in the puddles















Sometimes I have to stop myself --- stop myself from saying no Everett, you'll get dirty. Sometimes it'd just be easier to tell him no because I don't want to clean up the mess afterwards. But, at the end of the day, I want to be a mom who seized those opportunities, a mom who played and laughed and got dirty with my kid, a mom who took the time to enjoy these fleeting moments. So we did. We got dirty and wet, but it was well worth the smile on his face and his squeals of laughter. It's a good reminder for me that in the busyness of life sometimes you just have to stop and play in the puddles.