Date Night with Muah...

When Ryan has graduate school classes in the evening you can very often find me having a date night with myself. At first it was hard to be home alone in the evenings....but now I try to embrace it and make the most of the time. For example, I often use my evenings alone to paint my nails, try out new recipes and watch netflix/tv.

So what am I up to this particular evening.  I will give you a hint...

PLUS

My sister recently told me that she watched North and South and really liked it. So I am giving it a try. I figure if it resembles anything to the Jane Austin movies I will love it.

Some of the other shows I am really diggin' on netflix right now is:

1. The Wonder Years

2. Take Home Chef

3. American Pickers

Well I better get back to my show ; )

Out with the Old...In with the NEW!!!

This week has been filled with birthday celebration fun. So this post title kinda has a dual meaning this time, in that I re-purposed an old calendar for something new and I am aging...slowly. On Friday I turned 24!!! That age still sounds very young to me which I am thankful for. However, in many other ways I feel old. 

Example # 1. A couple weeks ago someone asked me my age and I seriously could not remember.  I know...embarrassing huh?!?  In knew it was in the 23, 24, or 25 range I just could not remember which one exactly. I had to do the math in my head. I also texted my husband to make sure I was right, and after a series of "Are you serious?" and "Yes!!!", I was told 24. Of course... right after I was asked the question I just blurted out an age to avoid looking like a complete idiot. Does anybody else out there forget how old they are from time to time? I knew that this would happen eventually, I just didn't think it would be this soon.

Example # 2. To go to work every morning on the MARC train. I could right an entire blog about my commutes to work... but I will spare a lot of those details now. Just know that the commute into DC is one of the worst aspects about working there.  It usually takes me an hour to get to work and, believe me,  the train is one of the best ways to travel because it avoids the chaotic beltway and you can sleep/read the entire way to work. Of course a "no-commute" is always better than any commute, but I try to make the best of it. Interesting observation: Many of the people that I ride the train with are age 50 and older.  The reason is that as people get older they move further away from DC so that they can afford bigger homes and have their children attend better schools. 

I prefer living outside of the city, even with an hour commute, because I like the slower pace of life. Plus, we live only a couple of minutes from my husbands's place of employment (he is so spoiled) and my sister and her family are right down the road from us. Regardless, commuting with the aged makes one feel aged. You would think it would make me feel young, which it does on occasion, but more often it makes me feel like I am living an older woman's lifestyle. I just look forward to the day when I will no longer be making this commute  ; )

Anyway...I feel blessed to have celebrated another birthday and I look forward to what this year will bring. Hopefully I can become better with remembering my age.  "Oh Lauren.....you have so much to work on"  ; ) .

And this brings me to my most recent "re-purpose." I look a 2011 calendar that I had at work and decided to frame one of the monthly pictures. I loved the pictures in this calendar, especially the one pictured below. So I decided to save it from its impending doom and frame it instead! Awe, how sweet of me! 

So here is the picture that I decided to save.

It came from this calendar in case you want to look for one like it in the future. It was a great calendar.

And here it is after I framed it in a simple IKEA frame.  I think it turned out really cute.

And these are some lovely flowers that my nephew got me for my birthday. I am enjoying their bright colors and sweet fragrance. Oh, how I love flowers!

God Bless.

Perfectionist at Heart

So remember in my former post Chalk Paint Fun when I said I was a little unhappy with the final finish. I liked the table, I just wanted the color to be a little more uniform and to look a little less "distressed." To change the paint color I just combined the blue with a little white and watered it down with a couple tablespoons of water and applied it with a sponge brush.

Here it is before...


And here it is after... Can you tell a slight difference???? It is a subtle change but it makes a big difference to me.

Saturday Snapshot

Last night I arrived home from work and drove to Pennsylvania to stay the weekend at my parents house. And in the morning I woke up to the view below.......SNOW!!!! I was beginning to think I wouldn't see any snow this year. I am emotionally already for Spring but I did want to see a good snow before the seasons change. The snow looks beautiful and I am starting to hear the sound of snowplows outside. This evening Ryan's parents are celebrating my birthday with me a little early and are cooking me my birthday meal. I am so excited!!! This is my kinda weekend ; )

FYI....I already changed the night stand from my last post. It was a little dark for me so I decided to lightened the finish to a misty blue shade. To do that I combined my Old White Paint and the Aubusson Blue and watered it down a little to get the exact shade I wanted. It looks so much better! I will post updated pictures as soon as I can. 

Have a great weekend everyone!!!

 mmmmm....toasty fire

Chalk Paint Fun

A couple months ago, I bought a small end table from a guy on Craigslist and I knew immediately that it would make a great project. I loved the simple lines on the piece. But it sure needed some help as you can see in the below picture.

The piece originally had a canvas inlay on the top, which for obvious reasons I decided to remove. : )

Just as I did in my lamp renovation project, I used rub' n Buff to make the brass lattice work on the side of the piece look more like antique gold. This product works wonders. I love it!!!!

For the paint I decided to try an Annie Sloan chalk paint for the first time. I have heard so many wonderful things about this product that I decided I needed to try it for myself. And surprise...surprise...I LOVED the stuff. I used a dark blue underneath and used a watered down Old White color on top which I applied with a sponge. Lastly, I finished the piece with a clear wax. The paint is pricier then the average paint, but you don't have to prime your piece before painting,  so in that way it saves time and money. I must say I am very happy with the piece but I am contemplating adding another coat of the whitewash to lighted the blue a little more to a robins egg shade. Until I get the energy to do that, I am just going to enjoy it the way that it is. Without any further adieu', here are some of the before and after reveals.

BEFORE........

AND AFTER!!!!!!!!!!!!

I saved the best picture for last. This is my nephew Ryland who kept me company for most of this project. While I was painting in the basement, he was watching Charles Schultz' Peanuts videos. He was my buddy!!!

 I hope that you enjoyed viewing this project. Take Care Everyone!

Wednesday Craft Funnies!!!

Here is a little craft humor to make you smile.... : o P



Pictures taken from Pinterest


Hahahah...thought these were funny. The last picture is the one that I find particularly humor some because my husband, Ryan Gosslin, I mean Ryan Mowen, regularly complains about all of the random crafts/pieces of furniture laying around our home : )

Taste of Spring!!!

January can be one of those long....dreary...cold months that feels like forever to get through. Besides being my birthday month...it can be otherwise pretty depressing ; )

This past weekend was one of those unexpectedly amazing weather weekends for the month of January. It got up to 60 degrees on Friday and Saturday. It was so warm outside that I went on a run....and that is a big achievement for me...more than you will ever know : ) The air felt and smelled like Spring. It gave me a taste of spring and got me excited for the seasons to change in a couple months. After a long winter I am always so excited to finally see tulips and bright colors again! So I thought I would post an inspirational project that I saw the other day that is sure to make your home look and feel more bright!

I saw this pillow the other day on http://www.thehandmadehome.net/  I am so excited to make this project sometime soon. I love the bright colors and the fact that the pillow could make a dramatic statement on any bed. I am a sucker for pillows....lots and LOTS of pillows. I have been known to have as many as SEVEN decorative pillows on my bed at one time....I know that is excessive, but I love the look of lots of pillows.
       However, it does get pretty annoying when at the end of the day I finally manage to drag my lazy self to bed (the bed that I have been dreaming about all day) and am faced with the reality that I have to undo the bed....along with the avalanche of pillows before I can finally crawl in. Not to mention how Ryan loathes the plethora of pillows he's not allow to lay on. But this pillow solves all those problems. It has all the colors and dramatic effect of seven pillows in one!!!! How exciting!!!!

So Pretty...

So now that we have a new project to make our homes feel more like spring, what about eating a little something that tastes like spring/summer. Tonight, I wanted to make a dinner that was light and refreshing. So I decided to make summer Kabobs. Even though it is still not warm enough to grill outside (it is currently snowing outside as I type this...how does the weather change that fast...CRAZY)....these kabobs still give you the feeling that you are eating a meal off the grill. All you have to do is marinate your chicken...add peppers, onions, tomato, and pineapple to some skewers and bake/broil them in the oven. Make some rice....and you are done! So easy, so tasty.

YUMMY!!!

I hope these two ideas brighten your winter blues and get you excited for the seasons to come!!!

Starting 2012 with a Clean Slate

On January 1st I spent the day organizing the apartment and purging it of unnecessary items that were resulting in clutter and a lack of storage space.  If feels so refreshing to start out the new year on a clean slate. Organizing and de-cluttering helps me to breath lighter and think clearer....and it is even a little fun (because I am weird like that). So when I came home from spending Christmas with the family I got to work. I had to make  room for all of the new gifts we brought home :)  So, there are a couple of rules that I used when determining how to go about de-cluttering.

1. Use the help of a spouse. (I do not always have Ryan help me, but on this occasion it was kinda necessary because a lot of the items that we got rid of were old electronics). I am not a techie person by any means so the only person that can determine if we can get rid of those items is Ryan himself :) I hate going through boxes and finding old cords and gadgets because I always want to throw them away, but I never know what they are exactly for. So Ryan helped out a lot in this part of the process and was willing to do away with a lot of old items.

2. If you haven't touched something in the last 6 months then chances are you don't need it. I had a lot of items from my college days that were still in boxes. They have remained in those boxes for a good two years now, so it knew it was time for them to get the boot.

3. Throw away/Donate old clothing. Rotate seasonal items so that your closet doesn't get overwhelmed. Store the clothing your not currently wearing in clear plastic bins.

3. Old books can take up lots of room. So donate any books that you have lost interest in/have no use for.

4. Get rid of CD cases. Even though they are small, they can take up lots of storage space. Throw out the cases and store your CD's in something like this:
                            
5. Get rid of old boxes that items come in. (I noticed when I was going through some of our closets that we tend to hang onto old boxes a lot.) We would keep them out of fear of needing to return the item in the future. This is fine to do for the first month or so, but after that the box needs pitched. Just store the warranty info and the product registration and you are good to go.

6. Finally, try to organize your home at least once a year. This is the best way to ensure that you are not holding onto old items that you no longer need. Sometimes we just forget what we have, so the best think to do is just go through your items and get rid of items you don't need periodically.

There are a lot of cleaning/storage tips out there, but these were the points that I focused on the most during this last apartment purge. When all was said and done, Ryan and I were able to get rid of 5 large black trashbags worth of stuff!!!! Now the closets are clean and neat and have lots of room to spare.

Happy purging!!! : o )