Another week, another EOTWR! 1. Dave and I booked a mini vacation for a few days over July 4th. I can't tell you how excited I am for it. It was so nice because I had mentioned it over the weekend and I figured Dave either ignored me or forgot about it. Then Wednesday morning Dave surprised me by telling me to book the room and that he'd take care of it. Obviously I'll be posting about it afterwards, really, really can't wait!!!! 2. This week was the week of amazing kitty pictures. I love my boys, they make my world go round:
Upper Right: Nibbler proving, once again, as long as he gets loves, he will lay whatever way he wants. He is the epitome of "If it fits, I sits"...Lower Left: Squish, who ALWAYS sleeps with his mouth wide open.
3. I took Tuesday off work because I was suffering from some major allergy issues. It also happened to be raining pretty hard so Dave only worked a half day, which was a nice surprise. We spent the whole day sitting on the couch watching movies and just chilling out. Aside from Dave yelling at me to quit scratching my allergy rash on my dry legs, it was a good day. Yes I have ashy, rash-ridden legs, I'm sexy and I know it! Haha! 4. This memorial day weekend I not only got to spend time with my family, some of them I haven't seen in a while, but good friends too. It was so nice to catch up and chat with everyone.
This is my Aunt Steph, we always joke that she's my "real" mom and that my own mom is just a cover up because we look so much alike, and we have many of the same mannerisms. Twinsies, anyone? 5. One of the movies that Dave and I watched Tuesday was "The Impossible" and holy cow was it a good movie. It was emotional, heart breaking, heart warming (is that possible in two movies? yes!!), and amazing all rolled up in a little under two hours. It's a true story about a family who were vacationing in Thailand when the 2004 tsunami hit. It's amazing the strength of love, courage, loyalty and compassion one person can have. The tsunami destruction scene will take your breath away. It won't be easy, but you if you do watch this movie, I guarantee it will affect you one way or another. Go rent it!!! That's it for this week. Enjoy your weekend and next week! I'm trying something new this week too! Linking up with Lauren at Lauren Elizabeth for High Five for Friday! I've mentioned how awesome she is previously here.
Squish is my "serious" kitty, ironically enough, he is also my playful kitty. Nibbler is the lover, the cuddler. Squish likes to play games; for example, nearly every night when it is time to go upstairs to bed he and I "race" to the top. Whoever reaches landing first wins. The only time I ever win is if I cheat by pretending to throw one of his mice or if he stops at the last step at the top and lets me win. Other times he lets me think I'm winning and then as I reach out to tap the landing I'll see a flash of a paw hit it right before me. Another thing Squish likes to play with is his "meece", which are little mice that make noise when you shake them. Dave and I call them meece because Dave blurted it out one day instead of mice, and the name just stuck. He likes to play fetch with them and it is so darn cute. It's also super cute when you give him a new pack or get the ones that are stuck underneath the couch. He's like a little kid at Christmas morning, his face just lights up. I'm constantly buying him a pack whenever I go grocery shopping, something Dave has now banned me from doing since we have so many of them. What can I say? I love seeing my babies happy. The other night Dave pulled a few of the meece out from underneath the couch and I decided to take the opportunity to catch a picture of him in action to share with you guys:
Nibbler is in the background like "Hey! Where you going!?!"
Getting this picture was a pain in the patootie but it was pretty hilarious. I'd throw the mouse then throw myself down on the ground and try to take the picture. Let's look at what I have going against me here: 1. I'm already shaky handed with the whole camera thing, 2. I'm not in any kind of shape so doing any type of graceful move to get back down on the ground is out of the question, it's literally just DROP, 3. Squish has no idea what the heck I'm doing and is playing as normal so I have maybe 5 seconds to get this picture. Needless to say it took about ten different pictures and a lot of blank stares from both of my cats.
When I finally got this shot I jumped up and down with the meece in my hand, and Squish just looked at me like "Ma, throw the mouse!" and Dave wondered if I had lost what was left of my sanity.
Just a day in the life of a cat lover and awesome kitties....
I normally don't dress up for work, pretty much roll out of bed, do as little as possible to look presentable and then head out the door. Why? Because I'd rather spend the extra 30 minutes in bed than getting dressed up. I know, it's a terrible habit that I need to break but from what I understand when I have kids I won't get any sleep anyway, so why not get all the sleep I can get now? The day that I wore this outfit was one of those rare instances that I wanted to dress up and look snazzy. It probably had a lot to do with the fact that I just got my hair done and my hairdresser taught me a new way to style my hair that I wanted to try out.
I don't wear skirts very often. In my opinion, there is just something awkward about wearing them. I can't explain why but I'm never really comfortable in a skirt. This particular skirt pictured is the exception to the rule. It's just the right length and its very comfortable, not too tight, not too loose. I love the color too!
I love that it has pockets. There really is nothing bad I can say about it. I would highly recommend it to anyone who was in the market for a one, plus it has a bunch of different colors! I found the skirt because Kate at The Small Things Blog recommended it here, and if she hadn't suggested the gorgeous pink I would have never chose that color. I'm really glad, it just adds a pop of brightness to the day.
Plus, if you get it today, its 50% off! Can't beat that!
1. This weekend should be a long weekend for most, including me. With that being said, thank you to all our veterans and those who currently serve.
I don't always think about the true meaning behind memorial day because its become all about the beginning of beach season and sales, so this weekend I'm making the effort to appreciate what the day really stands for, honoring and remembering the people who died serving our country, preserving our freedom. They've made the ultimate sacrifice and are true heroes.
I always try to thank people who have served or family members who lost a loved one who has served or is currently serving; although, I always feel awkward saying it. A few weekends ago my outlook about it changed. I finally realized how much a simple acknowledgement means to these guys. I was at a bridal shower, it was the day before mother's day and a woman was telling me her son was overseas and all she wanted for mother's day was a call from him. I thanked the woman for her son's service and then wished her a happy mother's day and gave her a hug and told her it was for her son in case he couldn't call. She was near tears (and honestly so was I!). The simple little moment meant so much to her, and to me. I'm not going to lie and say I'm totally converted, I'll still feel awkward saying thank you but knowing what a difference those two words make to someone's day will be my reminder how important it is to say it.
2. Monday I came into work and saw this:
It was the cutest site to see and definitely made Monday a bit more bearable.
3. Saturday night Dave and I were out running errands and on our way to dinner we came upon an accident that had literally just occurred a few seconds beforehand (the woman we helped actually passed us a few moments before that). We exited the off ramp and saw a smoking car down the embankment to the left of us, broken pieces of car strewn about the road, and a parked tractor trailer with the front end of the smoking car still hanging on to its rear.
Dave and I pulled over and as we ran up to help the woman in the car, I called 911 and Dave helped the woman get out of her car, who was in a bit of a panic. I won't go into details about all the blood and gore, it wasn't terrible, but it was enough for the weak stomached. We stayed and I chatted with the woman to help her relax her nerves until the police and EMT could arrive. It felt really good to be able to help someone out, and its amazing what instincts kick in when you need them the most. This pic was taken as we walked away from the scene:
4. Pitch Perfect is one of my favorite movies. I love watching it over and over so when I heard Anna Kendrick was doing a remake of "When I'm Gone", the song she auditioned with in the movie, I was super excited. I heard it twice on the way home Thursday on the radio and it was such a treat. My cousin Jaime and her best friend have the whole cup sequence down pat, something I'll never be coordinated enough to do. Here is the video, which is awesome, you really need to check it out, I don't want to give anything away but people are pretty darn creative, if you ask me. If you want to get right to the song, jump to 1:10:
Feel free to put it on repeat, I have!
5. I read this amazing article this week, and my God does it speak volumes. I'm totally guilty of this: being bored or lonely one day and scrolling through Facebook and having a mini meltdown over someone's seemingly perfect life compared to my own. In fact, last year I was going through a rough time and I had to walk away from Facebook for about two weeks because it was messing with my mood and mind so bad. Life is not perfect, and most people are only going to post the good things in life, I'm guilty of that. In fact, I'm guilty of being on both sides of the fence.
Like Shauna states, "Let's stop comparing". I think we'd all be a lot happier if we stopped pursing perfection and started seeing what we've been blessed with from the start.
Can I get an Amen?
Ha ha, enjoy your weekend, and once again Happy Memorial Day!
First and foremost, please forgive the quality of the photos. These were taken about two years ago with a cell phone... I really wanted to update my downstairs bathroom. Its a tiny little room that needed to be personalized and decorated nicely but I just could not figure out what I wanted to do. I really struggled with what to do with this room. My mom had mentioned putting chair rail up in her dining room and it hit me that this might be a nice way to update my bathroom without having to completely revamp everything. And it was so easy and quick to do, we finished it over a weekend. Here is the before pic:
Ignore the lines on the wall, Dave put them there because I am a very visual person and I needed him to draw them so I knew 1.) what it would "look" like with the chair rail in that spot and 2.) I needed to know the highest point I could paint up to. Here is the after pic:
Big improvement, right? So what we did first was paint the room, up to the first line and let it dry. We painted two coats, one Friday night, then one Saturday afternoon. Then Sunday we put up the chair rail by cutting it to length. To do this, you will need to measure your bathroom walls and stop at your local home improvement store and cut the chair rail that you need. I would recommend cutting more than what you measured to be on the safe side.When you get home, cut the chair rail down to the appropriate length, cutting at a 45 degree angle so the edges connect nicely. I would recommend that if you do not own a chop saw, which is a tabletop saw, rent one from your local store for the day. You can cut the chair rail using a handheld saw but your lines won't be as clean and it will be more labor intensive. Once you have your chair rail cut, nail it to the wall using a compressor and nail gun, using preferably an 18 gauge finish nail that is 2 1/2 inches long. Make sure your nail is a minimum of at least 2 inches. Again if you don't own a nail gun, just rent one for the day. Once your chair rail is up, you will need to caulk the nail holes and the top edge of the chair rail and seams (the part that connects one chair rail to another). Lastly, we painted the chair rail white (we bought the rail that was not pre-painted because it is cheaper and we had leftover white paint that we could use) and let it dry. I added the rug and toilet cover after it was all dried. So here is the breakdown of how much it all cost: Chair Rail- $1.48/linear foot--we needed about 14 feet so it cost us approximately $20.72 Quart Paint (for purple section)- $12.98 White paint (for Chair Rail and touch ups)- we used left over from previous rooms, but if you had to buy it you probably wouldn't need more than a quart as well, unless you had to repaint the upper part of the wall too Caulk- $2.28 Total- $35.98 If you want to add in the new rug and toilet cover I bought to match everything here they are: Rug- $9.87 Toilet Cover- $7.97 Total Cost including added decor- $53.82 Not bad for a whole new look, huh? It's been two years, I still love the way my bathroom looks. I think it helps I really like the color I picked, which is Gothic Amethyst by Behr. If you liked the sink, here it is. I didn't include it with the revamp because we put it in when we first bought our house and it was already in when we did the bathroom makeover.
