Home Improvement Pics, as promised! =)

Ok so I do believe I posted the pic of the damage I did while in Tyler (none of which Justin complained about) but now it’s time for me to show the results of that damage! =)

We’ll begin with the kitchen- what I have so far- there is still work to be done (but that’s always the case, right?!?)

Our cabinets do not going to the ceiling so I’ve been longing for greenery to warm up that space (I know to some, greenery above cabinets=dust=no necessary, but to me, greenery above cabinets=homey)…this is my first time to work with greenery so I will be the first to admit- it’s not perfect.  My mom is supposed to help me when she comes to visit (read: if she ever comes to visit!).  And, I’ve enlisted the help of hubs to help rig my A&M dishes/platters to stand/lean bc none of the stands I’ve found work!

Left Side

In that picture you can see the 2 antique white birdcages on the fridge, 3 animal print vase and a “G” above the fridge, and the words “Faith” and “Love” on either side of the sink.  Behind the word “Love”, you can barely tell, but our toasting flutes from the wedding are up there!! Too pretty to not display =)

Right Side

In this pic, you can again see the word “Love” with our toasting flutes, the area where my A&M platters/dishes will one day reside, and the word “Laugh” with 2 pics of my nephew, Caeden, and an AWESOME Marshall’s steal- that antique white funky vase!!

So that’s how the kitchen rests, as of now! Hopefully the hubs will get around to rigging my plates ASAP! =)

Now on to the living room, several changes there…

GOOD BYE WHITE PLASTIC EYESORE TABLE!!!

You were terribly helpful but horribly hideous!!!

HEeEeLLlllOOoo FABULOUSLY BEAUTIFUL TABLE!!!

I’m sure you’re sitting on the edge of you seat.  That pic is nothing more than a tease, right?!?!

Ok ok! Here ya go!

I need to find some pretty (but non-tv-picture-invasive, per Justin’s request) vases to add a lil visual interst up top! =)

The whole living room! Including the hubs =)

That BIG, UNSIGHTLY blank space above the couch is my next project!! I’ve just got to find the right fabric!! Yes, fabric!! =) Stay tuned.  Also, I’m not quiteeeeeee settled  on the idea of no window treatments.  In person, it doesn’t bother me so much but then I see pics like this and think it looks reallllly unfinished!! Who knows, maybe filling in the space above the couch will help!

And because no blog entry would be complete with out her…

But this is all the toot would give me!

She’s currently snuggled up next to J in her usual locale- half on a pillow, half on the arm of the couch! Just like she likes it!!

We’re Back!!!

Paisley and I have finally returned to Columbus!!  It was a nice, long visit to Whitehouse but it also feels good to be home.

I don’t think I could EVER get enough kisses from Karsyn (which she says she saved for me!! seriously has there ever been a sweeter child?) and enough attitudey faces from Conley!

Camy and Caeden only got to stay for the weekend I was first home but I loved those 2 short days!! Camy is CRAZY GOOD at Memory (my stocking stuf….excuse me, Santa’s stocking stuffer to her at Christmas- of course in the Dora version!)- that girl beat EVERYONE in our house, and some of us (not going to name any names) MULTIPLE times!!  Like honestly, you can play your hardest and it doesn’t matter, she WILL beat you and not just beat you but SMASH you!!!  In our closest game of the weekend, she beat me by 7 pairs!!!  Caeden is like a weed or maybe more like a brick! Either way that kid has GROWN!!!! He just doesn’t look like my lil baby nephew you anymore!  He’s a grown up 6, almost 7, year old!! AHHHH!!!

Ashlyn and I lived and breathed cheerleading from Sunday to Thursday, with the help of Miss Jenny (Thank you!) and boy did it pay off!! Ashlyn is now a 2009-2010 WJH Cheerleader!!! I am soo soo proud of her! She honestly blew me away the first day we started working.  She hasn’t cheered since 2004 (I believe) and yet still had “it”!   We did a lil tweaking and she was simply stellar!! Obviously the judges agreed =)  Holy moly, I just realized it was exactly a decade ago that I was an 8th grade cheerleader!! SCARRRYYYY!! Back then it was HMS though! haha!! GO 1999-2000 squad! =)

Now, I did of course make time for Marshall’s, almost daily! =)  The result….

After unloading my car!!

I’m still working on getting all of it arranged so more pics to come later but when i finished unloading and walked into this monstrosity, I couldn’t help but take a picture!! It’s laughable how much I pulled out of that car! =)

Ok, now on to my trip to Colorado to see the hubs!!  On my way there, my flight from Dallas to Colo. Springs had to be turned around and sent back to Dallas bc our fuel pump quit working and we didn’t have enough gas getting to the plane to make it to Colo. Springs! UGHHH! We ended up sitting at the gate for TWO HOURS while they worked on it.  Luckily, I still got there before J was released so I didn’t miss any time with him!  Enough of that, on to pics of our wonderful weekend!!

Headed to Cave of the Winds

It was a tad sunny!

Scary bear!

But apparently not to Justin

Checking out some rocks!

Just in case you missed what J was looking at...there are some stalagtites up there!

Tight fit!?

That's an 8 foot stalagtite behind him!!! Can you imagine how long that took to form????

Another tight squeeze!

Early the next morning at the Cog Rail

Our train climbing Pikes Peak

Our view at the top!

Our only outdoor pic due to -15* winds @ 35 mph!!! It hurt to say the least!!

And finally, we had lunch in a KC-97. The fuselage had been turned into a restuarant!

Justin had to share the cockpit with Dillon- boy, he was something else!!!

But then his spaghetti was ready so Tanner was able to join!

Well I think that about covers our weekend!  We did go to The Famous Steak House in Colo. Springs and it was FABULOUS but I don’t have any pics! =(  We also drove through Garden of the Gods but again no pics.

I do have a new video of the furbaby to leave you with.  I must first provide the following disclaimer- I was watching her closely and I swear to never let my human babies do this!  I have already gotten a lecture from her father on this being “another bad habit” and “very dangerous bc she could easily choke”! PPPhhhpptt on that- sometimes you gotta just pick up the camera and laugh!! Granted, I missed the best part picking up my camera!! Oh well…hope you enjoy this as much as I did!

It’s been a while…

Sorry for the huge gap in posts! I have been in Whitehouse since two Fridays ago and then last Friday flew to CO to see my handsome hubby!! It was a GREATTTT time!  I am back in Whitehouse and getting my stuff loaded up.  Paisley and I should be on the road around 5 am tomorrow! =)  And Justin will hopefully be home on Friday! =)  WOHOOO!
Once I get back home and settled in, I’ll post some pics from the trip and some pics of changes I’ll be making to our home decor.  Oh and I got a call that our coffee table is finally in so as soon as J gets back we’re going to go pick it up! =) Can’t wait!!!

Happy Valentine’s Day Everyone!!!

I have some very exciting news….

TA-DA!!!!

He did a phenomenal job!!! I can’t wait for all of you to come see it! It is seriously my pride and joy! =)

But other than that he also gave me the sweetest card and also got Paisley a lil something…

My card

his sweet words!

Paisley's newest clothing item!!

"Princess U"

Haha!! I’m tellin you, he loves to dress this precious girl up! =)  She looked hilarious with the hoodie actually on.  She would walk backwards trying to shake it off her head- too too funny!

Ok, back to my hubby considering it is Valentine’s Day!! =)

YAY!!! My chairs are here!!

It's complete! =)

And of course we have our two red chairs that we will add to the ends if we have 6 ppl and use the leaf to make the table bigger! =) Very exciting!! Now, if only ppl would actually come visit so we have a use for this thing!!!! UGH!

…..

OMG!!!!!! Paisley almost got sent packing to find a new home…that lil turd (I’d rather use another word!) just ran out of here (the office) like she was going to get water but when I saw her pass back by the door (in the direction of the living room), I jumped up to see what she was doing.  She ran straight to the corner of the living room where I have my photo wall photos stacked, jumped on top of them and preceded to get in her dump taking stance!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Please be reminded that I did not have glass put in these frames so one disgusting turd would ruin the matting and therefore have to be redone!! AHHHHH!! Luckily, I was able to run and get her before the turd hit the frame, instead we settled for the floor!! EWWW! I could just pinch her head off!!! Of ALL the places in this whole house she chooses those 2 sq. ft.!!! UGHHH it’s beyond me!!!

I’ve got to go get ready and lower my blood pressure! Marlen and I are headed to Tuscaloosa to do some looking around and hopefully to pick up my big custom frame for the photo wall!! Who knows, maybe Paisley will feel the need to leave her mark on it as well!! *ANGRY FACE!*

I found a solution…

for Paisley’s ridiculously warm-natured self…  Check it out!

Oh and I just got a call from Sun Delivery…my other 2 chairs will be here between 7am and 11am tomorrow…YAY!! Glad they are finally coming but could they please be here closer to the 11am end of that time frame! EEKS!

Growing like a weed!!

Our Amaryllis is seriously growing before our eyes!! Justin kept noticing that he thought it was growing really fast while he was home over the weekend and decided we needed to measure it to see if it really was or if we were going crazy!  Before I let you know JUST HOW MUCH it has grown…check it out for yourself…

February 7th

February 10th

Honestly, I really didn’t think plants could grow this fast!!! The first pic is the first day we measured and the far right “leaf/stem” measured 13 1/2 cm tall.  Now, a mere 3 days later the “leaf” has seemed to develop a puffy blub at the end so I think it might bloom and it is 25 cm tall!!!!!!!  That’s just crazy!! If you don’t believe me just take note of where the rubber band tie is in relation to the leaves!  And you can barely tell in the first pic but there is a tiny lil leaf at the very front of the pot (barely sticking out of the soil)- fast forward 3 days and it is a whooping 10 cm tall!!!! Oh excuse the missing bloom- it started to wilt so I cut it off.

Ok ok, enough about the plant! (Sorry I’m just thoroughly intrigued! )

Think you can keep a secret??…

Yesterday, Marlen and I drove 20 min to downtown Starkville to enjoy some Four Cheese pizza from Old Venice Pizza Co.- YUMMMM, think I might have my leftovers for lunch!!!  While we were there we decided to take a look at a few of their downtown boutiques (several of which were very cute!!!)  In one of them I found these precious red and white polka dot salad-size plates (my weaknesses are dinnerware and shoes!) that had been personalized to say “I Love You!”  So, I got the idea to have them make me one that said “Stud Muffin”.  My plan is to serve Justin a warm plate of blueberry muffins on Valentines Day morning on, of course,  his special plate! =)  Haha!! Cheesy I know- isn’t that what Valentines Day is all about!?!? Over-the-top statements of “YOU ROCK” and “I LOVE YOU!”

Moving on…the past several days have been a phenomenally beautiful high 60s/low 70s!!  The one bad thing about this is that with us on the top floor our apartment heats up in no time at all!! And that’s with no lights on and ceiling fans cranking!!  Actually for me, it’s the perfect temp! I still wrap up in my blanket but don’t need my space heater anymore =)  On the other hand…this prima donna has forgotten she was born in the south!

Always has the tongue hanging out!!

I don’t know if she’s going to be able to handle our 100+ degree summers!  Today I got smart and opened the windows at the front of our living room (her play pen sits right in front of them) and that has seemed to keep her cool.  Justin, I’m sure, will appreciate this too! He too thought the apartment was too hot!  These people are crazy!!

Oh and thank you Honey for the black socks! Somehow we got to Mississippi with a pair of yours and Paisley found and claimed them!  They are her new fav toy!!!

Thank you Honey!

So this past weekend when J was home, he hollars from the bathroom “Where did these jellyfish growing out of our walls come from?” …?!?!?  Jellyfish?  What is he talking about?  “Huh? What are you talking about Justin?”…”These brown stringy things!”…clearly these descriptions are going no where so I just go check it out for myself…much to my amusment he was refering to night lights I bought from Kirklands and put in the outlets in both of our bathrooms (which reminded me I forgot to share with you guys)!  I think they are cute, Justin on the other hand apparently believes they look like jellyfish- MEN!

Giraffe print night light- aka "jellyfish"

Just like his Dad, always has a totally humorous “man’s nickname” for everything!!

Have a good day all!! It’s time for Paisley and I to go check the mail!!! Still waiting on our last (of 5) W-2s for this year!!! Then it’s off to the Tax Center on base! =)

Max Occupancy: 2

Our beautiful kitchen table arrived a lil over an hour ago and I absolutely love it…the only downside- two of the chairs had legs that were too short so the chair did that obnoxious rocking motion that causes you to stuff 800 napkins under the leg.  I refuse to do that in my home!  So those two chairs went back and I kept the two that were normal, hopefully they’ll have replacements to me before too long…granted it’s only J and I at dinnertime since NONE OF YOU will come visit!!!!!!

It’s a lil hard to tell in the pictures below but the table and legs of the chairs are an espresso brown with black leather upholstered chairs.  It’s gorgeous and I absolutely love it!!!!

Our pretty lil place setting

Specially reserved for YOU when you come to visit! =)

Now I’m off to walk the pooch then Marlen and I are going to watch Jon & Kate Plus 8 move into their mansion!! HOW EXCITING!!!

Reunited and it feels so good!!!

This post is a lil late but we picked Paisley up on Friday evening and couldn’t have been more happy to see her!!  Thankfully she was just as happy to see us and we didn’t think she had changed too much since we last saw her.  Yesterday morning I ran to Walgreens to get a small thing of milk so J and I could have muffins and left the pup with J.  When I got back this is what I saw…

He just loves putting her in this dress!!

We're beginning to have a "flat-top" issue!!

She is too cute, I have to agree!!!  But the “flat-top” look has got to go!! Justin says it’s because her hair has gotten to long and now it’s weighted down, but I’m afraid we’ll cut it and it’ll still split right down the middle…then what?!?! Oh the dilemma! But don’t worry, we’ll keep her around a lil while longer! =)

So in AL last week I got busy on putting together our photo wall…well, I didn’t exactly stick with the original “plan” of using 8×10s for the smaller frames and also didn’t take into consideration the overall size upgrade I was getting when I switched the smaller frames to 9×12s…but this is what we have so far and the wall it needs to fit on…ahhhh

All but the big frame that has to be custom made

The wall it must fit on

The frames come to an overall size of 52″hx73″l which is basically that entire wall!! I’m a lil nervous about how it’s going to look but we shall see!! Our kitchen table will FINALLY be here tomorrow and that will help significantly in terms of how low the photos can go without looking weird! Cross your fingers!! =)

I also bought two awesome crystal lamps while I was in AL but haven’t taken a pic of them yet.  I’ll put that on my to-do list for tomorrow and add then when I *hopefully* add pics of our new table!! YAYYAY!! We’ve only been waiting since THANKSGIVING!!!

It’s finally underway…

I have been wanting to do a photo wall on the big blank wall in our kitchen since we first moved in!!!  And, I am happy to report that with birthday money I received, our photo wall is finally underway! =)

For those of you who didn’t already know, I came back to Montgomery with Justin this week since it was only a 4 day week for them and we left Paisley with a friend in Columbus =(  Honestly, I didn’t think it’d be a big deal to leave her but I had a reallllllly hard time with it as we were driving off and now I just miss her! =(  Amazing how quickly they capture your heart and become your buddy!!  My stupid laptop’s memory card slot isn’t working or I would have a PRECIOUS pic to share with you guys.  Before we took her to the Newman’s for the week we gave her a bath and OMG her hair fluffed up and VOILA! no eyes for Paisley!!!!  As soon as we get back she is getting her face, feet and fanny trimmed so I’ll definitely post a before and after! =)

Anyway, aside from getting to see my husband each day, coming here also gave me the chance to shop at some where other than WALMART!! HOORAYYYYY!!! Namely, Hobby Lobby, Target, Marshall’s and many many more.  I’m having to pace myself so that I have enough to do until Friday afternoon when we head back home.  Hobby Lobby being near (and it being the 50% off week for open back readymade frames) is what got the photo wall project going. 

Inspiration Pic

That is the picture I am following and this is my markup of how it should look for us…

Rough Markup

Ignore the random floating pic to the far right- it was an extra that I kept to swap out but ended up not using.  The smaller individual frames are going to be 9×12 with 5×7 photos in them and the 2 longer frames are 12×24 also with 5×7 photos and then the larger frame is a custom-sized 24×26 with an 11×14 photo.  Of these 10 frames, I have 3 smaller ones and 1 long one.  The other 4 smaller ones and other long one were ordered for me and I will hopefully have those before I leave here.  The larger one that will have to be custom ordered is going to be put on the back burner but only for a lil while!

I think I have told Justin maybe 500 times in just the past 12 hours how excited I am about these and I’m pretty sure he’s tired of hearing it! =)  But really, I CAN NOT WAIT!!! It’s going to look fabulous!!! Especially, when we get out kitchen table in (Jan 26/27), then our kitchen will be complete- oh, except for the top of the cabinets!! I’m saving that project for when Mom comes to visit (hope you’re good with that Mom =))!!

Ok well I must finish getting ready so after J comes and goes for lunch I can head out and do some more exploring! =) WOOHOO!!