Thursday, December 31, 2009

Goodbye 2009!







The Christmas season has drawn to a close.













There are exciting things in store for the new year ahead.











I am excited to embark on many new adventures.

Adventures in design, in business and in a new home.










There is an abundance of different possibilities for the year ahead. I am ready to dive in! With the holidays behind me (almost) and January looking me in the eye... there is inspiration in the air.




Can you feel it?









Hello 2010!!!

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Slowly but surely

So I finally finished painting the master bedroom yesterday. It only took 3 weeks (if you count the week that I was out-of-town). That definitely sets the record for longest it has ever taken me to paint a room.

So that being said, I was super ready to get it done. I was more than ready to get it done. I couldn't wait to get it done and I was determined to get it done.

So determined, ready and couldn't wait, that I was hurried, rushed and therefore...careless.

So yesterday I am trying my darndest to get the bedroom painted so that A: My husband and I could "move into" our bedroom instead of sleeping in the guest bedroom and B: I could put my box full of shoes away (one really does not hinge on the other but for some reason I have made this the rule - no finished bedroom, no shoes).

The first mishap was pretty stupid. Messy and stupid. I had on the shelf of my handy dandy step ladder/stool, my trim cup, with the handle and the special slot for my paint brush. The trim cup, full of paint was just setting there minding its own business, when I decided to try and open the door. The door that the ladder/step stool was in front of. SO therefore the ladder/step stool has to move. But I forgot one simple, important thing...the trim cup.

Remember in the 80s/early 90s going to Micheal's and getting to pick out your super awesome hot pink t-shirt and two or three paint colors. The sweet employee would stretch your shirt over the board that went on the spinny thing and, voila!, a few minutes later you had a totally RAD splatter painted t-shirt. If you didn't have this exact experience then maybe you just splatter painted your room, your torn-up jeans, your trapper keeper.

Well I am bringing it back!!! Yes, when I moved the ladder/step stool, to open the door, the trim cup went spiraling off and made the "coolest" pattern all over the carpet and door trim and a little actually inside the closet!!!

Ya, not so cool. So my painting went on hold while I sprayed and dabbed and blotted and cleaned up the carpet and woodwork.

After that was all done, I went on with the painting for about 20 more minutes. I finished with the lighter color and switched to the darker accent color. Moving merrily along, seeing the finish line, only two more areas to trim out, across one ceiling and down one wall.

But darn it if that stinking ladder/step stool needed to be moved again. Just a little closer to the corner...

Unfortunately the can of the darker accent color happened to be on the floor right under the ladder. And the lid was ON TOP of the almost FULL GALLON of paint but not really TAPPED down and secure. And since it had taken me 3 weeks to finish this job the plastic that I had put all around the perimeter of the room had gotten moved and messed up and was not completely (read: not at all) protecting the carpet.

So caramel colored paint is pouring out of the can, I grab the can and as I scream some expletives, "Oh F*** Oh F***", I start scooping up the paint with my hands and dumping it back in the can. I start to envision replacing the carpet, feeling very dejected, I force back the tears and just start dabbing and blotting and spraying and cleaning up my mess. I mean really? Really!!! How the heck did I do this...again! I have never painted a room that has been this much of a pain in the arse. Usually I am pretty good at painting. I don't really mind it. It is the quickest, cheapest and easiest way to totally transform a room.

Until this one.

And I don't even really love the color.

Ugggggg. Oh well it is done. I got the half gallon of paint up out of my almost white carpet after a roll of paper towels and some pretty strong carpet cleaner and a wet dry vacuum.

And I will not be painting again any time soon.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

It is my brain...and I will call it crazy if I want to

~Why is my life governed by passwords. And how do I keep them all straight.

~No matter how hard I try, I usually say too much

~I love the Radioshack commercial with the Nutcracker who has a laptop and his singing sugar plum fairies. He makes music with his friends and has back-up singers.

~I want food but I neither want to make it, order it or go get it. Man I don't know how the Indians did it.

~Have you ever tried to stop thinking. Try it. I bet you can't do it.

~My dogs always bark at doorbells on the TV.

~I better win this fantasy football crap. Because it is my FANTASY so shouldn't I at least get to win at that?

~Why is Chick-fil-A closed on Sundays. God made CHIKIN we should get to enjoy it after church, right? (no I did not go to church today, should have but didn't)

~Where did the Orbits guy get that cool inflatable flying car thing? I want one!

~I wish I could get that "Christmas Light Glow" on my house all year.

~Diet Coke is the sweet nectar. It always makes me feel better.

~Why do female sports commentators usually speak like they are trying to sould like men?

~Seriously I am starving.

~And now I feel guilty because there are small childrens on the TV that ARE actually STARVING. I just ate a tupperware full of StoveTop I am by no means starving.

~Come on Roddy White. Or should I say Matt Ryan? Whatever.

It doesn't stop. It doesn't stop.

Monday, December 14, 2009

Does this shirt make my butt look faster?

So recently I flew back to Las Vegas to run a 1/2 marathon to benefit the Crohn's and Colitis foundation in honor of my SIL Hurricane Rojo over at http://www.poopinmypocket.blogspot.com/. I was happy to do it of course.






So I trained for 16 weeks, the last two being interrupted by this pesky moving across the country thing. So just like my training the first 10 miles or so went great, on pace, everything was hunky dory.


See I am going so fast I am a blur!!!


The last 3 or so miles were rough. Probably one of the hardest things I have ever done. At the last .1 mile (a 1/2 marathon is 13.1 miles) I was balling. I am not sure if it was actual pain and exhaustion or the shear emotional release that I had completed it. I trained, I raised funds, I almost didn't get to run at all b/c I procrastinated registering, and I was finally running it and crossing the finish line. It was intense to say the very least! I definitely have to thank my running buddy Nicole who held my hand for that last .1 mile. I couldn't have done any of it without her.




I crossed the finish line and with a smile on my face but sobbing none the less. I barely even nodded when the announcer commented on my shirt that said "Does this shirt make my butt look faster?" He said it did. Although by the time I registered he was talking about me I was bent over, hands on knees, trying to recover from what I had just experienced. Tears of joy, tears of relief, a veritable hodge podge of emotions.



After it was all over with and the finish line was indeed behind me, the 1/2 marathon was one of the best things I have ever had done (had you asked me at mile 12.5 I would have said that it was horrible and could you please get out of my face). I was filled with so much joy that I had accomplished something like this. Dancing has always been more my style so this running thing was a huge switch for me. I do love it and I loved training and I loved running the race and I am soooooo glad that I did it. Throughout the entire race I just kept thinking "I am really doing this!" and after it was done I was ecstatic!



I was so glad to have a banana!


My sweet family even welcomed me home to Florida with a cake and a CONGRATULATIONS sign, handmade by my precious niece.




















The best news is that 3.2 million dollars were raised to benefit the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation and I was glad that I could help in any small way.


So like any sane person (read: insane runner) I am already looking forward to my next race in March. This one is through Disney World. So from the Las Vegas strip to the Happiest Place on Earth! There should be some sort of commemorative medal for that one!!!

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Back "Home"

Whoooo. It has been a doozy of a few weeks. Packing, driving across country, moving into a house without any stuff, all of the stuff arriving the day before I flew back out of town to our old home town of Las Vegas, running the Las Vegas 1/2 marathon, saying farewell to Vegas again, and now back "home" to the new house!

I say "home" because I still feel a little out of place having been here and there and everywhere in the past few weeks. I know that once I hunker down and get this place more my style I will feel much better. I have so many ideas and so much to do that I feel a tad overwhelmed but I have to keep reminding myself that there is no "deadline" and to take one thing at a time.

First order of business is Christmas decorating. Priority because if I don't get it done soon then what is the point? I will have to take it right back down again. This holiday season has been more hectic than most so I want to be able to enjoy my tree and decorations for as long as possible.

Second is organizing...everything! I was trying soooo hard to organize on the front end of the move but alas there is still much to be done on that front. So dunt-da-ta-da...IKEA!!! Yay! I love IKEA. I am so glad that I have finally moved somewhere that it is an in-town trip and not a weekend event. Bring on the swedish meatballs! All of this will have to be carefully budgeted but I am ready!!!

And finally, I need to make this house a home. Our home. My dear husband did some decorating while I was away that I need to gently rearrange. Not that he didn't do a great job, but ya know, I am a designer and all, and therefore by nature need to do the decorating my way. Plus I want to mix things up, use things in different ways than I have before. In order to not go broke in the process of designing this home I am hell bent on repurposing the accessories that I own. Use a vase that previously was in our living room next to the garden tub maybe. Hanging the hallway art in the bedroom etc. By doing this I hope that the things that we have will be new and fresh to us and this home will be too and not just a different version of the last house.

I promise to post pictures soon. I know all of this wordiness is, well, wordy.

All in due time, all in due time!