Ethan's Room

Ethan's bedroom was actually the very first room we painted on the very first day we moved in.  We wanted him to feel comfortable in his new home (and sleep) so we wanted to get all of his furniture and belongings in the room as soon as possible.  All of the furniture and prints are from the nursery in our old house. 

BEFORE:  Beautiful, purple checkerboard :)

 

AFTER: We ended up using a pale blue color for the walls.  It is called "Tropical Surf" by Glidden (Home Depot's brand paint).

Much better!  Still need window treatments (I'd love to have red chevron of something) and maybe a mural on the wall above the crib.  But man, SOOO much better.  It is amazing how big Ethan's room is now (especially compared to his old room).  He loves it and so do we!

Next room on the to-do list?  Our BRIGHT green master bedroom. 

Read more...

State of the Body

I have written a lot about my struggle with my weight.  Feeling good about myself has never been something that has been easy for me.  I was never a skinny girl growing up and although I wouldn't have ever described myself as obese (well, other than postpartum on the BMI chart), I have had weight issues for over 15 years.  For the first time in a long time, I am starting to feel more confidence that I'm moving in the right direction.  I wrote this post in January of last year, and since then I have lost 17 pounds.

 

I know the picture isn't the best with different angles, outfits, picture orientation, etc. but I thought it would work.  At the end of the day, I still lost the weight. (Seriously, please don't pin the picture above...don't know why anyone would anyway.  It took enough courage to post this on my blog, I really don't need it on other forms of social media.  Thanks!)
I work with a personal trainer once a week, I'm tracking my food on My Fitness Pal (find me, I'm lhcass on there and can always use the extra motivation/accountability), and I'm trying to squeeze in 30 Day Shred videos during the week.  My goal is to lose 10 more pounds before my sister's wedding in June.  I'm currently 15 pounds more than my wedding weight and getting back to that size just seems pretty impossible to me.  So, 10 more pounds is my goal (and I will finally be in the "healthy weight" category according to the BMI chart) and I'm really hoping to get there.  I just need to find a way to stay motivated without getting down on myself.  My stretchmarks aren't going to go away.  My skin isn't going to suddenly tighten back up.  Sooooo, I need to find a way to embrace the skin I'm in.  Stop comparing myself to the Hollywood moms, bloggers, pinterest pictures, and even my own friends.  Easier said than done, huh?

To celebrate my efforts, for Christmas, my mom gave me my first LuluLemon gift...the Cosmo Pant.  The clothes are outrageously expensive and I can't imagine buying anything for myself...but man, they are amazing. 

 I think I am going to treat myself to a new pair of Nike Free shoes.  I love them.  They are so comfy and cute.  They aren't great for running but I can use them for other workouts.  I have the neon green ones below but Nordstrom has a cute pair or grey/pink that I have my eyes on.

I'm also obsessed with my BicBand headbands.  They are the ONLY headbands that I have found that stay put.  I wear the skinny bands in turquoise and yellow but might have to get a few more.

Alrighty, that's it.  Hope everyone has a nice week!



 

Read more...

Getting old(er)

As the big 3-0 gets closer and closer, the more gray hairs I'm finding. Seriously, ever single day I find more!  It all started when I was pregnant with Ethan and I just pulled the few random strands.  Well, I guess the old wives' tale is right that they grow back with 7 others because I'm freaking going gray.  My hair stylist (I use that term lightly as I go to her once a year to cut my hair) said that I don't need to start professionally dying it yet and she recommended finding a box that works.  I've never had to color my hair and it just seems like a pretty depressing milestone.  Oh, and the flyaways and hair loss are out of control.  I probably need something to put on my hair to protect it from the heat.  Hum...

I am getting older and I need to start taking better care of my skin, too.  I am embarrassed to admit this.  Gulp.  I go to bed each night without taking my makeup off from the day.  I wash my face in the shower with Cetaphil and put Cetaphil moisturizer on after showers and that's it.  How horrible is that?!  No scrubs.  No SPF.  No eye cream.  No wrinkle-preventer.  OYE.

Suggest your favorite hair and skin products.  I figure any changes I can make in these areas is better than nothing!  THANKS!  Oh...and "state of the body" come up next.

Read more...

Kitchen Makeover

A large, eat-in kitchen was a very exciting upgrade for us from our last home.  Although we loved our last kitchen renovation, it was A LOT of work and we took the room down to the bare bones.  That kitchen was just ugly and didn't have enough storage.  A renovation was necessary.  (You can see my posts about our old kitchen renovation HERE.) Our new kitchen has TONS of storage (we still have empty drawers), and although we aren't crazy about everything in it, we decided that a complete reno wasn't necessary at this time.  We just can't justify spending that much money right now for a kitchen that is completely function and just needs a little bit of a makeover.  We are giving ourselves a good 10 years until we take this kitchen down to the studs and at that time, we will do a completely new layout (I don't like the glass kitchen top stove on the center counter or the oven in the corner).

Sooo...what to do in our BRIGHT BLUE kitchen.  Well, for starters, we needed to paint.  (Obvi.) We found a bunch of inspiration on Pinterest and knew that we wanted to do a turquoise-ish blue on the walls with classic, white subway tiles.  (Picture was found on Inspiration for Decoration, an amazing website that also featured Ethan's nursery randomly.)

We first started with Benjamin Moore's Palladian Blue and realized it was much to light.  Mike did the second coat with the next color on the swatch, Wythe Blue. 

Not quite the color we were going for but close.  Because of the different lighting hitting the different walls, the color looks different everywhere.  Sometimes it looks grey and other times green.

Here is an after shot of the sink:

Mike pained the back of the shelves a dark gray.  We are toying with the idea of tearing that wall down.  We definitely want the open space into the family room but unfortunately, there is plumbing that is in that wall.  Therefore, it will be a bigger deal for us to just take it down and we would need more help to run the plumbing across and down the side of the room.  

Before and after: new paint color, subway tiles under cabinets and around sink, new white plugs and light switches (man, those cream ones were killing me). Did I mention that white subway tiles are about 22 cents each? So for 200, we only spent about $45! 

I guess it shouldn't really say "after".  We still have a lot of things to do.  I would like to get some kind of window treatment above the sink.  I am not crafty enough to make something but I'd love some kind of roman shade.  Anyone have suggestions on where I can get one?  (Maybe an Etsy seller makes custom ones...off to search.)  We also need some red and yellow pops of color with a rug and things on the wall.  We need to figure out something with those random shelves in the counter top (we are thinking about putting doors on them).  I am sure you also noticed, we are desperate need for NEW LIGHTING.  Yikes. 

So that's where we are in the kitchen department.  Almost done but a bit more to go.  I'll definitely post when we are completely done. We have also finished Ethan's room so that is up next!

Read more...