Drooling....

Over anything I shouldn't be eating... and this room.... OMG.... can my husband get a job, win the lottery, sell our home, and move into a space like this..... mmmmkthanks!

The tulips... the orange... the gray.... the sofa... the mirrors... everything is PERFECT!

** no clue where I found this..... I had it saved on my computer.....

Happy Friday!!

I've joined.....

Weight Watchers.

Not something I ever thought I would feel like I had to do. Do I think I'm fat? No. Do other people think I'm fat? No. (Well, except the asshole who thought I was pregnant at Cracker Barrel.... ugh!)

However... when you've always been a size 4/6 until the last couple of years, and nothing is fitting right, your arms look flabby in anything sleeveless.... and you have a job where you sit all day... this is a problem.

I joined online on Sunday. So far, I'm learning that many things I thought were ok to eat... really aren't, and should be had in moderation.

I am allotted 22 points per day, with a 35 point weekly allowance.... meaning I can go over a little each day, or have a couple of really bad things. When you've been eating like me... it's easy to go over your points... :-(

This is a big adjustment. Wish me well.

The Ikea Themed Party/Weekend....

On Wednesday of last week I decided to have a theme for my girls weekend.... a little late, I know.... I had thought, well, maybe a shopping theme? I knew we'd be making an Ikea trip, and maybe a few other stops too.... Well, since Ikea was a for sure stop... I decided it would be Ikea themed!!! Random, I know.

If you've been to an Ikea, you know it's all blue and yellow. Very simple. Very basic. So- I went with it! I asked on thenest.com for a few suggestions... and those ladies gave me some great ideas! Here are their suggestions:

Swedish Meatballs
Swedish Chocolates
A cocktail using one of the Swedish furniture names
Cinnamon Buns
Lingonberry something
Mac & Cheese
Marshmallow thingies they sell
Ikea Catalogs
Reusable shopping bags they sell

Well.... I bolded the ones that I did....

Served meatballs, blue corn & yellow corn chips upon everyone arriving (thought this would serve as an appetizer before dinner... but we just made this dinner instead) and those marshmallow thingies.... I'm so mad I got no photos of all the food out... I had those marshmallow thingies stacked to perfection on the cake plates pictured below!

I had jars of candy with blue and yellow wrappers on our coffee table (1 bag of baby ruth crisp/crunch bar crisp/butterfinger crisp... one bag of peanut m&ms.... one bag of almond joys.... one bag of white chocolate lindor truffles.... one bag of dark chocolate lindor truffles)

For drinks I made a spigot jar full of lemonade, and we attempted a blue raspberry drink.... but it didn't work out as planned..... I also had a big white beverage tub filled with... Blue Moon, Honey Moon,  mini Riesling bottles (the one that comes in the blue bottle), and Deer Park water.

I also made everyone goody bags that had the following filled inside.... A blue Ikea shopping bag, an Ikea catalog, a chocolate bar from Ikea (in a yellow wrapper), a bottle of water & a pack of gum (in a blue wrapper)

I also sent an email to everyone to bring something royal/navy blue and/or yellow to wear on Saturday :-)

It was SO fun.... I think everyone enjoyed the theme :-)

The photos of the decor was all taken before the food was out....

More Bathroom Pics!

Here's the before of our guest bath..... fun linoleum

Guest Bath AFTER!

Master Bath AFTER!

Wingback Chairs....

The house I grew up in had 2 sets of these.... the set in the livingroom was this golden floraly, stripey design... very traditional.... the set in our den were dark brown leather with tuffted buttons.

My mom redecorated the upstairs and got rid of all the yellow and replaced it with a soft pink. Now the chairs have a soft pink floraly, stripey design.... (Thankfully, dad kept these when he moved!) I have a shoot coming up next Saturday that I plan to use these chairs in... and I am SUPER excited :-)

I wish I had a space in my home like these... that support the use of a wingback.....

www.myfavoriteandmybest.com

emilyaclark.blogspot.com
(not a wingback pictured... but it totally could be!)

www.myfavoriteandmybest.com
again... not a wingback... but could be!














I just love the idea of comfortable seating in a kitchen/eating area :-)

25 Random Things....

To help pass this sloooooow Tuesday :-)

(FYI- I did take photos of the finished bathroom... I've just been too lazy to get them off the camera... maybe tonight!)

1. I'm getting a little overwhelmed with life.. it just seems to get busier, and time seems to speed up!

2. I am taking Friday O.F.F. and I can't wait!

3. I still really want to redecorate our downstairs... in Gray and Orange :-) but I think that involves new sofas... and that, I'm not prepared to purchase!

4. The cruise we booked for our anniversary can't come fast enough

5. I am still totally obsessed with reading wedding blogs. I am blessed to enjoy photography, so I feel like reading them is "research" for my business.

7. I have been super slack about getting the tax crap taken care of for the business. Ugh.

8. I really love owning a convertible... but hate riding with the top down and driving on the highway... just too windy... I really need the wind screen for my car.

9. I love decorating blogs. I like to pretend I can decorate.

10. I am handy. So is my husband. (see bedroom & bathroom posts below!)

11. I love a good deal... Target, TJ Maxx, Marshalls, Homegoods... ect. I love them all.

12. I am now a coupon-er.... I love them... I also detest buying things that are NOT on sale at the grocery store.

13. My husband is still jobless... ugh....

14. Because my husband is jobless, he does work around our house :-) like tiling!

15. Because my husband is jobless, he has taken a dog-walking job for our neighbor :-)

16. I am in need of a vacation. My windowless office is getting to be suffocating.

17. I can't spell well. I get made fun of it daily at my job.

18. I spend entirely too much time in my car.

19. I wish my cat didn't shed and get her hair all over the new Ikea chair in the office. I also wish she could pee and poop in the toilet so the litterbox would be no more.

20. I like to vaccuum, but I HATE to vacuum the stairs. It's too much work.

21. I like to spend my days off cleaning. When my house is spotless, I feel calm.

22. I spend way too much time surfing the internet when I should be "working"

23. I have too much personal crap on my work computer... I need to fix that.

24. I need to send in my passport name change form. ASAP.

25. I am a cup collector... see all kinds of empty or half empty cups on my desk, in my car, on the coffee table, on my nightstand....

The. End.

Bathroom Progress....

Our master bath is DONE! But I haven't taken a picture of it so here's the progress of it!
Top:
1.our toilet sitting in our bedroom   2. where out toilet should be
Middle:
putting down backerboard
Bottom:
Tiling!

J Crew Finds!

This past weekend I was at Lake Junaluska (outside of Asheville) for work. We had a few hours of free time on Saturday afternoon... so what did I do? Headed to the J Crew Clearance store, of course!

Got these goodies....
Denim, minnie pants ($30)
Black dress ($40)
and a pair of bright orange minnie pants (couldn't find online) ($20)

I was pretty pissed after I paid, I realized their was an entire sale rack I missed next to the door.... with a dress I had been dying to have for $30! ugh!! maybe next time....

Flooring, Flooring, Flooring..... FLOORING!

Last week I came home from work, and Jeremy said "Come look at this"


Well, he led me to our master bath- where the quarter-round had come loose from in front of the tub, he pulled it back and found that water had got behind it, and molded the linoleum.

We've been planning to tile our bathrooms all along- just didn't think we'd be doing it now! After seeing the yucky mold, we decided to go ahead and pull the linoleum up and tile the floors. He's been working nonstop since Friday (luckily, I've been out of town for work all weekend!) He got it grouted yesterday, and today he will seal it.... tonight it will be ALL finished! Too bad I'm headed back out of town for work, and will have to wait till tomorrow to see it all finished :-/

Well- not only have we decided to tile the bathrooms, but we decided a while back we would hardwood our downstairs... well, after taking a close look at how yucky all of our lovely (builder) carpet has become over the last 2 years, we're just going to replace it all with hardwood!

So, hopefully, within the next month, our flooring will be D.O.N.E! I'm really excited!!

However- for the last 2 nights, this has had us sleeping in the guestroom... I can't wait to get back to our bed!
Jeremy said he's been taking photos of the tile progress, so I'll post pics of that soon!

Here's a few before we moved in...
Master-

Guest- The floor's the same in both....

The Bedroom Prints!

Those lovely IKEA frames now have prints in them :-)

The left is a photo of our doggies by me on our front porch and the right is a photo our photographer took at our wedding during the ceremony :-)

Prints!

We got our prints to go in the frames hung above our bed yesterday!! they look awesome! I'll take some photos of them when I get home today :-)

One print is of our doggies and the other is a photo from our wedding!

Our Bedroom.... Under Construction... Part III

Jeremy got the nightstands made & hung! We also got our new sconces from Pottery Barn in and hung.... and our frames from IKEA hung! Now... just waiting on the prints to go in the frames, and I need to get a basket for my nightstand (you'll see in the photo it's empty)   :-)

Before.....



After!




We have a power strip on Jeremys side and we didn't want it just sitting out in plain view... so he attached it to the bottom of his nightstand with zip ties!


We're still deciding what to do with our dresser. It's Jeremy's dads (along with the matching dresser & nightstand in the guest room) I want to paint it.... but not without his dad's approval... if he doesn't want it painted then we'll most likely get another one that matches the room :-)

Interrupting....

I'm interrupting our bedroom renovation to bring you this cute-ness!

Gus Gus says "Happy Easter!"