New layout

You'd think, since I'm a designer that coming up with a new design for the blog would have been a simple task. You would guess wrong.

And blogger even tries to take a lot of the pressure off of you by offering a THOUSAND different layouts, styles, backgrounds, fonts, colors...but here's the problem. I'd find something I like...and then keep looking. And, of course, I'd find something else that I liked more...change it...and the cycle played over and over and over until now.

I think I will be taking a leave of absence from the template designer for, at least two weeks. This way I can get used to the new layout, colors and design. This should bring about some peace in my blogger brain!

I can't even begin to count the hours (yes, HOURS) it has taken me to get to this point. Its like when you look in a magazine and they have the "natural" looking models- but you know it took them LONGER to make them look natural, rather than made up...

Guilty Pleasure

Keeping up with the Kardashians.
Just can't help myself.
It seems when I need something in the background for noise, it fills the silence.

But really, who am I kidding? When its on, I'm sucked in like dust to a Hoover.

Toe tapping

When I'm sitting at my computer I listen to Yahoo! music. I used to vary between a few stations on their station guide but then realized I'm a coffee shop girl.

So while I'm planning spaces for my clients, my toes are happily tapping. Every time I hear this song, it makes me stop. I just adore Adele's voice and the power behind it.

Here's the work-stopping song. Enjoy!

Oh, and the video isn't too shabby either!! I LOVE the water filled glasses- it reminds me of Jurassic Park, when the glass in the jeep starts jiggling because the t-rex is on the prowl!! AWESOOOME!!

Quote of the Day

"Getting a woman to do something that she doesn't want to do is like trying to baptize a cat. It doesn't work."

- Dr.Phil

Paint it Black

If I had to make a list of things I'm scared of, choosing dark paint colors wouldn't make my top 1,000,000,000,000 list. I love dark paint. (And I figure, if it turns out to be too dark or I just don't like it. What did I invest? A gallon of paint? A little time?) Right.

So when we bought our house (it will be five years in the end of May) I jumped right into the dark side. I painted our bedroom "mocha" by Sherwin Williams with an accent wall of "french roast". At the time, it worked.

Then, last year, I grew out of brown-toned everything. (Except my hair- that will remain Garnier "Raspberry Truffle" for a very long time...anyway). So, end of last year (?) I paint our bedroom again, but leave the french roast accent wall. It looked like this: and this is an even ooooolder photo of the mocha + french roast (notice the color of the window sill- that was before 'Operation honey to white')

We got a new comforter and the french roast wall didn't work with the new bedding. It didn't click in my head how to fix it for about two months! Two LOOOONG agonizing months of waiting, and thinking and waking up every morning and knowing it wasn't right, but didn't know how to fix it. And then, it happened.

I was meeting with a new client and we were going over their new home theatre. He heard that "Mouse Ears" (from the Disney line by Behr, at Home Depot) was the truest, blackest-black, on the market- he wanted to use it for the projection wall (around the white screen...) I couldn't help but start to giggle inside. THIS is it! This is what I need to do for our bedroom!

PAINT IT BLACK! (Well, "Mouse Ears"...)

And so, I did.
The rattan backed chair is my Nana's chair that I've had in my bedroom since I was about 15-ish. So realizing that it truly no-longer worked with our bedroom was hard. Thankfully I put a little ring-a-ding into my mom, who just so happened to say, "I need a chair for the corner of my family room"...AH HA! So now Nana's chair is at mom's house, and until I find another chair that will be PERFECT for our bedroom, the corner will remain empty.

I'm just so happy to have the brown wall gone, I don't mind walking past a big empty hole in our room. Actually, it doesn't bother me at all!

(Oh, and if your wondering about the little green blanket at the end of our bed, that's Jack's blanket. Yes, he totally has his own blanket to snuggle with.)

Normalcy returns

Putting up Christmas decorations all through the house makes it feel so warm and cozy and holiday-ish. But here's a little secret, I love taking it all down. I am such a nut for things being clean, crisp, precise, that when its time to remove it all, I heave a sigh of relief.

And last night, we took down the very last of it. Even though I was horribly tired, at 11 pm I was vacuuming up all the "needles" (we have a fake tree) and dusting the shelves, putting things back the way they should be.

So when I woke up this morning and came down stairs I was so happy to see our house back. Normalcy has returned to our casa!!