Weekend projects.

I accomplished quite a bit of stuff around the house this weekend, and even managed to spend most of the day outdoors on Sunday. It's SO nice outside and this week I think we're going to see temps reach the 80's!
Anyway, I'm really getting down to business trying to take Cameron's nursery and make it more of a "big boy" room. Truth be told, I'm totally over the baby green paint and framed watercolor animals on the walls. This weekend I got his bedroom all painted, dyed the curtains I made, and worked on a few other elements that are going in there. I'm really excited about a special little project I'm making for him, and I can't wait to finish it and share it with you guys. Here are the drop cloth curtains I made awhile back:
And dyed blue:
The picture is a little dark, but I just wanted to take a quick picture of the navy blue color I dyed them. I wanted to dye them because there was no contrast between them and the wall color.
I'm also going to remove the changing table and bring in a tall bookshelf which, I am contemplating building myself. Have you guys seen the Knock off wood blog? Ana posts plans so that you can build furniture items similar to what you'd buy at Pottery Barn, West Elm and Crate and Barrel. Since you build it yourself, you save TONS of money from the mark up costs that those stores charge you! All you pay for is the lumber, and with a little sweat equity, you can have some amazing furniture. I actually just went to Lowe's to pick up some lumber for a kid's picnic table I'm going to build this week- I'm SO excited! Of course, I'll post pictures when I'm done.
Anyone do anything fun this weekend? Accomplish any projects?

"Sooner than later"

A few weeks ago I opened up to answer any questions that readers of this blog might have about me. One of the questions asked: "Any thoughts on baby #2?" It's actually a question we get pretty frequently (I'm sure most married couples can relate!) and I never mind answering. Anyway, my answer was "yes- and sooner than later." That was my plan. It's always been my plan to have children that are fairly close in age- I've never minded the idea of having 2 kids in diapers, 2 kids in braces, 2 kids in college.
The problem is, what if that's not God's plan? A few days after I typed "sooner than later" we found out I was pregnant. I was excited! Our kids would be exactly 2 years apart. Perfect! Only problem was it didn't seem to line up with God's plan for our family- and I miscarried a few days later. I'm totally at peace with our loss- and more than anything it really goes to show that you can't map out your plan in life without praying for God's direction. All to often I paint a pretty picture in my mind of how our life should look (anyone else do that?) but I forget that God has the upper hand here. So this week, I've been counting my blessings- I have SO many- and I know that in God's time we'll be blessed again. In the meantime, check out one of the greatest blessings I've ever received!He LOVES wagon rides!

He helps me out with the laundry by pulling everything out and then climbing in! =)

My future artist! I love his little scribbles (so long as they aren't on the furniture).
The weather has really been beautiful lately- I'm really hoping to get out and get some new photos of him soon!

A basement update.

So the painting downstairs has been done for awhile now- and I love it. Like, LOVE it. I ended up settling on Valspar's Frappe- my perfect greige. I'll admit that when I started rolling it on I was a little sad- it looked far more "beige" than grey. And I didn't want beige. But as the paint dried, I started to like it. And after a few days, I loved it!
Before: the grey/blue/green: I still love this color- it was just hard to deal with our entire basement being this color. Better suited for a bathroom, I think.
After: Valspar's Frappe... and ready for endless decor possibilities/accent colors.

I really wanted a greige primarily because I needed this paint to do double duty in the basement. I wanted the warmth of beige, as our leather couches are a dark brown. I also wanted the coolness of grey, because our office furniture (in the corner of the living room) is steel. Depending on the time of day and the amount of sunlight, the color is both warm and cool. I also happen to think that the color compliments the wood toned trim much better than the grey/blue it was previously.

clearance upholstery fabric I found- possibly some throw pillows?

So now, I just need to find my pops of color! My problem is that I'm not a person who can go out and just buy things to fill a room. I'm picky. I like to collect items over time, and from various places- not all in one Saturday at Pier 1 Imports. In fact, it could very well take a few years before the room feels finished, and that's OK. I've been in love with this neat fish print in the picture above (found via The Nest)- but I can't seem to locate the owner of the inspiration picture, nor find anything similar. So I've decided I'm going to paint a replica of it myself (probably not for a few months, though). I love the colors used and I'm just so drawn to the composition! I think it would be perfect to put on one of the walls down there.
Anyone still following? =) My ideas are all over the place, but I just wanted to give you guys an update. What do you think?

Happy St. Patrick's & the Flipnotes winners!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Anyone do anything festive? We all wore our green and headed out to breakfast early this morning, and then braved the chilly weather at the zoo for a bit. It's Spring Break here and the zoo was packed!
And now, onto the winners... Congrats to Murdock Mama (winning the brown) and Jen J. (winning the purple)!! I drew winners the old-fashioned way, choosing the names out of a bowl! If you two winners could email me your info (name + shipping address) to jhawks482 at gmail dot com, I'll get them right out to you. Congrats!
I have also decided, that after looking at and playing with these flipnotes notebooks all weekend that I'm going to have to get one for myself. What initially drew me in was how cute they were- that white little pad tucked into a sleek metal shell. But they are also spring loaded- so when you slide the pen out... it flips open! I can just see Cameron entertaining himself for hours with it- Open! Close! Open! Close! Open! Anyway, I found so many cute ones online at Wellspring Gifts. Here are a few of my faves:


Aren't they cute? I love them!

The bachelorette dress & answered questions.

Hello friends!
I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! I did, though it went way too fast. This weekend was my friend's bachelorette party- and I wore the cutest dress made by my sister (thanks, sis!). I blogged here about the inspiration dress from Express- and here's what my dress ended up looking like:
I wore a cheapo necklace from Claire's that I already had, and my Joan & David platforms that I already owned as well. Here's another pic:

My BF's, sorority sisters and college roommates.

I seriously love this dress. I got several compliments on it! This weekend was a blast- but it definitely proved that I am TOO old to stay out so late. The time change didn't help either. Oh well, I had so much fun! And now, to answer a few questions that I got the other day:

MrsMessi asked...What about your body during the first week post-partum surprised you the most? I had a lot of swelling in my ankles the first week post partum. They had almost tripled in size! My belly went down pretty quickly (but resembled a deflated balloon found behind a couch 2 weeks after the party, if you know what I mean). I remember buying clothes while I was still pregnant (to wear after the baby) and I would buy everything a size up from my normal clothing. To my surprise, most of those clothes I bought ended up being too big and droopy after just a few weeks. I had a c-section, so there was a lot of pain- but I felt pretty good as long as I was on top of taking my pain killers.
Joi asked...Any thoughts/plans for baby #2? We definitely want one more baby, and sooner than later. I'd love to have a little girl, but my husband constantly informs me that "he doesn't make girls." =) On the other hand, it might be kinda fun to be the queen of a house full of boys!
Megan asked...Is Cameron a picky eater? Yes, but I don't think he's picky beyond what's normal for a kid his age. He loves anything cheese, so I've learned that if I want him to eat his veggies, they have to be hidden in it. One idea that has worked really well for us are cheese quesidillas. I'll buy whole wheat tortillas, shredded cheese, and add things like chopped turkey, chicken, broccoli, carrots, etc. He also really isn't in to fruits right now, so I'll give him a cup of 100% fruit juice at breakfast, promising 2 whole fruit servings! A few other tips: I heard somewhere that if a kid refuses a certain food or vegetable, that you should still offer it to them until he refuses it 10 times. Sometimes it just takes them that long to realize that they like or dislike something. Also, it's your job to provide your child healthy options. It's their job to eat it. In other words, don't force them to eat a particular food. If they aren't eating their carrots, try again in a few days, or a few weeks. Some days they'll eat it, other days they won't. I have found lots of great food ideas at weelicious.com, too.
Meredith asked...What's the best vacation you've been on? Our honeymoon to Hawaii is definitely one of my favorites. We visited the islands of Oahu and Kauai. There are so many reasons (and not enough time!) I could list why I think Hawaii is an amazing place- but the spirit of Hawaii and its beauty is something I can't describe. One of my other favorite vacations- for very different reasons- was a road trip to Durango, Colorado (blogged here ). If I could have a second home anywhere in the States, it would be in Colorado somewhere, preferably Durango. It's so breathtaking there.
...and what's the best meal you make? I love making Giada DiLaurentis' Turkey Meatballs when I have time. I also make tacos quite a bit, per the request of the husband. I fry the tortillas in a little bit of Canola oil, and serve them with taco meat, and all the fixings.
...how did you guys decide to have Cameron (or did you)? We weren't really trying but we weren't really preventing either. =)

Thanks to everyone who asked questions! Don't forget to enter my giveaway below if you haven't already. Wednesday is the last day!

A giveaway!

Contest is now closed!
One of my favorite paper goods shops, Bradley Paper has the cutest stationary, beautiful papers, gift items, and more (it's where I print most of the invitations I design!). It's similar to The Paper Source, but it's locally owned and I love giving them my business.

My 100th follower giveaway comes from my favorite paper shop. I found these cute FlipNotes paper pads- perfect for jotting down important numbers, grocery items and other memos! I always like to carry a little notepad in my purse. What I love about these is that the shell is metal and durable- so when they inevitably get thrown down the bottom of your purse, the paper doesn't get crinkled or bent up. I'm giving away two of these- yep there's going to be two winners! I'm also throwing in paper refills, and a fun strawberry/watermelon scented pen (reminiscent of my days in grade school) with each one.



To enter:

• All you have to do to enter is be a follower if you aren't already, and leave a comment telling me which color you'd prefer if you are chosen! It's that easy.

• I can only ship in the United States.

• You can only enter once, and you have until Wednesday, March 17th at 5 pm to do so. I'll choose 2 winners Wednesday evening at random, and announce the winners as soon as I choose them.

Good luck, friends! I appreciate that people take the time to read my blog and leave sweet comments- so thanks! Have a fantastic weekend- I'll be back on Sunday to answer all the questions a few of you had. And if you have a burning question, it's not to late to ask me anything (in the post below) !

Blog-cation.

That's what I've been up to lately. A vacation from my blog. I'm in the middle of tons of projects, with no real pictures to show or updates to tell you about. So, in lieu of writing another post of boring snippets, I'd like to take this opportunity to see if any of you have any questions for me or about me? That's right- this is your chance to ask me anything- anything at all (that isn't too personal or yield an answer that might make my mom's jaw drop). So go ahead, ask away! I'll be back with answers to the questions soon.
Also, I'll have a little giveaway by the end of the week-so definitely stay tuned!

Snippets

I'm a little scatterbrained right- I've got a million projects going on right now, so snippets seemed like an appropriate post.

We had the best day Sunday (or, funday Sunday as we like to call them) last weekend. We started the day off at church, came home and took naps, and went to a hockey game that evening in our city's brand spanking new arena- it was really awesome and huge.
You may or may not know Jon owns a moving business, and therefore has several box trucks that he uses to move people. Back in November, someone stole the batteries out of 3 of the trucks- and truck batteries are quite expensive. It was a crappy blow, as the holidays are a slow time for business. A police report was filed, this week Jon got a notice to appear in court- looks like they caught the guys who stole the batteries! We're praying that we get the batteries back or get paid for the new ones that had to be purchased.

I've got the whole basement primed and ready for paint in the next few days! I've been working on painting during every free second I have, it seems. Having our living room out of commission is such a pain- especially with our curious Cameron who likes to get into everything that's out of order down there.

Not sure if there are any basketball fans (or Kansas basketball fans?) out there, but tonight there's HUGE game on the line for KU. #2 KU is playing #5 Kansas State. The game is at KU, where they have a 59 home game winning streak at stake- the longest running in the Nation. I am a so nervous for them, I'm not even sure I can stomach watching it.