Finally I have a weekend!

And its going to be a beautiful one at that! Upper 70's and sunny. Exactly what I call perfect weather. i have so many things I want to do it will be hard to choose what to do.

Things on my list of possibilites:

• Give Kathy a bath - *A must do

• Begin working on refinishing furniture including: my new table and chairs, my sewing table, a little side table I found a while ago at a thrift store, and my entry table
  
  
• Thrifting- to hunt for more furniture

• Run *this will happen both tomorrow morning and saturday morning

• paint!

• make a new easter hat! I don't know how I will out-do my hat from last year though. Here is a picture...

Now I have wanted to refinish my entry cabinet that I got at a thriftstore a while back. Here is a post that has pictures of it. Its an Olivey green right now. I want to brighten it up. I was thinking a lighter seafoamy green. I know both of these are darker than what I am thinking. But I like the look of this finish. Almost slightly distressed.

I also am still thinking of a solution for refinishing that great table Janet got us from the thrift store. I was thinking white. But with our kitchen cabinets, floor, and currently countertops (which hopefully that will change soon) all being white. I am just not sure if I should go that direction or not. I do plan on painting the walls a light seafoamy green color ( yes I know similar to the cabinet I want to refinish) Then I will redo the back splash with strips of green and blue glass, kind of like a mosaic. Lately I have really been drawn to light blues and greens with neutrals and whites. Kind of a beachy look color wise I guess. Like sea glass. I guess that is something I still have to think about. It will probably end up a white table.

A Real Portfolio

Jessica is being awesome and photographing all my paintings for me! Professional style. At least all the paintings we can manage to get our hands on. Some are at my aunt and uncles in Florida and James has some which I doubt I will ever see those again! But for the most part I should be able to get pictures of most of them. Surprisingly my paintings are spread out amungst my family and some friends.

• Shea,
• Alyssa
• my grandma
• my mom
• Aunt Stacy
• Aunt Becky
• Aunt Joni
• Janet
• Josh
• Ashley
• James (won't get pictures of that one)
• Jamie has one too.
• Then of course I have some. I wonder if I am forgetting anyone....

Now I have set a goal for myself. With the encouragement of my soon to be husband. He is the one pushing this portfolio thing along...Plus the fact that my awesome cousin Ashley has got a show of her own in the largest building in Virginia! (I think thats the building its in). Shea was also talking to me about us having A Galleria Gegan! Hahahah Which in our little dreamland would be an Art gallery up front housing our art, maybe joni's steppy stones, and maybe cousin Ashleys work with a studio for our creative exploration of paint and clay in back! If this ever became reality it would be awesome though right now it seems to be in the very distant future.

Back to my goal: which is create a body of work and open my own Etsy shop by the end of summer. Maybe I should set another goal of one(or more) paintings a week after we get back from our honeymoon. If I stuck with that plan I would have 12 paintings by the end of August. Granted depending on size I could probably get more done if I did a bunch of smaller works. I know it will be hard to find the time... with all the home projects and stuff going on, but instead of watching tv and doing nonsence after work I probably should be dedicating some time to painting and hopefully will end up with some extra income as a result of it.

Truthfully there is too much going on with buying the house, and moving, and the wedding to start now. But after all this stuff is over there will be no excuses. I will post pictures on here of my work as Jessica and I get the photos taken!

Things are looking up I just must keep myself motivated. The nice weather we are having really boosts my mood too. I don't know if everyone feels that way but perfect weather makes me alot happier. Plus Ashley and I had a great run this morning ( despite how difficult getting up at 6am is) and I guess a combination of the endorphins(is that what you get?) from the exercise and the coffee I consumed after... i feel extremely motivated despite being a bit tired.

Awesome thrift store find

Thanks to Janet and her awesome thrift store hunting for furniture that Zach and I desperately need. This gem is now mine! I love it, and it will be even better with some paint!

MMM Clothes

I love clothes. I decided to browse some clothes partially to get ideas for what dress I will wear to my rehersal dinner. Here are some things I liked.

Photos Courtesy of J Crew, Express, BCBG Max Azria, Ann Taylor

Bathroom picks?

I have been attempting to pick out things for the bathroom... Though now that I think of it I am not sure that we can wait with registering for it all, because we will probably need a shower curtain before the wedding. I still am not sure if I really love either of these shower curtains either... Is it all too matchy? I dont know. I also do not know why I am doubting myself so much about this! I wish I could go into the bathroom and measure! I also want to measure the windows and everything. Hmm. Well here is my attempt at some type of mood board. Originally I wanted to paint the room a seafoam green. But with alot of the rest of the stuff being green I think I may need to either change my selections or pick a different paint color... I definately know I want those two cabinets though...

New coasters

Zach and I used to have some coasters that you put photos in, only they eventually got all ruined. I have been hunting for new ones for a while and I found the PERFECT new coasters yesterday. Where else other than my favorite store Anthropologie! On an impromptu trip to RVA with Jessica to move the rest of her stuff back here to VB. We decided we couldn't resist a trip to the best store ever. So here is a pic of the new coasters, though mine look a little different. I got 6 total. three more tealish and blue and three more the darker olive green color. I ABSOLUTELY love them and they match my stuff perfectly!I also want to incorporate these knobs somewhere in OUR new house!
Of course they don't come cheap but maybe on a piece of furniture or in the bathroom? Love them!
Photos courtesy of Anthropologie

We are homeowners!

Zach and I got the house on Kenneth Road! Now I feel overwhelmed with how much decorative planning I need to do. I need to register for SO many things! Yikes! I am really excited though! I think I may even be able to let Penguin outside at this house since it isn't on any main roads.

Regardless of what Zach says, we have got to replace the floors ASAP. I guess I need to look into how much laminate wood costs. I think it would be silly to put real wood in that house because I doubt we would make our money back on it...

Possible house #2

So this house is still in aragona, on a quieter street. It is a little smaller than I wanted and not as open of a floor plan as I would like but it is a definite contender. I took these pictures, and yes they suck, but I was having a hard time taking pictures since the rooms were kind of little.

More lovely things I can't afford...

I should just NOT look at anthropologie. They always have things I love that there is no way I could ever afford. But maybe they will be used as inspiration in decorating my future house.

I really am liking all of these items so much. I think I like eclectic things as well as some modern. I've been leaning towards alot of lighter things as well. More white and blonde/ sandy colored wood lately. I used to love black and darker richer woods. The lighter furniture just seems to be more airy rather than heavy like dark furniture and I think that works well, especially since Zach and I may end up with a little house.

Search Continues

So the house I really liked didn't work out. :( Wasn't meant to be. So the hunt continues. I think we ( or maybe just Zach) are going to see 4 more today. They are all in the lynnhaven area so not sure about that...
There is still one in Aragona that is okay too I have looked at it twice. I feel like I have really been slacking with the wedding planning lately, since I have been consumed with house hunting.

This whole thing is pretty disheartening. I have sure seen some horrible houses that give me the creeps. Have also had several strange and awkward encounters with people being in the house when you look at it. Every time that has happened it has been super weird and you can't really talk about the house in front of them for fear of offending them. I prefer houses without the homeowners inside. I think I like looking at vacant houses more too. It always throws me off more when other peoples things are in there. Especially if they have made no effort to straighten up. We have seen over 30 houses now it seems like and I have really liked one. and kind of liked another. There was a third that was Ok but had too many downsides. I wonder if it always takes people this long to find what they are looking for.
Hopefully tonight will bring on better luck!

On another note the weather has been beautiful! The fact that it is too dark to run in the morning is rather annoying though. Going after work is way more inconvenient. Price to pay to look nice and fit. We are almost to the 2 month mark until the wedding which completely blows my mind. It is coming up fast! The spring weather sure makes me feel more cheerful though!