friday fun facts

Def picking up THIS table tomorrow morning! Since I obviously love the brass on bottom-marble on top look, I'm thinking about MAYBE making the legs gold like this:

I haven't had a coffee table in so long. Like since before I cared about what goes on it. The last one I had, I shared with a college roommate. There was usually an old pizza box or yesterday's bra on the table. I'm going to scheme a style plan by browsing my inspiration files. I bet I can go shopping through my house for stuff. Easy-peasy.

Going to see Mirror, Mirror for a girl's night tonight. Hope it's good. I thought I was agreeing to see Snow White and the Huntsman! Who knew there were so many Snow White movies?! At lease it has Julia Roberts in it. Love her.

Have a blessed weekend, y'all!

marble cocktail table

I blame my new blog friend over at my bestfriend craig for my need to browse Craigslist on my lunch hour. I have been searching for a marble top cocktail table for our living room after seeing these pretty babies:

Those babies are expensive!!! So when I saw one for 50 beans...yes, $50 I immediately called the owner. SOLD! Now I just need a big ole vehicle to haul it home...46 inches in diameter! I'm totally going to do something fun to the wooden legs. Ideas?
Here she is:

nesting

I updated my Nesting Progress tab with some before pictures from the realtor prior to buying our house. I don't think I've ever shared some of them. I like reminding myself of the progress we've made making our house a home. I can't imagine having this design choice in our home anymore...especially since we don't have kids.

I just realized I didn't tell you what other airfare I booked this week. My cousin is getting married this Summer in Destin where we used to frequent every Summer as kids. Our families used to get places side by side on the beach. We would play on the beach from early morning until it was time to get cleaned up for dinner. So many favorite memories stem from those trips. It's no wonder Lee and I got married on the beach. AND now my cousin is too. Yay!

gnome in training

Lee sent me a couple pix. Apparently this little gnome makes random appearance during training.

rug is here

I ordered THIS 7'6" x 9'6" rug from Rugs USA and mentioned my discount I scored HERE.
I was a big rug ordering virgin. I had never ordered a rug at this magnitude so keep your chuckles at a minimum...
I made a mistake by dragging it from the porch and through the entry and into the living room. I then determined that this heavy giant was going to be too big to open in the living room. So I took her to the hall. I desperately wish that me maneuvering this heavy giant by myself had been captured on video.

When I got the rug to the hall I started cutting through the packaging. It was packaged very well. I finally found the rug under 3 layers of protection. I do appreciate that. I was impressed. But now what?

Some crazy Superman strength came over me and I was able to drag, tug and twist the rug into the guestroom from the hallway. Again, I have no idea why I didn't just take the rug straight from the porch and into the guestroom from the beginning. Nonetheless, I found myself in another pickle. How was I going to get this heavy thing to unfold and lay neatly under the bed?

I got creative with an ottoman. Don't hate. Still, it wasn't giving me the lift I needed.

In the end I took the bed completely apart.

After getting the rug spread out and set perfect, I realized it was not perfect. It was too long and was up against the dresser.

I blame my very new found love for giant rugs for my reason of not measuring first.
I gave my muscles a pep talk and then started to twist and tug again by turning the rug 90 degrees. I found that I liked the rug much better this way and started dressing the bed again. Thought I'd show you a surprise that you see when you pull back the covers. A quilt Lee's 94 yr old Nana made for him when he was little guy!

Awe...big sigh of relief. Much better.

wink wink

It's hard having your Soldier away when sadness strikes your homefront. I get so angry at Lee for not being here. Then I hate the Army for taking Lee away from me. Then my sanity comes back and I'm OK again. To remind me that "this arrangement" isn't forever, Lee sent me a cartoon via text this morning on his way to PT (physical training). Silly boy.

I'm booking airfare today to head SE for my grandpa's funeral.
I got distracted yesterday and didn't tell you that we booked airfare for a trip to NYC when Lee gets home in May! We're really excited to get away and do some fun things together before he deploys. We'll be there during my birthday too! I've already made a list of things to do. This is Lee's 1st time to NYC so he expects me to show him the town. Ha! Which is funny because I have NO sense of direction and will rely 100% on my phone's GPS. The only NYC requirements he has is to tour Ground Zero (his motivation for becoming a Soldier), MOMA and he wants us to go to a show on Broadway for my birthday. I love theater. I soaked up fine arts growing up and sometimes regret changing my major from theater in college. O the glory days...I wanted to be many things growing up. These things included becoming a purple bunny, a ballerina and part of the cast on SNL. I so desperately wish I could get us tickets to see SNL live while we're in NYC but I hear that is extremely hard to do. Our only hope will be standby due to our arrival, etc. Fingers crossed. We are for sure seeing Wicked and my all time favorite musical, Chicago.

New rug gets here today!

It should be on my porch after Coop and I get back from his vet appointment this evening. He has allergies and the doc insists she needs to see him before she refills his meds. Dumb. We go through this every Spring...Last night I was teaching Cooper to wink. Ignore his wild hairdo, we just finished playing outside.

I'm back to finding focus on what my next project should be since I feel like I should pinch some pennies for a bit. I'm thinking about our closet. And doing something on the cheap...More on this later. I'm still pondering:/

rip grandpa



weekend deets

I scraped the heck out of the windows on the new high gloss black doors in the office. I'm done with the razor and now I just need to touch up. Yay! This is a pic from my phone that I sent Lee. I'll take a more jazzy one with the Nikon once I buy a chair and decide on the rug.

I haven't put the cow hide back in there yet because I'm thinking about ordering a rug that I have fallen hard for:

Looks very much like LGN's sold out Ikea version, no?! I have always loved how good her rug looks styled under that credenza/dresser piece and have searched high and low for a similar version. I think I found one if not the exact same thing!

I used my month old ticket and saw the Hunger Games. I liked it. I thought it was very much like the book (not usually so) and the cast was really spot on great. I'm curious to see what those that did not read the books think after watching it.
I haven't read or seen Harry Potter or any of the Twilight movies/books so I felt out of my element getting in line 1.5 hrs early to get a good seat. I kept telling myself that I wasn't crazy and that I am a perfectly normal avid reader that enjoys seeing books come to life. Ha! If necessary, in my defense I will add that we ate lunch at the diner inside the theater while we were waiting too...
Kristen and I excited to finally be in our seats:

Cooper I went for a lot of walk/runs too. I took a snippet to text Lee. He loves to run with Coop.

I had brunch with my buddy Taylor. We LOVE breakfast food. There is a great somewhat new place in town that we're a bit obsessed with and tend to frequent as much as possible. Taylor was telling me about all the yard work she was doing and all the pretty flowers she potted and what she was planning to do next in the flowerbeds later that day. Her Spring fever made me hightail it to Home Depot to get my Spring on. I could spend so much time looking at flowers. It's a bit like decorating the exterior, no? I ultimately decided on low maintenance goodies this year.

Happy Monday, y'all! The weather is great here and it feels like an even better week is ahead!

friday fun facts

I FINALLY get to use my Hunger Games movie ticket this weekend that I purchased over a month ago! Woot Woot! So excited.
I spied and secured a Gianni Bini dress at Dillard's that I want to wear in THIS photo shoot or at least one of the outfits anyway. I had to order it from the store since they didn't have my size in stock and it's no longer available on their site. Trying to decide if I want to wear a belt with it and what shoes etc...

My order says the dress color is blood orange. Weird. Nonetheless, looks like my Hunger Games peeps rocked a similar color at the Berlin premier:

Banks loves the color so much that she wore it again at the LA premier. These leading ladies nailed the COLOR OF THE YEAR.

Speaking of BLOOD orange...Lee's small pox vaccine site is bloody horrid. The doc checks it daily and swears it's getting better. I beg to differ. I'd share a pic but I'm afraid you'd think this isn't that kind of blog. But then I got to thinking...it is too. I share everything so look away if you're a sacredy cat. If not, scroll down.
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Part of prepping for deployment:

kitchen tool belt

When I bought Dumbo, I also bought a large canister and turned it into a kitchen utensil holder by simply removing the lid. Loving it. Wish my green utensils weren't hiding in the back or in the dishwasher when I took this pic.

red suspenders

{Grandpa, Me & Cousin Matt}

Our dapper Grandpa went into cardiac arrest and is in very critical condition. God bless his heart.

We share a love for gingham, cheese & ice cream and long narrow feet!

maybe one day

I can totally see this random guy in my house somewhere. Weird, I know. The middle/brass one:

And then I see things like this and automatically think, "Erin-you could totally paint this a poppy kind of color and make it a chandelier for a kid's room."

And then I googled "birdcage light" and found A-mazing options.

ordered rug

I took advantage of the St. Patty's Day sale and ordered the ikat rug. 50% off + free shipping, I couldn't resist. I only need the Westie art and fabric for my lamp shade to get my paws on the next room in our home.
Got it:

plop

I've been up since 3am. From catching a flight at 6am to helping out in our office in PA this afternoon to driving to downtown Pittsburgh to mingle at an exhibitor's reception and then finally walking 3 blocks in heels to my hotel. I'm one tired girl. I just plopped my room service tray outside my door. I'm done. I'm going to go plop on the bed.
Nite Interneters.

weekend deets

Friday
21 Jump Street was really funny. Def go see it.

Saturday
I painted the French doors glossy black just like I said I would. Do not tape the windows if you attempt this at home. I did tape the front side of the first set and then after I peeled off the tape-I had to paint again because the tape peels the paint! BUT by not taping, you then have to razor the edges and get all the paint off the windows. High maintenance. That's where I'm at now in the process...razoring the edges. I was pretty busy on Saturday messing with those doors...Can't wait to show you a pic because it looks like a completely different room to me and I love it!

Sunday
I managed to get some new hairy shoes. I just know they'll be super cute with everything. Leopard is a neutral. Totally.

And a red Shellac manicure...

My parents surprised me by coming to town to buy new patio furniture for the lake house. They purchased a table that seats 8 so they brought the horse trailer with them too to haul the table and chairs home. That's how we roll in Oklahoma! I had dinner with my parents and then I dropped Cooper off at Jacob and Taylor's house. They're super sweeties to watch our fur baby because I'm flying to PA for work today.

Happy trails, y'all!

on the cheap

There were some other items that made me look twice when I scored THIS elephant side table. I didn't buy them but I can't say I didn't think about it.
This Greek key storage cabinet was pretty special:

I thought this would make an excellent night stand:

So close to buying one of these but up close it looked like smeared cement on them. O poot.

Spotted in Elle Decor:

You know how we're seeing horses everywhere:

You can buy one on the cheap:

look 4 less: elephant side table

Soo ya know how I mentioned wanting an elephant side table for the GUEST ROOM that I recently painted white for THIS story board?

You know the one with the THESE new no sew black and white stripe curtains? Well. I got one.

I didn't get one HERE for $545.00.
I didn't get it HERE for $199.00.
Not HERE as a table top version for $49.95.
I got it HERE 50% off for 24.99!!!!!!!

I haven't been to Garden Ridge in months maybe even a couple of years and it is just down the road from where I work. I decided to go browse during my lunch hour and  I stumbled upon Dumbo. He's made of a dry stone so I can totally paint him white and he'll easily be just as fabulous as the trunks above. Can't wait to get my trunk out of my trunk when I get home. Har har har...

This is my guest's new side table:

o shoot

Photo shoot coming up!
I've made an appointment for Lee, Cooper and me to get family pix done before Lee deploys! This photographer shot our engagement and my bridal portrait too. AND guess what? He offered to shoot Lee's Homecoming for free. He said it was the least he could do since Lee is sacrificing so much. Wow. I was so touched and so holy smokes that is awesome. Of course his Welcome Back Homecoming is a loooong time from now but still-AWESOME!

I'm wanting to blow a couple of these soon to be take images up insanely large and hang them in our bedroom on a canvas. I def want to see Lee's face in every image. Let me know if you see anything that we should try. Whatever we do, our furbaby Cooper will be in it too! Here's what I'm liking so far:
Something fun with balloons...

Something cozy with a blanket...

 TGIF Y'all. I'm going to see 21 Jump Street with my homies tonight.