Catch up post

So.  This summer has pretty much flown by and I'm not truly ready to let it go- though- I LOVE Autumn.  Mabon is on Saturday and that is the official start to the season.  It's the balance between light and dark, equal day and night.  It should be a time to honor the dark as without it, we have no light :)

 

So- We may do a bonfire this weekend, go pick some apples or celebrate with some wine and truly enjoy the balance before the winter comes in and takes over.

 

In the meantime here are some things we have been up to.

 

I am currently painting our dining room furniture and I'm super proud of this piece as it was a real bitch to paint...

The set was handed down to us by my mother-in-law and it just needed a little love: 

 

I have also been exploring some trails close to my work that I can explore on my lunch break- I found one about 15 mins away so it gives me 30 mins to check out the trails :)

Oh and My husband and I celebrated our two year wedding anniversary! YAY - we actually had very heavy rains and were pretty much cleaning up the flooding basement but hey- marriage lol!

And my girlfriends at work even celebrated :) I am very lucky to have them!

And as always, just crafting away.  I don't know where I'm trying to get with it all as I haven't been posting on Etsy but I do want to do a few craft shows in the near future so I guess I'm stocking up! Here's something I found on Pinterest that I just wanted to do for myself:

 

I also have been working on a pretty big project for a while and I have part of it completed and coming on the 28th!  I want to film a short video about it, my process and show you how to get the final product so stayed tuned, be excited- cause I am- and I can't wait to show you!  

A Recap

     Welp. I have finally finished my wedding photo album.  HOLY POOP - IT WAS TIME CONSUMING! I can totally see why people pay so much money to have someone else do it! I think partly because it's my own photos so I want each and everyone of them in there! 

Now that it's done, I can focus on editing some of our wedding video and putting together a small album of my Bridal Shower, Bachelorette Party and our Rehearsal Dinner and after those are checked off I can start the project I'm so excited about... scrap booking our honeymoon! ICELAND!

     I have been so antsy and really wanting to edit the photos and to put together a better video than I had slapped together right after the trip.  I have so many awesome photos I didn't post when I was blogging over there that I am really looking forward to putting them on the blog!  I am not tackling it currently because I am the type of person who gets overwhelmed way too easily and need to focus on only one or two projects at a time and now that I plan on blogging more... it will just be too much.  

     I have been thinking of some fun things to blog on here! I may do a post on my tattoos soon and maybe a hair tutorial but right now I may just do a weeks recap as things have been pretty busy this past week.  

     Though, I have a really fun project that I filmed a short video for and as soon as I get all the prints edited (I'm on 4 of 12) I will post the video and the prints here and I am hoping to get them in my store to sell! I really wanted to be able to post them today but I couldn't get them finished in time...it will just have to wait (There was 50% on shutterfly, had to finish my wedding album first... can't miss 50%)!

     Ok so on with the post ;) 

   I held my first Easter Dinner and we had both of our parents over! I was nervous and wanted to make it really special so I did my best with the table settings and food! They were also so wonderful to bring some side dishes over! We were able to set up our dining room table that we have on the back porch since it has been so beautiful out! Here are a few photos from our get together! 

 Creepiest cake ...ever. Thanks Dad ;) Love you!

Once everyone left Brian and I had a fire and relaxed, we both took off the following day to get caught up with a few things!

I think Easter turned out lovely! 

April has been very busy and I'm making time for myself lately.  I've been working out since the start of the new year and really learned that you have to give yourself time for it or it will never happen.  I'm really hoping to get into a 5k soon!
I have been trying to control my weight a little better since behind diagnosed with Hypothyroidism. The photos below are a few years ago (I just noticed I don't have any recent ones, I will have to update that) but it gives you the idea of how I fluctuate with my weight. The below photo is a 30 lbs weight difference!  It's tough. But I'm getting to know my body better and now that I have a reason for the weight changes, I'm not as frustrated with myself! 

    My goal is 7-10 more pounds, the same weight I was in the photo on the right.  I have been walking as much as possible during my lunch break and walking an incline or running after work for about a mile on our treadmill.  I like to walk the incline to work my legs and bum and I wear ankle weights (2.5 lbs each foot) to make it a little tougher.  I walk up a 10% incline.  The neighborhood is beautiful that I walk in during lunch with so many pretty homes.  

 and I always have my buddy close by while I'm working out!

     We have also been doing a lot of projects around the house- sorry for all the cell phone photos - I promise to start using my other camera more- sometimes it's just all I have at the moment :) 

     I wanted to paint the front door a pretty color (it was brown).  So I did.  I really love it except we have to power wash brown paint off the lower half of the house.  I will look 100 times better once I do that.  I don't mind paint on the lower half of houses, covering the cinder bricks, but it's just not for me.  We get a ton of sun too and the paint bubbles and peels and is a pain to keep up with.  

Before- brown door- sorry it's a bad photo

During 

After 

We have so much we still want to do to our home and we have the time this year since we aren't planning our wedding! 

They love to watch when we do yardwork

My plant babies! I'm doing okay this year- haven't killed any of them yet!

     We also decided to put a flower bed around the tree in the back after our fire pit didn't work out since the dogs kept getting caught on it.  I am so happy with how it turned out!  We did buy a new fire pit - one we can move...

 I have been crafting a ton to get my store started and hopefully do a craft show.  I dream of someday working from home... really. Anyways... things have been kind of a mess because I have craft supplies upstairs, downstairs, on our porch... everywhere. 

   

    These are some things I have been making.  My monsters are going to be for sale too- each with their own names and reasons why you should adopt them and if they are a good fit for you.  They are 15$ but we will be donating 5$ of each sale to Pets for Vets.  I will explain further once I make some more, take some nice photos of them and post them online.  This is kinda behind the scenes of what's going on... Spike is my favorite so far! 

 also- key chains ... 

     Fold over purses... this was my rough draft purse and please don't mind the monsters arm in the top right of the photo.  I plan on taking some nice photos for the blog of these products and then they will be available for purchase on the link to either Etsy or another site I decide to sell on.  

 Okay- dog photo break- aren't they the cutest!? 

     Below are some of the salads I've been making- SO GOOD! I'm really trying to watch more of what goes into my body and cut down sugar too... I really like to put the fake crab meat on them... I know it's not the best for you but YUM!  Since I've been working out and really watching what I eat, I'm down 9 lbs!

I can't remember what these were called but my Dad made me try them... they were so good! I will have to ask him again! 

     So- before I said things were getting out of hand with my craft supplies, well i just about had it on Saturday and couldn't even think straight.  I went out to Home Depot at about 7pm and stayed up until 3am to put together my craft supply shelving unit in our laundry room.  I just couldn't stand having things everywhere all the time! I can't tell you how happy I am to have this and it freed up so much space upstairs in our spare bedroom! YIPPPIEEEE! 

Well... :) That's all I've got for now- Tomorrow is May! My Birthday month! I will keep posting some fun things on here - maybe not so much any recaps as I think maybe some other things may be more fun ;) Let me know what you think! 

Before - My Office

     When we first moved in I was so excited to have a second bedroom for my office (though someday I may have to give it up for a child... we will see. That's not anywhere close right now but maybe in the future) and I couldn't wait to make it my own.  Well, with the wedding planning and moving in and a lot of other priorities that came first, my office took the back burner.  This is embarrassing but I need to post the progress. I know some of these photos show all the shit I had in the room over the past year and a half but this is what happened.  I need to document it for the final after!  Also,  I am lazy as hell with my good camera lately and a lot of photos are from my cell (which I always kick myself for) and I promise I will change that soon.  I will start taking all my projects and before and after photos with my good camera from now on! 

This photo was the one in the listing...that carpet...those curtains. They would have to go eventually.  We tried to do it when we first moved in but there were other rooms that needed our attention and we needed out of the apartment so it was something that was put on hold for a while...

     This is the first photo of when I moved all of my "office" crap into the room.  I had my own apartment for years so I also accumulated a lot of things.  To move into a house with someone and their things made me realize that I will have to purge and it was needed. I shutter looking at this.  I had a panic attack even starting to unpack.  

The next few photos are when I was trying to get settled in but again, things just had to be put on hold for a while... 

My goal is to paint the walls white (they are actually a light pink), paint that dresser and change the drawer handles, get rid of the carpet, maybe do some cute wallpaper dots on two of the walls among other things... 

 My "office" is for my someday home business * I hope, I hope, I hope* and currently where I get ready and do my hair and makeup in the morning.  I edit my photos and have my art supplies here so I can do my crafts and scrapbook!  Hopefully, I'll be taking some more of my personal art photos here after the wedding!  I'd love to get back into it! 

This is my vanity that my parents got me.  I was planning on painting it but I think I'm going to keep it the dark wood color since I am going to be getting a new desk (YIPPEEEE) next weekend!  I did however, just finish recovering the seat! I will post some afters of the fabric I picked! It looks great! 

And my mess of books and photos on the right there.  I painted the crates white and moved them to the living room so I could have more space in here.  I also got rid of the plastic drawers.  They were an eyesore.  I actually put them in our storage room and the top shelf is for wrapping paper, middle is for gift bags and bottom is ribbon and other decorations for wrapping gifts.  I love it! 

ICK!

This desk if finally going this upcoming weekend! I'm too excited! This thing is huge and just doesn't fit int he room no matter what- It's always blocking a window if I move it up against a wall... Well, bye, bye, bye!

So that's about it for the first round of photos- so much has already changed... I'm so happy! It's coming slowly along and it won't be done until after the wedding but at least it's moving forward! <3 Thanks for checking it out everyone!