Closet Make-Over

Now that my students loans are almost completely paid off (two more payments!) J and I have decided to start doing some little things around the house. Part of it is because we're hoping to sell within the next couple years and we'd like to make a little money, and part of it is just because we haven't done much since we bought our place three years ago.

So far we've laid new flooring in the living room and dining room, plus we've given the spare room and the office a minor face lift. (Check out the fun I had giving our filing cabinet a new paint job...) The next room we plan on tackling is our master bedroom. But, before we could even start thinking about painting and re-decorating the room needed to be completely re-organized.

We decided to start with the closet and our dresser drawers this weekend. We ran a few errands in the morning, including getting our passport pictures done (yay!) and taking a run to Home Depot to pick out some kind of closet shelving kit. We went with the 5-8' FreeSlide because it looked like the best for our needs, and it was within our budget. (We had a $50 gift card and it was $59.99, so it was perfect.)

We've been horrible lately when it comes to putting our clothes away after we do laundry so we had baskets full of clean laundry everywhere, and most of it wasn't folded. So Saturday evening we threw in a DVD (Mom's Night Out, which was really cute) and started folding and organizing clothes. Of course we had some helpers during our laundry folding. Sydney wanted to play in every basket we opened, and Daisy wanted to knock over every pile of clean clothes she could. Luckily Daisy got tired eventually!

Sunday after church I took a little nap (like I do pretty much every Saturday) and J started putting up the closet organizer. It's a good thing my husband is handy, because the instructions aren't the greatest and they were designed for an 8' closet even though the organizer is for a 5' to 8' closet. Our closet is only 6' so he had to do some playing to get everything in and the way we wanted it. We spent Sunday evening sorting and putting away all of our clothes. We are huge pack rats, but we forced ourselves to throw out anything really ratty and we filled a couple garbage bags with clothes to donate somewhere. By the time we went to bed I was extremely happy with how the closet looked. Now it's time to pick out paint colours!

 

Currently; January 2015

Trying out a new link-up this month. I'm linking up with Jenna and Anne to share what I'm currently up to. 

 

Planning
I've just started planning my sister-in-law to-be's bridal shower. The shower isn't until May but I want to get a head start on things because life has a funny way of getting crazy when you least expect it. J and I are also planning our vacation to Washington, DC. It's still a ways off, but we love checking out all the different things we'll be able to do while we're there.

Hoping
We get a bit of snow overnight tonight and tomorrow night. J's little brother is home from university in Florida and they're going skiing on Saturday. There's not much real snow down and I know they'll have a better time if it's not all "fake" snow. (I'm also hoping that after this weekend we don't get any more snow for the rest of the winter. I hate driving when the weather is gross.)

Baking
I did a lot of baking over the holidays so I'm focusing on cooking actually meals right now. I'm hoping to bake some healthy muffins (like these) soon though.

Wearing
My day off "uniform" of a sweater and jeans. Super boring.

Resolving
To keep my goals I set for this year. (You can check them out here.) I'm doing pretty well with a couple and horribly at a couple others.

What's going on with you?

Grateful for my Husband

On Friday J and I will celebrate our fifth wedding anniversary.

Five years seems crazy, I don't know where the time has gone.

We're heading camping this weekend to celebrate. For our first couple anniversaries we went to a nice restaurant downtown, but last year we decided to get away from the city and away from our cell phones and the TV and spend some time together, just us. It was amazing. It was easily one of my favourite memories of our marriage. We relaxed. We walked. We laid on the beach. We sat by the fire. And we talked. We talked a lot. More than we had talked in months. It was our own personal marriage retreat, and we needed it. We came back home feeling closer and more in love than ever. I'm so excited to be able to do the same thing again this year.

I am so thankful to have had this man by side. We've gone through some ups and downs, but I have never doubted his love for me or mine for him. We have grown so much together, and I really can't wait to see what the next five years bring.

Sara vs. Spraypaint

As soon as I saw Kimberly and Aubrey's "What Would You Do?" link-up prompt for today I knew that it was finally time to share my experience with spraypaint...

Shortly after we got married J's grandparents downsized to a smaller apartment. They had a large, metal filing cabinet that they gave to us. It was not the prettiest looking filing cabinet, but we stuck it in the storage room of our apartment and used it to store all of our important paper work in it. When we moved in to our house we put it in the office and basically forgot about it.

Earlier this year my parents gave us some leftover laminate flooring they had. It was just enough to do the office. So we decided to give the office a bit of a make-over. We don't use the office very often (we rarely use our desktop, pretty much everything we do is on the laptop or the tablet) but it was a small room so we figured it was a good place to start our home make-over. I decided the ugly filing cabinet wouldn't fit in with the new look in the office so I decided to spray paint it.

Since it was March (and super cold!), and the room we were working in had no flooring and was being repainted I decided it was safe to do the spray painting inside.

Not my brightest moment.

We were about half-way through when I realized that my nose felt kind of funny so I went to the bathroom to check it out. It was then that I discovered a) I should have been wearing a mask because the inside of my nose was red like my filing cabinet and b) spray paint travels REALLY well and I now had pink carpet outside the office as well as pink tiles/sink/toilet in the bathroom. (Apparently opening the window and leaving the office door open was a good idea for air quality but not a good idea for keeping the paint contained.)

Yup, that really happened.

Three months later the carpet on the landing is still pink (less pink, but still very very noticable) but I have a beautiful red filing cabinet.

Lesson learned.

Have you ever had a DIY project go horribly wrong?

Grateful for Mom & Dad

One of the reasons we bought our house was that it's less than a ten minute drive from my parents. (Some people would consider it walking distance, but I am not one of those people.) The older I've gotten the closer I've gotten to both of my parents. Growing up I always considered myself a "daddy's girl," and I definitely still am to some extent, but the older I get the more I rely on my mom.  

 

 

Aren't my folks super cute? This was taken on their most recent trip to Cuba.

 

I got to spend a fair bit of time with my parents this past week (we actually just got home from having supper with them!) and it got me thinking about how fortunate I am to not only still have both of my parents, but to live close to them and have a great relationship with them. That's what I am really feeling grateful for today - what about you? 

Wife 2 Wife; All in the Details

I decided it would be fun to link up with Kelly and Cheltee for their Wife 2 Wife link-up this month. Today's topic is our favourite detail from our wedding. I couldn't pick just one, so I picked two.

The first detail I picked was my flowers. We used a lady who worked out of her home for our flowers. (She no longers does wedding flowers or I would definitely be sharing her website with you!) I told her I loved gerbera daisies, the colour pink, and gave her ribbon that matched our colours. Dad picked up the flowers and brought them to my aunt's house where I was getting ready with my bridesmaids. When I opened the boxes I was absolutely blown away. I was so impressed with the flowers. Flowers weren't that important to me, but looking back now they are definitely one of my favourite details.

My other favourite detail was my veil. It was actually my mom's veil that she altered herself to be more like what I was looking for. I loved knowing I was wearing the same veil she had, and I loved how beautiful it was. And it was so different from what I was seeing in all the bridal shops. Originally I hadn't been planning on wearing mom's veil because it had kind of a weird hair piece attached but when she offered to alter it I was thrilled.

I can't believe I'll have been married for 5 years next month!

Grateful for In-Laws

This week J and I spent a lot of time with his family since his sister was home visiting for the first time in over a year. My relationship with my mother-in-law got off to a rocky start, but this week reminded me of how thankful I am that we have a good relationship now. I don't think I'll ever be as close with her as I am with my own mother, but I think that's pretty normal.

I am very fortunate to have married into this family. J's brothers and sister are all really wonderful (and really different!) people. There is so much laughter when the whole family gets together, and hours pass without anyone realizing it because the conversation flows so easily.

I have friends who don't speak to their spouse's parents or siblings, or who have very strained relationships with them. You hear so many "in-law" horror stories, but that hasn't been my experience at all. I am so grateful that it's as easy to spend time with J's family as it is to spend time with my family. (Though the conversations are pretty different!)



{ Photo by Tammy Orr }

For both mom's this year we arranged family portraits as a mother's day gift. On Friday night we did our shoot with J's family. Four of his six siblings were able to be here, along with their significant others. (Two married couples and two engaged couples.) We used the photographer J and I always use and we had a fantastic time. It was probably one of the best parts of our vacation.

Have a great week, and remember to take a moment to remember something you're grateful for. :-)

PS: Live in the Halifax area and need some pictures done? Tammy is very easy to work with and she does an amazing job. You can check her website out here, or check her out on Facebook.

Wednesday Wishes

The first couple days of our vacation have been wonderful.

On Monday we spent the day in Lunenburg. We went whale watching, saw the Bluenose II, visiting a micro-distillery, and had a delicious supper.



The Bluenose II

On the wharf before our whale watching tour.

Yesterday we spent the day at one of our favourite places, Taylor Head Provincial Park. It was a beautiful, sunny day and even though there were some annoying bugs during the wooded part of our hike we had a great day.



  

Daisy & I enjoying the Atlantic

I love this shot of J and Daisy on the beach.

Last night we took the ferry from Dartmouth the Halifax with J's sister and her boyfriend and then strolled along the Halifax waterfront. We don't spend nearly enough time exploring our own city.



We stopped on the boardwalk at Sugah for icecream. It was delicious!

I can't believe it's Wednesday though! The time is going by way too fast.
I wish vacation didn't have to end, and I wish Rachel and Jesse were going to be here for a longer visit. (Or that they'd move up here!) Oh, and I wish I had remembered to wear sunscreen yesterday. I'm looking pretty red today.

What are you wishing for today?

Grateful Heart Monday

Today what I am most grateful for is vacation. I know that it sounds kind of silly, but I love being able to take a week off and recharge my batteries. J and I can't really afford to travel, so we've decided to spend some time exploring Nova Scotia.



J and I out whale watching in Lunenburg earlier today.

I'm also grateful for living so close to the ocean - there is nothing like the small of the salt in the air! And I'm so grateful that J and I were both able to find good jobs here in Nova Scotia so that we don't have to move out west like so many others. J would definitely make more money in another province, but with both of our families here it's just not worth it to us. We'd rather pick away at our debt slowly and be able to spend time with the people we love. There's nothing wrong with packing up and moving away, it just wasn't the right choice for us.

What are you grateful for today?

Wednesday Wishes

Wednesday is my day off, and I feel like the day just flies by. It's almost 6 o'clock and I have no idea where the day went.  My day off is pretty much over - time to make supper and relax with J for a bit before we head to bed. I was semi-productive today, I cleaned out the fridge and re-organized a couple of my kitchen cupboards. Most of the rest of the day was spent relaxing. I finished a cute book, so I'll probably try to get that review done shortly.

Today I'm linking up with Anne at Love the Here and Now for Wednesday Wishes for the first time. My wishes aren't anything deep, not this week anyway.

• I wish the weather would warm up. I want to take Daisy to the park without freezing.
• I wish I could find a couple cute sundresses or summer skirts. I tried a couple things on today but had no luck.
• I wish J wasn't so busy at work. The overtime pay is really nice but I miss seeing him in the evening.
• I wish it was vacation time. We start our vacation on June 14th and I cannot wait!

What are you wishing for this week?

Throwback Thursday Stories: Daisy's "Before" Photo

I thought I would like up with Jessica from The Mom Collective again this week. I love getting to share some of my older pictures and share the story behind them.

This is Daisy the day we met her for the first time at the SPCA in June 2011. I never wanted a dog, we always had cats growing up and I knew that when I got married I wanted at least one cat in our home. J wasn't opposed to a cat - but he wanted a dog too. So when we got married I promised him that when we bought a house we would get a dog. I think I thought that day would never come.

But it did come. And as soon as we put in an offer J was online looking for dogs. We decided that we wanted to adopt, we wanted to rescue a dog who needed us. J wanted a german shepherd or a boxer and I wanted a pug or another small breed. We checked out lots of local rescues like the East Coast German Shepherd Rescue and the Atlantic Small Dog Rescue but we had adopted our cat, Sydney, from the SPCA so we decided to see if they had a dog that was just right for us.

Daisy was the first and only dog we walked at the SPCA. She really was perfect for us. She wasn't too big and she wasn't too small. And the sweetest little pup I had ever met. This little beagle has been part of our lives for almost three years now and I can't imagine my life without her in it. She is spoiled rotten, and not particularly well-trained, but she's my baby. I'm glad I let J convince me that I could be a dog-person and a cat person.

Have a great day!

Literary Junkies; May

I know, two posts in one day is kind of overkill. But I forgot that today was the third Tuesday of the month which means that it's time for the Literary Junkies link party. I think this is yet another sign that I need a planner for my blog, then I'll remember stuff like this and not schedule another post for the same day...

Anyway, on to the questions!

1. What are you currently reading? Tell us about it!

I'm currently reading Barbie and Ruth by Robin Gerber. It's a different type of book for me, but I'm enjoying it.

Goodreads says...

"Barbie and Ruth is the entwined story of two exceptional women. There's Barbie: the diminutive yet arrestingly voluptuous doll unveiled at the 1959 Toy Fair who became the treasure of 90 percent of American girls and their counterparts in 150 countries. She went on to compete as an Olympic athlete, serve as an air force pilot, work as a boutique owner, run as a presidential candidate, and ignite a cultural firestorm.

And then there's Ruth Handler, Barbie's creator: the tenth child of Polish Jewish immigrants, a passionately competitive and creative business pioneer, and a mother and wife who wanted it all. After a business scandal that forced Ruth out of Mattel, the company she founded, she drew on her experience as a breast cancer survivor to start a business that changed women's lives. She was ultimately honored as a pioneer, humanitarian, and masterful entrepreneur."

 

 2. Do you judge a book by its cover? What cover elements make you not want to pick up a book?

I think everyone does to a certain extent. I like covers that are well done. Nice colours, nice artwork. Nobody half naked on the cover...

 

3. Do you participate in any other bookish link-ups? Tell us about them so we can join next time!

I don't participate in any other link ups, but I am participating in the Semi-Charmed Summer Book Challenge. (That's what made me pick up Barbie and Ruth in the first place, one of the categories is biography, autobiography or memoir.)

 

4. Have you ever watched a movie that was better than its book version? Explain yourself!

No, I haven't. More often than not I avoid movies made from books I enjoyed. I have watched all the Harry Potter movies, and the Hunger Games and while they were good, I definitely don't think they were better than the book.

 

5. Summer is here! Do you read more often during any particular season?

I don't. I tend to read the most on my lunch break and that doesn't change. In the colder months I'll read snuggled up on the couch, and in the warmer months I'll read out on the patio.

 

6. What is the worst book you’ve read this year? Why?

I don't think I can really pick a "worst" book. I've had a couple that I've struggled to get into, but I've finished everything I started.

I won't be able to join the Twitter chat tonight, but I did read Where'd You Go, Bernadette? and I enjoyed it. It was actually one of those books I had a hard time getting in to, but once I did I was hooked. It was different from my usual book choice so I'm glad I read it. One of my goals for the summer is to expand my reading horizons a bit.

Are you reading anything really good right now? Have you read anything recently that was just bad?

Throwback Thursday Stories: Before it was our Anniversary

I thought that I would link up with Jessica from The Mom Creative for #TBTstories today. I love this idea! It's so much more fun to share the story that goes along with your "throw back" picture.

The quality of this picture is terrible, I know. I stole it from Facebook to do this link-up. Somewhere buried in a box I have a physical copy but I couldn't be bothered to go on a hunt for it today.

This picture was taken on July 25th, 2006 at the Kejimkujik Seaside Adjunct and it's one of my favourite pictures of J and I. Partly because it's a nice shot, and the beach looks beautiful, and partly because it reminds me of one of our favourite day trips. It was also one of the first times we balanced my camera on a large rock and tried out the self-timer. :-) And, strangely enough, three years later J and I were married on July 25th.

When J and I were dating we were all about day trips and wandering around our beautiful province. The Adjunct was somewhere I had been as a kid, but hadn't been to in years. It is absolutely breath-taking. I would say it's easily one of the most beautiful locations in Nova Scotia. It's about a 4.5km hike from the parking lot to the beach, and not a super easy hike. I tend to be a bit on the lazy side, but the hike was well worth it to me. We still talk about the amazing time we had that day, and J still makes fun of me for being scared of the porcupine that crossed our path. (I thought for sure he was going to shot his quills at me!)