What a Week.

This week has been really crazy. My sister finally had her newest baby Margaret and I stayed the night and watched her girls for her while she went to the hospital. So beautiful and tiny!

Let me just say that I have never gone so crazy over kids in my life. It's not so much all of her girls, just her 2 year old terror Olivia. She is cute on the outside and can be quite adorable most of the time:

It's those moments of biting, hitting, following me around asking the same question over and over and over and over....and over- that's what drives me insane. Ah, well- I was glad that I could be there to help out and after I had this weekend to cool off, I know i'm ready to face Olivia once more and resist the urge to lock her out in the backyard for a while haha. She really is just a normal 2 year old....I'm only beginning to understand how true the phrase the "terrible two's" is. hehe.

Kendall and I went to his sister Camille's house for most of Saturday. They are getting a new awesome pool and Kendall is helping them take out their old concrete patio to make space for a new one plus the pool deck. It looked like a lot of hard labor but Kendall was seriously loving it. He's been feeling lazy and loved getting in some intense physical labor for the past two weekends. Their pool is going to be really cool- it has a waterfall and a slide biult in plus a hidden area behind the waterfall and it is so neat!

I went shopping with the nieces. It's weird but that made me feel old/young. I am right in the middle where I can relate to the oldest nieces who are teenagers:

but at the same time I can relate to Kendall's sisters who are in their thirties:

It's a weird position and I don't think most would know how to find the balance. I'm just lucky enough to have grown up with siblings and sisters who are all much older than me (from 8 years older to 16 years older):

and with my own nieces who are getting into their teens (at least one is):

Even with the experience, I still feel silly when I am texting the nieces....haha.

I was feeling rotten inside on Saturday morning but I took some IBprofen and kept figuring it was just the medication I am on or something. But when I got home on Saturday night I threw up and had to stay in bed all day on Sunday too and threw up again. So much for a restful weekend. I just hope I'm over it.

Birthday

My Birthday is on St. Patty's Day so I always like to wear green and decorate the house for it.

Albertson's had carnations on sale this week. They're not my favorite but I saw some cute Easter ideas for them that I may use later on.



I put a bunch of these bags around the place.

The pots of gold were really expensive! But at least I got the gold right?

Gotta represent the shamrock!

This is one of the several mugs that my grandpa used to drink out of. My grandma was giving them away so I grabbed them up. They are actually my favorite to drink out of.

Kendall and I went to dinner with our friends and hung out all afternoon and night. It was really fun.

His present to me!! :) Diamond earrings!

I'm a lucky girl.

Homeowners!

So...on my birthday Kendall and I found out that we were first in line and if we accepted the counteroffer by the bank, we got the house that we offered on a month ago....and we DID!

So now this puppy is all mine in 30 days or less!

It's 2307 Square feet, 4 Bedroom, 2 1/2 Bathrooms and we got a great deal on it (you know how the market is!)

Here are a few inside pictures but I'd really rather post more when I have pretty things inside to show you all hehe.

As you walk in...

The front room with wood flooring...

The somewhat eclectic kitchen...(granite countertops, tile backspalsh, stone-ish island)

Part of the Master Bathroom....

And part of the Backyard...

This is just a sneak peek...if you want more you'll either have to help us move in or come to my housewarming party! Hehe! :)

I am sooo excited. I have my notebook with all of my ideas and magazine cutouts and layouts for where to put what. I am a nerd but I love it and I can't wait- seriously can't wait until we get to move in!

YAY!

Spring Break

First of all, yay for Kendall being so smart and realizing that the charger for his blackberry can also fit into my camera! Now I can put pictures on this borrowed laptop for blogging instead of having to wait the weekend out until I get back to work (my sister's) to do it!

Anyways, this weekend started off rocky... I was disappointed that my spring break didn't include any trips or fun things to do. But I talked to my sister Liz on the phone and she told me what I already knew and then some. She also told me to throw myself into a project and maybe that will help me feel better. I heeded her advice and decided to use the giftcard to Joann's that my parents-in-law got me for my birthday (which is on Tuesday).

Before I get into this, can I just say how much my mood changes when I get out of the house??!! I veg and sit on the computer and do nothing (other than minor cleaning) at home all morning and it makes me crazy and tired. Yet, when I can finally get my lazy butt out of the shower and into the fresh air, I feel so much better it is ridiculous! Even just walking to the gas station for a soda (soooo bad) or just going to mail a letter, the simple act of being out changes how I feel about everything. I am more ambitious and optimistic. I really encourage everyone to take a break from your house or job or whatever is norm for you and go outside for a bit. It is so hard with our world becoming so technological, but none of the outside activities have gone away- they have just been pushed aside for video games and facebook. Kendall and I have both decided to be more active and go outside more- we went rollerblading last night :) and we are both determined to raise our future children to be active and to enjoy the outdoors.

Anyways, I spent almost my entire giftcard in one go but I got some acryllic paints that I have been needing and some brushes too. I'll save the rest of what I got for another post... :) Anyways, I got home, cleaned up, and set to work on my new magazine/craft holder :) I picked it up at Goodwill for $4 with Julia along with a candle holder for $3 and a potential necklace holder for $4. And just so you know, this really wasn't a big project by any means... just one that I wanted to do.

So here is the before picture:

and the messy space of craft stuff between the couch and love sac:

And here is the after!

And the new organized and not messy craft stuff:

Unfortunately I didn't get a before picture of my candle holder and necklace holder:

But here it is all finished with a candle on it:

I took some sandpaper to everything to distress it:

And for the final touch, my brother Tim and his wife Clarisa and their kids got me a beautiful bouquet of lavendar roses!

They are so beautiful and look amazing on my coffee table in my vases that I bought and used for my wedding reception.

So all in all, my spring break was not too shabby. I'm definately dreading going back to class this week....especially since I get to take an exam on my birthday- hooray.

New Project

My sister has no space for this rolltop dresser and is giving it to me :) I've been in need of a dresser to put all of my crafty projects in and I am so excited to make this my own. I'm going to paint it and get new handles/pulls.

The only dilemma that I am facing is what color to paint it. Right now I have dark wood everywhere, a red couch and orange pillows and throws. It may sound odd but it works for my living room:

I don't know which color to paint the dresser...Cream? Brown? Either way, I'm going to distress it.

I'm excited to work on it.

Cooking extravaganza

So this Sunday I felt like making some new recipies that I found on the Internet. I have to say, I was pretty impressed with how everything turned out considering that two of these recipies from random sites.
I made no bake cookies for the first time and they were reallllllyyy yummy. I ate half of them myself and gave the rest away.

I also made some homemade salsa. I got that recipie from my brother in law who got it from an old bishop he had back in phoenix. I've made it a few times and it is my favorite.

I tried out a new recipie for a corn and salsa tortilla soup. It was ok... I'll probably not make it again but Kendall and I ate a few bowls.

I found more flowers. These lillies were on sale at albertsons for $2.99 :)

I'm looking to try new recipies soooo if anyone has anything to recommend, I'm very appreciative!

My Closet

I was taking pictures of my apartment today. Today, because Kendall and I are looking/made an offer on a house and will soon be moving so I have taken the advice given to me to take pictures of our first apartment so that we can remember it forever. Today, because I spent most of my Saturday extra cleaning all of the nooks and crannies of the apartment and it's still relatively clean. Today, because I have been avoiding studying for my exam tonight at all costs.

Anyways, I took some pictures and decided to take a picture of my closet in its organized chaos. It is not only an eclectic mix of clothes from high school to now but also a mix of storage methods for my infinate amount of shoes and miscillaneous bits here and there. I have a coat rack, dresser, two shoe hanger pockets, and the rest of the normal closet space.

I know it may seem as though I have a lot lot lot of clothes....and I kindof do. However, I have this habit of falling in a out of clothing styles very quickly. The seasons also effect these different style moods but not to fear! I save the clothes that I no longer wear and let them collect in the very deepest back parts of the closet for however long it takes for me to like them again (or fit into them for that matter). Soooo, this explains why so many clothes linger around my closet and dresser area and makes me feel a lot better when I think about it.

My pictorials also reminded me of this little shabby dresser that I bought for $5 at a Goodwill of DI or something.

It was kind of weird smelling and had crunchy paper on the inside so I decided to line it with my old band music that I had from Junior High/High School and sprayed the inside out with body splash or whatever.

It's still pretty shabby because I'm pretty sure it's made out of cardboard but it gets the job done and I really like how it turned out.

So I know that my closet is such a fascinating subject but as you see, I am still avoiding studying for my exam at ALL COSTS.

Baby Blankie

So my sister Sarah is having her 5th baby girl within the next few weeks! I was at my sister in law Camille's house and saw a lion brand yarn magazine with a really cute crochet blanket in it. I decided that I was going to make it for Sarah and her new baby Margaret.

It took three big spurts of chrocheting. The first one was in the beginning of January, the second a week later, and the final one a few nights ago which went until about 3 a.m. because I came to realize that I kinda need to finish it before the baby is born! Haha Either way here is the finished project!

Another fun thing I am happy about is this pretty bouquet of roses that I found at Albertson's for 6.99 :)

Looks like they are trying to get rid of their overstocked inventory from Valentine's Day! I looove fresh flowers and I am going to try and keep them around my house from now on.

Hopefully I can keep my blogging up-- my laptop is officially broken and until it's fixed, i'll be uploading my pictures and blogging from my sister's house.