Bathroom Renovation.

I don't really mind our bathroom -- it could be better, but overall I am okay with it (which is saying a lot coming from me). However, it really bothers Justin because as he says "it has so much more potential." It didn't help that my mom (in a very nice way) agreed with him and said she noticed that it wasn't as nice as the rest of the house (or something to that effect).


I understand where they both are coming from, so we took advantage of Restoration Hardware's bath sale. Here is what we are thinking, as of right now:

Remove the massive mirror and replace with 3 framed mirrors (hence, the lovely blue painter's tape above). We purchased these beauties below from RH, but after seeing super cheap mirrors that we could frame out ourselves at Lowe's this weekend, I am motivated to save some money and see how they would turn out. We should be getting the RH mirrors later this week. So we will see. I am also slightly concerned it could look to "mirror-y." I don't want it to look odd with 3 mirrors, but our vanity is 10 feet long, so we really need something more than just 2 large mirrors. Any thoughts?

We also bought 4 scones to go on each end and in between the mirrors (where the painter's tape "hyphens" are). I always love the look of sconces in the bathroom -- very Divine Design-ish. And our bathroom is pretty terrible when it comes to lighting, so the sconces will be perfect.

My mom also sent the picture below as inspiration (thanks, mom!). I love it. They actually framed out a big wall mirror like we have with molding. We are looking into that option too, but could turn out to be just as expensive since it is something we would want a professional to do. But at least it gives me a good idea of the direction we are headed.

(photo: better homes and gardens)

While we are doing all of this in the bathroom, I have also had a change of heart about the paint color. I still like the blue, and it really helps make the bathroom not feel so massive, but I think I would rather have a more calming, spa-like feel. I love the gray color in the picture above (and have been thinking about Benjamin Moore's Silver Fox (gray) for the bedroom).

My special request in the bathroom is a chandelier over the bathtub, which isn't pictured above. I haven't found the perfect one yet. We need something smaller and in a silver/nickel finish with crystals. If you see anything that fits the bill, let me know.

It could be a while for the final product, especially since the sconces are on back order until June, but I will be sure to post pics of the progress and the spa-like after. And don't worry, we plan to leave my favorite part of the bathroom -- the mini-refrigerator.

Bathroom Counter.

WOW - is this the 3rd design/decorating post I've made recently?! Amazing. I do care about my house!!

A while back I picked up this mirrored tray at an antique store down the street from us. I walked out of the store without it, but couldn't stop thinking about it. I ran back up there later that day hoping it would still be there. It was, and for $20, I was thrilled.

It keeps all my frequently-used items somewhat more organized looking. I don't know why, but I am not one who likes opening cabinets for items I use everyday. The tray helps to keep things look a little cleaner and less cluttered than if they were strewn about on the vanity. (Side note: I think that is the first time I have ever spelled out the word "strewn." I kind of like it.)

I love the tray's lace-like edges. (No, I do not work at Kiehl's. Both me and Justin have a slight obsession with their products. And these are just the ones of mine that are displayed!)

We hosted a baby shower last fall for some friends, and I bought great little juice glasses to display flowers in during the shower. I never seemed to drink out of them, so I decided rather than keep them in the kitchen cabinet, I would use them to store my make up brushes. Now I can enjoy the cute glasses every day! And as an added bonus, my make up drawer doesn't get as messy with the loose powder.

Here are the tray and glass together on the vanity. I will have another post soon about our little renovation project in the bathroom! Exciting!

Breakfast Room.

We have recently made a few minor changes in our breakfast room (along our massive wall that has been a thorn in my side since we moved in). Thankfully, I love the way it has turned out. And, I appreciate Justin's patience through my indecisiveness (and his amazing picture hanging skills too).

We took a trip to Ikea, and I came across the lerberg bookshelf. For only $14.99, how could I pass it up?

It had to be the easiest Ikea product of all time to put together -- it didn't have 56 little pieces in the box, like most of their stuff. Surprisingly, it only took about 15 minutes to assemble.

Of course, our helper Riley, supervised the whole thing.

Here it is, with our cookbooks on it (instead of them taking up space in the pantry).

I have also been compiling recipes from our families to display in the kitchen. [Ignore the hole in the wall -- that was from a shelf that we hung during one of my first arrangements for the wall.] There are still 2 recipes I am missing, one of our recipes and the one from Justin's parents, but you get the idea.

There is a recipe of Justin's Mema's gooey butter bars, my mom's tasty pound cake recipe, and my Nana's banana pudding. I also have a strawberry angel food cake recipe from my other grandmother who passed away 2 years ago. I love being reminded of her handwriting. Frankly, it is nice seeing everyone's handwriting and recipes up there. They all carry such sentimenal value.

Here is my Nana's banana pudding recipe. Seriously folks, it is the best thing ever. Ever. We have officially renamed in "Naner Pudding" in honor of her.

Here is a portion of the wall with everything coming together (until I decide to change it, yet again). Kidding!

Stealth Tree Trimming.

Justin's new nickname is the "stealth tree trimmer." Our neighbor's tree branch has been hanging over our roof and rubbing on our gutter right by our bedroom and has been really bothering us when the wind blows.

We decided to take care of it today, or should I say tonight. By the time we got back from Lowe's with the tree trimmer and our massive trip to Ikea (which I will post about separately), it wasn't until 10:30 p.m. that Justin could trim the branch. Of course, I thought it prudent to wait until tomorrow, but Justin said he wasn't going to be bothered another night.

We are in a 3 story townhome and the branch was extremely high. To avoid drawing attention to his nighttime tree pruning, he turned off all the lights in our bedroom and hung out one of the windows with a 14' tree trimmer to cut back the branch. He was successful and will, for now, be known as the stealth tree trimmer. I was cracking up the entire time, but at least we will both sleep soundly tonight.

Memories: our fireplace.

When we first looked at our current house, we were horrified by the fireplace. It stuck out like a sore thumb and certainly did not jive with the feel of the rest of the house. Not deterred by a renovation project, Justin was willing to take on the task of redoing it.

Here it is when we first bought the house:

During the tear-down phase . . .

I was very impressed that Justin knew how to put up drywall (evidently he learned how on a mission trip when he was a freshman in high school):

Here we are testing out the granite with the mantel we ordered online:

Here's the final product:

Much better if you ask me!

Overwhelmed.

Add about 6 more binders, a glass of water, a bigger cup of coffee, and my computer . . . and this is me at work:

Costco.

I love Costco. It seems like we always walk away from there with items that were not on our list. Exhibit A -- a beverage tub. We will definitely get some use out of this (and we can return my mom's tub that we stole from her back in the fall for a baby shower we hosted).

My favorite part was the fine print on the label. 2 comments: (1) "Not for food use." Really? Like I was going to serve a massive amount of mac and cheese out of this thing; and (2) "Hand wash only." I would like to see the size of a dishwasher that this tub would fit in.


Exhibit B -- Martinelli's apple juice. I am not a big juice person at all, but this apple juice is the best. Last time I was at Costco, I picked up the individual serving size bottles, which are shaped like apples (fun!). This time, I couldn't resist the large jug of juice.

We ended up with a bunch of other fun items as well that I did not take pictures of (dried mango sliced, the largest pack of asparagus you have ever seen, about 1,000 clementines, a 52-pack of Tillamook cheese, frozen individual portion edamame bowls, etc.). All in all it was a very successful trip.

Ordering Tea.

I ordered Justin a sampler package of Revolution tea for Christmas, and he was a big fan. He was running low and decided to order some more online to replenish his assortment. I left him in charge of placing the order (with the only requirements that he order some of the lavender earl gray and chai tea).

Needless to say, I was a little shocked at the amount of tea that was delivered. 10 boxes of tea. That's right . . . 160 cups of tea. I think we are covered for quite some time.


He informed me there was free shipping if you ordered more than $50.00. So of course, he had to order at least that amount. At least tea doesn't expire quickly.

5 things . . .

5 things I am thankful for . . .

1. A successful surgery today for little Hudson. He is so precious!

2. The new small sized shakes at Chick-fil-A. It pains me to give them even a dollar after my little incident back in December, but I can't stay away from their waffle fries.

3. My niece (Amanda) and nephew (Andrew). Amanda recently taught the family cat how to eat breakfast the correct way at the kitchen island. How cute!


4. That the weekend is only 2 days away, even though I will have to work all of it. Working all weekend from home is at least better than working all weekend at the office.

5. Being busy at work. I have to keep reminding myself of this. Billing 230 hours per month is better than not having a job. (I literally tell myself this several times a day to keep myself from getting bummed out that I currently have no life outside of work).

Happy Easter.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter! What started out as a dreary rainy morning turned into a beautiful sunny day here.

(photo: martha stewart)

I am keeping my fingers crossed that I can get back into regular blogging soon. I have list sitting on my desk of all the blog posts I have in mind. Darn work for interfering with my life!

5 things . . .

5 completely random things . . .

1. A big thanks to Justin for "guest" blogging. Isn't he cute? Maybe I can convince him to make future guest appearances.

2. I hope to get back to regular blogging soon, but for the time being, things are nuts at work . . . so I make no promises (not that anyone was overly concerned).

3. I have a new addiction - Everyday Minerals. I have been using Bare Escentuals for the last few years, but heard about EM and had to try the free sample kit. I tried them out over the weekend and am very impressed. I like the make-up better than BE (stays on longer and I didn't get as oily during the day). And, the best part is, it is much cheaper than BE. Only bad thing is that you have to order online, but that's the beauty of the free samples to test them out first.

The brushes are amazing too! I also could spend tons of time on EM's forums figuring out which colors I should order next. I will do a full review of the make-up and brushes soon. Stay tuned!

4. We received our neighborhood's civic association newsletter yesterday and a picture of our house is definitely in the banner on the first page. Justin was also looking at their website and a picture of our house is also on the homepage. I think we should be getting royalty payments for this!

5. I was half-way watching Celebrity Apprentice last night and paused it numerous times to focus on work. It was about the time when they were heading into the boardroom when Riley decided to step on the remote and change the channel (I guess he is not a fan of the show). Because I hadn't set the show to record, but rather had just paused it, I missed the rest of the show. I am off to watch what I missed online.

Guest Post, The day of J

Today was an amazing day. So amazing it drove me to blog about it. I'll stick with Emily's theme of making a list. I like this format because it allows you to efficiently blog about several topics at once without having to deal with transitions from one topic to the next. Here goes my list:

1. The weather in Houston today was perfect. Cool in the morning, mid 60's in the afternoon and full sun. I walked out onto our second floor balcony several times to take it all in. I also spent a little bit of time working in the backyard and I took our dog on a 30 minute walk around the neighborhood. Emily and I went down the street to Westheimer (where it's antique shops and tattoo parlours) and we did a bit of "antiquing" (I acknowledge there is no verb form of "antique" and sounds ridiculous, but I like making fun of the English language).

2. Today was also a funny day. Emily was laughing at me all day. I'm glad because she's really needed some moments to take her mind off of work. She reminded me that she had sent me an email yesterday (it was a very sweet email and I really appreciated it) and in it she told me, "I love you." However, I responded with a very sincere, "Thank you for the sweet email" but I didn't include anything like, "I love you too." She was giving me a hard time about it and instead of telling her, "I love you" as she expected, I replied with "I usually do" as in "I usually do remember to include an 'I love you' back." She immediately acted upset and I seized the opportunity by saying, "I usually do love you."

3. Another one that Emily got a good laugh from: We were planning a trip to Target today and she said she needed some comfortable pants to wear to the doctor on Friday. Let me stop and give you a quick background here. I have a habit of naming several of Emily's pants based on their function or some defining feature. It's my way of making fun of them. For example, I have given the following names to various pairs of Emily's pants: rectangle pants, yoga pants (she didn't use them for yoga, but apparently that's what they are supposed to be used for), gaucho pants (baggy knit pants that she likes to relax around the house in), lounging pants (really pajama pants, but today I re-branded them work pants because she was going to work a lot today while wearing them). So when I learned that Emily wanted a pair of pants to wear to her Dr. appointment for an SI joint injection, I started calling the pants "injection pants". I will never call them anything else but "injection pants."

4. Third thing Emily insisted I blog about: On our garage wall I hung a holder for garden tools, brooms and other items that have long handles. When we arrived home from Target I showed it off to Emily by adding an old floor lamp to the other items that it was holding. So our garden tool/broom holder is holding a shovel, a rake, a broom, a mop, and a floor lamp.

5. The fourth Emily request: I noticed a really tall weed (about 3 feet tall) next to the car when we were unloading the car from Target. So I went and grabbed the gloves that I had just bought today at Southland's a hardware store that is in our neighborhood. An aside here, Emily for the longest time called it Southwell's which is a hamburger joint around town and she now calls it by the wrong name on purpose just to annoy me. I put one on (they were still attached together and I could only get one on) and pulled the weed out. Emily thought the gloves looked goofy. I told her that the weed looked like radicchio and she laughed at my incorrect pronunciation. I said, "whatever it is, it's ridiculous."

Emily thinks I was extra funny today. Of course most of these are "you just had to be there" or funnier because of the inside jokes we have. Most of all though, I don't think it is a coincidence that she thinks I was extra funny at the end of a week where she worked over 70 hours.

Emily begged me to blog today and I'm glad that I filled the space for her while she is busy working. I know the jokes are lame; I'm just glad no one reads this blog. Zing!

Sandra Lee & Camping.

I happened to catch an episode of Semi-Homemade Cooking with Sandra Lee. I haven't seen this show in forever, mainly because it is just too ridiculous to watch. I like the concept of using certain store-bought items to assist in making homemade dishes, but Sandra is over the top. Between her "cocktail time," coordinating kitchen and outfits, and her crazy tablescapes, I couldn't watch anymore.


Today's episode was on the background while I was working. It was Sandra cooking while camping (recipes available here). My interest was piqued because Justin has been wanting us to go camping for a while, so I thought I might be able to get some good ideas. Boy was I in for a real treat.

Needless to say, I won't be making any of her recipes featured on today's show. I wasn't paying close attention to most of them, but I did tune in for her dessert, which for some reason is not listed on Food Network's website. I had enough when she busted out caramel sauce, vanilla extract, and cinnamon (or according to her, you could use pumpkin spice). Are you serious?! I am not camping pro, but I am pretty darn sure vanilla extract and cinnamon (or pumpkin spice) would not be even close to being on my list of items to bring. Not to mention the 20 rolls of foil she went through for all of her dishes.

And not deterred by being outdoors, Sandra still whipped up one of her tablescapes. Despite her saying it was "simple," it most certainly was not. She lost me when she used bark from off a tree as a vase for her hydrangeas. Oh right, hydrangeas were also on the top of my items-to-bring-camping list. I am not even going to discuss "cocktail time" where she made something called "risky whiskey." I wish I was joking.

Once we go camping, I will report back on how it went, but I am positive it will not involve a tablescape, multiple rolls of foil, vanilla extract, or cinnamon.

5 things . . .

5 things I am thankful for . . .

1. Having sunny warm weather here the past few days. My sunroof has enjoyed being open for the first time in a while!

2. Frederic Fekkai Salon Glaze Clear Shine Rinse.

3. Catching one of my favorite episode of Seinfeld --The Millennium. I love it when Kramer, after breaking the pricing gun, has to resort to "Plan B," which is removing the desiccants from clothing at a store.


4. Kiehl's Creamy Eye Treatment with Avocado. This stuff is great. It goes from thick cream to a liquid. A little tip from the lady at Kiehl's -- to get the best application, you have to rub it between your fingers first, and then when it starts breaking down, you apply it to your eyes.
5. Having fun comparing my NCAA bracket with Justin's. I have always been competitive, and it has been exciting checking in on some of the scores. But darn Purdue and Wisconsin! And despite Texas' lost to Duke tonight, it was a great game to watch.

Today's Important Meeting.

Our group received an e-mail from our boss this morning asking us to come down to his office for a meeting. Things have been a little tense around the office recently with all the law firm layoff news, so I always get a little scared when I see an e-mail calling for an unexpected meeting with the boss.

We all get down there (of course, I have my paper and pen), and he says "this is a very important meeting." Again, I am a little worried about what is about to happen. He then gets up and passes around NCAA brackets and tells us to fill them out by noon.


What a relief! We all had fun filling out our brackets this morning. Too bad I left my picks on my desk and can't see how well I am doing so far tonight.