Snap Shots of August...

One of our glorious sunsets (looking out from our picture window in our kitchen)...






Rob chillin' on his port-a-ledge (babe did I spell that correctly?)

Chopped my hair :).

Enjoying the Veggies of our Labor...

The New Addition to our Home:

(We sold our microwave at our garage sale. So far so good, I might regret this decision later, but trying to keep our health in mind.)

Remember...

Your wedding day? 

 I am getting ready for a garage sale in a couple of weeks and cleaning out closets.  It has been great fun to get rid of stuff and also to find that one item that floods your memory with memories.  

I had my wedding dress hanging up in our guest bedroom closet, and pulled it out.  I started to hastily pull out items that need to go in the garage sale pile, when I stopped.  I went back to the day that I married the man I love.  I put it on.... a flood of memories and emotions...I remembered my sister holding my hand during the moment reality hit me... "I was getting married today!"  She has always been there for me. Remember picking out the dress and admiring it as it hung on the hanger.  Seeing him for the first time that day... he looked SOOO handsome and joy filled my heart.  I Remember my precious bridesmaids helping me put my dress on,  then buttoning all 50 pearl buttons laughing that "he will have fun getting these undone tonight".  I remember my guests and thanking them for attending and being a witness of the best day of my life.  I remember dancing and not wanting to leave the party, but my husband saying "Let's go".   The limo, the cookie dough, the toast, our first dance, and I never want to forget.  Sure, sure, it's been 10.5 months; but I don't ever want these memories to fade.  

As I stood there in front of the mirror, a stream of tears rolled down my cheek as I remembered.  Then a smile lit up my face as I have fallen deeper in love with my husband, than the day that I married him.

Randomly, put your wedding dress on and just live in the moment.  It was well worth the time to break up the task mode and just... remember.  

The Creative Room

Several months ago, I received this urgency to create a space for me. Space to paint, start going through boxes that are scattered throughout our basement from being a single, start organizing recipes, pictures, and hopefully photography; but the best part is I can leave the project behind, shut the door, and come back and work on it in increments.

As I surveyed the basement, I recognize that there is a lot of space that is available it is just UGLY! We have 70's green carpet throughout the main room, cement floors everywhere else, wood panelling makes up the majority of the walls, foundational solid... cosmetically needy.

I asked my husband if I could take the bottom room and make it my creative room. My personal budget was less then $500 to transform the room. He agreed to the idea, with some doubt of the finished projected, but humored me enough to go along with my idea.

Here are some pictures at the beginning stages:

At this point, I had primed the walls, and my husband marked out the strips for the eastern wall. I then went to the paint store and purchased "oops" paint, which is $3/gallon. I bought a green and brown, but then actually matched a pink accent.

Notice the ceiling tiles? We debated whether or not to cover, pull out, or leave alone because we were unsure whether or not we'd be dealing with asbestos in the tiles, being that our house was built in the 1940's. Our neighbor down the street has the same ceiling tiles and they just repainted it and it looked great~ so we spent $20 on ceiling paint, $30 on a new light fixture.

Last but not least, trim. I painted over the wood trim with the trim paint used on the rest of the house. We looked around at remnant carpet pieces for the floor, but found that it was cheaper to purchase a new piece at Lowe's and then we paid for someone to install it.

The corner desk I bought at a garage sale for $10.

Total cost of the makeover: $350

Here is the after pictures.

(See the green carpet, wood panel, and boxes that sit through the doorway... this is why I needed a room to start putting things away=).

Now we just have to nail down the rest of the trim and put up curtains... and let the creativeness flow!

My husband loves the way this room turned out, that he now wants his "own creative room". I guess there will be more pictures to come of our basement transformation. So Fun!