Week 31

31 weeks.  

I wish I could say it was happier.  A student at my school passed away unexpectedly from a brain aneurysm.  She was only 14.  Death and dying are enough to deal with as an adult, but try explaining it and being the strong one for a class full of kids wondering why their classmate died.  Will I have to explain this to my own kids someday? I certainly hope not.

Too young, too soon.

The insomnia is also back with a vengeance. I think there were a couple times this week that I woke at 2:30 and couldn't get back to sleep.  Perhaps it's Mini Meyer preparing me for months of sleeplessness.

On a high note, my boyfriend finally conceded to getting a "new" car for himself. He's been driving his '95 Accord since we met in high school. The Red Baron, as I call I, has been to the moon in mileage and hasn't had working AC for a long time. Most concerning was that it was two-door, meaning it would be a huge pain getting Mini in and out.

Here it is!  I'll have to come up with a name for it. It's an '03 Accord. Still stick shift, meaning I don't know how to drive it (sometimes I think that's why he likes manuals so much.) It has four doors(!) and has been very well maintained.  We also paid in cash so we got a great deal.  Overall it's a vast improvement from the last car and we both feel much better about carting our miniature beloved around in it.

Arty Mood

Lately, I've been feeling an itch to incorporate more art into our home.  The problem?  Art is expensive! Thank goodness for places like Etsy that allow us common folks to buy cheapish prints.  However, you still have to figure that shipping and frames will cost extra.  In short, more moola.  

So, I've been trying to use some of my favorite prints and pieces as inspiration to create my own art.

Inspiration 1: Pinterest collection of Etsy art.  Specifically number 3 and 8.

Results:  I think they turned out pretty good for my first attempt at painting since my high school Fundamentals of Art II class.  Method: I eye-balled the originals then used craft paper, cheap canvas, and acrylic paint from Michael's. These are currently residing in the kitchen, but I'm not sure they'll stay.  I have hopes of doing an art gallery wall, but I'm not sure where at this point.

Inspiration 2: More Etsy art.  The "&" sign specifically.  It spoke to me. (Definitely in love with the sky scene too, though!)

Results.  I traced a wooden ampersand that I had then played around with different sizes on the copy machine.  Also, I changed the colors since gold is my current jam.  This lovely is residing in the guest bathroom.

No inspiration pic here.  This glass orb needed some spiffing, so I used a gold (more gold!) paint pen to edge the top.  Instant improvement and super easy.

What art projects have you been doing around your house lately?

About and Around: Rocket Century

Over the weekend, one of my best gal pals and I visited several mid-century modern thrift shops in our area.  I LOVE LOVE LOVED Rocket Century!  Read: I wanted to buy EVERYTHING.  While it wasn't the largest of shops, they had a great mix of mid-century furniture and accessories.  The owners were also super nice and easy to talk to.  In addition to having (and frequently updating) their Facebook page, the website is user-friendly and actually shows current pricing and sales.  Overall, this place gets five stars in my book!

So did I show restraint or go nuts with my purchases?  Remember, I do still have a baby room to finish people.  I practiced major self-control and walked away with just a couple of accessories.  

Purchase numero uno: this fancy brass magazine rack.  I liked the design and we didn't have a magazine rack.  It will be a nice landing place for all of my catalogs and Eric's flying mags. Bonus:  it's a shiny bling for our stone fireplace.  

(The airplane picture was also a purchase from this adventure, but from a different store. It's a United DC-3.  Obviously, it was for my boyfriend.)

Purchase 2: a fancy brass candelabra.  It's a little difficult to see in this picture, but the shape is really funky.  I dug it. Plus, how cool does it look with my brass/gold sunburst mirror and avacado green lamps?!  I do still need to get around to getting some candles to put in it. Another reason the owner was awesome?  When I asked if candles actually fit, she busted out a candle to test it out for me. 

Now if money were no object, I would have come home with these beauties:

This piece NEEDS to be in my life.  It's also on sale!  I'm really trying hard to talk my boyfriend into getting this.  Having this credenza would allow us to store our china, good silver, and bar ware that in turn would free up room in our kitchen for all the baby bottles coming in the near future.

Mr. Creamy Mc-Dreamy bench would be an excellent addition to our house also.  I see it as a good piece to have in our non-existent entryway.  

The least likely of pieces to pull the trigger on would be these chairs.  The shape of the backs are so cool.  But it would leave us with two chairs too few.  And they cost a lot of money.  But man, they are so pretty.

Thanks so much Rocket Century for an enjoyable Saturday afternoon.  I give you an A+!

Life Lately

Life Lately: Happy Easter everyone!

Dress Up The Dresser

Our dresser project is finally complete and I'm super pumped with how it turned out!  I can only take credit for being the brains behind the operation.  My darling boyfriend executed the project magnificently!

Here's what the dresser looked like when we started.  It was just your basic 50's/60's pine dresser.  We acquired this from Eric's grandma when she moved houses a couple years back.  There was nothing wrong with it, but I really wanted a fun conversation piece for the room. 

I posted this picture on Facebook during spring break.  Eric gave the whole thing a good sanding.  

Then came a coat of tinted primer,

some bold orange paint,  

and finally the coolest part of the whole project...the knobs!

(I still haven't hung any of his art, which is why it's all sitting on the dresser.  I figure I ought to wait until all of the furniture is in.  The "Love You Forever" art idea was taken from Young House Love and I painted the arrow art using a Martha Stewart stencil.) 

I got the idea from this post on Pinterest and asked Eric if it would be possible to 1. find this many valve handles and 2. use them safely as handles.  After a bit of research, we figured out that if we sprayed them with a clear protective coat we could check off number 2.   

Collecting all of the handles took quite a bit longer then we expected.  The pinterest listing from Etsy was no longer available, so we had been acquiring them slowly from our heating and cooling guy.  My father-in-law found a listing for valve handles on eBay and helped  us round out our collection.  Special thanks to him!

We are so pleased that we were able to make something special for Mini Meyer's nursery that is one-of-a-kind just for him.  Stay tuned for more nursery updates!

Week 29 and Feelin'...

Tired!

Last Week's Bump Update

Excuse my lateness, as today I've entered the third trimester and this is last week's 27 Week Update!  The picture quality also doesn't seem to be as good this week for some reason...

27-Last week of second trimester!  I hear it mostly goes downhill from here, but for now I'm feeling great!