Odds & Ends

How is it March already?!?  My poor little blog has been severely neglected, as have many of the projects on my "to-do" list, as of late.  Here are a few updates on what has been happening in my neck of the woods:

1.  I just completed a pretty big project at my day time job. Exciting, but very, very time consuming.

2.  It is finally spring here in Austin.  Bluebonnets are popping up along the highway, and are yard is now full of weeds.  Last summer's heat + no rain = weed heaven.  Thus, our yard is a perpetual work in progress, with weekly dates of pulling weeds.  Spring + Fall are my absolute favorite seasons.

3.  I am trying really hard to restrain from buying this fabric in every single color scheme:

via St. Louis Folk Victorian

4. Our coffee table finally arrived and I LOVE it!!!  (And so does my husband- yay).  I'm going to wait to post photos until our old coffee/end table set gets picked up, and I finish updating the vintage end tables I scored.  Unfortunately, the table update may take a while with all the rain we have been getting (not the best time to stain/paint furniture outside :P ). 

5.  In five months, I will be turning 30.  I am very much looking forward to my thirties.  Time to start the planning!

What have you been up to?

Odds & Ends

Odds & Ends

1. Last week was really rough. And stressful. I'm hoping this week will be better. Please, please, please?!?
2. My Oso bear was attacked by our neighbor's Boxer. There were a few moments when I thought he was dead. He was on the other side of our fence, in our neighbor's yard, and there was nothing I could do for him, except yell. It was the scariest thing ever. Thank GOD he is O.K. and recovering.
3. Yes, my dogs are my babies.
4. I purchased two matching Mersman side tables on craigslist two weeks ago.  One will have a new home in our living room.  The other may go upstairs in our spare bedroom.  As much as I hate painting wood, I will probably paint them a high gloss white or black. I think.

my new-to-me end tables via Thou Shall Craigslist

Similar side table with a fresh coat of paint:

via Sand & Sisal

5.  I think I'm just going to stick with the west elm coffee table. Once it arrives, I'll make a final decision on how I should refinish the end tables.
6. I'm working on a few sewing/crafting projects, but, unfortunately, I won't be able to share until they go out to their recipients :)

Happy Monday!  I hope you all have a wonderful, stress-free week!

Odds & Ends

Odds & Ends

1.  I saw the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo last night.  It was so, so good.  It followed the book pretty closely (I hate when the movie doesn't follow the book at all!).  And the acting- omg the acting!  Rooney Mara is awesome and may be my favorite actress now.

2.  Kingsley has an ear infection.  Poor baby :(  He will be going to the vet on Friday.  Maybe I can convince them to clip his Freddy Krueger nails while he's there, hmm.....

3. Five days 'til Christmas and I still have baking, shopping, cooking to do.  And send out some holiday cards. Aghhh!

4. Item 3 has me exhausted.  All I want to do is curl up on the sofa with a good episode of MI-5 (I'm hooked) and some coffee.

5.  I really wanted to do some recap posts of the last year, but I'm exhausted (see items 3 & 4).  Thus, it may or may not happen.


Happy Wednesday all!

Odds & Ends

Odds & Ends

1. I've been neglecting this blog because of the craziness that comes with the upcoming holidays. I can't believe it's already the end of November!!

2. Husband and I are hosting a smallish Thanksgiving dinner with our parents and siblings this year. It will be our first real dinner party and I am so excited!

3. To prepare for said dinner, decoration making has been in full force around these parts. Supplies include velvet, pumpkin stems, foam pumpkins, glitter, burlap, leaves, more glitter. I think I'm close to wrapping up the decor (with only a week before Turkey day, I hope so!)... so that means an upcoming blog post w/ tutorials should appear soon :)

via Nest of Posies on Pinterest

4. Husband and I have been in disagreement about having the basset hound on the sofa. At first I was against it, but with the cooler weather I've changed my mind (I feel bad once he gets up there, he looks so warm and comfortable). Husband's argument is that it is a control issue. Not letting them on the sofa means that we are in control.  Thoughts?  Do you allow pets on your furniture?

5. Harry Potter Lego (years 5-7).  Enough said.

Odds & Ends

Odds & Ends

1.  It almost rained this weekend at our house. Almost.  I was terribly sad that it didn't.  I love the rain!

2.  The downstairs bathroom reno is almost complete.  After two weeks of work and two season of the Vampire Diaries (which I have to admit, I loved- does anyone else watch this??).  Hopefully I'll be able to post some pictures later this week of a completed project.  Here is a hint as to why it has taken me so long to finish:

via Jones Design Company

3.  Two of my favorite boys {Husband + Kingsley} celebrated birthdays this weekend.  Though husband worked on a paper for most of the weekend and I worked on the bathroom.  We did manage to leave the house Saturday to watch the game and enjoy dinner with my in-laws.

4.  Kingsley enjoyed his birthday by playing with his new favorite toy, which I discovered on Laura's blog:

As of today, it has lived up to it's reputation of being indestructible.  We shall see if it lasts another week!

Hope everyone has a great Monday!

Odds & Ends

Odds & Ends

1. As I'm sure many of you have heard, we've been battling fires around Austin this weekend.  Primarily northwest and east of Austin (the one near Bastrop is still 0% contained).  It is really scary to see and smell the smoke from a blaze nearly thirty miles away.  If you are interested in helping, go here or here- nearly 600 homes in Bastrop alone were destroyed :(

Bastrop Fire :(

2.  Speaking of fires, this weekend my husband kept freaking me out with questions like what would you take if we needed to leave? if there was a fire?  Um isn't that supposed to be a theoretical question?  But it was so real to many, many people this weekend.  It has definitely made me rethink (once again) about all of the things in our house.  Things that could be gone in an instant.  Things that we may or may not miss. 

3.  Part of our fence fell over Sunday morning.  (OMG it was windy)  Which means, at the moment, that we are sharing a yard with our neighbors, and (of course) the dogs are having a grand time enjoying the extra space and company.  It also means that most of Monday was spent digging up fence posts and cementing in new ones.  Thank goodness it was cooler!

4.  Speaking of cool, today is a big day:

Pumpkin Spice is back!!!  This means fall is officially here, right?  So I can start decorating?  Lets hope the cool weather sticks around for a while, so it actually feels like fall too :)

Odds & Ends

Odds & Ends

1.  My husband and I just started watching Breaking Bad (AMC) and we are hooked.  I think I actually like it better than this season's True Blood.

2.  Item 1 has resulted in getting little done around the house.  We still have two more seasons to get through people!

3.  In an attempt to reorganize my craft room (and hopefully sew more), I ordered these boards after seeing Maggie's organized fabric yardage:

via Smashed Peas & Carrots

I am a little anxious to get this room organized because I am constantly unable to find items I need.  It is seriously a disaster area, my husband can (and will) attest to this.  Maybe I'll post some pre-organization pictures, *maybe*.

4.  We had a bit of a scare with the Oso dog.  He has been drinking a ton of water lately, and last week he started waking us up in the middle of the night (whining) because he wants water.  The vet sounded really certain that the excessive water drinking was related to either kidney problems or diabetes.  However, we found out yesterday that the blood work they ran looks really good.  So for now, they are going to treat him for a UTI and see how he responds.

Old Bear

5.  The heat here is pretty unbearable.  I find myself so exhausted after the drive home from work (it's only 30 minutes in an air-conditioned car, but the sun takes every ounce of energy out of me).  We spend most of our time inside and I feel like I'm getting cabin fever.  This past weekend we installed window tint on the windows in our kitchen (they face west and are BRUTAL in the afternoon).  I wish we would have thought to do this sooner because it is amazing.  Our kitchen is no longer a sauna after 3 p.m. :)  I may actually be motivated enough to cook dinner now.

Odds & Ends