IT'S ALMOST THAT TIME!

It's almost here! The Salt Lake Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure is next month in Salt Lake. I'm way excited! I love the Race for the Cure! It's always a pretty emotional time for me to see all those wonderful, strong ladies proudly showing off their pink survivor shirts. Even better? Seeing my mom in one. So, if you've never entered the race before, please do so. It's a lot of fun and for a REALLY great cause. I'm hoping this year I can get my sis-in-laws down there with me. What do you think Mist & Tara? You up for it?

EASTER WEEKEND & MUSE

We held another annual girls nite while the guys went to the Priesthood Session of Conference. I actually had completely forgotten about it until my sis-in-law called me Saturday morning to see if we were going to get together. Usually we try and do a craft, but with so much going on last weekend we just got together, had dinner, watched movies and just had fun being together. The bub's little sister and her family came down from Idaho and spent Saturday with us. Britt was trying to get her little boy to take a nap and ended up falling asleep herself!Sorry Britt, I thought the picture was too cute not to post! Of course, this is about the only pic I took. My camera ended up dying and I couldn't find the charger. My nieces brought out eggs and dye to color Easter eggs which was hilarious. They got six eggs each and decided to make the best of it. They were continuously putting the eggs in the different colors. Some of the colors turned out pretty good....others, not so much. Overall I think everyone had fun, at least I hope they did! Sorry Britt if we were a bit too much for you! When we're all together we tend to get a little loud! On Monday night we headed down to the E-Center in Salt Lake to go to a concert I've been waiting for FOREVER! I LOVE Muse! I know a lot of people haven't heard of them (well, actually a lot of Twilight fans probably have! In fact, while waiting for the show to being the bubs and I were talking and I was asking him how many "fans" he thought were there just because of Twilight!) I bought the tickets last November (I think) and have been counting down the days. Silversun Pickups opened for them and did a great job. I only knew about two of the songs on the playlist and they were kinda loud, but were a lot of fun to see. Muse was AWESOME! They were probably hands down the best concert I've been too and we've been to quite a lot! I forgot the camera (big surprise) but my phone did an awesome jobs of getting some pics. I tried to video some of the songs (Supermassive Black Hole for all the Twilighters) but the sound SUCKS and you can't even understand any of it. So, you'll just have to be content with the pics!

(Silversun Pickups)(MUSE)


Overall it was a great night! Even if we did get stuck in a massive snow storm on the way home!

MY NEWEST PROJECT

Currently our computer sits in our family room looking like this:Downstairs we have an extra bedroom that I was going to turn into an office/craft room. However, it's not wired for the Internet which is a kinda big deal. So, the computer has been sitting upstairs driving me CRAZY! I've been looking for something to house our computer because although Alan said he would wire downstairs, I'm not sure when it will actually get done! Our friends happened to be selling this little beauty and as soon as I saw it I jumped on it!
Off to Lowe's I went to pick up paint. I had a general idea of what I wanted...it had the cream base, so I thought I would crackle it and add a black top coat. However, our other furniture in the family room is a deep chocolate almost brown color. I thought I had matched up the color pretty well and happily painted away. I even kinda liked the look, though the color was NOT what I thought it would turn out like.
That was, until I got it inside. The crackle paint calls for a top coat that is flat instead of a gloss or semi-gloss. So, the poor little thing is SOOO dull looking next too our other furniture. Ugh! Back to Lowe's I went. The helpful paint worker said I should spray paint a clear gloss to the top which should help out. Guess what? Not so much. I still think it's kind of dull. Do I like the overall look? Yes. Do I like the color? No. I should have just stuck with my initial color of black. But, it's the first time I've worked with the crackle paint and I wasn't sure what to expect. So, I think I'll probably sand it down and then start all over again. This time with a black paint in a semi-gloss. Oh well, you live and learn, right?

HAPPY EASTER TO ALL MY PEEPS!

I found these cute toppers that you could download and thought they would be perfect for the office. I can't remember exactly what blog they were on (so I can't give credit), but they were super easy (especially when a printing company prints AND cuts them out) and SOOO cute!
(Sorry about the weird color of the pic on this one!)
Hope everyone has a great Easter weekend!

REAL MEN WEAR CHERRIES!

Today is bread making day! For some reason the bubs is REALLY into making Amish Friendship bread lately. He came into the room to hand me the phone this afternoon and was sporting my apron. I don't know....I really think the cherries bring out his eyes, don't you?

THE END OF AN ERA

This picture is bittersweet. These are my cute "layoff loser" friends from work (a name I dubbed us). Tomorrow is going to be the last day for some of our layoff group, so we decided to go to lunch to celebrate the end of an era. It was actually a lot of fun. We went to Z'Tejas down at the Gateway Mall in Salt Lake. After a very yummy lunch we walked around, window shopped and then finished the afternoon with some chocolate covered strawberries. I'm going to miss this group a lot. My mom and I were talking about it the other day and she said it the best. It sucks when life has to change. It really does. I'm sure going to miss these gals. I'm REALLY going to miss these two super sweet people:I love these two. We've been friends now for four years. We've eaten lunch together almost every day. We've shopped together. Commiserated together. Laughed together. Cried together. Okay, now I'm making myself cry. Thanks you guys for being so great. I really do love you and am going to MISS YOU GUYS LIKE CRAZY!

STRESS

I don't know about anyone else, but sometimes I just don't handle stress very well. When I'm stressed, I like to eat.a.lot. Not the good stuff either. The worse the stress, the more pasta, candy and bread products sound REALLY good! This past week was pretty bad. There's been a lot going on lately and everything came to a head on Friday. So, I ended up taking a half day and going to lunch with the bubs. I started out the week doing REALLY good on my fertility diet and by the end of the week I was drinking coke (it was diet!) and eating crap. I'm also kinda bummed because I wanted to start going back to the gym in the morning this week. But, with daylight savings, it might a full week for my body to get used to the time change. I'm hoping this week will be a little better because I'm tired of just about everything right now. So, here's my question to you. How do you handle stress? Without stuffing your face, I mean? Oh, I'm also really bad about shopping when I'm stressed. For some reason spending money (especially on crafts and decor) makes me feel a TON better! Maybe that's why I decided to completely change the kitchen this weekend???? On the plus side, I'm really digging the new orange happy color in the kitchen and our bedroom is pretty much done (see previous post).!

ASK AND YE SHALL RECEIVE.....

I've had a couple of requests for a tour of the master bedroom. As I'm almost to the point where I'm done with it (well, at least for now. I might get bored in a little bit and completely change it up!) I thought I would show you what I've done. First, the before (when we first moved in, so please excuse the absolute chaos):
When we first looked at the house, I HATED the color in the master bedroom. It's a blue with gray undertones which I thought was really cold. Of course the bubs loved it. So, we compromised. I started looking around and decided I would go with a warm cream and then accent with a chocolate brown to warm up the color. I can honestly say this room is now one of my absolute favorites. It's really relaxing and soothing. I found this at a vintage discount store and fell in lurve with it. Once I had it in the room and decorated, I couldn't decide what to do with the other side. My mom was actually the one who suggested a reading nook since I love reading so much and have never really had a "spot." She's so smart!
The previous owners actually had a tv mounted to the wall where the picture now is. I have no desire for a tv in our room. In fact, every marriage book and marriage guru I've ever heard speak specifically says NOT to have one. But, I needed something to cover up the big hole in the wall. After wandering around the D.I. for a couple of weeks I scored a picture with flowers on it. I scrapbooked over the flowers and then added pictures of us. I then found the frame and H, changed the look with some spray paint and then added the vinyl. I fell in love with the quote and wanted it somewhere in the room. The tray, clock and wooden box all came from the D.I. I spray painted the tray and then added scrapbook paper in blues. I was going to put it in the bathroom but thought it looked cute with the candle and all the perfumes. The clock was a hideous mustard color with a boring face, so of course that had to go! A little spray paint and blue scrapbook paper and it's officially "room ready." Finally, an overall look. I think the most expensive things in the room are the bedspread and the picture above the bed. I found the picture at Tai Pan....it was on sale and then I also had a coupon, WAHOO! The bedspread is from Kohls. It was REALLY hard finding something I liked in colors to match the room. I still don't love the bedspread, but it will do for now (until I can find something I REALLY like)Of course there is more I want to do. I want a new (king size) bedroom set and I'm eventually going to re-do the hope chest sitting at the end of the bed. I'm going to paint it with a chocolate base and then add a cream crackle. But, all that will come in time. My next goal is to get the mater bath,laundry room and craft room painted. We just picked the colors and I've already got all the decor. Thanks for stopping by and hope you enjoyed the tour!

FERTILITY R' US

Before I start into this post, I want to thank everyone who posted some great advice on my hair (I've used a lot of it!) Also, sorry, but I'm not going to be posting any pics anytime soon! I've actually decided I'm kinda diggin' it now (probably because it's calmed down!) I've been told a couple of times I kind of look like a 70's child (I also have "rocket red" streaks in it), so I've decided to channel my inner 70's goddess and roll with it! Anyway, on to the real post! As everything is up in the air right now job wise, I've decided to go another way in regards to fertility right now (as we all know, fertility is NOT cheap!) On the advice from a co-worker, I purchased the following book: I've just started reading it but have to laugh because it has a lot of duh's in it (duh, as in just basic common sense). It's funny because the book basically states that fertility boils down to eating right, exercise, and maintaining a healthy weight. Wait a minute....isn't that the word of wisdom? So, until the dust settles job wise (and more importantly, finance wise) I'll be trying it the old fashioned way (that kinda came out the wrong way!) This is actually really good for me....I've needed some motivation for a while and I think this just might be it! On a side note, I'm kinda excited. Both the bubs and I have decided to go back to school. The bubs will be majoring in music performance (he wants to get on with the Philharmonic Orchestra in London) while I've struggled with what I want to be when I grown up. Well, I've finally come to a conclusion and while it scares me, I also feel really good about it. I've decided to double major in business and finance and minor in accounting. Now it's getting up to the school and getting enrolled, I'm so freakin' nervous!

ODE TO MY FRIZZY HAIR.....

So, right now, my hair pretty much looks like this. Why? Because I got me a perm. Yup, that's right, a perm. I know what you're thinking....why? Well, my hair is getting to the point where it's pretty long. It's.also.stick.straight. It doesn't matter how many hours (yes, HOURS!) I spend curling it, it will seriously fall ten minutes later. So, I went to my hair dresser and asked for a perm (it was either a cut, a color or a perm. For something new, I went with the perm). We had to set up another appointment for the big event as she didn't have any solution on hand (seeing as how perm's aren't REALLY the big thing right now - in fact, I think the last time I actually got a perm was the late 80's!) I completely forgot about how much perms hurt, and suck, and smell, and take forever, and.....we'll, you get the idea, right? So, because my hair rocks and seemed to take really well (we used the really loose big rods, I had no desire to pull the whole poodle look by using the smaller rods) it's completely frizzy looking right now and HUGE (especially when I brush it out! Yikes!) I have to wait a couple more days before I can wash it and then hopefully the beast will be tamed.....hopefully.
P.S. Note to self: Never perm your hair AGAIN!!!