Europe anyone?

Bought my tickets to London yesterday!!! My dad's sister lives in Naples, Italy at the moment and so my mom, my aunt & I are going to meet her in London and spend a week in England/Wales!! And then we're flying from London to Naples and spending a week in Italy!! I am so excited! I wish it was tomorrow :) But I will admit that I'm having lots of fun taking time to read about places over there, and to do some extensive research. Anticipation is part of the fun, right? :)

Ikea Prints

I got these prints at Ikea last weekend...($12 for all 3)...and paid $6 for the 16x20 canvases. Used spray adhesive to attach them and WALA!

Hung on the other side of the TV from the clock. My completely blank BORING living room wall now has two beautiful things :)

Sunday morning fix

Well...the clock & magazine rack were bugging me all night! :) Yes, I'm weird like that. So Sunday morning I woke up and went straight to the living room to fix it! Now...

The clock is on the large living room wall...above the couch. On a wall thats darker than the original place. Which makes the cream clock stand out better anyway :)
And the magazine rack is still by the door...but with a white frame above it. Makes me feel lots better about the two whites together, and the frame is a much better size for that space.

So for now, thats the finished product!

My Saturday project

So...I have this nightstand (really, its a magazine rack) that I've used in my room as long as I can remember. Mom & Dad let me take it when I moved out. Well it's white (used to be pink :)), and a different style then the rest of my bedroom now that I actually have bedroom furniture. So, I've been looking for something that would work better as a nightstand...but didn't want to pay the $259 for the nightstand that matches my bedroom set. This is how it looked as of yesterday.

This week I found some cool design blogs, and was inspired. Well I thought the magazine rack would go perfect next to my front door as an entry table....so I unloaded it. And realized I haven't done that since I moved out :) Found lots of weird crazy things, such as this...

side note: those are pearls, not pills :)

So today I drug Erika & Katelyn around town to some consignment furnishing stores & home decor places. Well the first stop we made I found the perfect table :) It is so cool!! I love it! Black & distressed just like my bed & dresser. And $159! Here it is in my room...we'll see what I decide to do with the top, but for now this works :)

Well, so now I have a nightstand to replace my mag rack...so it will be moved downstairs. Well I already had a clock on the wall where I wanted to put it, but the 2nd store we went had this AWESOME huge clock & I just couldn't resist! I'm a sucker for a good deal...but hey everytime I look at it, it makes me smile :) So you know...well got home, hung the clock up. Love it! Moved the rack down...and now I'm not so sure. I think the mag rack looks too small with the clock. What do you think?

Pictures

Seeing Holly this weekend was a much added bonus :) She is into airplanes at the moment. Any time she sees or hears one she stops, points & says "airpane". It was especially fun this weekend because our hotel was really close to the airport. Lots of opportunities to see planes :) Even when we were at the zoo...she would stop to watch them as they flew over.

Its amazing how fast she changes! She was talking in July when I saw her, but nothing more than one word. This weekend she learned mom & my names. Calls mom "Kar" and me "Shell". It is so sweet, I don't think there is any other voice I'd rather hear. As I'm walking next to her stroller, she just looks up at me "Hi Shell". It melts your heart.
We went to the zoo Sunday morning before we all went our separate ways. It was so fun to take Holly. She loves to make all the animal sounds. As we walked up to the cows she started mooing :) And her monkey impression is priceless! Although her Lion roar is great too! I think that may be my favorite. She was far from scared of anything we saw...trying to get as close as possible to everything.
Talking to the Cheetahs...

Its stolen...

I saw this on a blog I found...and I feel like she read my mind. And did a better job of expressing it then I usually do. This is me.

It's been a busy couple of weeks. I'm feeling totally depleted. So this morning I decided to refuel. Well as you can see, with bagel and coffee but also with some nourishment for my soul.

I have to tell you, when I am getting a little low and running on fumes, I am not the nicest person. All I think about is me, me, me. Anyone else know what I am talking about or brave enough to admit it? It's really not a great site and I'm really no fun to be around. I don't even like to be around myself when I'm like this.

But thankfully, and finally, I've noticed this little pattern and though I might be a day or two late in recognizing it, I try to catch it and correct it.

For me, it is always time by myself. Even if it is just an hour. Time to hear myself think. Time to read and get some new perspective and some guidance. Time to write. And time to just be. And without a doubt a little time with just me always gets my thinking off of me. Life is pretty miserable and unfulfilled when it is alwaysfocused on "ME."

So if you are feeling a little overwhelmed, crabby, maybe?, and your all consumed with yourself...then maybe you do need a little more "ME" time by yourself to refuel. I'm going to get back to that right now.

And I'm excited to see what kind of inspiration I'm going to come up with. I know I want to do something special/helpful for someone in need this week. It would be fun if you all join me....and maybe at the end of the week we can share stories and ideas!

Have a beautiful week! xx