Sneak Peak

I'm letting you all in on a little sneak peak of what I've been working on.  John is leaving tomorrow, so hopefully I will have tons of time to finish up the bedroom makeover.  So here are a few things I've been working on, the pictures aren't the best, but you get the idea...

Before and After of the chest.  John has had this since he was a little kiddo, and it's real wood.  To go out and buy a new one would have put us back a good bit of monies.  Instead we stripped it, sanded it, stained it and added some new knobs and it's as good as new!  The flash in this picture is awful, the next pictures will be better, I promise!

This is the start of my vanity area.  I want an area for my jewelry and headbands, possibly my makeup, to hopefully cut down on my clutter everywhere else in the room.  The chair was from Goodwill, the table was at the Rescue Mission and we got the mirror at Kirklands.  All I needed was a little bit of paint and a new seat and fabric  for the chair and we're in business!

These little pretties are going in the guest bedroom.  They are on the floor right now because I can't hang anything and I was waiting for John.  I bought the sconces for 3 bucks at the Rescue Mission and took them from an ugly brown and black to a fun blue! 

I've been busy lately and there is still a lot more to get done.  I'm hoping to share some finished products with you all very soon!

Almost done...

Remember that one time when I said I was doing all of these awesome projects that I couldn't wait to share?  Well, I am still working on them.  Who would have known that we would have freakishly cold weather in Florida to prevent me from painting and staining furniture for more than like 30 minutes at a time?  Geez...  I do have an update though.  We have the last coat of stain on the dresser, it finally made it to the right 'espresso' color I was going for, now it just needs a coat or two of polyurethance and it will be ready for the new knobs. I can't wait!  I also painted my little fake vanity table.  It's really a sofa table, but we don't have a whole lot of space, so it was just the right size for where we needed it.  And we hung the mirror on the wall to go with it.  The chair is painted, the cushions just need to be recovered and it will be finished! 

John has helped a TON with painting and said he wouldn't mind painting some nightstands if I could find two that I liked.  So I will be visiting some thrift stores in the next few days to hopefully get some good finds.

I know I got a little carried away with everything, and there are a few more projects I really want to do.  And after issues with the weather, I thought this was going to be a collosal mistake.  But it wasn't.  And I'm super pumped to show everyone how it turned out!

Let's keep our fingers crossed for pictures next week :D

a quick update...

I am officially back in the gym.  Yes, you've probably heard that a million times, but this time I mean it ha!

My biggest issue with the gym is the whole cardio thing.  It is so boring to me. Unfortunately, I am in some serious need of cardio in my life so I will just have to suck it up.  Feel free to motivate me or give me a hard time when I slack on working out. 

Wedding blog is up and running... Go here to help me pick out details of my big day!

That's all I have for now.  Happy Thursday!

'Ello

It has been decided.... I'm going to start a wedding blog.  Why, you ask?  So my lovely followers that don't want to hear about wedding stuff don't have to.  I aim to please :) 

So, being the uncreative person that I sometimes am, I have a request.  I don't know what to name this other blog of mine, so if you have any suggestions I would love to hear them!

On another note, I have the worst headache I believe I have ever had.  I'm pretty sure it started on Friday when I was in the car for 4 hours going to Jacksonville to see Jimmy Buffett (you will hear all about that later, don't even worry). I have a constant car-sickness feeling going on.  My head hurts so ridiculously bad and I am nauseous, I'm about 95% sure I have inner ear problems.  My grandmother has really bad inner ear problems and I think I was graced with that trait.  So I decided to go onto webmd.com which I frequently do when I want to self diagnose myself.  I learned about a condition called Labyrinthitis.  All I can think of is this...

That would be the only plus of having inner ear issues, if I could tell people I had Labyrinthitis. 

Hope you all had a fab weekend and are having a good Monday! 

Don't forget to give me some blog name ideas, pretty please.  I would maybe love you forever :)

Prepare to be dazzled...

Sometimes I try to make things a surprise. And most times I fail horribly because I immediately want to tell everyone. Which is basically what happened with my latest news....

I got engaged last night! Woohoo! I am so excited and ridiculously giddy I can't even begin to describe. Many have requested the story, so here it is.

John and I are really laid back people. The to the point, plain and simple kind. Which suits both of us fabulously. Last night we rode out to my mom and dad's house and had dinner. Did some visiting with the sweetest nephew ever and ate some yummy food. John and dad were talking outside by the grill having a few beverages, and my sister, Natalie, immediately knew something was up. She started asking me a million questions about John and I getting married and I told her it was going to happen I just wasn't 100% sure when. Well, we ate dinner and went home. Pretty much as soon as we walked in the door John took my hands and got down on one knee and proposed. And I squeed, um a lot haha. It was so sweet and so us. I of course immediately had to get on the phone and spread the good news. I have also pranced up and down the hall at work to make sure everyone has seen my newly acquired bling. Which is freaking gorgeous if I do say so myself!!

I promise a better picture. So I had a photo shoot with my ring and couldn't get anything that really got my ring and didn't make my hand look totally awkward.  It might not be a better picture...

Can I say that it made me day for all of my ibffs to be so excited for me? Because it totally did! Love you all big time!

I'm so excited...

Praise be! I am finally over being sick! Yes, it was only a little over a week, but I despise being sick. All I want to do is lay around with a blanket, drink tea, and read or watch SoapNet. I wasn't contagious so I made myself go to work, so I couldn't participate in any of my normal sickly duties. You see, I have ALL of my leave allocated for the year already, so no being sick for Lauren. Which is all good, because I have some really awesome things planned for 2010, I'm pretty pumped.

So for Valentine's Day I decided John and I would go to The Melting Pot. I told John that's what I wanted to do and he said ok. Easy enough. I feel like it makes things easy on him when there is no guessing involved. We might go to a movie afterward, that will be more of a game time decision. And it's a long weekend for me. Woohoo! Yay for President's Day and no work on Monday!

Then the next weekend, John and I are taking my parents to Jacksonville to see Jimmy Buffett. I am super excited. Yeah, so what if I sound like an old person, I don't care. It will be awesome, there is serious tailgating all day leading up to the concert and I can't wait!

So, that's what is new for me. I should be quite busy in the upcoming months, but hopefully I will post a little more frequently. Anything exciting going on for you? I would love to hear all about it :)

Happies

So far this year I have read two books, which considering how much crap I have had to do for school is pretty darn good. You can read about the first book I read here. The second book was a big disappointment. I read Nature Girl by Carl Hiaasen. Hiaasen is normally one of my favorite authors. He is cynical and hilarious, I am normally laughing so much I am in tears. And until now, I have not read a book of his that I didn't like. So my next book will just have to make up for this last one. I am starting A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray tonight. Katie said I needed to meet an awesome boy in this book and I am very excited!

So if you follow me on Twitter, you are probably tired of me talking about tea. But I am in love. Hot tea with a little milk and a lot of honey is my new favorite thing. I have been searching Etsy for the perfect tea pot and serving set. I can't quite tell you what I want, but I will know when I see it. Of course, I will have to learn how to make scones and cute little tea sandwiches, but once I do, I will have tea parties all the time.

I think I could snuggle up with some yummy tea and a good book and be perfectly happy. Is there anything that you are happy about right now?