Book Tag

I got tagged by my old college roomie Melissa and since I'm not one to pass these things up, here goes. Here's how this tag specifically works:
Find the book closest to you with at least 123 pages.
Turn to page 123.
Find the fifth sentence.
Post the next 3 sentences.
Tag 5 people.
Also make a plug about a book you are reading.

The closest books to me are on a book shelf all together. Hmmm, I just grabbed one of my favorites: Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. Here are the three sentences from page 123:
"I used to ask how on earth Faith can be a virtue- what is there mortal or immoral about believing or not believing a set of statements. Obviously, I used to say, a sane man accepts or rejects any statement, not because he wants or does not want to, but because the evidence seems to him good or bad. If he were mistaken about the goodness or badness of the evidence that would not mean he was a bad man, but only that he was not very clever."

Here's a plug about the book I am currently reading- The Art of the Handwritten Note: A guide to reclaiming civilized communication. A great book I've been wanting to post about anyway:I love sending and receiving fun mail-especially a handwritten note. It's like getting a little present in the mail. This book is helping me polish my note writing skills and also making me regret the times I should have sent a handwritten note and didn't.

If you feel so inclined, I tag: Shelley, Vanessa, Jessica, Autumn and Renee.

Mod Podge: A Beautiful Thing

I've been wanting to learn how to do this and also wondering if it was even possible. That is, mod podge fabric to furniture. If you want to learn too, click here for the tutorial from J. Caroline Creative.

Esty-Love

Is anyone else overwhelmed by Etsy? I just discovered this great site:Esty-Love. They post cool stuff they find on Etsy so you don't have to look for it. Here are a couple fun finds I thought I'd pass along:

I really like the ruffly collar on this shirt and I don't think it would be too hard to re-create. I think it's about time for me to learn to sew clothing. Shirt by Rose La Biche.


I also like this pretty porcelain jewelry by Sofia Masri.

Fun Envelopes

Who wouldn't love to see a pretty little envelope like this amongst the boring bills and junk mail? Paper Source is a great resource for fun envelopes, stationary and all things paper. (It's also pretty easy to make your own using scrapbook or wrapping paper.)

Surprise!

So this is my third post of the day and it's not even noon yet. BUT rest assured, the dishes are done, the laundry is folded and my children are dressed. I, on the other hand am still in my jammies but you can't have it all, right? This is an actual conversation I had with Jared yesterday regarding his upcoming 30th birthday. (I have no idea what to do!)

Me: Jared, tell me what you want me to do for your birthday. Do you want a surprise?

Jared: You want me to tell you if I want a surprise. Isn't that an oxymoron?

Me: Just because you tell me you want a surprise doesn't mean you'll get one.

Jared: Oh.

Me: See, you never know. The surprise could be that there is no surprise.

Silly Jared.

Crocs

I have been looking at these shoes from Crocs for awhile but I just might pull the trigger. I love comfortable. I love red. And I love mary janes. I'm thinking these could be a more polished version of my very comfortable, but not-so-stylish, tree-hugging Tevas. Any fashionistas out there have any thoughts?

Mini Muscle Man

Meet Romeo. The world's smallest body builder. (He's only 2 ft. 9 in. tall!)

Jared found this article on-line last week and I assure you, it's for real. Click here for the whole story. (I'm assuming half of you reading this are very interested and the other half are really freaked out.)

Ode to Aldi

I'd just like to give a shout out to my grocery store of choice: Aldi. (Pronounced "ALL-DEE") My sister introduced me to the store several years ago and I've been a big fan ever since. If you are not familiar with Aldi, I suggest you find one near you and start shopping there immediately. If for nothing else, at least go there for the basics...sugar, flour, canned goods, etc. The prices can't be beat! If you already shop at there, you get a high five from me. There is a special place in my heart for Aldi shoppers. It's not that I dislike you if you don't shop there, but I would probably like you better if you did.
Here's what I love about Aldi (in no particular order):

1. Incredible value everyday. Really. Where else can you find laundry detergent for $1.99?
2. A quarter really saves you $$$! Here's how it works. You pay a quarter for a cart but when your shopping is finished you get the quarter back. It is shear genius! You save money because Aldi doesn't pay an employee to go round up the carts in the parking lot and they don't loose expensive grocery carts. An additional perk...no shopping carts taking up valueable parking spots and no dings in your car door. (I said no particular order, but I think this is probably my favorite thing.)
3. The double guarantee. If you are not completely satisfied with any product, they will replace the product AND issue a full refund.
4. The store set up. It is small and un-intimidating. Going in to grab a few quick items is a piece of cake.
5. The French Silk Pie. It rocks.

I could go on, but I think the company website can explain it all better. Click here to learn more about "shopping smarter" at Aldi. And if you have something positive to say about Aldi, please leave a comment. (Unfortunately negative comments about Aldi are not permitted on this blog.)

So Close Yet So Far Away

Bathroom update: we have can lighting, a new exhaust fan, new electrical outlets, a nice bright white ceiling, walls painted a refreshing light blue, a new light fixture and a mirror. (You can also see the dark brown sink base in the picture although it's technically not doing anything-just sitting there waiting to be set in place.) All that's left to do is hang the door, tile the floor, build the shelving where the closet used to be and touch up! We're getting close, which is good, because having our bathroom belongings strewn about the house and using the toilet in our cold, unfinished basement is getting old.

Fun Sheets

I have been eyeing these fun lime polka dot sheets at Target for quite some time and now they are on sale for 50% off! Unfortunately they don't sell them in the size I need for my bed but that didn't stop me from buying a set. They were too cute and cheap to pass up! I might give them as a gift or I may just use the fabric for some other projects like a quilt, a slipcover or even an apron. In the meantime, I'm actually just enjoying them sitting on my counter all wrapped up and happy looking. (What is it about polka dots?)


(I should mention these are only on sale in the store, not on-line, if you are interested.)

A Tractor Full of Nail Polish

This is a pretty typical scene at our house. All my nail polish piled into the front loader of Mitchell's toy tractor. When I find stuff like this it always amuses me and makes me glad to have little boys. Especially a little boy who likes trucks and tractors. I'm not sure what I will do if my boys get into bugs. I don't think I can handle that.

Ruffle Rac by Michael Miller

Ruffle ric rac.
I think this just made my day.

Wall Decoration

I am loving these prints created from scrap paper. It would be fun to create something similar using scrap fabric. I'm thinking these would look exceptionally good in a nursery.

Blog Doggie?

Recently Jared (my loving husband) has begun referring to me as a "blog doggie." I'm not quite sure how to take this. While it doesn't sound like a compliment, it does sound like a real combination of words that could be used to aptly describe someone who enjoys blogging. Hmmm, maybe Jared has started something and before you know it, "blog doggie" will be common internet slang. Just remember, you heard it here first.

(Funny note: When Mitch hears Jared say "blog doggie" he says, "ruff, ruff.")

I'll Have a Water: Hold the Fecal Bacteria.

My grandmother e-mailed me this you tube video. You might want to think twice the next time you order water with lemon at a restaraunt.

Worst Nightmare

Last night I had a scary dream that there was a large flying centipede in my house. Since I DESPISE centipedes and large flying insects, this was basically my worst nightmare. Also, this was no ordinary centipede. In addition to its flying capabilities, it was unusually large and it had legs all over its back. (It sort of resembled a flying hairball, with the hairs sticking out all over.) Anyway, in the dream, Jared was trying to kill it but was unsuccessful. Enter my friend Vanessa. She started teasing me with it. You know, chasing me with it and pretending she was going to throw it on me. I was screaming frantically while she and Jared laughed. Then I woke up. I'm not sure how to translate this dream but Vanessa, if you ever tease me with any kind of bug, we can't be friends anymore.

Globe Collection

Seeing this globe collection makes me want to turn my dream of having a similar collection into a reality. I'm going to start perusing E-bay for some good buys.
Collection by Lovely Design.

Simple Arithmetic

+

=

A Bad Combination

Called to Serve

This past Sunday we had the opportunity to say farewell to our nephew, Luke, who is leaving to serve a two year mission for our church. He was called serve in Madagascar. (An island off the southern tip of Africa, in the Indian Ocean, in case you've never heard of it.) Seriously, if anyone can handle living in Madagascar for two years, it's this kid. He is the most mature nineteen year old I have ever met. (He makes Jared and I look like junior high goof offs.)
I'm trying to figure out a way to get his parents to raise my children so they'll be as sweet and well mannered as Luke!

He's On a Roll

At his 4 month well visit a few days ago, Spencer rolled from his stomach to his back. After all the poking from the doctor I think he was just mad enough to do it. It's amazing what physical feats can be accomplished when someone has rage flowing through their veins. But to Spencer's credit, he repeated the task when we got home. Rage free. Go Spence!

Urban Date Night

Since Jared and I spend most of our time rockin' the suburbs, we decided to venture out for our date night on Friday. We were also kid-free for several hours so we opted for a restaurant on North High Street called "Mozarts: European Piano Bar and Bakery." We really liked it. There was no wait for a table. It was quiet and quaint. It wasn't expensive. The service was friendly and they had a bakery case full of all manner of deliciousness. I enjoyed a curried chicken salad sandwich and Jared had the restaraunt's specialty: chicken schnitzel on a homemade croissant.
For dessert we had this:
It was definately a nice break from the crowded, noisey chain restaraunts we normally go to. After dinner we headed to OSU campus to check out the Wexner Center for the Arts. We strolled through a couple galleries and even popped in on a hip-hop open mic night taking place. Interesting. All in all, it was a good evening. Full of lots of cultural activities you can't find in the 'burbs.

Winter Stinks

I must say I am beginning to feel like Jack Nicholson in The Shining*, when he goes crazy all holed up in that hotel for the winter. I'm one red marker away from writing "REDRUM" all over my unfinished bathroom** walls. (If you haven't seen The Shining, then you have no idea what I'm talking about and that is good.) While I haven't gone that far off the deep end, I do have the worst case of cabin fever I've had in awhile and I was seriously considering painting the larger part of my house yellow yesterday. But anyone who knows me, knows I despise winter. January and February have been two very long, grueling months for me for as long as I can remember. Reading through my old journals is a testiment to this. I don't feel I've left much valuable information for my posterity since most of my personal history includes pages and pages of complaining about winter coupled with an annual countdown*** until spring. For example, if my great grandchildren want to know how many days there were until spring on February 1, 1989...look no further than my personal journal. But what about January 14th, 1995? Don't worry, that's in there too.
I'm pretty sure my dis-taste for winter is increasing as I get older. Afterall, as a kid at least I got an occasional snow day or a class valentines' party to off set the winter blues. I'm thinking this increasing dis-taste with age must be somewhat normal though. Why else would retired folks move to the sun belt? They have had enough! By the time I'm 65 I think I will for sure have had enough. Quite frankly, I think at 27 I have had enough.
-----
*This post is in no way an endorsement for this film. It is quite possibly the scariest movie I have ever seen and it is rated R.

**Bathroom update: It looks the same as it did last Saturday. The drywall guy is supposed to come today so we can get this ball rolling!

***There are 33 days until the first official day of spring. But who's counting?

A Note on Fabric Flowers

I love fabric flowers. I think they add a bit of girly spunk to any ordinary outfit. I like them so much that I even had one on my wedding dress. I think I would like to have flowers of all sorts so I could wear one all the time. Click here to make your own fabric flower like the one pictured above. (I just made mine with fabric scraps and a white button.) If you want something even easier, just buy a silk flower at any craft store and hot glue a pin onto the back. Wa-lah!
I also like the flowers seen here and here. (I think I'll make a flower belt like this.)

Funny Files

I just cleaned out the filing cabinet in our office today. I think these files would have been appropriate for most of the documents contained in it.


Some other funny stuff from the same company...


Files by Knock Knock via Orange Beautiful.

Dance Fever

Warning: this is roughly two minutes of your life you will never get back, but if you are bored and you want a good chuckle, watch this video:



I think Napoleon Dynamite might have some competition on his hands.

Via Casual Slack.

Spontaneous Bathroom Renovation

I say spontaneous because we weren't really planning to tear our bathroom apart on Friday afternoon. However, spontaneous might not be the right word since the renovation is actually the result of nearly two years of talking/whining/complaining/moaning (insert verb of your choice) to Jared about it. On Friday, he finally cracked! And now our bathroom looks like this:

It actually looks a little better than this now because Saturday we were able to clean up all the debris and install can lighting and a new exhaust fan. Here are a few pictures of the fun:

This photo was taken through a hole in the ceiling looking up into the attic where Jared had the fun job of wading through insulation to install the can lights. I'm actually amazed he put on a smile for the photo. In real life, he wasn't so amused.

I, on the other side of the hole, was in the bathroom cutting the drywall so the can lights would fit through the ceiling properly. I'm also amazed I put on a smile for the picture because in real life, I was not so amused. I think the saftey goggles are a nice touch, don't you?

I'll be sure to report our progress. In the meantime, we will continue to store our toilet in our bedroom. Gotta love renovation projects.

Cute Books

I love both of these books. (The Paper Bag Princess and Looking for Mr. Right) Either would make a great gift for a single girl friend, especially around Valentines' Day.

I Think I'm in Love...

Courtesy of Pottery Barn.

Esty Goodies

A crafty friend of mine has a new shop on Etsy. Check out her cute creations here.

Flying High on a Drug Called Blogging

So I have been wanting to start a blog for about two years now (ever since my old roomie Jessie introduced me to the concept.) And I must say I am loving it! I feel like I have two years worth of posts in my head. I am going to try to post often so keep coming back! I appreciate all your comments too.

Couples Tag

My sister-in-law Autumn tagged me but I want to put this on the table up front: I really enjoy filling out quizzes, surveys and random facts about myself. In fact, I wish I could find a way to make a hefty living filling out surveys about my self. I think that would pretty much be my dream job. Does that make me a self absorbed person? If it helps, I also enjoy reading quizzes, surveys and random facts about other people.
So here goes...

How long have you and your significant other been together?
5 years. We met over Christmas break in 2000. (I was attending BYU at the time) We met again when I moved back to Ohio in the spring of 2001. We didn't start dating until two years later, January of 2003. So we've been "together" since January 2003.

Who eats more?
I'd say we're a pretty even match. It depends on who is more hungry. Jared can probably eat more on a general level.

Who said "I love you" first?
That would definately be Jared. (Although I don't remember when he said it...is that bad?) When I eventually said it...I said something like "I really, really like you." And Jared had to say "You mean you love me." And then I said "Yes." So I said it without having to actually say it. I'm weird.

Who is taller?
Jared, by four inches.

Who sings better? I'm not a vocal genius but I think I take the cake on this one.

Who is smarter?
This is a silly question. Jared is smarter than me in a lot of ways...he has great business sense and he reads a lot more than I do. I got better grades in school but I don't think that makes me smarter. I just studied harder.

Who does the laundry? Me.

Who does the dishes? Me.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Does this really matter? I think Jared does for the time being.

Who pays the bills? Me.

Who mows the lawn? Me, most of the time. I really enjoy doing it though. I never had to do it as a kid so it's still a fun new chore for me. (I think Jared got burned out doing it when he was younger. ) Funny story: I actually mowed the lawn the day I went into labor with Spencer. I'm sure our neighbors had to be thinking, "What kind of husband has his VERY pregnant wife mowing the lawn?"

Who cooks dinner? Me, most of the time. Jared has a few great concoctions he throws together on occasion.

Who drives when you are together? Jared, almost always.

Who is more stubborn? Hmmm...I don't think either of us are very stubborn.

Who is the first to admit when they're wrong? Neither of us are ever wrong. Joking. Probably Jared.

Whose parents do you see the most? We see them equally I'd say. We may see Jared's parents a little more often.

Who kissed who first? Jared definately kissed me first. I used to say "it takes two" but he totally caught me off guard. He knew that I think first kisses are weird and awkward. So he laid one on me before I had a chance to feel weird. It was a good move.

Who proposed? Jared surprised me with a trip to Chicago. He proposed in Lincoln Park.

Who is more sensitive? Jared. (He writes poetry for crying out loud.)

Who has more friends? Probably me. Only because I keep in touch with more people from college and high school.

Who has more siblings? Jared. He is the 6th of eight. I am the 2nd of five.

Who wears the pants? I'd say Jared...although I'm no doormat. I can take a pretty firm stand on certain issues.

Okay, so I'm not sure who has already done this one...if you haven't done it already and you feel so inclined...I tag: Margo, Bethany, Vanessa and Jessica.

Amy Butler Design

So, although I have not yet purchased any of her fabric, I am a HUGE Amy Butler fan. While I love the design of her fabric, I also feel a special connection to her because she lives in Ohio. It's not like I know her personally just because we live in the same state but nonetheless, I think it is neat that her studio is just an hour from where I live. Also, I don't think most people consider Ohio to be a "cool" state. So, when given the opportunity (aka my blog) I like to point out that some "cool" things do come from Ohio. But, I digress...
I was perusing her site the other day and was excited to see she is coming out with a new collection of fabrics called Midwest Modern.

Here are some of my favorites:


I also like her Lotus Collection:

Weapon of Choice

I really dislike mopping the floor. I would say it is one of my least favorite chores. However, I have discovered a new product that I LOVE. If you are dissatisfied with your current cleaner, I would suggest giving this one a try. I use it with a microfiber mop and it makes my laminate floors gleam! (Well, for about an hour while Mitch is sleeping and Jared is out of the house...)

Testing...Testing...One...Two

Look at me, stepping out into the big, blogging world! Hot Diggity!