Moving

Holy crap, it's already the middle of September! I can't believe how fast time is flying. The hubs and I are in the middle of moving into a new house, actually townhouse. Hence why I have been absent lately. It sure takes a lot of work to pack up an entire house to move! What a headache, I hope the next time I have to go through this the army will be doing it for me.

I have so many projects I want to work on, it's ridiculous. I absolutely love that a new house is like a blank canvas, I can't wait to start decorating.

I also found a dresser on craigslist that is perfect, it's exactly what I've been looking for, and bonus it's only $30! Now fingers crossed they still have it when I call tomorrow.

I'll most some more once we get moved, I'll get some pictures up and update on some projects.

The File Cabinet Makeover

I bought a file cabinet at Goodwill for $8 in January. It's been sitting upstairs in my spare bedroom since. I haven't even bought folders to organize and file things, everything is just sitting in the drawers like a mess. There were things piled on it, in front of it, it just was not being used to it's full potential.

I told you it wasn't pretty! But not to fear, I had big plans for this little file cabinet.

 In my kitchen I had a cheap brown cabinet from Target that was being used to hold the printer and also to collect junk. I'm not joking basically any random things we didn't feel like dealing with got tossed in there. It was a mess.

 Yikes, not fun to clean out, but it felt good to get rid of all the junk, which is what most of it was. 

I decided to move this little cabinet upstairs to our bedroom for some more storage and the file cabinet would go in the kitchen and hold the printer and we'd actually be able to file things away on a regular basis instead of having it all pile up and be unmanageable. I know it makes so much sense, right?

But I decided that the file cabinet needed a little sprucing because it was a really fugly shade of beige. I picked out a nice sunny yellow color that would be sure to brighten up my kitchen

I just did one coat of primer, which just helps the spray paint stick better, and two coats of the yellow spray paint. It worked out fabulously, and I loved the result, although it was impossible to get a good picture that did the color justice. All the pictures I took either looked really dark or neon, weird I know.

I promise it doesn't look quite that neon in person. After a couple of hours of sorting through stacks of papers and a couple trips to Target for folders, I finally managed to get all of my important documents organized.

And I even had room to store some craft supplies in the top drawer. All in all I would say it was a pretty great success. I love when I can move things around the house to maximize my space instead of having to buy something new.

Good times at Goodwill

It's been awhile since I've gone to a Goodwill to shop. I regularly drop things off after doing a purge of my house. The last time I went I was looking for a file cabinet and I was successful, finding one for only $8.

This trip I was looking for anything I could repurpose. I ended up coming home with a barstool, 4 picture frames, a glass vase, a candle holder and a lamp all for $30! I was super impressed with myself.

My first projects were one of the frames which I decided would be perfect for the print that I have from the Grand Canyon, and the lamp.

Here's what these guys looked like before I got my hands on them.

They were a little worse for the wear, but I knew it wouldn't take much to spruce them up. So I headed over to Lowe's and picked out some spray paint. I decided to do a basic white for the frame and a shade of blue for the lamp

It took a couple of coats to get them looking good, but I was very happy with the result!

DIY projects

I'm in need of some. I LOVE decorating my house, it's one of my favorite hobbies which I really got into when I started working at Pier 1. Problem is, a lot of the stuff there is pretty spendy, and right now I'm trying to save as much as possible while trying to make my house look like a beautiful home. So I have decided I am in need of some DIY projects. I've found some cool ideas that seem relatively easy to do, I just need to find the pieced to work with.


I think tomorrow I'm going to go scouting at Goodwill for some potential projects. There are two Goodwills here in Lacey, so I'm pretty optimistic. One of the things I will be looking for is a picture frame I can paint. I have this beautiful print that I bought at the Grand Canyon, right now it's just sitting on top of my DVD shelves, not really anything special, but I think I want to move it up to my bedroom and put it in a nice frame.

Another is this,

I think it's such a cute idea, and I need a statement piece to either go over my bed, or over my couch in the living room, I haven't decided yet.

Also, it would be great to find some nice bed side tables I can repurpose.

Hopefully I can accomplish some of these while the husband is gone, I'm almost done with the baby blanket I've been knitting and I really need some new projects. I'll update when I find some pieces to work with!

Updates

I am a terrible blogger, I know. Things just got a little crazy and I lacked motivation to update. So here goes my updates.

Weddings. B and I had our reception July 8th and it went beautifully. I got to wear the most amazing dress, we did outside photos in the most beautiful garden(which will be posted later once I get them back from our photographer) and the reception was at an events center. Everything really did go perfectly, the day was wonderful. Really the only letdown was the fact that out of the 20 or so friends I invited only 3 showed up. After many more had rsvp'd and said how excited they were to come. I was really really disappointed. I have no idea why most of them didn't show. I guess it takes things like this to find out who your real friends are. Like my SIL told me, everybody that matters was there. And she was right, I had a fantastic time with my family, it was so wonderful to have them all there and we had a blast dancing and drinking. My brother's wedding is next weekend, and my parents are flying in Wednesday. I am so excited for them to come out here. They haven't seen our place since before we even moved in and they've never seen my brother and SIL's place. We have lots of fun stuff planned for the week they are here.


My birthday. Yet another year has passed and now I'm 23, which is so weird to me. I'm not used to it yet. B got off work early that day and we just hung out, he brought me beautiful flowers. Then we went out to eat at this nice mexican place and then to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, which was the highlight of my night. I thought they did a fantastic job with the movie, and really they couldn't have ended it in a better way. Also the theater we saw it at was probably the most amazing theater I've ever been to. It's in the Lakewood Towne Center and all the seats are reclinable lazy boy type chairs. It is amazing to recline and enjoy a movie, I even brought a blanket with me.

The big D. Yup Deployment. We've got another one on the way. We've been hearing rumors for awhile so it's not a surprise, I'm kind of happy they've finally announced it because now at least we can make more definite plans. SIL and I are getting a place together during the deployment, which we're both pretty excited for. We've gotten so much closer lately which is great, I honestly love hanging out with her and my brother. It'll be so nice to have somebody there for support during the deployment.

That basically covers the big stuff. We've just been enjoying our lovely Washington summer, which is pretty mild compared to the rest of the United States who has been hit with an awful heat wave. I'm definitely happy we aren't a part of that. In fact, I think I've only had my AC on about 3 times this whole summer. We're about to go take advantage of this great weather and grill out some steaks. Happy Sunday everybody!

The Royal Wedding

I have been one of those people who is completely and utterly fascinated with the Royal Wedding. I've been watching every show about it, almost to the point of obsession, I know it's ridiculous. But I love it. I guess it's the hopeless romantic in me.

I even woke up at 1 am to watch the wedding, and even shed a few tears, I know I'm a complete sap. I thought it was the most beautiful wedding I've ever seen. Kate was the epitome of perfection, she looked so regal and elegant. I absolutely loved her Grace Kelly style dress, I thought it suited her perfectly. Her and William looked so in love and radiant, I wish them a lifetime of happiness.

Day 2

I think it's safe to say Insanity is kicking my ass and I'm only on day 2. Muscles I didn't even know I have are aching today. Day 1 was the fit test, and boy was that intense. I'm not going to lie, I had to pause it a couple of times and I struggled to make it through. Day 2 was a little bit longer video, and even more intense. I am going to be aching so bad tomorrow, but hopefully after doing this for a couple weeks my body will adjust and get used to actually working out. I'll keep updating as I progress through this and hopefully start seeing some results.

Insanity

Today my husband and I are going to start the Insanity program. He wants to get into better shape for Ranger school and I just want to get into better shape! I know it's going to be really tough, but I'm hoping that the payoff will keep us going, plus we have each other for encouragement.

We're starting it when he gets home from work so wish us luck! I'll update after we've done a few days.

I'm in a food rut..

I feel like every week I cook the same things over and over. My husband can be kind of a picky eater, he's willing to try new things, but he would be happy to eat steak and potatoes every single day. I need variety, I love cooking/trying new recipes.

My goal is to find enough new recipes that I can cook something new each night for a week. This may be tricky, because a lot of nights I work until 6, so by the time I get home we're both tired and hungry and we just want something quick.

I think this is the main reason we end up in a rut. I'm going to go scour the web for some new recipes to try out and spice things up in my kitchen!

We Made It Official

I am officially married!! It was perfect, except for the fact that a some family and friends I would have loved to have there weren't. But I am just so happy now. Unfortunately the Army had to take a dump on our happy moment and B has a 24 hour duty today :( Boo army! I was more mad at the fact that he wouldn't be able to go see our friends who's going away party was today. He ended up finding somebody to cover for him for a few hours so he could make it to the party.

I still can't believe it's all real and that I'm somebodies wife. I love it so much though. I can't get the smile off my face :)

This Is Where I Live

I realize I've been failing at keeping up lately, life has just been so busy, and I don't forsee it slowing down anytime soon, but I will try harder to keep up.

This past week, my best friend has been here visiting from Minnesota, so of course we had to do all of the touristy things. We visited Seattle, went to the Space Needle and of course the famous Pike Place Market. Dined at The Melting Pot, went shopping, took a trip to the Pacific Ocean. All in all it was a fantastic time and I was very sad to drop her off at the airport this morning.

I will leave you guys with some beautiful photos that sum up why I love living in this beautiful state :)


Gorgeous view of Puget Sound and the mountains




Beautiful boquet of flowers I bought


The Pacific Ocean. Have you ever been some place and it felt like it was exactly where you were meant to be? That's exactly how I feel when I'm near the ocean. I love the salty air, and the sound of sea gulls, the wind blowing off the ocean. I could move to Ocean Shores WA tomorrow and be content for the rest of my life.


Being artsy

Exactly One Month

From now, I will be getting married =D I really really can't believe it!! This means that our reception is only 4 months away, holy crap! I'm starting to feel like I have a lot to do now!

Today is also the day I officially started my diet. I've been thinking about it and talking about it, but I'm finally putting it into action. I just want to feel good about myself again. I thought about joining Weight Watchers, but I just can't justify spending the money every month with everything we have going on right now. So instead I'm keeping a food diary and counting calories. I think it will help me be a lot more aware of what I eat, and also to practice portion control. So hopefully I'll be able to drop some of this extra weight so I can look fabulous for the reception.


And in other exciting news, my best friend booked her flight to visit me over her spring break later this month and I could not be more excited! It will be her first ever time to Washington and it will be so much fun!

I just feel so blessed to have so many exciting things going on in my life right now <3

Another Week Down (almost)

Well the MIL is leaving for Walla Walla tomorrow. I have really enjoyed having her around, but I am ready for my house back. Since the visit was not really planned, my house was not really guest ready. We were in the middle of getting the spare bedroom organized and cleaned out, I had piles of stuff I still had to deal with, along with some piles of stuff that need to go to Goodwill. Most of it still needs to be dealt with. I also bought a file cabinet that needs to go in the spare bedroom (it's current home is the hallway) so I can finally organize all of our important documents.

This has pretty much been a lazy week. I'm on my third day off in a row, and I'm getting a little bored, not gonna lie. I would have rather worked during the week and had the weekend off. Instead, I get the weekdays off and I have to work the weekend. I'm just really hoping I don't have to work on Sunday. I'm going to be mad if I can't go to the superbowl party at our friends house because of work, especially since it's bound to be dead. I mean whose going to come out shopping that day??

In Wedding news, I've picked out the Invitations and found the perfect guestbook. I already had the idea for the guestbook, I found it on this random webiste a long time ago, and just filed it away in my favorites becasue I thought it was really cool. Basically what it is is a print of a big tree with lots of branches, and then I have a couple colors of green ink and all of our guests put a ink thumbprint as a leaf on the tree and then sign their name by it. It will be our wedding tree, and afterwards I'm going to have it framed so it can hang in our house :) I am so incredibly excited for this because I just think it will be the coolest thing, and I have a feeling my guests are going to love it as well. So that brings me to the invitations, I've been struggling to find ones that I really like. So I finally got the idea to go with a tree theme to match the guestbook. I must have some sort of obsession with trees, because I also have a painting of a tree hanging above our bed. But anyway, the invitations have a tree with a heart in the middle with our initials carved in it. I think it's kinda cheesy but really cute. And they're just my style.

I hope all you bloggers have a wonderful Friday and a wonderful weekend! Happy suberbowl! Go Steelers!

Chocolate Cake and Catching Up

I know I know, I've been a failure at the blogging as of late. But in my defense, I have been pretty darn busy lately! This month has kind of just been a crazy whirlwind, and I have no idea where it's gone.

About mid month I flew to Minnesota to go wedding dress shop, and I bought my dress :) I cannot however, post a picture because B has access to this blog, although I'm pretty sure he never reads it anymore :( But just in case he happened to check it, I don't want him seeing it.

Two days after I got back we had to drive down to Carson City NV to pick up the MIL and get her out of a bad living situation. She is currently here with us until the end of next week when she moves to Walla Walla Washington (isn't that fun to say) to live with B's sister. She has the cutest little dockson names Sookie (after the character from True Blood of course) and Sulley has become pretty attached. The two are basically attached at the hip. They wrestle and run around the house and snuggle together, it is pretty adorable.

Now onto, the point of today's post. We're having a belated birthday celebration for the MIL so I am making this wonderful chocolate cake that I found the recipe for while purusing the interent one day. It is truly to die for. I made it for my brother in November for his birthday and he absolutely loved it! Since it is so amazing, I decided I would share it with all of my internet friends :)

Amazing Chocolate Cake
2 c flour
2 c sugar
1/4 t salt
4 T Cocoa (I use hersheys)
2 sticks butter
1 c boiling water
1/2 c buttermilk
2 whole beaten eggs
1 t baking soda
1 t vanilla

In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar and salt

In a saucepan, melt butter, add cocoa, stir together. Add boiling water, allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds then turn off heat. Pour over flour mixture and stir lightly to cool.

In a measuring cup, pour buttermilk and add beaten eggs, baking soda and vanilla. Stir buttermilk mixture into miking bowl with chocolate flour mixture. Pour into cake pan and bake at 350 for 20 min.

I actually halfed this recipe this time and just made one little 9x9 since B doesn't like cake, and it will make the perfect little cake! I also frost it with homemade buttercream frosting :)

Deployments

Even though the boys have only been home for 7 months, and I'm not nearly ready to deal with this yet, rumors as of late have forced the issue into my mind. I had thought that it was a ways off yet, that we would have months before we had to even think about this, but some of the rumors have me a little worried. And while I know you really can't trust all the things you hear, I can't go back into that blissfull unaware state I was in before, where I knew another deployment was in our future, I just chose to ignore it.

So now I'm obsessing over it, which is completely stupid becasue there's nothing I can do to change it. I'm just not mentally ready to deal with this yet, it seems like he just got home. I know when the time comes I will handle it and get through it, just like the last one. But for now I just want to sulk.