A Bedroom Remix Update

Look; we hung curtains!

 

I think the bedroom looks much more finished with them there. We bought the curtains from Ikea when we were in DC for my work trip, and then my friend Angie, who is a fantastic seamstress, hemmed them to the perfect length for our windows. I prefer the look of hanging curtains above the top of the window frame; these curtains are hung an individual foot above the window.

(Image via)

In other design news, I bought this rug. I've been completely fascinated by Kilim and Turkish rugs ever since this house crash at Young House Love. Usually, the prices are way out of our budget, so this one seemed like quite the find. (And Overstock's shipping costs are so amazing.) Now, I just have to figure out the right place to put it. I'll keep you posted.

My other life -

I'm an avid blogger reader. An ideal morning for me includes a wog (walk/jog) with my dear friend, some Bible time, and blog reading - all before 9 AM. Obviously, ideal means it doesn't always happen. When perusing blogs, I enjoy seeing people's lovely houses, adorable kids, and beyond clever crafts/outfits, Etsy businesses, social rants, etc. I am quite jealous (if I may be so honest in my choice of words) of some folks' abilities, attitudes, and home decor. However, blogging is so fun because I get to chose who I read and if I can't stomach their content, I simply don't check their site.

That being said, I have this other life. It's not super glamorous,and I can't pitch my wares, since I don't personally control what is sold or nor do I really market anything especially interesting (to most of you). I don't work with celebrities or have the need to wear high fashion on a daily basis. I don't work in full-time missions or teach under-privileged childen. I'm not a stay-at-home mom (which in my book, totally qualifies as work), since we don't have kids (yet). I just work. And that's ok.

Sometimes I feel in the blog world that having a job like mine doesn't qualify as "important" or "impacting". But the thing is, it does and I am. And so are you. Your job isn't all you are, but it is part of you. So, on Friday, October 7, please know that whether you teach or sell or market or manage or clean or cook or study or do anything else that might not seem shiny and exciting, it is important to someone. You're impacting others through your attitude and your effort. And that's awesome.

I needed the reminder. (Colossians 3:17)

Full disclosure: I work in marketing for a super large technology company. I am proud of my job career, and the work I do. I am blessed to work from home (Most days in my life primarily feature my laptop, my phone, my husband, my dog, and coffee.), and the people I work with keep me challenged and laughing. Most of them don't read this blog, but if they do, they might need the reminder, too.

(Image via)

Ask the chief.

As I mentioned approximately eight weeks ago (but who's counting?), my husband made the next rank in the Navy. After six weeks of preparation (including daily PT, a weekend-long trip to Washington DC, a week-long trip to Boston, and multiple nights of male-style crafting), the preparation was complete, and we celebrated! I'm thankful to have my husband now focused on job hunting back, and my husband is happy to not have to get up at 4:45 AM every weekday.

The culmination of the chief selectee process is the pinning ceremony. My parents, my sister and nephew, and some dear friends were all able to join us for the ceremony. My dad, Brandon's "bestie", David (They would not use that phrase, of course.), and I each had a role in the ceremony itself. David and Dad pinned on his anchors, and I put on his new hat. (I was especially excited, because this new hat is much more stately and flattering.)

There was also some handshaking involved.

We took (too few) pictures to commemorate, including this one of Brandon and I beside a bell of obvious symbolic importance; they rang it each time they announced a new chief.

As an aside, Brandon and I have the unfortunate habit of consistently posing for pictures as if we are brother and sister - a brother and sister who get along extremely well but brother and sister, none the less. Claire (David's wife) took this picture of us actually discussing how to pose so this wouldn't happen, but, as evidenced by the photo above, the results are the same.

After the completion of the ceremony, we moved into our "military balls" weekend. The first - on Friday - was the Khaki Ball, which is a celebration by chiefs and for chiefs (plus their wives), and the second - on Saturday - was the Joint Forces Ball, which by some stoke of unfortunate timing, fell on the following day. I especially enjoyed the second one because we set with friends and enjoyed people watching and uniform discussing (many, many ranks from all five branches were represented).

Oddly enough, I wore the same thing both nights, and Brandon was the one with different uniform requirements for each.

Night 1: Khaki Ball

 Night 2: Joint Forces Ball

Sadly, I didn't think to specifically request a full body photo*, so I snagged these pictures of my outfit off the internet. I specifically wanted to draw attention to my shoes, which were intense and made B pause in mid-sentence (He was saying, "Why do you need more...?") and change his tune to, "You're gonna look hot." My ankles were much less sure.

(Image via, dress purchased from Copper Penny, Mt. P, as a sweet gift from the hubs)

(Image and shoes via)

Lately life as been a bit more "military" than usual, but I'm so proud of B for all he's accomplished in his ten years of service. There is a joke in the Navy that if you have any question "Ask the chief," which means my husband now officially qualifies to answer all the random questions I come up with.

*Please note that between the two evenings there were SIX photo taking stations, prom style, with a variety of backgrounds. My husband and I are the immature type who snickered at the scene and didn't actually take advantage of the opportunity to re-live high school. If I was a real blogger, I definitely would have taken a picture of it, but I'm not, so you'll just have to take my word for it. I will miss making fun of them when B gets out of the Navy.

P.S. It's good to be back.

Caffeinated Wordless Wednesday

Just in case you haven't discovered these babies.

(Image via)

By the way, I will be back soon. Job hunts, prepping the house for rent, long work days, college football season, new small groups and fall TV have been been our world. And I'm thankful.

Our Bedroom Furniture Remix

I just finished up a mini-makeover in our bedroom, and I have to say that I find the results quite satisfactory.

For months, my big mental design goal was to get rid of the awkwardly placed/used console table which held our old-school, but perfectly functioning TV. When I couldn't sleep at night, I'd play out different scenarios in which I'd paint it or refinish it or replace it all together. But, in real life, it just sat there, annoying me. Until I realized it was a perfect fit between my side of the bed and the wall. Interesting.

Beyond this discovery, I knew we weren't using the space (or the furniture) in our bedroom well. And preparing to put our house up or sale or on the rental market was just the catalyst I needed to try my hand at a "style remix." (I'm totally paying homage to a show on HGtv, when it was still really cheesy, where they did a couple of room makeovers over the course of 30 minutes, including one for no money at all.)

Baring in mind that I'm not at all quite yet a lifestyle photojournalist, here are the before shots. It's not bad, per say, just a little dark and uninteresting.

And here are the after shots. I did purchase the quilt from West Elm (which I've obsessively mentioned on the blog), but otherwise everything was ours - just shifted.

It's not going to get us featured on a home decorating show any time soon, but I'm super pleased with the different that 30 minutes of furniture shifting made.

 

 I just noticed the shoebox my husband shoved under the dresser. Also, yes, that is a piggy bank featuring Pedro from South of the Border.

This is my favorite part. A lovely desk/reading spot right by the window.

And because a woman's brain is never finished redecorating, if I could convince B to do a couple of DYI projects with me, I would love to emulate this high chair railing meets photo wall on the wall opposite the bed.

Source: christopherandanne.blogspot.com via Sydney on Pinterest

I'm in love. Maybe in the next house!

A Semi-Weekend Update and New Shoes!

I have the best husband ever*. His patience for my antics is unwavering. Sometimes, it baffles me. This weekend, I was pretty down on myself. A bunch of stuff is piling up on my plate at work, and our life is filled with an atypical (albeit, temporary) amount of uncertainties that I have a (bad) habit of letting myself get weighed down with. So, that being said, he was especially thoughtful of me this weekend. On Friday, I came home to one of these. (I always say I'm not a flowers girl, but it still gets me every time.)

That night, we stayed home (my choice) and played Scrabble. (I totally kill in that game (unless I play my dad, who taught me all my tricks). Also, I'm slightly addicted to Wordfeud on my phone. Would you like to play with me?)

On Saturday, he had a carwash fundraiser for work, so I ventured to the movie theater to see Crazy, Stupid, Love. It was a rainy Saturday afternoon here - perfect for a solo movie viewing.

Source: flickr.com via Barbara on Pinterest

My review is as follows: I really enjoyed the movie, although I enjoyed two of the interrelated story lines more than the others. It wasn't "dirty," but it had very mature themes, so I'd hesistate to recommend it wholeheartedly. I do think that, for better or for worse, it was a very real (with a few exceptions) take on a very real situation. Ryan Gosling is quite the hottie, and Emma Stone is one of my favorite twenty-something actresses.

We had some fun times with friends on Saturday night, with a little not-for-profit poker.

But, here's the clincher. This weekend was "tax free weekend" in South Carolina. So, after church, we headed out to run some errands, and I came home with these bad boys.

Vibram FiveFingers KomodoSport

(image via)

I have an odd running style, so I'm hoping these might actually help my form. Initially, I won't be running in them at all. I'll stick to walking and then gradually introduce running. They are awfully ugly, and I joked with my husband that it's slightly ironic that we're now wearing shoes designed to mimic the human foot. Couldn't we just walk around barefoot and get the same effect?

I'll keep you posted on my Vibram adventure. Have any of you made the switch?

*I fully expect you to disagree with me, and argue that your husband (or significant other) is the best. In fact, I hope so. Because if we had a world full of the best husbands and significant others (and brothers and dads and uncles), I'm pretty sure the world would be a more awesome place.

Joining up with Carissa for Miscellany Monday.

Family visits and touristy adventures

This weekend was simple and full. We snuck in a Friday night "date" before the hubs' dad and stepmother arrived to hang out with us the rest of the weekend.

Here is my hot husband with a cart full of groceries. How about that for a date night?

After we finished shopping for food, we window-shopped for new TOMS - also at the grocery store.

(Yes, we went to Whole Foods; no, that is not our normal grocery store.)

We took his parents to the Charleston Aquarium. It was Shark Week, so the afternoon feature at the big tank was a game show called "Sharkelogy 101".

Oddly, he didn't think an afternoon at the aquarium warranted a picture.

The view from there.

We had an early dinner at Fleet Landing, which I highly recommend for mid-priced seafood if you ever visit our lowcountry location.

A Saturday night of games.

Church on Sunday.

This is my favorite picture. The hubs and his folks headed back downtown after church on Sunday while I stayed at home feeling a bit under the weather. I asked him to "bring me something back," and he brought home this ornament. It was a perfect choice because I've been collecting ornaments from places we visit, but I didn't have one for our current hometown yet. I did tease him about that being an "old man" purchase.

Gratituous dog picture. You're welcome.

I very much enjoyed playing tourist in our own town this weekend.

The icing on the cake was when my sweet better half found out he was selected for a promotion (in miltary terms, he made rank). Woo hoo! I'm SO proud of him. 

(This post brought to you by "Sydney got a new smartphone with one of those picture apps, and she's still really excited about it." Ha!)