{attack of the care bear}

Well, hello there Mr. Carebear...



Your nose looks rather tasty!



I think I will eat it now...



{The End}

{they're creepy and they're kooky}

So we all know that the previous owners of our house were rather kooky for putting carpet in the kitchen. I mean really.

But they were also apparently rather creepy. Or at least their choice of vent covers was.

Our full bathroom has a weird small slit for an air vent, so they had a metal grate covering it that basically just sits on the floor. It wasn't my style but I was OK with it. Kind of shabby chic in an ornate kind of way. Or so I thought.

One day about a month after we moved in I was doing my business and looked at it a little closer...


Still don't see it? Let me zoom in for you...



There are scary dog/horse heads on it!!!! Seriously...whatever possessed them to buy this? Did they not see them at first either? Or were they all goth in disguise?

I was going to spray paint the sucker white to blend in with the wainscoting until I spotted the horse heads of death. Now I'm on the hunt for a new vent cover. That thing haunts my dreams.

{proud}

So I've officially completed 1/3 of the 30 day shred! (11 days to be exact) and I feel so great!!! I don't know what my current weight is...I'm not big on measuring my success by pounds...but the last time I weighed myself I was down to 166 from 170. Technically, I'm supposed to move on to level 2 now, but I think I'm going to stick with 1 for a few more workouts. I'm just now to the point that I can keep up with the entire thing, and that is a good feeling.

I gathered up all my courage last night and tried on my "skinny" capris that I wore before I got pregnant. They were a bit snug on me back then so I figured I wouldn't even be able to get them over my hips. Well....not only did they fit over my hips, but I was able to button them!!! Woot!!! Now, there was a bit of a muffin top involved, so I'm not quite ready to wear them, but I'm hoping after 19 more days of the shred I will be able to sport those suckers again.

Color me proud. :)

{perfect}

One thing I've learned as a parent is that trying to get a "perfect" photo that includes both boys is almost impossible, and that the "imperfect" photos are actually the most perfect of them all. Here are the gems I got on Father's Day of Dan and the boys.


When did Landon get that big boy face?!



One tired poppa...3rd shift will do that to ya!



Nothing like a kiss from daddy...



If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!


Smile Benny!


I think this is my fave...


Say cheese!


One more try...


Dad's smiling big enough for all three of us!



And here's Dan with his father's day gift from his mom. It was actually a gift for her to begin with. Dan entered a contest that Rolling Stone was having for an autographed Ben Harper poster. His email to them said that he wanted to win it for his mom, because of how hard she has worked all of her life and what a great and loving example she has been. I know...pretty sweet huh? Well, he won! She decided to have it framed for him since she knew he would love to have it. Yeah...I lucked out marrying into this family for sure.




And this one of just Landon was too cute not to share. Geez these boys make my heart melt!


And Benny doing his mean face. Gotta love it.

{eye candy}

I wanted to share a few more lovely inspiration pictures I have saved for the house.

Kitchens of course. I'm obsessed with open shelving and can just picture it in our kitchen.





Bathrooms. Our half bath is screaming for a makeover and I'm dying to do a clean cottage look in there.





And laundry rooms! I actually have one now and I soooo want to redecorate in there. The blue walls and cheesy laundry themed wallpaper border have got.to.go!





Now if only I had the funds to support all of these lovely projects! A girl can dream...

{Dear Genevieve}

If you follow my blog, you have heard me on more than one occasion (OK, like a million) complain about our "new" kitchen. Don't get me wrong, I love our new house and how the layout works for our family...that's why we moved.

But I dearly miss this...




And now have to live with this...



So...I posted photos of our dreary and carpeted kitchen on Dear Genevieve's HGTV page in hopes of scoring a kitchen makeover.

Selfish? Maybe a bit.

But with two toddlers crawling and walking around on that yucky carpet, washing dishes in a stained sink with a janky faucet, and countertops that look dirty when they are clean, life could be a lot easier with a fresh, new kitchen.

Our last renovation is still clear in my mind and brings back all sorts of nightmares and anxiety attacks. Not to mention that we don't have the budget to even consider a remodel right now.

The point of all of my ramblings today is to ask you to go HERE and give my kitchen 5 stars. Pretty please with a cherry on top. I'll love you forever! XOXO :)

And thanks to my friend Beth and her awesome shout out for helping me go from a zero ranking to 55 votes and 5 stars in a matter of 1 day. You rock girl!

{little men}

The boys are officially toddlers now, and they have the big boy hair cuts to go with that new status. Their Aunt Faith came over this past weekend to give them much needed trims. Ben had already had his first haircut, thanks to my awesome snipping skills (joking of course), but his mullet had already come back in full force, and Landon's hair was just long all over. Faith did a great job...they look like such little men now!


Daddy's cell phone is the best distraction!


Who should I call next?


Cute but not happy


Holy long hair!


I can help Aunt Faith!


Almost done!


TaDa! So cute!


Two devastatingly handsome boys :)

{decisions, decisions}

So the hubby and I are *desperate* to replace the flooring in our kitchen/family room. It is horrid carpet...yes, I said carpet. In the kitchen. We rented a steam cleaner to deep clean it a month or so ago but it still feels dirty, not to mention the fact that all sorts of stuff falls on it when we are cooking and the boys are rolling around on it. It totally grosses us out.

The hard decision is, do we do the whole room in the same flooring, or do carpet in the family room area and transition to hardwood/laminate in the kitchen area? We're leaning toward option 2, since the boys are so mobile and it would be nice to have soft carpet underneath them for all of the spills they are taking lately. (Did I mention they are BOTH walking now?!)

My good friend Beth created these two ideas for me for the transition from the carpet to the wood flooring. I'm leaning toward the 1st one because I like the 90 degree angle, but the 2nd one is kind of fun. What do you think? (Don't you just love her photo-shopped trashcan and shoes?)

{ideas}

I come across tons of inspiration pictures through other blogs and websites for the house and save them for future reference. Thought I would share a few of them today...maybe they will inspire you as well!

Adorable bulletin board



This is exactly what I want to do with our kitchen - love the open shelving on either side of the window.



The lovely Lettered Cottage kitchen - makes me want to paint our cabinets black!



Cheery bathroom



Such a great kitchen island made from an old table. I would love to have something similar in our kitchen.



Isn't this kitchen lovely? It is a bit like our open concept kitchen/family room area.



Such a fun laundry room!



Perfectly adorable shelves...



More great shelves...



I would love to hang something like this in the open space over the stairs in our dining room.



Great hallway gallery



I have some old doilies that were my Grandma's...they would look great framed like this.



LOVE these curtain tiebacks from Urban Outfitters! I want them for the dining room...



Great bookshelf makeover - love that they added legs to it and the faux bois finish is so cute!





Alphabet card collage - the cards are available at Micheal's...wish we had one!



Happy Thursday Friends!