August Obsessions.

August is probably my least favorite month of the year. While most cities are getting their last few weeks of summer before they head into fall, we are still in record heat and humidity with at least 3 months of it ahead of us. People that say they prefer the heat over the cold have never walked from their front door to their car and sweat thru their blouse. Trust me, it's not as cute as being all bundled up in a jacket and scarf.

Anyway, I have a few things to share so that you can obsess with me.

{photo via IKEA}

{photo via Jayson Home & Garden}

African inspired textiles. Apartment Therapy pretty much read my mind when they posted this trend watch on Kuba-style textiles. While it's nothing new, African inspired textiles seem to be popping everywhere right now and I can't get enough. I love the graphic simplicity of the designs. Totally on my wish list for my home.

{photo via Paper Source}

Hero Arts Doily Stamp. I've been eyeing this for quite some time now and it was well worth the wait. Paper Source finally wisened up and built a store here, so my friends and I went to pay our dues last night. I decided I had to have this stamp to commemorate the occasion. Once I picked it up, I swear every woman in the store told me what an awesome stamp it was. I can't wait to use it. On everything.

{photo via Window Farms}

Window Farms. I saw this on Good Morning America and I was amazed. You can basically convert your window into a garden! I LOVE this idea! You don't need soil and it uses recycled water bottles. Amazing. To read more about it, here's the GMA segment on it. It provides more links to get info on kits and official how-to's.

{photo via cnet}

Photoshop Elements. I know I am a little late in the game here, but PSE has always imtimidated me. If I ever needed anything done, my dear, sweet, kind sister would do it for me. I finally decided to just download the free trial and see what it was all about and now I am addicted. My first project was a watermark for my photos (in case you haven't noticed) and I think it was about the most fun I've had since art class in the 6th grade.

Amy Butler's new fashion and travel bags. They are gorgeous!!! Seriously, I want to take a trip just so I could check everybody out that is checking me out for my gorgeous bag. I would post lots of glorious pics but I am afraid I will get arrested for copyright infringement and I just couldn't live with myself if I upset Amy. We will be BFFs one day, you know.

In other news, I've finally gotten up the nerve to post some of my cards on Two Peas in a Bucket. I don't know why, but I've always been very shy about sharing the stuff I work on. Even though it's just paper to some people, it's still very personal to me (hence the reason I never really tell anyone I have a blog). But, a conversation with my Seester helped me realize how fun it is to share your projects with people that 'get it'. That appreciate what you do and understand why you do it. Two Peas is a world of people that get why letterpress makes me misty eyed and why office supplies can turn my frown upside-down. So far it's been really fun. I don't know what I was expecting. I guess I thought people would start mocking me or telling me what I should or shouldn't do (because I know how snarky people can be when they are able to hide anonymously in the shadows of the internet). But, it's been really fun, and, actually, sort of invigorating. I feel like I got my mojo back. :)

That's all for today. Blogger has not been my friend the last couple of days, so I decided I'll ignore him for a while to see if he'll fix his attitude or blame his friend, My Computer. I am working on a couple of things of fun things that I hopefully can finish up by next week. I will share it all soon!

July Obsessions.

I can't begin a new month without listing my latest obsessions. Work picked up for me this past month, so I didn't have as much time to obsess about a whole bunch of things, but I managed to conjure up a few things to share. So, here we go.

(photo taken from here)

FIFA World Cup. I have been in a zombie like state ever since June 11. Mr. Bean apparently has a real job where he cannot watch the games in real time, so we have been saving them for the evening. This makes for some very late nights. While I am sad that the US didn't make it further, it is exciting to see America start taking notice of this game that has captivated the rest of the world for well over a century.

(photo taken from Starbucks)

Starbucks' Vanilla Bean Scone. I tried one of these a few weeks ago on a whim. I don't typically buy anything other than a latte there because, while everything looks delicious, it is always kind of a let down. But, this day I needed to burn some time (and apparently some extra calories) and now every time I pass a Starbucks, I start drooling a la Pavlov's dogs. You have to try one. It will change your life. Forever.

(images taken from Design Amour)

Moroccan Stencils. I have been dying to go to Morocco for years. When our neighbors announced that they'd be moving there for at least 2 years, I quickly started trying to devise a plan to pack myself up in one of their suitcases without Mr. Bean noticing. I will let you know how that goes. Anyway, I love everything there is to love about Morocco. The food, the colors, the architecture, the textiles. Everything. So, just in case my plan doesn't work out, I've been trying to think of ways to bring a little Morocco into my home. I came across these stencils as well as these stencils. Yes, stencils. Before you judge me, take some time to check out their fabulousness. I am not sure where I can incorporate these into my home, but I think it's a great option if you aren't wanting to commit to wallpaper.

(image taken from Design Dust)

Japanese Washi Tape. JWT, if loving you is wrong I don't wanna be right. I can't get you out of my head. I dream about you at night. I day dream about you during the day. Please. Be mine. In every color. If you aren't familiar with the loveliness that is washi tape, I suggest you google it now and prepare to become obsessed.

My birthday hangover has finally subsided. Although my birthday was on a Friday, it actually went on all week and carried over to the weekend. I can't say this was a bad idea. In fact, I think I will make this a requirement every year from now on. But, I think I will wait to tell Mr. Bean that for now. Thanks to everyone that made my birthday so exciting!

I have to give a special shoutout to my favorite fellow crafters. Check out the (blurry) pic of the card and envelope they made me. INSANE.

I won't even begin to imagine how long it took them to make it. Hopefully, they think I am worth it. ;) I plan on hanging this in my craft room STAT. You can read more about it here.

Alright, it is Friday and I am ready to get the weekend started. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Spring Cleaning.

It's been long overdue. I am not by any means a clean freak, but when I was little it was a task that my mother made sure everyone in the house participated in every spring. We'd have to basically purge, dust, and vacuum our butts off. So, around this time of the year, every year, I get that itch that I need to keep that tradition alive. I decided that this weekend would be best since we had an extra day to ourselves and I wouldn't be completely wiped when I returned to work on Monday. I must confess, though, that I had the itch a couple of months ago. But, I ignored it.

My house is practically sparkling from the insane deep cleaning we gave it. And it feels and smells fresh and clean. Love that. We actually didn't touch one hall closet or any of the bedrooms, but I am very, very pleased at the moment. And tired. And sore. :)

Finally.

Sewing is sometimes the most humbling activity I've ever willingly tried. Next to skiing. I have been working on an apron for a friend for....well, forever. It is from a pattern my grandmother gave me that her mother gave her years ago.

I absolutely love the fabric, but my machine didn't. I basically had to hand feed the needle into the fabric about every other stitch. My right arm looks Popeye's now. I hope she loves it. I think I may cry if she ever uses it. Ha. Some pics.....

(Forgive the bad pics. #1, I don't have a cute area to display anything, and #2, I am still trying to learn my camera.)

The front.


The back.



Close up of the pocket. This probably best represents the actual fabric color. I chose to use a red thread because I thought it would look cute in contrast to the other colors (and to match the outline on the flowers) but I realized pretty quickly it shows all my mistakes.

In other news, I finally bought a rug for the front room!!! I have had my eye on a rug since February of last year. I know this because I checked the email my BIL sent me when I begged him to take pics of it since the only store in the state happened to be a few miles from him. I am pretty excited.

I need to post pics of our trip to San Fran. But, I think I will post those to our new website so I can email the link to family. Stay tuned. I am hoping to find some time to do that this weekend.

It. Is. Finished.

In seven days, God created the earth. In 21, we created a closet.

The closet is finished. Well, pretty much. It ain't no Mariah Carey, but it will do! I love it. All the late nights, blood, sweat, tears, fighting, purging, donating, trashing, hanging.....it was all worth it. OK, there was no blood and only a few tears. Hey, I get emotional when I am overwhelmed. :)

I have so much room now. Mr. B has slightly less. Well, less than me, but it's not too much less than he had before. Don't judge. It's all he needs. :) If you take out all the t-shirts he had hung, the ones with holes in it even, then you fold them and put them in drawers....then he has plenty of room for his clothes. The ones he wears and the ones he doesn't. And that's all that matters. That, and the fact that all my clothes are now in the closet. :)

I told my co-worker, Don, that I was done with my closet. He said, "So he's gonna let you stay?" Ha.

I have one major room in the house to organize and then I will be done with my house. I have a few more areas I need to re-do, too, but I am not counting those. Those can be done in a couple of hours vs. the madness of that last room. But, I am done for 2008. No more.

Now, it's Christmas decorations. I am so behind on that. It's not Christmas without the decorations. So, who cares if they are only up for 2 weeks?? I don't. I won't.

I will post pics of my closet tomorrow. We are off to College Station right now. Mr. B's cousins are graduating from Texas A&M (WHOOP!). Whoever heard of a Friday afternoon graduation?? Oh well. I have the day off and that is something I AM NOT COMPLAINING ABOUT.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sorry for the short hiatus. We have been steadily working on our house, namely the closet. I finally convinced Mr. Bean that even after giving away practically a truckload of clothes, that my clothes will not fit in that closet. Whoever designed that closet needs to be burned at the stake in front of Containter Store. So, hello, elfa!! We wanted the IKEA closet system, but that would not work in our space. I looked at Lowe's, but they have a few more years to get caught up with the options that Container Store offers. So, we used our Holiday Shopping card and went all out. It is exciting. I really should get better about taking pictures, but I will blame that on not having a good camera (the one I bought Mr. B several years ago is pretty much trash).

Anyway, we have removed all our clothes and ironically enough, the brand new couch is now a clothes hanger. :) We ripped out the old closet, patched, and painted. We are taking today off, but will start installing the elfa closet system tomorrow!!! It feels soooo good to get organized! I still have one major room to tackle that has a bunch of my stuff that I moved in. But, I will focus on what I have accomplished vs. what I have left to finish. :)

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Our New Addition

The day has finally come. My sectional is here. After second, third, fourth, and fifth guessing, I was a little weirded out by the fact that it is strangely perfect for that space. I guess I thought there'd be more drama to it all since I really thought it'd be too big and we'd have to return it, blah blah blah. But, it's BEAUTIFUL. I think by making me wait, Mr. Bean has insured that I will forever love this sectional. I'll have to post pics later when I get a good shot of it. I think Mr. Bean was pretty excited about it as well since he's also agreed to me getting a new console table and bench. We figure we will single-handedly bring the economy back. Wish us luck.

Not much else to report here. I've slowly been working on getting rid of a bunch of my old stuff. I have a HUGE box of clothes to donate and I haven't been thru half of my clothes yet. It feels good to get rid of stuff, but it's also very overwhelming. Where do you draw the line? I am a self proclaimed packrat. I've gotten a lot better about it, but there are just some things I can't seem to let go of, but it doesn't fit in the "vision" for my house that I have in my head. (I am quoting Peter Walsh here.) Bottom line? I am just not motivated right now. There are boxes everywhere so I feel like there is no end. There. Is. No. End. I'd. Rather. Be. Sewing. As it stands, I can't reach my sewing machine because of all the boxes around it. UGH.

Couch Potato

We finally bought the couch we've been eyeing for about a year now. I am pretty excited, although I had a few hours, er, moments, of plain freaking out about whether I chose the right configuration. It's a sectional, and a large one at that, so there were about 849 ways to piece this couch together for our space. I am still a bit worried that it might be too much couch for our space, but, we've chosen to go by the "if you love it, buy it" point of view, and we love it. It will be delivered in 2 weeks, so that gives me hardly any time to clean that room out.

I finally moved all my stuff out of my dad's, so the entire front room looks like an episode of Clean Sweep on TLC. It's pretty ridiculous and embarrassing and overwhelming. So far I've managed to ignore it because I happened to move it all in the weekend before Hurricane Ike and have had lots of excuses not to get to it. Mr. Bean told me that we could order the couch as soon as I cleaned out that room, but I asked him to let me just order it to motivate me to clean out the room since I've been really good at ignoring the landfill that is overtaking my house. So far it has not worked, but I think I tend to work better under pressure. :) I don't know that I will ever be done with decorating my house, but I think that actually having furniture to decorate AROUND would be a good start. :D

The problem is I am a much better impulse shopper than I am a thought-out shopper. Like this sectional, for instance. We've been looking at it so long that I've managed to think up absolutely every scenario as to why it will or will not work. It's really exhausting. I am not typically an indecisive person, so this is a whole new world for me. I will not be back. :)

Everything has been sort of ho hum here lately. I'm working on a jacket for my friend's baby from this book (which I totally love, BTW). I am not totally pleased with it, but it's pretty cute. It is a very simple pattern that I've managed to turn into something quite complicated. My mom says I have a knack for taking the simple and turning it into the hardest thing in the world. This time, I'd have to agree. I have enjoyed sewing so far but this is by far the most frustrating project I've worked on. I am pretty sure it has everything to do with the fact that I am a beginner and I am making adjustments that require more experience and nothing to do with the pattern itself. But, hey, I've always loved a challenge. Just not this one. Ha.

I spent some time tonight downloading some music. I love to listen to music at work to sort of drown out the typical noises in the office. My office is a bit unique since my mother, father and brother are all each in rooms about 10 feet from my office, so you can imagine what noises I like to drown out. :) I am officially obsessed with M.I.A.. I am looking forward to going to work tomorrow to listen to my new downloads. I am working on some different stuff right now, so it's nice to change the ol' routine up a bit.

Off to bed. I desperately need to get this sleep thing on a schedule.