Oh the joy of a clean house...

That rare, elusive creature was just within my grasp this past weekend, so I reached out, grabbed it, and held on for dear life. I know that in the next few days it will slip through my fingers though. It's such a simple pleasure to be able to open up the windows, breath in the aroma of clean laundry, and just be able to relax. (Bear in mind that I'm completely ignoring the part of my house that has been closed off since the beginning of winter. I'll get to it another time.) There's also nothing like starting the day with someone making you eggs, bacon, and grits <----can we say "yummmmm?"

I'm quite certain that my Sunday afternoon was much more enjoyable than Jeremy's. He spent several hours underneath our cars changing the oil and trying to fix some of the issues with mine. So, to reward his valiant efforts to make me happy, I made dinner along with a chocolate fudge cake (ignore the fact that I ate two pieces before he even saw it.) I'm becoming so domestic...lol, yeah right!

I almost forgot to mention Saturday. Not sure how much I actually helped, but I ATTEMPTED to help paint Kari and Jackie's new home. I think I actually made more work for them to do, but hey, it's the thought that counts. I even left them some abstract art in the form of a paint spill on the floor. You're welcome :)

As far as today goes, yuck. I'm all for rain as long as I can stay in bed and drift into sleep listening to it as it falls on my tin roof. Having to drive and walk around in it? No thank you. Now, before I starve to death, it's time to go have lunch (which just happens to include a certain chocolate fudge cake!)

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Fix-it Friday! #48

Wow, haven't done one of these since last year. Couldn't pass this one up though. I mean, how flippin' adorable is this little girl? So, for your viewing pleasure, here are two versions of the photo from this week's submission.

Original

Black on Black Duotone

Digital Painting

For instructions, refer to http://cornerofjo.blogspot.com/2009/06/fix-it-friday-18.html

The best part of doing these means that it's Friday!!! Head over to iheartfaces to do your own!

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Hey Tonay! Wait...he's not italian

Sister Hazel

To those of you who don't know, Sister Hazel is AWESOME! Last night's concert at Lincoln Theater in Raleigh was an absolute blast. It's a small, intimate venue with a capacity of about 550, and I'm sure it met that because the place was packed. We had a great spot to view the show since we were about 40 feet from the stage and were eye level with the band. The highlight was getting to meet them after the show though. All in all, a fantastic night :)

Jeremy and I

With the drummer, Mark Trojanowski

With the bass player, Jett Beres

With guitarist, Ryan Newell

With guitarist, Drew Copeland

Me, Jeremy, Katie, Stephen, Charles, and Kris

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Time to vent...

I'm buying a gun and a giant man-eating dog. Then I'm putting up a sign that says "Trespassers will be shot and/or eaten." That's right, people...someone stole some things out of my car. Looking at the big picture, I didn't lose a lot. It could have been much worse. All that was missing was my iPod nano and my make-up bag (but seriously, WHO steals someone else's make-up?) It's well over $300 worth of stuff, but they didn't do any damage and thank goodness I didn't leave anything more expensive in there. What really bothers me is losing my sense of security. My car was parked at the back of my house which is located a block away from a police station. Just for the record, my car door was unlocked and the reason I leave it unlocked is because I considered it a blessing to feel safe enough to do so. The thought of someone coming onto my property and rifling through my belongings still leaves me with mixed feelings of being angry and creeped out. So, I went to the store and bought more flood lights to put around the back of the house, locked the doors on the vehicles and double locked my garage. The neighbors have been notified and now anytime Molly (my neighbor's german shepherd) barks, I'm going outside with a baseball bat and a telephone. Consider yourselves warned, people! I swing first and ask questions later ;)

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One of THOSE Mondays...

As I sit here trying not to vomit at work, I think it's a good time to recap my weekend and do a new post.

Let me just start by saying that this weekend was incredible! It started off with going to Raleigh to see the Broadway South Series play "Little House on the Prairie." Very interesting hour long trip that included me sitting on the "hump" in the front seat. That's right, we crammed 6 women into a Buick Century because we thought that would make it more fun :) I love these ladies dearly, but next time I plan on driving separately in order to save my legs and rear end. We arrived at the auditorium a little early, so we enjoyed a nice glass of wine outside in the amazingly beautiful weather. Let it be known that I'm stoked at this point. We were all looking forward to seeing Melissa Gilbert star as "Ma" (seriously...how cool is that?) Anyway, we go inside and get seated. The play begins with some announcements beforehand. Apparently, one of the announcements was that Melissa Gilbert wouldn't be performing that day. Wh...Wha....WHAT?! Of course, her understudy looked so much like her (and since I didn't hear that particular announcement), I spent the first half of the play thinking that it was actually her. My eye sight isn't what it used to be and obviously half of the audience was in the same boat because everyone clapped when "Ma" entered the first scene. During intermission, my MIL informed us that, in fact, it wasn't Melissa Gilbert and at that point I declared that this play was dead to me.

Now...in retrospect, the play was fantastic. Definitely the best one I've ever seen. The way they used the lighting and props mesmerized me. Not to mention that the singing was just insanely good. BUT...and that's a big but...if you're charging $61 a ticket and billing the celebrity above the name of the play itself, they better be there! Seriously, I don't wish sickness on many people, but she had better be in the hotel puking her guts up, especially since I rode the "hump" between my SIL and my husband's aunt to go see her. Bear in mind that I didn't pay for my ticket myself, but my MIL had purchased these months ago and all of us had been anticipating seeing little "Laura" from the television show starring as "Ma". Alas, it wasn't meant to be. Damn you, Melissa Gilbert.

Sunday was wonderful as well. Really wish that the weather had been as nice as the previous day, but at least it wasn't raining. I even drove with the top down on the convertible for a while. Can't complain about that. I went to my grandparents' house for the first time in forever (on a Sunday at least) since my family always gets together for lunch. My grandmother is the best cook in the world. Don't argue with that, you won't win. So, I ate some chicken pastry, sat and talked for an hour or so, and then we turned the kitchen into a beauty parlor. There was 1 perm, 3 haircuts, 1 coloring, and 3 pairs of eyebrows plucked—and none of those were mine! After we finished playing salon, I went home, picked up Jeremy (who had gone to the grocery store while I was gone. LOVE that man), and we went to his sister's house for her husband John's birthday. Wasn't too terrible. I think they fear store bought items. Love them to death, but homemade hamburger buns don't work. Not to mention that Jeremy is easily annoyed by people and their weird philosophies. So after eating and hanging around the fire pit for a bit, we left and crashed at the house. All in all, a pretty good weekend I think.

I had said that I would be posting some photos of the items I crocheted, so here they are. I finished the phone cover I planned to do. This is just a test run for it. The actual one I do will be much cuter, I just need to buy the right yarn. I'm also including some hats and headbands that I crocheted for a friend's two daughters. Not bad for a first attempt, right?

Can't wait to work on some more projects. Really wished I could crochet faster. There's too much stuff I want to do! Maybe I'll be able to finish something else this week. Which reminds me...we're going to see Sister Hazel in concert this Wednesday! It should be a blast. Hopefully, they won't be like Melissa Gilbert and they'll actually show up :P

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Procrastination is a SERIOUS disease...

...and it happens to be just one of my many afflictions. I managed to procrastinate on a project so long that I left myself only two days to complete it when normally it would take at least a week. There's just so much to do. Oh well, it's finished and now I can BLOG!

Unfortunately, I don't have that much to blog about. Right now I'm in a race with Jeremy to see who can stay ahead on watching episodes of Heroes. (He passed me last night while I was asleep, which sucks because I was three episodes ahead and kept sneaking spoilers into our conversations.) Watching Heroes isn't ENTIRELY unproductive. While wasting my time sitting in front of ye olde boob tube, I've been crocheting a phone cover for my phone. Sounds lame, but I think it will end up being pretty cute :) I'll post some photos of the finished product. I'm also back sleeping beside Jeremy again now that the poopy plague is gone and the bedding has been washed. It was nice to not have anyone steal the covers though. ;) I'll miss that. Anyway, that's all for now. Later!

P.S. Forgot to mention that this weekend I will be going to Raleigh to see a production of Little House on the Prairie starring one Ms. Melissa Gilbert. Go ahead, be jealous. Thanks to my awesome MIL for buying tickets :)

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Beware the Ides of March

Always good advice. Especially when it falls on a Monday.

Well, I'm trying to keep up with my goals for the summer. I'm still being indecisive about the paint color for the bathroom. I've already gone a little crazy with the colors in my house. I'm not saying that I don't love my previous choices, but I'm definitely considering keeping some rooms a little more toned down. Purple and steel blue are both heavy contenders though.

With the recent (and oh so welcome) weather changes that have been happening lately, I feel my creative side start to awaken from its deep slumber. There's so much I want to do now. I've added crocheting a rug to my list. Yes, you read that correctly...crochet a rug. I've looked online at some patterns and I'm seriously considering it. I'll start with one for the bathroom (if I ever decide on a paint color) and then we'll see where it goes from there. Also, I would LOVE to paint some new art work for the living room. I have a panel design in mind using curtain fabric or something abstract I painted. The hardest part of the entire process is finding the time do it. Hopefully, the end result would be a home that reflects more of my style rather than just being a collection of pieces pulled together over the years that really don't mean anything. (Side note: While typing this, I just remembered something that needs to go on the list—sanding and staining my coffee and tv table. to match. Probably wouldn't hurt to do the sofa table as well.) There's too much to do...ugh.

Like I said, the weather is slowly (and I mean sllllooowwwwwlllllyy) been warming up. I absolutely cannot wait to be able to open the window and enjoy a nice breeze through the house. A good barbeque would be wonderful as well. And even though it's Monday (yuck), it's the first day since fall that I'll get home and have more than 15 minutes of daylight left. It's little blessings like those that make me happy :)

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New Bathroom colors

In desperate need of ideas for paint colors for my bathroom. I would really love to finish it up this weekend. It's only the top half of the wall, so it shouldn't take too long. I just have to settle on a color scheme. I'm torn between 3 colors:

I'm so incredibly indecisive at this point that I might just close my eyes and point to one in order to choose. I'll post some pics of the finished product either way.

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1st of 2010!

Yes, I am well aware that I said I was going to blog more and have failed to do so. I'm setting a new goal for myself (well, a couple actually). I'm going to make the effort to blog everyday. It's asking a lot from a person like me, but I'm going to try. One thing that is going to make this goal even more challenging is the list of things I want to accomplish this summer. I'm beginning to realize that I'm lazier than I would like to admit so 2010 is going to be my year of change. Some of those changes are: planting a garden, painting the bathroom, losing 10 lbs., maybe ripping up the carpet in the bedroom, paint new artwork for the living room, take more photos, learn how to sew on the brand new sewing machine I've never opened, and HAVE FUN! Not that I don't have fun now, but I really don't feel like I'm making the most out of my time and enjoying myself in the process. Anyway, it shouldn't be too hard to track my progress if I actually do blog everyday ;) But enough of my rambling for now. I'll leave you with something I'm pretty proud of. It's the blanket I crocheted for my mom for her birthday. Later, folks!

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