Decisions, decisions

I recently ordered these wall panels from The Container Store in black and had the chance to hang them this weekend in our front room.

I love the way they look but I'm not completely sold on the black. They are plastic so it would be easy peasy to spray paint them if I decide to change the color but I thought I would get some opinions first. More than likely I would go for a pale green or white if I painted them but I am open to suggestions. Tell me what you think.

A New Toy

Andy and I decided to splurge and replace my dying laptop with an iPad. At first I was super hesitant because it feels like a toy to me and not a computer. However, once I realized that the majority of my computer use is web browsing I figured what the heck. I still have my laptop if I really need to type out a document or access my files, the only issue is the charging port is wonky so I need to have the charging cord just so in order for it to work. Basically it's kind of a pain to browse on so we decided my laptop will go into my office and the iPad will be my new living room toy. We got it Wednesday and I'm fairly impressed with it so far, in fact I'm blogging from it right now as a test and it is passing with flying colors. Any other iPad users out there? What are your favorite apps?

Shape up!

One of our goals for this year was to get our butts in shape. Andy and I have fallen prey to the if-you-are-happy-then-you-eat-more/gain-weight-stereotype that I have heard many people in happy relationships do. So we decided to start taking better care of ourselves. Andy already was a pretty healthy eater but I am a lover of carbs, snacks, and junk food, I would eat mashed potatoes and ice cream every night for dinner if I could. So my first goal was to start eating healthier before anything else. I took out the book The Women's Health Diet: 27 Days to Sculpted Abs, Hotter Curves, & a Sexier, Healthier You! and read it cover to cover in a few days. I really liked the book but I wouldn't really call it a diet; it's just eating better. I sort of adopted the eating habits they cover in the book and slightly modified the way they distribute the calories through the day since I work more nights. I am really simplifying this but basically the book says (read it if you are looking for a good diet book) more protein, whole grains, fruits and veggies, less sugar, carbs and processed food. I have to say I have probably cut my carb consumption in half, which is incredible for me and I've also really increased my protein intake which is a feat for me because I have never been a big fan of meat. I probably eat just as much now as I did before but I eat a lot healthier. I'll be honest I haven't been sticking to it as much as I should but I have got the hang of it and I am going to be a little more strict now since we are getting closer to vacation.

Being 70 some days out from our vacation I realized I needed to do more than just watch what I eat, it was time to start working out. Ugh. I hate working out. Every time I get started I end up crashing after a week or two because I just resent it. So I decided to try something new this time. I broke down and bought Zumba for the Wii and I love it! I have been doing it for about a week now and it's been great, I've combined it with some light weight lifting and ab work outs and I have to say that I think I found a something I can stick with. What's nice is that I can mix it up if I need to. There are classes in our area I can hit up if I need the extra motivation but when I don't feel like going out I can do it in my living room. The best part is the workouts are only 20 minutes so there is no reason for me not to do it, 20 minutes is nothing! Plus I can do more if I feel like it.

I'm really excited and really motivated to get myself healthy by the time we go on vacation in May!

Anyone have any tips for staying motivated and sticking with a diet?

Adventures in Adulthood

I very rarely feel like an adult, usually I feel about 16, but a really awesome 16 year old who lives with her BFF and has expendable income. Anyway, I sometimes get a wake up call and realize I have grown up. One of those wake up calls happened the other day when we decided to go shopping for tile and I got excited. Like freak-out-OMG-YAY excited. Yes, I got that excited about tile. WTH happened to me? I remember hating going to home improvement stores as a kid but now I love it. It's moments like that one that make me realize I am a little bit of a grown up. Only a little.

Anywho, more on the tile later. Yay!

A Demo

We have only been living in the house a couple months but we have already found an area to demo. Right off of the garage there is an area our builder calls an e-zone. Basically, it's a small desk area and in the model it seems like a great idea. In reality it's really just turned into a dumping ground. Take a look:

Yep, it's not pretty. It's a cluttered mess and I can't stand it. So we decided we are going to rip it out and replace it with a mini-mud room area. Allow me to show you our inspiration:

Anna White's Smiling Mud Room

House of Smith's entry-way

Small mud room- found on Ana White

These are the three inspirations we are working with to come up with our design. Let me share what we love about each one. From the top, Ana White's smiling mud room is lovely, very bright and open. What I loved most about this design was the curved dividers and openness which we need because there are light switches and sockets in the way. From the House of Smith design I really loved the mail slot idea with the metal boxes and the bead board, plus they took a space they hardly used and turned it into something useful which is the same plan we have. From the last design I just love how they utilized the small space. As you can see the space we are working isn't very big and I wanted to make sure that we utilize every inch.  Before we start we have to know what we are doing and Andy also need to wrap up work on the media console before we can start on another project. I have been working on a design right now, trying to measure and draw out (rather poorly) what we want. Hopefully, I can share something with you in a few days just as long as you promise not to laugh at my ridiculously poor drawing skills.

Poof, I'm back!

I apologize for taking the blog off the public sector for a little while, we were dealing with some legal stuff with our old rental company and didn't want anything to come up. I don't want to get into it too much but we decided not to pursue it anymore as it's not really worth our time and energy. We would like to focus that energy on making our new home kick ass.

I will be honest there wasn't really much to post about while we were offline. We kind of took a bit of a break from all things house after the party. We were in hyper drive for a few weeks so I think we needed a break. However, now we are starting to get rolling on some stuff and I'm excited to share it with you. Just a little preview of the plans in the works:

• A demo will be taking place in the near future
• A journey into the land of grout and tile
• More painting
• Some awesome hand-drawn designing
• An adventure in re-covering

Plus I should probably share some pictures of the house since we painted and furnished it. All this and more to come in coming days/weeks!

Ohh em gee!

Seriously, I apologize for the lack of blogging, it seemed like Andy got home last Wednesday and we hit the ground running. We've been planning a get together for the first weekend in February since we moved in, partially to hang with our friends but partially to light a fire under our butts to get the house in some semblance of order. With him being gone so much it's been a bit of a challenge, especially last week when I managed to hurt my neck and couldn't do much more than laundry. However, he got home Wednesday afternoon and once I got home from work we started running errands and really we haven't stopped since. There's been a lot we've needed to pick up for the house and a lot we've had to do. I have lots of projects to share but just haven't had the time to share them. Promise to do so soon.

Also if you are around Saturday night stop by the new place, we would love to see you!