Holding my breath.

Sometimes I catch myself holding my breath. I'm not sure why. And when I notice, I take a breath, but it still feels like I'm holding onto something in there. Stress? Burdens? Happiness? Not sure what it is.

It could be creativity. And since I haven't been able to scrap, it's all pent up... LOL. ;-)

Or it could be longing. Longing for something I need, but don't know yet that I want or need it. I'm sure I'll figure it out... one of these days.

Bolting out the door.

Just a quick one.

I LOVE our house! It is SO quiet at night. SO quiet. We all slept SO well... even the puppies! :D

My newest review is up at Craft Critique today. It was my favorite one yet! Now I know which blank ink pad to grab! :D

We're out of town today until Sunday. No internet access. (YIPPEE!) It's the Annual Stark Thanksgiving (we always have it at the beginning of November because it's more convenient.) Just a lot of eating, talking, resting and playing dominoes. That's all. Hopefully, *this* year I'll remember to take photos. LOL.

And happy birthday to my beautiful sister yesterday! 27! She's OLD! HA! ;-)


This photo is of *last* year on her birthday. I haven't seen her since November 6th, 2008! Sheesh! One year! Much too long. I may need to visit soon. *sigh* I miss her pretty face.

Happy Day-After-Your Birthday, Shaina! :D

Remembering Nine Years Ago.

Journal entry from nine years ago today...

"Thursday, November 2, 2000:

Today Jeremy called and asked if he could come over, so of course, I said he should. He said he had to come over to get his laundry, but now I kinda think it was an excuse for him to come over.

Tonight he said, "Reyanna, do you know how much I like you?!" I said, "No...." I seriously didn't know he was that stoked on me. He said I'm gorgeous and lively and other stuff, which was pretty cool. I think he's pretty cool too. He said I'm a tease, but he's not complaining. (LOL!)

I like Jeremy too because I've always been myself around him. I had a dream about him the other night, and it gave me butterflies even!"

Ohmigosh, how cute is my 19 year old self?! LOL! Makes me giggle. We've always celebrated today as the anniversary of us getting together. It was the day we both admitted that we liked each other (though to be honest, I didn't think this would go anywhere... I just thought I would humor him... LOL. After all, he was one of my best friends, and we hung out just about every day).

Perhaps our first kiss (November 4, 2000) should be the anniversary, but we celebrate that too. LOL. I can't believe it's been nine years. NINE. That's a long time. LOL.

And since I don't have a photo of us from the day we got together, here's one taken November 2, 2005. Jeremy with Ruby on his face, and Amber by his side. LOL. So cute. :-)

Getting excited! Finally!

Ohmigoodness. I'm finally getting excited! I'm finally *allowing* myself to get excited. LOL.

Inspection? Done!

Loan approval? DONE! (WOOHOO!)

Appraisal? Done!

Me? Breathing. :-)

And now? Photos. Hoorah!

Here's the front of the house...

Looks totally cute and quaint, right?! I wanted brick, and I got brick! It also looks small, but it's actually over 2,000 sq ft in one story! :-) I love how homey-looking the trees are. :-) We'll probably mulch the front yard to cut back on maintenance. Plus, it's better than grass in the SUPER hot weather.

Walk in the front door about 12 feet, and you see this...

I actually really like this green color, and we'll keep it this way. I'm going to do soft greens, blues, tans, and browns in the living room. This is the color pallet I'm going for in the living room (vintage, beach cottage decor: no fish or palm trees; no surfer girls... LOL). I'll probably get that striped blanket to take with me when I shop for furnishings. :-) And this fabric from Lee Industries. Oh, yummy. It's kinda pricey to upholster a few chairs, so I may just have to buy a few yards and make some accent pillows. :-D

To the right... see that window thingy? When I first saw these photos, I thought that was a wall... like a really tall bookcase or something... LOL. But it's a window to the hallway, keeping the house more open. You can hop right through that window into the hallway! Straight down that hallway to the left (on the other side of the kitchen) is the master bedroom.

And here is the master bedroom, looking from the master closet, seeing the door to the hallway on your left...

I'm not sure why the photo was not taken standing at the door, so you can get a better idea of size (just over 13x19), but this is it. It has two windows to the backyard. In the future, perhaps we'll make sliding doors to go out there. Or maybe a bay window. Perhaps. :-) I like to dream and think up neat things like that. LOL.

This room will probably be painted in Silver Sage from Restoration Hardware or Prescott Green (like the #1 room, aka "The English Trellis," that I posted earlier) by Benjamin Moore. They are very similar colors. Celing fan will probably be replaced with a chandelier or a white ceiling fan.

The master closet is HUGE! It's 6ft by 12ft, which is PLENTY big for both of us. I'm pretty sure we can even store out-of-season clothes in there as well! You know, and perhaps the state of Rhode Island. ;-) It will definitely be getting some elfa from The Container Store. :-D That's where my discount is going to come in handy. :-)

And the master bathroom... (love that it has double sinks, yay!)

The master bath will be painted cream. I'll probably paint the cabinets cream too. I LOVE that this bathroom has a double stand-alone shower (not pictured) with no tub. LOVE it! We both wanted this for our bathroom, but we didn't actually think we'd get it!

We want to re-tile the shower in the future. It certainly doesn't *need* it now, but the color does not appeal to us, and we'd like something different. I like knowing that we can change it when we want to... and when we save up to do so... ;-)

Standing at the door of the master bedroom, you look down the hall to the other rooms...

Straight ahead is the guest room. Second door to the left is the laundry room, I think. Gah... I don't remember. LOL. Pretty sure though. And then to the right... straight across from the laundry room... will be Jeremy's office. (Which currently has a ceiling fan with DAISIES on it! At least it's not as bad as the baseball-themed one in the guest room... LOL. We close on November 4th, and then go on vacation on the 5th. You can be assured that those will be placed on Craigslist... shortly after we return. LOL.)

That bit of green to the right (the 2nd opening) goes back to the living room. That first opening (is the "window" to the Great Room). And that HUGE (French doors) opening to the left? Yeah, that's my scrap room, and I don't have any pics of that, but it's AWESOME! Or, you know... it *will* be awesome!

Here's the guest bathroom, which is pretty nice, and I won't have to do anything! Yay!

Let's go back into the Great Room. This viewpoint is about 10 feet or so inside the front door. Straight ahead is the door to the backyard...

I was *stoked* when I saw this kitchen. I NEED a big kitchen. I cook... A LOT, and I NEEDED lots of space...

Walls will be painted a light, creamy yellow... that has yet to be decided, though I have a few in mind. Popcorn Kernel by Benjamin Moore, I believe is the current front-runner. All the paint swatches online look different, so we'll have to see it in real life. And we'll see what it looks like when I paint it on some posterboard... ;-) Cabinets are nice, and I don't want to replace them, so I will be painting them white... or you know, white-ish. ;-)

Our sink is the COOLEST! It's granite composite, and oh wow, I LOVE it! I *did* want a gas stove over electric, but we'll buy the flat electric stove that's easy to clean, and I know I'll be singing a different tune... ;-)

The stove and dishwasher are not too old, not too new, which is good because we can save to buy new ones to go with the fridge that we end up buying. It's nice to know we don't have to think about that now. However... I can't decide between stainless and white. I love the *look* of white better, but if we re-sell in the next five years (which is doubtful, but you know, it could happen...), buyers will want stainless. Ack. I should probably just get what *I* want. LOL. But how important is it to cater to the value of the home? Decisions. Decisions.

And I don't have a picture of the pantry, but I think it's a pretty good size!

Then you go outside...

And the backyard has a big oak tree! Totally fun and climbable! LOL. The landscaping in the backyard was pretty much the *only* thing we didn't like about this house (save the stove), but we felt that was the *easiest* fix.

So... we'll probably put 6ft hedges up along the perimeter for privacy. Not sure if they'd let us build a new fence because we're in an HOA (homeowner's association). The deck we will probably paint the green to match the trim of the house. We may paint it cream to match the siding of the house. We'll build a covered patio and put furniture, a hot tub, and weather-proof curtains out here... and it will be perfect. :-)

Choosing colors and style.

If you had to choose a bedroom to have for your own, which would you choose?

Room #1: Warm colors, white bed frame, pastels, florals, soothing feeling


Room #2: Dark furniture, cozy, comfortable, elegant

Room #3: Blues, creams and tans/beiges, white/natural furniture, comfortable (edited to add: style would be *quite* different)

Photos are from the hotel I used to work at, The Chanler at Cliff Walk. These were my three favorite rooms. I *really* wish you could make the photos larger, but for some reason, they make them itty-bitty on their site. You'd *think* that at over $1,000 per night, they'd want the photos to be *at least* 6x6 on your screen. But I digress...

Thanks so much for your help! :-D

Feeling SO much better!

Wow, thanks for letting me get *that* off my chest yesterday. That, a good cry, and a chocolate cake, and I'm feeling SO much better! LOL.

Well, those things and the thought of margaritas after work tonight with hubby... Tee hee.

Oh! And here's a new layout...

I pretty much just used the August Studio Calico kit. Basic Grey, Sassafras and Maya Road yummy-ness. :) This is my friend's daughter, Lily. She is SO much fun! We did a photo shoot, and this was one of my faves!

p.s. Check out Craft Critique this week! We're doing some awesome giveaways!!!

Changing too many things.

Too many changes... too fast.

We said goodbye to our cars.

We said hello to a new car.

We're under contract (inspection DONE!) on a house.

New house (BIG for us) means we'll need furniture. Pretty much all we own currently: bookshelves, a loveseat, small table, and my scrappy storage stuff. I'm thinking that will NOT fill up a 2,000+ sq ft home. LOL. We don't even have a BED! I did buy one the other day though... it will wait at the store for us until we move. Then again... I do like wide, open spaces. I mean, seriously, how many homes do you know that you can rollerblade in the Great Room?! ;-)

House needs landscaping and deck add-on (pergola or something similar)... so that I don't have to stare into my neighbors' backyards. LOL.

Hubby is the lead on a multi-million dollar project... taking him away from home A LOT.

I've been sick too long, causing me to cut my work hours.

I decided to cancel my subscription to Studio Calico. (Though I'm still getting the papers each month... tee hee.) I'm not sure yet if canceling was the best thing. Though I'll feel better about spending less and accumulating less, I do feel like I'm missing out. And that just might be as much stress as keeping it. LOL.

At SC, we're saying goodbye to Scarlet, Kirsty and Tina C. *sigh* That's a tough blow for me. I can't BELIEVE how tough. I'm really bummed about SC being without a clean and simple style like Tina C. I really felt like she rounded out the group. And Scarlet and Kirsty... two of my favorite designers EVER. I'll definitely continue to stalk all their blogs. :D

Welcoming Celine and Lisa to Studio Calico. These two women are AMAZINGLY talented! And I'm very excited to see their work with SC kits each month!

Ack. On top of that, I'm TRYING to get over the stress of the past year, and so many changes... eek... does not help stress. LOL.

Oooooh! A good change! I cut my hair short...er:

Though when I look at this photo, I see that I'm really stressed. LOL. Where's my color? Where's my REAL smile? Umm... they're on hiatus. But I'm hoping they will return VERY soon.

Maybe I need something new and different in my life. A new happiness... that's not really "bad" stressful, but fun. Maybe I should apply for a design team. LOL. Or maybe I just should do something fun... to get my mind off of being stressed. I could...

Scrap.

Read Eclipse.

Upload the layouts I've finished.

Listen to fun music.

Jump around.

Dance.

Stand on my hands! Holy COW! I haven't done a handstand in like... over a month! Maybe two months! Okay, that should be first on the list!

Till next time...

... here's hoping for a little less stress. :-D