Lend me your design eye!

Lately I have been tinkering with the idea of re-doing or vamping up some rooms in our house.
When we first bought the house, we painted the living room, kitchen, and bedroom CRAZY colors! They were bright blue, bright yellow, and bright red. Since then, we have toned all of these rooms down.

I am quite happy with my kitchen. All I need to find is a table cloth or sew some place mats. Eventually we want to re-do the cabinets, counters, and floors...eventually! My living room is okay. It could definitely use some work but I am just not quite sure what to do! I just keep sewing random throw pillows and sticking with that!

The room I am focusing on now is my bedroom. Here it is in all its glory-sorry the pic isn't so great!



It never really came together from the beginning and I am just kind of over it. I want to create a more peaceful resting place-and one that I will want to keep clean!

I am thinking about keeping the color theme for now: neutrals, reds, oranges (it's hard to see all of the accessories in this pic). I just have to get rid of that wall color. I figured if I go more neutral with the walls, then I can always change the accessories in case I tire of the accent colors. Here are some pictures of what I am thinking about doing for colors:

1.

2.

I am leaning more towards number one because it feels more light and fresh to me. Our bedroom does not have as much natural light as number two so I am afraid it will be too dark. James said the first has a little too much grey in it. Either way, I was thinking a medium shade of brown/taupe.

We will also be putting a lot more art on the walls-in the form of photos of course! My hubby often comes in handy :) I am hoping to get rid of some of the furniture since we have so many different grains of wood in there!

This will sound silly, but I go back and forth about decorating my house because: 1. It is temporary and I don't want to be materialistic or discontent. 2. It's just so easy to get used to seeing what's around you. To address these, I will say that finishing my kitchen and craft room has made me feel good about our home. Also, I know I will do it on a budget and make many of the accessories. I think it is worth it since I am here every day!

What do you think? Do you have any advice you can offer? Also, does paint ever go on sale?! Ha!

Cracking Up on April Fools

Being that today is April Fools, a quite hilarious memory comes to mind.

In 2007, James and I played an April fools joke on our friends:
We faked that we got engaged!

We did not call anyone (I wouldn't be able to lie!), but simply changed our facebook statuses and posted pictures online. Now, I understand this is a completely cheesy joke and has been overplayed. Therefore, I was thinking, no big deal!

Oh, but it was! People on facebook were freaking out. I had friends calling me and commenting on all of our pictures, pages, and status updates. I even had old high school friends calling me! Some were freaking out in a good way and others were not.

Most people did not know James and I were together for the first half of our dating relationship (that is another story). Therefore, people thought we had only been dating maybe two months. I would guess that we had well over 100 people convinced that we were engaged.

The reason everyone was so convinced is actually really funny! They all said "It's because you had a picture with his mom!" Here is that picture and a few others:

I am glad that Momma Riley was awesome enough to get in on the joke with us. Eventually everything settled and we got a few lectures from our friends!

But, guess what?! We got engaged about two months later!

I'll have to tell that story another time. For now, I am cracking up laughing remembering the chaos our April Fools joke caused. What is the best joke you have played or someone played on you?

For all the things I put you through...

My field placement this year is at Big Brothers Big Sisters. As I was getting an update from one of the parents, she explained that her daughter (the Little) is no longer so little. As the parent explained, her pre-teen hormones have caught up and she is a little crazy, moody, having a hard time adjusting. Not only that, but she is starting to have sleepovers and spending time with her friends on the weekends.

This made me feel anxious! One day I will be a parent and have to deal with this moodiness- not to mention all of the other stages leading up to this (fighting to sleep through the night, potty training, first day of school, etc). I feel like this is a lot of emotions to endure: exhaustion from sleepless nights, anxiety of if you have done enough as a parent, and the joy and sadness of watching your child grow up. I would say I just got a good dose of birth control!

This makes me think "my poor mama"! Thank you mom, for putting up with my moods, because we know I had plenty of them. And for enduring that one boyfriend we know everyone disliked. Thanks for staying up with me all night when I had an earache in elementary school and ruptured my ear drum in high school. The comfort of your presence and fingers brushing through my hair made the pain that much more bearable.

I imagine that is how parents feel. You might go through exhaustion, disappointment, and pain but it is the sweet memories that make it worth it. Memories that we both will hold in our hearts of each other. I am sorry for all the things I put you through, but I know it has helped us grow closer today. I hope you know how much I love and appreciate you.

I am sure you will have a good laugh when I have a moody teenager one day.
Here are a few pictures of my sweet mama: