Running thru life.... Dealing with Decals- A rainy Day Project!

You may recall earlier I blogged about doing a decal in our bathroom.  

After a month to think about it my hubby and I decided against a quote.  

Primarily because ever quote we came up with, he found something about it to ruin putting it in a bathroom.

Men have very sick minds!

So we turned to other options and we kept coming back to Cherry Blossoms.

We thought this would be a good contrast to the red walls.  

So I started to do my internet search.  

We were looking for one that at least was 40-45 inches long so it would hit where we wanted on the wall.    After a couple days of searching I started just looking on Etsy.com because they had the most custom made ones for the money I wanted to spend.  

We finally decided on one and put our order in.

 So last week I came home to find our decal in our mail box.  

I unwrapped it and was immediately in overwhelmed mode.  

It was made of lots of little pieces that had to be placed together.

So I decided this project would be done in steps.

Today being that it was cold and pouring rain, I decided to get this project done!

Step 1: Lay Everything Out

I decided to lay all the pieces out on the table to get an idea of how this needed to be placed on the wall.

Step 2:  Tape on wall as you would like it.

This let us play with the height a little.

Step 3:  Place branches on.  

This was easy enough.

You peeled off the back.

Placed the decal where you wanted it.

Smoothed it to make sure there were no air bubbles ( I ended up using my hand because it was easier then using a ruler like they suggested in the instructions)

Then peeled off the front and the decal stuck.

 

Step 4:  Places flowers on.

 This is where is was good to have two people.  Joe peeled the backs and then I placed them and peeled the fronts off.

Step 5:  Place small specs on

This part took the longest because it was a lot of little dots.  

But I am happy with the results.

We had extra left over flowers and dots so we added where we thought it need it.

With the help of Joe it took us less than 30 minutes to do.  

I am very happy with the results.  

Running thru life..... My favorite Baby Shower Gift

Today I recieved notice of another babyshower!
So I thought this would be the perfect opportunity for a blog!!!

I am a midwife...
which means that I must love baby showers...
Right?  

My favorite part of a baby shower is picking out the gift 

and seeing the mother to be open it.

I heart shopping!!!!

Since I have been alive I have now been to over 8 baby showers and invited to a couple more that were out of state.  I now have a "Fav Gift" as my hubby calls it.

The Bouncer

After my friend and cousin became pregnant and I purchased one of these for each of them.

They loved it and stated it was one of the best gifts they recieved because they used it so much!

They used it a lot when they were on a different level than the crib was for their baby to sleep in, took it on trips because most of them collapse and are easy to pack, etc.  

I love buying gifts that are actually used and appreciated. 

So that being said it has become my staple baby shower gift.

There are many different kinds and I have found that for almost every shower I have gone to, the couple has registered for one.    
If they have not registered for it.... I come up with something that I think is important and meaningful to the couple.  I remember my wedding shower and when I use the items i recieved I think about all the love and thoughtfulness that went into them. 

 

Happy Baby Showering.  

Running thru life... More choices

With the fall coming we just had our carpets cleaned. 

 I decided this year to just have the downstairs carpets cleaned because to be honest they need it!
 The downstairs is Clemson's room so it does get a little dirty. 

We used the same company we used last time because they gave me a good deal for being a repeat customer. 

So as I was getting the rooms ready for this process. 

I started to think about our floor rugs.

We purchased the one for the entry way at Target at 2008 when we moved in the house and there is a lacking of one in the TV room. 

The Target rug has served it purpose (I think it was on sale for less than 50$) but it is starting to fall a part and I am not sure it would make it through a professional rug cleaning. 

I do love the rug though....

However, it is not a heavy duty rug which is really needed for the front entry way now that we have a dog. 

The target rug was purchased pre-Clemson. 

So after talking with my husband and debating whether it would be worth even paying the money to get the rug cleaned since it almost cost as much as the rug. 
I decided that we are going to have to start looking for new rugs. 

So I used a couple of sites a neigbor had used on her search for the perfect rug because I liked how sturdy her rug seems to be.  I knew I wanted to stick with a brown coloring because it does hide the dirt better and the furniture in the entry way is brown. 

So here are some thoughts

Firework Ivy Rug

Symphony Brow Rug

I am still on the hunt for a new rug for the TV room- I am thinking something fun with orange accents to match the pills.  Also we are considering getting a coffee table or something to put down there.

Running thru life... Planning my running season

Now that it is running season. I first motivate myself by signing up for a couple of runs. 

This year I will be turning the big 30 so I want to really push myself! 

So here is my Running Race Itinerary

November 24th- Turkey Trot 5k in Centreville, VA at Virginia Run

I know this is not a big distance but this is a tradition that my hubby and I do together!

December 11th- Jingle All the Way 8k in DC

I have wanted to do this run now for three years and it never seems to workout with out schedule- but this year I am making it happen.

January and February are still up in the air because the race schedules have not truely been released for local races..... This may just be hard core training time...

March 17th  

I am undecided but.....either

Yuengling Shamrock Marathon or  (Virginia Beach)

Rock and Roll Marathon  (Washington DC)

April 1st    Cherry Blossom 10 Miler (hopefully, it is a lottery system)

June 17th  Triathlon with my Hubby in DC

I find that it helps me keep up my motivation....

What helps you? 



Running thru life... Getting ready to be Sprayed

In my blog following I fell upon a blog about using Spray Paint to help add to your decor-
so I decided to give it a whirl. 
I found a beautiful wood basket at work that someone was throwing away. 
Being Laura I snatched it out of the trash and brought it home with me. 
It was just a basic wood finish that went with nothing in our house. 
I decided I would like to use it in the kitchen and white would be the best color. 

I headed to the Home Depot to get the Rust-Oleum Paint Touch White in a Semi Gloss. 

I really wanted to the Paint and Primer in One made by the same brand but Home Depot did not carry it, neither did Walmart or Target- so this would have to do.  
If I was doing a bigger projust I would definitely spurge from the primer and paint in one.....

It cost around $3 dollars at Home Depot.

I set up newspaper on the deck and went to work. 

I was amazed that it did take me a whole can to spray the basket.

It took me less than 10 minutes at apply and then I applied a second coat to give it a really white look.  

So total it took about 3 hours- this includes 2 1/2 hours for dry time.  Very easy project. 

But I am very Happy with the results. 

It will look great on our new stainless fridge that we will be purchasing come tax free weekend.

Things I learned from spraying: 

1) If you can buy the paint with the primer- Do it!. 

HomeDepot only had this option in metalic paint and that would just not work for what I wanted. 

It probably would have saved me from putting a second coat on. 

2) Do this some place that you will not mess anything up. 

I set out newspapers everywhere on our patio- clean up was easy.

3) This is a very easy and cheap way to add some decor into you home.

Considering I got the basket for free and paid three dollars for the paint!

I already have a couple of things I am going to try out eventually. 



What project have you done with Spray Paint? 

Running thru life.... Score One for Pottery Barn

Since we have moved into our house we have been looking for something to

put above our couch in the family room. 

That being said I have tried for almost 4 years now to find

something that both I and Joe like.

The first problem is we have to find something that is big because the area is big and we need to find something that already goes with the room decor.  

Everytime I find something, he vetoes it.

So we were at some friends the other weekend and they had this nice wall art-
Which I loved!
I had seen similar things but they were small and not big enough for the space that we needed to fill. 

Joe immediately stated that he liked it. 

Funny because I showed him the exact same thing almost 1 year ago.... silly men.

But he does not know that and offically gave me the OK to order it.

So I ordered it from Pottery Barn and my luck- it was on sale!!!

I ordered it Sunday night after making sure it was the right size.

It arrived tuesday afternoon.

I am offically hearting Pottery Barn for their on time delivery. 

So my wonderful hubby decided to hang it for me while I was running on the treadmill. 

Finish Product. 

I added some votive candles that I had at home
but I am going to try to pick up some blue ones since that is the main color of the room. 

I love it- it goes with the tables in the room and most important it fits and it was easy to install. 
It took my husband less than 5 minutes!

Thank you Pottery Barn!!!!

Running thru life... Goodbye Netbook

Last week I said goodbye to my netbook with the help of Craigslist. 

I heart Craigslist. 

With the purchase of my IPad- the netbook has not been used in months and I am of the mind that if it is not being used or will be used it is just taking up space. 

So I posted in on craigslist about a month ago. 

My hubby wipped out the hard-drive so none of my information would be on it, etc.

It took me about a month to find a buyer but totally worth it since I now have cash in my pocket. 
I had to cave a little bit on the price but I still made about 2/3 of what we paid for it and since I used it for almost 1 1/2 half I was happy with that. 

I was a little frustrated with people and their inability to read my craigslist add. 

Urr... 

But my time paid off because it now belongs to someone else while I sit at home using my Ipad.