Another Dream Home Inspiration Board

Just another Room Inspiration board - It all starts with a blanket I crocheted for Z that is Grey, White and Yellow wavy stripes. The brown touches are because we just purchased a sleeper sofa - the one pictured in the board. As for the pretty chair in the board, I was actually thinking of more of a greyish/brownish linen instead of the print. I actually love the print, but I just don't think it would go with the island feel. What do you think about the room?

The Long Way Around...

Hello again world!! I'm so sorry I've been absent from blogging for so long! Hopefully I still have a few readers! Needless to say it has been a whirlwind of a year so far. Since I wrote last, Z went to Hawaii to job search and got a dream job as an Assistant General Manager at Ko'olau Golf Course, Z moved to Oahu and found us a quaint studio apartment in the best city on Oahu - Kailua, I went to Texas to visit the family and turned the BIG 3-0, and I moved myself to Hawaii at the beginning of March! Whew!

Like I said it's been a whirlwind, but we are so happy to be back in Hawaii and enjoying walking to the beach and watching the waves and the kite surfers. We just love it here! Since I've been here I have been working hard to reach my goal weight of 110, which I finally accomplished today!!! I feel really happy about that accomplishment and I definitely feel like I'm on the right track of staying healthy and fit. I've also been working hard to find a job for myself. I went on a great interview today and it seemed to go really well, so keep your fingers crossed!

Besides all of that, I've just been getting things settled and taking care of those things that you always have to take care of when you move - car registration, shopping for those odds and ends, and a little bit of furniture shopping. We are hoping that our goods that we shipped will be delivered in the next week so I can get started organizing all of that! Yay unpacking!

Well, that's the ol' update for now and I hope to be back to regular posting again soon! Maybe some Studio Before and Afters! That could be fun!

Love ya!

Happy New Years!

I realize I'm a little late on the New Years train, but better late than never! So...Happy New Years everyone! We have come up with a few resolutions for this year but we also realized that we actually started a good portion of them last year so it's more of just continuing on the path!

#1 - Stay healthy, eat right, get back into shape! Around Sept of 2010 I started to feel like I was going down a slippery slope with weight gain. We didn't eat horrible and we did workout - however, our portions were a little out of control and it was like 120 degrees outside so it was not conducive to good workouts. All of this led to some extra poundage. I decided that I wanted to lose 24 pounds by the time we moved from AZ. I also decided that I couldn't do this alone. As much as I love my husband, I have a hard time taking his advice when it comes to exercise. I don't know why, maybe it has something to do with the fact that I don't really want him to see that I am struggling with the issue so if he tries to help me than I get frustrated knowing that he knows! Women! I digress....So I sat down and started figuring out what I needed to be successful. I needed a meal plan that allowed me to still eat the foods that I love, like pizza, pasta, and chocolate, and teach me correct portions. I also need to incorporate more veggies and fruit. In order to be successful I would also need someone who would hold me accountable. All of these things led me to calling Jenny Craig. I never thought I would ever join a program like that..I'm not overweight and I can lose the weight on my own, right? Well, I probably could, but it might not have been in the most healthy way and I might not have learned as much. Joining Jenny Craig has been one of the best decisions I have ever made. Besides the fact that I've lost 14 pounds in 15 weeks, I have a whole new attitude towards everything. I don't allow myself to get down about little things anymore and I've learned so much about the proper way to eat! So, in short...this resolution is almost complete!!

#2 - Stay positive. As I said above my attitude has done a 180, so the goal here is to continue on that path. It's a tough road for us at the moment because we feel like we are in limbo a little bit, but we keep remembering that everything will work out wherever we end up as long as we are together!! All you need is love!

#3 - Keep in touch. I think that this is something I say every year, but I'm going to really try to have a concerted effort towards keeping in touch with friends and family.

#4 - Save money! We are very good about not spending money unnecessarily, but this year we'd like to be able to start actually saving money again. Once we get to where we are going and we both have jobs, the savings account will hopefully start growing again and the student loans will hopefully start shrinking!

#5 - Finalize my career plans. For a while now I've been pretty set on going back to school and getting a degree in accounting. That is still the plan, but this year I hope to start getting the ball rolling so I can start school as soon as I gain in-state residency - wherever that may be :)

Dream Home - Guest Room Suite

Now we are getting into the really fun rooms to decorate - the Bedrooms!! In my dream home I would have a guest suite as part of the main house AND a whole separate guest quarters - like a mother-in-law suite. That will come later, for now, here is my guest suite:



The hubby's favorite color is yellow and I'm loving the yellow and grey combo so I thought this would be fun to have in this type of room. Tying in the touches of turquoise found throughout the rest of the house, I added the tide pillow and a few other accents:


A small turquoise cake stand for jewelry or wallets or pocket lint:


An alternative lamp option is this turquoise coral lamp, but I do LOVE the mercury lamp in the collage:


This fun tray would be nice to have some bottled water and some snacks for guests while bringing a bit of turquoise cheer:


And lastly, a little bluebird for happiness:


Going back to the main color of the room, yellow! I love the seahorse pillow but I was thinking I could paint something similar on some white canvas and voila we have easy and pretty cheap wall art. I think I would stick with a white wall color and white ceiling fan as well.

Here is the guest bathroom:



I love the yellow sliding barn door! How awesome is that! The bathroom would bring out more of the grey color - with a similar grey color on the walls as the barn door picture. I don't imagine the bathroom to be huge or anything, just a simple pedestal sink, white medicine cabinet, shower with the great yellow and grey splash shower curtain and of course a toilet - obviously.

I really like the simplicity of these fixtures from Restoration Hardware:


For lighting, I like the matching sconces with a bright white lamp shade:


I do love the chandelier in the collage, but I also kind of love this one as well:


And who can resist some pretty fan coral on a black and grey background to keep the beachy theme going!

I'm really excited about this suite because I think our guests would be very comfortable and its just a little bit different from the rest of house, so it's a true get-away! What do you think? How do you feel about the resurgence of grey? I think it's pretty great - in moderation.

I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Dream Home - Office

I know, I know...it's taken me way too long to post this but I've been busy finding inspirations and such...so, without further ado, here is the dream board for my dream home office:



I imagine this same setup to be symmetrical on the other side of the room so both the hubby and I have a space and plenty of space for the kiddos one day. The color of the desks and cabinetry would be very similar to what I chose for the kitchen as well. Although I do kind of like that these are a little more turquoise as opposed to baby blue.

One of the must haves for me is a ton of storage space, which is probably what drew me to this inspiration room- there are a ton of cabinets! It'll be perfect for work, crafting, gift wrapping, homework, etc! There is enough room for everything!

As you can tell from the dream board, I love The Container Store!! I love the white lace looking desk sets for myself with a few of the navy blue ones mixed in - of course the opposite for the other side of the room.

I would also like to have some random and quirky office supplies thrown in - I love the little bird paper clip holders, aren't they fun! They are from Cute as Pie Office Supply.

I love the huge cork board hanging on the wall, great place for fun inspiration ideas! On another wall these dry erase wall calendar dots from Pottery Barn Teen will keep everyone on schedule:


What do you think about it?! Does anyone else ever dream about a home office! Ha! What types of things would you need to have to make it functional for you?

Babies, babies and more babies...

To say that I may be obsessed a bit is putting it mildly, but I'm completely addicted to crochet. I love the fact that I'm creating something completely from scratch. It's pretty awesome and it keeps me busy when I get bored! This is the third blanket I've made so far and it's for another friend's baby boy! Geez..all of my friends have babies, hmmm...

Anywho, I digress...I love the colors of this one, I may have to use them again for something because they are just so bright and cheery.

I didn't use a pattern again for this one, I just made up some stripes of course. However, I did use two different stitches again. This time the double crochet for the colored stripes and single crochet for the white. I like the double crochet a lot, it kind of gives it a little bit more of an airy feel.


It is going to be awhile before I post another blanket because the next recipient is the hubby and he is very tall!! So far I've had to restart the blanket 3 times to make sure its the right size!