Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween peeps!  It was a fun run this weekend dressing up in our costumes, so tonight will be a chill evening for me and the Mr.

Catwoman was a success!  Thank you to my friend Debra for doing my awesome makeup (who was so patient to do both a trial and final application), to my Hubs and his friend for making my head cowl piece and belt, and to D for encouraging me to get into a comic character and go with it (totally admit it was a freakin rad time)!

We had our whole comic theme set:  I was Catwoman, D was Bane, friends were Batman and Peter Parker/Spiderman.  Fun times.

This was actually my makeup trial, testing out 'the look'

Mr. and Mrs.

(look at ms. cottontail behind me- saw plenty of that all night)!

cheesy.

the gang

love

the dudes

show 'em whatcha got

friendzies!

Hope everyone has an awesome Halloween!

What the Heck is Up?

I have weird motivation levels this week.  My workout routine has been amped leading up to a very tight fitting vinyl costume that will get worn this weekend, which has dipped into evening time.

I miss my sister and knowing that we're not going to travel to Colorado to visit this holiday season makes it worse.

Listing to Jimmy Eat World tunes has been such a nice 'throwback feeling' this past week.

Haven't given up on the Frappucinos yet......... don't know if I can cut all ties.

I have a list a mile long of things I would like to get done by Friday, not quite sure if they all will, but it's testing my will power.

I have so many clothes that are 'hand wash only', and I keep buying more.  Ugh!  I do not own one of those fabulous washers with a million wash settings therefore, I may be one of the only people left in the Continental U.S. who still hand washes garments with my own hands.  And I hate it.

I dusted off my old skateboard the other day and told my husband it's time to take it out for a spin.  Years ago I would have considered it an insult to let dust set on top of it, yet it's just another excuse I use for turning 30.  Can't let all the fun disappear though, time to take that baby out!

I have to go to Costco this evening to pick up a few things, and.....well.........who EVER looks forward to that?!

I'm counting down the days until this weekend, actually just Friday when I will stuff my face with pizza and absolutely not feel one ounce of guilt.  Then I'll just pray that my tight costume fits well on Saturday.  Yep.  That's life lately.

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday......... hope your weekend rides nicely!

photo via UglyBug

Oh Grey!

It's time to have our bedroom furniture re-painted and refinished.  It's well overdue.  We had our headboard and nightstands custom made a few years ago according to drawings and photos I provided to a carpenter we found through Craigslist.  Price was awesome, design was awesome, finish coat over the paint = not awesome.  It's always bothered us that we specifically requested a MATTE finish and each piece was completed with a clear coat of who knows what over them.  Bummers.  We just dealt with it because like any anxious/impatient couple, we wanted to get some dang furniture in the bedroom.  I can't stand how dust accumulates in the little crevasses about 2.5 seconds after it's dusted, and how everything sticks to the tops of our nightstands.  Lamer than lame.

We're on the hunt for the perfect shade of grey to repaint our furniture.  So far, neither D nor I have settled on the right shade of grey.  He would like to see a mid to darker shade, while I would be happy with a mid tone hue.  I must admit that it's true when Designer's say it's most difficult to make design decisions for themselves in their personal lives vs. client projects.  If this was for a client, I would have chosen the color within a few days.  Our project....... over 2 + months...... still looking at swatches and draw down sheets of grey.  Ugh.

At times I'm ready to throw in the towel and just purchase an upholstered headboard, but I do love our current furniture too much give up on it now.  And the search continues..............

DIY Doormat - Halloween Style

I decided over the weekend that a DIY doormat was a must have in order to spruce up our entry for Halloween.  D was also on board, although I know he had to tap into his 'good sport' side while I pulled him around town running errands to get materials.  I'm pretty sure the only thing sparking his excitement was that I offered to use a Batman symbol on the mat - just enough fun and nerd for our casa.

This project was SUPER easy, inexpensive, and rather quick time wise.

Materials:

Doormat  $7.99 @ Target

Your custom design , enlarge @ Kinkos $2.25

Exacto knife, already had one

Spray paint, already had it in garage

Before you head out for materials, choose your design and print it out using your home computer or save the photo on a flash drive and bring it to your local printers to enlarge.  In our case, I printed out the Batman symbol on 8.5" x 11" paper, then took it to Kinkos to enlarge is 225% (percentage will depend on your mat size) for our mat, I knew I wanted it to be just a little more than double the size of my original print.

We picked up a low cost utility mat at Target, I think it was around $7.99.  We chose one with a bit of black/grey color blend, although they did have all black available as well.  Cost was key here, didn't want to spend much.

Cut out your custom design using an Exacto knife, carefully navigating around curves with a continuous cut to ensure an even line.  For ours, I just wanted the bat symbol and not the border, so it was quite simple and quick.

Then place the design "stencil" on top of the mat, centered, and spray paint over it with an even coat throughout the design.  Sorry no photos of this process, as it was a bit windy and it took both sets of husband/wife hands to hold areas down and spray evenly.

Whaaaa Laaaa.  Done.  And we're digging it everyday.

Yes I'm wearing flip flops, it's still in the 90s here in SD.  A toasty Fall!

Tuesday Tunes- COUNTERFIT

Kinda bringing it back several years, awesome to rock tunes I saw live with D back in the day (in this case it was in a total dive 'not bar' locale) here in SD- fun times.

Falling for Fall

We did it- we finally got some of the Fall decor up!  Yesterday consisted of glittering a faux skeleton, spray painting a DIY doormat and potting some colorful flowers- it was awesome.  You know you have the best husband in the world when he allows you to drag him to the craft store to get glitter, drag him to the nursery to get flowers (never knowing which ones I want to choose, but he remains patient), and somehow talking him into holding Mr. Skeleton while I spray adhesive the heck out of it and give it repetitive glitter baths.  Oh yes, I scored a gem.  Smiles.

I'll share our super easy DIY doormat this week with the list of materials and cost (ummm, why isn't everyone designing their own mats)?

What's New?

Well hello there.

What's new?

Anyone from San Diego knows the weather has been insanely hot, like high 90s-100 hot.  Eeeewww.  It's beginning to cool down now and I couldn't be more stoked.  I actually wore boots this past weekend when it cooled down to something like 76 degrees.  Keep on going down the thermometer, I can't wait for sweaters!

photo via montandom

I've been enjoying some free time with Hubby D, it's been amazing.  No more crazy stressful work schedule as of late.

Picked up some Fall wardrobe must haves at Nordie Rack, loving me some grey ankle boots and skinny pants!

Decided that I'm going to attempt to dress as Catwoman for Halloween.  If it's a success, you'll see photos.  If it's a failure, I won't speak of it further.  Anyone know of some awesome black pleather leggings- stores of where to purchase or brands?

I've been trying to stick to a better workout routine lately, feels good.

Eating habits- ehhhhhh, trying.  Those Starbucks Fraps are so hard to give up.

I'm determined to glitter our little naked skeleton we picked up at the craft store and possibly get some Fall colored flowers to decorate our front door/entry.  If it doesn't get done by this weekend, then I'm not going to put in the effort for 2 weeks of visual enjoyment.

We made chocolate chip pancakes for dinner the other night, I can't begin to explain how delicious they were!

Life and Living it!

Well....... I meant to return early this week, but we all know how that goes.  Maybe not for "all" of us-not all you excellent bloggers out there who can actually manage posts everyday.  Two thumbs up to you savages, it takes persistence and dedication.  I would love to get back into the posting groove.  It's a tough balance.  I've been finding a better balance between work and actually having a life which has been nice.  I saw this little quote the other day while perusing Pinterest (yes, I actually have time to Pin lately too- yay):

If that doesn't put things in perspective, I'm not sure what else would.  Building a life is everything!  I've taken it to heart and amped up the effort in setting aside time to do what's important to me.

Running:  It needs to transition into a daily routine, the motivation is there and hopefully I can push myself to make it a daily habit.

Spending time with D:  Picnics @ the coast- the best!  I look bald in this photo, but look at that smile.

Baking:  D chooses the recipe and I get my behind in the kitchen to give it my best shot!  This past weekend I nailed Martha's Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe- heck yes!

Looking forward to catching up with all of you!