Can't Live Without It: First Link Up Post!

I've followed this blog here for a bit (Hi, Laura, thanks for letting me blog stalk you! Your baby is adorable!) and she and these ladies here and here started their own link up!

Check out their pages for the details, but the gist is, what's your favorite thing this week that you cannot live without? Pretty simple, right?!? I've got a few of those I can write about, or a million. But whatevs. 

So here's my first post in this link up! This week (and most weeks, tbh) I cannot live without my dry shampoo. I have longish, super thick, straight hair that is prone to oiliness. I've been told that I shouldn't wash it every day, and that is fine by me since I am super lazy when it comes to my appearance. Somewhere my fancy grandmother is rolling over in her grave.

So anyway, I wash my hair every other day during the work week and every day on the weekends. In between I absolutely have to use dry shampoo on my bangs. They just get gross if I don't.

I absolutely love the one below and found here, but it is stupid expensive for a can of dry shampoo that doesn't last more than a couple of months. Or I'm cheap, One of the two. Maybe both.

I've tried a few other brands, but keep going back to this one. It simply works the best. Any recommendations are welcome, however!

So that's what I'm loving this busy week as I don't have a lot of time to deal with my hair. I'm in the last few weeks of planning a 300 person charity gala, and things are getting a bit hectic! Not to mention my dad's birthday tonight, a summer outdoor concert yesterday, and a barn show at a horse farm tomorrow!

Hope everyone has a great week!

Confessions of a Lazy Amateur Photog

So, I have this awesome camera. And I know how to use it, for the most part. I mean, I did take Photo 1 my senior year of college. I retained all of the info, I swear. Ha. But the thing is, I am super lazy. And what I did manage to not forget, I sometimes don't feel like using.

I hate editing photos. Even more than that, I hate taking multiple shots because I had the settings wrong the first time. And I can't see the LCD screen well enough, even when I wear my glasses, to see the small details that require adjustments.

So pretty much what I'm saying here is that I'm a lazy photographer and I wish I could just take the perfect photo the first time. Is that too much to ask? Seriously? 

So in the interest of self improvement, I decided to play around with some of the pics from recent events. I can't really tell if they are better or not, but at least I figured out how to add a watermark. Yay for me!

What do you guys think?

Hiking with the pup in Cove Springs

{Above is edited, below is original; same for all photos}

Waterfall at Cove Springs

Kite Fest at Jacobson Park

Little Miss Nugget

That face is cute in any photo, badly lit or not. Love those sweet cheeks!!!!

Anyway, I'm still learning, but I think they look better. Except the Kite Fest one. I don't think the edit looks better. I think it looks fake. Might go with the original on that one.

Well, that's all I have for today. Have a great Tuesday, y'all!

Five on Friday!

It's been quite a long time since I linked up with April, Christina, Natasha, and Darcy for the five things I've been loving this week, so here we go!

1. Catching one of my all time favorite bands this past weekend in Knoxville at the Rhythm 'n Blooms.  The Decemberists are kind of a weird band, but I love them and was so pumped to see them live!!!

2. Finding a hidden gem of a nature preserve in downtown Knoxville! We were pretty much only interested in three or four bands down at the festival, so we spent Saturday and Sunday morning hiking through Ijams Nature Preserve. It was absolutely gorgeous and part of it was an old marble quarry! Yay quarry!

3. New camera lens!!! I just ordered this little dude a few days ago and can't wait till it arrives! I seriously doubt it will do much to improve my mediocre camera skills, but hey, I can dream!

4. Upcoming weekend events!!! We're taking the BF's mini to a kite fest in Lexington this Saturday after his soccer game! The weather is supposed to be gorgeous and any day with his little one is a great one!

5. Can I just put Friday here? Despite only working 4 days due to the Knoxville trip, this week has been extremely long. I think it's because we're a little slow at work and the days tend to drag on. Oh wait, I just thought of something! I finished two excellent books this week, Station Eleven and Everything I Never Told You. Both are very intense and somewhat dark, but very well written and interesting.

Have a great weekend, y'all!

Summer Reading Challenge

I didn't exactly finish the winter reading challenge this past season, so here I am again, attempting to do something that I probably won't get around to. I feel like a broken record these days! Ha!

I still haven't painted anymore in my craft room since the last post. Are any of you surprised???

Anyway, I like these categories a lot better this go round, so we'll see what happens!

And here are they are!

5 points: Freebie! Read any book that fits the general rules.

I'm going to wait to decide on this one in case I get really hooked into the first book of a series. I tend to do that and then just absolutely demolish the entire series in a few days. Or maybe I'll wait to start the book I just got from the library, Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng, 304 pages.

10 points: Read a book you have never heard of before. (Just go to a shelf and pick a book based on the cover, the title, whatever you want!)

Hmm, guess I'm heading to the library for this one! Yay, library!!!!

10 points: Read a book that has been on your TBR list for at least two years. (If you've had a Goodreads account for 2+ years, this will be easy to figure out. If you don’t, do your best to pick a book you’re pretty sure you’ve been wanting to read for years.)

For right now, I'm going to chose The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne, 215 pages.  I have a feeling I'll end up changing this one.

10 points: Read a book that won a Goodreads “Best Book” award in 2014.

Landline by Rainbow Rowell, 320 pages

15 points: Read a book by an author who is completely new to you.

I'm thinking I might read Room by Emma Donoghue, 352 pages. I also may read I Love Everybody by Laurie Nataro, 240 pages.

15 points: Read a book by an author you have read before. (No re-reads for this one.)

Downtown Owl by Chuck Klosterman, 275 pages

15 points: Read a book with "light" or "dark" in the title. (Or "lightness" or "darkness.")

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, 531 pages. Well this is just downright convenient since I've already placed it on hold at the library.

20 points: Read a book with the name of a city, state or country in the title.

I'm not sure about what to read for this category. I've gotten a couple of recommendations, but none of them are really grabbing me. For now I'm thinking about Paris Red by Maureen Gibbon, 288 pages or A Girl from Yamhill by Beverly Cleary, 352 pages. Anyone else have any ideas on this one?

20 points: Read a book with an animal on the cover.

Obviously, I'm going to go with something featuring a dog. The question remains to be answered as to which one... Here are the contenders:

Merle's Door: Lessons from a Freethinking Dog by Ted Kerasote, 416 pages

A Dog's Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron, 333 pages

A Big Little Life: A Memior of a Joyful Dog Named Trixie by Dean Koontz, 288 pages 

I'm leaning towards the second one.

25 points: Read a book that is part of a series with at least four books.

I think I'll start the Lunar Chronicle's, which first book is Cinder by Marissa Meyer, 448 pages

25 points: Read a book that is longer than 500 pages long. — Submitted by winter finisher Kristen from See You in a Porridge.

Good lord, can one book qualify for two categories because I have a few that might work... No? Alright then. I'm going to read The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt, 784 pages. I got this one for my birthday last year from my momma and still haven't started it.

30 points: Read a book with an alliterative title. (All words in the title must begin with the same letter; no exceptions for articles or prepositions. Examples: Gone Girl or Nicholas Nickleby. Yes, this is tough, which is why it's worth the most points!)

There are also a few contenders for this category as well, mostly hailing from the classics genre.

Sense & Sensibility by Jane Austen, 400 pages

Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen, 272 pages 

(These would also count as rereads since I've read them both, I think...)

Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt, 368 pages

Blog here for details!

So wish me luck! We'll see how far I get!

Happy Wednesday, y'all!

UPDATE!!! Apparently I need to read a little slower re: the last category, ha! I will be using Angela's Ashes since prepositions do count in the alliteration. Oh yeah, and I won't be reading Everything I never Told You, since I started it last night and am almost finished. Good Lord, do not read that bool without Kleenex.

Downstairs Guest Room

I've sort of finished the downstairs guest room.  It's as good as it's going to get for the time being.  I would love to have a headboard, but I think that for the mean time, the art I need to hang will do.  

Let's talk about the bedding for a minute.  I am so excited about the deal I got on this set.  It's 1891 by Sferra, which is their lower end line of bedding, but still just as luxurious and fairly expensive.  I found it on clearance at Ru La La around the time I bought the house and knew it would be perfect for the romantic but fun look I was hoping to achieve in the guest room.  I don't think it's on sale anymore, but here's a link for another website that offers it.  I found the matelasse shams on eBay for next to nothing as well, also 1891 by Sferra.

I think the dresser might need a coat of paint, seeing as it was my dresser from my childhood bedroom.  It's at least 25 years old, but in great condition.  I'm just not a fan of oak furniture.

I was very pleased with this paint color, unlike the upstairs guest room.  I love, love, love a yellow bedroom! Actually, I love a yellow anything.  It is my favorite color of all time!  The color I chose is called Banana Cream from Sherwin Williams.  It's a semi gloss, or what they call an eggshell.   It has just enough dimension to it without being too shiny.  I wish I would have used it in my master bedroom as well.

Eventually I would love to put in some pretty window treatments, or at the very least replace those god awful plastic shades. I doubt I ever will, though. It's not worth it if I'm going to sell this place in the next few years or so. 

But so there is the down stairs guest room. Ir's fairly simple, but pretty. Hope everyone has a great Thursday! One more day and it's the weekend!  Woohoo!

Craft Room Part 2

I started painting the creepy basement craft room this past week. Let me just tell you how much I hate painting. I HATE PAINTING. I am terrible at it, way too impatient, and I do a horrible job. Not to mention what a pain it is painting plastic wood paneling. Ugh.

So anyway, here are the beginning phases. I want everyone to see what an ugly, gross, creepy room it is beforehand. It's going to look so much better once I'm finished. It couldn't possibly look worse, ha!

We also needed to kill some time on Saturday before the UK vs. Wisconsin game, so we got started on building one of the sets of drawers. Not only did we kick building that drawer's ass, we didn't get in a fight like I've heard Ikea furniture can drive couples to do.

Not to brag or anything (I'm totally going to brag right now), but the BF and I make a pretty sweet team. Maybe it's because we're pretty much the best couple ever, or maybe because we are just good for each other. Hee hee hee!

Anyway, here's the finished dresser!!!

Construction has since been put on hold because my carpal tunnel has been acting up and I'd rather read a book than paint. Maybe this time next year, I'll get around to putting the rest of the first coat of paint on the walls. Don't hold your breath.

Until next time, Happy Hump Day y'all!

Master Bedroom Reveal

I think for the most part, I'm finished decorating my master bedroom. I have a couple small details to finish, like spraying the top three dresser drawer handles gold and rehanging a pictures that fell off the wall, but this it for awhile.

This room is the only other room besides the family room that has carpet. Before I moved in, I had planned on ripping it out and refinishing the hardwood underneath. Unfortunately, when I pulled up the carpet to check, the hardwood had a tar paper layer on it that I knew wasn't going to come up easily. So the carpet stayed. 

I replaced my bedding soon after I moved, but kept with the navy theme. I even used a couple of the shams from my old bedding set. I replaced my dresser with the one above.

The old dresser is now in my guest room upstairs and the new dresser is a refurb from a Peddler's Mall. Let me just give you a piece of advice: do not bother trying to spray lacquer a large piece of furniture. It's a pain in the ass and will never turn out perfect. I cannot begin to tell you how many problems I had with Amy Howard's spray lacquer. 

The window panels are from Restoration Hardware and I got them at an outlet somewhere in Pennsylvania when driving home from New Jersey. I found the tie backs at a local fabric store, Tassels. They are actually trim for pillows that I used drapery ring clasps to attach to a hook on the wall. I think the drapes are my favorite part of this room.

When it's sunny, warm, and breezy outside, these panels look absolutely perfect. It's just enough weight to look luxe, but light enough to feel summery. I should rehang larger rods and place them higher, but they were already here when I moved in. I wasn't spending money when I didn't have to.

I may end up moving the three pictures above the night stand to somewhere else in the house. Actually, I may change the whole picture set up on that wall completely. We'll see. Right now it's not really my focus. But I need to break down and buy a head board.

I had originally planned on painting this tall chest of drawers with a kelly green spray lacquer, but after the issues with the long dresser, I decided to leave it. I did replace the drawer handles with these cute fox heads from Anthropologie.

I only used them on the top two small drawers since they were $12 a piece. If I had put them on each drawer, the knobs would have cost more than the darn piece of furniture. I got the rest from Hobby Lobby. They're alright, but I love those little foxes!!! Maybe they'll go on sale.

The door beside the small window lead out to a flat top roof that I may turn into a deck one day. We'll see if that ever happens. 

Update: I finished the dresser drawer pulls! Finally!!!

And just for fun, here's the dresser before I refurbished it!

Until next time, cheers!

Upstairs Guest Room Reveal

So in keeping with this week's theme of room reveals, I thought I'd share the only other room I splurged and had custom window treatments put in.  The upstairs guest room doesn't actually see many guest, but has come in handy a few times.  

I had the room painted professionally before I moved in, but once I saw the finished product, I decided I picked the wrong color. I was hoping for more of a coral color, not so much the peach I picked. I've since learned to buy sample pots and test first.

But, I absolutely love the window treatments and the fabric that I chose for them. It's been in my basement for a couple years waiting for me to decide what to do with it. Thanks fabric store sale!

This room is actually really light and full of sunshine, despite the dark pictures. The dresser above is the old one from my bedroom. It's currently housing bathing suits, work out gear, and random crap that doesn't find but I can't bear to get rid of.

The rug came from one of the sales on One King's Lane, and I had originally planned on using it in the dining room. I ended up using something else because it wasn't quite big enough.  Anyway, I digress. 

The bedding is Kate Spade that I got on super clearance before I ever moved in. It's a little big for a full bed, even though it's full/queen size, but it's really cute.

My mom gave me the two side lamps on the end of the dressers that used to be my grandmother's. I love the delicate touch they add in addition to the pretty editions of classic books from Anthropologie. My grandparent's were both librarians, so it's a pretty little homage to them.

I also really love this reading chair and side table that my mom gave me.  It's a sweet little touch that gives the room a kind of bed and breakfast feel. I love that!

So that's the guest room! Now I just need to host some more guests.

Happy Friday, y'all!!! And GO CATS!!!

Master Closet Makeover

I have been working on my upstairs guest room turned master closet makeover since last summer when my roommate moved out.  Well, I'm happy to report that as of this week last month, I am finally finished!!!

Here's what my inspiration was:

Obviously, this look would be a little too pricey for me, but I knew I could do something similar in terms of use of space on the cheap.

First. I ordered a ridiculous amount of shoe shelves to hold my ever growing shoe collection.  I have a serious shopping problem, needless to say. But I'm working on it. Promise.

I ordered 8 of these bad boys, assembled them myself, and stacked them around each other to make a sort of island.

In my mind's eye, I also would replace the ceiling fan with a pretty, small, glass chandelier  Unfortunately, this room is about 154 thousand degrees in the summer and there is no way I'm losing that overhead fan. 

Instead of installing custom cabinets that would be very permanent, I wanted to have something that could be easily removed and patched if the next owner of this house wanted to keep this room as the originally intended bedroom that it is.

I ordered a few sets of brackets and rods from Amazon and installed them myself with the help of my step dad's drill.  Well, that led to him having to come back over and rehang them, since one of the brackets fell out of the wall about a week later.  Hey, three out of four isn't bad, right???

So now all my hanging clothes (dresses, skirts, cardigans, blouses, and sweaters) are in one place instead of four different closets through out the house.  Get rid of some stuff, Eileen...

I still keep all my jeans, tees and pj's in my bedroom.  Anything in drawers or worn daily is in my actual bedroom, since I use them daily.

The next thing I decided on was a dressing table and jewelry storage. I found this mirror on Amazon and table and stool at Homegoods.  I am still considering painting the dressing table a fun color, like the green in the drapes seen below.

The mirror holds almost every piece of jewelry I have with the exception of a huge scarf/necklace combo. It is so great to have it all in one place, finally!

The finishing touch for the room was getting the window treatments ordered and hung as well as the cushion for the window seat!  I absolutely love the way they turned out!  It doesn't hurt that I got that fabric on clearance for less than $5 a yard either!

This picture is terribly lit, like all of my pics, and doesn't really show off the pretty colors. I'm still not sure how I feel about all that yellow against periwinkle walls, but I'll be damned if I'm going to paint again. Ugh. I hate painting.

Here are just a couple more views of the room. I'm so in love with having all my hanging clothes in one space. It has made getting dressed so much easier. Plus, I can finally see everything I have and have started to wear pieces I had forgotten about!

{Nice price tag on the candle... Just call me Minnie Pearl.}

The actual closet in the room houses all my purses, boots, scarves, belts and boot socks. And of course it's organized by color. 

Overall, I'm super pleased with this room and really enjoy the time I spend getting ready in here. It's like playing dress up every morning!

Here's my first post so you can see the difference! 

Until next time y'all!

Oh the Weather Outside is... DELIGHTFUL

It has been downright gorgeous here in the Bluegrass State the past few days, and I'm crossing my fingers it is here to stay. At least until summer hits. Honestly, it could snow tomorrow and I wouldn't be surprised. Kentucky weather is bizarre. But let's just pretend that it's not going to snow again for at least 9 months. Seriously, go away snow.

Anyway, we've been taking full advantage of the awesome weather this week. That means hikes on the weekend, grilling in the evenings, and even a little disc golf.

The boyfriend's house backs up to the disc golf course at one of the city parks here and we took full advantage of the ability to hop over the fence and play a couple holes after dinner last night. 

By play, I mean that I threw it a couple times and watched him play the rest of the time. Just like regular golf, I am absolutely awful and have more fun driving the cart (or in this case, occasionally holding Maggie's leash) and drinking beer.

Just a few snap shots from my phone...

 

I plan on spending the next couple days working on the craft room. I think I've decided on the paint color. AND!!! I built the first piece of furniture from Ikea on Monday night.  All by myself. Which means it's probably going to come apart in a couple months. Whatever, I'm proud of myself. Yay!

Here's to the rest of the week, hope you have a great one!