Saw It. Pinned It. Did It: Striped Wall

I am linking up with Steph again for:

 

 

This week I attempted:

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and I could not be happier with the results!

We went from the blue wall:

(excuse the crappy photo.... I just wanted to get this done and only used my phone to document this change).

 

We originally wanted to do a chevron wall but changed our minds last minute because what the heck can you hang on them? I didn't want it to be too busy and this is my only wall to showcase any art work.

 

So we primed and painted the wall white. I used Devine Pleasure by Behr.

 

 

It is actually the white that you will find throughout our house. It is not a true bright white, kind of a creamy or marshmallow color.

 

Then came the fun part. The only part where I dragged my husband into this project. We decided to do 10 inch stripes. Our wall was 101 inches - not counting the wide baseboard on the bottom. So we started the pencil process I will call it.

 

Mike figured that we could just make 3 marks along the wall and then tape along the marks. Okay - great idea, maybe in a new house where everything is square.

 

Our house is old, therefore our walls, our floors and our ceilings are far from square anymore. So we got a level out and ended up drawing a line across the whole wall. Okay wait I made that sound too easy! First I went and looked up how to paint stripes in an old house... nothing. How to paint stripes on an unlevel wall... eye ball it. Ha! So we did a combination of using the level, eye balling and measuring.

 

The problem mainly landed in the corner above the door way. The door frame was level, but the ceiling was not.

 

After we tackled that issue it really was smooth sailing from there.Just 3 marks on the wall and then tape on the marks. We were just assuming that the painters tape was straight!

 

 

Mike was being a smart ass and put tape in the middle of the lines that I should not paint! It actually helped.

I just painted the stripes with West Coast Grey by Behr. Our yellow walls we didn't change which are Melted Butter by Behr

Overall I am impressed that the lines are straight!!! I still have some touch ups to do on the yellow wall, but that's a simple fix!

I love how it has changed the total feel of the room. Now it has some class and style. It is fresh and just what I wanted. I still need to find some art work for the wall, as well as some curtains. I plan to make chevron place mats for the table.

Here is the finished product:

 

 

 

Choose To Be Happy

I think at some point in all of our lives we have situations that come up that aren't exactly what we planned. It can be job related, marriage related, health related, family related, friendship related, you name it - they all happen at one point or another! You do what YOU can do to try to make it better, but let's face it, it's out of your control.

Sometimes it is just easier to allow a bad circumstance to control us. Let it eat us inside, worry like crazy about it, lash out at those we love, you get it. In the long run, by allowing these things to bring us down, it is controlling us, our feelings, our thoughts and our actions, whether we realize it or not.

 

I'm not an expert by any means on what one should do when these issues arise, but I can tell you what works for me. Do I worry, heck yes, how do you not? But does it change anything for the better? No, most often for the worse, because who worries about the best case scenarios? It just beats you up more, however, I am not about to say that I don't worry. I do what I can do to make the situation better, I prefer to suffer in silence for the most part, because I for some reason think it is easier. I talk to those closest to me because I trust them, their discretion and their opinions. It works for me.

At the end of the day and for the most part the beginning of my day, I choose to be happy, I choose to get out bed everyday, I choose to count my blessings and not let whatever is trying to bring me down work.

Life is going to continue to be full of hurdles through every stage of our life, we can choose to jump over them and learn from them, or allow them to hold us back and beat us down. I'm not one to give up, as easy as it seems some days, I am just not willing to. Choose to keep fighting, choose to keep HOPE and choose to be HAPPY no matter what.

 

 

All quotes can be found here

 

Trying Quinoa/Pinterest Fail

M and I decided to hop on the quinoa band wagon and in my opinion I hopped off right after... Wasn't a big fan!!

We decided that we would try cooking it in the rice cooker and what a mess. Either M put in too much water or too much quinoa and it spilt all over the counter as it was cooking. The smell of cooking it was not all that pleasant either. We tried the littlest bit plain after it was cooked and in all honesty it wasn't horrible, similar to rice I suppose. However we tried a recipe off of Pinterest.

This could probably be one of those post about how Pinterest failed you, because it pretty much did!

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This is the recipe we followed:

2 cups cooked quinoa {I cook quinoa in my rice cooker – 1 cup quinoa & 1 1/4 cup chicken broth}
3 eggs
1 cup zucchini, shredded
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup diced ham
1 tablespoon dried parsley
3 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
1/2 small onion, diced {about 1/4 cup}
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Olive oil for the pans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix to combine. Generously spray 2 mini muffin tins with olive oil { I use a Misto sprayer} and scoop 1 tablespoon into each cup. I like to use a 1 tablespoon cookie scoop for this step. Bake quinoa bites for 18 minutes, or until the edges of the quinoa bites are a nice golden brown. Cool for a few minutes, then remove from pan and eat!

You can find the recipe here.

The only thing I omitted was the zucchini.

 

I figured this recipe would be a great way to introduce quinoa, however it was just the opposite! All we could really taste was the onion. It pretty much took over the whole taste. It was not good at all!!

 

M and I still have a bit of quinoa left and we plan to try it again, but most likely we will try it plain!

 

Do you like quinoa? If so what is your favorite recipe?

 

Has Pinterest ever let you down?

What I Am Loving/So What

I figured I haven't done a what I am loving post or a So What Wednesday post in a long time, so you can imagine I have quite a bit to share!!

- I am loving that the temperatures are supposed to be above 0 for a while! This makes me happy! It also means some of the snow might melt!

- I am loving that I have reached the weight loss amount of 20 pounds!! This is a huge achievement and this cleanse is still knocking them down. That is pretty much 5 pounds in a week! Crazy! But not complaining about this fact of the cleanse.

- I love all the mail I received yesterday - magazines, gifts from friends, clothing, supplements - all in one day!! Score!!

- Love this springy outfit:

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- This is soo sad, but true!

 

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- Love this quote:

 

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Now for a bit of So What Wednesday:

 

So What:

 

- if I ended up sitting out half of last nights Zumba class. I kept getting super hot and dizzy, by the end of the class I had the worst ear ache and ended up having a headache all night. Soo frustrating! Praying its not an ear infection!

 

- if I ordered some colored skinny jeans and I have to now return them... too short.... tall girl problems!! I never know with Old Navy - their tall stuff is almost too long!!

 

- if I feel like my tan is fading!! Why can't it just stay?

 

- if Pinterest and any other food I cannot eat pictures are silently killing me! I miss sugar and cheese dammit!! 3 more weeks!

 

- if we have to turn the clocks forward this weekend! I hate losing an hour of sleep!! I actually hate it!!

 

Saw It.. Pinned It... Did It.. Take 2

I am linking up again with Steph and Katie for Saw It. Pinned It. Did It.

 

I had given you a sneak peak on the weekend of what M and I had been up to this weekend and today I am soo excited to share it!!

 

I saw this and thought how perfect it would be for under the great room window. We used to have a bow window that we could sit in and miss having that extra seating area:

 

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Sooo while I was out "antiquing" I saw a similar shelf. M and I had been collecting foam, and M's Mom happened to have quite a bit!!  I bought the chevron fabric in the states more than 6 months ago and I have been dying to use it!! This was the perfect project for it!!! It's a nice heavy duty fabric too so it should stand up well!!

 

 

 

We bought the legs at Home Depot because there is a heat register under there!

 

Can I just say that stuffing the foam into that cover we made was HARD - it took M and I both to do it, not once but twice because we mismeasured the fabric and had too much foam!!

 

It is the perfect addition to the room. I plan to get some baskets for inside those cubbies eventually.

 

Soo happy to cross this project off the list and M only had to add the legs - he got off easy as far as building me one went!!

 

Pinterest My Friend...

Wow it is Wednesday! We have all made it to the middle of the week!!

Now that my trip is booked and paid for - I am pumped as in soo pumped I need to start wardrobe planning!! Soo I have been on Pinterest looking for some inspiration:

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I have some maxi dresses and skirts that I think I will be bringing, as well as some summer dresses!

And then there are these:

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I like to start packing early with hopes of not forgetting anything!

This picture looks just like Grace and Lily from the the distance:

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Rather funny because we have a picture of them sitting in Lake Superior from our road trip like this! Except of you did look closely and knew my dogs - Lily is bigger with red hair and Gracie is smaller with the longer tail and curly hair. So basically the pic is reversed!! But still nonetheless neat!

I am seriously contemplating getting a tattoo! I have found the perfect one, I just can't decide on location. This is what it will be like:

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Looks small enough that I could get through it and it wouldn't take long. I love the word HOPE! And it means soo much to me. I do have a fear though of needles - so we will see. But M said if I get one he will get one. I think he is banking on the fact that I will chicken out - but like I said it is important enough to me. I am not someone who is willing to get "inked" for nothing.

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