Books & Break

I am totally on a "travel memoir" reading kick right now.  I just loooooove reading about travel.  I love reading REAL stories about travel.  Travel Lit.  It's actually giving me an idea for another book.  Yes!  Another one!  I'm about 60 pages into writing my YA lit novel and I just might start another one.  Just an outline of one.  It's good, it's really good!

See, I love to travel, if you didn't know!  I believe that if I become a famous writer, like JK Rowling famous, then I can live out my days traveling all over the world with my family.  Then I can be inspired to write more books about traveling with my family.  See the plan here?  It's genius, I know.

Only problem is, I am NOT a writer.  Not yet.  I'm no where near as brilliant as JKR, she's the best.

Anyways, with being home early on Monday from the snow, being sick on Tuesday, and being off yesterday and then again today due to ice, ice baby...I've had some good reading time on my hands.  I finished this book:

It was a sweet book about this woman's experience of falling in love with a Frenchman and moving to Paris.  I loved how she was writing as she was finding her place in a foreign land, and how she learned just how different life is from America.  It was eye opening.  America is so...obsessed...with succeeding and fast food and the "dream"...it makes me a little ill thinking about it.  Then I thought, Europeans don't need all that because they are living the dream, right?  At least in my opinion ;)  She has a blog where she keeps us up to date with how life is going now.  Her next book comes out in April and I'll be buying that one for sure.  This book includes recipes, ones that she discovered as she journeyed through her new life. I can't wait to try some of them {when I get the book back from mom, who wanted it after I read it}.

Then I moved on to a Frances Mayes book that I haven't read...

If you know me at all, you know I adore reading her books.  Under the Tuscan Sun is one of my very favorites.  My dream is to live in Italy.  When we went to Italy 2 summers ago, it only fueled that fierce desire in me.  I love it!

I'm halfway through this one but I can tell you that I already love it.  She and her husband take seasons out of a few years and travel all over.  So far they have been to Spain and Portugal.  I just love her style of writing.  And her style of travel!  They rent little apartments (that's what we did!  it was the best!) and stay in government run hotels and castles and eat and walk their way through tons of little towns.  Swoon swoon swoon.  What a life:)

If you look at my Goodreads to-read list, you will find about 2 dozen more travel memoir type books.  I'm obsessed!!  It's all I can do to keep myself from running to B&N or the library and getting them all.  I actually may end up doing that today ;)

Today we are off school and therefore have lost another day on our Spring Break.  What used to be an 10 day break is now 5 day one.  Sad.  So, since it's officially a break day, I am thinking of all sorts of things I can do that I would do if it were Spring Break.  Sleep in?  Not a chance!  DIY something?  You betcha!  Paint something?  Already started {it's only 7:14am!}  I've been waiting to paint our little upstairs hallway.  There isn't much wall do it, since there are 5 doors off of it, but still, it needs something.  I'm going to paint white/gray stripes across it, as best I can.   I'm looking up the process now and while it seems complicated, I think I can handle it.  It can't be harder that the last accent wall I did, right?!?

I'm also working on building three shelves to hang on the walls when I am done painting.  My brother and sis-in-law gave me power tools for Christmas and I've had a lot of fun with them so far!  I can't believe I'm actually building something?  It's less scary than I thought, and although I've made a ton of mistakes so far, on only 3 little shelves, I am learning a lot.  I'm trying to gear up the courage to build a media cabinet for us.  I hate ours, and we need more rustic furniture with character but I can't find anything that fits what I want and that is affordable.  So...I'm going to build one myself.  I just need to practice on smaller things first!

I'll be back to show you what I've done!  I hope I get the wall finished today:)  I hope everyone enjoys their day!

Cheers!

Getting crafty

I've had a lot of time on my hands these days.  We just had a 5 day weekend, due to MLK and a snowstorm, and while I did the dishes about a bazillion times, did all of my laundry, cooked dinners, cleaned the floors twice and cleaned out the guest bedroom...I still felt a little lazy.  Interspersed in all that domesticated mess was a heap of Tina sitting on the couch, snarfing down snacks watching Alias and reading.  Lazy bum!

Yesterday, in the throws of a full blown Alias-pig-out sesh, I decided I need to get off my rear and do something productive and fun.  Something that didn't include regular chores (let's face it, most of them were already done...twice) and something that would turn my brain into the Master's degree intellect it should be instead of TV-watching-mush.  Enter this...

I found this bulletin board at the Goodwill on one of my Saturday-shopping-with-mom-trips for $10.  We had a 20% off coupon from donating, so that brought this baby down to a nice affordable $8.  I've been wanting to create a REAL pin board (sorry Pinterest!) for the office to hold inspiration stuff for my book...novel...next best seller....you get the point.  The one I had hanging in there was really small and sorta boring.  I wanted something cute, with color, that I would enjoy looking up at and seeing all my motivational nonsense when I have writers block (which is 99% of the time, honestly!)

One "roadblock" to this project was that I didn't want to spend a dime on any other part of it.  We are trying a spending freeze of sorts, Dave Ramsey Financial Peace and all, to save money and look out for our future and what not, so the $8 that I forked over already had to be enough.  I really wanted to cover the cork part in some sweet fabric but nothing I have was cute enough.  So, I just decided to paint it.  I mean, I'm going to be pinning crap up there anyways, right??  Right?   So if the paint looked bad, I'd just pin the heck out of it until I couldn't be bothered by it.

I have TONS of paint.  Like...10 cans of spray paint and 15 little test pots from different house projects like this and this and this.   I figured I could create something cute with what we have.  So I did.

I went down into what is now my "work shop" area (I've got power tools, don't make me use them!  No, really, make me use them!) and found what I wanted and got to work.  I decided on spray painting the outer edges a limey green, and sponge rolling the cork board a happy blue.  Then, I found this adorable coral and gold washi tape that I could use for a border.  The colors are darling together, and I am really happy with the end result!

Hard at work.

I let it dry for a few hours before doing anything after painting.  It has to cure up and all that good stuff.

Then, I added the washi tape and oh goodness, it's too cute!

That pic is really shiny, but aren't the colors just adorbs?

After spending 4+ hours cleaning out our guest bedroom/office, I hung it up.  I even started putting some of the things I've drawn for my book on it (I like maps, ok?   I draw a lot of maps!) plus a few inspirational items.  Don't tell me you hate it.  Because it's too cute to hate!

The room itself needs a little TLC.  I probably need a new desk (hello?  I'm going to BUILD one!) and some major upgrades in decor, but at least the mess is gone.  Look!

This is the disaster I was dealing with!   Major emergency!

But now, it's livable, even nice to be in.  Minus the kitty litter...because that stinks.  And Frodo...he wasn't much help during clean up hour(s)...

Punk.  Anyways.  I am happy with the end results for now.

Nice, clean, organized bookshelves..

Vacuumed floor...

Clean desk and drawers are organized...

Some HP action (this needs to be put away on the HP shelf downstairs) and office supplies...

...and my lovely new pin board to host all sorts of motivational inspirational nonsense for my Next Big Thing Novel.  You saw it here first, friends;)

I'm glad I have something to show for my nice, long weekend.  Now to sort through the THOUSANDS of pictures, both hard copies and picture CDs that I came across while cleaning the room.  Don't you hate when one organizational project tumbles you into another one?  This one is going to take forever.  I need about 20 photo albums and an online picture hosting site that is FREE, with no limit.  Oy!!

Cheers!

2013 was the year I LEARNED...

Happy New Year!!!  Can you believe that 2013 is over?  A thing of the past?  Hey, remember 2013?  That was SO last year;)

It's 2014 now, baby.  Time for a fresh start.  The beginning of a whole new year and anything can happen!  Do you make resolutions?  I do, sort of.  I do with the anticipation that life will become way too busy and I will forget about them by the end of January.  But for those first few weeks, wow, am I motivated!!

Some of my "plans" for 2014 are to simplify life, spend less money {I say this as I am about to go out and shop with my mom, it's really working out for me!} learn how to use power drills and build furniture, read 100 books, and finish writing my book by 2015.  I want to be healthier too, get back into the gym, cook healthier things, make healthier choices, but that is always a goal so I am not making that a resolution.  Also spending time with my family, being a better wife and stepmother, and maybe *even* becoming a mom {gasp} are things that I'd love to work on.

I had a great year in 2013, but it was a growing year for me.  I really learned a lot about me, about other people, and about the world in general.  I feel like my 30's are the "new" 20's, for real.  I know we hear that saying a lot, but I agree with it.  I'm really finding myself and who I am in my 30's, whereas in my 20's I was trying to figure out what the heck I was doing with my life!

Here are a few things that I learned in 2013:

- I love my job, but I don't always like it.  This year has been a stressful one so far!  More so for my coworkers than me, but believe me I am feeling it too.  I love helping people, I love working with kids, I love talking with parents and the staff about how to help students.  When I am doing what I love to do, I love it so.  I think that I may not always be in this position though.  Education is a rough profession to be in, and I feel like there is something more I am supposed to do with my life.  I'm not sure what that is yet.  I'm not sure when I'll be called away from this one, but I am open to possibilities.  That brings me to my next life lesson learned...

- I love writing.  I have always liked to write.  Like in school, I always enjoy writing papers.  I actually miss writing papers.  When a teacher or professors gave us a writing assignment (even my 50 pager in grad school) I got really excited.  Writing is fun!  It's creative!  I started this blog 3 years ago because of a resolution to read more, but it actually fulfills my love for writing too.  I am writing a book, and it's very slow going, but it's mine and it's crazy fun.  I'm having a good time.  I'd love to actually make it as a writer, but who knows if that will every happen.  This book needs to be good, it's totally not yet!

- Everyone has different opinions about everything.  You may be thinking, "Tina...we've all known this for a while..." but really, I am understanding it more.  Some people think their way is the right way, or the only way, or the only opinion or the right opinion.  But the truth is...we are allowed to think and believe in any way that we want to.  Everyone has an opinion about everything...and they think their opinion is the end-all-be-all...but I've realized...it's totally not.  Let everyone live their lives, and let it be.   There are SO many other things to be thinking about or worrying about, so don't worry about how others are living.  Let them live!  This topic came to me because I see so many people posting antagonizing Facebook posts about how the "world" should be.  Don't worry about the world, unless it's to help and uplift.  Do as this little cutie says, and worry 'bout yourself:)  Do as I tell my kids and stop putting down others to make you feel better.  Love who you are.  Love who they are!  Thank you:)

- Family is the most important thing!!!  I spend more time with my family, extended and of course Dave and Ashley, than I did with anyone else this year.  I just really enjoy being around my relatives.  My friends are wonderful too, but we all have our own lives right now and life is very busy...and when I carve time out of my schedule it's usually to be with family.  When you have a crazy life schedule like us, Dave & I have completely opposite schedules, you have to prioritize!  I know that some of my family won't be around forever, and if I think about that my heart freezes, so I want to get in as much time as possible.  I cherish this time.  It's the most important thing to me.

- I have rediscovered my love for Musicals.  Rent, Les Mis, Chess, Phantom, Wicked...I could listen to the music all day.  I want to branch out and learn about new ones!  Do you ever listen to these songs and just cry your eyes out?  I listened to 525,600 minutes the other day and was balling like a child who dropped ice cream.  How DO you measure a year?  Totally!

- My style.  I'm learning more and more of what I love as far as home decor, fashion, shoes, jewelry, etc.  Yes I wear leggings as pants, arrest me!  I still love my Uggs and wear them almost everyday.  I don't care if they are so 90's (see my opinion post up there).  I love the color gray.  On walls, on a sweater, in the sky.  I love it.  I love vintage-industrial-farmhouse styles of home decor.   I love warm wood colors paired with gun metal chairs, or a metal shelf full of vintage books and pink flowers.   You'll see these changes coming to a Bland house hear you.  It's amazing what you can learn about yourself on Pinterest.  I went to my boards, realized that a lot of the home and clothing style stuff I pin is related in some way and BOOM...self knowledge is everlasting.  How awesome is that?

- Simplicity.  I've written about this before.  Up until now I have felt the need to buy, clutter and collect...and now I've gone in reverse.  I want to clean, simply and purge.  I want a simple life.  Less to choose from.  Less to look at.  Less to do.

- I like who I am.  I'm weird and quirky and so crazy, but I'm fun and caring and love life.  I am also stubborn and selfish and worry way too much and spend too much money.  But I'm really working on those things.  More like...I'm giving those things to Jesus and letting Him work on them.  But still, I like me.  I'd hang out with me.  Oh wait, I do.  I think it's important to like who you are!

There.  Those are some of the lessons I have learned in 2-0-1-3.  I can't wait to see what lessons life has in store for me this year!

Happy New Year!

I want a simple life...

As I get older, I find myself wanting a simple life.  At the ripe ol' age of 33, I'm still learning what that means.  I look around at our house, our beautiful things and our junk, and I realized how blessed we are.  We are over blessed.  So much so that we take advantage of it.  I'm so tired of all this stuff!

So, over the next month or so, I'm totally going to simplify our lives, as much as I can and as much as I understand it.  I know there are a lot of other bloggers out there that have come to this conclusion, and I may read in on how they do this how "simply life" thing.

I know for sure that we buy stuff just to BUY stuff all the time.  That is stopping.  After Christmas.  I swear it will be done.  Not only that, but I have this desperate need to get rid of stuff.  The stuff is coming out of our ears.  It's coming out of our closets.  It's falling off our shelves.  It's totally crazy.

I've already started!  In the last month I've made three trips to Goodwill.  I've cleaned out my closet {twice, I still need to get ride of more} and the pantry and some of our kitchen and our guest bedroom {gracious, no one even LIVES in that room, how is there stuff in there??}  I even made Ashley clean out her room, she really can't handle the amount of clothes she has anyways.  I know Dave was inspired to clean out his closet.  I clean out my jewelry and am left with only the things I absolutely wear or can't bear to part with.  My life feels more simple with that little task.  I have less to choose from.  It's wonderful!  It's still way too much.

I'll slowly get rid of more of it, if I can.  But for now, it looks really pretty on our dresser, with the sweet picture of a Tiffany's box that Dave drew for me on our anniversary last year.

What is it about me that I have needed all this stuff?  And now I've changed all of a sudden?  I guess I'm learning that less is totally more.  To know that I have a dozen earrings to choose from, instead of 3 dozen, makes life SO much easier.  To know that my linen closet holds only what we need on our beds, and towels that we use for bathing and swimming, is like gold to me.  I used to cringe when I opened it, with everything falling out and messy.  Ugh.  Now I know what is in there, exactly.  Victory!

There's a pile of pure junk sitting in our basement that has needed to go to the dump since June 20th, when I cleaned out the basement.  Since then, the pile has grown, and it could still grow.  We will take it to the dump over Christmas break.  I swear it will be done.  

One day I will be able to say we live the simple life.  One day.  Until then I'll clean out my house and learn what it means to be simple.

Cheers!

Happy Friday!

Good morning!!!  My head is so full of words, even at 6:40am, so I thought I'd give them an outlet!!

How was your Thanksgiving?  Mine was so awesome!!  Dave had off all weekend, we spent a lot of time with our families, enjoyed some football, did some shopping and saw TWO movies {Catching Fire since Dave didn't go the 1st time, and FROZEN which is Disney and adorable!}  It went by way too fast, but don't all good times?

My lovely family, ready to eat!

Dave and Ash having a good time...

Cheese!

Babe, please let me have taste while you are carving!

I can't believe Christmas is so close!  Where did the year go?  Didn't we just go back to school yesterday?  Sometimes I feel that time is racing by, and I turn around and realize I have to sprint after it to catch up!  But then, I get so busy getting caught up with life that I forget to enjoy it.  Whew!!  Someone tell me how to slow myself down?!

We have been enjoying this Christmas season so far.  We bought our tree last weekend {real, it's the only way we go!} and decorated it.  It's so pretty!!  We officially started Christmas shopping and making our Christmas plans.  We have been watching some Christmas movies too!  We even when to the Bel Air Christmas parade.

'Trimming the tree!'

Don't mind my outfit.  Isn't it lovely?  I look so fresh while hanging around the house;)

Awww...Frodo!!  You are so cute! Except for when you knock over our tree.  Yeah, that happened.  It was crazy!

We brought a little Disney into our decor.  Renesmee the Elf brought us Mickey and Minnie stockings!  Yipee!

Christmas pillows are a must when you have Clifford the big red couch;)

Last night Ash & I watched the live version of Sound of Music, which was on as a family holiday event.  It was really sweet!

Watching it made me think of my old, forgotten dreams to become a Broadway Musical actress.  I am definitely glad I didn't go that way in life, but it really is fun to watch things like this because I enjoy them so much.  Musicals really get to me, I get goose bumps and I cry.  Actually, I cry a lot when singing or hearing a beautiful song!  In church, that happens A LOT, or if I hear something beautiful on the radio {which sadly doesn't happen so much anymore} or on a stage.  Some people were so very critical of the show last night, saying it doesn't add up or that it was bad.  I don't see those things I guess?  I know how hard they have worked, and I appreciate the product I saw.  I don't think they were trying to redo the original Julie Andrews movie...this was the Broadway version that has been done hundreds of times.  It was like they gave us a free ticket!!  I really enjoyed it!  Musicals are always cheesy and awkward to some point, maybe that's why I love them so much;)  I am a bit cheesy and awkward myself!

I need to go to Broadway and see more shows.  It's been way, way too long since I've been!

I've been doing some major organizing here at the house.  I think I have a car load of junk for the Goodwill, and a truck load of trash for the dump!  It feels good to clean out and simply.  I've been meaning to do this for SO long!  When did we start the craze and need to have so.much.stuff?  I think my motto used to be "hang on to this in case I need it one day" whereas now my motto is turning into "if I haven't used it in the last year, it's going.  If I need it again, I'll buy it" but I doubt I will.  So far I've tacked our kitchen cabinet that holds our spices and cooking herbs, our pantry, and our linen closet.  I'm updating old, yucky kitchen utensils, and getting rid of lots of things we don't need.  It is refreshing!!

The mess of organizing, but it's so worth it...

We bought mason jars for everything, and now my spices and cooking herbs have never looked so pretty!!

A nicely organized pantry.  I think I do this twice a year.  Our pantry NEVER stays clean!

Anyways, life has been good!!!  I can't wait for the Christmas vacation to begin, I'm ready for a nice looooooong break of sleeping in {yeah right}, seeing family and just being off work for a while.

Hope you have a delightful weekend!  Cheers!