#favtotalsocial

I'm linking up with my fave Dallas bloggers today for #totalsocial! Link up and follow along!

Favorite pet I ever had

-The current pups, Motley, Motters, Mo-mo, Momosita, Momolicious, Momosa, Motts, Mo.

Favorite car I’ve owned

-Sporty Spice, my current car, a Kia Sportage. Even after this happened. :(

Favorite meal out, ever

-Ooooooh ok this is hard. Ummmm I had a really great deep dish pizza AND (at another meal) an amaaaazing chicken parmesan in Chicago. I'd have to say the chicken parmesan was the best ever. SOOOOO good.

Favorite food I’ve cooked

This simple one pot chicken alfredo is pretty dang good.

Favorite food from childhood

All of the sugary foods that my mom never let me have live Gushers, Fruit loops, etc.

Favorite movie of all time

Hmmm. also hard. I like Anchorman, and musicals, and things like The Holiday. No favorites though.

Favorite book of all time

The Harry Potter series! They are what got me into reading when I read them about 7-8 years ago. 

Favorite item category to go shopping for with a girlfriend

Hmmm I'm not big on social shopping but I'd have to say just window shopping/browsing accessory stores (like in Bishop Arts) is my fave.

Favorite day out – what, where, with whom

Out on the lake and to a patio dinner with friends and family!

Favorite color

It always changes, but I'd have to say red-orange and fuchsia right now.

Favorite artist

As in art, or as in music? I don't know that I have a favorite for either...I do love me some Mumford & Sons. Does that count?

Favorite song

Ugh. This is way too specific. I don't know!!!

Favorite paid entertainment I’ve ever seen

John Mayer

Favorite hobby activity that makes me get lost for hours

Blogging, when I get into a groove. It's so much fun and really fulfilling!

Favorite skill (past or current)

I played French Horn for about 8 years and I really enjoyed that. I wasn't the best by far, but I feel like I was pretty good!

Favorite advice I’ve ever been given

Don't use credit cards. Really, people, don't. You'll stay out of a lot more trouble and lose a lot of stress that way.

Favorite advice I’ve ever given

Well, I give a LOT of advice...haha ummm I'd say my best advice is to NOT TEXT A GUY FIRST! See my explanation above, because it applies here as well.

Favorite year of the best birthday I ever had… and why

Easy. Barbie birthday when I turned 5 years old. AND fell asleep before the party started. 

Favorite natural wonder I’ve ever seen

The Na Pali coastline in Kauai.

Favorite close call I’ve ever had

We had a serious icy winter a few years back in Dallas and my employer at the time didn't believe in closing the office (our restrooms weren't working) so I had gone to work. I drove a little Chevy Cavalier at the time and I didn't have lunch so I had to go out to get some. As I was coming back, about to enter the highway (but still going rather slow), my car lost traction and started careening towards a guardrail, which happened to be 'guarding' the drop off on the small bridge I happened to be on. I screamed and did the whole turn your wheel thing and finally regained traction about 12" before I hit the rail. I just sat there stopped for a minute. It was scary!

My favorite flower – purchased

-Peonies

My favorite flower or plant – personally grown

-my blue/turning pink Hydrangea in our front yard!

My favorite hair day ever?

-back when I had hair. :( see post from Friday.

The most favorite gift I’ve ever gotten – what and from whom?

-Hmmm this is really hard! When we first started dating, Mark bought me tickets to see John Mayer in Austin, so that was fun. I also got my DSLR for my birthday this year and I've loved having that!

Favorite unusual pet I’ve ever had

We had a turtle once named Diddly Squat that was pretty awesome. He successfully escaped the jaws of our dog Lucky 1 out of 2 times...

Favorite outdoor smell

-Campfire, easy!!!

Favorite Saturday night ever?

-well this is specific...ummmm I don't know?!

My favorite non-relative adult growing up

-Hahahah these questions are hilarious. Non-relative adult, hmm? Well my first grade teacher (Miss Purdy) was pretty awesome and she always remembered me when I ran into her around town. Even to this day!

Favorite TV rerun I could watch 50 times?

-the Office : beach games

Favorite item no one knows I own?

-What? Um...my uncle gave us our own stars when we were younger?

Favorite competent activity I do?

I really like to play volleyball, but haven't in YEARS!

Favorite food item I can never run out of?

Macaroni and cheese, always.

The favorite picture I’ve ever taken?

This is kind of the worst quality, and I guess my friend Terra actually took it. But I really like it for some unknown reason!

Favorite secret I still safeguard? (don’t reveal it!)

duh.

checking in with Pinterest!

If you're new here, you should know I LOVE Pinterest. I was mildly active before we bought our house, but now that we own a home and are deep into the routine of  married life, I find myself using it all the time! I refer to it for recipes the most, and I keep a running list of decor inspiration and fitness tips to keep me motivated! You can find my profile here or click the button to the left.

Here's what I'm pinning (and doing!) : 

I am pleading with Mark to let me repaint our main bathroom in this slate blue color (shown above and below). It's currently navy, which isn't far off, but we went wrong when we chose to use satin for the bathroom (according to recommendations). It's TOO shiny and a little too dark. Help me convince him!

These look SO good! My mouth waters just looking at them...

I've been dying to make my tiny laundry corner a little more functional, so I've been pinning lots of ideas for worksurfaces. Look for a blog post in the future if I ever get around to it!

We have explored 500+ options for our next backyard landscaping project. Right now I'm liking the below image, but the grass would be pebbles because grass isn't growing in the area we want to do this.

I've seen SO many people repin this and they look super yummy! I have a jar of Nutella in my pantry just begging to be turned into this...

I saw this picture and was like - YES - this is my style, to a T. Do you agree?

I made this baked cream cheese spaghetti last Sunday and it was pretty tasty!

I also had this chicken taco bowl recipe cooking in the crock pot all day Tuesday. It was really tasty, very similar to a chili I make in the fall, but I didn't serve it over rice because we didn't end up eating until about 9:45 that night! 

Love this print... 

...and this one too!

This California club pasta salad is DELICIOUS and perfectly light for summer. I didn't have avocados (oops) so I just put a tiny bit of ranch dressing in there, and it was SOOO GOOOOD. Seriously, this is going to become a staple recipe, which I don't currently have, other than desserts. :)

I'm still trying to come up with things to do for our trip to California in September. Santa Barbara is high on the list!

We've decided on pretty solid plans for our backyard, but now we just have to implement them! I'm thinking of doing a garden on one side of the house. I love this quaint one below! Looks manageable!

Happy pinning!

Finish the sentence...

Just sharing a fun little survey today. Maybe you’ll learn something new about me! Feel free to copy and repost on your blog!

When I open the fridge, I always hope I find.... something yummy I forgot I had. Like cheese…mostly cheese.

                       
My favorite article of clothing is... hmm it’s a toss up between a ripped up pair of comfy jeans or my fuchsia VS size L sweatpants (tall girl problems – I swim in these but they are long enough!!!)

Last week I was really upset when... I missed out on a $150 fancy drawered dishwasher. BUT then I found another great deal so that was short lived.

One thing nobody understands about me is... how about just me in general? Apparently I’m pretty mysterious…

One thing I don't understand is... all of the unnecessary problems of the world.

The world would be a better place if... there was no hate.

If I had a million dollars, I'd... pay off our house and the rest of our loans, buy another house on land, rent our current one out, invest part of the money…and probably have a baby and stay home. (sorry Beth)

If I knew I'd die next week, this week I'd.... see all my family members and friends, tell them I love them, go to Europe, then come back and eat LOTS of Mexican food, bacon cheese fries, Dr, Pepper and cheesecake. (shoutout Courtney)

If I could change one thing about myself, it would be... my height. Being tall mostly sucks.

Something that can always make me happy is... puppies!

Something I'll never blog about is... political/religious hot topics. We are all entitled to our opinions, but I don’t want to start a mess!

If I could go anywhere I would go... ALLLLLL over western Europe. Mostly Greece. And Spain. And Italy. You get the picture.

If I were an animal I would be a ... ummmm………I don’t know. A leopard probably, since I wear spots all the time. lame.

My idea of a perfect day is... energy to get up in the morning and go on a walk or to the Farmer’s market. Then lunch on a patio somewhere followed up by time spent on the lake and dinner looking out over the lake as the sun sets. I can dream, right?

Things are looking up

Hey, remember this post?

starting point

Or what about this one?

light update

We finally got around to sprucing up our quaint entryway, and we did it easily and inexpensively!

I first spotted this removable wallpaper by Devine Color at Target a few months back and have been biding my time waiting for inspiration to strike. I ALWAYS envisioned using it on the ceiling here, but I wanted to make sure I made the best decision on color/pattern. 

I decided to go monochromatic but textured and patterned, and I really REALLY like it!

I chose the "weave" pattern in Mirage & Silver. It is a great grey without any green or blue undertones, which works perfect with our Dolphin Fin grey paint by Behr. 

We had to cut 3 strips of the paper and then Mark and I worked together to stick it on the ceiling as best as we could. It only took about 30 minutes and was pretty easy! It would be even more simple if you applied it to a wall, so don't be afraid to do it if you're thinking about it! At $30 for a roll, you can take the risk. Plus, it's REMOVABLE (and genius!)!!! 

In case you needed to see 5 pictures of the same thing:

now we're here!

I'm loving the metallic punch along with the darker grey tone, especially when the light is on to make it really sparkle. This transformation has been one of the easiest to accomplish and I think it works wonders on the first impression when stepping into our home. Love it! 

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Monday news: I've set up an Etsy shop! It's called sweetsuits (you can find it by searching or just click here)

Right now I only have camera straps listed, but I'll be posting lots more this month. 

Think pillow cases, swimsuits, etc.! Please let me know if I can make you anything custom, because that's available too. Thanks for your support! 

Friday things

Happy Friday folks!

One of my favorite bloggers April at A. Liz Adventures is usually who I team up with for Five on Friday, but she is taking a break for the summer so I’m inclined to as well! I’ll still post from time to time, but it’s going to be SUPER random! Hang on!

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     We took our nephew Noah to the park last Saturday and made the drive for the promises of this one in Allen. It was pretty cool! It was accessible so it had a HUGE playground flanked by lots of swings and a splash park. It was within a sports complex so there was lots of wide open space and the weather was perfect! We got in some cardio playing tag and hide and seek, too! ;)

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     I had an impulse Craigslist moment on Tuesday and ended up finding and buying a dishwasher. It is a used KitchenAid Superba dishwasher in stainless steel. YES it works, and it fits perfectly. We are slowly transferring all of our appliances to stainless steel (hello, resale!) and this made a big difference in the look of our kitchen! Mark and I both think it helps ‘define’ the space more. (design nerds)

(bad iPhone pics taken at 10pm - I'll take more with my real camera this weekend!)

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       All of my friends and coworkers know about my constant struggle with my hair. It has a LONG troubled history and I’m always lamenting the fact that I can never get it to grow to my liking. At work this week I was talking about even at my longest, my hair has never gotten super long. To prove it, I pulled out the pictures of my hair in high school to show the girls at work. Brace yourselves:

 

This was the longest it has ever been, and those are NATURAL curls. Yep, I used to just shower, apply gel, and let it air dry and that’s what I got. 10+ years of heat and a flat iron has all but destroyed my pretty curls. Now I get kind of a mix of curly, tangled, and frizz.

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-      I’m going out on a limb and trying some DIY things to let a bit of my creativity out so I swung by Joann’s to pick up some fabric this week. I came home and put together this little reversible pillowcase. The floral was confirmed as ‘grandma’ by 3 out of 4 people (I was #4 of 4) but I think it came out pretty cute. I’m thinking about making more and possibly selling them? I was inspired by this pin:

 

So I have a question for you, then. Is this something you would ever consider buying? What other types of patterns/prints/solids/trims should I try out? How much would you spend on a pair of pillows like this? Would you be more likely to buy them if they were monogrammed? Think how cute they could look in themed kids rooms or guest rooms. They could add a little spunk, class, or personality to any bed! I need your thoughts, people! Thanks in advance!

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That’s all the random I have for today. Thanks for reading and I hope you have a happy weekend! 

Finally committing

Our bed has gone through LOTS of changes...

...it's been floral:

...and it's been plain:

But we took the plunge and went graphic for this round of Diana and Mark's bed roulette: 

So far, I'm really liking it. Plus, for a steal of a deal at $29 on sale, Mark's liking it too!

I posted last week about our dilemma and after doing research for that post, I found out that not only was this duvet cover on sale at West Elm, but it was marked down to $39. PLUS, they were running a 25% off sale that day, making it only $29! I was worried at first because it was final sale, but at a price of $29, I knew I could make it work. I'm happy I pulled the trigger!

If you love it too, it's still on sale at West Elm and it comes in lots of other fun colors. Go for it!