friday favs - july 30

This week some of my fav things include a few new to me blogs. 

Here you go.

and then there is this purse.

it's a steal on etsy.

another gallery wall

I will always be a fan of gallery walls. Matching frames, non matching frames, random items, black and white pics, colored pics, initials, it all goes.

One of my main goals in our den has been to incorporate more items that are personal to my husband. Now, I still have full veto power of all things on display in our home, but I do want our home to represent everyone that lives here.

When we were unpacking all of our stuff after we moved in, just six short months ago, I came across several things that my husband has been carrying around with him for may years. Some items have moved with him through 20-30 moves. I decided that if they were important enough for him to hang on to for that long, then maybe they should be on display. Things like flags, menus, and cassette tapes didn't quite make the cut, but he had a framed pic of Spicy the pony (the pony that my husband's grandfather had on his farm when my husband was a kid), and a skateboard that was drawn with a marker (during Sunday School) by one of his buddies.

I decided that a gallery wall above my husband's desk in the den was the best place to create a gallery of all the things that have meaning to him. Our fav photo of Prague (my in-laws used to live there and still travel there pretty frequently), a stained glass pic that is special to my husband, a pic of our sweet boys, a skateboard marker drawing, and of course,  Spicy the pony in her original frame.

I'm still looking for the perfect empty fame to put around the stained glass pic, I just haven't found it yet. The frame is small and I didn't want to reframe it because the actual frame is part of what makes it special, but I do want it to look more prominent so I think a larger open frame around the exiting frame will do the trick.

What is your fav type of gallery wall? Do you have any in your home?

Going Dark

As in dark doors. I'm sure you have seen some of the black interior doors floating around blog land. I didn't want to go black, but I did decide that the dark brown almost black that I used on the outside of the exterior doors would also be great on the inside.

Here is a look at what we started with.

I don't hate white doors, but there is a lot of white in this entry and it has just felt off to me. The door needed to be painted anyway (so does every other door that is in this house), so this was the perfect opportunity to try something different.

after

Having double doors makes it feel very dramatic, but if finally feels right. The dresser that is to the left of the door will eventually get painted white and there will eventually be a black upright piano on the wall across from the dresser, so I think that the dark doors will help balance all of that out. I'm really happy that I went ahead and painted them dark.

So what do you think? Do you have any doors in your house that aren't white? Do you have plans to paint any doors?

Paint color - Benjamin Moore exterior paint color matched to Valspar's English Tea Party

flatter

My scale is stupid!  Okay really, I just need a digital scale. Mine is old. I can't tell if I have lost one lb. or zero lbs. this week, but that is okay. The good news is that Cade told me that I was getting flatter! It took me a minute to process what he said, but he's five so I'm taking it as a compliment and that I'm starting to look thinner.

This week has been tough, but I must keep going.

linking up to McFatty Monday.

our week in phone pics - vol. 1

1. headed home from target - gosh he is getting so big
2. painting the front door
3. i want to bottle up that smile
4. headed out for a sleepover

1. playing with daddy's work gloves
2. snuggles for poppy
3. transplanting some flowers
4. playing in the yard

1. big brother helping little brother get his shoes on
2. lunch with mimi
3. henry making his usual mess at dinner

1. henry convinced he needed to sit by himself on a barstool to eat a snack
2. henry wearing his sandals over his socks
3. my sweet honey helping me by cleaning the bathrooms so I could get my workout in
2. the lovely socks that my son thought were great for working out in

and that's the recap of our week in phone pics. We also spent the weekend with my in-laws, but I didn't get many pics of that. I guess we were just having too much fun.

Link up your phone pics at a good life.

one ingredient ice cream

Have you heard of one ingredient ice cream? I had not until Amanda made reference to it on twitter a week or so ago. I immediately went in the kitchen to slice a banana and stick it in the freezer so that I could make this for my last snack of the evening. DELISH! I am so happy to have found something healthy that is just like eating ice cream.

It was a big hit with my boys, too. I'm planning to earn myself some "cool mommy points" by letting them have it for breakfast. It really is just a banana, so why not? Please tell me that my kid isn't the only one that sometimes asks if he can have ice cream for breakfast.

One Ingredient Ice Cream

slice a ripe banana
freeze the slices
put the banana slices in a food processor or blender and blend until they reach the consistency of ice cream

(optional) add a drop of vanilla extract the bananas while blending
(optional) a little chocolate syrup on top isn't bad either

feeding himself

Let's just say he enjoyed his yogurt. 

I really should let him feed himself more often.

He didn't do too bad.

a little something over the tv

Bare walls be gone. I have been slow about getting things on the wall in our living room. Mostly because I wasn't sure what I wanted. Especially over the tv. I'm still not sure that I know what I want, but I hung something up because I couldn't take the empty wall anymore.

The mirror is a keeper. I got this one at Hobby Lobby and then painted it teal.

 I like the concept of frames over the tv with something in them, but I'm not sure if this is exactly it. I've been on the look out for something different, but was really trying to work with what I had. I'm all ears if you have any suggestions.

two and two

Two weeks down and another two pounds lost. I'm pretty happy about this, especially considering I caved and had a blizzard on Thursday night. I wish I could tell you that this is super easy, but you would know better. I can say that it is getting easier.

Last week I promised some details on what I'm doing, so here you go.

eating

I am using the Body for Life Plan. I am a firm believer in finding something that you can do to change your eating habits for the rest of your life. I also think it's important to fuel your body with good food, not just a bunch of diet processed stuff. I wish I could tell you that it's easy for me to just make good food choices, but I really struggle with portion control. The basic concept for meals with Body for Life is eating 6 small meals throughout the day that include a portion of a lean protein and a heathy carb at each meal 6 days a week. One day each week you get a free day to eat whatever you want, whenever you want. This has made it easy for me to keep my portions in check and know that I haven't given anything up, but am practicing moderation. One day a week really is plenty.

Here's a sample of what my meals look like.

breakfast - 2 hard boiled eggs sliced on top of a piece of whole wheat toast
snack - protein shake (this helps me get my chocolate fix)
lunch - turkey wrap with honey mustard, spinach, and sliced tomato
snack - low fat string cheese and an apple
dinner - spaghetti and meatballs (made with lean ground beef), salad with lite dressing
snack - low fat cottage cheese and another piece of fruit

The best thing I ever did was was take my mom's Eating for Life cookbook. It has helped me think beyond just having a piece of chicken and a sweet potato for dinner.

exercise

The Body for Life exercise plan consists of 40 minutes of weight training on non consecutive days 3 days a week and 20 minutes of cardio the other 3 days, with one rest day. I'm not doing the actual exercises they have lined out, but am using Turbo Jam. I do the Turbo Sculpt on the weight training days and the 20 Minute Cardio on the cardio days. So far haven't been consist with working out each day, but I'm making progress. I'm learning that it really is a process and progress is a good thing. I just have to keep going.

Week 1 -  -5lbs
Week 2 -  -2lbs
Total to Date -  -7lbs

Linked to:
McFatty Monday

Body for Life isn't sponsoring this post in anyway. I just like the plan and find it easy to stick with. All opinions are my own.

meal plan - July 17

Sunday - lunch - out with my parents
               dinner - leftovers

Monday - fish, sweet potato fries, peas

Tuesday - asian grilled chicken and veggie skewers, brown rice

Wednesday - spaghetti and meatballs (i'm using lean ground beef), salad

Thursday - homemade baked chicken strips, roasted potatoes, salad

Friday - Singapore shrimp, brown rice, peas

Saturday - free day

The Down Stairs Bathroom Reveal

We have almost finished another bathroom. This one was actually done before the last one that I showed you, but I was trying to wait until we framed out the mirror to show it off.

The mirror still isn't framed, but we will eventually get around to it. My sister is getting married in our backyard in Sept. so we have shifted our focus to the yard for now.

Here is the before. (before we moved in) I thought I had a better before and opted not take any right before I started ripping wallpaper. My bad. Take special note of the paper cup dispenser mounted on the side of the cabinet. Really?

I did take an up close and personal before pic of the cabinet before it was painted.

after

We went back and forth a good bit about how far we were going to take this redo. I REALLY like the old floor tile that is in here, but we talked about taking it up and putting in the same floor tile that is in the rest of the house. That could have potentially led to having to replace the vanity, issues with the toilet, and it could have left the front of the tub a mess. If we decide to purchase this house after our lease is up we would want to do a complete reno, so we decided to just keep it simple and not create more work than necessary.

The first thing I did was remove all of the wallpaper and touch up the walls. (Very messy job)
Then I primed the walls and painted them. The color is Smoked Oyster by Valspar (color matched to Olympic's Fast Hide paint in semi-gloss, left over from the kitchen)

We took out the tile baseboard in this half of the bathroom an replaced it with a 4" painted wood baseboard. It gave the room a more updated look and left it looking a lot less green. We left the tile baseboard in the room with the toilet and shower because there wasn't a good way to finish it off next to the shower.

The light fixture was replaced with a new one. I went to Lowes with the intent to purchase a new ORB (Oil Rubbed Bronze) light fixture somewhere in the $25-$30 range, but spotted this one in brass on clearance for $12. I liked the shape and price better so I just spray painted it with ORB spray paint.

Here is my ORB spray painting tip. I like the finish of the Rustoleum  Brand ORB paint the best, but it is usually in the $6-$8 price range per can. The Krylon brand (my fav brand for all other colors) ORB finish is a little darker and just not quite the right color, but it is usually in the $3-$4 price range per can. I spray the piece (after priming) in the Krylon brand (2-3 light even coats) and then I mist 1 very light coat of the Rustoleum brand and end up with the correct color. I have done several light fixtures and cabinet knobs/hinges in the last few months, so this has saved me a good chunk of $ by using less of the Rustoleum brand.

The slightly neon green formica countertop was tiled over with leftover tile that had been sitting in my dad's warehouse. Yea, for free tile. The sink and faucet were also freebies that were taken out of a bathroom that was remodeled. They were newer and much better looking than what was there, so I was happy with not having to purchase new ones.

The rug and hand towel are from Target.

I really liked the shape of the old cabinet door pulls, so I just primed and spray painted them ORB, and then sealed them. I did the same thing with the hinges. If they end up not holding up well I just replace them. This is the guest bath, so they don't get used all that much.

We did purchase and install a new towel ring and toilet paper holder. Even I didn't attempt to spray paint and reuse those items.

We are working our way through the house with new ORB doors knobs, but haven't gotten to this room yet. Once we mark those items plus framing out the mirror (in a dark espresso frame) off of our list we can call this room DONE.



 There is a Thirty-one Gifts Catalog Party- Bring Journey Home Event going on now through July 24th at 8 p.m..

If you would like to purchase something to help bring Journey home you can shop using this link. 

This is where I introduced you to Journey. You can find her mother's blog here. If you would rather give directly to her adoption fund you can visit her mother's blog and donate through paypal.

Linked to:
Just a Girl - Show and Share Day
Tatertots and Jello - Weekend Wrap Up Party