Decorating the New Place

Finally! Our last piece of furniture was delivered today. I am excited about decorating my new place and making it cozy with less decorations but the wow factor obviously in place.

I've been working on a lot of DIY's around the house to try and make the most of furniture and decorations we already had rather than giving them away or donating them. For example, this is a table that was given to me so I upcycled it by painting it and adding the glass to it, which it didn't have.

Before: Bronze Metal Table

After: Black Metal Table

Here it is pieced with my new dining room set.

On the empty wall I found an idea of what I want to do with a few canvases to make one big picture. I think my husband and I are going to attempt to paint our own...

Isn't it gorgeous? Wow! Blows my mind!

Last week we got our leather sectional, which I am currently trying to find decorative pillows for. I am looking for some solid colors and some decorative peacock pillows to go in front of the solid ones. I also need to change my pillar candles since I am no longer going to decorate in the red and burnt oranges I had planned to do.

My new leather sectional

I have all of these ideas in my mind of what I want to do with my new decor. I want to use all of the peacock colors to decorate between my living room and dining room.

I went shopping this weekend at Pier 1 Imports and found a bunch of new items that have the peacock colors. For one thing they had this peacock diffuser, which I loved. HOWEVER...I did not want to pay $30 for it!

So I decided that I was going to make my own (cost me about $5 or less to make)....and here it is...voila!

Much nicer I'd have to say, especially for the value. I purchased the glass and the diffuser reeds at Wal-mart. The rest of the items I had on hand.

This is what I want to do to create the centerpiece of the dining room table with wine bottles of different heights. The one on the lobster is one of the bottles I have, along with a few others to start this project with. Maybe this weekend I will get a head start. I'm planning on painting them different colors, but of course with the peacock palette colors we are using.

Off to bed I go...this little head of mine has way too many ideas and I'm going to save them for the weekend. Nite nite!

My 29th Bday

January 16th, was my 29th birthday. My hubby bought me a nice bouquet of my favorite flowers, hydrangeas..and some beautiful roses. May I add that he created this bouquet himself. Props to my wonderful husband, that's why he is the best!!

At work my staff made me lunch and bought me my favorite- vanilla cake with fudge frosting. Mmmm. Then they joked about me being 9-2 by switching my candles around. So not funny!

After work I decided to spend it with my husband, my kiddos and with good friends.

Although I am against work day parties, it was my birthday so I said, what the heck..let's do it! I barely got any sleep and then had to wake up early. I was so tired at work and hung over, but it was worth it! lol

This is Joe..my husband's best friend. We have the same birthday...guess that's why my husband loves us so much! :)

This was me just joking! ;)

Saving the best picture for last...this is a picture of me and the hubby before the festivities commenced. I love it. He is so G.Q.

::singing:: Happy Birthdayyyy tooo mmmmeeeee!

P.S.
My mom bought me an electrical frother for my bday that heats up the milk and makes it extra foamy. Amazing! I love it so much better than my manual one. woo hoo.

The Kiddos New Room

Yesterday we finally had time to start decorating the kids' room.

Our little boy and little girl are sharing a room in the meantime. The cartoon they have in common that they love are Minnie and Mickey. Therefore, we decided that we would decorate their room this way.

I had my husband re-decorating by painting the kids daybed from a natural brown wood to a flat black to match the dresser. He also painted a wooden frame we had to black to match the room. The frame has a Mickey Mouse puzzle I completed some time ago for Dominic. Perhaps I should go and find a Minnie Mouse one now for my Sanaris. 

While my husband was painting outside I was organizing the kids toys. In their toy boxes I found a bunch of Mickey and Minnie's they have received over the years. One of the girls at work also gave me some Disney snow globes and a Fantasia canvas for their room.

I have to change their lamps now to something that matches the decor. I think I will add some black/pink/red/yellow ribbon to it. I will see what I do with it as I go along. I also have a little black shelf that will be going into the room and I found these perfect little Mickey and Minnie figurines to make them their snow globes of each of their characters for that shelf. You can make your own snow globe by following my tutorial here. It was actually quite funny this morning when I hand Minnie over to my daughter she says, "What happened Minnie? You stuck?" hahaha. It was the cutest thing ever. My son, on the other hand, was not the least bit excited about this. He tells me, "I want Mickey outside not inside." I think once he sees his whole room pieced together he will love it. He is just like his father in that aspect, he needs to see it all pieced together to see the bigger picture.

I will have to post some pictures later of the completed room since it's only half way completed right now.

Until next time! Toodles! (yes, pun intended...lol)

01/18/2012
I am back posting the pictures of the semi-completed room, we still have to paint and hang up a picture frame or two.

And those are the kids having fun jumping on their new bed after being told not to. Apparently they couldn't resist taking the pictures without jumping. :) 

Moving

Wow I have been out of the loop for a while now. I would say this has been the longest week ever!

At least I can surely say that 2012 is turning out to be a great year thus far. On January 9th we moved into our new place.

We've been blessed with being able to purchase furniture for our new home. Chris and I decided that with our move this year we were going to buy a new dining room set and a new living room set. So we found a brown leather sectional at City Furniture and the pub table I've been wanting for years now at Rooms to Go.

Our new leather sectional

Pub table

The princess bed my daughter wants.

I love our new place. The commute to work is an added bonus. Let's just say that I work where I live. I am a Property Manager to a brand new community that is still being built. The apartments come with many wonderful features that we are now enjoying like granite counter tops, washer and dryer inside the units, alarm systems, water is included, etc.

Since this is a new construction I have been without internet/cable/home phone for about a week now. Comcast has taken their sweet time entering the addresses in the system. I've had to put DVD's on for the kids just to keep them from going insane, or driving me insane.

I am finally able to blog about it because after fighting with them to get us up and running ... today they decided to do it! Woo hoo. Just in time for my birthday.

Well, off I go...have to go celebrate my birthday weekend. I told you many wonderful things for this new year! :)

Gnome Sweet Gnome

I found these cute little gnomes just in time for Valentine's day!!

I thought they were so adorable and I just had to share them with you guys. I know Valentine's Day is a month away, but time passes by so fast that I could not help to get your creative juices flowing before Valentine's day. Make your "Valentine" a special treat.

All you need is:

• Glue
• Googly Eyes
• Pen/Marker
• Felt
• 3/4" Office Dot Sticker or paper cut into a circle
• Hershey's Kisses
• Soda Can 
• Paper Clip(s)- to create multiple at a time.

Instructions:

1. Create a 3" circle of felt by pressing the bottom of the can into the felt and cutting along the impression it leaves. Cut the circle into quarters.

2. To form the hat, run a thin line of glue along a straight edge of one felt quarter and press it to the other straight edge. Use a paper clip to hold the edges in place. When the glue is dry, remove the clip. Save the other quarters to make hats for more gnomes.

3. Glue the hat in place on the kiss, then stick or glue on the eyes. Allow the glue to dry. Use a pen or a marker to write a dot sticker and press it to the bottom of a kiss.

A Healthier 2012

Thought this was funny.

Okay so every year we say we want to get healthier and we're going to work out, but seldom do we find the time to do it. This is the year to get fit, to be healthier....if not for your family, your kids, etc. then for yourself.

I have a diet plan that was created by a doctor. This diet plan is actually to be taken with diet pills. However, I don't believe in diet pills. I believe in healthier eating, portion control and exercise to help you lose weight. I have used it in the past without diet pills and have lost weight. It works great because you're eating in portions as well as eating healthier foods. The last thing that you feel in this diet is hungry!

*Something to keep in mind* Remember that it takes 2 weeks to break a bad habit! You can try taking smaller bites and eating slower. If you eat too fast, you don't get the signal to your brain quick enough to let it know that you're already full and  by then you're already stuffed.

I wanted to share this diet plan with you in case you're interested in following it.

 DIET

You must eat 4-5 meals (no more than 4 hours apart). Drink one glass of water 8oz. 1/2 hour before each meal.

The following meal plan is just a suggestion. Use as a guide.

This is the diet plan

These are the rations and descriptions of what to eat.

For more information they recommend

"SUGAR BUSTERS SHOPPERS GUIDE"

If you still feel hungry after any meal, drink water. This will help to fill you up and takes away the urge to continue eating. Also, try not to eat past 6:30 p.m.)

Maybe you should take some before or after pictures so that you can check your progress. Maybe even post a picture of your thin days and how you imagine the healthier you to be and post it on the fridge for daily motivation.

Just a little motivation to get us going.....

A toast to a healthier you in 2012. Go get 'em tiger!

***Disclaimer: I am not a Doctor! Therefore, please consult with your physician before following meal plan.***

Have A Cappuccino With Me?!

Loooooonnnnnggggg time ago, my grandmother had given me a frother when I was going into College. If I had ever known what that little piece of equipment was for, I would have never gotten rid of it. Pinky promise!

Back then I was not into drinking coffee. However, I cannot say that about today. I have become quite the coffee addict ever since I had my son and he did not let me sleep.

On Christmas day while hanging out at my mom's house I asked her to make us a coffee. When she came out she came with these beautiful little cappuccinos she had made. They were delicious! When I went inside I noticed that she had an electrical frother. Wow!! It just kept me wanting more!

So for Christmas Chris and I got a gift card for TJ Maxx from my mom and guess what I went in search for? You guessed it, a frother! Not an electrical one since they are quite expensive. Today I went to TJMaxx and that's when we found this baby for $16.99. It was calling my name. With weather like the one we're having right now, which is very rare in Florida, there is nothing like a nice cappuccino to warm you up.

So what do you say? Have a cappuccino with me?!

Mickey Mouse Pancakes

My kids LOVE Mickey Mouse!

Today I decided I would surprise them and make them some Mickey Mouse pancakes.

I saw a picture on Pinterest that tells you to make the pancake mix and then pour it into an empty ketchup bottle. This now becomes your pancake mix dispenser. This helps to make less of a mess and easy to pour. Made it super easy to be able to make the Mickey Mouse shape without a hassle or mess. No need to spend the money on the bottle dispensers when you have all the materials that you need right in your household.

They were fighting with me to hurry up and serve them. My son especially loves pancakes. He always wakes up in the morning and says, "Good morning. Can we go to Hihop for pancakes." He calls it Hihop instead of Ihop, he's so cute!

Needless to say, they LOVED their pancakes! They ate all of their food, which makes me very happy.

Here I leave you with some pancake inspiration I found online. Go all out and create something fun for your next pancake......Your kids will love you...take my word for it!

Tablet Case

As you can already tell, I have not been on to post much. Especially with the holidays, I have been trying to spend some time with the family and actually enjoy myself a little bit.

Well for Christmas my husband got me a Nook Tablet, which I was very excited about for only a weekend. Why you might be asking? Well, it was actually pretty awesome until I found out that the app market had all games, books, etc...but all of them were for a charge. Unlike the Android market that has a lot of apps for free, this one did not. There was even a charge for the use of Facebook, which is always free. Disappointing if you ask me. I think my husband was even more disappointed than I was and insisted that I get a new one. So we went in search for something a little better and that's when he got me the Acer Iconia Tablet. I love Acer. I've noticed now more and more that it's a brand I live by. My computer at home is an Acer, my laptop is an Acer and now my tablet as well. Very reliable!

Finally, after finding the tablet I wanted, we went in search for a case. Geez, all of them were $30+. There was no way I was going to fork up that amount for a case. That's when I decided to try and create my own. I went looking through my "junk" and found some cardboard, batting, fabric, fabric glue, felt, glue gun, elastic and finally a gorgeous royal blue ribbon from a gift the kids got for Christmas, which I could not bring myself to throw away. I knew I would find good use for it.

This is how my tablet case came out and since I had all the materials on hand, it's like I didn't pay anything for it. Besides, the materials are so inexpensive that this project could have cost me $10 or less.

Exterior Tablet Case

Interior Tablet Case

Interior Tablet Case

Did you get a tablet for Christmas? Need a cover for it? Why not make one?! :) If you do, send me pictures, I would love to see your final product.