towel rack thingy-ma-bob

i recently found this at goodwill for .75:: 

and since we already needed another over-the-door towel rack/hook/thingy-ma-bob, i thought i could bring this guy home and fancy him up a bit for the bathroom.

i already had the primer, so after i primed the hooks, i ran over to walmart, picked up a can of spray paint, a little bling, and brought 'em home and got to work.

step 1: primer

step 2: two coats of spray paint

i chose this color::

 step 3: add the bling (i used a hot glue gun)

ooooh...shiny.......

step 4: find just the right spot and hang this bad boy up

step 5: stand back and admire

our shower curtain actually has hints of that same color blue in it, it just didn't show up in the pictures very well.

so, nothing spectacular, but i'm pretty pleased with it, and now our towels have a pretty, shiny new home!

tile paintin' fun!

i am in the middle of 3 projects right now and i cannot wait to finish and post them all!  one of which will probably still be a week or so until it's completion.  today, however, in anticipation of the project i'm working on with the boys, the three of us painted tile magnets!!  fun, right?!  jordan had a fundraiser for school at christmastime and he won a cute little tile magnet set, so, today we finally broke it out and went to town! 

fun times were had by all!

prima donna (but only when i sleep)

turns out my sleeping habits are not so normal - at least, not according to jonathan.  i'll tell you why and you can tell me if it's that strange/out of the ordinary...

my friend, jen, gave us these sleep masks when we got married::

and i have worn one just about every night since.  the thing is, when i lived on a busy street in north jersey, and then subsequently in new york city, years ago, i found i needed to wear a mask every night.  didn't matter what time of night there was always light glaring into my room. pop on one of those bad boys and...voila! perfect! well, over the years, and moving back to the south i got out of the habit of wearing a mask and i had forgotten all about how marvelous they were until jen got us those adorable bride & groom suckers.  luckily for me jonathan never wears his, and the gray keeps out more light - so i sleep with "groom" across my face every night.

then, there's the fan::

 same story as above actually.  street noise.  use to drive me bonkers!  turn on my little honeywell fan, the noise fades away, and i am lulled to sleep by the humming fan.  aaaaaah.

then, and here's where the hubs and i really differ - i need it to be cold.  i'm talking ice box cold.  when i was single and lived alone the thermostat was set between 60-65 at night. (let's not even talk about my power bill in the summer!)  jonathan can't handle that - which is ok, since i'm pretty sure that makes him normal and me - well, not so very normal.  so our compromise is 68 degrees.  it works. 

so i prefer it to be dark, cold, and noisy - does that really make me a prima donna? 

a poem about spring

just kidding. no poems.  i don't write poems.  but i might....if spring actually decided to stick around for more than a week.  if that happened i might just be so happy i'd write a poem.

well. for about a week lexington had sunny, gorgeous 70 - 80 degree weather.  for a week.  the thing is,  it snowed on saturday.  yes. snow. and it may have been the first time in my life i wasn't excited to see snow.  mind you, this is coming from a gal who spent a year in jersey, and a year in new york city where i walked in snow up to my shins multiple times a day, for a few months out of the year.  it never really bothered me.  yet, for some reason, this go-round i just wasn't happy to see the snow. 

i'm ready for spring.  i'm ready for flowers. t-shirts and capris. flip flops. park trips with the boys.  i'm ready for eating out on patios and being at home with the windows open.  not to mention, lexington is bee-yoo-tee-full in the spring!  i'm talkin' take-your-breath-away gorgeous. this will be our first spring since moving here (another reason i'm excited and ready for spring!) but we did visit last spring for easter and i was just amazed at how beautiful it was.  i'll leave you with a few pics of lexington in the spring so you can see for yourself, and i'll hope for gorgeous spring weather for all of us soon!



the arboretum (above and below)

oh!....and another reason i'm hoping spring is almost here?  keeneland horse races.  it's a pretty big deal in lexington, being "the horse capitol of the world" and all.   ;)

oh, i can't wait!



weekend in review

nothing too exciting to report, but we had a pretty good weekend.  friday night we grilled out and stayed in!  jonathan is a pro on the grill and had a hankering for steaks - so he served up some delicious steaks and we spent the rest of the night lounging around in pjs, cuddling, and catching up on our favorite shows.

saturday morning i cooked breakfast and we played rummy (which has become our saturday morning ritual). i spent saturday afternoon cleaning while jonathan watched a lil lot of espn. saturday evening we went to church with some friends, and then had poker/game night at our place. i came in 2nd and won our money back! woohoo!! :)  (we are not much for gambling, but we did a $5 buy in to keep things interesting!)

sunday afternoon we spent at the in-laws. my mother-in-law is an incredible cook and sunday lunches are always scrumptious! i'm talkin' thanksgiving style every week. yummmm-oh!  then...and here's my favorite part of our weekend....we took easton to the dog park for her first time ever!

she can be fickle around other dogs so we were a little nervous but she did GRRREAT!  i felt like such a proud momma standing out there watching her run around and play nice with all her new friends.

 it was near impossible to get any good pictures of her playing - there were so many dogs and they were all on the move the whole time.  she had a blast though, and after we got home she did a whole lot of this::

we finished off our weekend watching the uk/unc game (go cats!! - final four baby!!) and fighting off the sunday blues with a little comedy -

 i finally got the hubs to watch the proposal with me! one of my faves! 

hope you a wonderful weekend!  happy monday!!!

silhouette giveaway

no... i am not giving away a silhouette...with only 5 followers it wouldn't be much of a contest (although your odds of winning would be incredibly high!). ;)  BUT...you can check out this blog and enter to win. if you like crafting, or decorating at all then you need one of these killer machines! i cannot tell you how much i want one.  oh, i dream of owning one.  maybe i'll hope for one at the turn of the big three-oh in 8 months. hmmm...

head over to *Remodelaholic* check it out, and enter to win!  

big reminders come in small packages

when you're five years old and just learning to read and write, tasks such as making a birthday card for your dad can become daunting.  i know. i experienced it this afternoon. 

today was the boy's dad's birthday and they wanted to make cards - so we got out the paper, crayons and markers and were well on our way to making birthday cards.  jordan made several attempts before he became so frustrated that his little eyes filled up with tears as he put down his markers and exclaimed, in a very frustrated manor "i can't do it.  it's supposed to be perfect. he's not gonna like it.".  i had encouraged him from his first attempt - "it's ok! we have plenty of paper!"..."try again, kiddo."... "your daddy isn't even going to notice that! he's gonna love it, buddy".  nothing was helping.  he had just messed up his 4th card and he was completely distraught over the fact that his many attempts were just not good enough (by his measures).  so, i sat trevor, who was in my lap, in his own chair and invited jordan to sit with me. i told him not to cry and i assured him that his daddy was going to love his card.  "it's ok if you mess up. it doesn't have to be perfect. your daddy is going to love it because it's from you." i told him.  he wiped his eyes, and flashed a quick smile.  "your dad is going to be so excited that you took the time to make him a card that he's not even going to notice that you messed up." "yes he will." jordan said "well, kiddo, do you think he's going to love your card because it's perfect, because you used the right colors and wrote the words in a straight line or do you think he's going to love it because it's from you?." "because it's from me" he said softly as he slipped out of my lap and back into his chair "can i try one more time?" "of course!" i said as i handed him another sheet of paper and i sat there and realized that those words were just as much for my ears as they were jordan's. 

see, i have such a horrible habit of trying to make sure everything is just right before i offer anything to my Heavenly Father.  was i ugly to my husband today? did i speak to him out of anger?  did i get frustrated with the boys at work?  did i forget to do (or just not do) what i said i would do?  yes? well, then God probably doesn't want anything to do with me today.  what i did, what i have, it's not good enough. i messed up.  but just as i reminded jordan today that his dad wouldn't care if what he had to give him was perfect, i was reminded that my Father must feel the same way. i was reminded that he is delighted when i (of all people!) have anything to offer him ....my worries. my hopes. my fears. my dreams. my stress. my time. he doesn't want a perfect me. he just wants me.  simply because he loves me. simply because i am his. not because what i have to offer is perfect. not because i am perfect but simply because he loves me. (he loves me.)

i long to really understand that - why, and how he loves me.  but i know that he does, and i know that he wants what tiny bit i have to give him, simply because i am his...simply because he loves me.