chest

when brian and i got married, we lived in a small condo...so we were short on storage. brian's mom bought us this HUGE chest that you can fit a million things in. when we moved to this house, it made the cut, but of COURSE i have had the itch to give it some flare ever since. it kinda had a "country" look...which is TOTALLY FINE if that is your style, but it wasn't meshing well with our other furniture. and to be honest, we still need the space, so getting something different was out of the question!  our closets in this house are small! (but i LOVE it brian, and i'm not complaining...just stating a fact!) anyway....that went WAY off track....where were we?
 oh! ok. so....i determined that part of the problem was that the hardware was too small for the piece. i found this hardware

 on sale at the home depot for $1.98 each! woot! i know. awesome huh?
  i knew i wanted a slatey blue color, so i enlisted the help of my favorite decorator...PINTEREST...and found some ideas. i sent pictures to my sweet cousin, who then told me the perfect color...wrought iron by martha stewart. yay! and as soon as brian left to go out of town, i drove my butt straight to the store, looked at the color, and then had it color matched with the primer PLUS paint by behr!  love that stuff!
 it only took me about 45 min. to complete BOTH coats(i waited an hour between each coat). immediately the chest looked so much better...that is until i remembered that i didn't know how to work the drill, so i would have to wait until brian came home to complete my project! boo!
 so......last night, even though he was exhausted from his trip, he drilled my new holes for me! and it looks AWESOME! exactly what i was going for! amazing how a little paint and new hardware can completely change the look of something! now on to the next project....

before
mismatched knobs and all

before

after
2 coats of paint

new hardware

after

after

after

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

tomorrow is our 18th...i mean 8th anniversary. what an amazing  ride it has been so far. i look forward to many many more years...

I LOVE YOU BRIAN!!

(this is as sappy as i get...)

daddy

i'm sorry...i had to.

girls...i'm so so sorry about the dresses. it really doesn't make sense because i don't even like pink! ha!

lainey...the sweetest and most beautiful flower girl ever!

it was such a fun fun day! the stories...oh the stories....it just wouldn't have been hannah's wedding without them.
things i regret....i wish i would have eaten.
the end.

ps. but the stories that came from the honeymoon are even better....maybe..just maybe..one day..i will tell one(or seven) of them on here....

what have we learned?

i have learned a few things during this first week of school...so i wrote a post about it. like to hear it? here it goes.....

• i miss sleeping past 6:20
• just being real...i HATE making lunches(i know..weird)
• coffee is extremely gross without creamer
• pre-teens are H.A.R.D.
• the PTA parents at Hutt's school are WAY over the top...it sometimes scares me. i'm just trying to help out...not compete(NOT YOU CAROLYN AND HEATHER!-y'all are awesome!)
• moms deserve a medal for making it through week one 
• does anyone else think the paperwork is redonkulous?
• going to the bus stop 25 min. early on the first day is not going to make the bus get there any quicker
• i can actually spend an 3-4 hours doing a whole lot of nothing....pinterest anyone?
• anxiety=insomnia 
• i worked for a long time on this project today and when i went to complete the finishing touch, i messed the whole thing up. i may or may not have almost cried(i blame fatigue)
• i hate a quiet and dark house....if you stopped by in the middle of the day, i would have almost all the lights and tv's on...even if i'm not in the room
• 5yr olds have meltdowns on day four
• you are always harder on your firstborn
• don't judge...but i have made my bed every day this week...i know....hutt was so shocked  that he asked me who did it. HA!
• i miss summer fun, but i'm going to be honest. i do better with schedules
• lainey started swimming today and i'm secretly hoping she will be the next missy franklin
• now that the kids are in school, i'm scouting out the next room/piece of furniture i can paint
• friday brings extreme excitement again...as in YAY!  no school tomorrow

sooo....needless to say, we are ready for the weekend....but i have a feeling we will all be too exhausted to have any fun! ;)

kindergarten smindergarten

 well...this is it. tomorrow i send my baby away...and i'm sure he'll come back realizing that he actually loves school, and thinking that i am a crazy nut that was trying to trap him into snuggling with him all day. ;)
 i'm hoping that the send off isn't as bad as i have worked it up in my mind to be...but there is no breath holding going on over here...
 it's funny the reaction i have gotten from people. some pat me on the back, some agree, and some wonder why i'm so sad. "aren't you going to be so GLAD to have so much time alone?"  ummm....no. hutt is my buddy. he has shopped, decorated, painted, danced, traveled, cooked, sang, cried, laughed, worried, gardened, played, exercised, and talked on the phone with me. (i even tricked him into taking naps just so i could have one too! ha!) i am sad to see him go. it will be so quiet and lonely here without him. 
 and last night i laid in bed thinking about all these funny things i could say that would make this "light and non-serious" but now i can't remember them...and it doesn't seem so funny anymore! :(

 on another note...i have decided to take up the profession of helicopter mom. so i am signing up for "room mother" for hutton's class. but oddly enough, the teacher looks at the list of names and CHOOSES someone! what the ??????  so i'm hoping that my jammin' giant size olympic rings that i made for the teacher luncheon will give me a slight advantage....i'll keep you posted.
 needless to say, this has been a hard week. i have been so sad, that poor brian can't even look at me without getting his head chopped off,(why are we meanest to the ones we love the most when we are worried/stressed/sad???....and if you tell me that i'm the only person who does that...we aren't friends anymore) and i have consumed more alcohol that trader joes stocks on the shelves....no judging please. 
 but tomorrow i will awake bright and early, put on my smile, and try not to cry as my favorite boy in the entire world starts a new chapter in his life...then i will promptly march myself down the street and "sip and sob" with my sweet "kindergarten moms".....

happy first day of school everyone.....