Snow Day Photo Practice

Life is pretty sweet as a teacher--especially at this time of the year. With around 7 inches of snow and sleet on the ground we were blessed with not 1 but 2 snow days! Yesterday I spent the day sleeping in and doing odds and ends.

Today David was also off school so we got breakfast, watched some Tivo'd shows, and took my new Nikon d60 out for a spin. Last night I read the whole manual and played with a lot of the settings. The manual was clearly written for people who know much more about cameras than I do, but I am still going to try and learn as much about it as I can! I've been searching around the internet and think I've found a book completely dedicated to my camera that seems to be pretty popular with novice photographers. It will most likely be purchased tonight : )

But, even with my novice skills, David and I headed over to a park here in our town and took some snow day pics. David was so sweet and just waited around for me while I played with different settings and used my longer zoom lens. I am pretty stoked with some of the pictures I ended up with. I'd like to mention that none of these were photoshopped...I haven't even begun to learn that program yet!

View from our patio {in blue tone}

Pretty treesShed in the park {1st in sepia, 2nd in warm and green}
Bench {in light sepia saturation}

Same bench {different view and color saturation}Double row of trees in natural light

I love my camera because you can trim and saturate the photo right after you take it. I shot all of these in different modes and none of them were shot in the auto function!!!! I played with lighting, ISO {whatever that is}, and flash and shutter speed.

It's definitely a slow go for me, but I am enjoying it. Hope you enjoy the shots!

New Bathroom Hardware

Out with the old and in with the new! Our old bathroom vanity pulls weren't doing it for me anymore. They were not bad, in fact I picked them out a couple of years ago when we began to slowly renovate that room.

However, I found some new sleeker pulls that I like much better at Expo Design Center! If you're a fan, you may remember John and Sherry posting about this store awhile back on TYH.

I had no idea a store like this was so close to home! I have my fab craigslist dresser to thank because on the way to pick it up we passed the Expo center!

It's the little things, I tell ya!

Taco Bake Thursday

I found this recipe via this blog awhile back. I've made it a couple of times and David thinks it's heaven on earth! He's such a simpleton and that's part of his charm.

The dish includes meat, cream and shredded cheese, tomato sauce, sour cream, and noodles...a no fail mixture of ingredients in this household. : )

Try it for yourself, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Living Room Re-do

Our house is a constant evolution. I like to change minor things here and there to make spaces fresh and new. I love doing it, but was sort of stumped with my living room. I previously had tried to rearrange furniture before, but something wasn't right.

Here's what the layout looked like two nights ago:

I chatted with my Decor Pad peeps and they helped come up with some suggestions to make the space cozier. I took their advice, along that of my family, and changed some things up a bit. The room looks much better now, and is on its way up!

Even though the new set-up was 100x better, David and I had been contemplating getting rid of the armoire that holds the TV for quite sometime now. It made its trip from my apartment to our home and has always been too small for the space.

I started perusing the internet for a new TV stand and as luck would have it found the perfect one on craigslist! It was a vintage dresser that the lady was selling for $70! It had nice modern clean lines, was not too tall nor too short, and most of all it had character. I was so excited to find it and was lucky that she had not found a buyer yet! Additionally, it was a true blessing because everything I had liked on other sites were close to $600! So needless to say, those were not going to be mine.

So on Sunday, David and I picked it up in Missouri and brought it back home. I have THE sweetest husband ever and he stayed up until midnight to take apart the old TV armoire, set up the new stand and drill holes for all of the wires!

The only thing I needed to do was buy stain to make the now exposed wood {where the middle set of drawers used to be} match the other wood.

This whole process took less than an hour and less than $25! All I did was paint the conditioner and stain on, and then rub it off. Super easy! : )

Now all we need is a sweet flat screen TV ; )!

Target's Home Design Event: My Finds!

I saw these two circular accessories when the event first started, but I wasn't about to pay full price for them. Then I got word that everything was 30% off and I took advantage of our "inclement cold weather" day off school and made the trip to pick these babies up.

I liked the grey color, but wanted them to be white. So I secured the bottoms with plastic bags, as to make sure that part stayed black, and then I spray painted them outside in the freeeezing cold. And, I know I was ideally supposed to wait until it was warmer, but I'm an impatient girl and wanted to put them in the office asap!

They really pop being white and look super sweet next to my "Disco Stu" plant from Wal-Mart {another $5 find : ) }!

Feliz Cumpleaños A Emily

My sweet sister-in-law turns the big 23 today. It's been so fun watching her grow up from a young sassy teenager to a mature, sophisticated, intelligent, and motivated young woman. I'm so lucky to call you my sister, sweet Emily Ann.

Here's the birthday girl with her man, Tim. They make the cutest couple.

David and I love you, Em! We can't wait for a great birthday dinner on Sunday! : )

Keeping It Fresh

So the sweet white hydrangea flower had her stay and I liked it so much that she got replaced with a $5 fresh green plant from Wal-Mart! Hopefully my semi-black thumb won't kill it off!

Happy Birthday To David!

It's my other half's birthday today---he's 27 years old! I love this man so much and I can't wait for all of his birthdays to come! : )

He and I have been pretty obsessed with his early birthday present {Mario Kart for Wii} from me that we've been playing most of break!

5th Time's A Charm

Finally, I've found a paint color that makes me happy. It's been a long journey and a lot of money and time, but it happened!

Anytime I get a break from school I get the itch to re-do something in our home. I guess you could say I get antsy. Our bathroom has been a little thorn in my side because I've never felt 100% satisfied with it. It's an awkward shape and I've tried numerous colors {4 before this one to be exact!} and none have done it for me. My family and friends think I'm nuts for painting it this many times and they might be right! But, as long as I am able and we have the moolah I don't see what's wrong with changing my mind. Bless David's little heart because he just goes with the flow. He is a total saint to put up with my ever-changing mind!

Here's the room as we first laid eyes on it. Notice the yucky lizard-like flooring and orangey wood trim, cabinetry, and doors! My step-dad was a jem and painted this whole room a crisp white til I decided on my color choice.

Eventually I saw a bathroom on the internet painted turquoise with sort of a beachy feel and thought it'd work for me too. So we gave it an honest shot.

I love turqouise, don't get me wrong, but it was just too bright for me and for the flow of the rest of the house. So I thought that a deep chocolately brown would do the trick.

The brown appeased me for awhile, but I couldn't get past the fact that it reminded me of poo everytime I looked at it, so yeah, it had to go too! Finally I decided to go with a color that many find boring, a natural taupey-beigey-gray, Diverse Beige from SW to be exact. However, after we painted the first coat, and I slept on it, I knew the color just wasn't right. It was too milky and had a fleshy undertone that I wasn't digging. Sorry for the mess, I snapped the photo pretty much right after we applied the paint.

Knowing I would not be satisfied with the Diverse Beige, I decided to peruse the internet and I looked at tons of inspiration pics thanks to my girls over at Decor Pad. I then decided today, to go with yet another color, Benjamin Moore's Grant Beige. I am happy to report that I'm 99% sure I am in love with this color choice! I'd go all the way to 100%, but I don't want to jinx it! : )

Love It

Here's another addition to my wish list. An absolutely gorgeous rug from West Elm. It'd look lovely in my living room :) .