I celebrated March 17th by closing another house! Happy to have such great clients that make my job fun and easy! Derrick and I have been staying super busy over here and there are no signs that it's going to be slowing down any time soon. We both just did the fit test for the Insanity workout so we'll see if we can keep that up. I leave for Chicago on Friday for a long weekend with family to celebrate Jay's graduation from Chicago Booth's MBA program. Tomorrow we're renting an aerator to do our lawn and try to re-seed so that's going to either be an awesome idea or a giant neighbor-angering bust. We shall see!
Tonight Derrick and I are celebrating a St. Patty's date night by planning and booking our Ireland/London trip this summer so that will be good to get that on the books!
Oh! And I got invited to our office Awards of Excellence this year! We always do an in office annual awards day but this a company wide invite only event at the Angus Barn. It's apparently a big deal to be invited so I really had no idea what it was when I got the invite. Unfortunately I have to wing it alone as guest aren't invited so I won't have Derrick there as my safety net. Blog post to come on that for sure!
Rambling thoughts over and out. Stay green!
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
Cup Of Joe
Our pantry is a big mess. I organized it once and it lasted about 1 day so now it's back to being a mess. That's not what I'm posting about today though. The idea did stem from my messy pantry though! The pantry isn't huge so I was trying to figure out how to get more space and I realized that almost half of an entire shelf was dedicated to coffee stuff. Derrick and I don't drink coffee! Every once in a while Derrick will stop and get a cup somewhere but that is very rare and he never makes himself a cup at our house. I don't like the taste of tea or coffee.
We do, however, have guests (read parents) that like coffee and hot tea :) So, I decided to clear out the coffee from the pantry and set it up in a place that our guests can use but that doesn't take away pantry space.
I shopped our house and was able to put this all together with stuff we already had. It's right inside the guest bedroom. There is an outlet right there for the coffee maker already. I got the table for free off of Craigslist and it's actually a sewing table with the machine still inside.
I may change out the sign, but for now I just used my little homemade chalk board. It's just a $2.00 frame I got at goodwill and spray painted with chalk board paint. It's currently covering the two mistake holes that I drilled in the wall :) The little vase was 99 cents at goodwill and is holding sugar packets and the shelf was $2 at the flea market years ago. I had bought those hooks to hang our stockings under the mantle so I just screwed them onto the bottom of the shelf to hold the mugs. The basket was from our old apartment and the blue napkin was a $2 clearance find at World Market!
The only thing missing is.....Coffee! Haha, the old stuff expired and, since I'm not a coffee drinker, I don't really know what to buy. I'm sure Derrick's Mom and my Dad will tell us what they like though and then we'll get that in there for them!
We do, however, have guests (read parents) that like coffee and hot tea :) So, I decided to clear out the coffee from the pantry and set it up in a place that our guests can use but that doesn't take away pantry space.
I shopped our house and was able to put this all together with stuff we already had. It's right inside the guest bedroom. There is an outlet right there for the coffee maker already. I got the table for free off of Craigslist and it's actually a sewing table with the machine still inside.
I may change out the sign, but for now I just used my little homemade chalk board. It's just a $2.00 frame I got at goodwill and spray painted with chalk board paint. It's currently covering the two mistake holes that I drilled in the wall :) The little vase was 99 cents at goodwill and is holding sugar packets and the shelf was $2 at the flea market years ago. I had bought those hooks to hang our stockings under the mantle so I just screwed them onto the bottom of the shelf to hold the mugs. The basket was from our old apartment and the blue napkin was a $2 clearance find at World Market!
The only thing missing is.....Coffee! Haha, the old stuff expired and, since I'm not a coffee drinker, I don't really know what to buy. I'm sure Derrick's Mom and my Dad will tell us what they like though and then we'll get that in there for them!
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
Headboard Reveal
We finished the headboard! To be honest, it was a little anticlimactic. In my head the headboard was going to transform our bedroom from this:
To this:
Unfortunately the headboard did not create a dramatic ocean view type change in the room. It is definitely a step in the right direction but we definitely still have a long way to go. Ok..here it is now.
What do you think?? I'm pretty happy with it. I'm trying to figure out if it's too tall. It was really hard to mount though and it's already covering the top of an outlet under the bed so if we want to shorten it we're going to have to un-upholster the bottom and either cut a hole for the outlet or chop a foot off the bottom of the headboard. Those options make me believe it's current height is actually perfect :)
I used THIS tutorial from Thrifty Decor Chick almost to the letter. If you want to do this I suggest you follow her post but I'll post a few pictures of my experience.
I finally got to put my big craft table to use, although it did mean using my jigsaw inside which meant sawdust everywhere!
Here you can see all the different angles that I used and nixed before finally settling on one. I just used a bucket and traced it a few times until I was happy with the size and angle. Then I just jigsawed it out and flipped it over so the other side was the exact same size.
I decided to tuft the headboard so I had to drill holes in the plywood before I upholstered it. It took me forever to measure it out and make it even all over. You can see the million marks here. At first I did the bottom vertical line, then the boxed one, then the boxed one with the arrow. The actual hole ended up in the circle. Crazy...lots of trial and error! Luckily this will all be hidden so it doesn't matter! You just want to make sure your tufts are evenly spaced throughout.
Upholstering time! I used two full sized foam mattress pads as my foam because they were way cheaper. Each one was about $10 at Walmart where it would have been closer to $50 at the craft store. My original plan was to do a bold yellow for the fabric but I couldn't find what I wanted. I even took a chance and ordered some fabric online but it was a total bomb. I ended up going with something a little more neutral but I'm happy with it.
Ugh...these stupid buttons! The girl on Thrify Decor Chick had no problems with them. I could not get them to work. I don't know if my fabric was too thick or what but the buttons were not working for me at all. I was able to salvage them with hot glue but it was kind of annoying to buy this expecting it to work and it didn't.
Next I trimmed it out with nail head trim. You totally cannot see this detail in person. Seriously...you have to be at just the right angle that no one will ever be at...but whatever. It was super easy to do. I bought this attached trim so that I didn't have to do every nail individually. This stuff is awesome!
Basically there is a pre-made hole in ever 6-7 nail heads that you nail a real nail head through. It caps right over top and blends right in. Pretty genius!
Ignore the extra fabric in the back, here it is all done!
To this:
Unfortunately the headboard did not create a dramatic ocean view type change in the room. It is definitely a step in the right direction but we definitely still have a long way to go. Ok..here it is now.
What do you think?? I'm pretty happy with it. I'm trying to figure out if it's too tall. It was really hard to mount though and it's already covering the top of an outlet under the bed so if we want to shorten it we're going to have to un-upholster the bottom and either cut a hole for the outlet or chop a foot off the bottom of the headboard. Those options make me believe it's current height is actually perfect :)
I used THIS tutorial from Thrifty Decor Chick almost to the letter. If you want to do this I suggest you follow her post but I'll post a few pictures of my experience.
I finally got to put my big craft table to use, although it did mean using my jigsaw inside which meant sawdust everywhere!
Here you can see all the different angles that I used and nixed before finally settling on one. I just used a bucket and traced it a few times until I was happy with the size and angle. Then I just jigsawed it out and flipped it over so the other side was the exact same size.
I decided to tuft the headboard so I had to drill holes in the plywood before I upholstered it. It took me forever to measure it out and make it even all over. You can see the million marks here. At first I did the bottom vertical line, then the boxed one, then the boxed one with the arrow. The actual hole ended up in the circle. Crazy...lots of trial and error! Luckily this will all be hidden so it doesn't matter! You just want to make sure your tufts are evenly spaced throughout.
Upholstering time! I used two full sized foam mattress pads as my foam because they were way cheaper. Each one was about $10 at Walmart where it would have been closer to $50 at the craft store. My original plan was to do a bold yellow for the fabric but I couldn't find what I wanted. I even took a chance and ordered some fabric online but it was a total bomb. I ended up going with something a little more neutral but I'm happy with it.
Ugh...these stupid buttons! The girl on Thrify Decor Chick had no problems with them. I could not get them to work. I don't know if my fabric was too thick or what but the buttons were not working for me at all. I was able to salvage them with hot glue but it was kind of annoying to buy this expecting it to work and it didn't.
Tufting is not that hard. All it took was a long upholstery needle, some wax thread, and my button! I threaded the needle through the holes I had drilled previously, then threaded my button on the other side and pushed the needle back through and tied around a staple on the back. Just pull them as deep as you want your tufts to be. There are lots of tutorials online about tufting and this is definitely the most basic version of it.
Here it is all tufted!
Next I trimmed it out with nail head trim. You totally cannot see this detail in person. Seriously...you have to be at just the right angle that no one will ever be at...but whatever. It was super easy to do. I bought this attached trim so that I didn't have to do every nail individually. This stuff is awesome!
Basically there is a pre-made hole in ever 6-7 nail heads that you nail a real nail head through. It caps right over top and blends right in. Pretty genius!
Ignore the extra fabric in the back, here it is all done!
Finally, mounting it was a bear! I bought these flush mount brackets. They have worked perfectly and we put as much of it as we could into studs and used anchors where we couldn't get a stud. We measured and leveled and did math and prayed that they would line up. What I didn't think about was that once we got the brackets on we would have to blindly try to match the bracket on the wall up to
the bracket on the back of the headboard. Derrick had the genius idea of running a line of tape up and out from each of the brackets on the wall. We did the same with the headboard and then we just lined up the tape, pushed it hard against the wall, and slid it down. I cannot believe it worked! It meant we measured perfectly so the brackets lined up with each other and it made an impossible task relatively simple. Gotta love that brainy husband of mine.
So, anyways, that's that! It's growing on me everyday. At first it just really didn't make that big change that expected it to but we still have such a long way to go in this room. Art being next on my list and new bedding not far behind. Hope you like it!
Friday, March 6, 2015
Goodwill Glory
Have you ever read those blogs that do house tours and they point to some amazingly beautiful thing in their house and the owner is like, yeah, that was $1.00 at Goodwill and then you speed to Goodwill just certain that you are going to find something just as amazing and perfect for your home for $1.00 and you leave empty handed and jealous? Story of my life.
Until now! I'm about to make you those weepy, jealous blog readers. I'm sorry...I love you, I really do..but I'm basking in my amazing Goodwill find yesterday!
Amazing right? I just popped in like I try to do once a week. Most of the time I leave with nothing. But yesterday I found this amazing little side table marked for only $5. It had to wobble right? Or have a huge hole in the back? No...perfect! I stashed it by the registry and headed back to look at other stuff and out of nowhere this beautiful wicker chair had appeared. I don't know how I missed it the first time.
I stared at it for about 5 minutes...then I sat in it for about 10. It was only $10 but does wicker work inside a house? Is it gross to use a Goodwill cushion? Was Derrick totally going to hate it? I walked away and this other woman walked up to it and my insides screamed so as soon as she turned her back I grabbed my beautiful wicker chair and dashed for the checkout line! I 100% love it and Derrick actually likes it too!
I put it upstairs in the superbowl room. We'd been looking at a chair for up there and, after furniture shopping on Tuesday, this chair came in about $240 under anything we had considered and I loved it the most!
I call them our "Up" chairs...like the movie. Derrick has his recliner and I have my wicker. Here's a question for you though. With the new chair I moved everything to the right so now the art is centered on the wall but not over the couch....what should I do? Center couch or center wall?
Also, see those new orange pillows? $2 each at an estate sale this morning....still had the tags on them!
I really love the chair and end table up here....It fills the space just perfectly!
Until now! I'm about to make you those weepy, jealous blog readers. I'm sorry...I love you, I really do..but I'm basking in my amazing Goodwill find yesterday!
Amazing right? I just popped in like I try to do once a week. Most of the time I leave with nothing. But yesterday I found this amazing little side table marked for only $5. It had to wobble right? Or have a huge hole in the back? No...perfect! I stashed it by the registry and headed back to look at other stuff and out of nowhere this beautiful wicker chair had appeared. I don't know how I missed it the first time.
I stared at it for about 5 minutes...then I sat in it for about 10. It was only $10 but does wicker work inside a house? Is it gross to use a Goodwill cushion? Was Derrick totally going to hate it? I walked away and this other woman walked up to it and my insides screamed so as soon as she turned her back I grabbed my beautiful wicker chair and dashed for the checkout line! I 100% love it and Derrick actually likes it too!
I put it upstairs in the superbowl room. We'd been looking at a chair for up there and, after furniture shopping on Tuesday, this chair came in about $240 under anything we had considered and I loved it the most!
I call them our "Up" chairs...like the movie. Derrick has his recliner and I have my wicker. Here's a question for you though. With the new chair I moved everything to the right so now the art is centered on the wall but not over the couch....what should I do? Center couch or center wall?
Also, see those new orange pillows? $2 each at an estate sale this morning....still had the tags on them!
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
One Horse's Girl
I wasn't expecting to write this so soon. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to write it at all but I've actually found that talking about it helps me. It's not easy....if this was on paper it would be covered in tear stains, but I think it's necessary and helpful and I want to honor his memory.
It's strange to me sometimes how many of the people in my life now didn't know me as a horse girl. Even Derrick never knew me as a rider. It's crazy because I grew up riding from age 8-21 and it is what made me who I am today. The biggest part of that coveted "horse girl" title was my horse Kelly. A few weeks before my 13th birthday my parents took me out to lunch and gave me a word scramble. I couldn't figure out that it spelled out "Your Own Horse". I think I didn't want to believe it and get my hopes up. A few weeks later my Aunt, Mom, and I found Kelly...a western quarter horse who could do barrel racing turns and sliding stops. I am not a western rider but I fell very quickly in love with that horse and we had him on a trailer on the way to his new home shortly after.
For the next 5 years I basically lived at the barn and created an incredibly strong bond with my horse. He took me to my first ever horse trials, protected me over fences and in the cross country field. We dressed up for every Halloween. He was trustworthy enough for me to put my friends and family who had never ridden before on him but spirited enough to make trouble with me. He made me laugh daily. We had ups and downs and had to investigate lamenss issues along the way and I cried when I found out he was going blind in one eye. My best friends and I goofed off on bareback trail rides and walked through water falls. I would furiously defend his name every time someone would tell me Kelly isn't a boy's name. Our entire family (dog and cat included) trekked out to the barn one day because I demanded he be on our Christmas card. He knew my foot steps when I walked in the barn and I'd hear him nicker at me from down the barn aisle before I was even in eye sight. He and I grew up together and he was truly my first love.
Kelly moved around a bit while I was in college and another little 13 year old girl fell in love with him and asked to buy him in 2009. It was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do, but at that point I wasn't able to give him the time he needed and the fact that another girl could give him the love and attention that I had doted on him at that age convinced me to do it. I'm friends with Kathryn on facebook and have been able to see photos of him through the years as he aged and happily interacted with his new girl. I do not regret selling him to her but I have always missed him. On Monday night I got a facebook message from Kathryn. Kelly had broken his leg and had to be put down. I crumbled. It's been 6 years since I've seen him but I have never forgotten him and I had always hoped that I might get him back one day. I hadn't really thought about how I would react when I got that news but my heart is completely broken. 27 years is an amazing life for a horse and I am so grateful that he died in a familiar place surrounded by people who adore him.
I don't have digital pictures of him on hand so pictures of pictures will have to do. Here he is, the first day we brought him home. It was my 13th birthday. Look how tiny Jack was...he was about 5 there. Looking through pictures it's been fun to realize that my brothers grew up with Kelly to. Not as extensively as me of course but he was a very real part of their life as well.
This is one of my favorite photos. I would visit Kelly every Christmas day to take him treats in his pasture. Jay went with me sometimes.
At TTC...we spent many weekends at horse shows there.
It wasn't all sunshine and roses. This was me upset because Kelly threw me off during our cross country course. I popped up and went sprinting after him and caught him when he stopped to graze :)
Kelly used to drink Sundrop out of the can. I'd always get one out of the vending machine and give him the last 1/4 of the can. I'd hold it up for him and he's slurp it down. Sweet Derrick remembered this and brought me a Sundrop last night.
This picture makes me cry. This is just SO him. He was the sweetest boy with the sweetest face.
This was one of his homes after I went to college. I went to visit him every time I was home and he would always stand and watch me drive away until he couldn't see my car anymore. Looking through all of these pictures I am so glad to have all of these memories.
I was trying to figure out how to describe the relationship between a girl and her horse to those who aren't horse people. It's not easy to do. Most people who didn't know me with Kelly do know me with Crosby. I can say with complete certainty that my bond with Kelly was and still is stronger then it ever has been or will be with Crosby. I do not mean that to cut Crosby down because you all know how loved she is, but it's true. The fact is, as a 13 year old I put my life and trust into the hands of a 2,000 pound animal and he returned that trust to me. We took care of each other and I spent more time with him then almost anything else from age 13 to college. He would do anything I asked of him without hesitation. He had complete trust in me and I had complete trust in him. I would have put my life down for him.
Six years later I don't think that I can call myself a horse girl anymore. At least not a currently active one. I do hope to be an active horse girl again one day and if I have a daughter I would love to get back into riding with her. I think it would be the perfect time and it will give me time to recover from this incredible loss that I am feeling. I know it will get better but my mom said it best when she said I am truly grieving. I am grieving the loss of my last tie to the horse world. My last ray of hope that I will see him and own him again one day. I am grieving the loss of my first very true love.
I may not be a horse girl anymore but I will always and forever be one horse's girl.
It's strange to me sometimes how many of the people in my life now didn't know me as a horse girl. Even Derrick never knew me as a rider. It's crazy because I grew up riding from age 8-21 and it is what made me who I am today. The biggest part of that coveted "horse girl" title was my horse Kelly. A few weeks before my 13th birthday my parents took me out to lunch and gave me a word scramble. I couldn't figure out that it spelled out "Your Own Horse". I think I didn't want to believe it and get my hopes up. A few weeks later my Aunt, Mom, and I found Kelly...a western quarter horse who could do barrel racing turns and sliding stops. I am not a western rider but I fell very quickly in love with that horse and we had him on a trailer on the way to his new home shortly after.
For the next 5 years I basically lived at the barn and created an incredibly strong bond with my horse. He took me to my first ever horse trials, protected me over fences and in the cross country field. We dressed up for every Halloween. He was trustworthy enough for me to put my friends and family who had never ridden before on him but spirited enough to make trouble with me. He made me laugh daily. We had ups and downs and had to investigate lamenss issues along the way and I cried when I found out he was going blind in one eye. My best friends and I goofed off on bareback trail rides and walked through water falls. I would furiously defend his name every time someone would tell me Kelly isn't a boy's name. Our entire family (dog and cat included) trekked out to the barn one day because I demanded he be on our Christmas card. He knew my foot steps when I walked in the barn and I'd hear him nicker at me from down the barn aisle before I was even in eye sight. He and I grew up together and he was truly my first love.
Kelly moved around a bit while I was in college and another little 13 year old girl fell in love with him and asked to buy him in 2009. It was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do, but at that point I wasn't able to give him the time he needed and the fact that another girl could give him the love and attention that I had doted on him at that age convinced me to do it. I'm friends with Kathryn on facebook and have been able to see photos of him through the years as he aged and happily interacted with his new girl. I do not regret selling him to her but I have always missed him. On Monday night I got a facebook message from Kathryn. Kelly had broken his leg and had to be put down. I crumbled. It's been 6 years since I've seen him but I have never forgotten him and I had always hoped that I might get him back one day. I hadn't really thought about how I would react when I got that news but my heart is completely broken. 27 years is an amazing life for a horse and I am so grateful that he died in a familiar place surrounded by people who adore him.
I don't have digital pictures of him on hand so pictures of pictures will have to do. Here he is, the first day we brought him home. It was my 13th birthday. Look how tiny Jack was...he was about 5 there. Looking through pictures it's been fun to realize that my brothers grew up with Kelly to. Not as extensively as me of course but he was a very real part of their life as well.
Our first horse show together.
This is one of my favorite photos. I would visit Kelly every Christmas day to take him treats in his pasture. Jay went with me sometimes.
At TTC...we spent many weekends at horse shows there.
It wasn't all sunshine and roses. This was me upset because Kelly threw me off during our cross country course. I popped up and went sprinting after him and caught him when he stopped to graze :)
Kelly used to drink Sundrop out of the can. I'd always get one out of the vending machine and give him the last 1/4 of the can. I'd hold it up for him and he's slurp it down. Sweet Derrick remembered this and brought me a Sundrop last night.
This picture makes me cry. This is just SO him. He was the sweetest boy with the sweetest face.
This was one of his homes after I went to college. I went to visit him every time I was home and he would always stand and watch me drive away until he couldn't see my car anymore. Looking through all of these pictures I am so glad to have all of these memories.
I was trying to figure out how to describe the relationship between a girl and her horse to those who aren't horse people. It's not easy to do. Most people who didn't know me with Kelly do know me with Crosby. I can say with complete certainty that my bond with Kelly was and still is stronger then it ever has been or will be with Crosby. I do not mean that to cut Crosby down because you all know how loved she is, but it's true. The fact is, as a 13 year old I put my life and trust into the hands of a 2,000 pound animal and he returned that trust to me. We took care of each other and I spent more time with him then almost anything else from age 13 to college. He would do anything I asked of him without hesitation. He had complete trust in me and I had complete trust in him. I would have put my life down for him.
Six years later I don't think that I can call myself a horse girl anymore. At least not a currently active one. I do hope to be an active horse girl again one day and if I have a daughter I would love to get back into riding with her. I think it would be the perfect time and it will give me time to recover from this incredible loss that I am feeling. I know it will get better but my mom said it best when she said I am truly grieving. I am grieving the loss of my last tie to the horse world. My last ray of hope that I will see him and own him again one day. I am grieving the loss of my first very true love.
I may not be a horse girl anymore but I will always and forever be one horse's girl.
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
Sneak Peak
Ugh.....well......it's been a tough day over here at the Marcey household.
I was hoping to have a headboard reveal today but I got some bad news while I was working on it last night and couldn't finish it. I'm not quite ready to go into that right now but I will give you a sneak peak of the headboard to tide you over until tomorrow.
Crosby hard at work at tufting for me. So easy a dog can do it!
I was hoping to have a headboard reveal today but I got some bad news while I was working on it last night and couldn't finish it. I'm not quite ready to go into that right now but I will give you a sneak peak of the headboard to tide you over until tomorrow.
Crosby hard at work at tufting for me. So easy a dog can do it!
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Catch Up and Nothing
It's been slow over here in blog land. It's because we've been boring. Really not a lot going on...just working and doing our normal routine lately. I'm blaming the weather. When it's freezing and wet outside it means we barricade ourselves in and don't go out much. There have been a few funny and blog worthy moments around here though.
We got another snow storm and this one was a surprise. We woke up Tuesday morning to fluffy pretty snow already coating the ground and it continued on until 2:30 in the afternoon. Derrick went to work in the morning but thankfully came home around 1:00. I worked from home and Crosby and I went and romped in the pretty snow.
Cros and I followed this set of foot prints and paw prints on our entire walk.
We got another snow storm and this one was a surprise. We woke up Tuesday morning to fluffy pretty snow already coating the ground and it continued on until 2:30 in the afternoon. Derrick went to work in the morning but thankfully came home around 1:00. I worked from home and Crosby and I went and romped in the pretty snow.
Cros and I followed this set of foot prints and paw prints on our entire walk.
Remember Jordan? The kid who helped us shovel our driveway and Derrick gave him $5. Well....he and his sister knocked on our door two days later and asked if they could walk our dog for $5. Nice try kid. I hope we didn't give ourselves the reputation as the neighborhood suckers.
Saturday night we got have dinner with Leanna, Kevin, Ellie, and Derrick's dad. It was all going well until the put the NC State game up on the TVs in Red Robin and we started losing so Derrick insisted we had to leave. Superstitious much? Luckily we were already finished with our meal....otherwise I think Derrick may have made us all eat out of to go boxes outside in the cold. Ellie surprised me by wearing her favorite shirt so I taught her my favorite past time....searching Derrick's wallet for extra cash. We take different approaches but the end game is the same.
We're supposed to get another 6-10 inches tonight so I'm sure Raleigh is about to shut down. I've had tons of house projects swirling around my head. I have found that I'm better at dreaming then executing but I'm hoping I can knock one out tomorrow. I'm going to try to get our headboard made tomorrow during the snow day as long as my fabric shows up. I took a risk and ordered fabric online because I struck out at the fabric store. Here's to hoping it comes tomorrow and I like it!
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