ahhhhhhh....a whole week off, visiting friends, traveling by car cross-country with just me and my hubs, finding out that I'll be a mother-in-law in a year or so, and running another half-marathon. It was a busy vacation, and wow am I tired!

I'll be back to work on my big build tomorrow, and hope to have something to show you soon. Plus, if it doesn't get finished, it'll just drive me crazy!!

Friday's Letters

Here we are for another edition of Friday's Letters.

Thank you Gwen for introducing me to my favorite post because even if I'm knee-deep and weeks into a project, and don't have anything to show you, I can still post this.

Dear Scalp,

How about you start filling in some of that hair you've been losing, hmmm? No, really. Start now. Don't make me go all Rogaine on you.

Dear Hair,

I know the maternal side of the family goes gray early (like in our 20's), and you've been good for many years of 'just a few here and there' grays, but I feel the need to tell you that the lengths that you have gone to are a little extreme lately. (hair pun - har) Two weeks in between gray roots is not long enough; can we go back to colorings every 4 weeks minimum? It's getting a little expensive to still look like little ole brunette me.

This is just after a cut that's a graduated bob with sideswept bangs - flat ironing doesn't help with the thin look. After I style it myself, it'll be a little bouncier. I should probably think about coloring it soon too.

Dear Gray Paint,

ACK! 6 plus samples and still not the right shade. More being bought today. At this point, you might be out of contention as a color in my house. Every shade looks too blue, too purple, too green, too dark, too light, too brown. Something nefarious happens between the shade in the store to the shade in the can to the shade on my walls. I think I've tried most of the shades recommended as 'the perfect gray', and am giving a few more a try as a last ditch effort. On a positive note, I have tons of samples to make chalk paint with and with which to paint lots of projects. (Random grammar - my specialty.)

This pic is pretty true of the colors - all of these are 'gray' in some form or fashion. I'm thinking the one to the right of the three lightest ones is the one to beat. It was color matched to MS Stonington Gray. They all looked lighter in the can! The three on the far left all looked white when first painted on. I taped up the chips next to all of them just to see if the color was true, and it was. After seeing what they look like at night, I may just make a decision...probably.

Dear Self,

Please stop doubting yourself when it comes to your projects. You have style, you have taste, you have an eye for what works; if you continue to second-guess yourself, sh*t just won't get done! You go with your bad self! Ryan Gosling would most certainly agree.

Dear Thighs and Booty,

I was skeptical all this running was making a difference until I put on those jeans. Yes, 'those' jeans. Thanks for showing me it's all worth it!

Dear Scale,

I am no longer listening to you; ask Thighs and Booty why we're breaking up.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Good Times with Groovy Gals

How much fun is it to meet people in real life that you've admired online? And no, I haven't started dating online...ewwww! Married 13 years, people! But I digress...

Will they be like they are in their posts? Does their blog 'voice' carry over? Will you like them as much as you did before you met them?

I met up with Gwen, Cassie, and Andi and yes to all three questions! They were even nicer and more fun than I had imagined!

Andi, Crazy Gwen, me, and Cassie

We went thrifting, and then on to lunch, and then there were gifts!!

Here's Gwen's adorable little change purse. 

That girl has some mad sewing skillz. Check out her apron - awesome!! And if you like her blog design, she's now in the business of doing blog design for the rest of us! If you're contemplating a new design, or a move from Blogger to Wordpress - she's your girl. 

Andi makes beautifully designed jewelry, brought some, and let us all pick our favorite; I chose this bird's nest ring. 

Isn't it purdy? Check out the offerings in her shop, Natalily Designs...you won't be disappointed.

Cassie was the hostess with the mostess and shared her hoard garage full of projects with us. She found  the most amazing pieces in the thrift shops while we were exercising our jaws :)

Cassie with her haul - groovy orange lamps (a pair!), a killer drum table, and a bamboo vanity chair. Sigh, she got the good stuff :)

Although, I did manage to finagle the manager into selling me this:

It was a little table that they put a tv on for the kids in the shop. I inquired if it was for sale and was told  it was for the tv...to which I asked if they could use another table? The manager switched it out and priced it right then and there. Never hurts to ask. And now I have a fabulous little table with tapered, brass tipped legs to make over! (if anyone recognized this brand, let me know please - no  markings other than a number - thx!) 

Now for my gift to them - my fav little woodworking project - totes. Using some of the scrap wood that 

I bought too much of for another project was laying around, three little totes were made.

5 pieces per tote (plus the bottom) - easy! The hole was easy with a forstner bit - I highly recommend this drill bit if you work with wood.

They were painted in my breakfast room color

They needed to be glazed and waxed, but were still missing something...like a chalkboard label. So being cheap always wanting to repurpose, a 5-gal paint stick got two quick chops

A little chalkboard paint, and some felt on the bottom and voila!

Uber-cute divided totes! Humble, no? ;) 

If there's ever a chance to meet your fellow bloggers in person, make it happen. Not everyone understands this crazy obsession hobby, and when you find another person who does, it's like  magic.

Happy Anniversary To Me and My Husband

Today is a special day for me. 

13 years ago, I married my husband. 

On a beach in St. Thomas.

In a wedding that was just us, the JOP, and a lizard, and he planned the entire thing (my husband, not the lizard). 

I knew nothing; not the location, not the date, not the honeymoon plans. The only thing he would tell me is that my dress should be geared towards warm weather. 

On that bright sunny day, we were happy. 

The cruise around the Caribbean was the best vacation ever - sightseeing, scuba diving, and well...honeymooning.

This was my formal half-head cornrow look - hey, when in Rome (or the Caribbean) right?

Today, we are very happy.

In the years between, there have been some ups and downs, some twists and turns, but we've always managed to come back stronger than ever.

To my husband, all my love TTA

Friday's Letters; The Running Edition

My new favorite blog post to write is Friday's Letters. I get to jot down random thoughts and rants about anything and everything that pops into my head and it's so much fun to write.

Today it's the Running Edition. I composed the following letters while on a 5 mile run on this lovely trail near my house:

Dear Bikers on Trail, 

Just in case no one has ever told you the etiquette when sharing a path with other bikers and runners; please pass on the left but more importantly, please, please, please tell the person in front of you that you are passing. You might want to say it loudly enough to be heard, and give the passee enough time to process it, when you're about 15-20 feet away.

Said in a different way: W.T.F? Did you just whisper 'on your left' 2 seconds before you were on me? Scaring the bejeezus out of me?? My heart rate didn't need to jump 50 beats in 2 seconds. I don't know about you, but when I'm running (or what passes as running for me)... I am probably zoned out and thinking of anything but what's going on around me. I can't be held responsible if I suddenly veer into your path, taking you out because you thought I was paying attention to what was behind me. Rant over. Here's a funny to lighten the mood:

What I strive for on each run:

This is probably more true to life:

Dear Kids,

If you think you won't ever use math again in your life, think again. If you ever want to build something, you'll need math. If you ever want to distract yourself (from the awfulness that is running) with figuring out your mph on a run, you'll need math. And you'll want to distract yourself. Trust me on this one.

Dear Universe,

Have you ever heard the saying 'Be Careful What You Wish For', and it's variant, 'I wished for XYZ, and I should've been more specific'? Well, this should be tattooed on me so I don't forget it. I wished for a more temperate climate, and got it, but also got HILLS! Good grief, Maryland is hilly. So, it's nice enough earlier in the season to get outside and exercise, but the hills are going to kill me.

Dear Self, 

You know better than to even think of patting yourself on the back. You know what happens when you do. Something goes wrong. And you have to redo it. And it might have involved math…calculated incorrectly. (Pay attention Kids.) This has nothing to do with running, unless you consider that maybe I was unable to do the math because I was dehydrated from running?

I swear I measured. Math. Sigh. In case you're wondering - the top should overhang, not underhang.

Dear Joints, 

Thank you for your continued support; we're almost there. I will keep my promise to stop running if you can just do this last little race with me. However, I need to pull Calves into this discussion. Calves, you've been my best muscle group ever. No matter what I throw at you, you've taken it in stride. Until now. Now you decide to seize on me while running. C'mon now! We've done this before; we can do it again. And you do not get a reprieve after this half marathon - you'll continue to be pressed into service, so do what you need to do but don't think I won't put you in a weight machine and work you just as hard as running hills does; maybe even harder because I'm feeling a little vengeful.

Dear GPS Watch,

Why is it that I go out 2.5 miles, turn around and it takes longer to make it 2.5 miles on the way back? On the same route in reverse? When I calculated it perfectly to avoid that hill at the end?? This isn't even me doing the calculations; it's a satellite watch! It should be correct. Sigh.

And there you have it. Hope I've made you laugh a little :)

Linking up here:

Little Update on the Breakfast Room

Since I've kept you waiting for so long, I'm starting to feel a little guilty about not having the BIG reveal yet. The breakfast room remodel is going in a stop-and-go fashion, mostly because I'm being a bit lazy about finishing it.

Doesn't this look like fun?

Switched out all the ugly old outlets, switches, and plates. Only had a few sparks along the way and so far, haven't burned down the house.

*If you're at all nervous about electricity - let a professional do it!*

But that's not what we're here for, is it? I'll show you a bit of what's going on.

First, I teased you with this:

That's the color on the walls, but this post is about the latest in my plethora of decisions necessary in this room makeover: curtains! My nemesis.

They are the hardest to find in that it's almost impossible to find just what I have in my head, they are difficult to put up, they're never the right length, not to mention the expense...it just seems like I can't get my head around the whole idea.

These are the inspiration curtains I found at Pier One:

Just love this fabric...so much so, they are being tried out in the breakfast room.

But first, I needed a super long curtain rod. 9 ft to be exact. That's an expensive rod, so I had the bright idea of finding a better, cheaper way online. Over at House of Hepworths, she had electrical conduit spray painted black - and it was only $2 for 10 ft! Perfect! Well, I spray painted the conduit black (primed first) and installed them on my super big bow window:

Notice anything wrong with this? 10 feet is too short. Wanh, wannhhh. 

Another light bulb moment was that I could extend the rod with additions to the ends, but was having doubts about the permanence of the spray painting and sliding rings and general red-necky-ness of the additions. So yet another light bulb moment was to try plastic rings (from Ikea) to not scrape the paint off.

Well, off to Ikea I go and what do I find there? $9 extendable curtain rods that are already black. Sold! And the plastic rings work perfectly too, so the conduit goes into the garage for another project.

Now we can get to the curtains:

Bad picture, but on one side are the inspiration curtains, and on the other are white ones from Ikea. (The white sheers on the traverse rod will be leaving, as will the light fixture and flooring.) I picked up some glass finials too, but they don't really show up like I had hoped:

And the finials that came with the rod seem too small:

So you see a little of the conundrum I'm having. The white curtains are boring, but I'm leaning toward them...with some embellishments. The inspiration fabric will stay in the living room, even though they look great against the color in the breakfast room. 

What do you think so far?

I'm busy making a humongo project for one corner of this room...this one will take me a minute. I'll try to show you some other updates as it goes along.