All About the Home: Living Room Addition

It’s important to me that my house feels like a home, especially because I live so far from my family.   I want a place that I love to come home too .  Phil did a great job of fixing up the house after he bought it, I’m really proud of him.  But since I moved in, it doesn’t feel like “ours.”  When Dragon went on her rampages we lost some furniture along the way and haven’t replaced it.  Mostly because we can’t make a decision about what we want but also because I don’t really have the extra cash laying around right now.  Shit's expensive!

Slowly, we have been adding a few things to the house, like a new rug, media cabinet and throw pillows.  And it’s those little touches that make a big difference.  I can't wait for us to see what we can do more with the house.  Right now furniture is getting put on the back burner so that we can do a few  other things first.  This summer we plan on knocking out the wall between the kitchen and living room to make room for an island/sitting area and to purchase a dishwasher.  Another project is to take out our 50's tile in the bathroom and replace it with something more in this decade and to replace the the bathroom faucets and refinish the tub.  

But for now I can dream of what I would do! A few weeks ago I put together a Living Room idea.  Looking at it now with some fresh eyes there might be some things I would change but overall I like the space.  Most of the items here can be found from my FAVORITE PLACE IN THE WHOLE WORLD, West Elm and also Fab, Gilt, and Target.  My favorite pieces in the room would have to be the couch, the sitting area, the Pit Bull Artwork, the round white coffeeish table/it just looks pretty thing and the glasses mirror.  And by the way I showed the boyfriend and he didn't like it.  Oh the joys of having different opinions! :)

Three Day Weekends are for Eating Ribs

Hello friends! Last weekend reminded me how much I love weekends during the "summer," I say "summer" because well ya know it's not technically summer yet.  But when it's above 45 degrees it's Summer in my book.

FRIDAY

Friday night I bolted out of work a little early and by a little I mean 2 hours because I was just itching to get out to be honest.  It was a slow week and I could count maybe the number of people who were actually there on one hand.  The boyfriend and I went over to some friends house for drinks and sat outside on their patio, which I want to be my patio, so ya I need to get on that!  Afterwards we ended up all going out for dinner and drinks and enjoying summer convertible drives!

Oh and I finally got my camera back from the good ol' repair shop so I had to snap some pics to make sure she still worked! :)

SATURDAY

A bunch of us went up to Fort Wayne to our friend Jess's apartment to grill out and hang out by the pool.  It ended up being more laying out because the water was colder than the waters near Antarctica, no joke.  Okay so I haven't been to Antarctica but the water was really really cold.  Like cold enough were I had a hard time breathing.  You get it, it was cold but I'm not complaining! ;) 

The ladies

After sweating and laying around, okay so what I really mean is when we were out of drinks, it was time for us to head to our friends parents house for a bonfire and bbq.    We played my favorite board game, Ticket to Ride, ate grilled ribs and fried vegetables and had a few shots of Rumchatas for dessert. 

SUNDAY

Sunday we woke up and headed out for breakfast and then it was off to Lake Tippecanoe!  Fun Fact: Lake Tippecanoe is the deepest natural aka non-man made lake in the State of Indiana. Our friends have a Lake House and we went a few times last year and I had some of the best times there so I couldn't wait to be back! I'm going to let the pictures do most of the talking here.

^And then there was that time a rode a cooler as a bull....

I'm so glad I brought my camera because we captured some pretty great moments! The sun was starting to go down so we headed by to the house to have some ribs for the second time! We had every intention of going back out for a night boat ride but after dinner all six of us were out cold in the living room.  

MONDAY

Monday morning we got up early and went to breakfast, which by the way between all the drinking and eating the last thing I needed to do was eat again.  But of course I did. We headed back home after stuffing my face for the bazillion time and I took a much needed nap.  Not nearly as much as I would have liked though.  I had a few things to do before we were heading off to Phil's parents for yet another BBQ.  I made a salad and homemade Strawberry Shortcake (my favorite summer dessert everrrrr) to bring over.  Our friends Amanda and Frypod (not his real name but that's what we call him) joined us for dinner.  Guess what we had?  Yea, RIBS for the third time!  I love ribs though so I didn't hate having them three days in a row.  Thanks to all the parents out there feeding us and giving us a place to stay, we love you!

Between the dog (Cadillac) being the happiest dog on the lake, football in the water, dancing, Rum and Cokes, Cooler Bulls, ribs, laughing with friends and spending time with the boyfriend I seriously couldn't have had a better weekend! And what a way to kick of the warmer weather.    

Prom 2006

I figured it was about time I showed up to this little space of mine.  To be honest I have been blahhh all week and therefore, I’m blahh in the land of Chasing Elephants.  Sometimes I get bogged down with everything that’s going wrong that I lose sight of all the good in life.  But here I am today, it’s a new day and there are lots of things to be happy for like looking at pictures from Prom 2006.  It is #tbt and Prom season after all and I can’t help at laugh at all of these. 

My prom was actually a disaster and was by no means picturesque.  Okay, so I’m being a little dramatic with saying prom was a “disaster.”  I’ll rephrase it as it wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be. 

Things I remember not being so good….

1.  My hair.  I cried when I left the hair salon because it didn’t look anything like I wanted but because I was already running behind for pictures, I had to suck it up and just hate my hair. Can you say "Mushroom head?"

2.  I was running around, stressing people out because I still needed to put my makeup on but everyone else was ready for pictures.

3.  IIIIIII asked my date to prom.  I never got that moment of a guy asking me.  Womp womp womp.  Nowadays, asking a girl to prom is a bigger deal that flipping proposing.  SMH. 

4.  My date didn’t go to our school because ya know that would be too logical.  So that was fun keeping him entertained. 

5.  Our prom was a Junior Prom instead of a Senior Prom.  Why??

6.  I was awkward.  I wasn’t one of those girls that the guys would run to type.  I’m pretty sure I turned red every time a guy would talk to me.  Can you imagine me trying to pin the boutineer on the dude? Yea,  I was a shaking mess. 

7.  I went to the school after party…LAME.  I remember it being semi okay in the beginning and then it got boring.  I actually think I passed out with a few other friends. 

8.  I had braces.  HELLO awkward smiling.

The good news is I can look back on it now and laugh, still standing by my two best friends.   Not to mention I thought my dress looked pretty damn good!  I don't want you to think it was all bad because it wasn't, I still had a great time with my friends and memories I will have forever.
We went to Outback Steakhouse for dinner because we thought that was the best place ever, not to mention they have the best bread ever.  I may have even taken a loaf or two home with me. Don't judge me.  We stopped at Wegmans (only the best grocery store ever) in our Prom dresses to get gummies in bulk.   We snapped the typical upstate pictures in front of the falls. And the best part was we danced the night away, even though it was a little tricky in a poofy dress.  

Pretty sure we were laughing here because Erin couldn't keep her dress up...

Shaking hot mess right here ^

Give me all your juicy prom stories but only if they are bad! :)