picture a day post, 365 project

hey everyone!

lately i've been people watching, and thinking about the way i act in certain situations. I realized that people are really negative, in every way. people are mean, catty, rude and inconsiderate these days.. from talking on their phone while dealing with a cashier, to not giving up their seat on the bus. I decided while i was in a corner store watching a man in front of me screaming at the cashier and degrading her in the store full of customers, because her english wasn't perfect that he wanted a a monthly transit pass and not a book of transit passes. the louder and ruder he got, the more compelled i felt to say something, so i did. i told him she was a human being, and he should never ever treat a person like that. He clearly was upset that someone was standing up to him, getting in the way of him treating people however he wanted. He wasn't used to it, but it wasn't his first time treating someone that way, he had no problem with it. it was so strange to see the cashier break down in tears because i stood up for her, because someone finally did something nice for her.. the people in the store started clapping, by why didn't they say anything? it got me thinking, why have we all been conditioned to just "take it"? I decided to make a change in myself, to go out of my way to be kind to people, to stand up for people, to be more positive about every situation we can be. I think we can all take a moment out of our day and make sure we say "thank you", we can all give a stranger a smile, and if we see someone being mistreated, we can stand up for them, and we can stand up for ourselves. People shouldn't be conditioned to be assholes, and we shouldn't be conditioned to take it.

well! all of that aside, on my last post i said i'd do the 365 day picture challenge.. and i'm proud of myself, i've actually taken a picture a day specifically for this project. because i work over 70 hours a week a lot of the time, a lot of these pictures will be mobile, but i honestly thing with all of the new apps out there these day, they can be so charming! That and i'm not anything close to a photographer, and never will be! on these posts, you'll find the things i love, the things that inspire me, and even me!

so here it is!

you might be thinking, "really, a starbucks cup?" it's the christmas cup! And this year, the quotes are so much more perfect.






rambo beefy


now for the last photo, i'm going to show you a picture of me. I've worked incredibly hard to come to this point, i've lost over 50 lbs. I haven't made this blog about weight loss.. and i'm not about to, but after reaching one of the biggest goals for myself, i feel a little bragging rights are in order. (p.s. i'm wearing shorts)


just in case you're wondering, here's a before and after:

home made button tufted headboard DIY!

Hi folks!

yesterday i some how commissioned my manly husband to help me make a button tufted headboard (he's really good). I swear i only made him do the manly things, like cut the wood, "hold it here.. no here!", "where are my scissors, no the fabric cutting ones". I must say he's a trooper for putting up with me, i'm a lucky woman!

It was a pretty easy, but kind of difficult project, it took us about 4 hours to complete, and if you don't have those saw horse things, you'll want two people. This cost us about $180 in supplies for a king size bed. Here's what you'll need:

1/2 sheet of plywood (if mounting to the wall, otherwise you'll want 3/4 inch at least)
decorator needles
upholstery thread
adhesive spray
a good pair of fabric cutting scissors
button tufting kits (as many buttons as you want)
upholstery grade fabric (King size required about 3M)
1/2 finishing nails
D Hooks if you plan on mounting on the wall!
1 or 2 inch Foam from your local fabric store. This is entirely up to you, i used 1 inch.
Batting
staple gun
hammer
husband, boyfriend, girlfriend, wife, friend or saw horse things.

First, after your husband cuts your wood all manly, have him (and beefy) also drill holes in the wood for your buttons. I did a diamond pattern and put them about 10 inches apart. The more buttons you add, the more dramatic it will look.. just keep in mind if you're going for dramatic, button tufting hurts your fingers.




Once your holes are drilled, put 2 nails (1 on either side) of each whole. i recommend making your buttons before you complete anything else. The button tufting kits are super easy.

spray some adhesive down. You might feel panicked at this time because you have literally 15 seconds to lay your foam down before it dries. I recommend planning this step out in advance. Once your foam is down, lay your batting on the floor (if you're not lucky enough to have those horse things) and staple around the back. repeat with your fabric.



Once your fabric is all in tact and your happy with the way it looks, thread your need and push it from the back of your headboard to the front



attach your button to the needle, you should loop it through 2-3 times to assure you have a strong button. push your needle back through your headboard to the other side (this part sucks, my holes were small so it was hard to find). Push your button down with one hand and pull the thread as tight as you can on the other side. Staple in to place and wrap in a criss-cross fashion from nail to nail and staple in place again. Once you've completed all of your buttons, have your husband put it up and make the bed around your dog.

(that's not lose fabric on the top, that's where jonah was grabbing it to hang it up, i should have smoothed it out.. buuuuttt i didn't!)




My bedroom is currently in make over phase since bought a king size bed. I'll show you the bedroom in it's entirety with the headboard when it's complete.

christmas is coming!

I can't even begin to explain how incredibly excited i am for christmas. every year, i put the tree up the first week after halloween, my husband groans and whines and we don't invite people over until December to assure no one thinks we're crazy. I can't help it, i was raised to love christmas and i look forward to it every year beginning on boxing day (december 26th). for anyone who knows me, or has held a five minute conversation with me knows i'm a total nut about chirstmas, it's just in my blood!

We decorated our tree on sunday, here's a sneak peak:



This year will be the first year that we have a fire place to decorate too! naturally, i'm thinking about making new pretty stockings, pretty garlands, cozy fires, sugar free hot chocolates & snow. with this, you can expect to see a few DIY ideas on the blog in the next few months as i have a couple of fantastic ideas. Stay tuned to see the whole house in it's christmas get up!

i'm going to pretend it hasn't been two months since i was here last..

and tell you about my trip to vegas.

First i will start with how much i hate flying. I don't so much hate being in the air, it's the taking off and landing that makes me barf and cry like i'm 6. on the way to the airport form the parking lot in bellingham, our bus hit an electrical pole.. we were entombed in a 765,00 volt coffin that caught on fire for over an hour almost missing our flight(so far they haven't even apologized and we still had to pay for parking..) this should have been a sign to stay back and maybe hang out at the casinos at home.. we didn't. We ended up having an amazing time despite all of the final destination things we lived through ( we won't get in to it) here are a few pictures from our trip!





we went shopping at sephora, both husbands fell asleep.





el ghetto with el security guardo.



well that was vegas. I've decided i'm going to the "365 day challenge" where i take a picture every single day to post on my blog. Because of my demanding work schedule, i most likely won't be able to update every single day so you might see posts with more then one picture!