Photoshopping my Life

A photo of the chalet we hiked to on our one-year anniversary - Glacier National Park, Montana. Unedited.

Vintage-y:

Brightened/Sharpened (the best I know how so far, using a sub-par 8megapixel camera):

Happy end-of-February!

The Great Rug Debate

So... Boo. I had my dining room design board all approved by Mister Man months ago. So we buy our dining room table yesterday and I whip out my laptop to show him how great our table is going to look with all the other fixin's I had picked out already.

To my dismay, John immediately points out that he doesn't like the rug. Which definitely proves my point that he doesn't pay attention to half the things I show him. He thinks it's too "trendy" and we'll get tired of it. I absolutely adore the simple pattern and the fact that it's bright and cheery and will not only add a pop of color but will keep the room from feeling too dark and heavy with the huge behemoth dark mass of a table.

However, I can also see his side and have been on the hunt for an affordable, simple, 5x8 rug that is more geometric/plain in pattern to offset the fabric that I just bought online without telling John that will be used for the curtains.

Let's remind ourselves what we've got:

 

Fabric for the Curtains. Simple, yet adds some pattern and color to the room.

 

Our table. Keep in mind we only bought the table. We will be getting 2 upholstered chairs and a bench. Not sure what we'll do for the other 2 chairs (maybe buy 2 from the set...?) Either way, not too matchy-matchy.

Alright, Original rug:

Option for "compromise rug"

 

No yellow in it, but still bright and area with a bit of a "scales" pattern. It would still offset the "busier" pattern in the curtains. Not totally sold, but it's a good start. I'm having so much trouble finding something within my stingy price range that fits what I want. But a rug will do so much for the room... Ugh! 

Oh, forgot to mention that the Scales Rug (above) is on sale for $135. Yowza!

Button, button, who's got the button?

First, I moved a few things around last night, instead of watching "The Crazies" with John. I pulled out some more of his old books (he has 4 boxes full...) and just tinkered around.

Put fabric in the frame on the right. Put MaryGrace's adorable print in the other frame.

Some of John's books, and an old fishing... reeler-inner...

 On to the main act:
I mentioned that I wanted to do this project:

Well, my buttons came in from The Button Galaxy on Etsy. It was the cheapest place that I found to buy a bag of buttons separated by color. Anyway, I already had some canvases that were marked to about $2 at Michael's because they were damaged. I had excess burlap from my tree skirt, and I have hot glue. Anyway, I bought pink, yellow, gray, and black buttons. This is my first creation:

But, I don't know where to put it.

Here, in the entry hallway...?

Or here, on our dresser in the master bedroom...?

 

What do you think?

Almost done...

So I started my C-Table yesterday but didn't have enough screws to finish the job. Also, I had to figure out a way to clamp 2 pieces of wood together at 90 degrees. FYI, they make special clamps for that. :)

Anyway, I finished building it today but I still have to paint it. I have plans to put it in the ladies room at work. Kind of weird, but they all complain about not having a place to set down their mail/copies/coffee cup. Since it's my first project and I don't really have a use for it here, that's probably what I'll do.

It's nothing fantastic, but I'm proud of myself that all the pieces fit together and it actually looks like the plans I used. The wood filler is currently drying in the countersunk (?) holes I put the screws in, then I'll prime it and paint it with a color I have leftover from the walls.

My work area. John got the sawhorses for Christmas and I'm the first to actually use them!

I asked John to get me some 2" screws to make a table. He got me 4. Ha!

Working with my power tools!

Thar she is! Unpainted, but done!

Front View

Side View

Our other big news is that we bought a table. We wanted something simple and dark that would be timeless. This guy, from the Old Cannery (made by Jofran Furniture), is made out of Mango wood, which I believe is similar to rubberwood. Either way, it is a BEAST. We almost killed ourselves getting it inside - we had to open the box outside and take it in piece by piece. It's not going anywhere.

We just bought the table since I don't want our house to look too matchy-matchy and store bought. I plan on getting 2 upholstered chairs for the side (I put a chair from our entryway on the side to test out the "look"), a bench for the front, and 2 other chairs for the back (not sure if we'll buy the 2 that match it for those). I can't wait to get a rug and curtains to define the space a little more, but it's a great start!!

There is an 18" leaf inside of it, so it can fit about 8 people at it, too. Hopefully we'll have this for years and years!

Fitness Challenge

I never updated after John and I's first weigh-in on the 15th. Probably because I didn't want to announce to everyone that I lost.

This is what I get for going up against a boy. Here's how it went:

John: Lost 8 pounds. I have no idea how he did this, especially since I tried to sabotage him. He only went to the gym once. He does walk around his building quite a bit, but not any more than he did before the challenge. I didn't see him eating less. I'm fairly certain he drank like 8 bottles of water before his initial weigh in to throw the results.

Lindsay: Lost 0 pounds. Not all bad - I didn't gain any. I really didn't change my eating habits at all, which is what makes the biggest difference for me. I snack way to much and do not practice portion control. I went to the gym more than I have, but not enough to really make a difference.

John's "prize" is to go skiing at Mission Ridge. We'll see if he can find a chance to go do that before it gets warm. No massage for me. The next weigh in is March 15th, which is pretty close already.

Feel free to read on if you want....
I think I had a turning point this week. Target has made the unfortunate choice (unfortunate for me) of putting a mirror in the front of your dressing room and in the back. Well, whilst trying on a few things (which never helps my self-image anyway) I noticed that I have developed back rolls.

I realize I just announced that to all of blog land.

Anyway, I gotta get my butt in gear before I gain any more. Things have really changed since I finished college. I'm no longer walking miles a day to and from class and downtown.

This week I went to the gym and did the elliptical. My sister and I went to Zumba again and are going to go every Tuesday night (perhaps we'll work up to 2 nights a week, but we like the instructor better on Tuesdays). When I have lost weight in the past (only like 5 pounds), I stopped snacking and that made a huge difference. So I'm going to try to stick to that (i.e. not stashing a bunch of food in my classroom when school is back in session, portioning snacks at home or choosing not to have them, not going back for seconds, etc.).

My mom and I were talking, and for families like us that celebrate everything with food, this is an entire lifestyle change. I realize that I think about food constantly. Yes, I am a picky eater, but that doesn't mean I don't absolutely love the food I do eat. So how do you make that change where you're not thinking about food all the time? We also discussed what you could do to make you feel equally as good.  When I think about the couple of bucks I spend on a treat, and I think about what I could buy with that money that's equally as pleasing, I can't think of anything! So that's a sign that I need to make a change.


Anyway, limiting my food intake and getting moving will be my focus for this month. Going to Zumba is a great way to spend an hour and burn some calories. I'd also like to start walking at lunch with my partner teacher - it's been too cold though!

We'll see. I know I won't be dropping 8 pounds like John, but hopefully I can make progress!

Learning Photoshop

I've been trying to find a good tutorial to teach me how to make my photos look vintage-y and washed out. I love that look.

I'm positive my pictures would look better if they were taken with a nicer camera than an 8 megapixel point-and-shoot camera. But I just can't swallow paying $600 for a camera when I don't even know if I'd stick to the hobby. So I'll continue to play with Photoshop. Here's what I did today.

Kinda fun, right?

Wednesday

Things I'm enjoying right now:

View out the front door. But now ir's sunny...

Hit up the temporary library today. Got 3 very different books: Percy Jackson as per my students' request, a novel about international adoption, and a humorous book about marriage.

2 of my 3 pots are filled with tissue paper flowers. They take so long but look cute!

Still, my Chinese Restaurant Tea. Especially on a snowy day like today.

My new Keds from Zappos. Also, Zappos itself - I ordered on Monday and received on Tuesday!

My oscillating space heater. Yesssss....

I've been doing some online ordering this week, aside from just my Keds. Which I bought because I wear these ugly but terribly comfortable Crocs all the time and I wasn't feeling "young" on weekends. Plus they will be great for my D.C. trip and for our cruise.

So comfy, and I love wearing them to work, but... not so young and hip.

Anyway, I ordered these as well:

A date stamp... for school. I'm a nerd, but I'm very excited about this. I mean, come on, it's self-inking!!

Har har. A TI-84 Plus graphing calculator. Required for my masters program. Doggin' it, I had a TI-83 and a TI-86, but apparently they're different enough that I needed a new one. I have to load graphs onto our discussion boards!

Buttons! in light pink, yellow, gray, and black. Got little baggies of them from Etsy through Allenbrite Studio. It was the cheapest I could find, and now I can do this project:

That's all for now!