Back in 2006, when my boyfriend and I babbled about things like marriage, I didn’t have many “musts” when it came to the ring, outside of the fact I wanted to walk down the aisle with a round-cut solitaire engagement ring — just like my mother’s — though admittedly a little less 1980’s (aka yellow gold). Her engagement ring, along with a few other items, had been stolen shortly after she passed away and it was one way I felt I could quietly honor her on my big day.
Sean came through, and that Christmas when he proposed, he presented me with a nearly identical engagement ring to my mother’s (right down to carat size) but in platinum; with the game plan that I could always upgrade the setting down the line. We are thinking we might do it this anniversary. I’m not SURE, because I just don’t know, but I was also debating picking something that could possibly stand on its own so I could retire my wedding band – first, because my band doesn’t really go well with the styles of settings I’ve been looking at and, second, because while my wedding band is a half carat of colorless diamonds, it’s also white gold, and I’m growing weary of the need to constantly re-coat it when it begins to yellow. It’s free to do, but tiresome and often leaves my ring at the jewelers for three weeks each year.
Is that odd? Is it weird to just wear one ring – if that ring isn’t your wedding band? Can I be a rebel like that, or will people constantly thank me on my new engagement? What do you wear?
And while we’re asking questions… which do we love more? I love the very vintage styling of the second – but appreciate the pseudo two-band look of the first:
fashion, marriage
Inspiration > Personal Life
Slowly, but surely, we have been on a kick to turn spaces of our house into a home. When you enter our house, there is a large entry wall that can be seen from most anywhere downstairs – a good, solid 8 x 25 foot empty space. That’s.. a lot of space.. and I have wanted to utilize a chunk of it for a photo gallery wall for a long time.
Then, back in April, I was inspired by the aptly-named Erin B. Inspired blog post to finally just DO it! And yes, that means that finally “just doing it” took six months. Because that’s just how I roll. 
We decided to go with frames of all shapes, sizes and profiles — and we found every spare frame we weren’t using in the house and filled in the rest with $2-3 frames from Walmart. In total, we acquired 39 frames that would hold a total of 44 photographs! Two cans of glossy black spray paint later (and a few coats, as our frames ranged from black to red to white), we were set to arrange them on the carpet; and we happily discovered we would be taking up a 4 x 9 foot space (it sits just above where the chair rail will be installed, btw).
Which is exactly what we did, because I’m lazy. And because both Sean and myself have a tendency to need everything perfectly spaced and symmetrical, attempting a “haphazard” style photo gallery went against the very grain of our beings — and it took us a few days to stop trying to make everything into a perfectly spaced square. Actually, no. It took us several days until Sean was like, “OMG WOMAN! STOP THAT!” and took over the re-arranging from me because it pained me to see uneven spacing between the frames. ::I am special::
Then, because we’re even more lazy, we just sort of transferred them from the carpet layout to the wall (after measuring and marking the middle points, etc, and working outward), eyeballing as we went. I think it actually turned out pretty snazzy, considering! I decided to go with b&w photos so it wasn’t too overwhelming – and it’s a lovely, meaningful mix of photos from professional engagement/wedding, to childhood and pet photos. For the 2-per-frame sections, I set up matching photographs of my mother and myself in preschool (top middle), side-by-side’s of Sean and myself as toddlers and side-by-side’s of our parents — which made my mother-in-law mist up when she came to visit us for our anniversary! 
All in all, I loved this little $50 DIY project and how much it means to me, and of all the projects I wrangle him into assisting with, Sean is most proud of this one and grins like a goon everytime he walks past it and sees the framed photo of Bailey in glasses.
P.S. If you are wondering where I got the wooden family name plate, I bought it here and could NOT be more happy with her work. I’m actually ordering about 6 more as Christmas gifts!
DIY & crafting, home love
Inspiration > Personal Life
I’ve been on a nerdy kick lately to completely organize my life.
Feeling visually organized helps me stay mentally organized – so we have spent the last month slowly making sense of the clutter that is my home!
Over the Labor Day weekend, we spend the days trying our best to tackle a FIFTEEN-PAGE cleaning list I came up with.
Yes. I said that. Because I’m a ridiculous glutton for punishment?
We didn’t get through it all (what human could?!?) but we did do a lot of things we don’t do on a normal cleaning schedule. Fun things like cleaning pipes behind toilets and sinks, wiping light bulbs and washing all lighting fixtures, scrubbing doors and baseboards, replacing stove vent filters, hosing all 22 blinds off, dusting the ceiling and vents, polishing the inside and outside of every kitchen cabinet, removing panels from the fridge and dryer to vacuum out coils and ducts – you know, good times were had by all?*
And then we began to organize! It is amazing how much more space we suddenly have when we take the time to give everything it’s place and purge things we just don’t need (like a second blender..). We’re nowhere near done but we were already able to donate TEN garbage bags and two large boxes full of items to Operation Kindness – so now cleaning feels EVEN better.
We bought a vacuum-it-flat bag to store two giant comforters more compactly, we bought a new wall-mount mail organizer because if the mail keeps taking up a messy residence on my kitchen island (which already fights for space with two laptops) I will possibly stab someone and we just reduced THREE giant Tupperware’s of over 300 DVDs we had stored in a downstairs closet into two easily flipped through CD binders.
We re-organized every kitchen cabinet and drawer and suddenly found we actually have two completely empty shelves – which feels incredible, considering a few weeks ago I was SMOOSHING doors closed and hoping nothing jumped out to slay me the next time I dared venture into it. Even our linen closet, which is small to begin with, has SPACE. For THINGS. And two bins helped divide under the upstairs guest bathroom into a half for guest needs and a half for Ashley’s items. I even organized my underoo’s and sock drawer – and was this tempted to show you because I was so thrilled with the results, but I realized no one wants to see my granny pantie’s all tucked away in their own spot for “un-cool undies.” I’m a class act.
It’s like Christmas in July! If July were actually September/October. ::blank stare::
We still have plenty more to tackle, finish, dream up… but so far, it’s feeling faaaaaantastic!
*Blatant, blatant lies – but fun or not, it was nice to get it done!
DIY & crafting, home love
Inspiration > Personal Life
So. We are slowly remodeling our downstairs – within our budget* – and have finally narrowed the laminates to two color choices, which frankly look.. almost the same. BUT I SWEAR THEY AREN’T. Almost.
Kind.. of.
You remember the line from Steele Magnolias?
“My cuh-luhs are blush and bashful.”
“Your cuh-luhs are pink and pink!”
That’s sort of how Sean feels with the 5465 flooring samples I’ve helpfully strewn across the living room carpet. I even resorted to stating I would let Bailey pick, based on which he licked. Except I forgot who I’m mother to, and he licks everything, and subsequently licked all 5465 samples. Apparently indecisiveness runs in this family?
So.. here are the runner ups. Thoughts?
Weathered Hickory on the left, Tanned Hickory on the right:
*I say this not because I’m cheap (which I am) but because if I learned anything in the last week about flooring choices, it’s that everyone assumes I have an endless budget and likes to weigh in with, “I’d go for real wood–” or “Go with 24×24 marble tiles, in all white, hand-painted in gold and accented with endangered species…”
home love
Inspiration > Personal Life
