a lesson in fo-tog-raffy

At the beginning of June I took a red-eye to meet a boy in Florida.   We had a whirlwind, 48 hour jaunt to the world that is Disney.  Many of you know my appreciation for the LAND that is Disney.  The world did not disappoint (but I'm still partial to my place in Anaheim)

Prior to this trip, I took a DSLR photography workshop.  I still have a lot to learn and a ways to go, but I took my camera to see what gems I could capture.  Here are a few of the shots I kinda like from the camera I still don't know how to use.

now that I see this on a bigger screen, It may be too dark...

 

The fireworks!! 

 

too dark as well?

Here's an action shot for ya...

 Only because I captured what Tiggers do best.  

Speaking of Tigger.  Here's a story...

The Tigger in Disneyland (circa 1988) had a tail shaped like a curly Q.  My parents were somewhere nearby leaving my brother and me up to no good.  It was first thing in the morning and Tigger was hanging out in the same vicinity as us.  With his back to us (engaging with other children, I'm sure) Scott pulled his bouncy, spring-like tail and ran away; leaving me oblivious to what had just happened.  Next thing I know, using his cat-like reflexes, Tigger pounced on me and within seconds, had me in a headlock; giving me a noogie.  I had no idea what hit me and could not convince him that I was innocent.

Why is it big brothers always have an upperhand?    

Here is one I like from le iPhone... Just because the castle looks cool

That's it for now!!

In Tribute

Whew!  

Hard to believe June is coming to a close!  

I've bounced all over the United states in the last 30 days...  My most recent trip was to Nebraska to spend time with family and pay tribute to the man who entered the world on a spring day 88 years ago... my grandfather.  

We checked out  the neighborhood where he lived and the house he grew up in.

A lifelong Nebraska Cornhusker fan, we toured the stadium,

 I'd like to think we left a bit of his legacy there.  

  Or maybe a family portrait

 Or maybe a photo of me

We checked out the trainstation where his parents (or his grandparents - mom, can you confirm this one?) met.

We attempted to watch my cousin's softball game

But we got rained out

 right after I attempted to take a family portrait

We saw beautiful Midwestern sunsets (or is that a moonrise?)

and most importantly, honored a wonderful man

Pondering some fabric

Hi Y'all

 I was raised on an almost annual dosage of Disneyland (the original) in California, and I am about to visit Disneyworld for the VERY first time.  While I consider myself a purist, I am holding out judgement on which park is better until the end of the weekend.  

In the mean time...  Here are a few things going through my design mind at the moment. 

#1 - with the new job I have more flexibility to work from home (at least 20%) which means working from the dining room table or living room isn't always optimal, so I'm in the process of removing wood paneling, peeling off layers of wallpaper and varnish in my third bedroom to convert to an office.  The progression is evolving from this: 

to this: 

and I've lost steam at this: 

I am having nightmares / dejavu from when I first moved in... At least this time I know what I'm up for.  And yes, Despite having recently taken a DSLR photography class... I am still snapping photos with my blurry iphone.  Sorry :) 

#2a - In brighter news, since I've removed the carpet in the living room, my previous area rug found to be too small for the space and the yellow was too matchy-matchy with the wood so I've had my eye out for a bolder and larger rug.  I've been eyeing a specific one for a few months and I (finally) met a price I couldn't resist.  It arrived last week.  Me likey Mucho (my animals too!)

 #2b - and finally see that pink chair in the above?  its a little girl's chair that has pretty much followed me in every move (except college).  With the work I'm doing in the spare bedroom, its hanging out in the living room for now (just for Rico).  

And after it hanging out in public for a few days, I decided a new, distant project would be to reupholster it.  

I'm kinda thinking of going old timey, bold and vintagey...   After some minor research online, I found a couple options, but am not completely sold... These are my top two: 

Just pondering my options and am looking forward to doing more research!

Ok... gotta go find my ears so I can hang with Mickey and the gang!  TTFN

Snow, and its almost June

Hi guys, 

Its Riley again.. guest posting for my mom.   'Member that time my mom's took me to the beach and then let me write about it, well here's another fun one.  

She was in Santa Monica this week for some work event...  hanging out in the sun, doing fun things with her coworkers while I was home in my crate...I had to wait for her computer to come back home so I could write this.

BUT Before she was hanging out in Santa Monica, she and her boyfriend and I went up to the mountains for Memorial Day weekend.  She told me to pack my swim suit and I thought that was ridiculous because I'm a dog and my fur is my swim suit and birthday suit and every-day suit.  

We decided to spend the first day at a nearby lake and on the way, it started to SNOW.... Now... I am a dog and I am also part lab which means I'm pretty happy with anyone and anything... but SNOW!?  OMG... I LOVE SNOW!!  I couldn't wait to get out of the car!!

When we arrived, the snow had stopped and my mom let me out to play, but as an extra treat, she let me go off leash!!  

Now... In my younger years, I was this all out crazy hyper dog, but after Christmas with an unfortunate incident involving chewing through my leash (and jumping on counters and pretty much disregarding any authority) while my granddad was watching me, my moms signed me up with Kyle and Kyle is a Marine and Marines don't let you be all crazy and hyper...  Anyway.. he taught all of us ways to communicate and have a good time and the best part is, they trust me now so I don't have to hang out with a leash around my neck as much anymore.  I also don't hear that word 'NO' as much anymore which is also pretty cool. 

So back to Memorial Day weekend... I totally expected my mom to put a leash on me and tell me to heel and do all sorts of (unnecessary) obedience training with me.  But she didn't.  I had so much fun playing in the snow and hiking around the lake swimming in the water, chasing snowballs... all without a leash!   MAN was it fun!! 

technically I'm wearing a leash here but that is because we were crossing over a dam and there were people fishing and we didn't know if they liked dogs (who wouldn't like a dog like me?)

Totally hard to believe this was all during Memorial day weekend... Um... Note to Snow...  Didn't you know that Memorial day is the unofficial start of summer and snow, summer and California don't belong in the same sentence??

I think I need a bigger disco ball (part 2)

With fireplace insert removed and the surrounding brick painted a nice healthy, happy white... Its amazing to see how much the room brightened up.  

I mentioned in my previous post about the fireplace being accessible from both the living room and dining room and until I could get the creative juices flowing of what I was going to put there, I hopped over to Home Goods and purchased a boring mirror and some boring candles to detract from the gaping hole that unfortunately opens right up to a view of my hideous linoleum in the dining room (that's besides the point).  

A friend came over and suggested a Disco ball.  I laughed it off but he was serious because an hour later he sent me a link to a craigslist ad selling a disco ball...  

So then the party lights went on and the disco ball was spinning...  I had sparkles in my eyes..  Why not?!   I checked out the likes of Pinterestland the two pictures I found, I decided this is a good idea.  

via

via

So I measured my fireplace and decided a 12" disco ball would be a proportionate size... I snagged a good deal off of ebay and patiently awaited its arrival...

When it finally did arrive and I installed it, I was saddened to see it didn't quite have the presence I hoped. 

But first lets take a moment to pause and see how good my newly painted fireplace looks... (ompare to pictures here, here and here (sigh)!

 Ok... Carrying on.  

It needs to be bigger...

 

It needs to be flashier....

 

It needs to say "Hey Girlfriend!  The party's Ova Heeya!" 

So alas, now you see why I need a bigger disco ball.   

 

I think I need a bigger disco ball (part 1)

I took a week off in April between leaving my old job and starting my new job.  One of the first things on the agenda while I was 'fun-employed' was removing the custom home made fireplace insert that had been in place for close to 30 years. 

 

My dad and brother (bless their hearts) nearly broke their backs trying to remove this thing...

It was very...

Very...

 Heavy.

The enginerd engineer that my brother is, figured out a lever system with two by fours and a hand cart and faster than we all expected was able to get it out of the house, across my patio and into my garage.  

WHERE... the next day, my uncle was to hoist it up and haul it away... 

The End!

(kidding)

I'll share a snippet of our conversation once my uncle (UD) arrived:

UD:  "They're not going to take this with all of these bricks still inside...." 

Me: "....?  Bricks?"

UD:  "Yes" as he leans down and rolls up his sleeves to reach inside and knock a brick out of its spot.  With a soot stained brick in hand he educates me.  "The insert is lined with bricks."

Me:  Thinking back to the conversations and cursing that went on regarding the size and weight the previous evening... "Uh... Ok... Let's just not tell Dad and Scott."

Then I whipped my phone out of my back pocket, snapped the below and sent it to my brother.   

 

 All in all the 28 bricks we removed from the fireplace insert weighed about 150 extra pounds.  (sorry Dad/Scott!!)

So once it was hauled away...  The next fun step of painting began...

Adios Soot stains and red bricks...

If you haven't already noticed, my fireplace is a fun one... accessible from the living room and the dining room.  Rico and Riley were quick to realize its a great shortcut/hang out between rooms (a habit we're trying not to enforce and by we - that means not me - I happen to think it is funny/cute so breaking them of this habit, isn't really falling on me.)

After all that, you're still waiting for me to whip out the disco lights and mirror ball...  but consider this a prelude...  My next post will clearly show why 'disco ball' and 'fireplace' do belong in the same sentence blog post.

Hangin' Around

In design blogs, magazines, and even Pinterest (duh, everything is on Pinterest!)... there have been a lot of rattan chairs hanging around....  See...

via

via

via

via

So way back in the day, when I first moved in, the house came with this funky old rattan chair (this post proves I had the idea first!)

Old and dusty... it hung out for a few years, but I took some time to pretty this guy up with some soap, water, a little TLC and a cushion!!

That's the fun thing about design trends is that they come back around.  This chair got plenty of hang time long before I was born and now its trending again.  I've got a cushion in the works and then I'll be prepared to show you another funky find that I've been able to refresh to modern times!  

Adios Amigos!

On the Fence

Hello?!

Anyone still there?

Anyone remember me?


I'm back?


What? you say...Back!?


Where on earth have you gone?!

You may have noticed writing started to get sparse in the late summer.. possibly fall... and then I completely fell off because life is a teeter totter with the aim to keep balance... and I fell off that balance beam and struggled a bit to get back on.


Yes I know... dramatic

So anyway... bla bla bla... life is back on track with a new job and a happier outlook and I am easing back into embracing everything that is Anne-tastic! I am easing my way back into a happy, healthy life. 


Phew!!

So with that... I'll share a handful of fun things that have been happening around these parts...

We'll start with something maybe not as exciting to most, but certainly most exciting to me. When I moved in two years ago, there was one thing that visibly and sorely needed my attention....  My back fence.  
 

I wholeheartedly ignored it to the point where the ghetto green fiberglass held a certain level of charm for me. Lets face it folks, there wasn't much to look at in my back yard, and what there was, the fancy green fiberglass detracted from it.

So earlier this week I came home to what appeared to be an EXTRA large sized back yard

with a pool, and a pool house and pool boy! (How did I get so lucky?!)  And of course, that was short lived, because within a matter of hours, I had a legitimate, redwood-smelly, grown up kind of fence.  I guess the pool wasn't for me afterall. 

next up: Landscaping (for obvious reasons).  You may have noticed in comparison to the first photo, that I cleared out some weeds as well as masonry, some of which were under about 4 inches of weeds and dirt.  


Slowly but surely...  Its comin' along!


Happy days to you!!

Sorry for abandoning you!


Check back in a couple days for a project I mentioned in my first couple weeks after moving in!


xoxo

Area Rugs

Hi! 

(sheepish wave)

Remember me?  Are you still there? 


I am and I'm sorry for abandoning you...  I am working on a comeback (more on that later - see?  I'm already trying incentivize you into coming back!)


But for now....  I want to share with you something I stumbled upon today.  Amy Butler Rugs. 
This one...

credit

looks strikingly similar to my living room curtains:

 

(Would that be too matchy matchy?)

But what I REALLY love is this rug...

credit

Oh... some day...Her stuff is so dang cute... 

Seriously.. check back again soon..  My plan is to return to regular posting in the near future..  Life's been a little ... oh, how do you say it...?  off-balance?   Yes.  Very off-balance and I'm working on rebalancing things...

Stay tuned!!

xoxo