Put it in the Otto--Man!

We are so excited about our new little addition...our coffee tables! Yes it is plural. J and I decided to try something a little different and we are enjoying it. One of my favorite stores Tar-jet, (Question: Who doesn't love Target?) has been having lots of wicker on the market lately. After eyeing two small, wicker ottomans for nearly three weeks, we gave in and bought them. Here is our living room before.

We were are really happy with our little home. We like to think it is warm and inviting, but we had nothing in the middle of our living room and it always felt awkward. Here is our living room after! We are pleased...

J and I both feel that this fills the room and gives us a place to put our games, lots of our crafting supplies and of course J's favorite movie blanket and my Snuggie! But, we still want your opinion! I am one of those people who will love something that J and I come up with not matter how ugly it is. So an honest opinion will help! Plus we kept the tags and the receipt so, if this completely doesn't work for you we could consider returning it. But, before you say you hate it there is a bonus! We could use these for end tables or other storage in the future...which is a bonus J and I love. Please give us your opinions! Happy weekend everyone!

Question: What's on your table?

One obsession J and I share is coffee table books. We love looking at them and studying random facts and looking at funky pictures. I have spent hours in Barnes and Noble scanning different books that are interesting, intriguing and humorous. J and I have a stack of books on our make-shift coffee table (pics coming soon, I need some opinions) and when we are bored we always find something interesting that we didn't know before. So I'd like to say "Thank you" to our coffee table books. Thank you.As I am typing this Josh and I are talking about our desire to grow our coffee table book collection. As you can see here our collection is small and actually one of our books happens to be my favorite Real Simple magazine. Side note: I adore Real Simple magazine! Coolest ideas for organizing and decorating. Love it!This is one we are interested in and actually I remember my mom having this book when I was a kid. Dennis Kitchen searched the US for the smallest towns and compiled them to make Our Smallest Towns: Big Falls, Blue Eye, Bonanza & Beyond. J is really interested in one book that showed the development of one small town into a larger town over 30 years, but we couldn't remember it's title. While we were thinking I remembered this book and thought it could be a good substitute, plus I wanted to share it!

One of my guilty pleasures...I always go in and look at the newest Post Secret released and laugh at some of the funny and weird things people write. There are some pretty appalling things turned into and published in Post Secret, which could make this book not so coffee table friendly. Post Secret is defiantly rated PG-13, so if you are interested in checking it out some of the material is pretty rough.Still, it was written by real people with real issues and submitted it anonymously...keep that in mind.

I love...LOVE...Annie Leibovitz's photography. She's phenomenal, you've probably seen her work in Vanity Fair. She is well known for the controversial pictures of Demi Moore while she was pregnant and most recently Miley Cyrus. This book brings all of her photography from her childhood and present career into one place. I swear on my life...every time...I'm serious...every time I am in Barnes and Noble I sit on the ground by the photography section and look at all the beautiful images she has produced through the years. Side note: She has images of The Rolling Stones (the early years) Bob Dylan and Andy Warhol just hanging out and The Queen, yes...as in...God Save The Queen.

What about you guys? What coffee table books do you like or inspire you? Please share!

Spring has Sprung!

Well sort of. J and I spent the weekend routing on his NCAA bracket and screaming over the Kansas loss! But, unlike some parts of the nation that had a nice first day of spring we were stuck with freezing temperatures and a nice white dust of snow on the ground. Kind of a depressing way to start spring. Today, on the other hand, was filled with sun, a tiny bit of warmth and a ride with the windows down, which was exciting! With all the springiness just around the corner; (psss...and my favorite holiday is in two weeks!) I couldn't wait to make a spring mood board, excitement comes in small packages, I guess. 1. These are some fabric swatches I found courtesy of mydeco.com! Terry Fabrics CO. located in the UK distributes these fabrics to lots of local fabric stores in the U.S. Which makes these springy patterns a little bit more accessible over on this side of the pond.
2. This is my favorite spring find! As we all know I love glass and candles so these little bubbles are perfect for me! John Lewis made these adorable hanging votives also found via mydeco.com!
3. For some reason I didn't photo shop a 3 in...silly me...so moving on to #4!
4. I couldn't resist, this really doesn't have a lot to do with interior design, but I adore this umbrella! I've wanted a bubble umbrella for sometime and I had to share! Also, designed by John Lewis this umbrella also comes in variety of nifty colors!
5. Isn't this the coolest beach chair you've ever seen? I thought so. I love the color and I adore the style. Maybe it could hang out on a porch or a deck and while sitting you could imagine you were sitting on the beach? Maybe. (Also by John Lewis)
6. How many times do I have to say it? I don't know...but I love glass!! I love it! To make matters worse I love this piece! I can picture it with some long stem Hydrangeas right now. (Glass piece by Heals)
7. Last but not least, curtains. Wouldn't these curtains brighten up any room? Especially for spring? Not to mention for two panels the price isn't too terrible!
For anyone that is interested, I make my moodboards via mydeco.com (if I haven't mentioned that enough already!) Feel free to swing on over and check it out if your interested in creating your own!
What about you guys? What are some of your favorite spring pieces you've seen out there? What are some of your favorite spring things in general? I'd love to know!! Have a good day everyone!

It's Offical!

We are married! Our certificate arrived about a week ago and we were nothing less than thrilled! I am officially in the process of changing my name...well officially starting tomorrow I'm officially in the process. We had a blast opening up our license and taking a good look at it, we even took pictures! I told J that our marriage license is totally blog worthy!When our certificate arrived we did a good look over to make sure everything was in order. Joshua Lee Blackman, check. Kelsey Rhea Scroggins, check. Graham Todd Hale, check. Magnolia, check. Arkansas, check. Columbia County, check. January 9, 20---wait...what? The lady filling out our certificate must have still been living in 2009 because it had clearly been marked out with a terrible white out job. Josh and I died laughing! Now, our little wedding license is a little weird just like us.

Since it is official and I am now a Blackman somethings might be changing around the blogosphere so stay tuned! I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Side note: Pray for little Edy Rose she got her 2 month shots today! I know she was so tough!

Big Reveal: Our Living Room!

My good friend and partner in all things goofy, Hayley has been posting comments with exclamation marks (!) about seeing our little Living room as a whole. Well missy and the rest of the blogging world, with out further wait here is our living room

It's not much, but it is ours. I love what we have done with it. Our little DIY end table, our cheap-o art, our wedding pics, candles galore, comfy pillows, a warm throw blanket and a couple of touches that make it perfectly, J&K. It's not much and believe me we need all the help we can get so if you see anything that you think could be altered please feel free to comment! Also, we are adding color, when we can. Maybe a green throw pillow or maybe a yellow rug...we will see!

Side note: I do notice the lamp cords....argh...I hate them, but I have no way to hide them. If any one has any tips I'd love to hear them!

Announcement: This Sunday, March 14...Josh will be 24! Yes...his birthday is the mathematical pie, get it? 3.14...get it? I always have thought that was cool...anywho, I just wanted for J to have a Happy B-day Blog! So here are the top 10 attributes that I love about Yoshie.

1. I do most of the cleaning which is fine by me, I love it. But, I hate two things...emptying the trash and the dishwasher. We do not have a dishwasher so it only cuts my "I hate to do this" list back to one. J always empties the trash for me and I appreciate it so much! I just feel like ecoli is just jumping onto my skin when I walk to the dumpster. Thank you Josh!

2. He sings too! Even though he would hate to admit it Josh sings his thoughts. For example, he forgot his backpack the other day and had to come back and get it. He came and sang, "I forgot my back pack, I've got hurry, got my back pack now, off to work, ok I'm gone" hahahahahaha!

3. He will changes lyrics of songs to say Kelsey. It's really funny, for example, There's an old Marvin Gaye song called "Gotta Give it Up". It's basically about partying to much and giving it up to settle down, but it has the best beat. Anywho, there's one part where Marvin sings "Taste of Hooooooooooney" and Josh always says "Taste of Keeeelllllseeey" that's only one there is plenty more and I love it!

4. Instead of telling me he loves me, Josh often says "Your such a nerd" dork or weird-o, I love those little terms of endearment he feeds me!

5. Josh can pop and lock (I guess that's how you would say it) his butt better than any dancer I've ever seen! He also does this funny thing with his legs...I can't explain it but it is hilarious.

6. One of my favorite childhood stories about Josh is when he was throwing a ball in his grandmother's house and she asked him to stop because he would break her fine china. Josh thought she said (sorry if this is graphic) vagina and was so embarrassed. hahahahaha!

7. He tries to encourage me in my Wii attempts. I love to play Wii but my age is like 80 and I'm terrible. But, after a strike out or a 40-luv loss, he always says you're getting better!

8. He talks to our fish, Calypso. "Good morning little guy!" I heard him say that today!

9. He lets me scare him. I'll hide behind the door when he comes in, behind the bar or in the closet and then I'll fly out like a mad woman and scare the crap out of him! He always laughs and says "What are you doing?".

10. He let's me call him names like: J, Yoshua, Yoshie, Joshua, Hosh, Joshulia, Josh-o Washington (He calls me Kels-o Washington) and so on.

Bottom Line, January 9, 2010 was the best day of my life. I married a dude who balances his maturity with my immaturity, secretly sings, has dances offs, calls me out, lifts me up, will sing our favorite SNL skit theme song with me all the time (Ohhhhhhhhhhweeeeeeeeeee, What up wit that? What up wit that?) most of all he pushes me to the throne of grace that I might experience my Savior in every possible way, to love people as He loved and be an image of Christ. He always says..."It's what we are called to be." I don't even think he realizes he says that a lot. I'm thankful for you Josh, your my best friends.

This picture was taken after a week of camp and on our first date to Rainforest Cafe, I knew he was the one after this night...if I'm lyin' I'm dyin. Happy Birthday!!! I LOVE YOU!!! Don't leave...or...I'll find you!!! Inside joke. Happy Weekend everyone!

Floatin'

Our newly wedded bliss is still rollin' and even more so since our wedding pictures arrived! Last week, J and I were so thrilled to hang our new floating shelves with a few pics of the wedding sitting a-top them. I headed out, list in hand, in search of...you guessed it...votives! A long with frames and a vase. We needed these to give our living room just a little extra bit of fun and pop. After heading to Kohl's (gift card) , Wally World and Hob Lob I had everything needed for our new addition to our Living Room.

When J got home we hopped at the chance to get everything hung and in place. Before he hung them I wanted to see how everything was going to be placed on the shelves and so I had it all laid out against our couch so he could get a good look.Price Check:

1. Picture Frames: $3.00 a piece! We went super cheap! In fact, the lady at Wal-Mart tried to tell me they were $4.00 dollars and she sent someone to check and they came back as $3.00. Total $12.37 for frames

2. Vase: Wal-Mart has this new line of housewares out called RH Designs. This vase was from that line and was only $10.00. Cheap! O yea!

3. Votives: The taller hurricane was actually part of a gift card from Kohl's along with the candle. We used rice as a filler as we always do, cheap, cheap, cheap. The two votives were for sale for .75 cents at Wally World and saved us a whole .20 cents from our usual .95 cent purchase!

4. Paper and Pictures: For our 2 8x10 wedding pics, J and I used a coupon we received from our photographer and saved a bundle. Then we used paper from Hob Lob to fill the other two frames, this is also known as cheap art.

After our general moving and shifting of objects J hung our shelves and we are so please with the outcome!

As you can see, the hurricane we purchased with our Kohl's gift card didn't make the cut. Sadly it was way to heavy for the lower shelf so we had to make and executive decision. Sorry Hurricane.

What do you guys think? You know we are always eager to hear of any advice or changes you think could be made! Please feel free to share ideas! Thanks!

NEWS!!

My sister, Leslie over at Our Joy...His Glory sent me my first award! I'm so excited! Thanks Leslie! The rules for this award are as follows:

1. Post the award. Pretty easy right?

2. Thank and mention the person who gave you the award! Thanks Les!!!

3. Pass the award onto seven blogger whom you think embody the spirit Kreative Blogger Award. Skip to the bottom...

4. Name seven things about yourself that others do not know.

5. Don't forget to notify the seven other bloggers about their award and post a link to their blog. Done.

Ok so here it goes...7 things you don't know about me:

1. I am a Pandora addict. I have close to 75 stations and I listen to them all sporadically. But, the one I listen to the most is my Walt Disney Family station. Whenever I'm alone you can guarantee that it is on. When I think about it Disney is the reason for most of the obsessions I have had in my life. My year and a half obsession with wanting to be a Native American defiantly came from Pocahontas. Why I want my life to be a musical is a direct result of most Disney flicks being filled with song that expresses every aspect of life. For example when I'm cleaning I'm usually doing something like this "When I scrub, scrub, scrub the tub, tub, tub. I hope it doesn't make my hub,hub, hub, fall and bust his bum, bum, bum." It's completely normal behavior to me.

2. Speaking of musicals...My junior year of college my roommates and I had an on-going musical between the three of us called Singspiration. Where we would sing about everything, a lot of times we would incorporate our best opera style voice or the tunes of cheesy Christian songs from our childhood. For example, once my roomie Ethina and I sang about our day to the tune of "Testify to Love" a cheesy 90's Christian song.

E:"How was your day, today"

K: "Mine was fine and how was yours"

E: "It kinda sucked that test was harder and now I've got work"

Right about here our friend Neill would jump in and say "Testify,Testify"

K: "Well with every dish you take think of the money you will make"

E: "So I can stay and go to college, Oh for goodness sake..."

I miss Singsperation.

3. I love carbonated water! I think I get it from my mom she used to drink it all the time when I was growing up. I especially love the bottles that it comes in...pretty green glass bottles! S.Pellegrino is my favorite, in fact I'm having a glass right now.

4. For many years my favorite color has been mint green. I think it is just a refreshing color. But the past few months I have been leaning towards gray. I know...I know...but gray is so...blah. Well, I absolutely love it! I love it so much that J and I talked about putting it in one of our children's names. (WE ARE NOT HAVING CHILDREN FOR A LONG TIME. Just wanted to make that clear) We really like Norah Gray Blackman...it's got gumption! Side note: "she's got gumption" is a favorite line from a favorite movie.

5. I am a candy addict. I am juvenile about it too. It's easier for me to tell you what candy I don't like as appose to telling you what candy I do like. I am really not a fan of sour candies, but I love Lemonheads. Peach-O-Rings and Gummy Bears are a must. Any food-shaped marshmallow candy grosses me out, i.e. a hamburger shaped marshmallow with lettuce, tomato, patty and bun. I wouldn't say I have an all time favorite candy because I genuinly just love the stuff.

6. I am a married, twenty-three year old Nickelodeon fan. I still love the shows from when I was growing up, they were so entertaining. Clarissa Explains it All, Pete and Pete, AHHHH! Real Monsters, Hey Arnold ("Move it Football Head!"), Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Doug (cue theme song now.), Legends of the Hidden Temple, What Would You Do (Josh was slimmed once! How cool is that?)...the list could go on and on. Sometimes I'll look up the show on the Internet and watch a couple of clips. Good memories.

7. My favorite game is Scrabble. I want to download it on my iPod Touch but it is 4.95 and I could almost go by the game and play it physically for that much money. Don't play me. I'll get a triple word score right in your face. I'm serious. Side note: If you ever wanna play please let me know! I'd love to play! haha!

I want to pass the award on to: Lauren over at Over The Rainbow, Brittney Miller over at Areteestic, Amanda at Mitchell Memories (what do ya know Amanda? Your a new blogger and you already have an award!) Ashley at Everyday Blessings, My bestie Hayley at No Whining, My other bestie Brookie at Mike & Brooke and even though I don't know her name, I find here very inpiring so check her out at notebookdoodles. That is all.

Our day in a few pictures!

A few days ago J and I finally got to order some of our wonderful wedding pictures! We were so pumped and couldn't wait. After a series of eliminations we finally picked out 6 pictures that we could use our $100 dollar coupon for!About 3 days later the pictures showed up! J and I were ecstatic! I quickly ripped open the box and began placing the pictures in frames through out our house! I was so excited to see our day lived out in our home, it made our marriage seem even more real to me!Here is J (lookin' very handsome!) and his party! These guys were great! At the rehearsal dinner they asked my permission to play a prank on J during the ceremony, to cool. It was so kind of them to think of me! Honestly, I wouldn't have cared if a mule walked into our ceremony, but the fact that they took my feelings into consideration was so kind! Thanks guys!Here are my girlies! Can you believe how pretty they are? I know. My friends are pretty snazzy! My sister at our wedding was very...VERY preggers! I am so thankful that she was able to stand up beside J and I and share in our day! Also, all of my girls had to travel, 3 of them outside of the state...awesome! You guys are my besties and I love you! Now I look at you, all in one place everyday!

Clogg Be-Gone!

Here is a quick update!

1. I didn't post any new blogs last week (and I missed it!) because I am now a nanny for a sweet couple of kids in my church! Monday through Friday I play doll house, Play Dough, Shape Shifter and "Are you okay?" (a game we made up where we just ask "Are you okay?" back and forth) with my new friends Ema and Johnny. I took last week to settle into nannying and catch up on my work with FHG.

2. I had blogs planned, but none were scheduled so I can't wait to get them rolling this week!

3. I saw Alice in Wonderland! Why should I care you might ask? Well, honestly, you shouldn't but, I strongly suggest it! I am a huge AIW fan and have read both Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass numerous times! I will say it followed the books very closely and Tim Burton did a fantastic job!

Anywho onto the important stuff! Josh and I live in an apartment complex that was built years ago. Although it is old, it has a garbage disposal and when Josh and I moved in that was one of the first things that made life in the 1 bed/1 bath home easier. But, this garbage disposal was causing us lots of trouble about a week and half-a-go.

First the water wouldn't drain out of the sink. It would literally fill up and take a long time to drain. We keep our drying rack in the other side of the sink so that the water from the dishes drains instead of leaking onto the counter. When I turned the garbage disposal on the water drained but shot back into the other sink. I then proceeded to clean all the dishes again and run hot water through the sink for about 10 min.

Next, came the food. Josh and I rarely put any food down the garbage disposal. Mainly crumbs left over from scraping the un-eaten food into the trash. But, for some odd reason when using the garbage disposal food would shoot back up the sink and drench the clean dishes in food. I repeated the same process above but, this time I ran the water for about 20 min.

Finally, the smell. Running hot water would cleanse the garbage disposal or seem to for a couple of days. But, the smell of eggs, cheese, and other rotted products would split our noise hairs and send us into a gagging fest.

Enter a solution! Finally we had enough, I took a chance and put some liquid sink cleaner (Drain Pro Gel) down the sink. I wasn't sure if it would damage the garbage disposal before, but I found Drain Pro Gel that was kitchen sink safe. After a treatment of cleansing, I mixed some bleach and hot water in a pot and poured it down the drain slowly, followed by a round of steaming water again. I let the water run through for about 5 min and then did a final round of the Drain Pro Gel. After the Drain Pro Gel set, I ran the water and the sink wasn't filling up anymore and it was smelling nice and clean. I let the water run for about 20 min. ( I know what your thinking, "Kelsey, what a waste." But, I can't stress enough how bad the smell was.) and at the end of it all no more gaggy food clog!

As you can see here...this our savior! We are so thankful for this little beaut that we found to save our house from a horrid smell. Drain Pro Gel or since we are such close friends now...DPG really did the job and I would recommend it. Overall, the whole food clog situation took close to two hours to fix, but it definitely was worth it to not have nasty egg shells and cheese float up into our sink! Again, we have no idea where it came from. Spooky.

J and I have taken some steps to make sure that this clog, never happens again. Although we aren't sure where most of the food came from (J thinks it came from the people who lived here before us.) we want our sink to run smoothly. Here are the rules:

• Under no circumstance are large pieces of food to go down the garbage disposal. My motto: If you can pick it up with a fork, you can throw it in the trash! Thank you.
• Running hot water to give the drain a nice cleansing after scrubbing the dishes. This is more of friendly check-up to see how our little disposal is doing.
• No dairy products allowed! Gross. We feel like that was the main issue. The smell was vomit-inducing and the clean-up was annoying.

Three rules for a happy garbage disposal! I beat you, you nasty egg/cheese/lint(?) clog!! HA HA!

DIY: End Table Reveal

What better way to celebrate a Friday than with our first DIY project, as a married couple, reveal! But, before I show you the final product I'm going to break down the purchases we made to recreate an old firend.1. Minwax Wood Stain in Ebony: $4.35

2. Minwax Polyurethane Finish: $4.50

3. Foam pads, foam brush and latex gloves: $5.00

4. Decorative Wicker balls: $4.00 each

5. Lamp Shade: $14.67

6. Votive: 99 cents each

Total Cost: $20.63

Side note: We used one of our wedding gift cards to Target for the lamp shade, decorative balls, and votives so in the end we only paid $6.47 for all the things purchased at Tar-jet! O yea!
We are so thrilled with our cheap investment that I can't wait to show you! So, here is the grand finale! Please let us know what you think!

Bull's Eye for Tar-jet!

I love browsing the aisles of Target! The accessories, hygiene products, clothes (anywhere you can get an Isaic Mizrahe dress on the cheap is, without a doubt, my friend!), pet aisle (I just like to shop for future reference), entertainment, Method cleaning products ( If you haven't heard of my love for Method, check it out here) and of course the Home center. I went browsing around a few days ago and wanted to share my finds! I ran around Target (by myself, I backed out of going to see Shutter Island with J and his friend, Chase at the last minute.) all giddy with my camera, snatching pictures of all my favorite items! Yes, I was getting odd looks from the other shoppers and the store clerks...

I love wicker baskets. Adore them actually, and if there is anything Josh and I appreciate more than baskets it's basket's with lids, for storage of course. If you haven't heard us complain about our need for more storage check it out here and here. I thought these would be a great addition tucked away under an end table or a sofa table. Blankets and extra pillows could be stored inside and snatched out for convenient usage. Side note: Have you noticed how inconvenient it is to spell convenient or convenience...I have.I loved these! Especially the paisley! I have been seeing these around a lot of stores for the past couple of years and I have been reading about them on a lot of design blogs recently. Target also had some made out of wicker...you'll be seeing those soon :)

I love glass!! The next few items are all glass pieces that really grabbed my eye! These two hurricanes were two pretty to pass up! Plus, their...wait for it...cheap! The larger one is $12.99 and the smaller one was $6.99. I loved the domed look at the top and the rounded base, plus...again...I love glass!

I thought these little dudes where so fun! I hope to own one eventually! We really love us some tea, so I try to experiment and make different types of tea and have them around all of the time! Don't worry we supplement our tea drinking with plenty of water! Anywho, one of the Christmas party's I attended used these to serve the orange juice at the brunch, I have loved them ever since!

Last but defiantly not least! Glass votive! Big deals come in small sizes right? Something like that...Anywho, Josh and I love candles we always have them lighting up the crib in the evening. When I saw these beauties for only .99 cents I almost had a heart attack! I snatched two of them and gleefully skipped to my car, not really but I wanted too!

When you guys are browsing Tar-jet or any other great store do you find items that literally make your heart leap for joy? What are they and most importantly where are they? Please share!

Is my laundry room safe?

J and I have had many humorous moments living here, we love it! First, down the hall we have a neighbor who loves...LOVES R&B music, particularly Brian Mcknight. Don't get us wrong, if anyone has an appreciation for R&B music, we do! Often our neighbor we'll announce his presence in the building by singing at the top of his lungs. Usually a song about dedicating his love to a woman he's scorned, we crack up everytime. The poor guy doesn't even know that he has a terrible voice. I just know one day we will be watching American Idol and there will be our neighbor, singing his little heart out!

We also have neighbors that are Hispanic and are always playing music! We laugh because we don't understand a word but we know they are getting down to the tunes in their apartment. Strange side note: They also leave all of their shoes in the hall. Strange.

But the strangest part of our living community is the laundry room. It's in a gutted bottom level apartment and the machines aren't up to par. Plus, to wash your clothes it will cost you a whopping $1.50 per load to wash and the same to dry. It stinks! Since I have reverted back to paying for clean clothes I have been keeping my eye out for a dream washer and dryer! Josh and I won't be purchasing one for a long time, but it is nice to shop!This would be a nice addition in the future! I saw this spectacular piece of modern technology in Home Depot last Sunday, I didn't have time to stand and stare then so here are a few fun facts about this hopeful member of the Blackman clan.

1. Maytag Performance Series 4.1

2. Super size capacity

3. Clean washer cycle with Affresh ( I really don't know what this is but it sounds awesome.)

4. Sensor-controlled suds detection

5. Using this on fabrics will eliminate 99.9% of household bacteria

Is it not amazing! I think so! When J and I are 45 we hope to own one of these, maybe a little sooner! Fingers crossed! For now we will gratefully keep our sketch laundry room and our quirky neighbors!

DIY: Staining an End Table

On Sunday, J and I began a DIY Project that made us feel like we were on cloud 9, literally. We ventured out into the world of furniture staining. Josh and I have never stained furniture, we've painted, never stained. This made for a new and interesting DIY project for us. About a week ago we decided that this would be a great first project as hubs and wifey so we headed over to Home Depot to pick our poison. We went with Minwax Wood Finish in ebony and Minwax Quick Drying Polyurethane for a shiny finish. Each product rounded out to be about $5.00, we went with a small amount of stain because we only had one table, which made for a cheapo DIY. After purchasing a foam brush, a pack of application pads and latex gloves we were all set to stain! Bring it on!

J began by giving the table a good and manly sanding. It took him a good 20 minutes to get the table in staining condition. After he sanded he headed out to a friends and left me to do the staining; but don't worry he came back and applied the second coat and did a much better job than I did.The table needed a really good sand down, which J did very patiently. After the sanding I cleaned all the excess off of the table (all part of the process) then began applying the first coat of stain.

After the application of the first coat we waited 4 hours for the it to dry...that's right 4...it seemed like 40. After 4 hours Hubs finally made it home and applied the second coat for me. If I have learned anything about J this week it is he has an excellent talent for applying wood stain. He did a much...much better job than I did, honestly I think he liked it just a little.After applying the second coat, which you can see was magnificently done, we plugged in the fan from our bedroom and waited 8 hours before applying the polyurethane finish. After the finish was applied we realized we had learned a big lesson about would stain.

Lessons we learned about staining wood:

1. It is a long process but the end result is wonderful.

2. Boys are better at it than girls.

3. It stains your skin...literally...one of my toe nails looks awful because of the stuff!

4. Breathing in the fumes for close to 20 hours makes you feel real good!

5. Breathing in the fumes for about 20 hours leaves you with a pretty bad hang-over.

6. I should of called my sister for advice.

7. It takes a little longer than they say on the label for the finish to dry.

8. We should have worn masks!

9. The "stickiness" and the "dots" will go away.

10. Waiting to stain a table outside in warm weather would have been the wiser choice.

Even though we learned our lesson or should I say lessons? We LOVE the out come! Big Reveal coming soon!

What's yours' really isn't mine.

J and I have been married for a little over a month and we are loving it. Honestly, we are not lying! We are still settling in and learning "how to live life together" as J would say. As we are embarking on this thing called "married life" I have noticed a lot of separations in our house; a lot of His' and Hers' if you will. It's actually funny how quircky J and I are about our certain...places, items, and belongings that are distinctly mine and distincly his!

1. Our coat rack- J distinctly uses one side and I distinctly use the other. Funny? Btw, see J's new hat? V-day present!

2. Towels-J uses white, I use tan. We decided this was a better match because I have make-up residue on my face when I get out of the shower. Hence, no make-up stains on our soft, white towels. (J loves them) Side note: J and I are totally cool with this staying a personal use only thing. Using the same towel, not our style.

3. Coffee Table Books- Mine, can you guess it? The Visual Miscellaneum is mix and match of random facts, charts, maps, numbers, recipes, etc. designed by a graphic designer in a new, often times funny and interesting way. Josh? His book is the 50th Anniversary of Sports Illustrated, which actually was a gift from me, should of got an Anne Levobitz book...just kidding! Maybe...

4. Our loofahs- J stuck to the very masculine, black (I really tried to beef this up because I wasn't sure if it is consider "metro" to use a loofah); while I chose a very girlie turquoise loofah in the shape of flower.

5. Tooth brushes-They both look the same, but we DEFINITELY do not share.

6. Daily Tray- J and I drop our keys, iPods, phones, wallets and change in this tray...but again, he has his and I have mine. We're happy that way, except when I sometimes put my stuff in J's part of the tray; he corrects me...lovingly!

7. Thermoses- Last but not least our coffee thermoses! J and I love our coffee in the morning; our mugs sit right next to the coffee pot and every morning we fill them on our way out the door. Well actually, we've only been doing that since Sunday because those were our Valentine gifts to each other. J's is the not-so-stainless steel and mine fools the eye into thinking I've bought a fresh cup of coffee every morning! Thanks hubs!

Kitchen Joy

If you haven't noticed from this post and this post we live in tinsy-winsy apartment with and itsy-bitsy kitchen. But, over the past month I have learned that joy can come in the smallest and most insignificant things. My kitchen linen drawer. I have a new found adoration for towels and my kitchen towels are some of my fav's! From the regular kitchen towels that are good for wiping counters and drying hands, to the massive monsters that can spread across a whole counter top for drying dishes; kitchen towels have become one of my favorite additions to being a newly-wed. Yes, I know, when you live by yourself you still have kitchen towels...but I love my towels, in my home, with the hubs. Cheesy? O well, I don't care!

There are some other little bonuses that I keep in this drawer, which make it extra special...to me!

The kitchen linen drawer consist of: Sham Wow's; Side note: Every time I get one of these bad boys out (btw, they are awesome, everything they are hyped up to be!) I sing it like Steven Tyler from Aerosmith in a really high-pitched voice "Shham Whhhaaaaaooooooooooooow!" I think it annoys J. Extra Magic Erasers and sponges, the tube for my Dustbuster (it has a "sucker" and a vacuum part, the black thing you see is "the sucker"), my new Martha Stewart kitchen towels (yay!) and my white kitchen towels that I love! Thank goodness for insignificant joys.

Announcement: Edy Rose Hale is one month old today! Ms. Edy Rose, Josh and I can't wait to meet you! You're so pretty we can't even believe it! We're one proud uncle and one proud aunt! We love you!

Order By Numbers: What's under the kitchen sink?

This is one of my favorite parts of our kitchen! It's my domain, anything and everything I could want to keep our crib running smoothly chills here. J knew my love for cleaning supplies long ago, so when we moved in he shared with me all of his Earth loving cleaning supplies from his old apartment, which, by the way, were all full...hmmm? We then proceeded to scrub and clean our little place while listening to his "Ridunkulous and Bald" mix on his iPod (consisting mainly of old, washed-up, R&B artists and songs...it's a lot of fun!). It's one of my favorite memories! I thought I'd share how we fit all of THAT into this tiny cabinet.1. Cleaning supplies: Natural Source glass and all purpose cleaner, great stuff, it comes highly recommended. Disinfecting wipes, Drain-o, leftover cabinet paper (what is pictured above is not the same for all the other cabinets.), trash bags, Swiffer dusters and sponges. Hint: Anything extra J and I accumulated, i.e., extra trash bags, paper towels, Febreeze, cleaning supplies; are pushed to the back of the cabinet. Easy to get to without taking up space towards the front.

2. Extra hand soap: This is going to sounds crazy but, when I open my cabinet and see the new soap waiting to be used, it's exciting. I mean...really...exciting.

3. Recognize this? It's the room spray that inspired me here! Easily accessible.

4. Swiffer Wet Jet Pads: With the kitchen and bathroom floors being so small, a mop is needed twice a week. SWJP are great! Hello Swiffer, Free Promotion! I swear by these little guys, quick and easy!

5. Light Bulbs: Pet peeve #243 - Not being able to find light bulbs. When I was in high school I had an obsession...I mean obsession with accent lighting. I had tons of lamps and lights in my room all giving a certain effect that I thought was awesome. It was always a big joke around the house that I would go and look for light bulbs and my dad would hide them or make me ask him for one just so he could lecture me about leaving my lights on. That whole scenario didn't seem funny then, but it is hilarious now!

6. Dust Buster: I'll be honest, I thought these guys were out of date but sweeping daily has given my Dust Buster and I a time to bond. I stored the charger in the back of the cabinet for easy access and a quick boost of energy for my friend.

7. Kitchen Towel Drawer: I wanted my kitchen towels to stay clean (they are mostly white) and with all of the drawers being taken I need a place to put them. This drawer was one I had left over from college and it works perfectly. All of my towels plus a couple of magic erasers and a drain stopper are here and out of the way.

It's nice to open the kitchen cabinet and not have cleaning supplies, towels, garbage bags and dusters fall everywhere! I have a no chaos policy! That I don't seem to stick to most of the time.

Order by Numbers: Kitchen

Hi, I'm Kelsey and I am a pet peever. "HI KELSEY." I have a ridiculous amount of pet peeves, it's so ridiculous that they are some-what numbered. For example, when a pet peeve happens I will say "Pet Peeve Number: 152" followed by the pet peeve. My numer uno: People not washing their hands after using the restroom, I see it all the time when I'm in the ladies room...a girl will walk out after relieving herself then she will head out the door like it's no biggie. Gross. Really if there is rude, to me, that is rude. Some of my pet peeves like "hands awareness" make sense, but some are bogus. They range from having a dry sink (I don't like water droplets to stay in the sink) to towels being folded in a tri-fold ( you know 1/3 over, followed by the next 1/3). J has started to pick up on some of these and even though he thinks they are absurd and they are, he's coping. But, let's be honest the hubs is a pet peeve-aholic too and some of his are pretty bizarre. I mean bizarre.
Well when we made the big move into our little abode we had to make organizing a major priority. Before we moved in J brought me to see our apartment, I took a mental picture and with that mental picture I knew exactly where everything was going to go. I'm a proud weirdo. Ok, so I took an inventory of how many plates, bowls, cups, mugs, pots and pans, appliances and Tupperware we were going to be moving into this itsy bitsy kitchen. I'm no know-it-all when it comes to organizing or marriage, but I figured I'd share an inside look on what worked for us and maybe it could help you out if you ever get to a big, organization, rock in the road.

1. When J and I got back from the honeymoon one of our first quests was heading out to by groceries, we realized we really had no space for the food we were going to buy. I had an idea that I thought would work and it did, thank goodness! We bought these two silver beverage buckets at Tar-jet to store food. The buckets have been really helpful; especially for food we do not eat everyday. Hint: J and I were in Home Depot the other day during the Presidents Day Sale and they had these buckets for waaaaay cheaper than Tar-jet...wish we would've know, but now you do!

2. This is a cabinet that holds a lot of extra needs. For example, when J and I got our spice rack we were lacking Garlic Salt so we store our small shaker up top, in the "we don't use this a lot cabinet". There is also tea bags, extra coffee, our Hamburger Helper stash, and some Bisquick.

3. The upper cabinets above the sink has one shelf, the bottom shelf holds all of our smaller appliances. Small crock-pot, food processor, some things the hubs can grill a chicken with and at the very end is my Tupperware holder (as seen on TV!). Three different sizes of Tupperware all sit on the same spinner, makes for easy storage and use! On the top shelf we have more Tupperware and our Pyrex dishes.

4. These canisters were bought on the cheap at Wally World. We needed something for sugar, coffee, and flour. We bought these and they work great for storing and keeping all the goodness fresh. Plus, I can actually grab them pretty easily...just a little stretch.

5. Holds all of J's grilling utensils, he was given so many! I'm so happy for spring to come so Bobby Fillet, a.k.a Josh, can get to work!

6. Kitchen Sink Cabinet...cleaning supplies! I'm a nerd whose obsessed with cleaning supplies! I store them all, neatly, here. But, the cabinet runs into the cabinet next to it, so #6 also holds large platters, pitchers, cutting boards and our French press (thanks mom!)

7. A newly installed towel rack! Thanks hubs! Bonus: J and I got a Macy's gift card as a wedding gift and we couldn't be more thankful! Yesterday, we went to the Macy's President's Day Sale and I got a pack of Martha Stewart kitchen towels and a fondue pot with forks! J got a potato masher and some manly glasses (set of 4). We were super stoked!

8. I am thankful for this cabinet! It goes very deep! So deep in fact that it holds all of our pots and pans, our large crock pot, 2 baking dishes and our toaster. Thankfulness can come from anywhere right?

9. Silverware and cooking utensils

10. The good thing about J and mine dishes is that they are extremely storage friendly. The plates stack tightly and the bowls stack...nicely. We could fit all of our plates (salad and dinner) and bowls (soup and salad) in this cabinet.

11. Serving dishes, bowls, platters, etc.

12. Misc. items: Oven mitt, lighter, small hammer, tape

13. Cooking utensils: Measuring cups, spoons, whisk and our new masher call this drawer home.

14. Baking sheets and pans

15. We were blesses with a few beautiful glass pieces, I wanted them to have a safe home. This cabinet is the most out of the way and the least handy. It made sense to put the items that we might not use all the time, but treasure, in these cabinets.

16. Number 15 extended.

Needless to say, everything is in it's place. Whew, thanks goodness!

Inspired by linen spray?

I'm not an artist. I wish I was in the worst way; I love painting, drawing, graphic design and working in a pottery studio 9 months made me adore pottery painting. Still, my "talent" level is low. I would love to be one of those people who can whip out great works in no time...a "Bob Ross" if you will. Sadly, no. I did indulge myself a little in college with my minor being in Studio Art, which gives me the cred's to be a pre-school, kindergarten, special education and 1st-3rd grade art teacher (which I would love). Still our home isn't filled with my own work and it never will be. However, recently I got inspired by a linen spray bottle. Inspiration can come in any package right?My dear friend, Hayley, got me the most wonderful Linen Spray as a wedding gift; I literally use it everyday. One the side of the bottle was the company's stamp, I had been admiring the stamp for a couple of weeks and decided to tweek it and make it my own for a little spice in our very bare living room. After a couple of rough sketches and a couple of size modifications this is what I got.Again. I am NOT an artist. I know it's not great, but I thought this little piece could be a cheap fix to a bear wall. Altogether this work cost J and I:

• Paper: Free! One of my sketch pads left over from college
• Pens: Free! Left over from my on-going Sharpie obsession
• Frame: $9.99 from Tar-jet
• Grand total: $10.73...technicall it was free, Target gift card, yay!

Josh really liked it, which I was glad. He thought it looked like the label for a beer bottling company, so if we ever decide to bottle our own beer we will use this as our stamp. I don't see that being on the horizon, but you never know.

Cheap art, gotta love it!

"That's why they call me Frenchie!"

As you can see here J and I have quite the small kitchen! We are still making lots of progress on our little home and really starting to form our own design style! Which I could not be more excited about! When I was living in Little Rock I was introduced to the super cheap and uber fab (you have to look around but uber fab is there) Garden Ridge! Cheap-o items that really make good home design on a budget possible. About two years ago I purchased to French Boards for pictures and notes to put in my small room. Well, once I made the big move to COMO I couldn't leave them behind.

When we moved in and started putting our home together I figured out the perfect place to put my little French Boards...in the kitchen! They can hold recipes, pictures, lists and other important documentation that we will need on a daily basis.

As you can see here, we have pics from our honeymoon, a list of fish names (which...btw, we still don't have the part for our fish tank...what's going on BabyOrb?) and my Carnival card. I think these add a fun, little whim to our kitchen.

Here are our little frenchies in their fullness. They really do add to our kitchen and they make for some really interesting things to look at while I'm stirring Hamburger Helper!

Disclaimer: I wrote this post almost two weeks ago, my computer froze and I wasn't able to finish it. Also, Josh and I have been really busy! I'm volunteering for The Foundation for the Higher Good, a Columbia based non-profit! I'm lovin' it! I apologize for the lack of posts, I'll try to stop being so lame.