the elephant in the room

I have the entire day to myself, so I haven't really left my bedroom much today except to eat lunch & use the bathroom. I love lazy days where I can just stay in my PJs all day & watch tv in bed, as well as surf the net & update my blog!!

This past week, my parents took Gracie to the zoo, since I got 3 free passes the last time I went because a few rides were closed. Our zoo is so amazing because every time we go (we have a yearly pass) if there is one thing not working, they will always comp the visit with free tickets to come back. It doesn't even matter that I have the year pass, they still give me free tickets! It's pretty awesome! We've already given three tickets to my parents and three tickets to my MIL.

Anyway, when my parents brought Gracie home after their zoo trip on Wednesday, my mom handed me a box & said 'Happy early Anniversary!' I opened the box and inside was this beautiful 24 carat gold Elephant! Squee!!









Isn't he beautiful?! He lives on a shelf in the dining room area.



I love it so much! I think we're gonna go & get Mr. Gold Elephant a friend to put on the other end of the shelf. Paul wants a penguin. He loves penguins like I love elephants. He actually used to have a huge embarrassing collection when I first started dating him, but got rid of them all because it was just overkill. I can't even. It was pretty funny.

Today, after I started making my lunch, I went to go let Max in & opened my front door & saw a package. I totally forgot that my other new elephants would be here today! My parents also ordered me these amazingly friggin' cute salt & pepper shaker elephants for my birthday from Mod Cloth! Countdown is down to 9 days (April 2nd)! I'll be 27.

The box they came in is so cute!



Here are a bunch of snap shots of these cute little things...











I love those little elephant tails! Too stinkin' cute.

These little guys live in the kitchen. On the shelves my dad built for me above my sink. I've actually been wanting to share this area with you guys for a while now but it's not completely done yet, so you can't completely see the sink & the counter. I'll share those pictures when we get the back splash up.







The kitchen printouts were ordered from this great Etsy store. Check it out if you're interested!

Like I said above, we still need to add the back splash & molding around the built-ins. All in good time! We will get there. :)

Hope you all have a great weekend! My birthday is a week from Monday! Eeeeee!!

Living Room / Dining Room Remodel

Welp, I finally got my shit together & took pictures of the living room/dining room to share with all of you. I'm currently in the process of doing the kitchen, I only have a few more things to do and it will be finished, oh I cannot wait! Anyway, without further ado, here are the befores & afters.

Mind you, I took these 'before' photos probably 2 years ago, so a lot has come and gone in my living room since then, but the main stuff was the same, like the wall colors, sofa, rug, etc. The TV in the after shots, is the same tv we've had for about 2 years, so that isn't that new. Just wanted to throw that in there.

We also added molding around the windows & new window sills, but you can't really tell. Just know, they are there. I tried taking a before shot of the windows before the molding and sills but it came out too dark.

BEFORE.













The view from the front door, looking in.


AFTER.
(Living Room side/area)









Don't mind Paul's head & my Easter decorations, on the Kitchen side. I'll have a picture post of those next week! :)






The view from the front door, looking in.



(Dining Room side/area)







Shelf details. Yes, that's a picture of my dad flipping off the camera... at my wedding. hahahha He's a firecracker! I loved it so much, I had to frame it. ;P


The little people picture, my mom made for me, after I found something similar on Pinterest & fell in love. It's little people as Map cutouts. The boy is where Paul is from, the girl is where I'm from. I looove it so much. <3



Well, that's it! Feel free to comment & tell me what you think! <3 Feel free to ask questions, I'd love to answer them!

sicky sick.

Welp, I think I really overdid myself on the living room/dining room renovations because yesterday I started feeling myself getting sick, then last night it hit me like a ton of bricks and allll day I've been sneezing and can breathe out of my nose. I've used an entire box of tissues today. It's awful. I feel like complete crap right now. :(

Anyway, with that said, I'll hopefully be back later this week with a room update with some pictures. I'm so in love with my living room/dining room I can't even type it out to completely explain it to you. All I can say is when I walk into my house now my heart feels so big it could explode, with a smile ear to ear. I actually feel like I'm HOME. It's so me. So, Us. Love!

Living Room boom

I've been one busy bee this past week and weekend. Yesterday we went and bought alllll of the new furniture for the living room/dining room area from IKEA. I had so much fun going around picking out everything and having Paul write it all down & then hunting it all down in the warehouse. I also painted an old boring wood cabinet that held all of our wedding goodies and things and omg what a transformation! I can't wait for everything to be painted & put together so I can take pictures of everything & share it with all of you!

If you notice I added a 'rate this post' part at the bottom of my posts so all you lazy daisys who don't like to comment can still put your two cents in by clicking one of the boxes. ;)

I'll be back next week with pictures & a total room update. Until then, stay tuned!

it's keeps getting bigger!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas! I had a pretty good one. My kids did really well. Santa treated them good for being great kids! I also did pretty well myself. Got lots of clothes, the main thing I wanted & of course the Femme Fatale tour dvd! I love my Britney!

Anyway, with the next couples months getting closer & closer, my dreams of a brand new living room/dining room & kitchen are becoming more of a reality & not just a fantasy. I sat down today & made a list of everything I need to do with all three spaces. Warning: these lists are long & getting outta control! Brace yourself! ha. I kid.

living room~
1.) new sofa
2.) new stand under tv
3.) new art & decor
4.) new lamps/lighting
5.) throw pillows, rug & blankets
6.) console/sofa table
7.) new mirror
8.) paint walls, cabinet
9.) tree wall decal
10.) new curtians
11.) coffee table (s?)
12.) tv on wall
13.) new rug for front door
14.) new front door knob

dining room~
1.) new table & chairs
2.) shelves for walls
3.) decor for shelves
4.) table cloth/place mats/runner
5.) center piece
6.) lighting
7.) curtians
8.) rug for under table

kitchen~
1.) paint walls
2.) paint cabinets
3.) new countertops
4.) build new 'floor to ceiling cabs' & bench
5.) new molding
6.) new lighting
7.) take down mini-wall for fridge
8.) new curtians
9.) paint table & buy new chairs
10.) remove counter & cabs, replace floor
11.) add beadboard to main wall

As you can see, the next few months shall be busy! I start all of this at the end of February... and I can't stinkin' wait! Are you planning any home projects? Hopefully yours are a little more laid back. haha!