Me, Myself, and I

Posted in Personal by Christina

So, I was reading Bower Power the other day and Katie wrote a post including 10 facts about herself. And it got me thinking… aside from a few random tidbits here and there, I’ve never really talked about myself on the blog. Crazy, being that I’ve been blogging for approximately 21 months now. You’d think that aside from corny jokes regarding my taste in decor, and the occasional post about my brother, I would’ve divulged more about myself by now. So, I decided to throw caution to the wind and start now by offering up ~~ten~~ eleven random things about me (I had ten, then I thought of one more). In no particular order, let’s get started…

1. My favorite movie of all time is Stranger Than Fiction.

(source)

It’s the one where Will Ferrell plays an IRS agent who starts hearing his life being narrated by a voice. It’s quirky, smart, funny, and has a good sense of heart. I love it more and more every time I watch it. If you’re a realist, this film may not be for you, but something about it speaks to me. It’s just good, and as such, it’s Joey’s favorite movie as well. Decor-wise, I’m in LOVE with Anna Pascal’s (played by Maggie Gyllenhaal) bakery. It’s the epitome of cozy and eclectic. I pretty much want to live there.

2. My most embarrassing story. One summer, I was home from college and went to see a movie with some girlfriends. I was driving, and it was raining (and I wasn’t wearing my glasses…. My inner self-preservationist is forcing me to type that right now). We were heading home, and there was a lot of construction on the route that I normally took, so I decided to take a short cut through a nearby neighborhood and cut across Main Street. The first street in the neighborhood that I normally would’ve turned on was barricaded, so I thought “They must’ve had a block party today!”. And I cluelessly continued up the road. The next street was wide open, so I made a right turn and headed down to Main Street. Once I got there, I noticed that the street was flanked by an open chain link gate. My thoughts? “Hmmm…. They’re gating Main Street now? Weird.” And, I plunged on through. Once I was through the gate, I looked up and realized in horror that I was heading straight for a corn dog stand. I stopped the car immediately, looked to my left and discovered a tent about 15 feet away with a middle school choir singing beneath it…. And the entire audience was staring AT ME. A quick glance in my rear view revealed two men in neon yellow vests chasing after my car screaming “STOP!”. Yup. That’s right. I’d driven into Grapefest. A large festival held on Main Street every year. Crapcrapcrapcrap. CRAAAAAAP. At this point, I wholeheartedly wished the earth would take pity on me and swallow me up. It did not. I’m pretty sure it laughed, too. I was so mortified and panicked at that moment, that rather than using my brain and simply reversing out of the festival, I proceeded to make the Austin Powers of three-point turns. Forward. Back. Forward. Back. Forward. Back. It took about 12 times to finally turn my car around and head the heck out. And yes, my friends were doubled over in laughter. Needless to say, I never heard the end of that one. And I never took that short cut again either.

(At Main Street years later. I did NOT drive.)

3. I am absolutely, 100% petrified of spiders. It’s kind of ridiculous. Even a picture of a spider makes me jump and smack myself due to that imaginary tickly feeling of those little bastards crawling on me. That’s why I hate it when people post pictures of spiders on Facebook or pin them on Pinterest. There’s nothin’ worse then innocently scrolling through your newsfeed and finding your finger atop a giant hairy spider. Ugh. #justdont It doesn’t matter if they’re big or little, hairy or smooth, I despise them all equally. When I’m alone with a spider, it’s quite the dilemma. See, I can’t kill it because what if I get close and it jumps? No. No. Unnnecessary risk. Definitely unnecessary. But, I can’t leave it either. I mean, where would it go? Would it crawl into my ear while I was sleeping? Fall on my head as I’m cooking? Hide in my shoe? So, the protocol that I abide by is as follows: (1) Find a bowl, pot, large cup or any other concave item. (2) Get as close to the evil creature as is safe. What is a safe distance, you ask? Why this is directly proportional to the size of your concave object. The larger your item, the less margin for error, thus the greater your safety distance. (3) Gently toss concave object over the offending arachnid, turn, run away, and scream. (4) Write a note which contains a derivative of “Joey, Spider under pot/bowl/cup. Kill it! Kill it! Love ya! “. (5) Maintain safe distance and toss note on top of concave object. (6) Go about your business.

It’s irrational but effective.

My friends and family have been known to have some fun with my fear of spiders over the years. Once, my boss at a previous job rigged a huge rubber tarantula over the door to my office and had it drop on me when I walked in. He thought it was hilarious. And I guess, in the end, so did I because (shocker) I GOT NOTHING DONE THAT DAY. Productivity is directly proportional to the degree with which you scar your employees. Just saying. Then, there was my brother, Alex, who ALWAYS had fun with the spider thing. Once on a hiking trip at Mohonk Mountain with my cousins, he ran up ahead, doubled back, came up behind me, and tickled me with a branch while videotaping. So, he basically captured videographic evidence of me screaming, running way, realizing what happened, then charging up to punch him in the arm (plus about three more versions of this as the day went on). And I fell for it every.time. Stupid spiders.

(With Alex at Mohonk Mountain. If I look stiff it’s because apparently I’m also afraid of heights. And that edge was veeery close.)

4. I’m a total sucker for ghost shows. Paranormal Witness (give us new episodes already!), Ghost Hunters, etc. I friggin love that stuff. I’d say that my interest started on our honeymoon in Eureka Springs, Arkansas.

(Joey and I on our honeymoon in 2008)

There’s a haunted hotel there called the Crescent Hotel that offers ghost tours. We went one night and it was so interesting. Apparently, Ghost Hunters had done an investigation there and caught a rare full-bodied apparition on their thermal camera. One of the couples that was on the tour with us actually caught a photo of a face on their camera during the tour as well. It was like a floating blue face in the middle of the hallway. Totally crazy. We just captured a bunch of boring orbs, which may or may not have been dust…

From that point forward, I was hooked. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m a total weenie. I wanna see this stuff on TV (far far away somewhere in TV-land) but I don’t want to be anywhere near it in real life. This was made exceptionally clear when on a subsequent trip to Eureka Springs, Joey somehow talked me into STAYING at the Crescent hotel. And I didn’t sleep a wink for fear that I would become possessed at sometime during the night.

5. I am a dog person.

(our old dog Gus and I)

Cats hate me. Seriously. One of my roommates in college had a cat and it tried to b!&ch-slap me on more than one occasion. It also seemed to know which belongings were mine and it would wait until I came within view and then hastily claw at that item with all it’s might. Whilst staring me straight in the eye to make sure I was watching, no less. Now, I know that there are sweet cats out there that make awesome pets. Many of my friends own them, in fact. But I’ve never met one that I felt wasn’t plotting my death. So, I stick with dogs. It just seems like a safer option for me.

6. I’m not really a car person, either. Sure, I like a good, dependable, low gas mileage car to get me from point A to point B. But that’s it. I don’t need bells and whistles or the coolest looking car. Just a car that works. And honestly I’m not the greatest at remembering to clean it. It’s out of sight, out of mind. Once I’m in the house, I focus on the house. Not the car. My darling husband, who IS a car person in terms of keeping it perfectly clean and show-ready at all times is driven nuts by this fact. I often joke that I keep a clean person, I keep a clean child, and I keep a clean house…. my car is where I draw the line!! Haha! Joey is not entertained.

Heehee! These are actually shots from our honeymoon. We were just being goofy, but I thought they captured the mood of this one perfectly. Poor guy. So, my car usually gets cleaned about twice a year when Joey just can’t take it anymore.

7. I’m a coffee shop/pub kind of gal when I’m choosing not to be a homebody (which is most of the time).

(My cousin Kim and I in 2009)

If I go out, I want a cozy atmosphere. Worn-in leather booths. Random chachkies on the wall. A pint o’ cider or warm cup o’ joe. In a place where I can actually hear the people I’m with and have a good conversation. This has always been my preference, even in the college days when clubbing was all that and a bag of chips. This might be why I worked at coffee shops on and off from the time I turned 16 until I got my first “real” job as a dietitian. I worked everywhere from smaller mom-and-pop coffee shops to Starbucks, which is where I worked through most of college and grad school. It’s a great company to work for and I loved it.

8. My roommate in college started her own wedding photography business in her room while we lived together. At the beginning, she needed more material for her website, so she enlisted me and a few other friends to model in “mock” bridal shoots. It was super fun. She borrowed wedding dresses from local shops, got us all dressed up, and took, what seemed like, a million shots. Here’s one that she used in her advertisement in 2003…

The photos came out great, but let’s face it… It was me in a wedding dress. And I was single. So, not really photos that I’d planned to broadcast to loved ones. So, imagine my surprise when I visited my well-intentioned, wishful-thinking family in NY only to discover that they’d gone onto her website and ordered prints. Which were hanging in their houses. Single little me. In a wedding dress. On their walls. I was convinced for years that this alone had jinxed me into singledom forever. Haha! Then I met Joey and I didn’t care anymore. 🙂

9. I find bathroom humor hilarious. I will never grow out of this.

(source)

10. Jogging is the one exercise I don’t have to force myself to do. I really enjoy it. It’s like my veg-out time where I can listen to music and chill. It’s therapeutic and I always feel better mentally and physically when I jog regularly. Of course as mentioned in #4, I am a weenie. So, I tend to jog less when it’s freezing cold or sweltering hot, but I do try to continue it to some extent all year long.

11. I’m a huge fan of Ben Folds. I’ve seen him in concert 8 times. Joey was with me 7 of them. Ben’s just so entertaining to watch live. He plays the piano. Tells funny stories between songs. And always creates a new song on stage. Over the last few years he began touring and performing with local symphonies Basically, whatever city he visited he played with their symphony. We’ve seen him with both the Dallas Symphony and Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. It’s kind of funny because his songs are quirky, and some contain adult language. So, him performing with a symphony feels a little like swearing in front of your grandparents. But somehow it works. In 2006, I attended my very first Ben Fold’s concert. My friend Shannon had invited me and a few friends along and then convinced us to stand for 45 minutes in the freezing cold by his trailer to get a picture with him. And it paid off…

That’s Ben, me, and my friend Kara’s finger. This was pre-digital, so the finger-photo-bomb wasn’t discovered until after I got the film developed. In my opinion, it gives the picture character. Haha! On another note, this picture is what we initially credit to Joey and I dating. He loved Ben Folds too and when he found this picture on my MySpace profile (yes, MySpace… remember that?), he knew he must date me. Ha! Thanks, Ben! 🙂

So, those are my eleven things. Now tell me something about you! I wanna hear your stories. 🙂

28May2015

A little (breakfast) nooky

Posted in DIY by Christina

… Um, a little breakfast nook action? Er, wait…. A delightful little post about our breakfast nook! BAM!

So, when we moved in, the breakfast nook was one of the very few areas of our home that needed little to no work…

I loved the flooring, paint color, trim, and don’t even get me started on that awesome sunlight seeping through the french doors. You can “oooo” and “aaaah” now. I won’t stop you. 😉 Of course, we are effectively thumbing our noses at the dated countertops and nose-cabinets in the kitchen portion of the room. They continue to taunt me with their tacky ways and unflattering schnozzes, thus are destined for eventual renovation.

After moving in, we basically just plopped down some furniture that we already owned, which left it looking like this….

That huge red artwork is my favorite. My mother-in-law made it and gifted it to us when we moved in. I love the scale of it and the pop of color that it lends to the space. It’s pretty much the definition of awesome. The ceiling fan that we inherited in the nook was also pretty darn nice as far as ceiling fans go. Although, from the get-go, I’d planned to move it into one of the bedrooms to replace one of the other fugly ceiling fans that we also inherited. What I really wanted to do in this area was add a pendant light above the table.

My other dilemmas with the space included furniture + furniture arrangement. Though they aren’t terribly offensive in pics, I was never a fan of that table and chairs in the photo above (in this space anyways). The table was my previous craft table that I stripped and painted for our last house, and the chairs were craigslist finds that I refinished and recovered. They both looked great in our last house, but thrown together in this house, I wasn’t jumping for joy. First off, the space is a high traffic area. It leads to the laundry room, which leads to the back patio and our pool bath, the french doors lead out to the pool, and the garage door (not shown) which is our main mode of entry to the house is located on the other side of the red painting. So, a square table just wasn’t maximizing the flow of the space. The nook was screaming for a round table, preferably a round pedestal table.

I also didn’t like the off-centered arrangement that we had going in the photo above. It was weird. After we moved in, it took me a while to get a feel for the flow of the space, so I experimented quite a bit with furniture placement. And the arrangement above was one phase of said experiment. One aspect that really threw me was the location of the ceiling fan. It was slightly off-center and really close to the french doors, which meant that a table could never be oriented beneath it while still allowing outdoor access. So, functionally, the table was in an okay spot, but visually, it really bothered me to not have the table beneath the fan.

After several months of playing with the space, I finally decided that the table needed to be centered in the room and that there was adequate space to be able to do that. I found a round pedestal table on Craigslist, which I refinished (post coming soon… The table is now complete and curing in the garage looking all sexy and fresh). I can’t wait to (1) finally get it into the space and (2) show you guys.

But, in the meantime, we’ve (waitforit) installed a different lighting fixture. And I’ll tell ya… It’s new. And it’s specTACular.

Oh, yes.

See, my birthday was in April and although I said no gifts, Joey gave me the black metal hexagon lighting fixture from World Market…

I loved the shape and boldness of it, plus the price couldn’t be beat. I’d mentioned how much I liked it a while back and Joey remembered. Way to rack up the Husband-Points, Joe. 🙂 So anyways, after about a month of sitting in the box, we finally got it hung as shown by this lovely iPhone shot (it was only temporarily like this while we shopped for swag hooks)…

We left the chain long, because we wanted to swag the fixture to a better location to allow it to be centered over the table. We plan to eventually have an electrician come out to do a bunch of electrical work, including moving the junction box to a location above the pendant, but until then, swagging was a good, cheap, easy solution. I purchased this swag kit from Lowes for about $4, then spray painted one of the hooks oil rubbed bronze to match the fixture….

Since the fixture would be hung from drywall only, these were the components from the kit that I needed…

The kit also came with a wood screw for securing into beams. I began by screwing the anchor into the screw-thing (technical term escaping me at present, sorry)…

Then, I threaded on the hook…

I measured my location on the ceiling (centered in both the room and on the doorway to the laundry room) and used a 1/2 ” drill bit as suggested by the instructions on the package to drill a hole in my chosen location…

Next, I folded my anchor down and slid it into my hole…

Once it was through the drywall, I heard the spring mechanism engage indicating that the anchor had reopened. I tightened the hook by basically pulling down to apply some pressure to the anchor into the drywall and screwing it in place. Which left this…

I swagged the chain, leaving the fixture approximately 30″ above the table which is a standard height. Initially after swagging, the fixture looked like this…

It was okay, but I felt that the chain was too long and baggy, which resulted in a messier aesthetic than I was going for.

Cue the handy husband…

Joey removed some chain links using a pair of needle-nose pliers and fed the excess wire into the junction box, which left the swag much shorter and less obtrusive…

Neater too, right?? From the front you can barely even tell it’s swagged now…

And here’s the breakfast nook as it currently stands…

It’s amazing the difference a lighting fixture can make. I’m reminded of this every time I change one out, and yet I always put off doing it for whatever reason.

Photo bomb!

And with the light on…

I love the design that it casts on the ceiling. Snazzy. Plus, it draws the attention away from the plant I’m killing in the corner. Ha! Score.

So, next we’re finally moving the new table into the space and I’ll post about that once I get it photographed.

**Check out the following posts for how our breakfast nook looks now after refinishing a pedestal table and recovering the chairs/adding a few antique finds***

Tell me, does anybody else credit lighting fixtures with being life-changing? Just me? Shall I name it? I do that, ya know… If you’ve followed this blog for long enough, you’ve met Drex, Fri, Kivvy, plus more! Perhaps they need a new friend? 😉