Monday Ramblings

Just a bunch of randoms today!

Maisy

Last week, I took Maisy to the vet to have a lump on her arm looked at. She had surgery on Wednesday to have it removed, and of course, I was a nervous/crying wreck all day. When we brought her home, she was still super drugged and was just acting so pitiful. The kitties loved on her non-stop, kissing her all over her face and snuggling with her. This, of course, made me cry even more :) But a few days later, Maisy is feeling great and the lump is BENIGN!!! 

Parenthood

When Maisy has surgery, I get super emotional and can't seem to leave her side until I know she's okay and feeling good. So since I had all of this down time, I decided to watch a series I'd heard such great things about- Parenthood. Y'all weren't kidding, this show is amazing. My favorite family is Sara's. As a Gilmore Girls fanatic, I love that Sara is very similar to Lorelei. I absolutely love Amber, and Drew is just adorable and so sweet. I just finished Season 3, but I know who Sara picks at the end of Season 4 and I am NOT happy about it. What did y'all think of it? (I'm trying not to spoil it for those of you who haven't seen it yet!)

Couch 2 5K

One of my (many) New Year's Resolutions is to complete Couch 2 5K. I tried it a year ago and made it 4 weeks before I quit. This time, I'm determined to finish it. I'm hoping it will make me enjoy running. Right now? I HATE IT. But I have hope that this will change! (For the record, I'm still going strong on all of my resolutions! I've never lasted this long before!)

Several people have asked what app this is- it's called Ease Into 5k but I think it's exactly the same format as Couch 2 5k. Plus, you can choose those fun little faces to describe how you were feeling on that day :)

LC Lauren Conrad

I have to share one of my favorite clothing lines- LC Lauren Conrad at Kohl's. I have found some of my favorite pieces from her line, and just recently I came across this gold foil sweater that's on sale! I've been obsessed with gold for a while now, so this just had my name all over it. Plus it has tiny bows on the back. What's not to love? 

Boots

I also need to tell y'all about my newfound skin saver. I'll be completely honest, I take terrible care of my skin. I have the bad habit of sleeping with my makeup on (GASP!) and I rarely used moisturizer. Because of this, my pores are big. I really thought there wasn't much I could do to reverse this, but one fateful day in Target changed this. I was looking for a new moisturizer when the Boots rep came up to me and recommended their line of products. She told me it was "department store quality for drugstore price." And at this, I was sold! I bought the face wash, moisturizer, eye cream (my first time using eye cream!), and the pore refining serum. Y'all, this stuff works wonders. I've only been using it for a couple weeks, but I can tell a huge difference in my skin. Doug even noticed! My pores have reduced in size considerably, so I'm really excited to see what it'll look like in the upcoming weeks. I just bought the exfoliating mask today, and I have no doubt it'll be amazing, too! 

*Boots has no idea I'm writing this...I just had to tell y'all about these products!*

Keeping Marriage Fun

This may sound weird, but beauty pageants are quickly becoming one of our favorite traditions. Doug and I are ridiculously competitive, and we can (and do) turn pretty much anything into a competition. So when Miss America/USA/Universe comes on, we grab a bottle of wine and pick our ladies. Then we have a good old time yelling for our picks!

This is just one of our ways to keep our marriage fun. It's the little things like this that make me excited for the next 50 years with Doug :) And for the record, I'm undefeated in this little game of ours :) 

PS- People kept following me on Instagram, so I decided to start using it! You can find me here.

No Sew Window Seat Cushion

Another DIY for y'all today! I've been cranking out the projects around the house, so this won't be the last you see on here! 

We have a beautiful bay window seat in our bedroom, and I wanted to make a cushion for it and spend as little as possible. And I didn't want to use my sewing machine, since that always results in a meltdown. So I came up with a very quick and budget-friendly solution that can be used again when we inevitably move!

First, measure your window seat! 

I bought my foam (2" thick) at Joann's. That stuff is expensive! Tip: download the Joann's Fabric app and there is, just about always, a 50% off coupon. I had them cut it to 66" (length) by 23" (width/depth) and then I finished the rest of the cutting at home.

Since I have a bay window, the dimensions were a little more complicated. First, I measured the little sides (the red in the picture above) and marked accordingly on each side on the foam. 

I marked the half way point at the top of the foam (33"), and used that mark as the center of the length of the back of the cushion (I feel like I'm speaking gibberish right now...I hope this is making sense!) The turquoise line (pictured above) is 27", so half of that is 13.5". Using your measuring tape, place 13.5 on the mark that you made for 33" (the middle of the whole cushion). Then mark at each end of the measuring tape. 

That would be Pep's foot up there :)

Using a straight edge, connect the marks on each side! Apparently I need to invest in a yard stick, as the only straight edge I could find was our dining room mirror :)

Measure the lines you just made to make sure it's accurate (the black lines above= 17.5") Then, cut! An electric knife is the best tool to use for this, but I couldn't find mine so I just used kitchen shears, and they worked surprisingly well! 

Now it's time to make it pretty! I chose to not sew for a few reasons. 1) I hate it. 2) It takes me about 12x longer than it should, and 3) I wanted to be able to use this cushion again for our next house, and there's a good chance the dimensions will be completely different. So I ordered a bit of extra fabric, wrapped it like a gift, and safety-pinned it onto the bottom! This way, it's super easy to take on and off and throw in the wash. Plus, if we move and have a bigger window seat, I can just add extra foam and re-use the fabric! 

Please pretend that you don't see my filthy carpet. Today's vacuuming day, I promise! :)

I absolutely love how it turned out!

And so do the cats...they are up here every time I walk in the room!

A few pretty pillows complete the look.

This is now one of my favorite little spots in the house! 

DIY Custom Canisters

I've been a busy little crafter lately. The silver lining of moving so much is that it gives me an excuse to update a few things here and there, and I'm just about done! Here's an easy DIY that I did over the weekend.

I love the canisters we've used for the past few years, but they finally started to crack on us.

I found these adorable canisters at Target but wasn't too crazy about the colors (specifically the mustard yellow one!) Then I remembered that you can paint just about anything now, so with a little Googling and a trip to Michael's, I discovered FolkArt glass paint. So cheap ($2.50 a bottle!) and so easy. (Martha Stewart also has glass paint but doesn't have as many colors as FolkArt.)

Simply paint your glass or ceramic object and let it air dry for 1 hour. Then, place your items into a cool oven and bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Allow them to completely cool in the oven before removing them. Now you have a beautiful, dishwasher-safe canister! (I threw in my spoon rest, too!)

I used my chalk pen to label them, which gives you a peek into our healthy, well-balanced diet :)

Happy Monday, y'all!

This Is THE VOICE!

I meant to post this weeks ago, so now I don't even remember what month this all happened in! Maybe November? :) 

I was so happy when Michaela moved to LA for school this past year. We have had so much fun together already! We went to a taping for The Voice together and had the best time, despite it being about -20 degrees in the studio. Seriously, if you ever go to a taping for it, WEAR A PARKA. Luckily, one of the audience producers took pity on us and gave us his jacket, but we were still shivering all night while shoved in a jacket together :) It was a sight! 

The episode we went to was when the top 12 performed, and honestly they sounded even better live. That night was when Cassadee Pope became my favorite, and I'm so glad she won! Pictures aren't allowed in the studio at all, but the audience producer snuck one with his phone for us anyways :) It's terribly blurry, but you can at least tell it's us!

A couple weeks later, we met up for dinner at our favorite place in Westwood, Palomino. Michaela shares my love for their gorgonzola fries and pomegranate margarita :)

Twins in reverse!

Note to self: IRON.

Afterwards, we headed to another one of our favorites- The Grove!

We walked outside of a store to find that it was SNOWING! (Fake snow, obviously!) I flipped out and was way more excited than the kids running around. It was so beautiful!

Michaela, I'm so glad you are in LA now! And I think we're overdue for another round of gorgonzola fries and pomegranate margs :)

Diego Turns One

My little baby turned 1 yesterday! We are so blessed that this little guy joined our family almost a year ago. He really completed our family- he is Pep's best friend and he thinks that Maisy is his mama. It makes me choke up every time I see the babies loving up on each other, and sometimes I still can't believe our pets love each other this much. I've never seen anything like it between 3 animals and I probably never will again! We are blessed, and I just love these 3 so much. Happy Birthday little Diego, you have brought so much laughter and happiness into our lives!

A few pictures from the day we adopted him

Meeting for the first time 

Diego was absolutely terrified of Maisy at first, but it only took him a day to realize she is the sweetest girl in the world.

It took us just seconds to fall in love with this sweet boy...this is when Doug really became a 'cat person' (something he still won't admit :)

And now some tons of my favorite pictures of these 3