Hand-decorated bathroom accessories

I have a rather eclectic bathroom, mostly because I didn't really have a "set" like we do in our guest one.  Our bathroom is black, brown, red, and gold...and has a slightly Asian touch to it (but only in the decorations, really). 

The look

Zen garden, cool candle holders, and a DIY bamboo painting give it a slightly Asian feel...

So do these origami dolls I made and framed for display.  :)

I still have some work to do...like incorporating some more earthly elements into the mix.  Sort of coming up with everything from scratch is fun and certainly does have its advantages, but good luck finding ANYTHING that matches by the way of bathroom accessories!  So I came up with a rather ingenius solution (in my oh-so-humble opinion).

I bought two of these--cost me about $3.50 at Walmart...

...took a good, hard look at the pattern in our shower curtain...

...and, with the help of a gold sharpie, came up with this!

I left the red out of it because I have plenty of red to go around in other places. :)

It's easier to see the black stripe along the bottom from this angle.  :)

Easy, fast, affordable, adorable.  What I love about this is that even if you're not artistic, you could use stencils and just about any color combo with the plethora of sharpie colors out there to really make it YOURS.  It can be as fancy or as simple a project as you like.  I'm getting a vision, too, of a young child's artwork (I'd wait 'til they're old enough to know not to draw on themselves, and still have plenty of supervision as they color, of course)...how cute would it be to just have a plain old white bathroom set and let your kids go wild with the sharpie colors of your choosing so they can make their own set for the kids' bathroom?  I think I know what I'm doing with my niece next time she's here!  :)

If you go and make your own, please share the link below so I can oooh and aaaahhh at your mini masterpieces.  :)

Linking up HERE!

A Lafayette Tradition

Paul had never been to Dog n Suds before. It's basically a drive-in diner that specializes in hot dogs and root beer. It's not all that special, food wise, but it's a thing, y'know? Before we had Sonic, I don't think we even had any other drive-in diners in the area...so if you wanted that sort of ambiance, or something cheap and out of the ordinary, that's where you went.

Anyway, today was opening day (it closes in the winter, for obvious reasons), so for FHE we decided to go there...now Paul can say he's tried it!

We Didn't Start the Fire

The Lord moves in mysterious ways.  We watched Caida on Saturday night--she spent the night with us, even though both her mom and we were completely terrified to do so because of her recent seizure troubles and weren't sure if it was best...but it needed to be done because Cerene had to help a friend.  Good thing we did!  Not only did she sleep relatively seizure-free (after hours of praying and watching her closely), but my sisters'/mom's apartment complex caught on fire that night!  The neighbor upstairs and across the hall had drunkenly put something with grease on the stove and then fallen asleep, and moments later their whole apartment caught fire.  The upstairs neighbor's place is gutted and they lost one of their two dogs, but thankfully not much damage (besides a little water damage in the bathroom and a bunch of smoke in the place) got down to my mom's place before the fire department got the fire under control.  Still, having anyone bang on the door late at night would trigger a seizure.  Not sleeping for several hours (and also not being able to go anywhere, because the fire hose was right behind the car) would have triggered another one.  And since the gas was turned off and then got cut, they were without heat all night long.  They didn't get to sleep until around 6am there.  I'm SO grateful my family is okay!  And I'm grateful that Caida was with us that night.

It must've been a day for fires, because when we went out to my dad's house for dinner that night, we saw a lot of smoke billowing in the distance...and a fire truck screamed past us just as we pulled into the driveway.  Turns out a controlled fire out in Romney got out of hand and spread like...well, wildfire...and it took several fire departments to put it all out. 

Picture from wlfi.com

Exciting day.

Project 366--February 19-25

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This is probably my least favorite page of all the Project 366 layouts.  I'm only keeping it because it's different and I'm too lazy to go back and redo it.  I have another quilted quick page for you that I made later in the week with the same kit/papers but in a different arrangement (much prettier) if you go HERE.  :)  So take your pick.  :)  It sort of fits, as for the most part this was kinda a "blah" week.  I'll take it, of course!  Blah is better than excitement of the bad kind.  :)

Sunday, Feb 19--Had Caida over after church! Made cookies to deliver and had dinner with our neighbors and friends.  :)
Feb 20--Lazy day.  School holiday, and I wasn't feeling well anyway, so no subbing.  Just games, TV, a little housework, and napping...and lots of family snuggle time.
Feb 21--House cleaning/laundry day!  Also had a primary presidency meeting at night.
Feb 22--Subbed in a 2nd grade classroom, got visit taught.
Feb 23--Subbed in the SAME 2nd grade classroom.
Feb 24--Subbed half day in a 5th grade class...it was a ROUGH half-day!  Paul took me on a date that he planned all by himself!  Thai food and a fun movie on campus (the new Muppet movie!).
Feb 25--Slept in.  Babysat neighbor's kids for a few hours and Caida overnight.

Thankful Thursday

I've noticed that I've been feeling a little grumpier lately, and I think it's because I'm getting *used* to all the blessings that have been coming our way these last few months and when something BIG *doesn't* happen it throws me off!  I'm blessed to be able to take all these blessings for granted.  But I have a lot to be grateful for and I want to continue "Thankful Thursdays" even if I don't continue all the other daily posts from before...I think it's the most important thing I can do right now to work on being "in tune" with myself and with God more.

So.  In no particular order:

1. I'm SO SO SO grateful for a temporary reprieve from worry.  I've worried about money every day of my adult life, and while we're certainly not *rich* right now, we also both have relatively new jobs that give us more than just what we need.  I'm grateful to not be living paycheck to paycheck, to be able to pay off debts faster and to save for the things that are most important to us, and to help our families a little more even if it's not very much.  I'm even MORE grateful for the reprieve from hospitals.  For those of you who don't know, my niece is severely epileptic.  I worry about her almost constantly anyway, but the week we were in Boston (was that really just last week?), she was in the ER three different nights because her newest medication cocktail wasn't working well and CPR had to be done just to keep her breathing at night through several grand mal seizures.  The poor thing--and her poor mother!!!  I am grateful that, at least for now, things have quieted down.  She is no longer sick and pale-looking and she is able to get something resembling sleep at night.  SO grateful to have her with us still--there have been more close calls lately than I'm comfortable with!  I still worry about her, of course, but not to the same degree at the moment.  I'll take it!

2. I'm thankful for a clean and organized home.  Sometimes it isn't *as* clean as it should be, especially with less time to keep it all up.  But with a few days off earlier this week I was able to really scrub down everything and make it comfortable.  I've learned more and more (through subbing and just observation) how affected I am, emotionally and physically, by the physical space I'm in.  I am so much more at peace when the dishes are done, the house is orderly, there's lots of space and natural light, and I can breathe deeply and more fully focus on other, more important things--like the people I'm with.  I just have to remind myself of that when I want to do anything BUT actually clean.  :) 

3. I'm grateful for a good story.  I love to read, and Paul and I love watching movies and TV shows together.  I am constantly amazed at the funny, quirky characters that I become so ridiculously invested in.  And just when I think it's all been done, someone comes along with something new...there's not much that gets my heart pumping or my mind spinning like a good plot with solid, fun characters.  :)

4. I'm always thankful for my husband, but these last two weeks I've been especially grateful for him.  It's great to be married to your best friend.  It's nice to have someone to talk and laugh with, to go through things with, to help you make decisions, to push you a little beyond your comfort zone at times, and to learn to be patient with.  And lately I just want to kiss him an extra time or two every day.  :)  I wish I could just take him everywhere I go.  We're still working on making our marriage everything we want it to be, but we've come leaps and bounds already and we've got eternity to go, so I think we'll be all right.  :)  And who but a loving husband will go out and buy you Thai food when you're sick and can't stomach anything else?

5. I'm thankful for my serious side.  I was born pretty serious, and even as a kid my parents say I sort of raised myself, punished myself more than they ever would have, held myself to high standards, and just sort of preferred *real* conversation with adults over playing with other kids.  I'm a realist--not too good at whimsy or romance.  I plan everything through, sometimes to a fault because of my high expectations.  I hate this part of myself, usually.  I have only recently started to understand and accept that it is who I am, and that being "serious" isn't the same as being "depressed" (though I struggle with both...but these have become fuzzy in my mind to the point that they seem the same when they're really not).  I may not be as quick to laughter as I want to be, and sometimes this serious, forward-thinking nature gets in the way of my enjoying the "now," but I know it's also a blessing and an asset to be able to think through my actions before I do them or to be the kind of person people can come to with problems and know that I can help bring them peace and calm.  To have anticipated just about everything so that not much surprises me.  Sometimes this feels more like a burden than a blessing, but I think that's only because of things other people have said to me or ways I compare myself to others.  My serious nature makes me sincere, and trustworthy, and pensive.  It's a gift of my own and I've just got to learn to control it better, that's all.  And it's a BIG part of me, so I'd better *learn* to be grateful for it or I'm basically hating on myself for no good reason!

What are YOU grateful for THIS WEEK?

Project 366--February 12-18

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Feb 12--traveling, taxi tour of Boston

Feb 13--stayed in the hotel all day...ordered dinner in

Feb 14--Valentine's Day!  Not only did I get some candy, but we walked around a mall and had dinner at Whole Foods

Feb 15--Paul's first visit to PF Chang's!

Feb 16--Mario candy we bought yesterday while out and about.  Flew home.

Feb 17--a day of "rest" since neither of us had to work...we babysat my niece during the day (the sand art featured in this layout reminded me SO much of Dr. Seuss) and then babysat our neighbors' kids at night.  Fun times!

Feb 18--still feeling sick off-and-on.  Other than a baby shower and some shopping, tried not to do too much.  Snuggled up with the puppies a lot...they are too cute!

Bowling with Friends!

For our friend Pete's birthday, we met up with a good group of people to go bowling at the Union. There were an ice cream cake, pizza, and presents, too...but I had the most fun with my multilens camera app! See the pictures for yourself! (You can see/get ALL the pics off my facebook photo albums.)

Project 366--February 5-11

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Feb 5--started taking a former primary student home with us on Sundays for a few hours...played games 'til I was SORE!

Feb 6--I was sick, so I stayed home...and just took a picture of my wedding bouquet instead.  :)

Feb 7--subbed.  Had a dinner with the rest of the Primary Presidency and their families...we brought a yummy spinach-strawberry salad.

Feb 8--subbed.  The picture is of Voodoo, curled up on my coat on the hope chest.  :)

Feb 9--subbed...at my old elementary school!  I was sandwiched right in between two of my old teachers.  SO surreal, and fun.  The teacher I subbed for played guitar...check out that BLUE!

Feb 10--stayed home (the cold came on full swing) and made some Valentine's Day decor.

Feb 11--made some more Valentine's Day stuff...and packed/cleaned for our Boston trip!

Boston!

I love getting to tag along with Paul on his business trips.  Boston in February wasn't *quite* the relaxing break that Tampa in July was, but it was still really fun.  ;)

We flew on Southwestern out of Chicago Midway, both of which we will probably never do again.  Look at this crazy line just to get to security!

Look carefully...it goes all the way back!

And trying to find two seats together was more stressful than it should be.  I don't really love the no-assigned-seats policy, especially when traveling with other people.  And it caused some drama for other people when they were overbooked.  Entertaining though THAT was, I think we'll stick to other airlines in the future.

ANYWAY.  Once we got into Boston, we had to travel about half an hour out of the city to get to the hotel.  So basically it wasn't really anywhere I could go walk around in during the day.  Which was another bummer.  HOWEVER.  If you are ever in Boston and need a thoroughly entertaining and genuinely nice driver, I *highly* recommend Dimitri from Accessible Transport.  When we called and said we wanted to go to the North End for dinner (in almost a question), and he asked where in Little Italy we were going and we didn't know how to respond, he said, "Be ready at 6, I'll take care of it."  And boy, did he!  Not only did he come pick us up from the hotel and drive us into Boston for a low, flat rate, but he gave us a FREE hour-and-a-half taxi tour of the city.  Being a cab driver, and living here since his family fled from Chernobyl, he really knew all the best places to go and see and do things.  He even let us get out regularly and take some pictures, etc.  And THEN he recommended this really great little restaurant (Ravia's) and pastry shop (Mike's, just a block away)...it was *amazing*.  I had this honey butternut squash ravioli that was SOOO good, and Paul's salmon was good enough to even make me salivate.  And, thanks to Mike's Pastries, I now understand the famous line from the Godfather about leaving the gun and taking the cannoli.  ;)  We had a blast, and I think he did, too.  I love being around people who just love what they do.

Here are some pictures from the night...since it was nighttime, and this was on my camera phone, a lot of the pictures didn't turn out.  :(  But the memories will live on.  Hahaha.  :)

Chinatown.

 The theater district, including a theater called the Majestic (made me happy even if it wasn't the same as the movie) and the Blue Man Group theater.

 The Cheers bar!

 A super-SWEET old-and-new library...some parts were from the 1600s and others were much more recent.  If you know us, you'll know how bummed we were that we couldn't go in!

 The USS Constitution...from afar.  Guess who jumped up and down like a little boy when he saw this?  :)

 A cool monument at Bunker Hill.

 Check out this awesome suspension bridge!  

 Driving over a certain bridge...ever heard of the Boston Tea Party?  :)

 Old North Church...

And this is where my camera died for the night.  :(  We also saw (right around the corner) Paul Revere's home, Boston Commons (kinda like Central Park, but in Boston), a cool old cemetery from the 1600s, the old city hall (or something) that was the site of the Boston Massacre, a SUPER-expensive hotel where rich people can pull their yachts right up, dock, and walk right in, an aquarium that we really want to go to someday, the New England holocaust memorial, and lots of cool little boats and whale-watching tours. Quite a lot to take in in a couple of hours! 

Anyway, the rest of the week was mostly Paul working during the day while I stayed in the hotel room and read or watched movies.  In the evenings we went out to an outdoor mall for dinner and just to get out of the room for a while.  Here are a couple of pictures of our last night out:

P.F. Changs...Paul's first time!

Some of his coworkers/boss on the boot!

Pretty orchids, even if they are fake!

Check out this end table!  I SOOOO want one for our library someday!!!

We were both getting over colds, so we didn't really have the energy to do much more than that, but that was okay.  We did what he came to do and then some.  So it was a good time. :)

It was a sweet little trip, and I'm SO glad I got to tag along, especially over Valentine's Day!  But I think we saw everything we really wanted to see there and we were both ready to come home by the end of the week.  Maybe someday we'll go back and go whale watching.  :)  Wouldn't that be grand?