The latest and the greatest

Well it was a pretty good little weekend.

We ate a lot of peaches.  Mostly because they are delicious.  And mostly because they have overtaken our backyard.  The peach tree towers over the rest of the garden..which you cannot see because of all the peaches.  We've been waiting all year for this.  

We watched some really terribly awful football.  It was embarrassing.  

We partied like fools with family and did our best to avoid all dish-cleaning, floor-sweeping, and bed-making.

We taught Primary.  Have you ever taught 8 adorable, talkative ten year olds?  Well, let me just say it's sometimes tricky to teach because they are SO adorable and SO talkative.  Like the conversation switches from the Savior washing the disciples feet to the boy in school who has dirty feet to the note that the teacher caught from adorable, talkative ten year old girl to said boy that the teacher read outloud.

"Do you: (circle one)
-Like me?
-Love me?
-Want to kick me?"

Ah. Young love.

But actually this weekend was in majority spent adoring Ellie. 

Because she really is the cutest little girl that ever was.

 

We LOVE Fall!

Meanwhile..back at the ranch

Sometimes I have really bad judgement.

Like the time I thought I could put a tiny hand warmer in the microwave for 5 minutes.  I just wanted it to be all warm and toasty in my pocket, so that when I had to brave a long day in the cold, at least my fingers would be happy.  The hand warmer ended up exploding and all the rice inside burned to a crisp and I am now forced to endure a lifetime of jokes and pictures to remind me of that fateful day.

Then there was the day back in high school when I left our cordless phone on the porch swing overnight.  It ended up raining (the first time in probably like a year) and the phone was ruined.  So of course anytime I wanted a little bit of freedom, because I was so responsible and all, I was reminded of the phone that never lived to see another sunrise.

Or there was that one time when we were moving into a house and I nominated myself to choose the paint colors for every room.  In the end, Ellie's room was so minty green that when you walked out you had fresh breath.  Let's not forget the guest room that was supposed to be this sweet shade of orange and actually turned out very...cantaloupe-ish.  I knew it was bad when my uncle came over and said, "these must be paint colors from the previous owners...thank GOODNESS you guys can paint in here!".  Alas those rooms have very neutral colors now.

So all in all, sometimes taking a big risk can pay off or it just makes everyone want to leave because it smells badly of burnt rice.  Either way...don't be afraid to be called a fool because it's possible that your craziest idea may be your best one!

The red table's better half

 

Magazine canvas art

IKEA coat rack turned apron display

Painted and recovered this beauty.

Life is short...live a little why don'tcha?

Teal-icious and true love

You know how some things are just meant to be?

Like peanuts and m&m's.  Skinny jeans and boots.  J-Lo and really bad romance comedies.
Sorry J-Lo, but I checked out after "The Wedding Planner".  P.S I love your hair.

Anyways. 

All I'm saying is that some things you just know with your heart.

When I first walked into my house (ala house hunting..) the thing that caught my eye was the china cabinet.  But it didn't look like this.  It was dark brown with gold hardware and was just glamorous next to the awful brown paneling that covered these walls like a cheap perfume.  This house had the 70's written all over it.  MmmHmm.  Fleetwood Mac anyone?

So even though I do (not so secretly) love the Brady Bunch, I was ready for a change.  We painted every last inch of it white and that was that.  But it was just so....boring.  So when Mamacita McQuay suggested something crazy like TURQUOISE to add a little spunk I jumped all over that faster than you can say, "I'll never watch another J-Lo movie again!".

Seriously.  It was love before it even happened. 

And of course only the finest of china will do for my cabinet of glory.

This is the China that Andrew's dad

brought back from his mission to

Japan

Turquoise and I are lifelong BFF's now.  I know, I know..it sounds crazy, but like I said before when you know, you know, right?

Autumn Love

Candy Corn, we love you so.

"Autumn comes..it doesn't ask..it just walks in..where it left you last"

I really love Fall.  It is my most favorite time of year.  Growing up in So Cal, I didn't experience legit seasons..it was more like "hot" and then "not as hot".  When I moved to Indiana after high school I fell in love with all things Fall-like.  Cozy sweaters, homemade soup, BYU football, crunching leaves, and dishes of candy corn.  So in honor of my most beloved season, today is about things in my house that make me feel all warm and cozy.

My recent thrift store find (the chair)

Birds just make people happy

Keeps my life simple and me not crazy

"Have a sit! No really..have a sit!"

Cool poetry because it's just..well, cool.

Neither of us actually knows how to play, but doesn't every house need a piano?

How can you NOT cuddle her? Loooovvvee.

Are you loving Fall as much as me?

Lipstick on my walls

When my M.I.L came to visit in May, we decided it was time to pick out accent colors for mi casa.  Her choice?  Something classy. Chic. Sophisticated.
Which is exactly why I chose the brightest, happiest, orangey-reddish color in all the land.

Lipstick.

And just like any good shade of lipstick, I used it up til it was all gone.  Then I bought some more.  And just kept applying...

The wall in my front room

Canvas art above my couch.

My kitchen ceiling.

Front wall: The stripes were a quick decision while Andrew was at work that I think turned out pretty sweet.  Plus Andrew loved it once he made me promise to never say the words "I have a surprise when you get home!" again.  The accent table is actually a whole table I split in two.  It's better half resides in the other room, but she is a different shade of color altogether.  The lamp was gifted from gma..I just haven't had the heart to tell her the awful green marble is now a lovely black.

Canvas Art: Andrew made the frame originally for a chalkboard that never happened so we put it to good use..I live in indecision about whether or not I like how this looks, but I KNOW I like the frame.

Kitchen:  Dear mother in law...I hope we are still friends now that you know what I have done to the kitchen.  Let's be honest though, we both knew something was going to happen in this kitchen and once I decide what I want I can't be stopped.  Unless you tell me that I will no longer be going to Paris in December with the family, because in that case I will buy the whitest of all white paints and get to work.  P.S  just so you know..Andrew voted for teal and I think we both know orangey-red makes much more sense.  P.P.S I love you. A lot.

It's coming...

New Camera...

Newly refinished house...kind of.

An almost walking baby...

One smokin hot woman and the equally good looking man who make it all possible...

Are you ready?

Close encounters of the Spider kind

"You're so hypnotizing.
Could be the devil? Could you be an angel?
Your touch magnetizing.
Feels like I'm floating, leaves my body glowing.
They say be afraid.
Different DNA, they don't understand you.
You're from a whole other world.
A different dimension.
You opened my eyes.
And I'm ready to go, lead me into the light.
Bite me. B...b...bite me.
Infect me with your love and fill me with your poison."

A few days after the infamous BLACK WIDOW spider bite I heard Katy Perry's "E.T" song on the radio and I knew it was meant to be.  So I have forever dedicated that song to my old friend, Spidey, who was kind enough to bite me in my sleep and leave me writhing in pain for days and days.  Doctors were mystified.  Husband was mortified.  I was terrified.

So I woke up early one morning to a sharp pinch in the middle of my back.  I was so tired that even though I knew I had been bitten by something, I went right back to sleep.  Which means Spidey was STILL crawling around in my bed and I didn't even know it.  Shudder.

Fast forward about 120 minutes later, I have now cleaned my kitchen, mopped the floor, and am at the store shopping for groceries.  Suddenly my body feels completely paralyzed and I am so nauseated that although it is physically impossible for me to throw up, I am positive I'm going to anyway.  I made it home, crawled back into my spider infested bed ( I didn't know a spider existed at that point) and watched Hulu for a couple of hours while I wrote my Will because I swore I was dying of something.

Lightbulb: Something bit me this morning.

Thanks google for recognizing my symptoms as a spider bite and for giving me the creeps as I head to the doctors because of all the gruesome pics of spider bites I've just witnessed. Barfy.

BYU Urgent Care diagnosis: Not a spider bite..it's your appendix. White blood cell count..abnormally high.  Abdomen..very painful.  Bite..even more painful, but ignored all the same.

Emergency Room Diagnosis: CT scan..not appendix. While waiting for the word on what's wrong with me, I begin having SEVERE tightening in my abdomen..I cried. Worse than labor. Death is coming. This continues for 45 minutes with nurses running into the room to give me 3 more doses of morphine which by the way did NADA.

Surgeon finally comes in, looks at the bite, and tells me that my bra just irritated my skin and that's why it looks like that.  Oh really? Hmm..
Doctor comes in and says the same thing.  Both tell me I'm crazy and come back later if I feel worse.  I cry some more, because I'm certain the only thing worse than this is death.  I'm not ready! I don't even know who Ashley gets engaged to on the Bachelorette and I was just given permission to eat steak again.

By now I'm sure it was a spider (although google is still the only one on my side) and when I go back to the doctor the following morning still sick as ever, it's finally confirmed. Could it be because my bite is now 3 times bigger and more inflamed than yesterday?  Sure enough, the 4th doctor looks at my bite and says "what the crap....I'm calling poison control." 

Black Widow spider bite FACTS:
-ability to mimic needing a major surgical procedure..such as appendix.
-extreme nausea and vomiting
-nocturnal...most active at nighttime (good luck sleeping tonight)
-chest pain, difficulty breathing
-will only take 4 doctors + google + poison control for anyone to believe that you were actually bitten.  It may take more doctors if you explain that you were NOT in fact in your garden or garage when it happened, but peacefully dreaming of happy things while lying in your own bed.

Turns out my bite was infected so the day AFTER they concluded it really was the feared black widow I was back in the doctors office to see a 5th doctor who was amazed to finally meet someone who had a close encounter of the spider kind.

I keep telling Andrew that I feel strangely powerful and  have the ability to scale walls and fight off bad guys, but he doesn't believe me. 

I also have been looking unusually fabulous in my red spandex jumpsuit and I've always known I'm hotter than Tobey Maguire anyway.

P.S- YES my house has been sprayed since then..three times in fact.