My Relationship with Makeup

Like putting pants on a cat...

This is seriously the funniest thing I have ever read! Plus, it is totally how I feel, minus the olive complexion. If I could only write like this, I would have a blog that could take over the world with it's hilariously awkward moments caught on the internet for all of mankind to read.

Read THIS jewel of awesomeness from The Park Bench.

Our beautiful new house

Through the past few years, Drew and I have made a lot of adjustments in our lives. We have grown up, finished college, got married, became teachers, and now the next step - buying a house. We currently have a contract pending on a beautiful house in Oak Cliff and I am a total mix of excited, nervous and "what in the hell am I thinking??". This is so huge! So, let me give you a little tour, courtesy of the photos from the listing agent (and I will try to walk you through my awesome ideas in each room).

The house sits on a double lot, so, the lawn is HUGE. It has about 6 cedar trees in the front yard, 6 pecan trees in the back yard, a couple of Oak trees, a red bud, a peach tree, banana trees (do these actually grow bananas, or are they just called that?), and tons of other shrubs and plants. If you go here, http://www.adigitalu.com/pan/har.asp?PropertyID=9485, you can see a panoramic view of the front yard, back yard and a couple of views in the inside.

Living room

This is a view of our living room. When you come in the door, you see an arch from the entry way to the living room, and then from the living room to the dining room. It has beautiful windows and hardwood floors. In this room, I am considering a dark chocolate brown paint, with white and green accents. We have no living room furniture as of yet, so, I can pretty much do whatever I want in that room.

Dining Room

This is the dining room. I have too many ideas for this room, so, I still have a lot of thinking to do between now and our closing date. What I am thinking right now, is to put up a ledge (decorative shelf that is about 3 inches deep) all the way around the room. Above the ledge would be one color, and below would be another color. On the ledge I could put photos, paintings or some of the china that Drew's mom gave us for Christmas.

Kitchen

Although the kitchen is on the small side, it has some really interesting features. It has black and white marble flooring, and Granite counter tops. My plan is to remove the wall mounted oven (there is an oven that is built in that is not in the photo, and a range that you can see, but that is not the one that is there) that is from the 50s and reads the temp incorrectly by about 100 deg., and put in shelves there for the microwave, and then for pretty things. I also want to move the fridge to the wall next to it, and build cabinets around the fridge. I have no idea about paint color in this room cause it already has a lot going on. And no, the duck above the oven is not built in - it is no longer there. Glad to clear up that confusion, haha.

Den

Behind the kitchen is this awesome wood room that we will use as the den. It has a beautiful picture window that looks onto the backyard and what was at one point in time, a fountain that I might restore if I am not too tired from doing the other things in the house that need to be done. I am thinking white accents in this room since it is already so dark. White linen curtains and throw pillows, with our couch and dark tv stand sounds pretty to me.

Master Bedroom

This room will be Drew and my bedroom, so, of course it needs a lot of work to make it a sleep sanctuary. I honestly have NO idea what I want to do in this room. I bought a ton of House Beautiful magazines at Half Price book and I am looking through for ideas.

There are two other bedrooms, one of which will be our office/studio. The bathroom needs a bit of work, but since we close a month before our apartment lease is up, we will have the time to work on it.

I am so excited! I can't wait to get the keys in my hand so that I can start painting and "nesting" as Drew calls it.

My Awesome Realtor and Friend

So, as most of you know, Drew and I have been house hunting over the past few months. It is a lengthy and sometimes frustrating process, but I have had wonderful help and words of wisdom from my friend/Realtor Katrina Whatley. I HIGHLY recommend her to anyone looking for a home in DFW. She specializes in Oak Cliff, but knows the area well and has lead us to many things in other parts of Dallas as well.

She is honest, trustworthy, and has really been there to walk me through the process and calm my frazzled nerves.

Find her website here, call her up and use her as your Realtor. You will not be sorry.

More about the home search in future posts.

Some cool links...

Art Related:
Yes, Dallas does have Culture! Here is a site that proves it.

One of the most amazing photography websites I have ever seen in my life.


Blogs that I love:
My aunt, Lisa Pittman, is a professional photographer and she totally rules. Here is her blog.

Not Martha is one of the coolest blogs I have ever found. She posts tons of awesome links, and is always on the ball with her posts - always awesome for someone as impatient as me, haha.

I also read Angry Chicken on a nearly daily basis. I love the way she describes the things she is making and how family oriented she is.

How About Orange is a great crafty blog as well. She posts a lot of helpful links and I love her style.

And one that I somehow found today (probably off a link from one of the above mentioned blogs) is The Park Bench. "Celebrating the girl nerd way of life with news, features, reviews and general musings on all things nerdy." What's not to love?

Random Awesomeness:
I didn't know whether to put this in Art or Craft, so, I decided "random" would work. Seriously, who wouldn't love a hand made fabric Brain??

Feeling creative

Diane (my mother in law) is coming to Dallas in a couple of weeks. Seeing as how the next couple of weekends are pretty crazy (Memorial Day and the following weekend is Robin's Wedding!!), I thought I would start the horrid process of cleaning house a little early. So today, I tackled the "studio" which is actually just the second bedroom in our apartment that I intended to use in a creative manor that has actually become the nasty junk room. I unearthed a lot of half started projects and really got the urge to create.

I started a project tonight while watching Jericho with Drew that I am excited to see how it turns out. I took a ton of Drew's old band t-shirts and I am cutting squares out of them to make a "quilt." I think it will be really neat if I can just keep with it til I finish. I have a bit of free time at work this week, and since my sewing machine is already there, I thought I would do a bit. I have a 40% off coupon at JoAnn's, so I can go buy some batting and fabric for the backing this week, and maybe actually finish a project?!? Wouldn't that be weird?

I also had a great idea for a painting that I have been working on for months, so that might actually get finished here in the next few weeks too! I'll post photos when this project is finally starting to look like something!

the madness that is my life

I just realized that I start too many posts with "so". I will henceforth try not to do that. I can imagine as a reader, that is very obnoxious. If you are one of my loyal fans (ha!), then I apologize. But if you are one of my loyal fans, that probably means you are in my family and already know that I write like I talk and therefore, say "so" a lot and have long sentences without any breaths like this one.

In other news -

1. We have begun the long and arduous (that is the right word, right? it sounds good, at least) process of house hunting. I have to say, I have only been at it for a week and I think I have convinced myself that I am ok with staying in an apartment for another year (as horrid as it is!). I have learned that I can not afford to live in the neighborhood I want to live in without putting in a lot of effort on some serious repairs, which I do not feel qualified to do. But, as my dad suggested, I have prayed about it and I am sure that there is that perfect house out there for Drew and I and I just have to patiently keep looking.

2. I am struggling with the new one-space-after-a-period rule. I just don't think I can conform.

3. Only one more week with Seniors!! WOOHOO!!

4. Only 2 more weeks with everyone else! Woohoo!!!! (lower case, yes, but it also got 4 exclamation marks)

5. I think it is funny that as addicted to TV shows as I am, we do not actually have our tv hooked up to cable or even network connections. Thank God for Blockbuster online! Drew has had me watching all of these scary shows lately (Supernatural and Jericho to name 2). I have tried to rent 27 dresses four times now and it has been "sold out" at blockbuster! Darn you chick flick watching people!!

6. On the art front, I did a little research this morning about some art classes for myself this summer. I think I am going to call the Craft Guild of Dallas tomorrow to see what I have to do to register. They have some really cool stuff! Check it out here: http://www.craftguildofdallas.com/Adult_Summer.htm

7. I like the number 7 much better than 6, so, I decided to end my post with this number. On to make some eggrolls for dinner. And the best ramen ever... Tom Yum flavored and only 28 cents each!! This is probably the crappies photo ever, but the only one I could find online. Buy this stuff, it will change your life:

Free Comic Book Day

So, as an artist, I can understand the quality and the challenge of the art in comic books, and therefore, greatly appreciate them (even though I don't really read them). My husband is a big comic book collector, so, I get to see all of the cool things he brings home.

In honor of Drew, I wanted to let you all know that this Saturday is Free Comic Book Day! Lots of places are giving out free comic books and having neat events (signings by artists, demonstrations, etc). If you are in Dallas, you should check out Keith's comics - the guys there are awesome and totally helpful. (http://www.keithscomics.com/)

Also, in comic news... I am totally excited to see the new Ironman movie that comes out tomorrow! It is probably the first movie all year that I have shared an excitement for with my husband. Check it out here: http://movies.aol.com/movie/iron-man/24396/video/trailer-no-2/2085223