Where have you been all my li-i-i-i-ife?

I ask the same question that Rihanna does. However, where as she's prolly talking about Chris Breazy, I am directing my question to someone much cooler.

Ladies and gentlegerms... I am now drinking Erin Condren's Kool-Aid and I likey.

I have been thinking for a while about purchasing one of these babies. I admit, the price gave me a bit of sticker shock in the beginning, but I will tell you honestly, I had no issues pulling the trigger clicking on the Buy Now button.  None.

From start to finish, I had my order in my hands within 8 days. Two days earlier than promised.

Here is a picture from my phone, from my BED, on the day it arrived. I was like a freakin' school girl:

The box and packaging was beautiful. My 13 year old thought for SURE it was a package for her. Justin Bieber tickets, maybe? Tsk Tsk. Silly girl.

While I was waiting for the planner to come, I checked out ECs Wall of Fame on Pinterest. I wanted to see what all the cool kids were doing. And I was in awe. There were stickers, washi-tape stamps, colorful pens, etc. Not to be outdone, I ran over to Hobby Lobby to see what I could find. Oh, and I scavenged through my office, too.

I had the highlighters on hand, but I decided to purchase a few stamps. For obvious reasons, I won't always have time to make my notes pretty; however, for things that I about well in advance, why can't I? And look at that stamp to the right. I mean left. Up there at the top of the picture.

So, so, so true. I figured I would use that when I wanted to jot down blog ideas. Or special bloggy events. Like this one:

Wait a minute... What's that say?! On 9/23, this little blog is going to be featured on Eighteen25? Say it ain't so, Joe!! Wait a minute, Joe. Don't say that. I'd hate to screw this up. I am not going to give too much away, but it DOES have to do with their Spooktacular series that's going on right now. SQUEAL!

Erin throws in some cute little extras. Stickers, a few call-me cards, and a ton of cute quotes. I opted to go for the 16-month calendar. And I love it. When I shared on Instagram that it arrived, one of my friends on FB said that she loved them, but couldn't get past the price.

I get it. BUT! When you think about it... a really good 12-month planner can cost around $20-25 IF NOT MORE at Target or Staples. I have a GORG! planner to use from NOW until NEXT DECEMBER, people. That is worth the price for me.  Plus the quality is SUPREME. When you hold it in your hands for the first time, it's loverly. I will tell you though... it took me two days to WANT to even write in it. It's that nice-looking.

Oh... I didn't share the front with you yet?

This is the best shot I could get (you know, lighting, flash, reflections, etc)... but it has my name on the side all scrolly like. It has my blog tagline.

And the picture is from my recent shoot with my friend, Amy. I realize my head is missing, but I remember how I felt that day - I felt GOOD. I love the look of the jeans and my hand on my hip. My hair wasn't quite right in that shot; I cropped it so. And to that picture I added a reminder for myself.

I sit here, happy and delighted over a piece of stationary/office-supply product. To those that REALLY know me, that won't shock you at all, will it?

Witness

I  love witnessing skies like this:

Straight from my cell phone.
Such beauty.

i ♥ qc/stv: CHS Booster Club

It's 4:45pm on Monday. I have about a million things to do tonight, including dealing with three sick kids. Yes. All three kids were home sick.

The virtual calendar in my head is feverishly trying to organize all of the meetings, events, etc. that are coming up. I found a way to keep track of them all, it just hasn't arrived yet (more on that later!). ;)

One of those meetings is the high school's Booster Club meeting; it's the first one of the year. I know I've mentioned along the way that we are in a new/smaller community, and with that comes the growing pains of a newer/smaller school.  I am invested simply because I have a Kindergartner (along with a high schooler and a middle schooler). I want to help make these school years the best our kids can have. So I do my best to join the PTOs and Booster Clubs. I manage the high school's Facebook page. I watch, intently, for updates from the schools' leadership teams. I want to be in the know.

I am proud to say that even though, at the high school level, the Booster Club is small. They are STRONG.

A Royal Workout: Treadmill, Physicals & Joining a Gang

It's been a few weeks since I last mentioned a workout of any kind. But I am here to announce that the treadmill has landed.

And it landed a few days ago. I do not have a more recent picture, but I can assure you that it is now set up and waiting for your royal heavinesshighness to do some damage.

Well... not REAL damage.

Here's proof:

Okay, now that I read that again, I guess it doesn't *exactly* prove that it's up. But I assure you. Last Wednesday night, while I was laying in bed, in a semi-coma state (pain meds, remember?), perhaps eating a bowl of Cookies n' Cream, my husband was patient and focused and awesome. He got that bad boy up in record time. I lurve him so much.

So, he's tried it out. Isabel's tried it out twice. And I stepped on it for about five minutes Sunday. Impressed much?

I will say that I did go grocery shopping Sunday afternoon, grabbed a TON of veggies and prep stuff for some awesomely healthy meals this week. It may take a minute, but I am working my way to jumping back into a healthy lifestyle again. Hopefully, there isn't any crazy initiation I have to do. Like stab someone. Or rob a store.

Oh - I think I mentioned that the dude and I went to the doctor a few weeks back and had our yearly physicals done. Well, we got the results back via letter (yay, we aren't dying). Overall, despite the obvious, we are healthy. No diabetes, etc. But! (or BUTT?!) we do have lower levels of the good cholesterol (I wasn't aware there was such a thing?!) and we will need to both take vitamin B supplements to raise those levels. No medical intervention other than that. And we also have *slightly* elevated levels of the bad cholesterol. Again, no medical interventions, just follow-through on this health stuff.

So good news is, we will be around to annoy the heck out of our kids for years to come.

P.S. Check back... I am going to try and update this series at least one a week with something. :)

Liquidation Chairs [and new fabric for our tooshies]

I mentioned in yesterday's post that we did not leave Desert Liquidators sans goodies. We actually found EIGHT goodies. All after I was upset about Lowes not having those Parsons chairs, I found cooler looking chairs that need a good cleaning and make-over.

Yes, they aren't fresh and new. But they have CHARACTER. Maybe they are not as tall as the current chairs, but who cares? They are rough and tough and will get us through the next several years with the kiddos.

My current chairs?! Less than 2 years old from Mor? Already broken.

The metal is a cobalt blue. Cool, but not what I was looking for. So they are going to be spray painted (by the patient husband) oil-rubbed bronze (to match the extras in our house/kitchen, including our new pendant lamp above the sink).  And then we are going to cover the wood with foam and fabric.

What kind of fabric you ask?!

Well, as I mentioned yesterday, we went to a fabric store in Tempe and looked through their yards and yards of stuff. Most of it was pretty old (as in fashioned). And not pretty. However, in the $5/yard bin I found 2.75 yards (crossing my fingers it's enough) of a cool fabric. Not too modern or too bold. But not boring and brown. I think it's going to look loverly in the space.

There are so many colors - and I can go so many ways. Cool green, calm blues, sweet burnt orange or butter yellow. I can't wait to try my hand at covering up the seats of these chairs.

But first things first... I must clean (SCOUR) them. I see myself knee deep in rubber gloves and suds this week!

We Ran Away, Shopped 'til we Dropped & Guest Bath Update

I don't even know where to begin. I was too tired to post this last night. Lots of pictures and updates below. This is your warning! =)

First of all, I think it's important to let you know where we stand in the guest bath makeover.

Reality is - we haven't done anything since our last post. I've been sick - with SOMETHING. All I know is that the very strong antibiotics and steroids have not worked, and it looks like I will be going in for follow-up care. Regardless, I knew we needed to get SOMETHING done yesterday. So we went with the lesser of two evils and went out and shopped.

I got up, showered, did the whole make-up thing (my make-up drawer was missing me, I think) and took a shot in my makeshift mirror (this is NOT the final mirror, but I needed something in there since we were so mirror-removal-happy).

I was ready to go. Of course, by go, I mean travel the 50 miles to Desert Industrial Business Asset Liquidation company we found online. (say that 20 times fast)

We are looking for a new sink. A Vessel one to be exact. But before we got even 20 miles, I stopped (and instragramed this photo)

A lovely, warm and delish bagel from Einstein Bros. bagels in Tempe. We don't have any out in Queen Creek, so anytime I venture into town, I have to stop. Mmmm.

Anyway, we continue into Phoenix, looking for our destination.  I had no idea what to expect. I think I don't get out enough. This place was COOL.  But smelled not so good. They literally buy all the stuff from stores, restaurants, etc, if they go out of business. I mean even the salt shakers had salt still in them. (Do I hear Buy 1 Get 1?!)

They had chairs, benches, sinks, utensils, tables, fridges, tile, cabinets, etc. etc. etc.

Marcos and I have a fun time peeking into every corner of this place. The prices were reasonable, and they were willing to make deals. Want to know how I know?! Because I walked away with 8 of something. Too much to add to this post today. but I will whip up a post about these 8 lovies tomorrow.

After we loaded up the van, we decided to hit a few more places. Hey, we were sans kids. It was like a date.  We went back into Tempe and hit up our favorite fabric store (which also smelled. pee-youuu) and grabbed a few things. And then decided to get some lunch near ASU. We had a front row seat to a busy street near the campus and we just gawked. Oh to be young again.

Lunch was fab. As always. Even got some free bumper stickers.

Have you ever had Jimmy John's? Sooo good. I just get the #1 Pepe.

After lunch, we headed out to the Home Depot. Again. BUT! We were able to get some stuff we needed. Like light bulbs. We really needed those.

We also purchased all the stuff for tiling job we hope to accomplish this year, in the guest bath. Since we are changing out the sink and adding shelves above the toilet, we only needed about 3 feet of tile.

I always had the Subway tile in my mind and I love the glass tile as an accent. We will not be creating the traditional Subway pattern here, though, folks. Crazy, huh?! Instead, we will lay the tiles side by side (see pic below). The tile will mimic the paneling we put in on the other wall.

For $25, we got all of the tile we needed for this small job. I think it's a great learning opportunity for us. Eventually we want to add tile to the kitchen back splash.

From start to finish, Marcos and I ran away for 7 hours. We ended the afternoon at the grocery store, grabbing what we needed for dinner (Taco Night, a day late) and went home and cooked, ate, and then fell into our bed. It was exhausting.

I'd like to thank Alex and Isa for holding down the fort and for not allowing anything to happen to/with/for/at Nic so that emergency peeps did not have to make a visit to the house while the ball to my chain and I were knee deep in sour smelling goodies. Love those kids.

Don't forget to check back tomorrow to see what I scored at Desert Liquidators.

A Let Down & an Up Date

I saw one of my favorite bloggers (5 Days Five Ways) post to Facebook last night that she scooped up some cool Parson chairs from Lowes for $49. They are indoor/outdoor. They were TWO TO A BOX, people. I was going to use them for my kitchen table. But they were out. Thus the let down part of this post.

But, they did have some other nice things on clearance.

Here is a picture I have of the front porch as it were 15 minutes ago:

I thought the little chairs were so plain and... little. I want my Adirondack chairs back, but unless I buy wood ones, that's not going to happen. So I met in the middle. A little. 

I love the high back and the way it tilts just a little. Very comfortable to sit in! And I love the detail!

Granted the color/pattern might sting a little come spring, but I will have to find a way to make it work. The chairs were originally $198 for two, but they are on clearance at Lowes for $49. A ton of their outdoor stuff is on sale.

Here's the box in case you want to check them out yourself. =) In the meantime, I am going to go sit on my porch and enjoy a late summer sprinkle. It's pretty outside. If you don't count the humidity.

Happy Friday, peeps!