I'm still alive!

Just very, very busy with work...hence the blog silence. The last 3.5 days of my life has consisted of meetings, and not much else. And once I get home, I tend to collapse on the couch. No exercise, no social time...just tv watching and going to bed at 9. Sigh.

I do have some exciting updates to share with you about my fabric/home decor search once my life returns to normal! I can't wait to get started on my project :)

Happy Thursday, friends! I think I'm actually going to get a little free time tomorrow afternoon, and I'm trying to decide what to do with myself. Maybe some shopping (Homegoods, mattress store...), maybe some pool time. I hope y'all have something fun planned for yourselves!

Home bound

I'm heading home to North Carolina (the greatest state in the Union, if you ask my opinion) this afternoon. I can't wait! I haven't been home since the beginning of June, which is a little longer than I normally wait to make the trip. I'm excited to:

-see my family and friends
-hear some beach music at North Hills
-do some Cameron Village shopping
-pick up my bridesmaid dress!
-eat BBQ (the real stuff..not what you can get in GA) & Bojangles
-check out JoAnn's for some fabric
-potentially make one last ditch effort to look for furniture (not likely)

Most of all, I want to enjoy some Carolina sunshine, cuddle with my parent's cat and spend as much time as possible just lounging around. Next week will be a big week at work for me with lots of extra responsibility, so this will be a much need calm before the storm.

I hope everyone has something fun planned for the weekend. Enjoy!

Fabric addiction

I should've known that the moment I decided to do the DIY headboard would be the moment I became addicted to fabric. I am dying over here for all the amazing upholstry fabric on sale at JoAnns right now. Some favorites:

All from JoAnn's, and all on sale! I'm getting pretty excited about the prospects. I'm thinking the pink might be a bit much for an entire headboard, but I'm tempted to get it for the seat of my new desk chair. Who doesn't want some ridiculous pink upholstry in their home?

Happy Tuesday

I hope y'all had a great weekend! Mine was nice, very low key. I spent most of it lying on the couch, watching tv, and doing a little cleaning and shopping and eating here and there. Just what I needed!

John and I tried a new restaurant, the Tuk Tuk Thai Loft on Peachtree. It was good and had a gorgeous view of the skyline, but I still don't think it held a candle to my favorite Tin Drum. I did get to use a $10 off coupon though, which I always love doing. Other than that, I took a trip to Ikea and confirmed once again that my perfect bedroom furniture does not exist. I really liked one I saw there, but frankly it just looked too cheap to pay almost $400 for. So, it has been decided (by me...and probably everyone else who is sick of hearing about my quest for furniture) that i'm going to attempt a DIY fabric headboard! I'm very excited about this! It will be my first semi-large scale, blog-inspired DIY project. I can't wait to pick out a fabric (I'm thinking bold...go big or go home, right?), and detail the process on the blog :)

Looking forward to a (free! awesome seats!) Braves game tonight with Jenn, and really looking forward to a weekend in North Carolina starting Thursday. Here I come, friends, family, beach music and bbq!

Detox

Last night, I attempted to do a little closet organizing and I realized something in the middle of the overhaul: I'm a hoarder! I had more cardigans than any one person should allowed to own. But, I really like all of them! I couldn't bear to part with any. A couple of weeks ago, I did some cleaning/organizing in my guest room closet (also known as the whole house catch-all). It was then that I discovered I'm also a shopping bag hoarder and a gift wrap hoarder! Luckily I'm less emotionally attached to my gift wrap and shopping bags, so I easily overhauled that closet, and took a couple boxes of crap to the dumpster. I'm not so sure I can/want to do that withmy clothes! Eek.

Talking to Jenn last night, we both decided we needed a little bit of a detox. A food detox for sure, but also a spending detox and shopping detox as well. So alas, since no-shop July didn't work out so well for me, no-shop August in now in full swing. I bought a couple of things last Saturday when mom and daddy were here, so I'm technically starting as of last Sunday (the 7th). Hopefully I can make it to September 7th with no new clothes--especially since I obviously don't need any. Now I just need to find some hobbies/activities to occupy my time in the meantime. Looking forward to doing some new, fun things and saving a little money (or putting more towards my home decor addiction!).

And, of course, there's always the constant battle with food. I was doing really well for a while, but lately I've been eating anything I want and everything in sight. I'm reaching the gross out point again, which is good, because I need that to motivate me. We'll see if I can turn myself around so I'll be skinny soon!

Around the house

Here are some of the photos I promised of my home decor progress (apologies in advance for blackberry pictures):


New kitchen rug courtesey of West Elm. In person, its much more light gray than black. I really like the stripes on the wood floor, and the bit of red is a little fun!

Quatrefoil platter, also courtesey of West Elm. I thought this piece was just too pretty not to buy, and the shape is special to Phi Mu (my sorority pin in college was in the shape). No clue where its going yet (hence its just sitting on my fireplace currently), but I love it!

End tables for the couch--this one has a match, but I didn't feel the need to photograph both. I'm really looking forward to getting rid of my crappy Target bookcase in the corner, moving some lamps and picture frames to the tables, and maybe putting some of my colored glass vases on the bottom. I picked those up from a furniture store in NC last time I was visiting my parents for less than $100 for the pair.

Not too exciting, but I'm so happy to finally have a new towel rack in my bathroom! Now, to get some cute monogrammed towels, or maybe an Anthropology splurge :)

Finally, a desk! I have something to fill the weird nook under my stairs, and finally place to actually "work from home" after 2.5 years of working from my couch. This was also a find in NC--$50 more than the Ikea version, for real furniture, plus a matching chair! I think i'm going to reupholster the seat in something really crazy. I'm excited!

Home decorating is taking over my life.

After I moved into my new house at the beginning of May, I had no energy left to really think about decorating. I was so happy just to live there, I didn't care what it looked like! But recently, the home decor bug has bitten, and I'm giving in. Here's all that's going on in my abode currently:

-Painting my bedroom. Light gray/blue. I got a tester can this weekend, and I can't wait to see how it turns out!
-Looking for new bedroom furniture, or something workable for the guest room. I'm hosting SCD's bachlorette weekend in October, so I absolutely must have an extra bed by then. My current options are either 1. buying a new set of furniture for myself, and moving my childhood furniture to the guest room, or 2. just getting a new mattress for the guest room and doing a DIY fabric headboard. Leaning more towards the latter because I have literally seen at least a hundred sets of furniture and I like nothing! I'm not that picky either! Updates to come, I'm sure.
-Looking for a new rug. Something with color and print, as you saw in the previous post. Went to West Elm this weekend, and was disappointed with the feel/texture of the rugs there. Overstock might just happen this week!
-Bought a new area rug for my kitchen. My sad bight green rug from freshman year (7 years ago!) had done its duty. Not too shabby for a $10 Bed Bath Beyond purchase! I got a cute cream/gray/red striped rug at West Elm on Saturday.
-My parents came to town this weekend to deliver furniture I'd bought in NC back in June. So I'm now the proud owner of 2 skinny end tables and a new desk and chair!

I'm a bad blogger, and have no photos of these things today, but tomorrow you'll have the visual! Also, I'm open to any furniture shopping suggestions in Atlanta. Strangely enough, I saw what could be the perfect bed on an Ikea commercial last night. I'd been avoiding Ikea because I wanted real furniture/didn't want to put anything together, but I might just be hitting up the Ikea this week!

Thursday Links

I have always thought this.

Cold cases never cease to suck me in.

This weather is a hot mess. Literally.

Decorating

My parents are coming to visit this weekend, and I'm desperately hoping to get some furniture/other home item shopping done. Items most necessary: new bedroom furniture and a big rug for my living room (and maybe a little rug for my kitchen!). I was originally planning to just buy a bed and maybe a nightstand or two for my guest room, but I've since decided that if I'm going to spend good money on furniture, I might as well spend a little more and get a full set that I love. I'm really hoping I can find something amazing, then move my childhood furniture to the guest room. So far I haven't had much luck--but I did find a set at Ashley Furniture last weekend (that I unfortunately can't find a picture of online). Its dark wood, modern styling, with a cream colored upholstered part of the headboard. Hard to describe, but very pretty in person. I plan to go back to Ashley, probably Rooms To Go and the RTG outlet, and maybe hit Ikea as well.

As for rugs, I like color and pattern...maybe a little too much. But really, is anything ever too much if you really like it? I think not. Here are some favorites I've found:

All rugs are from either Overstock.com or West Elm. I will admit that cruising overstock.com is one of my favorite activities--and the rugs are amazing! Great prices too. I'm just slightly wary of ordering something like a rug online, when really I'd rather shop for it in person to see the color and fabric. West Elm has a store in Atlanta, so hopefully Mom and I will make it there this weekend. Thoughts on the choices?

I want my MTV

Even though I'm a Gen-Y-er, I still feel the same way this girl does about MTV. It practically raised me, and some of my fondest childhood tv-watching memories revolve around the VMAs, Real World, Daria, TRL and Road Rules. But I do miss the good old days of actual music videos.

Weekend recap

Lots of fun stuff happened this weekend:

-Went to the pool
-Watched John run in a 5k (his first!)
-Took a day trip to the mountains/Green Bean Festival
-Ate Bojangles
-Tried frozen apple cider (yum)
-Went tubing on the river
-Saw Crazy Stupid Love
-Ate way too much...pizza, ice cream, Mexican food.

So in turn, lots of diet eating and exercise will be happening this week! I plan to take my Shape Ups for a walk and to eat lots of veggies and add some green tea to my diet every day. Hopefully these things will help take off the couple of pounds I've put back on recently, and take off maybe 5-10 more in the process! I do have a bridesmaid dress to put on in a few months, after all!