Not a Fan

 

A couple weekends ago, my dear husband tackled a project that's been on our "to-do" list for a loooong time. We had a ceiling fan in our room that was really needing to be addressed. Huge white fan blades, tulip shaped shades, and brass details? Not really my cup of tea. I voted for getting rid of the fan altogether and replacing it with a drum shade or something, but my hubby would have non of that. So instead, we decided to find a more streamlined fan that would fit the space better. 

And voila! This little guy was found at Menards for under $40. What a steal! I love that the blades are shorter, and we were able to mount it closer to the ceiling so it doesn't feel like you are being hunted by a giant fan anymore. 

Oh, and just in the spirit of "keeping things real" around here, I thought I would post the whole view of our bed that day. Yup, it usually ends up becoming a clothing hang-out spot at some point of the week. I maybe make the bed 2xs a week? I love seeing a cleanly made bed, but honestly, it's not top on my priority list. 

I'm dying to know- what are your thoughts on ceiling fans? Do you think they are an unfortunate necessity? Do you avoid them at all costs? Or do you embrace the fan? (Well, not actually embrace it, especially when it's running, that would be dangerous...)

Blogger Survey, and a Fun Award!

I have never participated in a blogger survey before, so this should be fun! I was tagged by Kristi from Keeping up with Kristi.

The Rules:

1. You must post the rules.
2. Post 12 fun facts about yourself on the blog post.
3. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post, and then create 12 new questions for the people you tagged.
4. Tag 12 people and link them on your post.
5. Let them know you've tagged them!

So here are my 12 fun facts: 

1. I am really good at guessing what time it is. I'm usually within 5 minutes. Weird, huh?

2. I once ate a huge bag of Sour Patch Kids and then couldn't taste anything for 3 days. 

3. I played the piano through HS and wanted to be a famous concert pianist. That changed in college when I decided that 5 hours a day of practice was pure torture. 

4. I love kids and was a nanny in college for 3 years. My favorite job ever.

5. My favorite candy is skittles. MMM, taste the rainbow. 
6. I've been to Germany, France, Poland, Spain, and Italy. I love to travel! 
7. My favorite color is blue. And green. Greenish blue. 
8. I'm having a really hard time coming up with these facts. 
9. I've been blogging for 2 years now. I can't believe it's already been that long.
10. My favorite food is Italian; anything with fresh basil and tomatoes is the best.
11. I've read Wuthering Heights 6 times, and every time I read it I cry.
12. I'm going to Los Angeles soon for a vacation and I can't wait!

And here are my questions from Kristi: 

1. What is your favorite childhood memory? Wow, it's hard to choose just one, but I would have to say one of my favorites is when my mom and I made a Barbie mansion out of cardboard boxes. I would play with that thing for hours on end, and recreated the entire "White Christmas" movie with my Barbies. Good times.
2. Who do you look up to? I really look up to my parents. They raised me and my 3 siblings so well and are such great examples of Godly people.
3. What does your name mean? It means "Who is like God?" It is the feminine form of Michael, and it's Hebrew in origin. 

4. If you won $10,000 how would you spend it? Well, my first instinct was to say a shopping spree... but honestly, I would love to see that money help people out who are in need.
5. How come you blog? I blog because I love it! Really, I can't think of a better reason. I just enjoy sharing my thoughts and hearing other people's and seeing the fun projects that people come up with. It's very inspiring.
6. Where do you feel safest? It's going to sound so cliche, but definitely in my husband's arms. I feel safest and most content when he is close by.
7. What is your dream vacation? I'm dying to go back to Monaco with Josh, I went there years ago with my Aunt and Uncle and it was so beautiful and romantic, I have always dreamed of going there again with my husband!
8. If you could speak another language what would it be? French.
9. Coffee or tea? Depends on the time of day! Coffee in the morning, tea at night. Yum!
10. pen or pencil Definitely a pen. Pencils are annoying.
11. What was your favorite subject in school? I loved my literature class in college that was all about Charles Dickens. It's the only class I never missed and was always on time to!
12. What is the most important thing in your life? My relationship with God. It's how I relate to everyone else around me!

People I tagged:

1. Courtney at Feminine Unique New
2. Lisa at All Things Jane
3. Cindy at The Flipping Couple
4. Bridget from Cozy Little House
5. Christina at Home Says Hello
6. Rachel at Joyfully Weary
7. Kirsti from Lovely Lala Land
8. Ange from The Blooming Hydrangea
9. Ashley from The Beautiful Details
10. Ingrid from Reaching HIS Kids
11. Cheryl at Thinking About Home
12. The Cape on the Corner

Whew! That's a lot of people to tag!
 

Here are my 12 questions for you: 

1. How long have you been blogging? 
2. What is your favorite restaurant and why? 
3. If you won the lottery, what would you do with the money?
4. How many pairs of shoes do you own? 
5. What is your favorite day of the week and why? 
6. What's your favorite color to wear? 
7. What is your favorite fruit?
8. What TV show do you most enjoy watching? 
9. Who is one person, alive or dead, that you would love to have a conversation with? 
10. What is the worst decorating/crafting/fashion mistake you've ever made?
11. Coffee or tea? (Just had to steal this one from Kristi!)
12. What's the temperature in your city today?

Feel free to participate if you want! There's no pressure though, it's just for fun! 


Next, I received the Liebster Blog award from Cath @ Home is Where the Heart Is. How sweet! This award is given to blogs with less than 200 followers. I like that it is bringing attention to some great blogs! I'm excited to pass it on. 

The Rules are:

1. Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.
2. Reveal your five picks for the award and let them know.
3. Post the award on your blog.
4. Bask in the love from the most supportive people on the blogshare-other bloggers.
5. Finally and the best rule of all..........have fun and spread the love!

My five picks for the Liebster award are:


1. Courtney at Feminine Unique New 
2. Christina at Home Says Hello
3. Kirsti at Lovely Lala Land
4. Lisa at All Things Jane
5. Ashley from The Beautiful Details

These are all wonderful blogs! Each one is unique in subject matter, style, and writing, yet they are all some of my favorite blogs to read every day. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Pretty Details

Last weekend, I decided to spend some time organizing my dresser. It was starting to become a messy catch-all for clothes, jewelery, and random things like cups full of 3 day old tea (eeew).
 
I found these super cool old cheese forms at a garage sale this Summer. They are perfect for corralling perfume, lotions and some jewelery. 

I used a vintage ironstone platter to hold more jewelery, including a vintage bracelet from my Grandmother. 

On the other side of the dresser, I pulled together a few pretty things. I love the candle, it's from Bath and Body works and smells divine. The vintage hat was from Goodwill, and the willow branches were leftover from our wedding.

One of my favorite additions is this tiny beaded hook. I found it at JoAnne fabrics (love that place), on sale for 50% off. I love having a place to hang up some necklaces so they don't get all tangled! 

I also took some time to organize and clean up my nightstand. I love the little plant holder, it's mercury glass (also from JoAnne's). The clock is from IKEA and the coaster was a Goodwill find too. 

Sometimes, I think the smallest changes end up being the most satisfying. What have you been working on lately?

Care for a Cuppa?

Growing up in a very Scottish family, I always heard the word "cuppa" (referring to a cup of tea), and was surprised to find recently that many people have no earthly idea what that means and will give you strange looks if you happen to use it in regular conversation.

As a tea-lover, I was so happy to find these lovely little japanese-style teacups at Goodwill the other week. They are a wee bit bigger than most, and have the sweetest design of some type of winged creature. I can't tell if it's a peacock or a stylized chicken or something else entirely. Can you?

Either way, they match my new tetsubin to perfection. Josh bought this cast-iron teapot for me for Christmas this year! It weighs a ton but it pours tea better than any teapot I've ever used! 

My other latest "find" was this sweet little table. It's very mid-century mod! It's solid wood, but it looks like someone covered the top with a layer of faux-woodgrain drawer liner or something. So, it needs a bit of work but I think when it's done it will be adorable!

Josh and I went for a walk the other day, and noticed that our neighbors were getting rid of a couch for FREE. And it was kinda cool looking. So, being the weirdos that we are, we of course nabbed the couch and brought it home to our garage. I'm not really sure what we'll do with it. Best case scenario: I will successfully reupholster it and find a great space for it in our (tiny) townhome. Worst case: it will end up in the "free" section of Craigslist. =)

So that's the extent of my thriftiness lately- have you stumbled upon any great finds?

P.S. I want to say a big WELCOME to my new friends from the blog hop! I was pleasantly surprised to see that I was listed as the guest host, and it's soooo fun to meet some new blog friends. I really look forward to getting to know you all better!

Backsplash is DONE!

The backsplash is done. And oh, what a difference it makes! It really brings out the white cabinets and pulls everything together. I love it! My husband did an amazing job. =) I helped lay a few of the tiles, but this project was definitely his baby.  Without further ado, here are more photos:

Say it with me: Ooooh, Aaaaaah!

Overall, this project cost us around $70. The tile was SO inexpensive. I worried for a bit that we would regret doing subway tile, because so many DIYers are going that route these days, but I don't feel that way now. It's just such a classic look, I think it will be "in" for years to come.

We still have to seal the grout, and add a couple more light switch covers, but it's pretty much finito. And so pretty to gaze upon.


Just for reference again, here's what the old kitchen used to look like:

 

Apparently, back then I didn't know that you're supposed to put away a few dishes and make your kitchen look a little less cluttered before getting all snap-happy with the camera. Oh well, it adds to the "before" effect. You know, like when they do makeovers on women and for the before picture they say "Ok, take off all your makeup, wear your most frumpy amish-housewife-type clothes, wash your hair in vegetable oil, and give me an expression that's somewhere between constipated and 'My husband just bought me a blender for our anniversary.'"

You know?

Welcome Changes and a Funny

Hey y'all! I'm taking a day "off" from my regularly scheduled posts, but I wanted to mention some small changes I've made around here. If you scroll down, you will see on the right sidebar that there are some new ways for you to connect with this little blog of mine.

If you are a regular visitor but don't use Google Reader, here are some super-easy ways to get your blog fix! You can now follow Posy on Bloglovin', connect through an RSS feed, or just enter your email address and get updates delivered to you via email. Sweet!

I'm so thankful for all of you, my wonderful blog-friends! YOU are what makes blogging worthwhile. I love "chatting" with you and hearing your thoughts! Please let me know if anything isn't working correctly, or if there's any way I can make things easier/more accessible for you. =) Love you all!


And now... for the funny part.... My sister and her boyfriend, David, and I were out thrifting last Friday, and we stumbled upon this vintage jean jumper. At first glance, it appears to be innocently portraying two loveable giraffes.

But once you look closer.... it appears that something is very wrong indeed with this picture.

When Morna put this up on Facebook (what, you don't put all your funny thrift-store photos on Facebook?!) she wrote "I hope they're married."

Bahahaaaa! Yes, I hope they're married too.

Ruffle-Toes

I'd like for you to meet the newest addition to my shoe-drobe (that's a wardrobe for shoes in case I lost anyone there...). I actually bought these ruffled, metallic heels to go with a bridesmaid dress for a wedding I'm in later this year. I wanted to find something that wasn't too spendy, and that I would wear again (since we all know that you can NEVER ever ever wear those dresses again).

After scouring the internet for silver toned shoes, I was starting to get a little disillusioned. Everything was too expensive, too clunky, too high, or too "Barbie" for my taste. When I happened upon these at target.com, I was pleasantly surprised! Then, when they arrived in the mail I was even more pleased. Pleased as punch, if you must know.

Jeans: Old Navy, Shoes and Crdigan: Target, Tank: American Apparel (Macy's)

I put together an outfit  for fun, pairing the shoes with some skinnies, a chevron- printed shirt, and a cardigan. Another reason why I love Target? That cardigan was 75% off. It was $5.48.

If for any reason you are hunting for some cute shoes, here's the link to these ruffled beauties.

Now, I'm off to do Pilates for the 2nd time in my life. I did a 45 minute workout yesterday and I am SO sore. Like, I'm not sure if I should feel accomplished or if I should check myself into the ER and ask for a huge dose of morphine. Have you ever done Pilates before? Any advise for a newbie like myself?



 (Linking this up to Breanna's blog: My Beautiful, Crazy Life for Fab Friday!)

~and~

Backsplash Bidness

I'm happy to report that our kitchen is 100% tiled up! This photo was taken early in the process, so now that gorgeous white subway tile wraps around our whole kitchen. I love it more than I have loved any of our other projects.

However, even though the tile is at 100% the grout is at 0%. I had hoped to have some beautiful before and afters to share, but sadly they will have to wait.  

This furry creature kept waking us up last night. When she runs out of food in the middle of the night, she has figured out how to open the bifold doors to the closet where her food is stored, and gnaw through the bag to get her food. She also discovered where her treats are in one of the kitchen cupboards, opened it up and chewed through a bag of treats. They are 7 calories each and I think she consumed about 30 of them. What a little turd.

Last night, I shut the door to the room where her food is so she spent quite some time pawing and scratching at the door until I got out of bed at 3 am to give her more food. She is a spoiled brat.

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Skeleton Keys and Answered Prayer

Now that all of the Christmas decorations are down, it's time to clean the house and bring in some clean, wintry decor.

I switched out our Christmas centerpiece for a simple arrangement of candles, a bowl of pinecones, and a new table runner made from burlap.

I found this burlap fabric at JoAnne's, and fell completely in love. Skeleton keys are definitely making their mark on home decor, and I don't mind one bit. 

In other not-so-related news, Josh has been really encouraged at work lately. I've been praying for him ever since he started this job; it's a job with a lot of responsibility and a huge workload, and very little appreciation. It was hard to see his job situation slowly wear him down the first couple of years. All I could do was pray for him. Within the past year, however, he's been encouraged at work so much. His newest supervisor is so supportive, and really recognizes the hard worker that he is. Isn't God great? I love seeing Him answer prayers, even though the answers aren't always in my timing.

Also, I'm excited because he is getting sent to California for training soon, and I get to tag along! California in the dead of MN winter? Yes please! I can't wait to escape to the land of glamour and sunshine.

Healthy Choices

I wouldn't really describe this as a "New Year's Resolution" since I've been trying to make healthier eating choices for a few years now, but it does seem like the perfect time of year to renew those decisions.

I made the switch to decaf tea a couple of months ago, and it has made a marked difference in how I feel. I used to have trouble with waking up a lot in the middle of the night, and that has significantly decreased since I stopped consuming caffeine in the evenings. Plus, decaf tea counts as water technically, so I can switch out a couple of glasses of water a day which makes me a happy camper!

My two favorite blends of decaf are Tazo Decaf Chai, and Good Earth Sweet and Spicy blend. Yum!

I've also started including a lot more veggies in my meals. I used to fill up on carbs like pasta and bread, but I've found that helping myself to more vegetables instead helps fill me up without packing on the pounds. One of my go-to lunches lately has been frying up an egg (with a butter substitute, of course) in a slice of green pepper and eating it with arugula. SO good. I haven't decided what to call it yet, for now DELICIOUS will suffice.

How about you? Have you found a "healthier" food choice lately that you love? What about tea- do you have any favorite blends? I'm all ears (or eyes, I guess, in this case...).

Goodbye, 2011

2011 was a wonderful (and at times challenging) year. I think I learned a lot and grew in so many ways through the process. I thought it would be fun to jump on the "Year in Review" bandwagon, and take a little chronological look through the events of 2011... 

I kicked off the year by starting in a whole new career direction. After quitting my 9-5 work as a government employee, I started working as a part-time voice and piano teacher. Wow, it was like culture shock for a while (but in a very good way!). I got an email one day from the music school where I teach, asking me what I wanted my schedule to be, and I broke down in a fit of happy tears. It just felt SO good to not be forced into a rigid work schedule under constant micro-management.

As you can see from the photo below (taken the day after my last day of work, we went out to dinner to celebrate), I was a little crazed from the whole experience!

In early January, I sweet-talked my husband into letting me bring home an adorable, furry creature whom we subsequently name Agatha (Aggie, Aggs, or Aggs Benedict for short). We have never regretted this decision... except for perhaps when we came home at quarter to midnight on Christmas Eve and found that she had puked in our living room a total of EIGHT times...

It's ok, we still love her.

(one more gratuitous cute kitty photo)

We undertook one of the biggest home improvement projects we've done so far, and painted our ugly cabinets! We also replaced the flooring with tile, and re-laminated the countertops.

It's like a whole new kitchen!

On the blogging side of things, I finally delved into the world of fashion blogging. My "Blue Skies" refashioned skirt garnered quite a few rave reviews, and I was totally encouraged to keep on with refashioning and posting about more sartorial topics. These posts have definitely been my most popular, which is super fun! I hope to have quite a few more in store for 2012...

In June, Josh and I took our first "real" vacation as a married couple, and went on a big road trip to Virginia to visit my huge family. Note: my family members are not overweight, there are just a lot of them.

In VA, I got to meet my blogging buddy Jane from The Borrowed Abode in real life! She and her boyfriend (now fiance) Ryan invited us to there casa for a BBQ and the most delicious strawberry cupcakes I have ever tasted. Meeting a blogging friend was one of the funnest experiences! It made blogging seem so much more "real" and helped me realize it's value in my life even more. Yay for blogging!

In July, I got to be a part of an opera program here in MN. It was a little nerve-wracking, and the first time I sang classical music in public for 3 years, but it was so rewarding. It opened up a new realm of possibilities for my singing and teaching career!

My family celebrated not one, but TWO engagements! (Well, technically, engagement #2 happened on January 1 of 2012, but who's keeping track anyway?).

So far, 2012 is looking to be a pretty awesome year. One of the things I'm looking forward to most is going to California with my handsome man for a wee vacation in February... should be fun!

Blog-wise, I'm really inspired to keep truckin' along. I'm hoping to keep up the same types of posts, but add in quite a few more fashion/refashion inspired posts. My goal is to write at least one each week! 

What are some of your goals (I hate the word resolution... it just begs to be broken in my book) for the New Year? Is there anything that you would like to see more of on this ol' blog? I would love to hear your thoughts!

Flowers + Stripes (and a Surprise!!!)

 

Sometimes, inspiration strikes at the strangest of times. One night, I was laying in bed trying to convince my brain that it was time to fall asleep. Suddenly, right as I was about to give in to sweet slumber, a vision came to me.

What, no one else has visions of the sartorial variety?  =)

So, the next day I happily assembled this outfit, using a sweater that had been neglected for a few years and a lovely skirt given to me by my ever-so-fashionable sister Elsipeth. I knew I had held on to this sweater for some reason. It's fun to pull together a "new" outfit using things you already have on hand sometimes! 

(Skirt- Unknown, Sweater + Boots- Old Navy, Cami + Tights + Skinny Belt- Target)

When I wore this outfit out later to run some errands, I threw on a lovely red jacket (Target) and one of my favorite Christmas presents- this hat made by my talented Mother-In-Law.

Seriously, is she amazing or what? It's styled after a 1920's flapper hat (a cloche), but a little more loose on the top. It's fun to wear, and easy on the hair! 

And now, for the exciting news that I couldn't share before....

MY SISTER IS ENGAGED! 

It's finally Facebook Official. 

Elsie and Kyle were High School Sweethears (awww!) and now are going to be married in the Fall of 2012. That means not one, but two family weddings are in store this year! I couldn't be happier for my sweet sister and best friend, and her fiance who is already like a brother. 

They got engaged on New Year's Day- Kyle took Elsie to several places that had special meaning to their relationship, gave her sweet little gifts at each one, and finally proposed to her by moonlight next to the Mississippi River. How wonderful is that?

That evening, our immediate family got together to celebrate their engagement. My Dad was playing around with his phone, after he had taken a picture of the ring, and said "Oh, I suppose I shouldn't post this on Facebook yet." We all said "No! Definitely not!" and then he said "Oops."

Thankfully, we managed to delete it (it only took 4 adults and 10 minutes to figure out how to do that... stupid Facebook), and no was was any wiser until their official announcement a few days later. Ah, it's those stories that we will look back on one day and smile about!