Bathroom Decor

As you all know, I have a clear obsession with decorating our apartment. My latest project was decorating the bathroom! The walls were just too blank and boring, so I had to fill them with something. In DI I hunted down a bunch of embroidery hoops and bought a bunch of fun fabric from Ikea.

Now, with the embroidery hoops, all of them that I found had decorations in them. When I bought them, Daron was trying to nicely understand why I wanted these ugly old decorations and he was extremely relieved when I told him I was taking them out. For fun I hung up a few on the wall just so I could show you some of the delightful things I found.

As stated, they were not great. However, taking these things apart was a lot more difficult than I thought it would be. Turns out, the people who made these a long time ago didn't want anyone to destroy them (like I did). They were all both sewn and glued onto the hoops. I still managed to separate them. Then I put my new fabric in them and hung them up on the wall!

Here's the finished product!

It fills up the big blank bathroom wall, and it's a fun, easy, and super cheap project! The whole thing cost about $25, including the extra fabric I bought for other projects. All in all, lots of fun!

Chalkboard Globe

So once upon a time, I saw a picture of a craft and I decided to make it. There is this awesome thing called chalkboard paint, where you just paint something and it can become a chalkboard! How cool is that? So this picture I saw was of a globe that had been entirely painted with chalkboard paint and you could use it as a memo board! I thought that was awesome and I really wanted to do it!

Finding a globe was a bit of a difficulty at first. I went to DI several times, but the ones I could find were about $50! However, I kept persevering and finally I found one! It was a globe on a stand (something that the more expensive ones didn't have) so I could put it on the floor instead of having to find some table space to put it on. It also rotates 360 degrees so you can turn it any which way (which the other ones also didn't have). And the best part is it was only $15! It was a little loose and it wobbled, so I think that's why there was the markdown... But about 1 second with a screwdriver fixed that and it was perfect!

 Here's my lovely find! Globes are pretty cool on their own, and I was excited to revamp this one!

So the globe I found online was painted entirely, but I decided I really wanted to just paint the ocean and give it an extra cool look. Also, I figured if it looked bad I could paint over the land and not worry about it.

 If you want to do a project like this, here are some tips: get several sizes of paintbrushes, and get an especially small one for the detailed work around the borders. Also, with this project, you can't be too much of a perfectionist. The borders are not going to be perfect; don't beat yourself up because you moved the paintbrush too far and covered some of the land. It'll still look great! If you do care about making it all picture perfect, you need to be careful and very focused. One vagrant brushstroke and bam! Iceland's gone. (True story, I got distracted and painted right over Iceland)

 I painted the southern hemisphere first, let it dry, then painted the top half. Then, I added a second coat over the oceans to make sure that it had a good coverage for writing on.

 This is before the second coat and you can definitely see some of the blue still sticking through in some areas.

And here is the finished product! I love how it turned out, and I love the idea of using this as a creative memo board! Daron and I will definitely be using it a lot, it's so much fun!

Musings on Being a Homemaker

For those of you who have known me a long time (and probably for a lot of you that haven't known me for that long), you've undoubtedly come to the realization that I'm pretty independent and stubborn. I've always planned on having a career and focused on myself and my goals. In Young Women's I'd always joke about not needing to know all the stuff that they talked about, and in some ways I believed it. I knew that being a mom was important and I knew that being a homemaker was important, but that was something to worry about later. When I was 16 I came to the realization that it didn't matter because I wouldn't ever get married. I know that seems extremely silly, but guys were never interested in me. I was always too sassy or too tomboyish or too whatever. I figured that my dating life at 16 would continue on and it wouldn't really matter.

Well, here I am, about a month into marriage. I tutor high school students, and since it's summer break I haven't been working. It's been really nice for getting ready for a wedding, and it's been nice for the first month of marriage. I get up every morning and I pull out my checklist of things to do around the house. Then I clean, I organize stuff, I pull stuff out of boxes and find a place for it, I decorate. Daron gets home and I make dinner, we go to bed, wake up the next morning and it starts all over again.

It's only been a month and I'm already amazed at how much there constantly is to do. I feel like every morning I get up and feel like the bathroom counter needs to be cleaned, the kitchen floor needs to be mopped again, I need to vacuum, why is that book not on the bookshelf, blah blah blah! So lately I've been thinking about all the things I was taught growing up and I've realized it's true that you never really get an appreciation for something until you have to do it on your own.

Also, let me get things straight: currently, I don't really think I qualify as a homemaker. Cleaning after Daron and myself, cooking for the two of us, that's not bad, especially when you consider I'm not working or going to school yet. I'm really thinking more about how things are going to be difficult when I do start working and going to school at the end of the month. And it's made me think about all the awesome women in my life who have already gone through what I'm starting to face.

There's my mom, who managed to raise four kids while working full-time, and still manages to take care of all of us even as we're growing up and moving away. Not to mention she's a teacher AND she does primary (so that's like having kids that never grow up- as soon as they get older and move out of her class, they get replaced by new ones!)
I think about Jamie, my sister-in-law, who's the awesome lady who's dealing with two kids, keeping up her home, always making beautiful crafts to decorate her home, and she even gardens to boot!

I've been thinking in particular about my sister Amanda, who's worked hard through school, had a career, and now stays at home with her son and daughter to take care of them. Everyone (including me) has talked about how similar the two of us are, and I think about how often Amanda tells me she's frustrated because her house isn't as clean as she wants it, or Sam made a mess of the room she just cleaned, and so on and so forth. I look around my apartment and how there's always so much for me to do, and then I think about how I visit Amanda's house and it's decorated so nice and it feels like such a home. And even when she complains about how it's not as clean as she likes, I go over there and I'm amazed at how clean it is still!

As I've been getting ready for school and work to start up again, I'm realizing that my house isn't going to always be spotless. There will be days when things aren't going to get done, or I'm going to be frazzled because I have to choose between dirty dishes and homework. These upcoming few months are going to be a new type of challenge for me. And that's going to be okay. It's going to be hard, but it'll work. All the women before me have made it work, and I'll always be able to ask them for advice and look to them for an example. Not to mention Daron's always fantastic with helping out. He does dishes most of the time, and I've been feeling under the weather today and he just jumps through hoops to do stuff for me so I can rest.

I guess the motto of my musings is this: the women in my life are awesome and they've done so much with their lives and they just need to keep up the good work!


P.S. My sister Caitlin says she likes it when blog posts have pictures, so this is a picture of the wonderful flowers Daron brought me the other day. They're so pretty and I love them!

Furniture Redo 2

So the end tables were a very daring project I did that ended up really well. They were a lot of work and lots of fun!

The second project I did was a necklace holder for my sister Caitlin. This is super easy and super cute! Anyone can do it! All you need are:
A picture frame
Small door hooks (from any Home Depot)
Primer and paint (whatever color you want)
Antiquing glaze (also from Home Depot; you have to buy the glaze and then tint it with black paint)

First, you spray the picture frame with the primer and the paint. Sadly, I forgot to get a "before" picture for the frame, but it wasn't anything too exciting or bad. Just a regular ol' frame.

 Here I've painted the frame already (and you can see my end tables while they're drying from the primer!)
 Then you take the antiquing glaze and paint it onto the frame. After you paint it, while the paint's still wet you take a wet cloth and you wipe most of it off. Basically you paint and wipe until you get that antiqued look you want!

Voila! After that dries, you screw however many of the hooks you want across the top and you're done! Now you have a cute necklace holder frame!

I like how it turned out so much I think I'll have to make one for myself! Let me know what you think!

Furniture Redo Part 1

I'm always watching my sister-in-law Jamie make these super awesome projects. So Amanda and I, after watching her do all these cool redos, we decided that we were going to take matters into our own hands and make something awesome!

Clearly I have delusions of grandeur; I see all these awesome projects, but I am a fan of biting off more than I can chew. However, there are two projects that came off quite successfully that I did!

One weekend, Amanda and I went to Jamie's house (so we'd have some guidance in our misadventures). Amanda redid her vanity, and I made a necklace holder for my sister Caitlin and some side tables for our living room. In this post I'll do the side tables since they were the more heavy duty of the two projects.

Before picture of the end tables. Pretty beat up, but they had potential!

This is a picture of the glass that goes with the end tables.

So earlier I talked about having delusions of grandeur. Not only was I going to redo the end tables, but I decided to also etch the glass! Etching glass is a difficult thing to figure out at first! If you want to try it, I would suggest watching lots of videos on youtube to make sure you don't do it wrong since you'll be stuck with it.

I started by cutting out a design on my mom's Cricut using vinyl. You then peel it off and stick it to the glass. I cut out a really complicated design, and then I had to take all the little pieces and eyeball it where I was placing it on. It was a lot of work, and the first time I did it I messed it up. So I ended up doing it 3 times. I would try a much simpler project if you plan to etch for the first time, it makes for a lot less high stakes.

All those pieces of green inside were added by hand by yours truly. Lots of work!

After you do that, you apply the etching cream liberally (you shouldn't see the outline at all they say) and wait for a while. The longer you wait the more it'll etch. Also, make sure to wear gloves, you don't want this stuff etching your hands off! Anyway, back to those tables!

First I primed the tables, then I painted them a bright blue. I used krylon spray paint and it turned out very well! (side note: make sure you follow the instructions with painting: either spray paint the next coat within the hour or wait 24-hours between coats. I waited too long and when I went to spray paint after a few hours it cracked in a few places and was very frustrating.)

I like them, you'll have to tell me if you like them too!

The etching was an adventure, but it worked out very well!

Up next, the necklace holder!

First Dinner

So the wedding posts will be up soon enough, but first I wanted to make a post about Daron and my first dinner in our new apartment! It was the Friday before I was going to Vegas, and we decided to have a date night in our (almost) new home. Daron made tacos, and they turned out quite delicious despite having to run to the story midway to buy a can opener. I made guacamole, and it was a great meal!

We don't have a table (we're working on that), so we sat in the living room and watched "Lars and the Real Girl". It was a very fun movie and it was a very fun date!

Our yummy tacos, chips, and homemade guacamole!

We need a table, but for now this is just great!

Bridal Shower! Part 1 + 2

Once upon a time, I thought I'd make a blog and it would be awesome. Then I never updated it. The end.

But I've waited long enough to post! Over the past few months, I was lucky enough to have two bridal showers that were hosted by my mom and two sisters. The first one was in Provo with my friends from the ward and from school. The second one was in Vegas with my family. They were both extremely awesome and a lot of fun! (I could probably split this into 2 posts, but I'm nervous I'll never get around to it so I'll tackle it now!)

Part 1: Provo Bridal Shower

The first thing we did was play the marshmallow game; if you get a question about your fiance wrong, you have to stick a marshmallow in your mouth. I did very badly.

 I must say though, in my defense, my sister (who came up with the questions) thought I was going to try and cheat and so she came up with really hard questions! 

Another problem was Daron's answers. Several of the questions he answered incorrectly! For example, to the question 'What is Daron's favorite dessert?' I answered, "Fruit tarts" because he loves them and he always gets them whenever available. The answer he gave was brownies. When I asked him after the bridal shower about it he said, "Oh yeah, you're right. Fruit tarts are my favorite!"

The cards were stacked against me I tell you! But that's okay, the game was fun and very funny. The game's not fun if you get the questions right.

The next game: my friends Darby and Jerica had to put makeup on me while blindfolded.

 There were a few close calls with my eyes, but we survived!

It was quite special. 

Thanks to everyone, it was so much fun!

Part 2: Las Vegas Bridal Shower

At the Vegas shower we didn't take as many pictures. Our first activity was jeopardy. We split my family into two teams and they had to answer questions about Daron and I, and it was lots of fun!

The second activity was actually a gift for me! Caitlin bought the letters to spell "Aquino" and they decorated them. 

After that we unwrapped presents! Since Daron reads this blog, I'm not putting up pictures of the traditional bridal shower gifts. However, one gift I know he's excited about are the down pillows my grandma gave us.

And here's one final picture of Rachel being cute.

Well, I think the bridal showers were both successes! I had so much fun, and I know that my family did an awesome job putting them together! Thanks guys!

Engagements

Well, Amanda's been giving me a hard time about not updating my blog. And, seeing how she is currently my only viewer, I should bow down to the will of my audience. I decided to do a little post about my awesome engagements and my amazing photographer!

We went and did engagements March 19th. I was constantly checking the weather, and when the day finally arrived it was raining and snowing. Kirstin called and asked if we'd want to postpone, but I was determined! I'd been waiting for engagements for a month, and I didn't want to wait any longer. We called the zoo and they said it wasn't snowing, so we drove up and met Kirstin.

It was just so much fun, I love Kirstin! She made us feel so comfortable and she was so fun and sweet, and going around the zoo was great! It actually ended up being perfect because there wasn't anyone at the zoo, so we could go around and take pictures wherever we wanted.

Some of my favorite pictures were with the elephant statue

The sign said, "Don't feed the giraffes" but the giraffes had their own plan

When Kirstin told us to stick our heads in a drinking fountain, I was suspicious, but this really is one of my favorite pictures.

 After the zoo, we drove up emigration canyon and found a place to take pictures. We just followed Kirstin and she stopped at the side of the road at this empty field. At this point it started to snow, and I was darn cold! I had originally planned on wearing shorts, but I switched to pants at the last second and I'm glad I did.

This is a vanity picture I suppose, but I like it! I hope I'm "smizing" (only ANTM fans will know!)

At the end, Kirstin had us run through a field and past her. It was cold, and I'm amazed that we didn't run into her!

After that, we went to Ruth's Diner and Daron and I had dinner. It was such a fun day! I can't wait to get my dress and take bridals!

New Blog

Well, it was a few weeks ago that Daron asked me, "Do you think you'll make a blog?" and I immediately scoffed. Why would I make a blog? I'm boring and we never take pictures, and it would just be a waste of time.

As the days passed by, I found that as I drove to work I started to have general musings. They were the kind of musings where I would think about what a good blog post it would be. All of these genius ideas had to be shared with the world, and my musings continued to sit in my brain until one evening, this blog was created.

The moment the blog was created, of course, all of the brilliant post ideas flew right out of my brain and I've been left staring at a blank screen. But the show must go on! So this is just an introductory post. Later this week I'll start diving into posts with actual depth.