Best Day

Thank you to my sweet husband for a great dinner out with great friends for my birthday.

A great day all around! Eric gave me the sweetest art print - as soon as I find a frame I'll show you too.

Thank you sweetie!

A very Picasso Valentine

Happy Valentines Day.

This is my valentine to my sweet husband of two and a half years.

It should be noted that I drew this in class after looking at slides of Picasso's children artwork phase. Oh how I love my Theory of Children's Art class. Do you think I was influenced? Yeah, me too.

Speaking of, I should be writing my midterm paper right about now.

I'll tell you a secret.

Since no one could figure out who this guy is... I'll tell you a secret. He's Frank Warren - the guy behind Post Secret. Have you heard of Post Secret?

Frank started this "art project" by asking random strangers to send anonymous postcards containing their secrets to his house in Maryland. Fast forward a few years and now he has received millions and millions of secrets. They range from sad to funny and everywhere in between. Every Sunday Frank uploads a selection of new secrets to his blog but, if you really want to see a bulk of the secrets, check out the books. He has compiled five (I think) books with some of the most intriguing ones.

Now, Frank travels around the world with "Post Secret Live" sharing the story behind the project and his reflections on the cathartic action of sending in secrets.
Eric and I have a ritual of checking the blog every Sunday morning together. We've been doing it for years, even over the phone when we were dating long distance. We even have a couple of the books.

and Frank (we're on a first name basis now) signed them for us.

PS - even shared which secret in the book was his. It's this one:

I love that part.

Do you ever have those days/weeks/months when you and your significant other totally click, have long conversations about nothing for hours on end, you forget what time it is, just want to be as close to them as possible, when your heart totally aches with love?

I love that part.

*photo by moi, taken just as it started spitting snow a couple of weeks ago

so so lucky

this handsome guy gave me a kiss this morning before he left for work.
oh the bowtie, and the starched shirt and that smile

Splendid Minta Annual Report: House Projects

It's that time again.

Time to revel in 2010's accomplishments and I think it's safe to say, our house has come a long way baby.
without further ado, 2010's DIY projects:
a) installed a medicine cabinet in the master bath; b) the front yard got a haircut; c) painted the paneling and trim in the den; d) up-cycled 5 thrift store lamps

a) refurbished a set of vintage bouncy patio chairs; b) removed the pergola-thingy blocking the den windows; c) painted our wrought-iron fence; d) built our spindle-leg farm table

a) removed lovely floral wallpaper in our master bath and installed a new light; b) ripped out the old closet and installed a more efficient system in our master closet; c) painted the front door glossy black; d) turned the ugly 80's brass chandy into a showstopper

a) painted our found (in the attic!!) twin bed frames; b) painted the hallway a moody smokey grey; c) gave our kitchen a major face-lift with paint; d) pressure washed all our sidewalks, siding and patios - MAJOR GROSS!

a) built our own hutch/sideboard; b) chopped down the monster Lady Banks Rose bush; c) built a raised bed garden and had a bumper crop last summer; d) painted the dining room 3 times, yes, 3 times - this shows color #2 and color #3 is the cut in color - much better.

WOW.

We did a lot. In total we probably spent about $600 on all the projects above - most of the cost being for lumber and paint. Lots and lots of paint. I cannot even begin to tell you the amount of man hours spent. I am overwhelmed thinking about it all.

Looking forward to 2011 - the house projects will be scaled back a bit while I am in school but I do want to accomplish the following:
- painting the moulding in the ENTIRE HOUSE, all the same color of course
- giving the pink bathroom a free (or mostly free facelift)
- possibly moving the laundry facilities from the kitchen to the soon-to-be mudroom/laundry/craft room.
- stripping and re-caulking & painting the windows on the outside of the house.

Holiday Rewind

What a crazy unexpected Christmas this was.

As I mentioned, we were planning on heading up to the Great White North but decided to stay put because of snow....

so we had Skype-mas with my parents and sister
no, they are not in the witness protection program but since I've never discussed with them putting their mug up on the world wide interwebs... meet my family, the blurs.

so we visited some family only an hour or so away
and then we ended up getting snow anyways...
Charlie loved it by the way. He ran so much with his dog-cousins that he slept for 2 days straight afterward.We are all very big dorks. I told the family that this should be our Christmas card. Classic - 6 cell phones and a bottle of gin. Our 3 new ipads are not pictured.
Eric and his brother rocked out on their paper guitars.
and then we celebrated this handsome guy's 28th birthday on the 27th.

PHEW... I am tired.

27 with Dave

I know that my birthday was over a month ago but my birthday present was last night. Eric took me back to college days with a DMB concert in Charlotte!
Don't be jealous of how gorgeously sweaty I am here. Just hanging out with 10,000 of my closest friends.
My mantra all night: "Please play the old stuff, please play the old stuff." Dave did not disappoint. Satellite, Lover lay down, Lie in our Graves, Don't Drink the Water and more. Thank goodness.

BONUS: Tim Reynolds was there too!
Thank you honey for keeping me young.