just when you thought you were rid of me

This is sort of awkward.

You remember that super good friend you had in high school or junior high? And you were soooo close, you just knew that you were going to be friends forEVER. And then junior high/high school ended and you kept up the façade for a little while, but then you grew apart or lost touch or whatever. Then 5 years later you run into each other at the grocery store, down the baking aisle because you needed pecan halves and she needed all-purpose flour, and you don’t really know what to say…because you don’t really know each other anymore?

That’s how I feel about the internets right now. And blogging. Because I’ve been away for so long that I feel like we need to be re-introduced. Or something.

Hi, I’m Laura. Remember me? The girl with 2 different personalities? (why am I lying? we know I have like 20) The girl who likes football way more than any normal girl. Who occasionally lets her hairdresser put pink in her hair. Who doesn’t really like bargain shopping even though she knows its better for her wallet and her marriage. The girl who married a man only to see him deploy a year later. The one who just bought a house with said man and has spent COUNTLESS hours trying so hard to make said house look JUST LIKE PAGE 23 OF THE POTTERY BARN CATALOGUE.

Yep, that’s me.

So, now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, how have you been?

what’s in a name?

As one of the administrative assistants at my church, my daily tasks range from answering phones to sending emails, to formatting the church newsletter.

We have quite a thriving sports ministry as well, and since youth basketball is starting up soon, it was/has been my task to help parents register their children.

Today, a mother called to register her son (just shy of a month past the registration deadline, of course) and the process was going smoothly.

“Your last name?” I asked

“Dunkley” she said.

“Okay, and your son’s first name is?”

“Slam.”

Yup, Slam Dunkley. I hope to heaven that this kid makes it into the NBA. With a name like that, he’ll need to be famous.

before and after #1

Since I’ve been mostly MIA around here lately, I figured that I’d give y’all a little peek into why I’ve been so preoccupied. Aren’t I sweet?

And so, I give you, Before and After.

Today’s room is our guest bathroom.

About a year and a half-ish ago, I decided that I didn’t like the shower curtain we owned (which really isn’t all that bad, I should tell you. It was just a little…plain. And, to be perfectly frank, I was filling the boredom/sadness/lonliness of my husband being gone, and buying new shower curtains seemed like the perfect solution to my problem.) so I bought two new damask-patterned shower curtains – a brown and blue one for our master bedroom and a black and white one for the guest bathroom. (I just assumed the house we would buy would have two bathrooms. I’m glad I was right.)

When we actually bought the house though, I faced a dilemma: what color should I paint the walls in the guest bathroom. In my mind, I went through different colors: red, but I thought it would make it look “Asian” and that’s not really my style; yellow, but I thought it would look like a bumble bee; gray, but I thought that would be dull. I finally “settled” on jade green. It was different, and something I thought would be pretty with black and white. Then, while talking to a friend about my color choices, she said: “Why not Tiffany Blue?”

And so it was decided. And with the room complete, I feel like I can show you now! Be excited!

Before:

After:

Well, what do you think?

we wish you a merry CHRISTmas…

….and a happy New Year!

the perfect lbd

The LBD (Little Black Dress) should be a staple in every woman’s wardrobe. It’s the go-to dress for formal parties, weddings, and other special events. I’ve had an LBD since I was about 19 or 20, but it’s never been right.

I bought it because I needed something for Valentines Day that year, but I didn’t put much effort into the search because I waited until the last minute to actually go get it. Typical.

I’ve been able to get by with that dress, but I decided this year that I would go out and get something that I really like. Something I look forward to wearing when we (or I) have an event to go to that warrants wearing an LBD. I had double motivation  because our youth group is having a formal for our Sr. High students tonight, and I really didn’t have anything to wear to it.

I was expecting the normal shopping experience:

Go into a store, try on lots of dresses, hate everything, move on to the next store.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

But! I walked into The Limited first because they’re on the classy/classic side of trendy, and that’s really what I wanted out of my LBD.

With the help of a friend, I pulled tons of stuff off of the racks to try on and made my way into the dressing room. After trying on one outfit just for fun, (not really just for fun, it would have been a serious contender if I hadn’t found a dress. who knows, maybe I’ll go back and buy it to wear for new years!) I slipped on this little number. Like butta, I tell you, butta. It’s exactly what I’ve always wanted in an LBD. Classic, slimming, comfortable, slimming, the perfect amount of trendy, and slimming. Did I mention slimming?

I just love it to pieces. I found something like this (minus the ruffles) to go over it (because, um, it’s December) and the only jewelry I plan on wearing with it is this necklace.

LBD : found and purchased. Now, if only I could find the perfect pair of black dress pants……

everything you wanted (or didn’t care) to know about how we celebrate Christmas

Anyone who’s been hanging around here long enough knows how much I LOVE Christmas. I love EVERYTHING. The hustle and bustle, the shopping, the lights, the trees, the gifts, THE MEANING, and on and on the list goes. With the whole moving into-a-new-house-a-ganza I haven’t even mentioned Christmas around here. I’m such a scrooge. Here’s my first mention.

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? I do prefer Hot Chocolate, although I’m not opposed to Egg Nog.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Wrap presents – My parents did Santa with us (and I still believe in Jesus! Imagine!) and they wrapped them. My husband has put a stop to Santa (because he’s evil) but we wrap presents just the same.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? I do white, because I think they’re positively lovely. BUT. My Aunt does the coolest thing ever that combines both white and colored lights – she does white lights the whole way down the center of the tree so that it’s like glowing on the inside, and she does colored lights on the outside of the tree. I’m not a fan of colored lights myself, but her tree does look spectacular.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? No. But I do burn a mistletoe-scented candle. Does that count?

5. When do you put your decorations up? In the early-middle-ish of December. Right now, I have candles in my windows and a wreath on my front door. Slowly but surely, I’ll get the rest up and out.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? Which Holiday? Thanksgiving I like stuffing…Christmas I love my mom’s crab and broccoli soup. It’s to.die.for.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? Easy. My brother and I would go sit in the living room and just stare at our presents until we were allowed to wake my parents up at 6:30.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I was 8 years old. Kids were talking about it in school and so I asked my dad and he told me that there was no Santa.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Yes. Every year my parents let us open our Christmas pj’s on Christmas Eve. Luke and I don’t really do it for one another, but when I have kids, I will carry on this tradition.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? White lights, cranberry and champagne colored balls, and an assortment of other ornaments. I’m thinking of wrapping the tree with a champagne colored ribbon this year, but I’ll have to wait and see.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Oh snow. I just love it. And we NEVER get it here. NEVER. (well, ok, not never, but my definition of snow is like 1 foot minimum, but unfortunately, I live in a state that is a huge disappointment in this area.

12. Can you ice skate? yes. I can also fall down while on ice skates. I’m quite talented.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? Blitzen.

14. What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Remembering why we celebrate and reminding others as well. And cookies.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? My mom’s peanut butter cookies. So simple. And yet so unbelievably tasty.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Christmas Eve at my mom and dad’s house. I love the family time.

17. What tops your tree? Star.

18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? Both.

19. Candy Canes: Yuck or Yum? Yummy! There so fresh.

20 Favorite Christmas Show? How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the cartoon), A Christmas Story, Christmas Vacation, Home Alone 1 & 2

21. Saddest Christmas Song? The Christmas Shoes

22. What is your favorite Christmas Song? I love Mannheim Steamroller’s version of Silent Night (Stille Nacht) it’s breathtaking.

the first

I’ve had lots of firsts in my life.

My first words: “Ruff Ruff!” Do you know the song “How much is that doggie in the window?” My parents used to sing that to me, and one day, we were all in the car together on our way to somewhere, and they sang it to me, and right on cue I added in the “Ruff Ruff!”. I, of course, don’t remember this, but my parents were so stunned that it has been burned into their memories.

My first serious injury: When I was five years old, and my brother Zach three, myself and some of my friends were standing in my front yard watching as Zachary practiced his golf swing. I thought he was doing it wrong (because I was such a golf expert at the age of 5, dontchaknow) and moved up behind him to tell him so. I told him not to swing, but he did anyway, and hit me on my head about an inch or 2 away from my temple.  My mother, who was pregnant with the twins, had to rush me to the emergency room to get stitches. I do remember this event, because frankly, getting smacked in the head with a golf club isn’t something that’s easy to forget.

My first kiss: I was 13 and moving into my rebel stage, and so my boy of choice was 18-year-0ld Larry who was all thugged out in his FUBU t-shirt, Timberlands, and jeans which hung down to his knees. I’m pretty sure that in addition to smoking weed (which I’ve never done), he sold it, as it was his only means of making money (in his mind). The only positive things that I remember about him are that he was always really nice to me (I’m sure this was because he wanted me to do more than just kiss him) and that he was extremely good-looking.

There have been many more firsts, both good and bad, along the way, and today I added a new one to my list:

My first unhappy home-related expense.

My hubby had the day off today and went down into our crawl space to check something out when he notice a leak. No -  not a leak, a leak gives the impression of a slow drip. This was more like a stream, coming from our hot water heater. Apparently, the pipe that gives us hot water was “leaking” and causing condensation (because the water was, um, hot), and, horror of all horrors, mold. Praise the Lord that my husband chose that exact moment to go down into the crawl space.

Fortunately, it was a relatively “easy” and “inexpensive” fix at $175, (“Goodbye Pottery Barn curtains!”) but now because of the water and mold down there, we have to buy a de-humidifier; which, if I know my husband (and I do) will be the cheapest one that we can find.

And so it begins.

reason # 4,238,568 why i love Brad Paisley

I’m quite certain that only Brad could mess up like this and still make it seem SO unbelievably adorable!

a phone conversation with my husband

“Hey, whatchu doin’?

“Nothing, just playing video games.”

“Oh, well did you go to the post office?”

“Yup, I picked up our mail and bought 2 books of stamps for the rest of those ‘we’ve moved’ cards that we still have to send.”

“Oh great! Did you stamp them and mail them out?”

“No, I didn’t want you to have nothing to do when you got home.”

“Gee. Thanks.”

inspiration re-discovered

I’m having a ball with this painting stuff.

There is nothing more gratifying than watching a wall go from white/off-white to something other than white/off-white. You’ve got to understand – Husband and I lived in apartment prior to his deployment. What does that mean? White walls. Everywhere. From there, we moved into my parents’ house. The walls weren’t white, but it wasn’t our space. It wasn’t personal. We had a bedroom (for which we are eternally grateful, the words just don’t do it justice) and that was it.

Now we have a house. With walls that are changing color by the day (or week, but who’s keeping track?) And it is so exciting to see it all (slowly) come together.

That brings me to my wall.

When it comes to wall colors, I play it safe. Conventional. Well, figuratively speaking I suppose. I’ve never had my own house to play with before. But prior to actually closing on and moving into the house, when I thought of the colors that I’d use, I imagined low-key tans, sage greens, blues. Nothing that requires going out on a limb or being daring. And that’s when I caught my first glimpse of the Simone Print from Pottery Barn. They showed it as a Roman Shade, and I fell in love. The green and cream colors in the print match the dishes in my kitchen and since the kitchen connects to our dining area (I call it an “area” because it’s not a formal dining room but it’s not just an “eat-in” kitchen, it’s somewhere in between) I thought the Roman Shades would look nice in a room that separate but apart from the kitchen. And so that was the plan. So I got daring, and because of these shades, decided that I wanted to paint the big wall in my dining room a burnt orange color. Daring.

So I found the shade of orange I wanted, painted the wall, measured the windows for the shades, went online to Pottery Barn when what to my wondering eyes should appear, but the words “Not in Stock” next to my precious Roman Shades. The inspiration behind the orange wall – gone.

Then just yesterday, I finally decided to get the ball rolling and call my local Pottery Barn to see if they had the proper lamp shades for those great lamps I purchased way back when, and they had them in stock at the store, so they put them on hold for me.

I went to pick them up today, and while the lovely sales lady went to get them for me, I made my way back to where all the curtains are displayed. Then I saw it. A full-sized drape in the Simone Print. “They have drapes in this?” I asked. “Yes, but that’s the last of them, because the print was discontinued” she replied. I told her the size I was looking for, and they had just 2 left. “I’ll take them” I said.

And so, just like that my orange wall will not be without a companion; in fact, I’m more excited about the drapes that I was about the Roman Shades.

This is why you should always go into the actual store – you never know what you’ll find!