On vacation!

No, not me silly! I wish, but sadly I’m at work. Though I think I may have figured out how to work myself into a job that offers more vacation. A LOT more vacation. What is it you ask? I’m going to run for Congress. Ha. Right. But I should. Check out their work schedule. Or non-work schedule I should say.

Let me start out by saying that at my humble job, I receive a total of 6 paid holidays a year. SIX. And technically, one week of paid vacation (I get two but one gets sucked up due some super awesome company policies over Christmas). This brings our grand total to 13 days off per year. Count them with me people, THIRTEEN. Wanna know how many Congress gets? Brace yourself.

17 weeks. 85 days to be exact.

Let’s see them in their entirety:

2 weeks in January
1 week in February for President’s Day
1 week in March
2 weeks in April
1 week in May/June (crosses months)
1 week in July
basically the whole month of August
1 week in September
2 weeks in October
2 weeks in November
Lord knows how much time in December

Who’s with me in running for Congress? These people work less than they take time off. No wonder our country is all fucked up. Damn.

Mini home makevover

The hubs gave me the green light to renovate our tiny half bathroom over the weekend. It’s kinda strange actually because this was waaaaay down on the project list, far behind a new kitchen sink, renovating the fireplace and surrounding wall, and gutting our master bath and walk-in closet. I’m not even really sure how this project came about but I’m glad it did! We like to do projects ourselves rather than hire outside contractors. One, because we’re cheap, and two because, well, we’re cheap.

Here’s a picture of the bathroom before:

This is the only picture I got since the bathroom isn’t even big enough to stand in and take a picture. It’s THAT small. The wall color is a hideous dark, grayish green sick baby poo color, which is actually a vast improvement over what it was when we first moved in the house – flourescent yellow. And the bathroom has no windows so with this dark color, the room itself is pretty dark, so yet another coat of paint on the walls is in order.

I came up with 3 different schemes for the new room over the weekend and put them to a vote. We immediately veto’d one and were left with 2 choices. I was pretty torn between the 2 and could have easily gone either way, so I enlisted the help of my Facebook peeps and asked them to vote. Hands down, #2 won out. That and the hubs picked #2 as well and since he’s footing the bill I figured his vote should count for something.

Here were the 2 options (#2 being the winner):

OPTION 1

OPTION 2 – WINNER!

I purchased everything but the countertop and the floor tile over the weekend (on the internet, of course), so hopefully we can knock this project out pretty quickly. And by quickly I mean 2 weeks cuz I’ve got some out-of-towners coming on March 16th! The difficult part will be starting with the paint because we are keeping the toilet and the sink (for a future project) so everything will have to come out of the room to paint it. This includes the lights so we can fix the wall behind it if necessary, which means the room will be DARK! And I am painting horizontal stripes (inspired by John & Sherry) so painting will take a couple of days at best. Wish me luck. I’ll keep you posted with progress and of course, the finished product!

Game on, Bob Villa!

If only…

I loved my cat more. Because I’d really like to give her a place to sleep in my room other than on my chest.

Igloo Cat Bed from The Refined Feline

Really, I’m only kidding. I love my cat despite how she continually pees on the floor. I’m just poor.

Pillow talk

Not that kind of pillow talk, silly. The pick me up, brighten your day kind. I think it might be kinda nice to curl up with some sofa pillows that have an endearing or uplifting message. If nothing else, they are a lot more fun than everyday solid color pillows!

Laugh Pillow from CB2

Bespoke Eco Recycled Felt Cushions from Rockett St George

Leaf House

Yet another installment in the “I want to go to there” series. Or bitter house envy. Take your pick, they both qualify. The Leaf House, by architects Mareines + Patalano was inspired by Brazil’s Indian architecture and is located just one hour south of Rio de Janeiro.

The generous heights of the open inner spaces allow the SE trade winds to pass perfectly trough the building, providing natural ventilation, passively cooling both the enclosed and open spaces. The purpose of the house was to enhance the interaction between man and nature, trying whenever possible, not to separate them completely. The house also has a curved swimming pool, which snakes into the house, passing below the formal dining room, turning into a pond with aquatic plants and fish. The rear veranda serves as a resting space with five hammocks, called the “Brazilian Lounge”.

I don’t really care what you call it. I’d like to call it home…

Lust and longing

I want this door like no other! Our master bedroom leads directly into our bathroom (which our bed faces, by the way), with no door to separate the two. This means that when the mister gets up at 4 am (don’t ask) to shower and go to work, it’s like I’m center stage with the light shining from the bathroom. I’ve hung a curtain between the two spaces but it does little for the light and virtually NOTHING for the sound. I’m more than positive this would be a much better solution to our bedroom/bathroom woes. Originally an old barn door, this is proof that a little TLC goes a long way. It’s quite sharp in the modern space and gives the room a vintage-y characteristic at the same time. Want. Want. Want!!!!

via seesaw via Design*Sponge

Mansion Apartment Shack House

Remember that game, MASH, from your childhood where you grew up to be famous, extremely wealthy and were married to the most awesomest guy ever , had 2.5 kids and could even pick the color of your car? Well, in case you don’t – here’s a refresher courtesy of the new movie, Paper Heart. Which looks totally freaking adorable by the way!

And FYI – I am marrying Bradley Cooper, am a famous pro blogger (blogging from my mansion in the Caribbean, no less) with a silver Prius and absolutely NO kids in sight! Jealous? Yeah, I thought so.

via you are my fave - thanks Melanie!