Green Thumb...

Now that we have our own home & a lot more room compared to our 900 sq. ft. apartment- I have been experimenting with my green thumb. I love picking them out & watching them grow. 

I started with just one potted flower & then it grew to ten (my husband calls me a plant hoarder). You know they say if you can keep a plant and a pet alive, then you're good to have babies (sure hope that's true- ha!). Anyways, I was able to keep all of them alive-- blooming flowers & all. And then my husband bumped into my plant stand... Everything came crashing down & shattered. 

So I basically had to start completely over... And luckily it's been going great, good thing or else my husband would be in deep you know what. 

When visiting down at my Dad's, I brought home two little pieces of my grandma's plants (Christmas cactus and a spider plant) to re-pot. Shockingly, I was able to keep them alive. The Christmas cactus is growing, but not much... The spider plant is doing awesome! 

Before & After-- Spider Plant 

As weird as it sounds, it is something that I do to relax a little. Well, until lately... when I noticed these red ants all over two of the potted plants hanging outside. Anyone else have this problem? 

I was so annoyed with them and couldn't understand why they were on the plants, so my immediate reaction was to get my bug spray and put it on the plants and the pots. Thinking back, I am not too sure that it was such a good idea. The ants seemed to go away a little, but I am not too sure if it will kill my plants. (Dumbass move, I know!)

So at this point, I have basically ran out of room for more plants. So i'll probably stick with the plants I have before it starts really looking like a cluster f*$%. 

Do you see what I see?! The two flowers are connected at the stem, which I thought was so cool! 

Happy Planting! 

DIY Success !!

Several weekends ago, my husband & I finally decided to paint two of our bathrooms. It literally took me an entire year and a half to convince him that we should paint. I figured that we could start in the smaller rooms of the house; our downstairs bathroom and our master bathroom. 

In my mind, I envisioned it all to go so smoothly-- ha! I now know why my husband insisted that we hire someone. Bathrooms are so damn hard to paint! With the sinks, toilets, and cabinets-- ugh!! We did a good job (besides the smidgen of paint spots on our boards and cabinets) but it took us all day long. 

My hubby with one foot on the ladder & one foot on the toilet saying "I am really over your DIY projects for a while!"

It took quite some time to figure out the colors that I wanted to paint the bathrooms. I am so indecisive, so we took several trips to Lowe's before I finally decided. 

For our downstairs bathroom- I really wanted to do a light gray color. We lucked out because hubs found an entire can of the paint I wanted in the clearance section, so we paid $5 on a can that was originally $26 (score!).

For our master bathroom- I am loving all light mint colors. So I knew that I definitely wanted to use that for our walls. I thought it would look awesome because we have white counter tops & dark cabinets in our bathroom. 

Final Products! 

Master Bathroom

Downstairs Bathroom 

If you know me, then you know that I love all whites/ivories/tans, so painting walls is really branching out for me. Therefore, it has taken me sometime to get used to the color on the walls. 

I am please with the way it all turned out, but I do have two complaints: 

• The master bathroom is a little brighter than I anticipated, but overall I like it. 
• The downstairs bathroom looks to have a bit of a purple tint.

Before I go, I will leave you one piece of advise ...  

Tip: Paint a little on the walls before purchasing paint!! 

Little things, that mean a whole lot...

This past weekend, my husband, sister, and I decided to take a trip down toward Tampa to visit my dad. It had been several weeks since our last trip, his 62nd birthday, and with the terrible no good news about his cancer, there was no better time but now to go. 

On the way down it is very country-- lots of open fields, cows (lots of cows!), gorgeous wild flowers, and a lot of country bumpkins shops. It takes us about 4 hours from Jacksonville to get to my Dad's house. 

This trip down I wasn't nervous... I knew we were going to have a good time together. It was so amazing to see my dad and his wife. When we got there he walked right out to us. I was so extremely happy to see him walking without a walker. He was gaining strength back in his legs, which is awesome! 

The weather here in Florida is hot! So right away we blew up a million floats, plopped them in the pool, and floated away for hours. It was so relaxing & the water felt so nice. Here's a funny-- my Dad & his wife have a 120 lbs lab... yes, you read that right! Anyways, she loves my Dad & wanted to get on the float with him... well poor thing is huge and she sunk like titanic. My sister (fully clothed on a raft) jumped into the water and had to give her big ole butt a boost out of the pool. I don't think she will ever jump on the raft ever again. 

While floating my crazy husband and sister whipped out the bebe guns & played attack-of-the-evil-squirrels. It is so funny because the damn things were not even scared. At one point about 6 of them in a full on pack, came down the tree towards the bird feeder (that they have completely chewed apart). And the little suckers were hanging all over the bird feeder that morning. Looks like it is back to the drawing board on getting rid them- cayenne pepper and bebe guns do not work. Ha! 

Warning: No squirrels were actually injured. 

After lounging and shooting the bebe gun- we started to BBQ on the grill- yummy! While my husband cooked and my sister supervised and my Dad's wife cooked inside; Dad and I caught up on good ole Law and Order.  

After yummy dinner, we surprised my Dad with a birthday cake for his 62nd birthday! We sang Happy Birthday ! And he loved the cake! 

After yummy cake, the fully clothed trouble makers (hubs & sissy) decided it would be a good idea to get on the floats in the dark. It was so funny!

All and all the trip was fun ! It is so nice that my Dad and his wife are so close now (previously lived in up North). Next week is the beginning of my Dad's fight to win against cancer, so us all being able to spend time together was great! 

If you're reading this... please pray for my father & his fight against this devil aka throat cancer. 

  

Life Happens...

Let's forget about accessories and decorating for a bit & let's talk about life (warning: it's going to be a long one, but hang in there with me).

Several months ago, I got a call that my Dad had several seizures and was in ICU and not looking good. My heart literally broke. I knew that he hadn't led a healthy lifestyle with drinking and smoking, but I didn't realize   how bad it actually was. 

So that weekend my husband, sister, and I packed up our bags and headed towards Tampa to visit him. When we got to the hospital I was honestly in complete utter shock. He laid in the hospital bed- hooked to IV's and completely incoherent. Only thing I could understand him saying was I love you, which was all I wanted in that moment (partially from medicines and swelling of his tongue from the seizure). I remember just standing over him & praying non-stop. I prayed to God that he would get another chance at life. He made unhealthy mistakes, but he deserved another chance. 

Before we left the ICU to head back to Jacksonville, it all hit me hard. I had kept it together pretty good, but I absolutely lost it in front of him. As incoherent as he was, he knew I was crushed... a tear streamed down his face and he said I love you. It was hard when we got home because that was all I could remember.

I knew that all we could do was pray. Have our friends, family, church, and co-workers just pray. After   weeks in the hospital with no sleep, my dad finally slept! Not only did he sleep & get some rest, but he woke up & ate on his own. This was a true miracle and power of prayer. After several more days & progressing he was released from the hospital. He still had a long road ahead of him, but he was free from IV's and hospital beds. 

Although I was thrilled about him leaving the hospital, I knew that it was going to be a new journey for him at home. He had to give up some tough habits that he has had for 20+ years. And he was still having throat issues that remained unresolved in the hospital. 

I knew deep down there was something going on...with hard time drinking and eating, there had to be an underlying issue. 

After several weeks out of the hospital and progressively getting better and one bad habit gone- to say I was thrilled was an understatement. He had been gradually gaining weight, laying out by the pool, having in-home physical therapy, all of his levels were evening out, and seemed to be getting better day-by-day.  

Then the dreadful, unexpected day came... my father was diagnosed with absolutely horrible shitty f*%!ing throat cancer. All I could think of was... when the f*!# is he going to catch a break?! Why is this happening when things were finally coming together for him!? WHY!! Hasn't he already suffered enough... 

For days, all I could do was cry... cry for him, cry for his wife, cry for my sister and I, cry because I want my future kids to meet their grandpa someday, cry because we've missed out on so much time together & I want that time back... I just cried, all the time.

After a few weeks, more information was provided about treatment and goals. Instead of crying all the time, I realized that all I can do right now is try my hardest be positive and pray, pray, pray!! 

He will be starting chemo and radiation on June 19th for the next 7+ weeks. 

I know it will be a long battle for him, but I am praying to God that he will give him strength to get through this horrible time. He will make it through this, he has to. 

If you're reading this-- please pray that my dad beats this dreadful, no good- throat cancer. 

Target- You're Killing Me !!

Can you go into Target & only get that one item on your list without picking up anything else? Didn't think so! Neither can I. 

They should have a trash can right at the front door labeled "Throw away your list here because you will not use it".  

I have had an obsession with Target since... oh let me think-- forever! And then they added Threshold & Nate Berkus and well let's just say that my husband & my bank account hate it (too bad, so sad).

Every week I have a new wish list-- here is this week...

The pillows are very cute. They definitely are not PB quality, but for $20 they're great! 

And the woven blanket is so soft-- you can never have too many blankets around the house. 

I really love the wooden table caddy-- I am not too sure how often I would use it, but I am pretty sure I can figure it out. 

Has anyone else noticed the poufs in every single store? Targets prices on the poufs definitely beat the prices anywhere else. They're small enough that you can have a few of them, so you have plenty of room for guest seating. 

Speaking of Target-- the life-size doll house in Grand Central station looked amazing. The pictures were all over instagram & I loved it! I wish so badly that I would've been able to go to it. Since I wasn't there... I got some pictures from the awesome iheart organizing blog (which is amazing- check it out!).

I know you're all about to click on the "X" to close this blog & haul ass to your nearest Target & shop til' you drop! 

You're Welcome ! 

Worst Blogger Award Goes To...

To say that I suck at blogging would be an understatement. When I created this blog, I honestly had every intention on being a good blogger. I wanted people to follow me & read my blog, but at this point that's impossible. Who the hell would follow my blog when I don't ever write any posts?! 

I am going to try & get back into the swing of things & at least try and write 3 times a week. I figure I better ease back into this. I am going to do posts on the following each week (you're probably thinking... yeah, sure you will when hell freezes over)... 

Lovely and Oh So Pinteresting

I mean this should be really easy considering I have about a million posts each & every day! I mean how can you not, there are so many addicting things on there. 

DIY Success Stories, Wish Lists, and/or Decorating Our Home 

Yes, even after all of my completely disastrous DIY projects, I am still attempting them. They normally are not too risky since I suck at them, but for blogging sake I might step out on a limb & try a few things that are out of my comfort zone. 

Wish lists?! Again! Yes! I love them and I will always have a wish list NO MATTER what! You just wait, whenever I get pregnant this blog will be renamed Wish Lists Galore.

Favorites 

I always have favorites-- whether it be foods, products, stores, etc... I always have something that is my favorite & excites me ! 

In the mean time, I will leave you with some Instagram pictures from life lately...  

Brace yourself! They're super exciting! 

Green Thumb| Miranda Lambert/Dierks Bentley/Lee Brice| Grandpa's 81st Birthday| New Fur Niece Bear| Power of Prayer 

Target Trips| More of Baby Bear| Decorating Home| Mother's Day| 7 weeks Gluten Free 

Painting Our Home| Sad Gallery Wall| Beautiful Night Skies| Duckies| Yummy Gluten Free Foods