Back in Action

It's been a while since my last post and for that I do apologize.  We can either dwell on it or just move on.  I vote for option 2.  I see this blog thing as a long term relationship.  We're going to have break-ups, we're not always going to get along, but for the most part we're going to have fun, we'll enjoy some good food and we're going to get giddy when we see each other.  You're paying for the meals though right? :)

Spring is in the air.  It lifts my spirits and brings out my creative side.  Here are a few things that have been on my mind now that spring is rolling around.

1) Gardening.  My husband so kindly built me an above ground garden last weekend and I just established another garden on the SW corner of out lot.  With all these gardens around our house my mind is running wild with ideas on what I am going to plant.  I am consistently guilty of over planting and this year is no different.  Last night I made a list of all I want to plant: arugula, basil, borage, chives, cilantro, hosta, mint, nasturtium, oregano, parsley, peas, petunias, peppers, rosemary, sage, spinach, strawberries, tomato, thyme.  Ahhhhh!!! A little on the over ambitious side don't you think?  It's fun to plant the seed but it's the maintenance, weeding and harvesting that takes the real work.  I'll keep telling myself that and hopefully I can narrow down my list.  

2) Pool Season.  I can't tell you how excited we are for pool season.  Baby J is a fish and gravitates to water.  During the winter his water fun has been limited to the bath tub and the dogs' water bowl so he's really going to get a kick out of the community pool this summer.  We are in our 3rd week of swim lessons and he's doing great.  With pool season comes bathing suit season.  Since I quit nursing I've put on a few pounds which I'm okay with but I just need to tighten up a bit and maintain my current weight.  To help me along I've been tracking my calories using a free app called "Lose It!".  It's easy, fast to use, and serves as a guide to know how many calories certain foods contain as well as other nutrition content (protein, fat, carbs, etc).  I'm always surprised at how many calories fit in a small amount of food.  I've also been doing a lot of Jillian Michael's workouts too.  Thankfully many of her workout videos are free through Amazon Prime so it gives me some variation in my workouts and keeps me sweating.  Her workouts are some of the only at-home workout videos that truly give me a good workout.  My favorites right now are: No More Trouble Zones and 6-week Six Pack.

3) Paint.  I have plans to paint the living room and upstairs bathroom.  Right now the living room is a neutral tan and the bathroom is blue.  The living room is going to be a light olive green color and the bathroom will be a light green color, kind of like a light green crayon color but a little less limey.  A couple of months ago I bought some bathroom decor that I am anxiously waiting to display once the new color is on the walls.  And for the living room, a....

4) Gallery Wall. Once the living room is painted I plan to create a gallery wall.  I rummaged my Mom's house over Christmas and brought back frames of different sizes.  As you can tell they are also different colors so I plan to paint them and make them the pop of color in the living room.

The colors of the frames will coordinate with this blanket and pillows. 

A friend of mine gave me the idea of using painter's tape to visualize where to put the frames on the wall before you actually nail them.  It's such a simple idea but so helpful.  I simply lay the tape on the frame, one along the length, another along the width.  Then I cut the pieces of tape in half lengthwise and tape them back together on the wall.

The larger frames on the bottom left and top right are 8x10.  All my photos are 4x6 or 5x7 though so I plan to create some mats.  Right now my idea is to either use scrapbook paper (the kind that is thicker than a regular sheet of paper) or thin pieces of card board and cover it with a fun pattern.  Our Habitat for Humanity ReStore has cheap wall paper that might just work for the card board.

My mom is coming up to visit in 3 weeks so once she gets here the projects will commence!  What projects are you working on this spring?