Mooch Away!

I wanted to give an update on my feelings about Bookmooch. After about a month of use, I cannot say how thrilled I am about this site.

My initial reaction was that there were no books to be found and that it was a waste of my time. That's because I'm an instant gratification type person, I want what I want, now. After I slowed myself down a little bit, took my own advice and added almost 200 books to my "wishlist", things got rolling. Currently, I have sent out 16 books all over the nation and I have received three with six more on the way. It's kind of like a hide and seek adventure! Some of these titles include:

1. Mudbound by Hillary Jordan
2. Fablehaven by Brandon Mull
3. Vampire Academy by Richelle Meade
4. The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
5. The Luxe by Anna Godbersen
6. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Schaffer
7. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest by Stieg Larsson 

Basically, what I have come to find is that if you are vigilant and quick, you are not just limited to old books no one has ever heard of. I feel like everyone using this site has a passion for books and it gives you a good community feel. I have only had one book come to me that was in questionable condition, i.e. its spine was heavily creased and cover was tarnished, but for the most part, every book has been in great shape and would be easy to put back on this site after I read it. 

The main reason I love this site so much is because every book I get mailed to me, I pay for by mailing a book to someone else. The shipping cost for USPS Media Mail is typically $2.47. So not only am I getting the satisfaction of giving out a book that I enjoyed, I'm getting another one to replace it at a bargain price! I would encourage anyone who loves to read but hates the sticker shock that comes along with buying books to check this site out, it's beyond fabulous. 

I hope that everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving and that this finds you in good holiday spirits! Happy Cyber Monday! Until next time, take care!

You're the Best Around!

As I stated at the end of my last post, I really wanted to do an entry on my favorite books of the past year. Also, as I've said, I'm just getting back into the literary world so this by no means is an all encompassing, multi-genre romp. This is a small cross section of books that I just so happened to run across in the past 365 days-ish.

The Name of the Wind 
by Patrick Rothfuss

Not often does a book come along that so easily moves up the ranks of "Top Books in Erin's Mind". For many years now, the Harry Potter series has dominated those coveted top positions with few true adversaries. I started that series when I was twelve and grew along with the characters, basically making them my life and loves for ten years. I am a true believer that Post-Potter-Depression is real. No book could grip me the way Harry Potter did. But like all old loves, we must move on. So I was doing some interweb browsing and came across this flowchart of fantasy/science fiction books that had a bubble titled "Give me more precious lads at schools of magic please", thus Name of the Wind came into my consciousness.

I will tell anyone who asks, this has got to be one of my favorite books of all time. I'm not really a synopsis kind of girl, so I'll leave that up to Goodreads and just give you my reaction. This series is right up there with Harry Potter. The characters are so intricate and developed that you feel like you know them intimately. The story has some plot lines that end within the first novel and some that are going to be overarching through out the series. Everything about this book screams epic fantasy, and it's the best sort. The world building is highly believable and painted by a true wordsmith. The dialog is witty and quick with many laugh aloud moments and pacing that works. This is a book for fantasy lovers and anyone else who loves a good story with characters they can get invested in. I could go on and on about the love I feel for this book and I feel most people who have read it would echo this sentiment.

My Rating: 5/5
Goodreads Rating: 4.55/5

A Wise Man's Fear
by Patrick Rothfuss

So thankfully I started this series when A Wise Man's Fear was almost out, otherwise there was a four year wait between books one and two. I'm hoping that Sir Rothfuss is actively writing as much on the series finale (The Doors of Stone) as he is on Goodreads. This book, A Wise Man's Fear is just as good as the first and longer with much more story to enjoy. For all of the positives I have to say, see above review. Best. Series. Ever.

(Note: If you like Game of Thrones, this is for you times 10,000.)

My Rating: 5/5
Goodreads Rating: 4.52/5

A Discovery of Witches
by Deborah Harkness

This book didn't capture my heart like the last series did, but that's like comparing apples to oranges. Discovery of Witches is more of a paranormal, current/historical fiction, if that makes any sense. It focuses on witches, vampires and daemons, which, since Twilight, is a overly used plot line, but this is done well. What I like about this book is the educational aspect, it's set at Cambridge in England, and there is a very modern-victorian feel about it. There is a romantic aspect to the novel which doesn't really help or hurt it any but just moves the story along. I was really excited to learn the second book (Shadow of Night) that came out this year, and I purchased an advanced copy. To be honest though, I got about 40 pages in and had to put it down. Maybe it was too much time between novels, maybe I need to read the first again, but it didn't propel me forward. It's still sitting in my to-be-read bin.

My Rating: 4/5
Goodreads Rating: 3.97/5

Thirteen Reasons Why
by Jay Asher

You might read the synopsis of Thirteen Reasons Why and think to yourself, "Why would I ever pick up a book about teen suicide, how awful." Me too. After reading this, I might think twice. There was something soft and understated about the telling of this story. There isn't a focus on suicide itself, but the events that lead up to this girl, Hannah Baker taking her own life. The parties involved, the cruelness of high school but also the beauty. This story is told posthumously via tapes left by Hannah which are heartbreaking and touching. This could have been my story, it could have been your story, it could have been anyones story. I found it very relatable and moving. It's a simple read, but I found it has stuck with me long after I've put it down. It's the kind of book that makes you want to hug everyone you see and reach back into your past and say I'm sorry to those you might have wronged. But on a more disappointing note: This is going to be a movie. With Selena Gomez. Bah.

My Rating: 4/5
Goodreads Rating: 4.6/5

Honorable Mentions:

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn- I was in love with the first half of this book. By midway, I was texting my mom, Ryan's mom and all other book-ies I knew telling them to acquire this book. By the last page, I was retracting that statement as quick as I could. It seriously was like reading two different books. The two halves didn't jive at all. I don't think either of the halves would have made for a particularly bad book, but it didn't work together. Overall, I'd give this book a 3/5 (aka get it in the bargain bin).

The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak- There's a lot of hype about this book. People LOVE this book. It's different. It tells a story from the eyes of death, the grim reaper, angel of death. Kind of like Meet Joe Black. And Death in this instance is actually kind of funny, sarcastic if you will. Death narrates the story of a girl in Nazi Germany during the Holocaust. It's set up to be a horribly sad book. And as I said, people FREAK over this book. Does it make me a bad person that I just didn't get it? I didn't get what the hubbub was all about. I shed a tear or two, but I've read some reviews where these people were literally needing BOXES of tissues. Am I soul-less? I mean it basically tells you what's going to happen in the book on the first few pages, so all shock and awe is gone there. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed this story, but I didn't think it reinvented the wheel by any means. If you've read this and know what I'm missing, please let me know. My Rating: 3.5/5

A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray- In my Goodreads review I likened this book to a more grown up version of A Little Princess (for those of you who haven't seen this movie, or who didn't grown up with this, shame on your parents). I really wanted to like this book. Like I gave up on my whole "book box" idea where I would just grab a book at random and start reading with out the premeditated thought processes of choosing a book. A Great and Terrible Beauty jumped ahead in line of the now 20 books I have to read. It didn't live up to my expectations at all. I was pissed at first. This book was literally 300 pages of back story, character building, setting description and mundane daily life of English boarding school girls. What saved me from burn-piling it, were the last 100 pages. After my initial anger, I started watching some of my YouTube book brethren, and they told me not to be discouraged, that they too felt cheated, but the next book in the series is WORLDS better. I feel like this is one of those "fool me once" type of situations I might regret later. My rating: 3/5

Now that I've shared some of my favorites with you, I have a confession to make. I feel like I'm in a world of confusion. I'm a 26 year old girl who is having a total book-genre-identity-crisis. I keep purchasing books that are of the YA (young adult) variety that I really WANT TO like, but something doesn't resonate with me the way I want it to, have I become too old for these? Am I over the YA hill? I don't like contemporary chick lit, I've never (nor will I ever) had the desire to pick up a Nicholas Sparks, Judi Picoult or Sarah Dessen book because I know it's totally NOT my jam. Fluffy, feel good, discover yourself love story? Where's the trash receptacle. The dystopian novels are getting redundant and played out. Adult fiction can be too real. So where does that leave me? Do you need to have a reading niche? A set genre? I guess not, but it makes for picking your next read a real game of chance. Which I suppose is half the fun. But every now and then I want to have a go to option that I know is going to be good. What does everyone else do? How do you pick books? I guess every now and then you get a few stinkers.

Well for now friends, that's all I've got. Enough writing about reading, time to actually get down to business and do it! I'll leave you with this:

Happy Chip Kelly Day Eve.

Book Worm

I know there has been a long absence of posting, I was going through a strange time of not working/being bored/not having any motivation, but now I'm back! With a post about my newly re-found love, BOOKS!

Upon reentering a world that you've been far removed from for a many number of years, especially the literary world, it's hard to know where to start. I was talking to Ryan's mother Dian around the time of my birthday, which is when this new obsession started. In this posting, I want to outline some of the sites that have made exploring new books possible and even (at times) cheap, because being a bibliophile is not a poor man's sport.

First, how it all started: Goodreads

There are not enough words in this world to describe how much I adore this website. I feel like its all I talk about and I literally try to work it into every conversation so I can get more of my friends on here. Dian, Ryan's mother, casually mentioned to me that she knew of a website and phone application where you can rate books and find new reads based on how you rate books you've read. It is SO MUCH more than that. Initially, yes, you need to get a basis set up for how Goodreads is going to recommend books for you, thus rating books. But from there you discover a community of people who love books as much as you do. I constantly think, "these are my people." You can add friends, follow top reviewers, called "Librarians" (meaning they write the most reviews and read the most books), follow authors (because almost every author you can think of is on there), write reviews, win first read books, download free books to your eReaders, so on and so forth ad infinitum. So far, I have won two, totally free books, written four reviews and brought my overall "pages read" total up from zero to nearly three thousand in a little over a month. I'd mark that in the life win column. The reason I love this site so much can be broken down like this: I'm the kind of person who walks into a bookstore and just stops. I'm taken in by all the beautiful cover art, all the possible options and worlds I could invest myself in. The problem is, I don't get much further than that. I start getting overwhelmed, thinking, "I can't buy this book, EVERYONE is reading it, what if it doesn't live up to the hype", and "I can't buy this book, I've never even HEARD of anyone reading it before!." It's quite the catch-22, and a situation in which I'm so under pressure to pick the right book I end up not buying any. So why I love Goodreads so much is because the website takes ALL of those doubts away from me. There are so many user reviews and knowledgeable sources on this site that I can research a book until my heart (and head) are content with knowing I have chosen well. I was having a conversation with Ryan the other day about how much money I have spent on books in the last month and was able to justify that spending money on books is a much better use of my resources than previous habits, aka alcohol. Everyone has to have their own vice, I just think reading and book buying happens to be one of the better ones. I digress. Back to Goodreads. I highly encourage anyone, book lover, avid reader, or literary novice alike to check out Goodreads and become my friend! Reading is the world's greatest gift to quote my friend Hannah.

Next, where I get my books: Thriftbooks

 When I started my Goodreads adventure, I found myself running into some road blocks instantly. After having rated books and got some recommendations, I took my phone (which was loaded with the Goodreads application and my "To Read" books) and headed down to my local book store. SCCCRRRREEEETTTCCCHHHH. That's the proverbial breaks being slammed down on my runaway book reading dreams. I live in a small town. We don't have a Barnes and Noble. We have Godfather's Books who has a resident homeless man in a motorcycle helmet with a shopping cart and not a thing published in the last three to six months. Yes, it's a wonderful store if I'm on vacation and I want to read that book that everyone had been swooning over last year that I never had a chance to read. But if I'm a budding bibliophile who wants to get caught up on the latest and greatest? I'm screwed. I left that book store so deflated, I almost gave up. Portland is a two hour drive for us, and shopping on Amazon, though you can most times get used books for $.01, shipping is around $3.99 on every book you buy. Things weren't going my way at this point, and thats when I turned to YouTube. I started watching TONS of Vlogs (video blogs) on book hauls and bookshelf tours and book reviews. For like, days (remember I wasn't working a lot, read: at all). What I came to find was this wonderful, beautiful, fabulous website called Thriftbooks. Imagine a place where you can find used books at hugely discounted rates with free shipping. Heavenly, right? FREE SHIPPING?! NO MATTER HOW MANY OR FEW BOOKS YOU ORDER?! Devine. So I sent in my first order, 6 books for $22, all of which were classified as "very good condition". They arrived a week later, and I can't say how perfectly pleased I am. They all look as if they've never been read before and I can't wait to dive in! If you follow Thriftbooks on Facebook, they update you with coupon codes. So not only did each book cost only about $3.60 each, I got 15% off on top of that. Boom.

My latest Thrifbooks acquire (I like to take pretty pictures of my books).

A Powell's Books find.

Before I knew about Thriftbooks, full price from Barnes and Noble + Godfather's.

Last, something fun: BookMooch

So I just started on this adventure. I don't have much to say about it as of yet, but I'll give you the premise. I found this site about two days ago when I was putzing around Instagram (if you don't know... no words. Speak to the Google) when I saw a similar, pretty stack of books, much like those shown above. The hashtag on it was #bookmooch (again, if you don't know about hashtags, see Google). So I puttered over to the site and found out that it's a book swap meet! People come together who have books they no longer need (read: I couldn't sell them for anything worth my time on Amazon) and they ship them off to strangers around the world who want what you have! Basically it breaks down this way: 1) You add books you own and are ready to part with and you gain .10 of a point per book. 2) You save up your points, once you have 1 pt, you can "mooch" a book, aka have someone send it to you. 3) If one of your books is "mooched", you send that book to the person's address they provided (yes, you pay for shipping) and you get 1 pt per book mooched. 4) You create a wishlist of books you want and eventually they'll be added and you can mooch the book (hopefully).

So where I'm at right now with this: I love the idea of it. Like shipping is rarely more than $3.00 and I love passing on something that I enjoyed. Yesterday, six of the eight books I posted had been mooched, so I headed off to the post office and sent out said books, with pretty notes attached that will hopefully make the person's day. It was a total of roughly $18.00, no big deal. Here's where I'm running into trouble. I can't find a single book I want to mooch. Like all of the popular books have HUGE wait lists or are in countries where the owner doesn't want to ship to the US. So, what I'm doing is creating a HUGE wishlist, the thinking behind it being that the more fish in the barrel, the more likely I am to shoot one. Right? We'll see. I think I have the advantage over a lot of other people in that I always am working on my computer and I always have my phone checking my email, so that if one of my books does pop up, I'll be quick like tiger in getting it, that's the theory anyway.

I hope this has helped anyone who is on that endless quest for the next best book, I think next blog I'll update you all with what I have purchased lately, the genres I've been reading and any recommendations I have. Until next time! Happy Saturday!

I Wanna Grow Something Wild and Unruly.

...Or at least something tame and delicious. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not much of an "outdoors wo-man", or green thumb, that's always been my mother. But when Ryan and I moved into our new bungalow though, we instantly noticed there were two raised bed planter boxes in front. We had the same first thought: Vegetable garden! After consulting with my mom, the garden maven, she confirmed that we get enough daily sun exposure to grow ourselves a little garden. Hoorah! Another first.

 Here's a picture of what we're working with:

Upon uploading, I realize the font should be bigger! Oops.

Planter box #2 is the ideal location for optimal sun-time, so we hauled all the soil from planter box #1 over to #2. Here is my ever-so-willing helper in his gardening best:

Take note of the tools of the trade.

Since it's pretty late in the season for planting many things, we decided it would be best to stick to two crops we know would do well, carrots and lettuce. Last week we took a trip to Brim's Home and Garden here in Astoria to pick up some seeds, and for a girl like me (who rarely likes to touch dirt) it was an exciting trip! Who knew there were so many plant options out there. I have a trip planned for the future to grab some tall grass to add to the foliage on our deck, but more on that later. My mom made the suggestion that we stick with Ed Hume seeds because apparently he's a local North-Westerner, so this is what we ended up with:

There were some "out-takes" of Peanut walking across the shot.
Kitty butt + veggies= Always a good time.

It was fun browsing through all the packets of seeds and I can assure you, next spring we will have a wide array of edibles at our disposal. After deciding that today was the day to plant, I realized I needed to actually know how to go about plating a garden, like I said, NOT outdoorsy. Thank god for Google and YouTube. I don't know what people did without those sources of knowledge. I happened upon this basic tutorial from VideoJug which showed me the spacing and proper technique for plating my veggie goodies. It was actually pretty self explanatory. I made sure I was working with a level surface and measured out my rows by using a plank of wood that had unexplainably found it's way into my planter. I didn't have a shovel on had, so I used my God-made-shovelers, my hands. Well, finger if we're getting technical. Then I just did as the website showed and sprinkled a good amount of seeds sporadically about my trench:

Note me awkwardly holding the package with my left hand
while trying to take a picture.

After I got three good rows of carrots, I planted three, semi-squished rows of lettuce and I crafted them all little row tags, as to not get confused:

More professionally made gear crafted out of Ryan's
toothpicks, scrap paper and packing tape!

I then watered and admired my handy work. It doesn't look like much now, but hopefully in 7-10 days of water and sun, these seed babies should be germinating (...or growing if you're a novice like me!). I'm hoping this endeavor goes well, there's something that seems so gratifying about being able to eat off your own land. I'll be sure to update (good or bad) on the happenings in my little garden! Until next time! 

FURminators! Mount up!

This marks an exciting day in the Briggs/Peterson household. As I showed you in this post, we have two wonderful cats that we adore. I swear, I'm like a first time parent taking pictures of them at every turn. Ryan and I talk to Marley and Peanut as if they are real people, and not a day goes by without one of us screaming to the other, "Come quick!!! Look what ______ cat is doing!". Seriously.

But even the most loving parents can get irritated some times. For example (well, really my only example) I'm a neat freak, a trait that Peanut and Marley don't much care for in me. They are two literal walking, shedding balls of fur. The color black or blue, or anything dark for that matter really isn't an option anymore without strenuous lint rolling. Since our big move about two weeks ago, I have been sweeping our wood floors every day, maybe even twice a day. And our bed? I don't want to even talk about what happens when I shake out our duvet. So though I love the fluff balls, I can't stand their fur (I admitted to Ryan that sometimes to get back at them I discard my shedd-ed hair on them as payback. They mysteriously don't seem to mind as much as I do...)

Enter the FURminator:

Marley getting acquainted with his new worst enemy.

It's like the Terminator for fur. Or, as the tagline on the back of the package says, "Because your cat's hair looks better in the trash than on your couch". True. Ryan read a ton of reviews on Amazon, it has something like 4.5 stars out of 5. We've been anxiously awaiting its arrival, picture us telling the cats (in a very deep movie trailer voice), "You're going to get... FURminated!" So today when it came in the mail, I held it up like I was Lady Liberty and it, my torch. 

Normally, I'm not much of a shameless product promoter, but this thing is a dream! Basically the angled brush works to remove the undercoat of dead hair which produces results like this:

It's like a tumbleweed!

That, my friends, was about 5 minutes worth of work. That's like the size of Peanuts head!! This is a day of freedom. Freedom from hair, freedom from brooms and freedom from endless lint rolling! I'm adding this one to the win column (and buying one for everyone in my and Ryan's family, Merry Christmas). Until next time!

Easy Come, Easy Go.

There are many things in life so far that I can say come simply to me. Reading 300+ pages books in a night? Easy. Getting a college degree in the mythical four years? Piece of cake. Finding a job in the "worst economy since the Great Depression" in less than three months after graduation? Child's play. Spray painting metal outdoor furniture? SKREEETCH!!! Those are the proverbial breaks going out.

Now I know I have to give myself some slack here, this was my very first attempt ever. After reading many DIY blogs and watching some very sub-par YouTube videos, I thought I was ready. The main tips handed out are:

• Spray 8-10" away from the piece of furniture
• Keep in continuous motion, don't let the spray stay in one spot for too long
• Multiple light coats are better than drippy heavy coats, so a light mist is recommended
• Long strokes create more even coverage

Well, again, I have learned about myself that I am results kind of gal, so this idea of a "light mist" wasn't working for me. Not enough instant gratification. Well, this resulted in everything bloggers warn against, drips, rings and uneven coats, basically a disaster. Here's a picture after my first coat (Krylon Primer + Paint in Glossy White):

Note to readers: Though the spider webs do create a wonderfully artistic effect... That wasn't intentional  and is super shoddy! Plus, at this point I ran out of spray paint, one can doesn't go quite as far as I thought it would. A trip to Home Depot was in order. If you wait longer than two hours between coats, you have to end up waiting two days until you can spray again, to let the paint "cure", basically just letting it harden.

Well, after a while, we were ready to roll again. This time I had Ryan on board to show me the basics. He was very good about telling me when I was spraying too close, that I had to move faster and keeping me on track (I was like an ADD child. I would start spraying while looking at another rusty spot, forget what I was supposed to be doing and move spray locations). So without further ado, here is the set in it's newly painted glory!

I know this picture makes it hard to see with the shading and background busyness (the camera died before I could take anymore) but we are really happy with the results! I can't wait to get the seats on there so we can enjoy wonderful sunsets from our deck! Until next time.

Happy 4th!

Happy 4th of July! I had a wonderful day with my sir, we went to a friends house for a BBQ where we got to shoot off "Oregon legal" fireworks, aka nothing that shoots into the air. Rather than go to Long Beach, WA to watch what is supposedly a crazy show of pyrotechnics, we came home to our kitties to make sure they made it safely through this holiday. Here are our two muffins:

The pretty Peanut:

And the ever so handsome Marley:

I hope you all had a wonderful and safe holiday, tomorrow I get to look forward to my mom being our first house guest and spending some time with her in Astoria! Also, I have some updates on our patio furniture! Until next time.

Like Sands Through the Hourglass.

Yesterday was a day of firsts. First sunny day in Astoria of the summer (I wish I was only kind of kidding) and the first time this girl got a power tool in her hands (I have been singing "Janie's Got A Gun" in my head ever since). My father so generously passed down a hand sander to me when I told him I was in the process of learning how to refurbish, which has already come in handy. As I said in my last post, I've been given notice to get going on the patio furniture we acquired, and the first step is done!

I used my sander to knock off all the rust that I could as well as any dirt and loose paint. Yes, she looks horrible still, the worst pictures are yet to come. But on a more positive note, all the surfaces are smooth and ready to get their first coat of spray paint (if it ever stops raining!). We've decided to leave them white, but instead of being a flat white, it's gloss all the way. 

This is where further problem lies though:

Ryan was able to purchase a..saw of some sort off of Craigslist that he claims he will be able to replicate the wood circles with, so that is our next step. If the picture above doesn't give an accurate depiction of what we're working with, this might:

Yes, that green slime at the top is in fact mold. Icky, disgusting mold. But, it shows you that reupholstering the bottoms won't be ALL that difficult. Again, thanks to my dad, I have a staple gun that will come in handy when it comes time to fabric these bad boys up. It appears the sun might be reappearing, so until next time!

Designer Dreams.

Well, I have run into my first refurbishing/design quandary. It has been requested of me by my man love, Ryan, to expedite the processes of rehabbing this wonderful ice cream parlor set we recently picked up for $5.00, a great deal for two chairs and a glass top table! It's summer and BBQ season so he wants them out on our front porch ASAP! The trouble is finding the right fabric.

I have been browsing about the internet for the last couple of days with this in mind. When I first started searching, I thought it was going to be a horrible task. When you're Googling "Fabrics", it seems like everyone and their mothers want to peddle you their sub-par goods. The same thing happens when you search for "Outdoor Fabric". Finally I just asked if you could use a shower curtain as a seat cover. Sounds moronic, but it got me where I needed to be. Apartment Therapy has an article "Outdoor Fabric on Indoor Furniture?" where one of the users commented about certain brands having wonderful indoor/outdoor fabric including F. Schumacher Fabrics. Now I had a lead and it was actually rather easy to come by.

I cruised on over to their website and was impressed by what I saw, but noticed you can't buy their product direct unless you are a business. I started looking for stores online where you could buy their product, and. Then. I. Found. IT. The fabric I am completely in love with and have to have.

Schumacher paired up with Trina Turk to bring the world this masterpiece titled the Tangier Frame Print. The unfortunate bit about it is that a designer brand paring with a world renowned designer tends to drive prices sky high. Now I'm talking $74.00/yd high. Of course once I saw the price I started justifying in my head how we had to have THIS product and nothing else, that $74.00 isn't all that bad for a set we'll have for a really LONG TIME, or... that at least I'll be able to resell if it's not for as long as I think...

Then I took a minute away from the computer and started thinking that a yard is only three feet of fabric, and at $74.00 a yard, there are no room for mistakes, but this is my FIRST reupholstering project. Granted, it's just stapling fabric onto the bottom of the seat and screwing it on the chair, but who knows what could go wrong, we've all heard of Murphy's Law, right? Is it really worth the potential $74.00 mistake? Thus my quandary.

After this I started looking at more feasible options in terms of cost and really, there are some completely delightful fabrics out there. Yet, I still can't get the Tangier out of my head. Ryan of course has no opinion on the matter, his words, "I just want you to be happy", give me no direction. I was either wanting him to sign off on the idea completely in either the affirmative or the negative. I have a little while to think on this, there is still sanding and painting to be done to all the pieces, followed by painting and Ryan crafting the seat bottom since the original is completely rotted out. I will update you with pictures of my progress while creating a little "How To" since it drives me crazy on some refurbishing sites they just show you the beautiful end product with zero tips or tricks. Until next time!

Easy Does It- But Do It.

Hello family, friends and fellow bloggers!

I've decided to re-take up the hobby that many before me have discovered, that is the world of blogging. Now, I've been thinking about this for a long time, making a blog and making it beautiful, but I've made a realization about myself, that is that I am a perfectionist. Now if I had waited around until my blog/background/title/font was PERFECT, this would never get up and running. So like I have learned in the past few months, I have to just jump in! Easy does it, but do it, right?

I've been pondering ideas for a blog for a long time. I've researched, read and explored other blogs, journals, etc. I wanted to find my niche, find out what's not out there that I could fill a hole in, but then I figured out, again, if I waited to find the RIGHT topic, you'd probably never even hear my words. So, here it is, in all it's imperfect glory, my first post. What you can expect in the future will be my experience, my wanderings and ponderings of this thing we call life, home decor inspirations and recreations and just about a little bit of this and that. I'm excited to start this journey, to have an outlet for my crazy brain and for blog companionship as I trudge my road to happy destiny, with all the bumps, bruises and blessings along the way. So welcome, come stay awhile.