Graduation Lanterns

So a lot of people graduated today.

If you were one of the grads, good on you. Well done.

To celebrate graduation I finally enacted my plan for what to do with my fireplace nook.

Ok, I confess, it had nothing to do with graduation I was just out and bought some lanterns and hooks and chain.

But I went to a graduation party right after it, so that makes my lanterns graduation themed.

Pssssh-yeah. Obviously!

My new lanterns... with a photo filter. Thanks, Instagram!

The formerly barren corner of my apartment

 A special thank-you to Kara T for getting me on the idea that I could hang something *down* rather than building up to it, and to Cory for helping me figure out where in the heck it was safe to put those hooks in... (I may have made two misses before calling in reinforcements... and by "may have" I mean I did.)

Also I really need to make some more art for my place....  Lots of my art is old and I just don't have enough for all the walls, here.

How is May almost over already!?!

And in a shocking move, it's 12:30 and I think I may go to bed. I'm kinda exhausted and there is a work day at the church tomorrow morning.

Fabric of my life

Kara told me I wasn't allowed to not blog anymore... It worries her and she comes over at 9 in the morning  with her baby to make sure my car is here and that my door is locked.

But I don't have a lot to say tonight and I'm kinda sleepy

So you are going to get a post about fabric tonight.

I've been struggling with pillows/fabric for my new couch. I really wanted an accent pillow or two that would pull it all together, but I was turning up nothing.

I couldn't find any fabric that had brown and gray together without yellow... but what I *really* wanted was brown, gray, red, and teal.

So I complained on facebook about how I couldn't find the fabric I wanted, and how I wanted to design my own...

And then someone was like, "Hey, yo, Spoonflower.com!"

I lied. They didn't say either "hey" or "yo"... I'm the only person I know who is that much of a pretend gangsta. For shizzle.

I checked out spoonflower despite the person's exceedingly vanilla-phrased recommendation.

And look at the awesome fabrics I designed with some free vector clip art I found! (I'm not advanced enough in the ways of Illustrator to know how to create vectors, but as I've said before, I'm a master at "bastardization.")

I call this one: Blue Bird Brocade

Red Bird Brocade

Red Bird Brocade Part Deux- I think this one is my favorite.

Birds and flowers

And then I decided to take one last trip to the most awesome fabric store in town, because spoonflower fabric (while perfect for designing exactly what you want) is at least $18 a yard. Yikes!

And I found a fabric that, while not featuring brown is really great... and then I figured out a way to incorporate the brown (namely the back of the pillow and some ribbon pleat trim

Premier Prints Suzani Twill Harmony/Red

So alls well that ends well... and I'm not even close to spending 18 dollars yet... more like 10 and all I need now is stuffing.

Though I might now be addicted to designing fabric... If only I *actually* knew how to work Illustrator!

Also- which fabric is your favorite? Should I leave fabric design to the professionals?

Picture post

 This is a post with many pictures included.. These are all on Facebook, but I can only assume that you want to hear about them on my blog as well... Cause these are the important ones.


 First, this one... this is all of the paper that Nathan and I had laying around the house that dealt with cancer, treatments, and bone marrow transplants. Yes, I went through it all and checked for confidential information and shredded it... this is just the other stuff. 

This is only 5 days worth of pills that Nathan took the last week at home... It doesn't include an oil that he took 4 times a day, a hormone injection that was once a week (changed from a daily patch), the insulin that he took at least 3 times a day, and the pain pills (also not pictured)... and he could take about 40 pain pills a day, if he'd taken them all exactly when he could.

A friend posted this on facebook today. That link more than anything else makes me ask why.... Why couldn't this have happened to us 10 years from now? Why him? Why now? It's a bad idea to go down that road.

Abrupt subject change!

This is my new living room! I actually think it looks better in person, but since you probably live too far away from me, or have other sundry reasons for not visiting me, I shall give you a narrated tour. Here you can see pretty much the entire living room. I'm probably going to be moving the blue and red paintings in the upper right to further down the wall, closer to the shelves, but I'm gonna live with it for a few days to make sure I want to go to the effort.

Here is a better view of a few things-- 1) My genius placemat pillows (The ones with flowers on them.) and the art and  Roman shades I made several years ago. Please note that those shades were actually made for the windows in my room at home.. about 6 years ago... Gosh I don't feel old enough to say that I made something 6 years ago...and 6 years ago wasn't even high school... Have I mentioned how wrong it feels that it's been 10 years since I graduated from high school?? So wrong.

Mirrors help make a space look bigger. You knew that, right?  In the bookshelves I have fabric boxes that are holding my DVDs and making things look much more streamlined. To jazz up the boxes, I'm going to eventually put ribbon on them... You can see my test ribbon placement on a couple of the boxes on the right shelf. I have to credit "Clean Sweep" for convincing me that putting everything into boxes of the same size/shape makes things look so much nicer.

 Here you can see art placement a little better and that thing in the bottom right? That's that rocking gaming storage ottoman that I was talking about. It can be used as a chair as well... thus the pillows and the afghan that my grandma knitted me when I graduated from high school... 10 YEARS ago.... yeah I'm not over that.

Anyway, I think that pretty well wraps up the tour of the room... I don't actually have before pictures, but take out everything in the room that has any blue/teal in it and emphasize the Asian and you've pretty well got it. Trust me it looks much much different.

I think Nathan would have liked it... but it doesn't make me think of Nathan, which is kinda the point... fewer memories to make me sad.

Pandora interrupted

Don't call my name, Alejandro.

It's my determination that all the jokes are funnier and everyone laughs harder when you hit 1 AM. It's like when everyone reaches just that right level of punchy... In college it was also the time when going to Steak and Shake or IHOP was most often suggested.... 1 AM pancakes are a thing of beauty... and calories.

Sing it for the boys, Sing it for the girls, Every time that you lose it sing it for the world.

I painted my bird pictures tonight... so they will be going up tomorrow.. and then I will probably post pictures of my sweet new living room cause I'm pretty darn proud of how nice it looks... Unfortunately I realized after I finished all the pictures that I wanted to put them the opposite direction that they were drawn/painted... so I'm not sure exactly how that will work.. I may just have to choose a different wall to put them on, and pretend like it was on purpose... cause none of you will tell anyone, right?   ...Right!?! Yes, I know I could just paint over them and start over again, but seriously who wants to do that? Not me.

 I'm safe, up high, nothing can touch me. But why do I feel this party's over?

I posted this on facebook, but I will share it with ya'll, too. I went to the mall yesterday with Paula... I bought a few new things, but it is my belief that to guarantee that you find a few things you like enough to buy, you pick up one of everything you like in the store... sometimes in multiple sizes, if you aren't sure what size you are anymore. Today my biceps are sore from how heavy my arm loads of try-ons were as I roamed JCPenny. I'm not joking... it's slightly ridiculous. Obviously I need to be doing more chicken flying on my Wii.

 Baby, you're a firework.

You know something that I don't think I ever believed before, but am slowly coming to accept as truth... Everyone has these huge insecurities in themselves that they live their life trying to hide. It's not just me. This person who I thought had it all together?  They are insecure about their future. This girl who I thought was absolutely beautiful? Worries about her weight. The boy who I thought couldn't be any cooler? Desperately trying to cover up the fact that he's actually a huge dork. And when I find these things in other people it makes me want to hug them... Because the glimpse inside their head makes me so much more aware that I might be able to say something to deeply impact them... I could affect them... we aren't as different as I thought.

Take my hand, close your eyes. With you right here, I'm a rocketeer.

So much of my life has become saying each morning, "Ok, God, what now?" I never could have predicted on January 1st what my life would be like on March 27th. I couldn't have predicted the events that have occurred, the people I've become close to, the way my living room looks... heck, I never would have even predicted that I would be blogging so much. All I know, is that God's leading me through and I just have to trust that He knows better than I do.

You know that I could use somebody.

(I swear I just used the lyric that Pandora was singing when I pushed enter after a paragraph...  The correlation?  I guess that just shows how easily I can be affected by the music I'm transcribing.) Btw, I need an editor to check my Affect vs Effect usage in my post.

I hope that you like this, but you probably won't, you think you're cooler than me.

(I had to! It was too perfect!)

Distraction

From 3-4 in the morning a few days ago I had 53 hits on my blog... and then 21 from 4-5... Just to put this into perspective, a normal amount of hits on my blog in an hour time frame is probably 7 or 8... Highs, like right after I post something in the middle of the day (not at 2 in the morning) are around 25 or so. So in other words someone is reading my blog a lot in the middle of the night... or in another country... or both. *waves* Hi, fellow insomniac!

I finally did it. I finally rearranged the living room instead of just talking about it. There is one "problem area" but I'm gonna mull on it a while and see what I can come up with. And in the mean time I'm going to start experimenting with what art I'm going to put up and where. A friend of mine sent me an image that I'm going to get a print of,  but other than that and a few special pieces, I usually make my own art or pull from stuff I did in high school and college. It's more personal and way way cheaper.

Today was a dark day for me... Not really sure why... just hard. It got better towards the end... and part of it might have been never catching up on sleep... but the rearranging was a good distraction.

Oh the other night I found my question book-- It's a book of random questions that can be a party game or just a fun get to know you type of activity. I really like it, because it can give you insights into people... and I may have mentioned this once or twice, but I kinda love people.

So here is your question of the day (I'll answer it, too): If you were to be renamed after someone from history, whose name would you want?

This is hard for me, because I really love my name, but if I HAD to choose another, I think I would choose Clara Barton...  She was an impressive woman, but honestly I just love her name... Simple and pretty and not super duper common... though maybe it was at the time, I don't know.

Mainly about my living room.

Today I went shopping for organization, and along the way I determined my new color scheme for my living room.... red and robin's egg blue. Ok I know I'm totally late to the party as far as the red and light blue color scheme go, but the thing is my living room is currently Asian and red.  For several reasons... 1) I think that many Asian things are just pretty and graceful. 2) My aunt lived in Vietnam for a year and brought me back several cool things when I was in HS.  3) I have sweet Roman shades that I made about 6 years ago that have red cherry blossom style flowers and branches (Flowers red, branches black) and Chinese characters on them (I used to know what the characters meant... now I just know that one of the shades says "beautiful Renée"... but I don't know which one... yeah that's how I roll.). Anyway it's worked out well...  However I'm wanting to change things up, and so I want something that will go with the red, as I need to replace it slowly (going out and buying all new throw pillows and blankets- oh and curtains isn't exactly fiscally responsible.) Then later on down the road I can phase the red out to a different color and never make it look bad cause I don't have the funds to just do it all at once. Plus everything has to go with my white walls and black furniture... 

Added to that, my kitchen is semi connected to my living room, and it's color is mainly that light teal, because I got a Kitchen Aid mixer on sale for $50 right before Nathan and I got married, and I have this small little poster that a friend made me in college with a "Cookin with Renée" logo on it.... which is also mainly light teal... ooh and Red! I'm a decorating genius!

So suffice it to say I want my kitchen and living room to coordinate. And now it shall. And I got little bins/tote things to put DVDs in, cause I'm sick of looking at the mishmash of DVD covers. It's not pretty, but I don't want to give them all away! I wish my bookshelves had doors or something! But since they don't, bins it is. The blue option in bins wasn't the right color though, so I had to get black... which look good, but caused me to go look at ribbon... and when I found ribbon I also found a pretty damask-print fabric in red, so I will probably make some new pillows after all.... in red... but maybe it will help me to start straying away from the Asian theme. Anyway, regardless, I'm excited because I love redecorating... Oh if only I could paint the walls! This also means I need to make new art... or at least change mats/background on old art. I love creativity- It gets my happy endorphins going.

Just don't come into my office space and judge me... it's where everything I love but doesn't go with anything else ends up.. so it's .... eclectic. And messy. so messy. But that's not the art's fault, that's just my lack of motivation.

I had Thai with some friends tonight. It was a lot of fun, though they both had places to go, so we sadly couldn't hang out afterwards... Gosh, people and having lives. It's like an epidemic.

I have an abundance of flour and sugar in my house. Is there anyone out there I can bribe to hang out with me by making them baked goods? Ohhhh I miss Scholars where all I had to do to attract a crowd was to start baking... or tell Jake T. if there was a massive Halo game happening on the 2nd floor, and they couldn't smell it.

ok... Guess I will go have a fashion show with myself to try and figure out what I'm wearing to the wedding tomorrow. 44 degrees puts a damper on my previous idea. We'll see.

The Majesty of Elvis

 *this blog post is a reproduction of the lost blog post. How I mourn it's passing!

 So sorry dear ones! It's been days and days!

I went to Memphis, TN last weekend. I had a lovely time. I really enjoyed Graceland- not so much for all the pictures of Elvis or his many gold records, but for his over the top design style.  His mother's bathroom had wallpaper with poodles on it and purple tile, and that was possibly the least extravagant of all the rooms. But rather than just describe it I would like to give you a tour. (please note that none of the picture seen below are mine, I just found them by trolling the internet and finding the pictures that best capture the magnificence.)

First stop, the Living Room:

There is much I love about this room.Especially the stained glass peacocks and the 15 ft long sofa. 15ft long sofa!?!?! Two six foot tall dueling children could lay on each end of that thing and there would still be a 3 ft no man's land! Up Next Elvis' parent's aforementioned bathroom and the bedroom  .

I hope his Dad was ok with the pink and purple color scheme...
  On to the dining room...

What's that, Elvis? A marble "rug" in your dining room? Ok, whatever you say. (By the way the blue drapes in here and the living room were a lovely color.) Also note how the dining room table matches the mirrored wall panels. Elvis had a thing for mirrors, apparently.

More on that later, but first, the kitchen.

But that's not a kitchen, that's the set of Bonanza! Nathan's comment upon entering this room, "This is my grandparent's kitchen." No time for peanut butter and banana sandwiches, the tour must go on! Downstairs!

Please hold on to the rails tightly, random little kid, cause this will feel like you are in a funhouse. But the mirrors don't stop there! Wait till you see the TV room!

Please forgive the Fishbowl lens, it was the only picture I could find where the blue looked like blue and not black, like in the previous picture. I actually really liked this room and someday if I ever have unlimited funds I might make a tribute tv room in my basement as well... But I probably won't have a mirror fireplace or ceiling. And I definitely won't have the *freakiest* monkey statue EVER!!! He's looking at you with his bottomless pits of eyes that want to devour your soul... Beware the monkey statue! *cough* ok, anyway next up is the Billiard room.

I think Hilde from Trading Spaces would be proud of this one. That's not wall paper. That's thousands of yards of fabric pleated and attached to the ceiling and walls.... and a big button in the middle that the light hangs from.... Now back upstairs to the famed Jungle Room.

So many things to love about this room... The waterfall, the faux fur, the elaborately carved furniture, the green shag carpeting.... on the ceiling!! Say what you will about Elvis, but he certainly had flair! He also had 24 carat gold flecked sinks on his airplane. Oh I also learned that Elvis had a variety of alcohol available for guests but that he himself did not care for the taste of alcohol. Just like me! Elvis and I are the same! You know, I may also be the only one to think this but Elvis did have a bit of a rainbow house... so it's no wonder that I loved it.

Other things that have been stirring around in my brain this week, include,
1) I have found my favorite Elvis. I refer to him as the "cableknit Elvis." There are colorized merchandise pictures of this Elvis all over Graceland, but apparently not all over the internet. The best example I could find was this coffee mug but I have included a black and white version so you can see the picture better.

I think it has something to do with his bouffant hairstyle.

2) I think this Elvis should have played Edward Cullen in the Twilight movies, not Robert Pattinson. Some people have mentioned that perhaps someone like James Franco would be better as he is an actual option, since young Elvis is, in fact, dead. The best response to this is: so is Edward Cullen.

3) I like Owls. I know, some of you are saying either A) What? How could you jump on board this bandwagon. Owls are just what's in right now and I don't understand why you can't be a little more original. or B) Really? That's ridiculously 70's. Sheesh, go find your own culture. My response to both of these is cocking my head to side glazing my eyes and saying, "Whoo, whoo." But seriously owl drawing are cute! I'm not gonna go out and get a stuffed one or anything (hello owl version of the creepy monkey statue!) but I like them as crafts.

4) It is amazing the strength you can muster to get through something when the alternative (to getting through it) is not an option.

5) I've been sleeping a ton lately... It's like I'm sleeping 15 hours a day or something. Next thing you know I'm gonna start calling Nathan, "Boo-Boo" and waxing sentimental about pic-a-nic baskets.

6)Yesterday I claimed there were 9 continents, but that two of them were secret. Then I sang a song about it, and I hope that you are up on your Rankin Bass Hobbit movies or you will never know the tune. My song went like this, "Frodooo of the 9 continents and the Riiing of Doooom. How does he know there are 9 continents? Wheeere is the Riiiing of DOOOOOM?" And yes, I may have pitched it a bit lower than the dude sings in the movie, for emphasis. Then Nathan laughed a lot and called me insane. I just can't figure why he would say that.

7) Every once in a while I think that we should upgrade our full size bed to a queen... but we had a king sized bed at the hotel last weekend and it was just ridiculous. I don't understand why you would need a bed that large unless your spouse kicked a whole lot or you wanted to sleep your entire family of 6 in a pinch. What pinch could come that would require 6 people sleeping in the same bed I do not know, but it's all I can come up with.

Ok Nathan and I need to get out o' the house and pick up some 'scripts so I'll leave you for now. Just know that I love you all, a bushel and a peck.