It's the little things....

You know they say it's the little things in life that makes you the most happy- for example, Josh got a 2,000 square feet of insulation for our attic for free (those hilarious pictures of us trying to roll it out will follow). But seriously, made my day today!

I made homemade chicken pot pie on Sunday- yes me, I know, I know, I can cook! Josh loved it, I thought it tasted great and I am shocked! I also made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies for the fun of it, I have no idea what has gotten into me! But it made me happy to try something new and succeed- although Josh did help me as I get easy frazzled in the kitchen.

But best of all, this is what made my day yesterday...engagement pictures. Just a few to tease, and if you're wondering, yes, Griffin photographs better then the both of us! :)

He asked and well...the rest is history

Ah, I have been slacking on my blogging lately... I have been a smidge busy with something else. Cough Cough...

Hopefully, this doesn't completely stop my decorating and maybe I may even throw in a blog or 2 about the big day. For now, just know to Save The Date of 9/17, the big day will be held here:

Pros/Cons of a Clawfoot Tub

Our house was built in 1911- yup it will be 100 next year- and it has a lot of great old features: built ins, original floor, baseboards, and of course a clawfoot tub. Josh loved this feature, I don't really know much about it at all, but I figured it was asthetically pleasing and didn't really think much of it.

The first night in our house after the LONG day of moving I jumped into the shower for a nice relaxing warm wind down from the day. Little did I know, I would be sucked into a vortex of shower curtains surrounding me. For some reason, when the water comes on the curtains just suck in and stick to you. Very annoying and not pleasing for me a girl who loves her showers!

So I have looked up solutions and well, there really aren't any. The only thing I can find is to add extra magnets to the bottom of the curtain. So I am going to add the extra magnets on the bottom and try it out....otherwise it'll be a many longggg years of sticking to the curtain! Anyone have ideas or know of anyone that has a clawfoot tub to get advice...sign..

The Great Curtain Debate

When I first went out on my home buying decor trips Josh always said, I trust you just get something that will not be too feminine. I kept this in mind when I bought all of the plain linen curtains, as well as photos for the house. However, I knew I wanted something in the master bedroom to punch up the colors. We only have my dressers and our plain comforter, so there needed to be something else. I knew Cost Plus World Market would be the place to do it and was I right. They have the CUTEST curtains ever. If I were a single gal I would dress my place up in their curtains. Look at all these awesome patterns and colors:

Number 1:

Number 2:

Number 3:

Number 4:

Number 5:

The best part about this is that their curtains are under $30 dollars a panel for good quality- there is lining backing them and some are gromat tops. I didn't think any of them were too femine, but Josh on the other hand was none too pleased. I sent him pictures of the 5 above and he was not sold. He didn't like all of the pasley, and 'flowers' (none of which have actual flowers on them). One day I found myself at Cost Plus World Market and decided you know what I am buying the curtains, putting them up, I know if he sees them he will like them. I figured this tactic was a good move and also the option of 'we can always take them back if we don't like them'. Which one do you think I chose??

If you guessed number 5 you win! The color scheme goes exactly with the whole house- dark chocolate brown, smidge of blue, greens, burnt red.

So I put them up and what do you know- it's been 3 weeks and no complaints! :)

Curtains, blah

Curtains- never been one of my favorite topics. When we saw the house, we loved the design they put into the curtains, nice tall windows (about 84 inches and 95 inches on others) with linen so that light can still come in. Well of course, they said, nope we're taking curtains. Thus it became my mission to find similar (and cheap) curtains.

I spent practically the entire month of August looking for these curtains- mind you curtains are not cheap at all! I knew I wanted the gromet top (something new I learned about) and I knew I wanted linen. So I found some good ones from Pottery Barn, West Elm, but they are all so expensive. For the dining room we need 6 of the same- that is a lot if they are expensive upwards of $40-$50 dollars a piece.

I love these:

But as I said 50 bucks a panel times 6 panels, not in this girl's budget. So I decided to shop around some more and found these awesome sheer white gromat topped for the dining room.

I found some awesome ones from JC Penny for $20 dollars a panel! Woop, totally doable. JC Penny's actually has some really great curtains for cheap, I was very excited. They offer to order them online, they have extra long length which is what we need for 84 and 95 inch windows.

I got white for the dining room, white for the office and brown for the guest bedroom- since the house is so open I wanted to keep things similar and consistant throughout the entire place.

I was so proud of my purchases and ready to move in...we walked in and poof. They left the curtains!! HA all of my hard work for nothing! I ended up taking the 6 white panels for the dining room back and keeping the linen ones they originally had (they had full linen set from Pottery Barn) a smidge nicer then my JC Penny's purchase! I switched out the curtains in the den and the guest room. Welp, that's what I get for being proactive ;)

GRATEFUL!

I am extremely grateful that I have a beautiful new house! :) Closing went great last Friday and we even got the keys early, the sellers are wonderful and so fanastic to work with! It is such a blessed time, crazy time, but so fun to be a homeowner! So here is what I am grateful for:





Josh...if it wasn't for him I wouldn't have been able to afford such a wonderful house by myself. I am so happy to share this new experience with him.







Griffin!! He absolutely adores the house, he runs in and outside and around all the rooms. He is still trying to manage the wood floors, but luckily is able to manage them when it comes to bed time..hmm.

My parents and Josh's ( I don't have a picture of them digitally!)...my parents have helped us move, my mom lined every drawer in my kitchen (never something I would do) she has taken days off work to just help empty boxes, bought us all new bathroom ware! My dad has given us blinds, paintings and restoring our dining room table. Josh's mom bought us an awesome housewarming gift of a new flatscreen! Yes, I will finally be able to see the scores! :)

I am grateful for very many things in life and over the past week with things at work and the house I realized I need to really count my blessings! :)

Laundry Room

Never thought I would blog about my laundry room but here goes nothing.

We have a laundry room in the basement where the sellers are leaving their 2 year old washer and dryer (SCORE!). The rest of the room is currently just used as storage but Josh is turning this large open area into his 'man cave' with storage for our yes count 'em 5 pairs of skis and 4 bikes. (I account for 1 of each!) We have a laundry chute which is right outside our bedroom and bathroom which goes right into the laundry room and there is a little inlet on the side so when I saw this little extra space Josh was so kind to give up some of his 'man cave' space for a proper laundry room.

I have been searching and searching trying to figure out what I want for this look nook area. I have searched the internet over and over and I found some great pictures, but none of them depict exactly what I am looking for. So guess what I did? I sketched something up. Anyone that knows me well I am sure is going to laugh at this chicken scratch of a drawing, but hey I have the perfect image in my mind! :)

Here are some pictures of what I like in the laundry rooms:

I really like this little unit- I want a rod which can hold drying clothes, a folding table and a spring board iron. I don't need to have closed cabinets or drawers so I like the lower shelving unit below to hold baskets, detergent,etc

I like this option for around the laundry unit- however less ceiling to floor shelves. I am tall and I really don't want to be placing baskets, etc on bottom shelves.
Last, but certainly not least a spring board ironing board. I can tell you why I don't iron right now- I HATE taking out the ironing board and setting it up for 5 minutes of use. This little baby will solve all my problems! Now spring board ironing boards are actually pretty expensive - around $200 dollars- so we are going to design our own. I figure a business major and engineering major can figure something out?!

Now to the awesome picture you have all been waiting for, my own drawing. Now please don't compliment me too much on the level of detail. I spent a good 5 minutes of work time on this. Look at that beauty- obviously W and D stand for washer and dryer. There are Josh's shirts hanging up on the rod above the folding table. I couple of shelves above the units for extra stuff and below the folding table.

Josh has seen this sketch and is ready for the challenge! This will probably be a winter project, but I will update with how it all comes along :)

Open Shelving

Back in college I lived in a beautiful castle which was built almost 100 years ago. The artitecture was amazing from the spiral staircase to our inside baloncy. There were rooms we called 'vanity row' that had these awesome built ins for each room- which comprised of the closet, a vanity with shelving and cabinets. So when I saw our house had the same features I was incredibly excited because it reminded me of my beloved Sorority.

After the ohh and aww wears off, I got to thinking what am I going to put in these open shelves and cases? I love what the current owners have in there now- dishwear! I have never been a tidy person....but here's to trying. I saw this post from The Newlywed Diaries on open shelving units. While I am not in love with any of the pictures of these open shelves I was inspired by some of these pictures I found.

Our shelving is white, our linen curtains are white (I will have a fun filled post about curtains...), the walls are a wheat color and the crown molding is white. So I thought these plates could be a nice pop of color to the room. Now, I definitely don't like going too crazy with color, but we found some very inexpensive plates to add that punch. We choose:

So once we have everything set up I will take pictures of the final project, but the idea that I have in mind for this open shelving seems like a good plan! :)

Refocusing

I am torn..... I have been trying to decide how to focus my blog. Maybe on the new house/decorating, my training, life, I just don't know at this point. I am going to try to start chronically purchases for the house/ design features Josh and I are doing and go from there! Hope all will enjoy!

First up, the dinning room. In our current apartment, have a 2 top bistro table. Nothing fancy, Josh's dad had it in his basement and offered it to us. Honestly, we use it for special meals, birthdays, but mostly it sits and collects dust. We really sit in the family room and eat dinner there- who doesn't!? Well, our new house has a huge dining room, biggest room in the house. See below:



So we knew we needed an investment piece of furniture. We decided with all new furniture we have to buy we want to spend under $1,000 dollars. Kind of a tough task when we need to buy
1. Dining room set
2. Patio furniture
3. TV [currently use the big box set!]
4. TV stand
5. Coffee table for living room

The first thing I did was go onto Craigslist. I have HEARD horror stories, but I feel I am a pretty good shopper and my dad planned on going with me to places since Josh was in Colorado Springs still. So first one I find, 2 year old pottery barn 7 piece for $250 dollars. Amazing piece, set up the showing, go to the house, they sold it that morning...womp womp!

Lesson learned! If you like it go right away. So I kept plugging away and saw an add for a $300 dollar antique 7 piece. From all the pictures it looked brand new so I called and emailed the woman. She said someone was coming to look at it at 1:00pm the next day so I told her we would be there at noon. {gotta be cut throat!} Show up and wow it is the most amazing dining room set ever. It is from Belgium, and the table top used to be an old Abbey door that has been redone. The woman who was selling it went through a bad divorce and was just wanting it gone, original price spent on the table over $2,500 dollars! WOW! After some VERY heavy lifting, I mean very heavy we got it down to store at my parents house while we wait to move. The chairs are all hand made and there are no screws at all- it is all made from wooden dowels. I don't have the picture
of the table anymore, but will post one soon!

Brings Me To You

I may have missed the memo on Joshua Radin, but believe me I have read it loud and clear. I recently grabbed a CD of his at work and I am ADDICTED. [One of the benefits of working with music we have it all, good and bad]

My absolute favorite song is with one of my favorite female singers- Erin McCarley. Her solo stuff is fantastic I have seen her twice and she never disappoints. Check out this song and I doubt you'll be disappointed!

Goals, Goals, Goals

At the beginning of the year my dear friend Monica told me how her and her husband set daily, weekly, monthly and yearly goals then compare to see if they are on the same page and to move forward as a couple.

Recently, Josh and I have decided to revisit these goals we set and wow how things change in 6 months! While we definitely have hit many of our day to day goals- aka laugh together, give a hug and kiss every night, pray, compliment someone. I have come very close to each of these goals daily- even though I don't see Josh daily so I will say a virtual hug and kiss will have to do.

I set my monthly goals to go to church at the minimum of once a month- which I have done and exceeded some months! Also I said I would work out about 3/4 days a week- which I have done. And I also said I would study 6 hours a week for the gmat and I haven't even looked at the books. Oops- That is why they are goals. This last goal will probably have to be tabled for the future, life has taken a hockey stick turn upward on the career path. So, I plan on waiting this out to see how I feel in 6 months, year, etc.

My yearly goals I said I wanted over $10k in my house savings account directly for the down payment. By taking on Stella & Dot I will be able to achieve this goal, which makes me so excited to think about my own backyard, front porch with a swing, and SPACE! I also said I will climb a 14ner- which I will complete this goal in about 2 weeks. I have been a hiking machine this past weekend I went up to 12,500 feet and Berthoud Pass. Which if you know me at all this is actually the location that Griffin was lost- it was VERY bittersweet to go up there. He was off leash while we hiked the 3 hours but not sure if I still trust him yet! {Picture of Berthoud Pass, imagine without as much snow! }

Overall, my goals are staying true and I am really holding up to them. It is a really good feeling!

It's been awhile!

Yikes.....I have been absentee lately. I have been SO busy! Insanely busy, every night of the week I have something going on with work then the weekends are time for Josh and I.

Quick recap on one of the most important decisions I have made! I decided to become an Independent Rep/Stylist for a company called Stella & Dot. My dear friend Mattye had always posted links on facebook about it so I thought I would check it out and I feel in love with the jewelry! So I decided to sign up and control my fate. I have always been very motivated and I like to have something to attain- I want to know that if I work hard I will be rewarded financially, Stella & Dot can give me that. I can work as much or as little as I want and the more I work the more I am rewarded. I have only done 2 parties so far, but I have already made great money, I have beautiful jewelry and I have 6+ parties scheduled for the coming months. It truly is a blessing. I told myself all my money I make will go to savings for when I get a house!

I will keep everyone updated on how it continues to go! :)

Light Years Away

I think it is pretty obvious how much I enjoy music. I work with music every single day- I am blessed enough work with the music labels. Here is a great singer/songwriter that I really enjoy. Just listen to the song, her voice, it's beautiful- MoZella is the singer the song is "Light Years Away".
The lyrics are so spot on- I love it.

It's almost like you had it planned
It's like you smiled and shook my hand and said
"Hey, I'm about to screw you over, big time"
And what was I supposed to do?
I was stuck in between you and a hard place
We won't talk about the hard place

But I don't blame you anymore
That's too much pain to store
It left me half dead
Inside my head
And boy, looking back I see
I'm not the girl I used to be
When I lost my mind
It saved my life

It's how you wanted it to be
It's like you played a joke on me
And I lost a friend
In the end
And I think that I cried for days
But now that seems light years away
And I'm never going back
To who I was

Cause I don't blame you anymore
That's too much pain to store
It left me half dead
Inside my head
And boy, looking back I see
I'm not the girl I used to be
When I lost my mind
It saved my life

I think that I cried for days
But now that seems light years away
And I'm never going back
To who I was

Cause I don't blame you anymore
That's too much pain to store
It left me half dead
Inside my head
And boy, looking back I see
I'm not the girl I used to be
When I lost my mind
It saved my life

That life seems like light years away
Light years away
And that life seems like light years away
Light years away

People who can write these kind of lyrics deserve to make money and play the music they love so much. So enjoy the song!

Furry Scurry!!

What is the Furry Scurry might you ask, well it is a 5k run in Wash Park for the Dumb Friends League. The best part? Griffin gets to run with us! :)

I have been running/training for the past couple weeks getting ready, it's be a little difficult [I have been focusing on running faster because I will be running with my gazelle boyfriend]. The Dumb Friends League is a animal shelter here in Denver and it helps homeless dogs find homes. How could I say no to such a wonderful cause?

We are running with our friends, Liz & Tim, and their chocolate lab Nestle who is also 2. Then we'll do brunch, get some good schwag for our pups and enjoy a beautiful Saturday. I am so excited!!

Taking time to listen

Sometimes I wonder why certain people are in my life. Do you ever think about that?

I think about it in terms of- did God put them in my life for a brief moment to just impact me for this period or did God put this person in my life to show me what I should strive to be or strive not to be. Because overall, I truly believe everyone in your life should teach you something- good or bad.

Just after hanging out with my closest friends this past week made me really long for true friendship closer to me. I have amazing friends in many many states including Colorado; however, I wonder if some are worth the time. If I continue to call and I never get a call back- is it really worth it? Shouldn't I just focus my time on the people who put the effort in that I do? And when friendships fall apart whose fault is it really?

In high school I had a best friend, we were practically sisters we were so close. We played basketball year round together, in the summer when we weren't at sports camps we would spend the night at each others houses. Then one day something awful happened. This person completely betrayed my trust. I was blindsided and lost all of my friends. It was an awful time in my life, but I don't think I would be as strong as I am now if it wouldn't have happened. Last year, I saw a friendship add for this girl on facebook. At first I wasn't sure what to do, because I vowed never to befriend her again, even after pleads, notes, etc from her over the years. I decided to accept the request and over the past year we have began to talk again. We went to dinner 6 months ago and quickly I was reminded why we were so close before. She is now married, owns her own company, etc- funny how things change so much. Then she did something she never did before- she face to face with me apologized. I had never gotten that from her in the past because I never gave her a chance. All she could get me to listen to before were notes and phone messages. It was really powerful after all the years of my anger of not wanting to listen to her apologies and excuses I could have listened..... Earlier this month we went to Taylor Swift [and amazing concert might I add!!] She reminded me that I took her to her first concert as a birthday present when we were 13! It was a great time.

This story really hits me because I wonder if certain friendships that are ripped apart or falling apart right now will come back together. Will either side realize they were wrong and apologize? And when the time comes, will the people really listen to each other? I suppose only time will tell....

5 years....

Do you ever think back in time and think about how different your life is or how different it could have been?

I think about this because this week is Josh and I's 5 year anniversary. I often wonder, what if...

What if I hadn't joined SK, would we still have met and started dating?
We met at a dinner exchange because our 2 houses were paired together. We became friends, but I use that term loosely. You know when there are those times when you talk to a guy and all you can think is "oh no he can see right through me, he knows I like him"-- that is how I felt around Josh. So I didn't talk to him too much in fear he would know I liked him. Silly, I know, but I was 18 what do you expect!?
I often tell myself that yes, we still would have met maybe not freshman year, but I feel like we still would have met. And I know I still would have had the same butterflies in my stomach when I first met him even if it was a year or 2 later.

What if I hadn't put myself out there and instead stayed back and kept my feelings inside?
After getting over my fear 'aka insecurity' I started talking to him more. We began hanging out and- sure enough -I didn't know but he liked me too. After a few months of friendship we began dating. I think God gave me the strength to truly show him my personality. When you first meet someone I feel you don't necessarily show your true self, but I mustered courage and confidence to be myself. I am grateful that I was able to do that, even though, I am sure Josh knew what kind of person I was even if I was shy at first.

Overall, I truly think God puts us in situations to make the most of things. He put someone so amazing in front of me and allowed me to do the rest. It is the same in the rest of life- God puts situations, experiences and says here make choices and do what you will. Today on Easter- I am so very thankful for my life-my boyfriend, my dog, my family, my friends, my job, etc.

Happy 5 years-- I couldn't imagine my life any other way!

Hair Do or Hair Don't?

I think I am going to do it....I think I am going to chop my hair. It is a really really difficult decision because no more then 2 months ago I was telling my boyfriend and my stylist that I want to grow my hair out as long as it can go. Now, of course, I want to chop it. I am thinking above my shoulders- which if you know me is SHORT.

The last time I had short[ish] hair was when I cut it myself when I was 5. I used those plastic scissors, put it right up to my left pony tail and snip. It was right before Christmas pictures that year, needless to say my mother was mortified. So I had a boy haircut for awhile which did not look good.

I recently have seen pictures of Sophia Bush's haircut and Lauren Conrad's hair...and I love it. It looks so cut and sophisticated. Here are some pictures:

What do you think? My friends here want me to do it, my boyfriend has no option [typical boy]. We will see....

Dear Spring, I miss you! Love, Amanda

Where is spring? We had a wonderful weekend for St. Patrick's Day- I got to wear a dress, sit outside a bar downtown and watch the parade. It really was a tease. We have gotten more snow the past 2 weeks then all winter! Ok, that may be a slight exaggeration, but really it feels like that! I cannot wait for flowers, grass, picnics, hiking, camping, rafting, etc....

These pictures make me smile thinking about the good things in the next few months!

Honey, what's for dinner?

Anyone who knows me [and my boyfriend for that matter] knows that we are not amazing cooks- in fact our idea of cooking is pasta roni, turkey burgers on the grill or my 'famous' homemade pizza aka jiffy pizza crust, sauce, turkey pepperoni and cheese! However, I have become somewhat inspired to cook. Many of my coworkers come to lunch everyday with these amazing ideas and discuss steaming cabbage to use as a tortilla-I of course ask "how do you steam cabbage?" "With a steamer duh?!" :) Additionally, my wonderful friend Monica gave me an amazing idea to plan for meals.

So we are going to TRY-keyword try- to do this. To try to avoid the every night cycle of "what do you want for dinner?", "Oh i donno".

So tonight we TRIED SOMETHING DIFFERENT! We feel like we are living life on the edge...so here is the recipe for Chicken Fajita Tostadas. Very easy, good, and filling- after 1 and a half tostadas I was stuffed. Try it out and let me know what you think. We made our own variation by adding rotel to the chicken, taco seasoning mix and it was terrific!

Enjoy :)

Google Takes the Cake!!

I thought I would post to piggy back on the last Brand Post I wrote about. A new study came out that listed Google as the most valuable and recognizable brand in the world. This is so interesting to me when you think about 10 years ago that Google was just an idea and a name for a very large number. Additionally, it simply shows how important the internet is in everyone's life. Even some people who may not have internet or computers for that matter, this was a worldwide survey.

If you scan through the list most of the brands on this list have been around for 20 plus years or more. One surprising brand on that list to me is Marlbolo, with all of the education on how harmful smoking is on your health, it surprises me that it is still in the top 10.

Brands, Brands, Brands

Once during an interview I was asked what my favorite brand is. Believe me I was definitely taken aback. I went with Nike, explaining that it has taken sports starts and a simple smashed check mark and made it into one of the top selling brands of all times. Over the past few years since the interview I think this will still be my choice, although Apple would have to be high on my list now as well. During my generation I feel as though these two brands have completely set the way for how brands have become. They are status symbols, a part of our everyday life, and even made a fruit into a high end technology system.

What brands shaped your life/generation? Fast Company outlined how some of the top brands came to be. Check them out, I think it is interesting how something like a brand can mold why or how we buy products.

Best Advice for Business

Back in 1991 David Ogilvy wrote down his best business advice for a reporter. I love learning what brillant businessmen find important. So, here is David Ogilvy’s best business advice:

1. Remember that Abraham Lincoln spoke of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. He left out the pursuit of profit.

2. Remember the old Scottish motto: “Be happy while you’re living, for you are a long time dead.”

3. If you have to reduce your company’s payroll, don’t fire your people until you have cut your compensation and the compensation of your big-shots.

4. Define your corporate culture and your principles of management in writing. Don’t delegate this to a committee. Search all the parks in all your cities. You’ll find no statues of committees.

5. Stop cutting the quality of your products in search of bigger margins. The consumer always notices — and punishes you.

6. Never spend money on advertising which does not sell.

7. Bear in mind that the consumer is not a moron. She is your wife. Do not insult her intelligence.

David Ogilvy

Charleston

November 15, 1991