drum roll please

We got the house!!^10 (yea, raise those exclamation marks to the 10th power to get a better idea of how I feel).The house was foreclosed and owned by a bank, so we pretty much signed our lives away this evening on contracts the bank made us sign (see: David v. Goliath (1045BC) ) to save their own butts in case anything goes wrong. We set the closing date for July 17th so that we have enough time to save for a) a car and b) house project money.Meanwhile I may or may not be going crazy in our current living situation. Thus, I have turned to planning, lists, and dreaming about updates we want to make to the house. Like I said, it’s a fixer upper, so I’ve got my daydreaming work cut out for me. Here are a few of my *ahem* ‘plans’:Kitchen Before:Kitchen After:Bathroom Before:Bathroom After:Backyard Before:Backyard After:Yup. That’s exactly what our home is going to look like, in case anyone was wondering.

Blissdom 2013

My second-ever visit to the state of Texas was a whirlwind.The main purpose of my time in Dallas was the Blissdom Social Media Conference which was held at the gorgeous Gaylord Texan resort. And I mean gorgeous as in restuarants under enormous glass atriums with water fountains.My 4 (FOUR!) days and nights there were filled with ridiculous amounts of uninterrupted sleep and a dubious amount of calories. O and also holding random babies. Literal sat-down-at-the-table-next-to-us-and-we-stole-her-baby random babies.Elbow chub!!The adorable Dear Abby Leigh and the even adorabler daughter of Lindsey of Two Bobbins LaterThe exception in the sleep department came Friday morning when I got up at 4:30am to hear Jon Acuff speak about what he has learned from his experience in social media. It was an interesting and engaging talk, although it was not exactly what I was expecting. When I signed up for it, I understood the description as being a vision-casting kind of gathering that would be a mix of Jon addressing the group and time for us to work and write in an encouraging environment. It wasn’t that – Jon spoke the whole time – but it was fun and enjoyable. Dude’s hilarious.I have mixed feelings about the sessions I attended at Blissdom. I liked all of them. The speakers were all very professional, polished and engaging. I left each one encouraged and motivated but I was also hoping for more tangible nuggets and action items for the bettering of my blog and social media presence. I did hear from several attendees that in this session or that one there were some great take-aways, so I will definitely be going back and watching the videos of a few of those. My favorites were Sheila Marcelo’s session Redefining Success and Jon Acuff’s closing keynote.And then I got down with my bad self at the Girls’ Night Out Blissdom event. I haven’t danced like that since… my wedding, maybe? It felt so good to be out on the floor with girlfriends just having a hilariously awesome and care-free time. Only downside is that I’ve had LMFAO Sexy and I Know It stuck in my head for almost a week.I work out!After the after party I got to watch the premier of an episode of Animal Planet’s Tanked featuring my friend Laura of Hollywood Housewife. I don’t know which was more fun, watching the episode or watching her watch the episode. Yea no, I know. It was the latter.At the party viewing I had fried pickles for the first time in my life. You guys. Why did you not tell me about fried pickles before? They were so life changing that I took a picture. You’re welcome.The food and sleep were epic, but to me BlissDom has always been about the face-to-face time with my friends from around the country. It dawned on me while I was dancing under a disco ball with girls that I love with my whole heart and with whom I am humbled to share my life through friendship online and off that I am absolutely blessed beyond reason to be part of this online community.This crazy, eccentric, hilarious community.{photo credit: BlissDom} [[from left: Sharone of Zizzavivizz, Me, JJ the BlahBlahBlahger, Chris Mann from The Voice, (a very confused) Amber Riley from Glee, Abby of Dear Abby Leigh, and Ruthanne of Eclectic Whatnot]]

Michele Quan..

There is something almost magical about bells. I spotted Michele Quan's ceramic bells on one of my favorite tumblr's to visit, Love Adorned (which is also a brick and mortar store in NYC). Quan's work seems thoughtful and really moving in a way, like they've had past lives. Her bell garlands are my favorite along with her bells on twisted rope with porcelain.

Images from Michele Quan's site of her opening, Suzu at Love Adorned.

Blur sera le Call of Duty du jeu de courses

Le prochain jeu de courses de Bizarre Creations, déjà responsable des très convaincants Project Gotham Racing, suscite beaucoup d'espoir chez Activision qui se chargera d'éditer la bête. En effet, Michael Griffith, un des dirigeants de l'éditeur, a déclaré que Blur apportera de véritables innovations dans sa catégorie. Il ajoute que le titre est conçu pour faire dans le milieu du jeu de courses ce que Call of Duty a fait pour les FPS. Traduisez par là, Blur sera une véritable tuerie et nous allons en vendre des millions d'exemplaires.

Blur PC

Blur PS3

Blur 360

Hands free daddy

Out of complete desperation one day… after I just couldn’t take one more second of screaming… I started searching for other options around the house… my back hurt.. my arms hurt.. my legs hurt from bouncing and I just needed a break..When all of a sudden.. I saw the carrier that we got for a shower present and decided to give it a whirl.. It was really hard to figure out on my own.. but I eventually got it all strapped on and put him in it. Surprisingly… He fell asleep in less than an hour… and I was able to get things done around the house. It’s now my go-to calming device.. he will usually fall asleep in it..The other night as I tried to get some things done he was his normally fussy self.. I asked Aaron if he wanted to try the carrier and we got him all suited up… We also discovered its a GREAT way to keep his Binky in! (he’s not a binky boy so we have to find someway to make sure it stay in or he wont keep it in..)
And just like clockwork… in a few minutes he was out!!!

Daddy even found a way to play and hold the baby hands free! :)

and um.. this is just a random picture that makes him look HUGE.. I don’t even know what I was doing or why he was just laying there on the bed.. but he put himself to sleep all stretched out..His outfit add’s to the appearance of his hugeness too! Since its a newborn size and looks like 3/4 sleeves and capri’s! :)

and … 1 month pictures are coming soon.. I just havent uploaded them yet.. And we’re blessing him next weekend.. and I need to find him an outfit since the chunky monkey is too big for Aaron’s outfit… I guess that’s what happens when you’re double the size of you dad at the same age! :)

Lucky Jackson..

I have been thinking a lot about 365 day projects, because it's, well you know the beginning of the year. I'm hoping to launch a blog project around this concept for you all to take part with me. Stay tuned for that!

Lucky Jackson has put the 365 day challenge to the test: each day she embroiders something and posts it on her blog. Each piece is whimsical, colorful and so fun! Umm, hello Mug Shot Week? What I think is best though...is she started it late last year. She didn't need Jan 1st to whip herself into shape, she just up and did it. 

All I have to say is I hope to God there is a Ron Swanson in Lucky's sewing future. Other than that I love this project!

found via Borrowed, Bought, Stolen.

william crump..

20x200 released two rad prints by william crump this week. the first is called the mountain of western expansion and the second, the mountain of tomorrow's sunrise. william's use of color is rich, lush and like goldilocks, just right. both prints were taken from william's series called high lonesome. you can see more of the high lonesome series on his recently updated website.