Is it utterly possible to absolutely loath, despise, want to punch math in the face? I mean seriously, I cannot stand this subject and there is only one reason why: I'M TERRIBLE AT IT. Good enough reason right? Lie to me if it isn't. I studied and studied for this quiz I just took, and what did I get? You don't even want to know. The sad part is that I thought could have bet money on it that I would've gotten an A because I seriously thought I had the cat in the bag. Jokes on me, it was far from an A. More like in the deep deep sea near Damascus. Catch my drift? Ok, I'll stop. 

I don't normally say the word hate, with the exception of:

when my dogs pee on the carpet and not the tile (AND THE BED)
when my husband punches me in my sleep (while he's sleeping of course)
when I get shin splints
when my dog sheds - although he can't help it so I am slowly accepting it

That about sums up my hate list, from what I can think of anyway. And now ladies and gentlemen, please add doing math to that slim list.

Did I mention that I hate math? I'll yell it from the mountain tops. Rant done, I promise.

Anyways, there is nothing better to cheer me up than some DIY inspiration for our new home. With lots and lots of praying, we hope it closes in 2 weeks (fingers crossed it's sooner) so we can get this reno [renovation, for the newbies] started and move in already! There are a few things that need to be done before we can move in, which is a bummer because we have to extend our lease where we are now, until it's livable.

In a nutshell, we have to paint the whole house, redo our upstairs guest and master bathroom, patch the holes in the walls, shampoo everything, and clean. CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN. Oh the joys of moving out. Thankfully, that's all we have to do. No flooring, no kitchen reno, no major plumbing issues, NADA. We are pretty stoked about that. 


So far I've pretty much designed the down stairs powder room and the dining room. GO ME. GO ME. Everything else is tough to decide because I'm not there enough to remember what the house even looks like, nor have I even begun to shop.

So for the downstairs powder room, I'm already collecting the pallets for the pallet wood wall. Inspiration photos go:









 

Cute right? I just think that the wood brings a 'home-y' feel to the room. For now, it's just the bathroom wall like in picture 2, but I may extend this idea to our living room like pic 3.

I'm also thinking of this pier 1 mosaic mirror in the bathroom, but I don't know if that really matches. I just really like the mirror



 

If I decide against, I'll stick it in our bedroom. Either way, I'm totally buying it!

For our dining room, I'm definitely stenciling one wall with either of the two stencils I found on etsy:



 

Our walls will be a tan/brown as of right now. I would love to pain the downstairs a slate grey, but hubs is against it. I've got some convincing to do. 

And that's pretty much all I know so far. I will say that I have a full blow addiction to Pinterest, the DIY blogs I follow, and pretty much just googling DIY inspirations. It's my crack: a problem I'm fully aware of, and there's no stopping me.

Enjoy! Hopefully as much as I do!

Hubby Appreciation Week

I should probably just make this husband appreciation week because I want to talk about him all the time. Don't worry, I know what you're saying...SHUT IT. But I can't. There's too much love in this household not to share it.

There is no doubt in my mind that he'll always be there for me, and not just because he's my husband and has to be. Tonight I hurt my back pretty bad in dance, I came home in extruciating pain and laid on the floor. Of course he felt bad as he rubbed my back and I screamed bloody murder. Seriously, I think I scared him because I may or may not have cried a little and I'm 100% not a cryer. Anyone who's anyone would know that, so that may have freaked him out a tad. We are closer on a whole new level, let me just tell you.

Anyway, he's a gem. He got me In-N-Out because I wanted a cheeseburger. There goes the workout bod. By bedtime, I wanted to stay up and finish one of our favorite shows; Property Brothers...can't you see how obsessed I am with DIY, house, decor, crap crap crap. I'm fully aware, and he stayed by my side. Then he fell asleep, but it's his presence that counts, right? ABSOLUTELY. All of this may be petty or little to most, but it means the most to me that he'd pick me over sleep (sort of). Sleep is the most cherished thing in this household. So if that's not love, heck, kidnap me and get me a Coke icy. Seriously, that sounds delicious right now. Totally irrelevant Mindy. My brain is scattered. 

He's awesome and I know it. I love him and he knows it. I just wanted to express that.

And how about that totally cute baseball picture of him that has absolutely nothing to do with this post? He's too dang good looking I can't take it sometimes. 

Letter to my Husband

Dear Hubba Hubba Hubby,

When I first met you, I was attracted instantly because you are hot stuff (don't worry that's not all.) After you saved me when my canoe capsized, I was even more attracted to you because you rescued me from my death. Atta boy. Even when I knew you liked me, because I wasn't oblivious or anything, you swept me off my feet with your sweet and smooth ways. Or maybe it was your sexy diamond face that really got me. ;) You are the Oliver to my Laurel, the Homer to my Baxter, the Ron Burgundy to my Veronica Corningstone. You, my love, are the sweet joy that fills my heart.

When I ask you to do silly things like re-propose to me (which btw, you are way overdue), you do it without hesitation. Even though you leave the dishes for me to do most times, I'm secretly glad to do them because I know it makes you happy. EVEN THE NASTY GIGANTIC GREASY PANS YOU LEAVE-Don't mistake my smart sassy remarks for truth. No one will truly know how much love we have for each other and frankly, that doesn't matter as long as you know how much I adore you.

See, love is when you toot in my face as I'm turning around; or when I toot under the covers and try to dutch oven you; or when you help me with my math homework because everyone and their mothers know I'm absolutely terrible at it; or when you make me coffee every morning or night, so I'm not a horrible female dog all day long. Love is you, babe. You've showed me kindness that I've never found in anyone else. You've showed me faith and hope when the situation seemed impossible. You love me, even when I wear my MC hammer pants. But obviously not enough to let me out of the house with them, but that's O.K. I'll accept. 

I chose you 3 years ago. I'll choose you today. I'll choose you tomorrow. and forever. and forever because that's what love is; choosing the person who makes you happy, sad, annoyed, mad, giddy, smitten, and smart. I choose my best friend. My best boy. My husband. My mentor. My guide. My love. I CHOOSE YOU. I know we already sealed the deal by doing that thing called marriage, but I'm just letting you know the rope is tied. There's no running away now boo, you're stuck.

I love you. I love you. I love you. & even when you cut me off from cola, I still love you.

Your official back scratcher,
Min

Valentine's Day 2014

I just love this holiday because it's so sweet and full of love (I had to say it), and just makes me all giddy inside. Usually, it's all about the boy doing stuff for the girl, etc, but I wanted to make it a point that I could make Ry feel just as 'girly' as any girl would on love day. So I got this idea from Barksdale Blessings Blog where you leave treats for your hubby each day for 2 weeks leading up to Vday. I found this 2 days before Vday, so I just gave them all at once. 


I left them around the house where Ry could find them. I thought it was PERFECT because I love puns. Seriously, I love them.















I ripped the bag on the muffin one, so I had to put it in a ziplock. LOL.

There are a few more like:

Starburst: "You make my heart burst!"
Hershey's Kisses: "I could KISS you all day long."
Mints: "You and me are MINT to be."

I didn't snap those pictures, but you get the point. If you look on the blog link above where I got the idea from, she makes her cards a whole lot cuter and in color. I just didn't have anymore colored ink, so I wrote them all myself and saved some mulaaaa.

A few weeks ago, I made him a book from Shutter Fly, with all the memories from the year's past. I put that in his car for a surprise :)

Here are some of the pages...













I think I'm going to make this a V-day tradition. It was so easy to make, and I think it turned out amazing. Thanks Shutter Fly :)

As for the night, we ate at this restaurant called Firefly (where we had our first official date) then watched a Cirque du Soleil show called Zarkana. It was amazing. I'm unbelievable stunned at the level of skill some of these people have.





V-day was awesome. My husband is awesome. Love is awesome.

DIY: Wedding Keepsake Shadow Box

My wedding has been over for 4 months now, and I have yet to make a memorabilia box with some wedding stuff. I'm not really sure what go into me doing it today, but I did, and guess what I spent? $22 and some change. BOOM.



Michael's ALWAYS has a '40% off one regular priced item' so I usually go there when I need something a little more expensive or just to buy one or two things. I only wanted to get one shadow box, but they were having a 'buy one get one free' sale, so of course, I couldn't resist. I'm planning on using the other for our keys. I want to copy every key to every house we live in together. That'll be an up and coming post as soon as we move. Anyways, so there I was walking to the counter when I saw the cutest burlap roses. I had similar ones at my wedding so I thought it would be the perfect addition to the box. Then I was thinking to myself, 'I need some word or letter to make this fancy' (no, a letter doesn't make anything fancy actually, but again, I couldn't resist the cute swirly 'P' they had for only $2. I saw the 'Love' letters and grabbed that too. I figured I would use it eventually if I didn't find a place for it in the box. Is it just me, or when I read 'the box' I say it with a whole lot more drama. LOL. 

As I was waiting in line, I was looking for a coupon, and I came upon another one that was only going on today that said '20% off entire purchase including sale items'. So there I was with this huge dilemma of debate. WHICH COUPON DO I USE? The 40% off one or the 20% off entire. I couldn't decide, so I asked the cashier and he said the golden words every DIYer likes to hear: YOU CAN USE BOTH COUPONS. #jackpot. 

Here's the break down from Michael's:

• 12x12 White Shadow Box: $19.99


• 8x10 White Shadow Box: $14.99 *will be FREE after discounts.


• Burlap Rose Flowers: $2.99


• 'Love' Wood Letters: $1.99


• 'P' Wood Letter: $1.99

GRAND TOTAL (with discounts): $22.67

Wedding Stuff:

• 2 Wedding Invitations (one for front, one for back)


• 2 RSVP cards (same reason)


• Our registry card

And the drum roll please...



 

Quick tutorial: I literally just pinned everything with small sowing pins and hot glued the letters and roses and voila! Easy and done in less that 20 min.

I saved one of the napkins from our wedding. Doesn't look like much, but I promise in person, it's a super cute somerset pink. I just wrapped it around the cardboard that came with the box and pinned it secure.

The shadow box actually came with lots of different 'options'. There are 3 different dimensions you can do, but I didn't need anything fancy and just did it regular.

I think I'm going to put  it on our entry way table in our new house, but for now, it will sit next to Tapanguin on my nightstand. Ry got me Russel (who I decided to re-name Tapanguin) from Build-A-Bear on Christmas. And I guess now that I think about it, re-sex change him, too.

Fun Filled Weekend

I always look forward to getting away for the weekend, I mean, who doesn't right? So every year Ry has his alumni baseball game at Cal State University Northridge and it's a jolly good time. I don't consider it a 'real' game because the alum tries to drink their heads off and play against the current team. Trust me, it's hilarious AND, they range from 23-50. Again, HILARIOUS. So Ry, Drew (Ryan's old college roommate), and I ventured to the wild; also known as Newport beach.

We get there a day early to make the most of the weekend, and head to the beach where we eat the BEST seafood in town, rent schwinns, and throw the football.

This place has the best oysters I've ever eaten. If you haven't been and are in the area, DO IT.

I failed to get the oysters shot. [kicking myself in the head as we speak].









Note: That little spec in the air in the middle of the picture is the football. Boom. *Photo creds to me and my iPhone 5.

That was Friday. I also failed to get any pictures but one of our night activities. This consisted of playing pool with my hubby and meeting up with some friends who came to see us for drinks.

I managed to snap this quicky while waiting for the pool table.

On Saturday, we woke up very early to make the Orange County Swap Meet before the game. I got 2 scarves for $10! Yay to bargains. I really wanted to go for some new furniture, but there wasn't much to look at, and everything was overpriced. Go figure.

I did get to eat frozen bananas dipped in chocolate and nuts and indulge on the best lemonade this town has ever tasted.



& here is Ry "model smiling"

& here is Ry normal smiling. Don't ask.

& here is me from dinner one of the nights where my legs look chopped off. whoo.

Cheers to the long weekend, and can I add that on Sunday I watched the MOST BORING SUPERBOWL of my life. Seriously, that was so not how I wanted to end the weekend. Back to boring school and long days at work.

GO COWBOYS! lol. we'll get them next year - says everyone.