Sofa fail

Just in case the dress wasn't enough fail for me...our sofa came yesterday. As I was doing my happy dance I noticed a mark on the sofa. My eagle eye went straight to work and soon I had found three different marks on one of the sectionals. Of course I snapped a picture of one of the spots. You can never be too careful. Can you spot the spot?


The delivery men looked at the spots and quickly realized I was none to happy to see that part of our new couch had black marks on it (they looked like ink). Yeah...not gonna accept that. If they are going to be stained, I'm going to be the one to stain them.

Thank.you.very.much.

So back went the sofa and now we have to wait a week till they can deliver a new one to us.

All I can ask is that the sofa be delivered to us without stains...and still in the packaging like we asked. And don't worry warehouse guy...I plan on checking out the sofa again before accepting it. We just want the boxes for the move.

The dress that wasn't even close to being

Remember that cute dress I drooled over from ModCloth?


Now do you remember?

Well my wonderful husband went and bought it for me.

It came last week.

OMG was it awful. I got the large and couldn't even get it zipped up. Thanks large boobilies! But lets look past that, lets pretend that I could have gotten it zipped up. There was another major issue. We'll call it my ass. Yet again I have found a dress that shows all of my ass even without me bending over.

It was bad folks...like cover your children's eyes bad.

*sigh*

So back it goes.

One day...someone will remember what it is like to make dresses and skirts that are long enough to keep my butt from feeling a gust of wind.

Tackling nail polish

I spent the last part of my weekend finishing up with my shoes. Yes it took 4 days to do, but I was taking pictures of each pair of shoes and putting them into a spread sheet. 240 some shoes later and I was done.

No...I am not joking about that number.

Perhaps when they are all uploaded online I will share a link for you to look through.

As soon as I was done with that I decided to move onto my nail polishes. I plan on taking them with me, but I wanted to wrap them and put them in Ziploc bags for safe travels.


I have two baskets of polish, one is my OPI and the other basket is all of the other brands I own. I decided before I wrapped them, that I was going to make index cards with color swatches. I did this so that I always know what I have and so that I can take it with me if I plan on buying polishes.


After that they each got wrapped up and placed in a bag. That way if one breaks there is not worries of it spreading to fabric, cause we all know how awful of a mess that is to clean up!


Nate may or may not have bought me a DYMO label maker and I may be going a little label happy on things. Hey...maybe I'll really need a red from OPI. Probably not...but I can pretend.

Don't worry I will be keeping one or two colors out for my toes while we're moving.

Next up? Perhaps my spices that I don't plan on taking with us...or maybe my beauty products. All I know is that we are less than a month out before we move.

Wow...that's so crazy to say.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

And the sofa winner is...

Well, we did it! After much sitting and butt wiggling (WHAT how do you test sofas?), we decided on a sofa. We talked about it that night and did some research on the furniture companies. The sales person was even nice enough to let us take home a throw pillow, because it was covered in the same fabric as the sectional.

Nate was on the same page as many of you about the sofa needing arms. I swore that he never used them and I know I don't. Unless you count the fact that I use them as a collector of things. After coming home and sitting on our current sofa, he too realized that he hardly ever used the arms either. So that leveled the playing field a bit for the sofa.

The next thing we thought about was if we really wanted a sectional that could be made into lots of different layouts or just a few. Honestly we didn't care.

It all came down to fabric or leather.

I've lived with both a leather couch and a fabric couch. And I was leaning towards the fabric. Mostly for my sanity and the fact that I wouldn't have to scrape layers of my skin off the leather after it pealed off of me. Nate of course didn't have a solid opinion.

After some more talking we decided on...







The fabric sectional.

It's made by Najarian Furniture Co. and is from their Milan collection. Also, with our research we were able to find it cheaper and the local furniture company gave us $200 off of it! It's really a perfect sofa for us. It's contemporary which I love (I'm going to talk about my personal taste, because Nate's stated he "just likes what he likes"). While it's a neutral color, I'd still be able to add color to it. Which I want/need, because damn have a fallen into bland color world with our current living room look.

The biggest thing though is that it will fit in the place we are 95% likely going to move into in Ohio and will fit perfectly in the Colorado Springs home. Yes...we are lucky for knowing the next two places and houses we'll be moving to.

So we have the sofa...next up we were thinking about the rug. Currently, we have a rug. A great rug at that. But honestly it's bland (all tans, creams and khakis). Plus I also am planning on using it in the dining room to cover the linoleum that we can't do anything about (in the Ohio home). Did we need a rug...not right now. Did we get a rug...YES!

After we bought the sofa we went to Pier 1 to look at pillows so I could get color ideas for our new look. The I saw it. Bright red and smiling back at me. It was the rug...yes THE rug. The red rose rug that I blogged about loving. Well, apparently at some point Pier 1 was selling it, though it's been discontinued and you can really only find it in stores. We also find out they they sell the rug in a 6 foot round.

Drool.

After calling a few Cali stores for the round...we had one and as of yesterday (that FedEx delivery) we now have it in the house. Welcome home pretty rug that will fit perfectly into the nook of our new sectional.

Our next goal is finding a coffee table...which will wait till we actually move (yea waiting to buy furniture...there's a concept). We're looking for a glass/clear table so it doesn't hide the beautiful rug. We have one that we really like, but we'll keep looking till we know for sure.

So...if you made it this far...awesome. Now I want to share with you the decor ideas that I have put together. The three main elements (sofa/rug/table) are the only for sure things, everything else is just for color ideas (click on pictures to see the items used).


Those are my color ideas so far. Right now we're leaning towards the brighter colors. I cannot tell you how happy I am to be able to get a fresh chance at decorating our living room. It's the first thing people see when they come into our house and I want it to look happy and welcoming. I want it to look like "us".

Just one of those days

Ever have one of those days where you think that it will be a decent day (far better then the last few stressful days), only to have life decide that you are being a little too hopeful? Yeah...welcome to my Thursday. By no means was it the worst day ever...but there have been enough little things to just push me a little closer to the edge.

On today's schedule we had an appointment to get Emmett groomed (so he looks super cute for a certain someone we are meeting at the end of the month) and for someone from the moving company come out to see our house (so they can gauge how many supplies they'll need). All and all a simple day.

If only.

I had called the vet over a week ago to schedule the grooming and at the same time said I would need more medication for Emmett's hips as well as all of his records. I figured one whole week would be perfect for them, because it takes about 1-2 days for them to order and receive his meds (as in they could have ordered it 2-3 times and if would be here in time). I show up today and nothing. NOTHING is ready. The main Vet and Vet Tech bicker about the fact that nothing is done. Someone brings up the fact that there was a note saying we were going to pick it up with him, but that there was nothing about the medicine. They don't have enough, so they'll have to order it in.

It's about that time when all I can think to do is "faceplam".

The Vet Tech then decides to tell me, rather rudely, that they had the records out last month all ready to go, but that they put them away after no one came to get them. I look at her and pretty much said...how am I to know that if you don't call.

More bickering.

I leave...only to come back later to grab Emmett. He's groomed (at least something went right). They hand me copies of all of his paper work...which they charge me for. Seriously!? I don't even have the energy to fight them about it. I ask about his X-rays and am told we can't have them. If we have to have them...then we can call them and they can mail them to our new Vet. Looks like we'll have to pay for yet another X-ray. Awesome.

I'm so annoyed with this Vet. They were great...then Emm's hip issues happened and they went to crap. Like bam...they have no idea what to do with us. Luckily, as long as Emm doesn't have a joint flair up in the next month we shouldn't have to deal with them anymore (minus me having to go back to get his meds).

I also got to deal with pissy FedEx man. Who is probably the worst delivery man EVER. I have actually caught him running away from our door so he didn't have to help us carry items inside. And by items I mean a daybed frame, among other things. Today I caught him right as I was coming home with Emmett. After he moved so I could get into our garage he stood outside holding our package huffing and sighing because I was taking far too long getting Emmett out of the car.

Sorry I was putting his leash on him so he wouldn't bother you mister FedEx man, how dare I. That 20 second process is just much to long to have to deal with.

I glared at him and pretty much just told him to put the package down in the garage if he couldn't wait for a moment. So down goes the package and off he runs to the van.

At least the walk through (which turned out to be over the phone) with the moving company was good. He was nice and extra attentive.

*Sigh*

I can't even believe we are at the month mark. I hope that this month flies by. I'm ready to see what Ohio has to offer (hopefully a good Vet).

For now though, I need to sit and watch mindless things.

Tomorrow will be better.

goosfraba

goosfraba

What have I been doing?

Want to know? It's super exciting...if you love shoes that is.

Sitting on sofas

Because we're crazy, we spent the weekend looking at sofas.

Why?

Well because the sofa I bought from Pottery Barn is crap less than awesome and after three years of suffering dealing with it, we decided to look around.

Why is it soooooooo flipping hard to find a nice contemporary sofa...that isn't white...isn't uncomfortable...and isn't over priced? If you know that answer, then let me know because I'd love to know the secret.

We found a few online at Z Gallerie, but I just refuse to even think about buying something without sitting my big ol' butt in it. I mean come on...it might be pretty...but can you pass out on it without being in pain for the next 3 days?

We ended up finding two that we liked. Two totally-different-not-even-remotely-the-same-except-for-the-fact-that-they-were-sectionals...

First up was a dark dark dark brown leather sectional. It was comfy, good color and we could make a lot of different lay outs with it.


Of course you have to properly test the sofas to make sure they work for your lifestyle. This is my spread eagle test. The pillow is apparently my censor bar (thanks Nate).

The other was a brownish fabric sectional (the fabric is tonal). This too was comfortable and had built in side tables and the fabric totally would hide stains (joking...but not really).

I decided to do a more lady like test for this one. No pillow censor bar needed!

Close up of the fabric...cause you really can't see the pattern/texture in the other photo.

Currently those are our two front runners. Now to make the decision...

Friday night and I'm craving duck

Friday night I had a hankering for duck...yes duck. I had no desire to make it though. So off we went to a local Asian restaurant. This of course meant that I had to climb out of my gym shorts and t-shirt. Lucky for you it also means you get an outfit of the night!


If you were looking hard enough you may have noticed that I took my hair to a dark brown color. I was expecting it to be a bit lighter, but I do like it. Nate actually picked out the color because he hasn't seen me without some shade of red. Funny thing...red still shows up in the sun.

After dinner we ran to Sephora because they had a free gift with purchase. I grabbed a Bare Minerals shadow in "Nude Beach", which is the perfect skin matching shimmer eyeshadow for me.

The freebie was a small liner/eye brow pallet from Smashbox, along with a small bottle of their primer. It was much smaller then expected, but at the same time I had no real idea how big it should have been (in my head). I took a picture with it next to my Beauty Insiders card to give you an idea of how big it is. Really it will be awesome for travel.


The rest of the weekend has shown to be busy...yet still relaxed. I should have more stories to share with you tomorrow!

I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Some days it feels like it was just yesterday, other days it feels like centuries

This is a downer post, so if you don't want to read something sad then this isn't the post for you. I totally understand. If you do read this, thank you. I just really needed to get this off of my shoulders.

I needed a day...a day to just dwell. I try not to dwell, but it still happens. Yesterday and the day before were those days. Late Tuesday night into Wednesday morning I just cried. For a portion of time I cried about my mom...not realizing why it was different from any other cry I might have had. Then it hit me, Wednesday was 4 years to the day that I lost my mom (June 16th). Apparently mentally I knew this...which made me cry even more.

Somehow I had forgotten. I don't want to forget. One of my greatest fears is forgetting. I already can't remember quite what she sounded like and that's enough to send me into a crying tizzy.

Life has been hectic since we found out about the PCS. That, and some people have made it less than easy to deal with my own personal things. So there I was, crying because I forgot, crying because I am stressed, crying because some people just don't get that they cause needless drama, crying because I miss my mom more then I could ever imagine.

I could really use a pep talk from my mom...and a hug...and her listening to me rant, because I rant. It's how I deal with/get over things. Mostly I just want to hear her say it's going to be okay. I don't get that luxury, so I keep telling myself that it will be okay. That I can do this. But damn what I wouldn't give for it to be her saying it.

I've also been realizing that I'm sad for Nate, because he never got to meet my mom. He would have really liked her and she would have loved him. She was such a worm, loving, welcoming person. She never judged peoples beliefs or what they did with their lives (as long as they weren't hurting others). You never felt like you had to hide anything from her and that is so rare. That is what I wish Nate would have been able to see and experience.

Though I am lucky, because even though I lost my mom and my best friend in one day...I found Nate. While he'll never fill the mom void (no one will), he does fill the best friend one. Plus I have some awesome friends, who are more like family to me. I also have a very cute dog who is currently defuzzing his tennis ball.

So while I do have days that I just don't want to get out of bed...I do, because I know I have so much love and support from Nate, my friends and people I don't even know.

Thank you...if you made it through this. It means so so much that I have people that like reading what goes on in my head. You're all wonderful and make my day a little brighter...and without even knowing it you all helped me get through the past few days!

Much love to each and every one of you!

Online window shopping counts as packing

Damn you Modcloth, I'm supposed to be packing and not spending money. And as of right now I am not packing and thinking about spending money. You see it's all backwards and I blame you! A few of these dresses I'd like to wear to a friends wedding...even though it isn't till next year. I know I'm not the bride...but I can change my outfit for every place we go right? RIGHT!?

Pretty dresses...and shoes...and and and...I'm ready for my turn at free stuff Modcloth *cough* *cough*.

Screw packing and moving...I'm ready to decorate!

I'm stressed about this move and I am even more stressed about the reviews I have found about the company that is supposed to be moving us (Atlas for those that want to know). Lets just say that most of the reviews talk about the damage/lost/stolen items. Then there is the whole other stress in my life...which I would try to ignore, but they seem to always say/do something stupid at the worst time possible. My stomach is knots just thinking about all of this.

So what do I do to de-stress and help motivate me for this move? I find things I want to decorate our house with. And by house I mean the house that we think we will be getting. Yes...I am getting ahead of myself and yes I should be cleaning and organizing, but I just need a moment. Or I just might flip my shit and trust me...it would be ugly for the person who would be on the receiving end.

Lets look at some home decor shall we? Now keep in mind these are things I like...but by no means do they all go together. Right now I am just putting ideas together.



I love the unique take on the look of a dandelion and I am totally smitten with the wall color. Like...I'm seriously thinking about painting the main wall in the bathroom this color.


I like the idea of getting color into a bathroom that doesn't have green...yet there is green in this one. Oh the issues!

I enjoy this pattern a lot, plus it comes in a few other colors (must stay away from green).


Yes it has green...shut it! But it also has the same blue that I like for a wall color.



I want to get three of these...maybe paint one grey, one yellow and leave one white. Or paint a wall yellow and leave these white. All I know is that I need these in my life!


This picture does not do this rug any justice. Seriously click the link and look at the other photos. It's beautiful. I love it. I would love to have it in our house! In fact I even am drooling over it and how we can use it in our house in CO. *Drools*


Oh grey how I adore you.


Well there are the few things I have been eying. I think there might be at least on of these things in our near future...

The corset came home

Well I did it, I went back and bought the corset style top that everyone loved from my recent fitting room fun post.


Honestly the picture from their site makes it look a little sad in the bust area. Good thing I don't have to worry about that.

I ended up getting the size 10 that I tried on originally. I say that because I had been debating on if I should order a 12 for a loser fit. I did, after all, have to take my bra off to get my boobalies zipped into the top. Then I remembered that I am trying to lose weight and while it might be a smidgen snug now...hopefully it won't be in a few weeks. I know I know you're never supposed to by for the body you want...but I am. So deal with it.

I look forward to putting it into rotation and maybe stepping away from the tee shirt funk I have been in. And as always thanks to everyone and your input!

He's got junk in the trunk

Yesterday Otto the Auto got a makeover in the back end area. And yes...I named him Otto, he is a German after all. Nate thinks the name is lame, but really he's the lame one for not loving the awesomeness of my car naming thought process.

I took him into the dealership and many...many hours later Otto had/has extra junk in the trunk. Or what some might call a towing hitch.

After much debate and a brilliant idea we decided that instead of shipping the Versa and renting a trailer, that we would just tow the Versa behind Otto. Might as well make use of Otto's awesome towing ability (awesome for the size he is) and save money all at the same time. Plus...we'll be able to use the towing capability on our other moves! SCORE!

The only issue is now we really have to make sure that we are only bringing the items along that we ACTUALLY need to have with us. I'll figure out a way to make it all work. I always do. In fact I have already started crossing some items off the list.


And to anyone who may see us driving on our 4 day 1400 mile trip...we're not crazy. Okay I lied we are...but just don't honk at us. I'll cry. Unless you wave...then I'll wave back.

I forgot how nice a haircut really is

So um...this confession might ban me from the beauty world forever.

Today was my first haircut in a year. Yes that is ONE whole year. Awful I know and yes I am ashamed. I know better than this. I swear I do, but one too many crap stylists lead me to not wanting anyone in this state to touch my hair. Now when I say crapy stylists...I mean that I went to three different places and each place messed up in their own way. Want a recap? Head here.

I was doing fine with my hair, I even had plans to color it. Then a week ago I lost it. I was one step away from going Britney Spears on my hair.

I started searching for a salon, but I couldn't find a place...I kept looking. Heck even my husband looked for me. Most places here are far too proud of their prices. Some don't even feel the need to answer their phone (and yet they're booked, however that happens). Then this glimmer of hope showed up. A salon by the name of Beauty Essentials. They allowed walk-ins (this is how desperate I was to have my hair done). They were friendly right of the bat and I loved my stylist. My hair now looks and feels a million times better. Now I don't have a before picture. I "forgot" to take one...aka I was way too ashamed to have photographic proof of the year of neglect.


Seriously...I'm a little bitter that I found this place right before we move. Such is life. I'm going to go back before we move for color and a trim...just to hold me over while I start my search all over again in Ohio.

*Sigh*

So not looking forward to that.

While I was there I picked up two new hair products...which I shouldn't have because of the move, but damnit I just don't care.

First I grabbed Aquage's Silkening Oil Treatment, which sounds like it works a lot like Paul Mitchell's Super Skinny Serum. Once I have used the Aquage version for awhile, I will give it a review...but so far I like it.


The other product I got is Artec Hot Style Hot Volume Foam. My stylist couldn't say enough good things about it, so after seeing some nice volume I figured I'd give it a try. After some research I found out that the line is from L'Oreal. Go figure. It too will have a review after some more use.

My Craigslist dresser find

I talked about how over Memorial Day weekend I finally found some Campaign furniture knock offs. Well, I'm finally getting around to posting about them.

For those that haven't heard of Campaign, it's a really old line of British furniture (I'll let you do the research this time). Now the real stuff is really old and really pricey. In the 60's and 70's the style started getting knocked off and that's what you mostly see floating around today (usually good solid wood). My parents bedroom set was a Lane knockoff of the Campaign look. If only I had realized then what they had...I may have begged to have their bedroom set.

Now onto what I found. This is a knock off of a knock off. As in it's not the coveted knock offs that everyone (including myself) is searching for. There are so things missing. Such as the solid wood construction and the wood strips that separate each drawer. Also the handles are a little off, but beggars can't be choosers.

While I know that these aren't the quality I was hoping for, what did sell me was the price and the fact that it's okay if they get beat up in all over our moves. We got 6 pieces for $175. Yes...that's right, we got a dresser, a high boy, what looks like a file cabinet, two bedside tables and a mirror. It's far more than I was expecting us to get, but still awesome.

Now for pictures...of them living in the garage waiting for the move.


The low 6 drawer dresser is the one that will be painted green and placed in the guest bedroom. Now I just have to find a green paint I like and wait till we move to paint it. The others...well I have no idea.

Goodwill *Now with more odor*

Well the proverbial ball is officially rolling for our move, as today was our appointment with TMO (Traffic Management Office (or fancy military talk for the people who get us squared away for our move)). So what did I do to "celebrate"? I bought two plates. Yep...two breakable items to be packed up and shipped 1400 miles away. I'm too smart for my own good.

Before you judge me, like I judged myself, let me say I got them from Goodwill for $1.99 a pop. Now also let me tell you that I am shocked...SHOCKED I tell you, that I found anything at one of our local Goodwill's. While the rest of you thrifty people find awesome things to clean up and transform...I find crap. Our Goodwill's are filled with absolute crap (98% of the time).

Some of you might say "But Ashley, we really have to dig for our finds" and you know what I have to say to that? You suck (I kid, I'm just bitter). I'm lucky if I am able to stay in one area for longer then 2 minutes because there is someone following me around with awful BO or someone who it farting or someone with farty smelling BO. I kid you not...they find me EVERY TIME.

Thus finding these two wall hanging plates...originally from Target at that, was lucky. Very very lucky.


If these little babies make it through the move I am going to use them in the kitchen for my very own wall of plates display/art (pretty much everyone and their dogs are doing it and I'm following suit damnit)!

So there you have it...three years here and the only thing I've found are two plates and a headache from the smells that have followed me.

Fitting room fun

Friday was a long day...like a really really long day. It all started with a trip to see a lawyer. We are now proud owners of wills. While it's totally odd that we have wills, I know it's a good thing.

After way too many big words and lots of death talk I decided to check out Ann Taylor Loft, Anthropologie and TJ Maxx. Now while I am currently displeased with the way my body looks, I know I am not the only one that feels that way. I figured I'd suck it up and show some of the various outfits I found. Most of them were decent, but didn't come home with me.

First lets start with my OOTD (normally I would have thrown on a belt or something, but it was 100 degrees out and I didn't want to bother):


The first dress I tried on was at Ann Taylor Loft. I had seen it in their window and wanted to try it. I'm still debating on it, but now see that it comes in 3 other colors. Hmmm choices.


Next stop was Anthropologie. I stuck to sale items and for a crazy change for me I picked up no dresses. Because of that I had to grab jeans to try on. I didn't think they would fit me...but they did and I was bitter (if you're wondering they were Joe's Carpenter Kicker jeans which I had on in all of the pictures). I was good too and only bought one thing.

After a small amount of fighting I was able to wrangle my boobalies into the top. This may not be the most chest friendly top ever...unless you like having them right under your chin.


The next top I actually bought. I liked that it was a jazzed up tee shirt. Perfect for cross country road trip!


This next top, while I liked the look and the cut, I didn't like how sheer it was once it was on. Normally I'd toss a tank under it, but with the heat here and the odd fabric I wouldn't want to.


Next stop was TJ Maxx where I found a Bailey 44 dress. Now I love...and I really mean adore their tops. I own a lot of shirts from them. I have stayed away from their dresses to save everyone the pain of having to see the rolls that my back has. But I figured oh why not and was actually very pleasantly surprised! And can I say SCORE!? I got mine for $40 instead of..oh you know...$300.


Last but not least I thought I would share with you the last "dress" I tried on. Now I say "dress" loosely, because it was in the dress section. When I put it on I did the spin and pull on the fabric. You know...where you spin trying to grab the fabric in the back to pull it down. I could have sworn that the fabric was caught and needed to be pulled down. Nope not the case, my ass was meant to hang out of the bottom of this. I kid you not...I didn't even have to bend over. In fact I was too afraid to bend over to see how much more of my ass it would show.


Ass-1 / Dress-0

After all of that dress fun, the hubs and I went to a work party and Buffalo Wild Wings. I'm so proud of us for socializing with his coworkers (why we don't normally do that is another story all together).

I hope everyone had a great weekend!