Decorating

I've been working on the "MIND" aspect of my fitness lately. After moving into a new home and dealing with Christmas, my mind is pooped! But I still have so much to do, so I keep on trucking.

I am going to be writing a post about my New Years resolutions that include all aspects in my blog description. I am pretty excited about it. I've been thinking about it over the past week, I'm getting excited for 2010!

For now, I just wanted to post some pictures that I like and will be taking from to decorate our house. I am not going to copy any ONE picture, but there are things I like about each one.

I LOVE the simple elegance of this room. I like the bright colors contrasting with the dark brown/black. I light the light walls, use of a rug, and the mirror.


I am not into coastal decorating, but I love the color of this room. It's like a light tan with a hint of green. I love the wood tones and want to bring the same colors into our living room.


I love the color combination here. Again the light colors with dark accents of wood. I love the frames.


I like the idea of fun furniture. I would like to do two small chairs with some awesome fabric.

Again I love the colors here. The light walls and fun colors.

I love this room as well. My favorite part is the curtains. I want to have some awesome colors in my curtains that reflect the style in the room, not just complement it.

picture found here

This is so cool! The headboard is wallpapered! I am so doing this in our bedroom. I am also going to do this as a frame in our living room. I am going to make it huge and then place one or more frames inside it. It's such a cool design idea, I'm excited to try it.

I decided that I am going to have a budget of $100 for decorating a month. (This excludes big pieces like an entertainment center and a TV, I have to say this or Jared will make me stick to it! :) I think that this will help me from overspending in one month and work harder to find good deals. I'm so excited!!

The first thing I want to do is paint. I decided that I am going to do a light tan that you can see in most of these pictures. I can't decide if I want an accent wall or not. After painting, I will focus on the entryway. It is so long, and it needs to be inviting first. So I am going to put a shoeshelf/case thing in there, decorate above it, and then put pictures of us before marriage, our engagement, wedding, over the years, baby... and then I am pretty sure Ryan will take over the rest. There will be lots of places left for other little ones that enter our lives. I am thinking about doing empty frames (with something cool in it showing that it's supposed to be there) along the rest of the wall. I'd like to also put in a LONG hallway rug and finish the 1/2 bathroom. I think just the hallway is going to take up 2 months budget, unless I am super awesome and get good deals!

Anyway I am excited for this journey and I hope you're excited to enjoy it with me! :)

What a deal!

Trying to stick with the "Provident Living" mindset, I bought all of Ryan's next batch of clothes second hand. The DI and kid-to-kid here in Provo were awful so one day last week I made the trip up to Sandy to go to the DI and kid-to-kid there. I totally scored some awesome clothes!

I got 2 pairs of pajamas (bummed because I was hoping for more), but I got each of them for a dollar, 7 shirts, 5 pairs of pants ALL for the grand total of $29!!! Most of these things are brand name too! Most people spend that much or more on ONE outfit. I am so happy I was able to get all these awesome clothes for such a good deal. If only clothes shopping were that easy for me! :)

Christmas Holiday

I LOVE this time of year. I am sure most people can agree. There is nothing better than singing christmas songs and thinking of what to get for your family and friends and serving those who are in need. I definitely need to do better in that department. This holiday is about the birth of Jesus Christ and it's so easy to get caught up on the material aspect of it, which is okay! as long as you're remembering to be Christlike as well.

I haven't been very good at posting lately, because I've been super busy with moving. I'm actually halted right now in unpacking because I am working on some Christmas presents that are taking up a TON of my time. I am so excited to post about these after Christmas. Let me just say, it is definitely great for the fitness of my mind. Although, it has a lot to do with Ryan and my patience is wearing thin! Let me just say I LOVE when daddy comes home!

Another thing I wanted to write about was a lesson we had in Church last Sunday. It was on Provident Living. It was a check point lesson, so we missed the first one, but it still was a good reminder on what I want in my life. Life is definitely not about the material things we possess or how other people view us. There are so many things I think I need for my new home, and I just have to put my brain on hold and wait until our credit cards are paid off and money is saved to buy those things. Why is it so easy to say "I'll just charge it?" I HATE being in debt, and with car debt, student debt, and credit card debt, I feel like we are up to our eyeballs in it. BUT I want to decorate my house into a home. I want a piano. I want a new SLR camera so I can try to become a photographer (and make money to pay it off, which is my excuse if I do end up getting it.) I want to go on a cruise for our 5 year anniversary. I want a new dining room set. I want a new bedroom set. I want to buy Ryan more babylegs.

These are definitely all WANTS, but they aren't going to make me feel better about life. In the end, I'm always going to want something. Isn't it better to be able to afford the things you want? I can't wait until we are at that point, where we've saved and consciously worked toward these things. My goal is to have all our credit card debt paid off by Ryan's birthday, and then save for an SLR camera for my birthday. In between all of that, I am going to do the cheap things that will make this house mine, like painting and making my own decorations that will cost a fraction of what I would buy in a store. It will be quite the trip, but hopefully it will be fun. Debt-free freedom, here we come!

I have learned a lot about myself physically, but that's a new post for ya. Until then...