A chair affair

I've been eyeing this lovely chair since we bought our red couch.

Avington Armless Slipper Chair - Whimsical, Target $169.99 $119.99

I think its the perfect accent but I was hesitant for some reason. Then, when perusing the Tarjay website yesterday I saw that it was on sale!!! I'll have 2, thankyouverymuch. I figure that its no biggie if I don't like them for whatever reason or only want to keep one because I got free shipping and can return them to the store. I'll anxiously be awaiting their arrival. The only problem is that I want to use them in the living room AND in the bonus room. Decisions, decisions..

Update: Last night, after I'd written this post but not published it yet, I took a break and watched some House Hunters. A couple from Nashville had this chair in their house and it was too cute! Providence, my dear, simply providence.

Fashion Hack: Jennifer Garner

So, I'm totally loving this outfit that Jennifer Garner wore to the Arthur premiere and on her David Letterman appearance. A jersey knit top with some bling on the bottom. A little bit comfy, a little bit rock-n-roll.

A British online mag DARES to call it drab but I beg to differ. What do you think? Was it a safe choice or the right choice? And could this girl ever look drab? If she does them I'm most definitely a schlump.

Here's my plan to recreate the look:

Favorite long-sleeve T, Gap $16.50

Black Lacy Skirt, New York & Company $19.99

Jessica Simpson, I don't know the name of these, free to me cause I've had them a couple years but I think I got them for around $40 at Marshalls

Reflection necklace, Lia Sophia $68

This isn't part of J.G.'s look but its a newly acquired piece and I LOVE an excuse to wear it!

I just need to decide if I'm going to go with the grey or black shirt. I wish I could've found a skirt with some silver in it but they were either minis (I don't think so) or WAAAAY to expensive ($200+). But, the NY & Co. skirt does have a nice sheen to it so it'll still give me the bling I'm lookin' for.

So for less than $40 I'm gonna be red carpet (or Las Vegas Strip) ready!

You gotta know it! It's electric! Boogie, woogie, woogie!

That's right. It IS electric. What, you ask? The blue paint in my sweet G's room...

Shot from the doorway (excuse the baby bum in the photo. Or enjoy its total stinkin' cuteness. Your choice.).

And a view of the wall with the bed.

Here are the Before shots as a reminder...

I actually really like the color (Valspar Betsy Ross Room/Sea Serenade). I've noticed that G has a headband, some sandals, barrettes, and a couple of shirts this shade. So we've got a trend going I guess. Its strange that even though the color is a bit dark, the room seems so much more light and cheery than it did before. I think you can even see that in the Before and After shots. I know that some artwork, the white shelf/hooks I plan to hang, and some white curtains will really tame it. Plus, the chandelier I have to hang provides a much more pure, white light than this icky stand-in builder fixture. I'm still a little nervous about our bold choice, though. It doesn't help that the hallway outside her door GLOWS blue when her door is open.

But she seems to like it so that's all that matters. I think.

And I'd like to apologize in advance if you are stuck singing this tune all day. I just wanted someone else to be tortured by this horrible (why-is-it-always-played-at-wedding-dances?) song as I have been since Sunday afternoon when we finished the walls.

I've got to mo-oooooove...

I'm going on a party ride!

Project hack: Moss covered letter

Friday I posted about some projects I'd been itching to try, including the creation of this moss covered ampersand from Two Twenty One. Later Friday afternoon I saw a similar tutorial over at Thrifty Decor Chick so then I knew I HAD to have my own version!!! Well, I wasted no time and with my 25% coupon in hand I rushed out to Michaels and got my supplies. I had remembered seeing large cardboard letters somewhere but I guess that was at Joanns. It worked out though because I ended up with a smaller, better-suits-my-space letter F that is made of wood. Here are my supplies:

I'll save you all the tutorial steps because both blogs mentioned above list all the deets (with much better photos, I might add), but I will say that Chick Sarah was not kidding when she said to watch out for the phalanges! I got this beaut of a blister on my thumb from the hot glue.

Lucky for me, I knew to put cold on it right away so I poured myself an icy Hoegaarden in a nice frosty glass.


And, to relieve the pain, I took a few sips. Or chugs. Whatever. It was medicinal. I learned a lot during my semester as a nursing student (Go Tigers!).

And this is the awesome new piece for my TV console. I'm loving it and the pop of green it adds (with a tiny pricetag of less than 7 bucks). And I have a bunch of moss leftover so there will be more green growy stuff in my future (although the stuff stinks and is messy...I should have included my dustbuster in the pic of supplies above). The little white pot is a new purchase from my Ikea trip last week (wish I'd gotten 3...what was I thinking!?!).

And that sweet little birdie came from Michaels during my trip for the letter and moss.

I think he's super cute but what's up with that tag on the bottom??? First off, it was super sticky and took some real effort to remove and secondly, don't we all assume its "For Decorative Use Only" ? My husband commented that maybe they have to put that because certain people are into some kinky stuff...I can't even imagine.

Wow.

Here is a random Sunday night post...

I was looking through a few favorite blogs this evening and, as it is with blogs, I stumbled from one to another through links. A post at House of Smiths a few days ago casually mentioned a new blogger, Elyse, and her home decor-themed site that was started just last month. Loving Your Space has only 8 posts and already this great new blogger already has over 100 followers. She even writes about how 90 of them came within 24 hours of the H of S shout out!

Wow.

That just goes to show you that sending in your projects based on inspiration from another blogger can be a great starting point to creating a fan base. Sometimes it seems like these superbloggers wouldn't want or care to hear about how you inspired them but its not true. Its the reason they write and share. The reason they do what they do. So if you've been inspired by a project from another site, don't hesitate to email them with pics or a link of your awesome before and after or finished project.

I need to step it up. I'm feeling particularly meager and measly compared to Miss Elyse.

Bloggers are so creative...

I love reading blogs for so many reasons. First, I'm nosy and I like hearing the triumphs, trials, and tribulations of others. Second, I'm often stunned at the creativity out in this big, wide world. What amazing women (I don't really read any blogs by dudes unless you count the manly half of YHL)! Third, I love looking at the beautiful photography. Mostly the pics of people's homes. Regular stay-at-home mommas like myself can capture the beauty of a single moment so well. So this post is about a few of those things. Here are some things/projects that I want to try that are currently floating around on some of my favorite reads.

First, I want to take better pictures of my home and projects (and my kids... I claim that I mean for the pics of them to be blurry because that's true to life and its my version of being artistic...really I just don't know what I'm doing :-). So, my first read is from Centsational Girl. She talks briefly about talking Better Brighter Blog Photos and I'm going to be doing some practicing (and hopefully improving) in the coming weeks. You will thank me. My Canon will thank me. My parents will thank me (although they enjoy any and all pics of the girls even with the blur factor).

Next up, I want to add some more function to the inside of my pantry doors. Melissa at Houseography inspired this and I'm excited that she hung the cork using 3M stickies (we all know that nothing can be too permanent at Casa de Carrie). Now to find somewhere else to hang my collection of aprons...

Its also definitely time to get some herb action going here. I'm sick of running to the store for basil or thinking I have some and finding it super mushy and sketchy looking at the back of the fridge. I already have a collection of terracotta pots and Scissors & Spatulas got the ball rolling on this idea for a cute display.

Then I saw this image over at Chasing Shiny Objects (thanks Cara!) and knew this was more the route for me. These pots from Two Farm Chicks are an Etsy find and the lettering is carved but I'm thinking I can do the same thing with paint or a Sharpie (I love Sharpies!).

Finally, this moss covered ampersand is callin' my name!!! I just posted yesterday about decorating my shelves with some apple green accent pieces and lo and behold, I see a tutorial for this beauty over at Two Twenty One! Its providence I tell you, simply providence!

This is by no means an exhaustive list of the projects I'm itching to try. But first I have a few unfinished items calling my name.

• Have to paint G's room. HAVE TO.
• Need to hang hardware and hem new curtains for living room.
• Need to deal with stacks mountains of clean laundry (yes, its clean).

Bah. I should be putting away clothes right now. I think I'll go look for more fun projects online. Just for 3 minutes. I'm setting a timer. Seriously. OK. 5 minutes more, that's it. I promise.