Oh What a Night

I woke up to the sound of rain against the window and the first thing that came to my mind was "Oh no, my chest!" (because it was on the porch "drying"). I got out of bed to tinkle and saw that it was just after 2:30am. When I opened the bedroom door I saw that V's eyes were opened, so I said to him "It's raining. What if my chest is getting wet?!"I told him I was going to go check on it and he asked if I needed any help and I said no, I'd be fine. Then he asked me if it was still on top of the plastic drop cloth and I said yes, so he told me to wrap the drop cloth around it and tape it together so it will keep it from getting wet. Good thinking! So I grabbed the roll of masking tape out of the kitchen drawer and headed out to the porch....at 2:37 in the morning (lol). The whole time I was out there I was thinking about how if it is a little damp then covering it up with this plastic wrap is just going to make it more damp and I'll practically be back to square 1! About 15 minutes later, it was taped up and I was so so tired. I walked inside and just before closing the blinds, I decided to pull it as far away from the screened walls of the porch as possible. As I closed the sliding door and put the stick down, I thought to myself "I might as well just bring it inside now!" So I did. Then I realized after I pulled it inside that there's no point in it being wrapped up in this drop cloth...so I unwrapped it. Now I can go back to bed.

Well, my pup Ellie

doesn't like when it rains. When I first came out of our bedroom she was sitting at our door instead of asleep on the couch next to Lacey. I didn't think much of it because I was worried about my chest being ruined but when I walked down the hallway towards our bedroom to go back to bed, I spotted my poor Smelly Bell hiding underneath our "indoor tool box". She shimmied out and looked up at me with those little brown eyes and I picked her up to bring her to bed with us. When I opened the door V asked how it was and I said "Okay, I think" and told him I had Ellie, but I would try and keep her on my side so she wouldn't bother him. I put her on the bed and she jumped down and made herself comfortable on one of V's pillows that had fallen on the floor. As I laid there in bed, trying to go back to sleep, all I could think of was Luna

jumping up on the top and stepping in the wet-ish stain and getting Jacobean paw prints all over the house! Then I finally convinced myself that she probably wouldn't jump up on it because she wouldn't want to walk on the drop cloth (for whatever reason?), and finally fell back to sleep.

Here we are, about 22 hours from the initial staining and some of it is still wet (or looks wet...)

I'm not really sure how I feel about it. I'm definitely not 100% happy with how it looks, but I think it looks considerably better than it did when it came through my door on Tuesday afternoon.

When we were at my aunt and uncle's house for my cousin's birthday dinner last night, my soon-to-be brother in law told me that I should sand it down again and re-stain it and then cover it with a matted varnish. We'll see about that. sanding took a long time and I know today isn't a good day to be working on it at all; it's cloudy and muggy outside. So I guess I'll leave it in the dining room and just stare at it all day until I think of something else. I knew it wasn't going to be completely even because the left side had some pretty serious water damage...I just wish it was a litttttle more even looking. IDK! The rest of it looks pretty good so maybe one day I'll get a cute cushion to set on top of it and then no one will see the unevenness! :]

Day 5, Picture 5

Me and my lazy Lacey-Dog, lounging on the couch watching the 16 & Pregnant finale! :]

This morning I took my cousin to breakfast instead of us going to yoga for her birthday, it was so delicious! After we left breakfast I went to Home Depot to get some turpentine to wipe down my chest with before I put the stain on. Boy does that stuff stink! I should have bought one of those masks to cover my nose and mouth but I didn't. Oh well, maybe I'll remember next time!

That process really wasn't bad. Rubbing it down with the turpentine took like maybe 15 or 20 minutes and then I started watching last night's episode of What Not To Wear while I was waiting for it to dry completely. Half way through the episode I decided to go put the first coat of stain on. I got this color called "Jacobean"

because it was kind of dark, but not too dark. When I showed it to my dad the other day he mentioned it was dark and thought something with more red would have looked nice, but I didn't listen! Now I think its a little too dark. I only applied ONE coat of stain and I don't think I'm going put more than that. It doesn't look bad:

But I think it would have looked nicer if it was a little lighter and had more of a reddish tint. Also, in those pictures the stain is still wet so it might get a little lighter. It's taking FOREVER to dry! I finished staining it at like 12:30 and here it is...3 hours later and it's still wet in some spots! I had this box fan we have blowing on it but then I realized that it was blowing some animal hair onto it and I didn't want that interfering with anything so I turned it off. Whatever though. I mean, it still looks WAY better than it did when I got it yesterday! I'm also still a little bummed that the top isn't completely the same color. On the left where the water damage was is still darker than the right, which is just the regular wood. Oh wellz!

I've been trying to decide all day if i want to put a clear varnish on it to make it shiny. At first I thought I did but when I called my dad he was like "are you sure you want it shiny?" And from then on I've been second guessing! I'm going to sleep on it, for sure. I want to see what it looks like when its completely dry before I make any more decisions. I just wish it wasn't taking so long to dry!

Aside from the chest, tonight we're going to my cousin's parents house to have a birthday dinner for her which will be nice! Her parents are my most favorite aunt and uncle, and they're making a salmon for dinner so I can't wait for that! YUM!

V called me a little while ago to tell me that his work needs to send him to South Carolina next week for some training so he's going to be gone from Tuesday to Friday. I guess I could go with him because the hotel is paid for, I would just be sitting there by myself all day until like 5 or 6, so IDK! We'll have to talk about that tonight. We also have to talk about me getting a job tonight because my mom called me to tell me that there's some kind of accounting position open at her work and she wanted to know if I wanted it or not. Then a couple hours later, a lady from my old work called me to tell me that a law firm that a friend of hers works at is looking for a receptionist to hire like immediately. I'm not really sure if I want to go back to work or just go to school like as much as possible so I can get done with it sooner and start teaching! Because I know if I had a full time job I would probably only be able to take like a MAXIMUM of 4 classes each semester, maybe 3 if the job was like, for realz (lol. I laugh because my last job I was technically a "receptionist" but I didn't do SHIT. No joke. Like I would do all my school work at my job so I wouldn't have to worry about it at home in the evenings or on the weekends. And when I didn't have any school work to do, I would watch TV. It.Was.Amazing.). But that means it would take me longer to finish at VCC and it would be that much longer before I got started at UCF. When on the other hand, if I just went to school and kept babysitting like once a week or so, I would take 4 maybe 5 classes and be done at VCC by like the end of the spring semester of 2012. And THAT would be awesome!

So I don't really know. That's why I need to talk to V. He helps me make decisions because I am very indecisive. And that is why I love him so much. Among many, MANY other reasons, of course :D

Happy Hump Day!

D.I.Y.

Today I took on my very first do-it-yourself project! My parents got this awesome chest for me as a housewarming gift this past May. They got it from this old person that lived by my grandpa who didn't want it because I guess their house flooded or something and it got some water damage. So my parents got it and were going to sand it and stain it and give it to me as a housewarming gift (how nice, right?!).

Well a couple months passed and my sister moved in with them and used it to store her shoes. Now that sister is moving again and took her shoes out of it so my mom texted me the other day and was like "you can come pick up your chest anytime, Sarah's shoes are out of it!". So I said "is it all fixed up for me?!" and she got an attitude and said no but figured I could do it now that I'm not working. SUPER! "Here's a housewarming gift, daughter, but you have to fix it yourself."

So I convinced myself to get excited about it because I don't have anything else to do! I went out and bought all the stuff for it today and then my dad dropped it off on his way to work. He brought me a sander (THANK GOD!) and some sandpaper. I'm so thankful for the sander because it would have taken me even longer to do it by hand! Even with the sander, I was out there for like 3 and a half hours. Anyways, I took pictures along the way, of course and wanted to share them...even though I know like no one reads my blog. WHATEVS!

This is what it looked like when I got it...front and back.

Sanding...it wasn't very hard at all, just time consuming because I had to make sure everything was even. And it's not the lightest piece of furniture so I had kind of a hard time moving it around.

Final product! Well, for today. It's all sanded down and soft! I'm going to stain it tomorrow. I have to go back to Home Depot and buy some turpentine to rub on it before I put the stain on. I'm pretty excited about it. I'm going to feel so proud when it's totally done...not that I don't feel proud now, but when it's in the house and someone asks about it, I'll get to say I DID IT ALL! Woot!

Now I'm like super dooper pooped and yoga is in an hour. Blah! This is the first time I'm not really looking forward to it. I think mostly because I'm pretty worn out AND because I'm going again tomorrow morning for my cousin's birthday! Gah! Happy Birthday Alicia!

Picture #4

Grood morning! This is what I look like when I first wake up. Not too different from when I'm awake, maybe just more alive eyes and smiles. Bah.

Christmas and New Years!

Christmas was awesome. I got practically everything I wanted, except for a dishwasher (lol). We started off the day early...V woke me up at like 5:20 with a "Merry Christmas" and I was like asleep so I wasn't thinking about Christmas...then when I heard him say that and I said it back to him, it was all I could think about! So there I was, tossing and turning, trying to go back to sleep. I asked V "can we just get up?" and he was half asleep and said "no". So I asked how long I had to wait and he said til at least 6:30. So I waited...and finally fell back to sleep a little after 6 and was woken up at 6:30 by his alarm! Whatevs, so we got up and got our presents to each other and started to open!

I don't know why I didn't arrange the presents nicer before taking the picture...next year! haha

My Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day box-o-goodies from my sister and brother in law!

Our pool toys from my sister and brother in law!

V looking at his new white tail deer calendar. (lol)

My loot which included a toaster, a scale, a loaf of bread for my new toaster, ECLIPSE, Mrs. Meyer's stuff and a new chain for my necklace that V got me last Valentine's Day:

It's SOOOO pretty and shinnnnny!!! <3

After we finished our present exchange, we headed over to my parents house for breakfast and moar presents! My dad made waffles, and croissants and my mom prepared some fruit as well. It was delicious! The croissants were like some fancy, super expensive things from William's - Sonoma that are only available online (?). Anyways, they were HUGE!

There's a pan under there, I promise! They were soooo delicious though! MMmmMmMMMM!!!

Christmas family photo. From the left: my dad, my mom, my sister Lindsey and her new fiancé Wes, Me and V behind me and my other sister Sarah next to me. On to the presents!

I got a new yoga towel that is SO AWESOME!

a DYSON!

 My most favorite Vera Bradley large duffle bag! I've had this bag on my Christmas AND birthday lists for like 2 years and I finally got it! YAY! I also got a shirt and a face towel for yoga to wipe my sweat from my sister, some new cd's, Hotel For Dogs and a picture frame from my other sister, Julie&Julia, Dennis the Menace, a shelf, an I Love Lucy calendar, a new doormat which I LOOOOVE!

and probably other things that I'm forgetting. After we hung out at my parents, we went to V's parents house for yet MOOOOOOOAR presents! His parents got me new earrings, pig s&p shakers that are sooo cute (!), a new mirror for my purse, a key cap that has my name on it but doesnt fit on any of my keys which is a bummer, and BEAUTY AND THE BEAST ON DVD!!!!!! I was so so sooo excited about this! It's my favorite Disney movie and when it came out on limited edition I told V I wanted it for Christmas even though it was like a couple months before and I guess he told his mom and she got it for me! :] His brother got me this awesome new water bottle for yoga that has a straw! Exactly what I wanted. After we did presents there, we went to V's grandparents house around 2 for a few more presents and some delicious food! His grandparents got me a yummy smelling candle and us a gift card to Red Lobster (yum!). After we visited there we went back to my parents house at 5 for another Christmas meal which was also good, but not as good as the first one, just because it was first and  I was actually hungry. My sister Lindsey got a Kinect for Christmas and we played that for a while at my parents house, it's SO MUCH FUN!

After we were worn out, we left there around 7:30 or so and headed home, relaxed for a little bit and went to a friend's house to spend the rest of Christmas. That may have been my favorite part of the day, just because it was so relaxing. 

FF to New Years Eve

Me and V went to Wes and Lindsey's house to hang out with a couple other friends for the night. We decided to cook! Lindsey made sushi which was soooo yummy!!!

I made coconut shrimp! It turned out pretty well, I was impressed with myself!

Sparklers! 

New Years kisses! 

I'd have to say 2010 was a fabulous year. And I can honestly say 100% of the happiness I had in the past year was from V. I'm looking forward what's ahead for me in 2011!

Happy New Year, blog!

Also, all of these pictures catch me up. I'm starting tomorrow on picture #4 so my pictures will match the days of the year. I also think I'm going to pick one day of the month to do a video post and another day to do a childhood picture! I just haven't decided when yet. If anyone has any suggestions, I'm open. Otherwise I'll figure it out sometime soon!

Picture #2

Curling my bangs

Day 2!

It's the second day of 2011 today and I've decided I'm going to try and post a picture everyday of the year, starting a day late. HAH! I figure I could at least post a picture of myself on my blog everyday, even if i dont write about anything else!

I'll post about Christmas and New Years Eve later this week...now I'll leave  you with picture #1 on day #2

i literally JUST took this picture! HAPPY NEW YEAR!