Midnight in Paris

First off, I'm going to try to completely ignore the fact that I haven't done a blog update on here since May. If I think about it too much I will attempt to write a short blog entry explaining all of the reasons I haven't written (which will not be short no matter how much I try), when in short I can just say "I've been busy".

With that said, for our first anniversary, Carlos and I went to go see "Midnight in Paris". If you haven't seen it, you should. We loved it. I think it perfectly suited Carlos and my taste for nostalgia, France, old music and good movies.

Ever since I watched Midnight in Paris I've wanted to:

A. Go to France

B. Read - Amongst the people I did know of, it made me realize how many famous authors and artists I DON'T know.

C. Redecorate my home - in two ways: french provincial/shabby chic and with nostalgic pieces. I like old things so much better than new things.

D. Learn French - I wanted to take French in high school, but Spanish was more practical. So I'm super glad that I have taken 4 years of Spanish and don't remember much.

Hope everyone has a good weekend! Its been a long couple weeks at the office, and despite the fact that I've completely ignored my home, grocery shopping, etc., I fully intend on vegging out as much as possible. That is when I'm not looking for antiques, french provincial/shabby chic pieces and other bits of nostalgia on craigslist to inspire me for another month when such things might actually be a part of the budget!

Au revoir!

tickle me pink

I remember thinking after I finished my blog design the last time "I'm not going to change this for a long time. I'm perfectly happy with what I have for once." As of today, I needed to change something. If anything I could revamp the color theme without much hassle and be happy with the product. This thought is a lesser version of the "I don't have to buy new furniture right now, but if I rearrange the furniture I have, it will make me happy for a while" concept. Small commitment without too much energy.

I considered changing the header, but once again, too much energy and I actually like that element still. =) Thank you Photoshop for your abilities to assist me in achieving my color changing goals. I tried several different color combos and essentially settled on the one you see above. Now, why did I go with this one? Could it be that possibly I've returned to the same colors for almost my entire life whenever I'm painting, coloring, or Photoshopping? Ever since I received my first Big Box of crayons (with the sharpener built into the box - whoop whoop!) I have gravitated to these specific crayons. Don't ask me why...I can't help myself.

I'm happy with my blog for now...I mean, why wouldn't I be when there are so many different versions of Sea Green, Robin's Egg Blue and Tickle Me Pink in it. =)

Labor Day = Cleaning Day

Okay, before I talk about the large cleaning strides we made this weekend, I am going to introduce you to my baby, Chloe. Carlos and I got her in May when she was 6 weeks old, and she's 5 months now. She's my rambunctious sweetie and I was surprised how much I missed her morning puppy hugs when we were on vacation.

I'm pretty excited about the cleaning accomplishments that we made over our three day weekend. I may still be sneezing due to the dust I inhaled, but our house is clean, for the most part organized and we were actually able to use our extra room as a creative space on Sunday when Carlos suggested we do some painting. After clearing enough floor space in the extra room and making quick run to Michaels to buy some canvases and some new colors, it felt good to have a paintbrush in my hand again, with no clue as to what I was going to paint. Our experimental painting session went well - its always fun to slap some paint on a canvas and see how it ends up. We brought Chloe into the room in her crate so that she wouldn't feel left out. She whined a bit, but I think our quiet artsy time chilled her out after a while.

Here are our paintings and our work in progress extra room/creative space:

Hopefully soon I can start using my sewing machine and chipping away at the bags of fabric I have tucked away in the closet.

Someone else's art!

So I'm breaking my theme in part just because I'm excited. I received an email from our wedding photographer, Mike Steelman (www.mikesteelman.com) today that our engagement pictures were available for viewing. I was sooooo pleased that they turned out so well. I of course have some favorites, but I love them all. Hopefully we'll be able to order an album from Mike in the future, but we have to make some decisions about which ones will make the cut for save the dates and maybe some photos to display at the wedding first!

So...I know I don't have many followers yet, but I figured a little blog input wouldn't hurt!

Here's the link to Mike's Tangents (blog): (we're currently the latest update)

http://mikesteelman.com/blog/

Here's the link to all pictures: (There are a few that he didn't put on his blog that I like a lot)

http://www.pictage.com/796352

Let me know which one(s) you like the best! And make sure to look around on Mike's site. He has some really awesome images that totally capture his "raw and refined" style. Heads up to any ladies who might need a wedding photographer someday - go with Mike, you won't regret it! And if you're interested, he does the "dirty dress" sessions too, where you...get your dress dirty for a lack of a better description! Take a look around at his site, you'll see what I mean.