Colors! Colors! Colors!

How can I sit at work and be productive when I have so many decorating ideas running through my head for the house?  I want to jump out of my desk chair and run to Target, Ikea, Lowe's, Garden Ridge, Macy's, and the list goes on (anywhere that sells bright, colorful fabrics and paints).

Where does one start when you have a blank canvas?  What colors do you choose when you have a crisp white canvas to paint (in our case white with green trim...everywhere!)?  I've had several ideas just for the living and dining room... how I choose?

Thank goodness for apps on the iPad like Behr paint, Pinterest, and Words with Friends (sometimes my design brain needs a break).  Even though I'm not totally in love with Behr paint color choices, the Behr paint app is really nifty because you take a picture of anything (screenshot of cute pillows at Target, pillows I already bought from Marshalls, fabric from our existing pillows, poster from Ikea for the craft room...) and you can then select ANYTHING in the picture for it to color match with an existing Behr paint color.  Pretty cool! It has given me a lot of inspiration for paint colors! Then I take a screenshot of that color and it's complementary color palettes and I can pin it to a board on Pinterest so that I can organize all of my ideas and thoughts for each room. Cool? Yes, very cool. Oh technology!  Anything to keep me organized is cool.

 

(who would paint the trim green around those beautiful windows? Sorry, I'll paint you back to a crisp bright white soon!)

 

As we go through the process of changing the house over to our style, I'll be posting before and after pictures.  It will be really exciting to see the transformation take place in our first home!

Nobody gets everything they want!

Carrie: What makes you think something bad is gonna happen?
Charlotte: Because! Nobody gets everything they want! Look at you, look at Miranda. You're good people and you two both got shafted. I'm so happy and... something bad is going to happen.

{I feel like I've been referencing Sex in the City a lot lately. Maybe it's because I've watched it like 5 times since Christmas.} This is how I feel.  When is the storm coming? The skies have been so clear for so long, there's gotta be a storm brewing and heading straight our way.

Everything has gone so smoothly with the process of buying our house (it is so awesome to say "our" house). The negotiations went exactly how we planned, the mortgage approval was simple and super quick, the home inspection went pretty well, and now we just wait for the closing. Easy peasy! Let's just hope there's no storm heading our way!

Pride and Joy

 

Jordan and I have been looking forward to this time in our lives for such a long time. We've been saving and saving and saving for so long so that we could afford the house of our dreams and the time has finally come! Welcome to our house... well almost...

 

We're in the process of negotiating and working out the repairs needed that came up in the inspection and the closing is scheduled for a little over 40 days from now, so it's not ours just yet, but we're super excited about it! It has everything, and I mean everything, that we've wanted in a house, even a goldfish pond for our extremely fast growing goldfish, a garden so that I can grow endless amounts of zucchini and squash, and a beautiful kitchen to cook my veggies! We'll also be neighbors to our good friends! The house is perfect, we really couldn't ask for anything better and we feel so incredibly lucky! We must have some angels looking down on us <3

43 days until closing... but who's counting ;)

Pure Happiness

Wedding season came to a close as we celebrated my cousin's wedding last weekend. It was one of the most unique and fun weddings I've been to and I am so happy I was lucky to be a part of it.

 

The reception was full of fun, laughter, and love with traditional first dances (the father-daughter dance was unbelievably hilarious as my uncle got down on the dance floor shortly after knee surgery-it was seriously hilarious and awesome), an extremely talented high school string band performance, and Polish polka dances. I even got Jordan on the dance floor to do a polonaise, with what seemed like the entire reception participated in, and I think he secretly really enjoyed it. He never dances at weddings and either the alcohol or atmosphere got him in the dancing mood and I loved it!  We had so much fun as you can see from the pictures below.

 

Congratulations to the newlyweds Becky and Addam!

Family Ties

"Sisters function as safety nets in a chaotic world simply by being there for each other."
~ Carol Saline

Journalist, broadcaster, author and public speaker.

This quote made me think about how lucky I am to have a sister and how very lucky I am to have a sister and a brother. The relationship I have with each of them is very different...

My brother and I are close in age, so close that sometimes we were mistaken as twins (I always thought that was funny since I'm the youngest).  We played together as kids (singing in the back of the station wagon and reinacting Legends of the Hidden Temple in the backyard), shared experiences in school together (going on high school chorus trips, sharing the same teachers, and hanging out with friends), and partied together in college (he did have a pretty cool house and group of friends at Pitt).  Now that he lives 4 hours away, we spend time chatting on the phone, laughing, telling stories, and keeping up with each other's lives.  When we do get to spend time together it is nothing short of fun.  He has a liveliness and personality just full of fun that you can't help but have sore cheeks from laughing all of the time.  

My sister and I have a different story, but being 7 years apart, I wouldn't expect anything different.  We went through phases in life at completely different times.  When I was in elementary school obsessed with the Spice Girls and all things girly, she was a senior in high school who only cared about hanging out with friends and apparently, in those days, it was cool to dress like a boy (admit it, you did go through that phase).  She then went to college and I feel like there was a gap in middle school and early high school when she wasn't around and it was just my brother and I.  Then I turned 16 and things changed...  She taught me how to drive, we shared clothes, and we spent more time together.  Although she moved away for a few years, we still stayed close and grew even closer when she moved back to Pittsburgh and got pregnant.  I went to doctor visits with her, we went baby shopping, and spent Friday nights watching movies and eating popcorn since neither of us could drink.  I swear that my now 5 year old niece and I are so close because I spent so much time with her before she was even born.

Both of them have become my safety net in this world.  They've already experienced hurdles and problems in life that I am now going through, so they can offer advice and provide support for almost anything (the benefits I have for being the youngest).  They've shown me what not to do, given advice of how to do things differently, and proven what works in life.  In this crazy and chaotic world, our relationships remain simple and easy and through every curveball that life throws at us, I know that this is one thing that will never change.

 

 

A New Chapter in Life

Spoiler alert: Jordan and I are house hunting. Eeeeeks!

This is something I have been looking forward to for years.  I love looking at houses.  I love their architecture, observing how people live, and the hunt (for the perfect house).  More importantly, I cannot wait to leap into this new chapter of life with Jordan. We are in the early stages of this exciting journey and we are more than excited!

I'll keep you posted!

New Year Advice

I get an email quote almost daily from befreeforme.com.  Sometimes the quotes are worth saving into my email "quotes" folder, tucked away, to save for days when I need little reminders.  This one, I thought, was worth sharing...

"It's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years!"

~ Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)
The 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865

Cathedral of Learning: Nationality Rooms

Our family has been trying to plan a good time around the holidays to see the Nationality Rooms at Pitt for years and years.

We finally made the visit this past Saturday and it was worth the wait. Each room was dedicated and decorated for a different nationality (i.e. German, Italian,  Welsh,  Polish, Chinese,  etc.).  We visited all rooms while carrying around a tape player (one that resembles the tape players we used in small reading groups in elementary school) which took almost 2 hours.

The rooms are beautifully and intricately decorated to represent each nationality. I highly recommend visiting them, especially at Christmas when they're decorated for the holiday and you're given information how each nationality celebrates Christmas.

Here's a little sneak peek at what the rooms look like (we even got to see a wedding party taking photos in the cathedral)...

Sunday Morning Bliss

Sunday mornings are cozy. We usually don't have anywhere to be, so Sunday mornings are for cuddling and laziness.

Today was different. I had to set an alarm. Gasp.

I met my brother at the mall to do last minute Christmas shopping and we were up early to beat the crowds. (Thank goodness!)

After a hectic start to the day, I got in the car and acoustic sunrise was on STAR 100.7 and the sun was shining bright. Yes!  I love Sunday morning radio because of acoustic sunrise. If you haven't experienced it, you must. It'll instantly put you in a good mood. Just be sure to tune in before 10am.

Happy listening!

It's a polka dotted life!

Hello and welcome!

This is where I intend to share my polka dotted life, my interpretation of things that make me happy.  Whether it be an adorable picture of my cute (but sometimes bad) dog, a quote I received in my daily quote email, a recipe I tried, a craft, or something new that I learned, I intend to share it with all of you in hopes to add another polka dot to your life. 

I love sharing my experiences and knowledge. I feel it's a great way to learn more, to pass along more polka dots. I'm inquisitive, my family and friends know this very well.  I ask a lot of questions to add more polka dots to my life.  Here, take some of my polka dots (please give credit, where credit is due.)

Your polka dotted friend,
Beth