my boudoir

just a fancy way of saying my bedroom hehe

Linking up with Lindsey over at The Bargain Blonde again this week for part 2 of her home tour series.

Ill start off with a pic of what our bedroom originally looked like when we first moved in. (you can see our "works in progress" and before/afters of all our home renovations here)

Yes, the previous owners painted 2 walls one color and the other 2 walls another color. There was terrazzo flooring (unfortunately this is all through the house), and the closet had pocket doors. So, onto what it looks like now...

Fiji King Comforter Set: Bed Bath & Beyond

5 Piece Furniture Set: Rooms To Go

Lamps: Furniture Power

We ended up knocking out the closet doors and making the opening bigger. We havent agreed on what kind of doors were going to put there yet, so for now its just wide open and I try to keep it clean. We also put in carpet thats a light brown tannish color.

Mirror on Hubs nightstand: Ikea (hubs will be putting it on the wall behind the bedroom door eventually)
Closet System: Home Depot

So, now on to the good stuff...

Closet Division = 75% my stuff + 25% hubs stuff
(and yes, there are 7, let me repeat 7, pairs of jeans on my side, not including the 2 in the wash, what can i say? Im a jeans, tank, and flip flops kinda girl)
Hubs contribution to bedroom design = bass pro shops fish charm for fan chain

Inappropriate Armoir Note: at our old apartment the TV was inside the armoir, but it was an old tube tv, and at the new house it just stuck out into the walk way too much, so we decided to get a flat screen instead. But due to the angle the bed and armoir sit at, the TV has to go on top or my view gets cut in half. Therefore, it now houses anything inappropriate for parents, family, some friends guests to see......

1.  Watercolor paintings by yours truly :) 1 is of the restaurant I work at on the beach, the other is a popular street on Fort Lauderdale beach, Las Olas Blvd
2. Rugers chair - yes our dog has his own chair in our bedroom, i know it is horrible, but i would much rather him sleep there than on the bed with us (which he prefers)
3. Jewelry box hubs got me one christmas from Bombay Co
4. Feather Boa from another themed bachlorette party (yes, we like to PARTY!)
5. random pics from wedding and concert
6. my garter from our wedding around my absolute favorite yankee candle: Christmas Cookie
7. 2 jars for change- one has only pennies the other has all the silver. The moon one i actually painted at a Joe Picasso's back when I had money to spend on whatever lol
8. One of many cowgirl hats I have. this one I made the hubs best friend buy me (and another one of my friends one too) at a country concert.

And since my closet has no doors and is already packed to the brim in as much organize chaos as can be expected, the small cabinet in my dresser is filled with purses (oh yeah did i neglect to mention that i am a shoe and purse freak) they range from target, avon, coach, old navy, you name it...
Oh and thats Ruger sitting in his chair. :)

My inspiration board for this room is really just things I might want to add to the room considering the majority of the room is complete already. Just need to decide on closet doors (I want mirrored, hubs doesnt), maybe a few more wall decorations, crown molding, and window treatments.

So thats where all the magic happens (am i allowed to say that?) Your turn, link up with the rest of us here.

Girls Night Out

So last weekend was a close friend of mines Bachelorette Party! She is getting married this July in her home town in Connecticut, but since she lives in South Florida all her close friends from up north flew down for a long weekend. They rented a 3 bedroom villa close to the beach and basically had a girls weekend full of fun. Unfortunately, I wasnt able to take Thurs & Fri off like the rest of them (due to taking off a week to go to CT for the wedding). So Friday night was going to be the "official" party night. Of course they partied every night, but this was the final fling before the ring night.
We ended up renting a huge limo to pick us up and take us around for the night. First we all met up at the villa to get ready. This included makeup, shots, dancing, lots of girlie talk, and wigs. Yes you heard me, wigs! Part of the theme for the night was everyone had to wear a wig. Didnt matter what type, just you were allowed to get in the limo without one. Thinking maybe to use the excuse "Oh, I forgot mine at home?" NO SUCH LUCK! we had plenty extra to go around. (Except the Snookie look-a-like who did her hair to look like a wig lol) In total there was about 21 of us girls piled into the limo blaring Lady Gaga, sipping our drinks through penis straws, having the time of our lives! So, because I feel as though I need to share everything with you all, here are some pictures from the festivities....(blackmail pics have been taken out and put in a safe place for later use ;) )

We had such a blast, and Im starting to think blondes may have more fun. Maybe a trip to the salon soon........

Stinky ol' bathroom

So after touring some amazing bathrooms, and being so completely jealous of how nice they look. Ive decided to link up with Lindsey from The Bargain Blonde with her Apartment Tour Seriers and let you in on the reality of most my bathroom. Im a little late in posting, I think were supposed to do a tour of a room in our house every Monday, so Ill make sure to be on time next week. (I know, after this post, youre probably thinking "Yeah...Right....")

Please, lets all remember, that when we bought our house back in November, it was in "as-is" condition as a foreclosure. Basically, that means every room in the house needed work in some way or another. (great potential, long progress schedule)

Yep. Thats it. Unfortunately it is the size of basically a small walk-in closet. :( Currently its our only bathroom. Our plan is to eventually close in the carport for a third bedroom, office, master suite with the addition of a master bathroom.  And yes, if youre actually paying attention and know anything about bathroom layouts, you would realize that the sink/vanity and the toilet are in the wrong spot. They should be flipped. But because they are positioned like this, there is literally like 2 inches between the cabinet and the bathtub. Which makes this scary dark hole that never gets cleaned (i know eeewww) Im quite hesitant to even look down there. Specially since I dont like roaches and in my mind this seems like the best hide out for them.

I wont lie. I did clean up before I took the pics. But figured since the bathroom is already horrendous I didnt want to scare you guys away too much.

1. Bath and body works foaming antibacterial soap. I think Im the only one who actually uses it, considering its been next to the sink since before we moved into this house
2.  Glade candle - to make the bathroom smell pretty
3. Febreeze air freshner - again to make the bathroom smell pretty (no need to go into details but a girl needs backup after the hubs uses the bathroom, specially with no vent in the worlds smallest bathroom)
4. contact stuff - Dr. says Im going blind :(

Moving on.... the medicine cabinet (sorry ladies, no crazy pills for me, at least not yet, check back with me in a few months years)

1. tweezers
2. tweezers
3. tweezers (yeah.. ask me why I need three pairs? dunno)
4. smashbox photo finish - foundation primer, got this from a close friend, absolutely love it. it makes your skin feel soooo soft. i normally put it on before i apply makeup
5. biore strips - hubs actually asked if he could try one the other night, wish i wouldve gotten a pic of that
6. mark "get a tint" tinted moisturizer lotion - my sis sells avon (order online here) and i use this instead of foundation. I dont like the feel of foundation on my face, it gets itchy. so i actually take a dab of this and mix a little lotion so it goes on smoothly
7. more avon stuff - lotus shielf frizz control - if you straighten your hair (and if you dont) i highly recommend using this. I use just a small dab after the straightener to get the frizzes down and make my hair shine (be careful tho, too much and your hair looks oily)
8. Melting Pot Lotion - who knew my fav restuarant had lotion? not me. got it in the little goodie bag when we went for valentines day
9. nailtiques - makes my nails strong :)
10. not 1, but 2 additional contact cases on top of the one you saw lying on the countertop

 The shower/tub isnt something to be proud of. I guess the whole bathrooom is that way tho. Note to everyone: the bathroom will be demolished. The yucky yellow and green/blue tile will be replaced. (kitchen first though people!) And yes, i do separate my shampoos, condidtions, and body wash from hubs'. If not then he tends to try and use mine, which obviously are more expensive, and i dont want him using up all the good stuff (sorry babe). Oh and the hair brush sitting in the shower? usually filled with hair. anyone else have this problem? Hubs says i shed worse than our dogs. every couple of months he has to unclog the shower drain due to my hair. (again sorry babe, but you know i love you!)

1. 1/2 wall cabinet - i hate this thing. when we redo the bathroom it will be closed up so that the other lower 1/2 wall cabinet in the hallway can become a full linen closet
2. turbie twist - anyone with long hair should go buy this PRONTO, you'll thank me later ;)
3. yet to be unpacked toiletry bag from my new york trip
4. again not 1, but 2 nail polish removers (i think im trying to do the whole extreme couponing thing where you stock up, it just doesnt seem to be working that well for me)
5. playboy indoor tanning lotion (yes, i fake bake, and i live 5 mins from the beach, its sad)
6. hawaiian tropics outdoor tanning spray (for the few trips i make to the beach when i actually have time)
7. makeup box full of makeup, unfortunately since its such a large box and no where to put it except in the back of the stupid 1/2 wall closet, i dont use much of whats in there)
8. multiple hair styleing tools (blow dryer, straightener, curler, mens shaver)
9. hubs' hair styling products (i dont like putting anything in my hair except for the frizz control, but my hubby can go through bottles of hairspray)

And last but not least, Im going to add to Lindseys series idea, and try to include my inspiration board for how i want all the rooms to turn out once were done with renovations. So here is the stuff for this bathroom. (we actually already have alot of the stuff, except for the cabinets, but hubs wont let me use them until we redo the bathroom)

So now that you know way too much about my bathroom, how bout sharing yours? Link up with the rest of us here.

The Hangover...part 2

No, I don't a hangover if thats what you all were thinking. Im talking about the movie. Now get your heads out of the gutter.....

A coworker of mine owns his own movie review website and gets to see alot of movie premiers as press. He's offered me a couple of times to go, but I've never taken him up on it. This time though it worked out for me and my hubby to go.

So Monday night hubs got off work a half hour early so we could drive to aventura (yeah only bad part about it, I hate miami) by 7:00pm. We made it there pretty fast, no traffic, but the parking lot was absolute hell. I was told once we got inside to skip the line and go directly to the front. I know I always hate line slippers, so I was kinda hesitant to do this. However, once I saw the line, I was happy to know we didn't have to wait. We watched the movie, and I promise I won't spoil it for you, but it was hilarious!!! Like LOLing alot!

When we were walking out of the theater I had this sense of someone looming behind me. I didnt turn around because the theater was packed and I knew everyone was just trying to get out. But then all of a sudden this extremely tall man quickly passed me. I kind of double took it and said to the hubs "Man that guy is tall....is that.." and hubs goes "Oh my god, thats Chris Bosh." Turns out we had been sitting only a few seats away from Bosh during the entire movie (since we were in press seating). And its crazy, I know NBA players are tall, but until you stand next to one in real life, its hard to picture how tall 6'11" really is.

Oh and does anyone else think Bosh resembles an ostrich? my friends and I currently refer to him as Bostrich, just saying.....

Families are like fudge ...

"Families are like fudge ... mostly sweet with a few nuts"

If you read my most recent blog entry for A Conception Story, you may already know this, but we've had a lot of family in town the past couple of weeks on both my side and my hubby's side. Unfortunately, the visits were not for happy reunions, but for memorials for a close relative. My grandmother passed away and we will be doing a memorial for her in late June up in New Jersey where she is from. So most of the family that we saw was for Hub's uncle. 

Although it was unfortunate that the reason we were all together was to celebrate the life of a loved one, it was still nice to see cousins, aunts, and uncles that we havent seen for a while. Everyone was able to catch up on recent life events, particularly our life, our house, and the oh so talked about future "lil one." Ill be honest, I havent told most people (except for you lucky followers out there), that we are a part of the TLC thing. Not because I dont want them to know, I just would prefer to let them read or watch our journey once we "officially" start trying. Of course my mother, my sister, and his mother all know, but the rest of the family hasnt been told yet that we are going to start trying extremely soon. Which brings me to my next story....

So after the memorial we all went back to hub's grandmothers house to eat dinner. Now the memorial was from 6pm - 9pm that night, so by time we actually started eating dinner it was already 10:30. Of course, since the whole family was together everyone was enjoying the night with a few glasses of wine, a couple mixed drinks, and the inevitable few rounds of shots. I knew that we had to be at the church the following morning at 9am, and that it is approximately 35 mins from our house, so I chose not to indulge in the alcoholic festivities. Plus we still had to drive home, take showers, let the dogs out, and go to bed.

Well, the next day at the funeral when the hub's cousin (the son of the uncle who passed away) got up to give his speech in front of all the family and lots of friends he spoke about how the family shouldnt have to wait for things like this to see each other. He went on to talk about how close the family used to be and that he hates that he doesnt see his cousin for this reason, or his aunt for that reason, so on and so forth. Then he goes into saying that everyone is growing up, his cousins are getting married, his grandmother is going to be a great grandmother soon, and his aunts and uncles are going to be grandparents soon. It was actually a very truthful yet touching little speech he gave. 

After the funeral we all again went back to grandmas for some food (man these italians! all they do is eat! lol). Once everyone had calmed down and were sharing fun things again, a close friend of the family say "So I want to know, who's pregnant?" (referencing the speech his cuz gave). All of a sudden his other cousin, and one of the cousins boyfriends were both staring at me. I look at them and said "WHAT?!?!" And what do I get in response? 

"Well you did refuse every drink I tried to make you last night...." 

me:"And????.....you think IM PREGNANT?!?!?!" 

cousin: "well it kinda looked like that" 

cousins boyfriend "yeah, I thought so to..." 

cousin #3 "me too! 

me: "Well Im NOT!..(insert bunch of laughter here).....I just didnt feel like drinking because we had to get up early, and i dont like shots!"

By now everyone was cracking up. It didnt help that on top of that, my mother-in-law saw a toy chest filled with diapers, baby lotion, wipes, a bouncy seat, diaper rash ointment, etc in my spare bedroom the night before. Again, innocent coincidence. Its for my friends who just had the twin boys. Since their baby shower got canceled I havent had a chance to go to Orlando to give it to them. 

Sigh. I guess I should have been prepared for this. lol.

Needless to say, when his cousin and his girlfriend came back the following week for a planned vacation, I made it a point to have multiple drinks at dinner. lol. Dinner was then followed by a traditional stop at one of the familys favorite ice cream parlors in our city: JAXSONS. (Please, if youre ever in the south florida area, make it a point to go to this place, you wont be disappointed.) Pictures following are of my wonderful, yet slightly "nutty" family-in-laws. (and if theyre reading this, please know, I am proud to call myself part of your "nutty" family! <3 ya!)

I highly suggest requesting the marshmallow topping, it is to die for!

he actually ate that entire thing by himself

they shared a version of the above pic together and still couldn't finish it

my sundae

it looks like I barely made a dent in it

our dead soldiers (we did pretty good if you ask me) (and yes, that pitcher right there is what they serve the Root Bear Float in)

Hubs' best friend growing up, hubs, and me

All time fav photo of the night, Grams is the absolute best!

[ add title here later ]

I am the biggest procrastinator Ive ever met. Because of this, I have decided to make a short list reminding myself of the different posts I still need to make:

1. Roof finished
2. Jaxsons with the in-laws
3. Michelles Bachelorette
4. Sunset boat ride
5. French Doors

Thats it for now. Im sure my list will grow a little bit longer as the week progresses, and Im not promising any of these posts will be in order of relevancy.

Also, if anyone has any questions or ideas they think I should blog about, please feel free to leave me a comment and Ill make sure answering them.

TLC: Conception Story Goodies

So as I've mentioned before, Matt and I are part of this years Conception Story on TLC.com. Its the second season and were both really excited to be involved. . .  Well at least I am. I think the hubs is more doing it because he knows I want to. But I also think that this could be really fun for him. He doesnt really express his feelings all the time, and it will be nice to hear his perspective on our journey to start a family.
You can read our first entry introducing ourselves -> here. <- And of course read the other couples stories too. We all are on the same journey, but all in different ways. But I also want to make sure that I dont just abandon my personal blog, so Im going to make sure I never really post the exact same thing on both.
So, Im going to start off with the giant box I received from one of the producers on TLC before they came here to shoot our first video.

 

 Any guesses on what was in side?

Lets just say, it felt like the box was never ending....

Lots and lots and lots of pregnancy tests, ovulation kits, fertility tests, dvds, flip flops, a coffee mug, a t-shirt and a basket with getting pregnant pamphlets and such. I layed it all out on our dinning room table for Matt to see when he got home. (I think it actually ended up freaking him out a little, this being the first time we've actually had pregnancy related items in our house lol)

On top of all this, I was also given a Flip Video recorder to do all my vlogs with (I know, Im kinda nervous about this part, seeing Ive never done a vlog before.) And the crew that came here to shoot the intro video that you'll see on the site sometimes this month, well lets just say they were way cool. One of the guys even gave us the 2 full seasons to HardTime because he did the sound work for the series. All I can say is that TLC has made the beginning of this extremely exciting and so much fun

the big apple

This post, along with many other catchup's, is well overdue. But like I always say, better late then never!

Last week I had a work trip planned to New York City. It would be the first time in the big apple, and I was definitely going to take advantage of my two cousins living there and willing to show me around.

airplane photoshoot (me looking out the plane window)

I flew into La Guardia airport Sunday around 12:30. I took a taxi (first one Ive ever been in by myself, i know, dont judge until youve been in a cab in south florida) to the hotel to check in and drop my bags off. The ride into the city was almost like me living out a childhood dream. Im sure all the New Yorkers out there are asking "Is she kidding?" right now. But you have to understand. When I was little, I dreamed of moving to New York. Becoming this big fashion designer, or magazine editor. Living it up on the upper east side (I know, a little too much gossip girl, sorry). Looking up and seeing these huge buildings. Waling down 5th Ave. Shopping, shopping, oh and some more shopping. So, when I saw the city skyline as we drove over the bridge, you could imagine all the things going through my head.

 

Once I was settled in I gave my cousin Kristin a call. She's originally from LA but once she graduated college she ended up moving to the city and landing a pretty nice PR job. My other cousin, Ryan, her older brother, lives in the city as well and works for a record company. (I know, totally livin the life the two of them, can you say jealous?) But they both were awesome as usually. Kristin taking me around during the day. Giving me the express tour of the city. We walked everywhere. Time Square. Central Park. Rockefeller Center. Empire State Building. Apple Store. (squeezed that one in there. hehe). Madison Square Park. The Flat Iron building. You name it, we went there.

Work was also really good. The company I work for has offices all around the country (I guess world too) and Ive now been to 3 of them. Boston. Atlanta. New York. Ive decided, New York is by far my favorite. The people were so nice. The hotel is literally right across the street. Its on Park Ave so its within walking distance to any place you can imagine. The boss even ended up taking me to dinner one night at Les Halles, which is Anthony Bordain's restaurant. The Filet Mignon with Bearnaise, was absolutely to die for! yum yum.

So the trip was a success. Cant wait to go back (they say in prob bout  60days they want me back up there). And for you? Here is a bunch of photos from my trip: