And to go along with the Wild Stallion

So now that we have a new wall color in our bedroom, I am now on the full blow decorating and accessorizing hunt.  To start off bedding, the husband rules are the following:

1. No Flower patterns 
2. No Fu Fu Stuff
3. No Pinks, no purples 

You getting the trend here?  So this is what I have come up with, not too many ruffles, not pink and I can dress it up with some quirky sheets and some fabulous pillows - and if I get tired I can update with new sheet and new pillow - I don't think Bryan is quite aware of my long term decorating plans here but he will figure it out sooner or later - right now I want to add some yellows and reds to the room....

Urban Outfitters - who do have a great selection of ruffly bedding that I have been repeatedly told no to

Maybe something like this for the sheets - verdict is still out

 So to add color to the room - and save it from gray blandness or from the over powering "stallion-ness" of the wall I want to hang 3 pictures above the bed, haven't chosen those yet, but I have chosen the pegs/knobs that I want to hang them from (with chain-a light weight chain - going for a more industrial feel in the room rather than the usual ribbon choice):

From lovely Anthropologie where I can only afford door pulls - but can still dream non the less

Again lovely Anthropologie

And one more for good measure - Anthropologie

 So the new quest is curtains - which just might come from Ikea - really who can go wrong there?  The curtains are always long (which I am taking to my advantage to pretend that my window are much grander than they currently are) they are a reasonable price - and if I want to change then I can with out guilt. Oh and a few pillow here and there too...


The good news is that this little project is a lot cheaper than redoing our bathroom, quite a lot cheaper than a kitchen renovation and it gives me a project to get my creative side going!  I am so excited. Really I am.  Paint can do so much and change a room so much... we now have a direction!!!


So pick up a paint brush get rid of the bland!  You might just get a new room out of it ;)


P.S.  These were a few of the ruffles that vetoed, sometimes I wish we had separate beds so that I could get my girlie bed...sigh the sacrifices for love...

Okay love these moments in life!!!

Husband was looking for a scary alien movie - didn't care that I am deathly afraid of aliens (and the rule of the house is, if I have the laptop he gets the remote...I was blogging about my fabulously newly painted bedroom) ....

My dad a long time ago scared the shit out of me after a friend and I watched Are You Afraid of the Dark on Nickelodeon... Catherine and I convinced ourselves that we saw alien spaceships outside in the night sky (no it was just us blinking our eyes and seeing those white specs).  So my wonderful dad sent us off to bed and told us to go to sleep. 5 minutes later he was waving flashlights out side my bedroom window like a spaceship had landed.... We ran out of that room screaming our heads off.  Still freaked out to this day.  Thank you dad.  Gold Star in parenting for you.

Anyways, back to my lovely husband.  He went and rented Monsters... and was expecting something like War of the Worlds or Aliens.  Nope, the so called aliens looked like Elephants and it turned out to be a love story with no blood and guts or anal probes.

The last scene was the two main characters finally kissing as the army comes and saves them from the "infected" area aka. Mexico.  The end.  Bryan was pissed, and I made it through the movie just fine.  No nightmares here.

Today's Project brought to you by the color Wild Stallion

And my husband thinks I bought the color just because of him... just an FYI I have never ever, in my life referred to my husband as a stallion of any sort.  Just so we are clear.

But yes!  We painted a bit more - and no it was not the nursery (we are almost done painting it - just no where close to being finished with it).  THIS project was in our bedroom which suffered from the bland disease of cream. But Wild Stallion would change all that... (does this sound like the start of some bad romance novel - why yes - yes it does).

So I don't know what got into my husband - but he gave me the go ahead to paint an accent wall in our bedroom.  I may have mentioned that I wanted to paint it a dark gray, obviously a "guy" approved color since I got the go ahead.  So off to Menard's I went!  I came back with 2 bags of potting soil a few seeds and a can of Wild Stallion (no supervision at all - FYI - I got to choose this one all on my own).

I also came back with a plum paint swatch that I want to paint our desk with.  I knew instantly that Bryan was a no go on working on a purple desk - he gave me the "are you effin' kidding me?!?! look"  Guess it is a masculinity thing... but I am predicting that a wine or plum color is going to be the next hot color in interior decorating.  There is no trust in our relationship when it comes to paint.

Ex: Gave Bryan full-reign on painting our office when we first moved in.... 

Yes - that is Miami Dolphin's Teal....Don't worry I Repainted the next Day in Bamboo Shoot.

But here are a few pictures of our bedroom minus the new bedlinens I want and a new light fixture to replace the god awful ceiling fan (we will be losing the fan once we get our AC installed - yes we are living in the stone age without AC - but again since winter seems to hate me this year it is okay for now).

There are two sections here - Bryan's side and My side - take a guess...

Wild Stallion makes his debute

Wild Stallion with a bit mood lighting ....

And Miss Emily who saw the camera out and had to get in on the action

And this is what I want to replace our ceiling fan with - Loving West Elm's lighting right now!!!

So yeah - one project actually completed.  Bryan is happy and I am happy :)  just a few picture frames above the headboard and curtains and we might have a finished room in the house!!!!

As for other things in my wonderful life - the snow has returned - another 6" - sigh and I had just gotten excited about my dollar plants making it through the winter - yeah - they had buds on them and everything - the hydrangea even had green leaves!!! I even texted Bryan images of them while he was at work to prove that I did not in fact kill them this year... 

But next week I believe Spring will finally show up and stop teasing me... but until then I have a few tin pails that I picked up from the dollar section of Target that I am going to try growing Basil, Lavender Thyme etc in.  What I am actually going to do with those herbs I have no idea - but maybe Bryan can cook with them.  I just need green in my house.

Did I mention I wanted to paint our old desk a plum color... I might just "surprise" Bryan one day and prove to him yet again that I am right.

 

 

Big Girl Undies

So I stopped by Target last night to pick up some rain boots for Emily, and of course the smallest size they had were the green ones with the googly eyes...not the cute pretty flowery ones - boo. But anyways that obviously lead me down the little girl's isle.

And so I thought - "hey, this is a great time to pick up some big girl undies for Emily and really go after this potty training thing!" So I picked up some Hanes (not the Disney or Nickelodeon character undies since I didn't want to spend an extra $4 for the licensing fee - no thank you!)

So I get home and Emily is just thrilled beyond words - new boots and new big girl undies - huge day in Emily's world.  She wore them all night - just the undies and the boots.  Talk about being in heaven.

So when na-nighs (bedtime) rolls around I can't get Emily back into her pull ups for over night... a battle of epic proportion ensues and I start to regret my genius idea of big girl undies.

Finally, I get her back into the pull ups and in bed.  and after reading a few scandalous (very scandalous - like make you blush- I can't believe I am reading this but it is soooo good scandalous) chapters of the new vampire series I have started to read, I was out too. That is until about 3 am.  Bryan heard Emily start to cry and went to check on her.....

Then brought back a naked baby.  Turns out Emily still wanted to be a big girl and wear her big girl undies to bed.  She stripped down out of her pajamas and had a few pair of undies around her when Bryan found her.... Too bad she had a small accident :( All she really wanted to do was to be a big girl...

However, the really amazing part of the story is that Bryan kept all his "I told you so's" and passive aggressiveness to a bare minimum during the process of stripping her bed and getting her into bed with us... if you know anything about our relationship this is an amazing feat.

Bravo to B who kept his cool doing our first "accident".

It is that time again @ work - Review Time

Can you hear me sigh....

At my work we have to rate ourselves.  I feel that is the most painful process 1 being the worst 5 being the best.  And I am pretty sure if you give yourself a 5 you look like an egotistical, delusional and self absorbed jerk... 

So really you have a 1-4 to pick from and you really really don't want a 1 or a 2... so really a 3 is what you usually go for.  Well, I have been in my role for 3 years, but in 3 different categories so I want to shoot for the magical 4...

But trying to remember all the fabulous-ness that I brought to each team over the 2011 fiscal year is proving to be difficult.  Of course I brought it, just can't remember where I placed it.  Does not make for a fun review to write.... "Really Mr. Boss - I did my job really really well - I just can't remember what I did"  is not going to win me a big raise :(

So in all reality I would love to think that I would not have to write a review - that my work and my insane ability to look great doing it would speak for itself - but alas I work at a huge company and am forced to write about myself and hope to god they agree with the 4 I am going to give myself...

Boring post I know - sorry about that - maybe tomorrow an Elephant will show up painted pink in my living room and I can write about that ;)

Secret

Emily has been in bed for a good 20 minutes ...yet my husband is glued to Tinkerbell and keeps telling me/asking me "are you watching this...did you see that" along with a few giggles and full on laughs mixed in between.

Blackmail for future uses aka. house improvements ;)

My Husband has Promised me Paint, I don't think he knows what he just signed up for...

We are ready for projects in the Vargas house.  Even after a long day at the Galleria in Edina (most of the time spent in Creative Kids letting Emily play her heart out) Bryan finished removing all the "guest bedroom furniture" out of the guest bedroom  to make room for the new baby yesterday. I even set up the crib when Bryan freaked out b/c he got frustrated.

Yes, I don't cook but I will decorate like no other and that even includes putting furniture together!  We have also decided on a "theme" for the new nursery.  Following what we did with Emily's room, we found a great kids book that has great illustrations.  It is call "Dogs" by Emily Gravett.  Anyone surprised?  Well we are picking our favorite pictures and will be framing them and putting them up in the room.

Small Preview :)

This has gotten the juices flowing.... We want major changes in our house.  Good bones but needs love, obviously you can tell this from my previous posts...kitchen remodel...bathroom re-remodel (we will be tearing out the tile we just did - insane we know)....backyard remodel...

But we want change now, but don't have the funds or great connections with a construction crew, so that equals paint!!!!!  Paint is a great way to get the instant change you need at a small budget :)

The real question is - what room will we be going after?  The Nursery?  The Living Room?  The Living Room and Fire Place?!?!?!  Actually, the real question is ....what room will not make Bryan freak out on me?  By freak out I mean, test his patience (he has none) with paint chips, details, moving of furniture?  

To be fair, I usually come home with at least 15 paint chips...or more.  But here is my sneaky strategy... I am letting him sleep right now... yup a well rested Bryan is easier to manipulate (I am aiming for the living room & and fire place so I will need all the help in the convincing area).  I want a green living room something along the lines of this:

And a white fireplace (it is currently beige brick - no not a brick that you can make look any better other than paint or tile over...) so until we have a little extra money to tile we (I) want to paint it....

Wish me luck... hopefully I will have pictures up later of whatever room we decide to do :)

 UPDATE: Bryan won with his logic (and I really didn't want to deal with a grump all night).  He pulled the whole - you have a green couch - you want to paint your walls green- you are going to have a green blob of a room for a while strategy.  Touche, well played Bryan. So it is the nursery...

Quote of the Night

Me: Do you think Thomas (our man cat) really loves us or just puts up with us...

B:  He loves me, and puts up with you

Me: Well he is always sleeping with me and on me...

B:  No Meg, he has been trying to smother you all these years...

Thank you B - love you too and love you too Thomas aka. Man Cat

Think I I am done being a shit at work

Okay, I think I have finally turned a page....finally had a few days to breath, catch up and feel slightly on top of things...huge benefit for all that surround me.

Really - I have not called anyone's ideas stupid in over a week ( I know, crazy and quite the accomplishment)  I haven't bitten anyone's head off and was actually helpful today!!!

I also think I have realized how angry and frustrated I have been, cause when a director level person is timid and slightly scared to ask me for help...that says that I am not hiding these frustrations and angry spurts well enough and I hate being that person.

So I am completely happy with myself that I have turned the angry page and can get back to being my charming, sarcastic happy (slightly jaded) self.  It feels so much better to come home in some what of a good mood not needing to totally rage :)

And the snow is melting! Believe it or not I think Spring is teasing me again... and the fact that my sister actually said she missed St. Paul and I think she might have even included me in the list... I really am going to try and exploit her homesickness/need for family and try and convince her to move up (it is a very very long shot).

I think the ice cream from yesterday night was just the ticket :)  

Hope all is well with you,

Meg

Having one of those Moments

Where I realize that I am not famous, do not have a famous person's paycheck.  Now, before you start thinking that I want a $2,000 purse or something along those lines - that is not where I am going - but if you want to gift me a $2,000 purse I wouldn't mind - if it is not ugly....

Where I am headed is a budget... Had a small conversation on the cost of Law School...maybe going to a one income...and what that really means... 

Needless to say I am having a small (okay - extremely large) panic attack while googling "How to go to Law School with a Family" let me just say there aren't many supportive words out there....mostly along the lines of "it is hard as F**k."  So I stopped googling that and moved on to figuring out how we can come out ahead in this market and economy...that is not making me feel any better :( need a new strategy.


Let us move on....

Okay this is just a pity post and I just little pick me up.  Off to the fridge I go - 

Vanilla Icecream + Caramel = Perfect Pick Me Up

Tomorrow will be better :)

 

So on to some good news!!!

No- we haven't decided on a name....but Bryan did pretty well on the LSATs - he can definitely get into a few law schools up here but is planning on taking them again in June to get a better score hoping for more scholarship opportunities...


Why do we automatically think he would do better next time around?  Cause the fool that I call my husband didn't study this time around... again this is why we have the love hate relationship- he is extremely good at being book smart, but may lack in the life smarts category... I make up for that in the relationship ;)


But anyways I am super proud of him, we can actually start moving forward with the Law School plans and just yay!  


AND - the bigger exciting of the news of the day....dun dun dun.... my husband got us tickets to the Home and Garden expo this weekend!  I am so excited to go and get some great ideas from pros....I know you are confused here....thinking "but wait Megan, aren't you guys home improvement pros with licenses etc?"  oh you guys are so silly but flattering... we are anything but pros...


But I am so excited to go since the f 'en groundhog seemed to have gotten it wrong...Winter decided to hang around a bit longer than I would like -grrrr. 


And on a side note - I don't get the new Britney Spears music video - not impressed by the dancing, editing and what she is trying to do with here image.


But you should listen to this: I Follow Rivers


My sister who has a pretty good ear turned me on to her a year or two ago and I have not been disappointed.  The new CD is fabulous - just my opinion- which you can take or leave :)

Do you ever feel like you are drowning in emails?!?!

So I am sitting here - avoiding doing work and staring at my inbox.  I have this violent urge to delete every one of my 1,000 plus emails and start fresh.  Just send out a mass email to the world that say "What do you need from me? What have I forgotten? and... Really you can't figure this one out on your own?"

I feel like I am caving.  I can't keep up with being super mom, okay way exaggerating there... I don't cook and Finding Nemo has become my morning savior... but on to my rant... I can't be the super worker at work, and to top it all off I still have a mullet I am trying to grow out and am at the stage of pregnancy where I do not feel cute, pretty or sexy.  And I am pretty sure my eye is going to start twitching any second....

But really, I know I just have to take a step back and realize that I can't do everything, can't be everything to everyone and just have to buck up suck it up have a diet mtn dew and get on with it. 

I just wish I could actually do it.  I don't like letting people down, I do have a hero complex where I do like to save the day and be the one person people can count on...but my cape is slipping and I am pretty sure I can't fit into the spandex super hero outfit anymore (it would be pretty comical to see wonder woman with a baby bump - I am just sayin'). But I am at a loss... I feel drained.  I feel like I could cry on cue - and I really wish I was one of those cute criers but I am not....so I am going to try and hold it in for the good of mankind...

So until I figure out how to master all of this I am just going to take my frustrations out on a large box of Red Vines - you know they are fat free right?

P.S.  Found the next best thing to deleting emails - just file them away and pretend you read them :)