New Blog

I have been wanting to change the name of my blog for some time now, and just had the motivation to do that today. The new blog name will be Meet the J.Rays. This blog will continue on with our DIY projects, design ideas, wish list items and so on, but there will be more content on me and my husband, instead of just me. I feel like this will be my "grown-up" blog, ha.

So, if it's not too much trouble, please change our name in your blog roll and add the new blog to your daily reader, JonRoss and I would be very appreciative. And thank you blogger friends for daily coming to my blog and leaving comments. It is quite a highlight of my day and has brought about alot of encouragement and inspiration! So, come on and join me on the new blog.

p.s. There is absolutely no content on the other blog as of right now, I am heading home for the day, but will be working on it tonight!

IF...

Just a few wish list items for the month:





{both via LuLus}






{both via Ruche}

Hope you all had a great weekend. We had some dear friends in town, threw another wedding shower, watched football, ate homemade eggrolls, and visited friends who had just had their baby. Maybe soon I can add one of these items to my wardrobe?!

Googling

I love Google. It really does make life easier at times. (it's the simple things, really)
Well, thanks to Google I ran across a fabulous website called The Fashionable Housewife. Ever heard of it? They dish out must have looks with pretty decent price tags. I also love online shopping, and I love even more when I find blogs that help me with that.
Thanks to a post written about make-up, it led me here, where I bought these items for a great price.




Mocha eye shadow. ($1)




I love a good smokey eye. This kit is the perfect beginning tool for me. ($5)

I love dark nail polish for Fall, and currently have plum on right now, but I also enjoy just a plain, nude color as well. ($1)

I will report back to y'all and let you know quality versus price.

A Z Gallerie gift card

I'm having a bit of a problem. A good problem, mind you, but a problem nonetheless.

We received a gift card from our dear friends John-Mark and Ashley for our wedding, almost 8 months ago, to Z Gallerie in the amount of $75. Amazing gift, right??

Well, I have no idea what to use it on. But, it is burning a hole in my wallet! If any of you have suggestions on what I could spend this on, PLEASE feel free to comment. Our home is still pretty much a blank canvas, so don't worry too much about colors/themes.

Un-related to this topic, we had a wonderful weekend. Our dear friends Lori & Chad gave birth to their precious baby girl, Bevyn. We watched some Alabama Football and went on date night. We also started our small group: Mentoring Young Married Couples. We're pretty stoked about diving deeper into our marriage and learning from the incredible small group leaders and the other couples in the group.

Adorable nephews in their Alabama gear.

Ok bloggers, help me spend this money!

My goody bag

My goody package arrived this week from Lola B's Boutique! I am so thrilled! (I won a $100 giveaway from Sa Sea Boutique) Kasey and I decided that I would just let her surprise me and she'd send a random assortment of items from her shop.











My husband loves the smell of this candle.

Thank you again Kasey for all of my goodys!!

Oh, and I got the watch from Target as a gift from my dear husband!



HAPPY FRIDAY!

Guest Bedroom

Our guest bedroom had to have a quick overhaul after we invited my sister to come live with us. We had planned on this room being our next project anyway, this just sped things up a bit. With that said, we had nothing in that room except for junk. While my husband went away two weekends ago, I got down to the nitty gritty and tackled that room. I got rid of so much junk, and then some stuff to take to his parent's yard sale they will be having. I made way for new furniture to come in. All of which we were gifted or already had. How wonderful is that?

The room is not quite complete, but I will show you a few things just to give you an idea.

First I painted the room a lovely shade of light gray. Paula, from two ellie, graciously came over one night (with her adorable children in tow) to help me choose just the right shade. (thank you Paula, you saved me from many more headaches!)

We were gifted this headboard and mattress with white sheets from our dear friend Hannah.



This side table was in our bedroom, and quite the eye sore. All it needed was a fresh coat of white paint. The hardware was already black, but I gave them a fresh coat as well. Looks great now!




This t.v. had to stay for a little while, so I had to incorporate it into the room. I decided to treat it as a table and put a skirt on it to cover up the ugliness. I couldn't use a staple gun, so I used fabric tape. The fabric I had was just a bit dark for the color scheme I was going for, so I flipped it over and used the backside. This idea came my way from LindsB at Everything LEB, who suggested this to me a while back.





I haven't finished the bottom so it is a bit sloppy looking. And yes, I attempted a pleat down the middle. You can also see the gray of the walls we painted. Just compare the walls from the headboard picture to the ones above and you'll see the difference.

We recently got a black dresser for her room and some black shelves. There is still quite a bit to be done and I will post pictures as we complete it!

All these projects can really wear a girl down, but they are oh so rewarding!

what time is it?

Reaaaally wanting one of these watches, which were first posted about over at The Budget Babe. Merona has a new collection of boyfriend watches at Target for only $14.99. I haven't worn a watch in years, but I feel it's time to take the plunge again!

Yes please, I'll take this one:


And this one:



They remind me of something Marianne from Haven & Homes would love too!

making it our home

If you have ever lived in an apartment, then you know with it comes endless lists of pros and cons. Here is a very short version of mine.

Pros:
1.No out of pocket expenses for things breaking
2.They come with all of the appliances
3.Most come with a free gym and pool

Cons:
1.White walls
2.Ugly cabinets
3.Same ole, same ole floor plans

Well, for my husband and I, the pros are outweighing the cons. He travels a good bit, which leaves me home alone. Personally, I do not care for all of that responsibility of home ownership right now. We are still saving and searching for one, but like I have mentioned in a previous post, we are content where we are (for now).

So, what's a girl who loves to decorate, paint and constantly find new ways to jazz up a boring apartment to do with the cons??

Well, I started with #2 on the list. Our cabinets are the first thing that had to go. I could NOT stand one more moment of their ugliness. (the bottom cabinets are still on until I can figure out what to do there) Since I love the open shelving look, it didn't take long to figure out what needed to be done, take off the cabinet doors! All it took was a little coercing my husband, a couple of trips to Home Goods, and poof... a look that has me smiling again.














If you are a renter, house or apartment, what are some other tricks you did to personalize your home??

Oh, one more thing I did. Because of our aparement's layout, we have no official "mudroom." So, I took a wall hook and added it where I always seem to be plopping my purse down. My instant "mudroom."

Thank you so much for your comments on yesterday's post. I am always anxious to share my projects, so it really means a lot to me!

DIY: Dresser

Finally! I am finished with the dresser. Well, I have been and just forgot to snap some photos. I really love how it turned out. Being that this was my first piece to re-invent, I have learned some lessons about painting furniture. And I also learned that I am not as much of a perfectionist as I thought I would be with it.

Remember the before pictures:

And after:





(The black frames on top of the dresser will be going into the guest bedroom)

I am happy that I went with lighter knobs and pulls. We are going to be painting the room a dark gray-brown soon, and these just help the dresser to stand out a bit more. I'm glad this is over though, and I look forward to taking my "lessons learned" and starting on another piece of furniture.

keepin' busy

We had another shower this weekend that we helped to host. I am at the mercy of other people for their pictures, which is why I have yet to post the pictures from the gift card party we hosted last weekend. That's what I get for leaving my camera at home. Hopefully I will have some to post for the baby shower we hosted Saturday.

In the meantime, this hot man I call my husband has been keeping me busy as well.







He's been on the road a lot lately, as well as playing at our church every Sunday and two nights during the week. It's no wonder my projects don't get finished...

Crossing my fingers I have more pictures to post soon! Just wanted to update you all!

Color Inspiration: Amethyst

In the recent issue of House Beautiful, I was re-introduced to the color amethyst. That's one of those colors I had long forgotten about. It's the crayon I would wear down to nothing when I was a little girl and because of that, I probably grew tired of the color. Plus, my husband is fairly open to most colors I choose, but this one would be harder to persuade him with. Until now. ;) I know it may sound silly, but after I picked up this issue, my wheels starting turning and that's when I knew I had painted the wrong color in our guest bathroom. Just like my ADD with DIY projects, I am easily bored with accessories. If I wanted to change colors in my guest bathroom, it would have been hard. The gray I chose had too much blue in it.

Not that I plan on overloading on accessories just because I want a change now and again (wouldn't that be nice??). But, this lovely towel is what got me re-thinking my paint choice. And I would take two of them.



I hope there are fellow bloggers who have been where I am now (that is, painters remorse). My sweet friend Paula, from two ellie, has offered to help me find that perfect.neutral.gray.paint color. THANK GOODNESS!! It is definitely something I am thinking about a lot.

Other "amethyst" eye candy:

I will definitely be rocking some purple eye shadow this fall to compliment my green eyes.



Love this bowl.

And if I felt myself getting extra crazy over this color, I could just go ahead and paint the entire bathroom this color. Ok, not really.

Enjoy your day!

I am a better blog-reader than a blog-poster...

This weekend was another busy, busy weekend. I can't wait to show you pictures of the gift card party my husband and I helped to host. I loved the decorations, so fun and creative. It's amazing what you can do with twine, cardboard and a sharpie!

The best part of the weekend was getting to hang with some of my favorite ladies. I stayed up til 3:00 chatting and laughing with Kimberly and Taylor.

I spent most of yesterday cleaning. And I mean, deeeep cleaning. We're getting ready to re-do our guest bedroom, but first we have to declutter and organize our "stuff."

I did take pictures of the guest bathroom for show-and-tell, but after a couple of weeks and looking at the photos, I have decided I don't like the paint color. Thank goodness it's a small bathroom and a quick coat of paint will be just the ticket.

Hope you all have a wonderful Monday. Just so it's not all words, here are my precious kitty's lounging in the sunlight.

I have the fever

I have baby fever. BAD. Both of my sisters and my sister-in-law are pregnant right now. How can I not have baby fever?? My husband and I are in no hurry to have babies (for now), but I can't help but wonder how we would design the nursery. Of course it would lean more towards the modern side, but I would want it to feel as comfy as possible (which can be hard in a modern room).

I came across some fun and interesting nurseries this morning. Here are a few of my favorite ideas:



I know we have all seen this room before, so I posted it first. It really is one of the cutest nursery's I have seen. I love love that black wall.



I enjoy the simplicity of this nursery, and the colors.



Creativity is key when trying to personalize the nursery.



A lot going on here, but I love the shapes and textures in this room. I also like the idea of having a bed in a nursery if the room allows.




This is probably one of my favorites. I like the punches of color, the striped rug, and of course the light fixture.



The other side.


More rooms like these can be found here.

Engagement Party

This weekend was quite a whirlwind. Friday my husband and I drove to Marietta, GA to meet up with some friends. We ate chicken salad sandwhiches, toured the Coca-Cola Factory, shopped at cute boutique stores, walked to Midtown, ate some more chicken salad sandwhiches, went for drinks at the Westin, and finished up the night laughing and talked while watching "So you think you can dance." The next morning we went to the Farmer's Market at Marietta Square and ate at a cute restaurant called Sugar Cakes.

We quickly headed back to Birmingham to get ready for the engagement party I was helping to host that night. I didn't take pictures, so I had to steal from the other ladies there.

The beautiful cake and the cake maker, Ashley. Fabulous job!



Guest book and our hostess gifts.



To save money, we made the food ourselves. Delicious!



Wine, and our incredibly cheap wine "glasses." It was a last minute addition.



Table decor. I wish there were more pictures of the tables. Each table had it's own centerpiece. (I will see if I can get other pictures to post)



The girls. We have been friends since highschool. Leah is the last of us to get married, so we wanted to make this extra special.




And the beautiful and wonderful couple of the night. Chad and Leah. I couldn't be more thrilled for my dear friends. They really deserve all the happiness this world can offer them. (and don't ya just love her dress??)

Sunday was spent celebrating my "baby" sister's 25th birthday. I can hardly believe she isn't still 3 years old and we're playing dress up with each other. Well, I suppose we still "play" that, because we do love to shop! Happy Birthday Erica!!