Guestroom Update

For 4 years I've been nagging my husband for us to paint the guest bedroom upstairs or our bedroom - hell, anything really! I totally get that while we live in PMQs there is no real and tangible gain from painting a room or buying furniture to suit a specific room. But there's also even less to gain from living with beige walls, beige carpet and ill-fitting furniture. I'd rather grow to love a PMQ than grow to hate it.

Anyways, he finally gave in and we re-decorated our office/guestroom/yoga room a few weekends ago.

*Please ignore the stretching husband.

We painted the walls Napa Valley green inspired by this little brochure. We liked the mix with blue and the comfy yet bright tone of it. We reconfigured our computer desk, printer table and book cases to have them all on the same side of the room so it looks more like a custom unit or a larger desk. The desk was bought at Walmart maybe a few years ago on sale for 50ish bucks. The bookcases where given to us by Js' co-worker who was moving and didn't need them anymore and our printer table is actually a coffee table from our living room set. The futon is old as dust as is (obviously) the ugly ass chair. All this to say that we just reorganized and re-purposed furniture we already owned to give the room more functionality and to create better use of the little space we have.

The only new thing is the roman shades which are meant to be the focus point. I love, love, love the print and made them myself for a few dollars based on this tutorial. They cost me a total of $23 and I'm quite happy with the results.

Another view. Crouching husband - hidden ugly chair.

I know the poster is a little tacky but I enjoy it and it cost me a buck. You can also see my yoga mat there and Js' guitar. That lamp is from Ikea and I've had it for something like 9 years. :) I have a bit of that curtain fabric left so I'm probably going to do something like a small pillow or something to bring that pattern in to this side of the room. That closet we use to keep Js' uniforms and endless shoes and boots and stuff so we sacrificed access to that door nearest to the wall and gained a whole bunch of usable space.

I'll stop gushing now... but yeah, pretty happy about all our work. I've got a few more projects I'm working on so stay tuned... or not. Whichever works.

Self-inflicted Ass Kicking

My goal for 2012 is to “do shit and stick to it”. Ironically enough it, has been kinda demanding to stick to but so far so good. I’m holding on for dear life to the last shreds of hope at this point but it’s better than nothing at all. Everything just seems so simple when there’s no accountability for how little productivity is expected. I just gotta keep reminding myself that I’m doing this for me and I’ll be successful. I think.

To help restore some self-awareness that I felt had been slipping away from me over the last few months (read: 8-10 months), I decided to take up some Yoga classes at our base gym.

I actually quite pleased with it. It’s reminded me of how important it is to totally suck at something and how fun it is to stick to it. I suck, not gonna lie. This girl is not the most flexible or graceful – ask anyone. I do feel some progress though which is really inspiring. I’ve even found some pretty decent youtube channels with some instructors that I like so I can do some at home during the weekend.

I also took up another fitness class which is totally more kick-butt-wanna-puke-hope-for-a-quick-and-merciful-death type of physical activity. I totally hated my instructor the next day but totally loved her at the same time. I forgot how much I love pushing myself.

I’m lazy and that’s one of my main issues with ... well, pretty much anything. That’s what self-awareness mixed in with some fitness classes and lifestyle changes has thought me in the first month and a half of this goal focused endeavour.

I’m kind of excited for the next few months to see what else I can take on, suck at and then kick butt in.

Namaste bitches.