DIY Herringbone Wall

New spaces can be challenging and fun. Y'all know I was super sad to leave the Birch Tree Wall Stencil I did in the twins nursery. While I think it was worth doing I just wasn't sure if it was worth doing over again. The wall probably took at least 10 hours to complete and it is a two person project for sure. Turtle was not really going to volunteer to do that all over again. We do not have tons of time to do things around the house right now, especially because #1 has basically dropped her afternoon nap. We needed to paint the twins new nursery and I wanted to do something fun again but I needed it to be a little less labor/time intensive.

I think my thought process started out as I discovered the blog Vintage Revivals and Mandi was blowing my mind with her little girl's bedroom reveal. Isn't this totally amazing? I love the balance of white and color and the warmth from the wood tones.

I started looking through Mandi's other tutorials and projects and she had completed a Herringbone design on the ceiling of her entry way. And that's where my dream began. I found another tutorial from Design Sponge here, and this was also helpful. For me, I divided the wall in half and then those halves into half. I am an English major and math is not my strong suit. When I measured the wall height it was basically 102 inches so I made marks every 6 inches for the sake of it not being so hard on my brain. I drew it out on paper first. These photos are from my iPhone so my apologies in advance! I was able to pawn #1 off to Grammie and Grandpa, borrow a pack and play from my mother-in-law and Turtle was out of town which is how I had time to accomplish this project.

Oh the fun part. The tapping of the wall. The vertical lines were the worst. It was a good bit of up and down and re-taping to make sure they were straight. That was the hardest part. Once the tape was up and straight I took a yard stick and a sharpie and marked every 6 inches. Then I started taping the diagonals. Those went fairly quickly if the twins were sleeping and I could get into a good rhythm. 

The small dots of tape I found helpful (as did the tutorial givers mentioned above) to make sure you don't paint the wrong lines. Trust, your mind will look at a spot and think, "Hey, I forgot to paint this." 

Please ignore the previous owners window treatment choices. We are having new blinds and roller shades installed next week. After reading some other information about painting any kind of stripes on walls in general in regards to bleed through I found most people preferred Frog Tape but I was able to find 3M Blue Tape with paint block in 1 inch so that is what I ended up using. It did a fairly good job. I think if I had more time I would have re-painted the white over the ends to seal the tape and cut the bleeding of the other color. But again, time is not on my side EVER. I painted this wall for me and the bleed through you can see when you are right up on the wall doesn't bother me. I also ripped the tape of after 30 minutes of it being completely painted and didn't have any issues with it bringing any paint off. 

As #1 would say.....TAAAADAAAA! I will try to get my fancy camera and take better pictures for you but you get the idea. Paint colors are Sherwin Williams West Highland White and Benjamin Moore Rainwashed. The BM color was color matched to Sherwin Williams Duration paint in matte finish. 

{on my radar}

I'm still funneling away money for a well deserved vacation in August on the white beaches of the Dominican Republic, but if I wasn't a few of these things would find their way to me...

{a new dress for L's wedding}

//club monaco melanie dress//

Natalie must have read my mind as I was stalking this dress all weekend because she also posted about it on her blog as well.  Hopefully someone gets their wish and this will find a closet to live in soon!  I am obsessed with shift dresses lately.  

{a lifetime supply of boom chicka pop popcorn}

//find here//

37 calories for a whole cup.  Enough said.  I can't stop eating this stuff. 

{red carpet gel color in ooh la liscious}

OK -- I already have this one, but I do want more gel polish colors!  You can't quite see how nice and coral the color is but I am loving it for summer and how long the gel lasts on my nails! No more chipping on at work while I type all day. 

{my own copy of the smitten kitchen cookbook}

I got this as part of Mom's Mother's Day gift -- and she adored it! Maybe I should bite the bullet and order one? If only I had more time to try the recipes! 

What's on your radar? 

Love you. Mean it. 

~the single gal~

Y'all, Our Little Sister is Getting Married!

You guys -- other than doing normal fun stuff this weekend our Little Sis {who has been engaged for a long while} announced that she is having a small, intimate family only wedding in like two weeks.  Yay! I mean, the planner in me is freaking out a little a lot for her but she seemed to just need a place that we could all eat dinner at afterwards, a bouquet and a cake by the time she talked to us -- but wow! Since The Housewife is about to have her 10 year anniversary, it's safe to say it's been a while since we had a wedding to fawn over in our fam.  

I'm a bit sad that it's too last minute for 3 Putt to come but if any gal is an expert at attending a wedding alone, it's this girl.  And The Housewife has enough babies for me to help wrangle anyway.  I can't wait to share in a few weeks after we go up.  I shall promise to take lots of pictures! 

This on top of a successful Mother's Day gathering at The Housewife's new house made for a great weekend and what a great reminder of the love, laughter, and fun of family.  Even if Grandmother did complain that it took her an hour to drive up.  And that we never call enough.  

Also -- I don't know about you guys but since I took my new job I basically have zero days off until my vacations in August and September other than national holidays so I was already excited for the long weekend at the end of the month.  And now -- I just can't wait!

Love you. Mean it. 

~the single gal~

Hello, Friday.

Happy Friday everyone! I hope you have wonderful weekend plans.  I was going through some images today that just say "weekend" to me.  

Yawns. Coffee. Eating outside. Take out & long runs. Books.  

//via//

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And, lets not forget to show all those moms out there lots of love! 

Love you. Mean it. 

~the single gal~

Where I Bitch About How Technologically Illiterate I Am and Try to Catch You Up on Life

Hello friends! I am not sure where the time has gone...I really felt like I posted "just the other day"...except that was a long time ago.  Snaps to The Housewife for her last post! Seriously though, I know she is my sister but she really makes me laugh a lot.  We are all trying to gear up for Mother's Day festivities this weekend and I think everyone here in the south was thanking Little Baby Jesus for the bit of sunshine we saw today! If I thought our winter was long it appears that spring is even longer.  It rained non stop this past weekend. Ideally, that was a lot of time for me to write but it didn't happen.  I am setting a new goal to be better with my time management -- I just have more stuff to do now it seems.  Obviously a lot of it is good stuff - family stuff, lots with 3 Putt, but it's a big schedule adjustment.  And we all know how rigid I am.  

A few big things going on...the big 3-0 is just around the corner! The Housewife and I are a mere month away from the big {but small celebrations planned} day.  

Also -- I decided that it was time to step up and just get a new phone.  I called it an early birthday present and it was kind of a "need" at this point since my other phone was really just not working very well at all.  3 Putt is a very patient man and actually took me to the store to get my phone against my wishes to order it online because he said it would be "much easier".  Consider this next sentence to be my PSA about how he was right.  Well, getting the phone was easy.  

Let's take a moment to "oooh and ahhh" since I haven't bought anything other than a refurb or a hand-me-down phone in like 5 years.  YEARS people.  Years.  Now that word looks weird. Dammit. 

Making it sync all the info from my other one -- not proving so easy.  I've had my fair share of tech woes this week and I'm about to give up.  3 Putt is more determined to see the project through, I'm about to just turn my old phone in for credit because I just want to do the fun stuff like pick out a new iPhone case.  That's way more important than trying to get all my music I paid for on the new one, right?????

I'm also in a work out funk. So someone please send their fave salad recipe and fave workout plan to me ASAP.  Something has to be done.  A diet of froyo and cheese dip does not a bathing suit body make.  If it ever gets warm enough to put on said bathing suit. 

Oh and I almost forgot - I finally jumped on the Game of Thrones bandwagon.  I demanded 3 Putt and I watch it together.  I guess we are supposed to actually like some of the same TV (even though I watch hardly anything on the tube anymore because its all crap)? I like it.  Winter. Is. Coming. 

What are you planning for Mother's Day? What did you buy for your mom? Seriously -- how have you all been?! For the love of God someone comment on how to fix my phone syncing issues so I don't go postal. 

Love you. Mean it. 

~the single gal~

No Napping Crazies.

I bet you think this post is about two tiny people who won't nap. WRONG. #1 has basically been on a nap strike for 20-something days and let me tell you......she still needs a nap. This is my excuse for a lack of blog posts although I'm sure you like the Single Gal's exciting life way better than mine. In this house we basically need a lot of patience and Jesus. From 4 in the afternoon to 6 in the evening we are ripe with meltdowns and cries for Daddy. So while Jesus is always around sometimes my patience appears to have runaway to a far off land. This is the deal. #1 has been potty trained for at least 6 months but when I put her down for a nap (we are still in pull-ups for nap/nighttime) or her "quiet time" as we now term it, she basically poops and therefor won't nap. Every.damn.day. I have even gone back in 10 minutes after leaving to change her, put her back in bed and she still finds a way to poop some more. I cannot even explain the rage living inside my head. RAGE.

I don't really see it as a serious regression because she has no problems in public or when she is with a grandparent. This golden behavior is only reserved for nap time. I will also be the first to tell you that "quiet time" is bullshit. It is not relaxing and it is not a mental break. It's how much can I get done before she starts kicking her door with her feet or pulls her monitor camera down onto her head.  Better yet, the time I have no idea what she was doing and after her screams find her with the bridge of her nose scraped up and bleeding. She used to nap every 5 or 6 days so I had resigned myself that was fine but after so many days she needs a nap. Pediatricians will tell you that you cannot force the to sleep. This is quite obvious A, and B doesn't make me feel any better! It wouldn't be a huge deal if she could go without totally breaking down but 8/10 times that is not the case.

So no, I do not want to hear people who say, "Oh. My 4 yr old still takes a nap and I'm worried about kindergarten next year." Really??? You poor thing. How will your 5 year old deal with no nap? I say these mean things out of the jealousy in my heart. I want to put a sign on #1's back when we go out in  public that says, "Please excuse our behavior. One of us no longer naps. This is why there is screaming and kicking. It is not my fault. "

I should end this with the fact that she really is a smart and funny kid. She is totally smart because she knows to poop in her pull-up every stupid day. She retains so much. Grammie got her a Tinkerbell DVD for the car and one day #1 kept talking about "Biddia" and she found some jar she was playing with. I haven't watched the DVD (I know, super parenting) but I did figure out "Biddia" was probably a fairy. So we would ask her why Biddia was in the jar and she would say Daddy put her in there. Well I did watch part of the video and she was also talking about Lizzie, who is a girl. Lizzie's Dad put Vidyia in the jar and Tinkerbell has to save her. Who knew? At least "playing" and talking about Biddia gets us distracted from our tantrums. Sheesh.

I have some posts I really want to write and a DIY I did for the twins room to post as well. Maybe one day.

The Housewife

*please ignore any typos as this was an iPad post.

Getting Over the Hump

It's been a week already and we are only midway through! Busy at new job (yay new job) and trying to get back into a normal schedule and get my ass to the gym all while making sure to keep up with household paperwork like mail/dates for events, etc seems a little harder than normal lately! I try to be super organized at all times.  Seriously.  I know this probably drives all my friends crazy.  I'm not a relaxed person, I get it.  I had a big calendar flub this week!! Sads.  I definitely got a text from 3 Putt about a baby shower we had on the books this weekend in which he told me it was Saturday....and not Sunday like I originally wrote down.  And now its too late to change his work schedule and my brunch plans so we have to squeeze it in.  I hate that! I guess I am off my game for couples events.  

Oh, and to top that off I had the genius idea to reset my iPhone because it was being super crazy and wouldn't do anything on Monday.   It was so genius that I've managed to lose all my contacts.  I'd like to take it as a sign from Little Baby Jesus that it's time to upgrade the ol' 3GS...but I probably still need to hold out and save some vacation money and pay my bills.  

Speaking of saving money and paying bills...I've been dreaming of a few more items for the upstairs bedroom projects I have going on right now. Even though I should probably do constructive things like dust, clean out the garage and get some plants in pots for some curb appeal. All infinitely more affordable that bedroom upgrades. 

Madebygirl Gold Skull Print 

These Urban Outfitters Factory Side Tables are only $49 each right now. I feel like I should order so I don't miss the sale.  They come in a several colors but I am all over this mint one...for today anyway. Decisions...

Also from Urban {I think this is actually what the cool kids call it nowadays} -- freaking polka dot bedding.   I saw this on Pinterest and I can't get it out of my head. 

  

Someone put in constructive comments about being responsible and saving money for vacation so I can read them and remember control.  Or tell me about your week. Anything. Something.  What is getting you over the hump and on your way to the weekend? 

Love you. Mean it. 

~the single gal~