Well I finished a week. Almost. I went to the gym 4 days in a row, and I'm feeling it everywhere.

I'm looking forward to relaxing this weekend and healing a bit. Monday brings bootcamp. I'm a little scared.

Today I went to a class called Muscle Up and while I'm sure that eventually I will 'muscle up' right now I just hurt.

Even picking up H hurts. A lot. Well not a lot, but enough to where I don't want to move.

I also weighed myself after lunch. There's probably a reason they tell you to weigh first thing in the morning.

I have some work to do, but I have set some goals for myself, so that's good.

I'm going to go back to snuggling with H now. :)

That post title sounds very daunting doesn't it? Well it's not.

I promise.

I warned the folks that 'like' Straight Stitches on Facebook that I'd be bringing back a post today, because I have nothing to offer up. Well nothing  that is done.

In other news - I joined a gym, and I hurt. I've gone every day since Tuesday and the 'ole muscles are telling me about it, but its all good. I am getting healthy, and healthy me knows that its worth the pain and sweat. :)

I decided to link up the post that I linked too yesterday. The quilled 'B' post. So without further ado - Here it is!

So I know that ya'll are expecting to see my completed picture wall done, and it is done. Buuuut I'm not going to show it to you just yet. THHHHHPPPP! Sorry....H has been blowing raspberries for forever, but this week they're extra drooly, so I thought I'd share {aren't I sweet? :-P}

I am also going to share with you the epiphany I had when Jan of Bobbypins Boardwalk commented that I should include more than just photos. Not only did a light bulb go off, but the entire lighting department. First, some history, a while back I saw this post linked up somewhere {sorry I cannot remember where} and knew I had to do this. Yes, I'm going to make you go to her blog, because 1) I'm in an ornery mood, 2) she's got a really nice blog and you should check it out and 3) I'm ornery. Did I repeat myself? :-)


So here's what I accomplished from her inspiring post. :)  Oh yes....I'm making you scroll to the bottom to see the final product. :)

I hope you all enjoyed this trip down memory lane!

Well I've been to the gym twice and I'm feeling pretty good. Tomorrow is going to be another story though, because I'm going to a weight training class. We'll see how that goes, but today I did 15 minutes on the elliptical, 45 minutes rotating through various weight machines, and then 20 minutes on the treadmill.

What I really like about the gym I signed up with is that they have child care and H is finally able to socialize without me there. :)

I just wanted to write a quick note to say, I'm Back!

I joined a gym yesterday! I went to a Zumba class, and I almost died, but it was a lot of fun.

I'm going back today, in about an hour.  Wish me luck!

Heather

So gallery walls have been on my mind a lot lately.

Makes sense since all of my pictures had to come down for the painting, and since I was starting off with a blank canvas {again} I decided to change up the picture walls again. :)

A few days ago, Stephanie Lynn from Under the Table and Dreaming posted up a gallery wall inspiration post {see it here}, and it got me thinking.

So here's the beginning of my gallery wall. :)
 What do you guys think? I love that its one of the first things I see when I come into the house.
It's not done yet, but I like  that there's room  to grow.

Here's a shot of it from the living room.

I have figured out that I need to print out more pictures of the kids and not just have them live on the computer, because I had to start stealing pictures from other places.
I stole two pictures from here, but you know what I'm ok with that, because I think this whole wall is going to move to the rest of the gallery on the remaining walls in the stairwell.

You guys might recognize some of the pictures, and this project.

There's also some kid art up there! My dear nephew drew this for us last year. :) You can also see my dad's Hargrave picture there. :) He's so handsome, and he looks just like H. Don't you guys agree?

Here's a fresh off the presses picture of H for you guys to compare too. :)

Well that's all I've got for you guys today. I can't wait to see this wall expand and grow. I have more pictures to hang, but I think I'm going to take my time and let it evolve.

See you guys later. :)


PS - its the hubs birthday today. :) Happy Birthday Sweetheart! I can't wait for our dates this week, and I hope that today is a good day for you {dentist appointment and all} :)

Did you guys see my guest post over at Creating my way to Success?

You didn't!?!?!?!?!

You must go see it. Now. Here's the link - LINK!

Ok, so that console is now done. Yay!

I picked up this beaut at the Salvation Army a few months ago, and knew that she was going to replace the black console that had been in this spot since we moved in. Here's the console that was there.
She wasn't a bad console. Just low and doesn't have a lot of storage. Oh and we have a white dog. Guess what shows up super well on black furniture? Yep, you guessed it. Fur and dust. blech.

So here is what the piece looked like before. :)  I don't have great before pictures, but you get the idea. The piece is a Bassett furniture number, and its HEAVY. I had to make sure to have the thing moved inside before Steve left for Vegas. I just made it.

So now that you've seen her ugly beginnings, lets take a look at her transformation, and how I'm utilizing her oh-so-amazing drawers. :)
 LOOK! They hold the DVDs so very nicely. Not that my children put the DVDs away any better than they did with the baskets, but still they're completely hidden when they are in the drawer!


 I used two different knobs on this piece, which is a first for me. The nickel knobs are from Target and the pretty ceramic knobs are from Hobby Lobby (from my trip to Nashville in June) :) I decided to paint the original backplates a nickel color to match the Target knobs, but to also make the ceramic knobs stand out.



The top is stained with one coat of Minwax Jacobean stain and I protected the whole piece with a coat of wax. The paint color is Metro Mist by Valspar and I primed the body of the piece with tinted Kilz oil-based primer. Oh then I did a light glazing with Valspar Asphaltum glaze. Love the result! Especially against the orange of the family room.


So what do you guys think? Did I do a good job? I love the character that this piece has, not to mention all the storage.

Oh do you want to see how I hooked this baby up without Steve's help?

Yep. I took pictures of how the DVD thing and the DVR cables were aligned. They helped a lot because I hooked it up right the first time! Yay me!

Stephen was quite happy with the change when he got home. The best part? Harrison can't reach the boxes anymore. Oh Yea!

See you guys tomorrow!


Linking up to:

I don't know about you, but I love exploring new places. New states, new restaurants, new shops, whatever. I believe Heather recently mentioned my wonderment as I walked through Charming Charlie for the first time here. I'm an insatiable explorer at heart. Well, grocery stores and other food places are no exception. I had the opportunity this week to explore three fun new(ish) food sources.

The first was actually at my usual grocery store, Publix. I had actually just nipped into the loo while Mike was picking up Chinese next door. I came out and spotted this...