Summer 2013: Summer of Projects: Repainted Nighstands: I DID IT!

The other day I got this from my landlord.  She had it in her garage, and when I expressed interest, she practically begged me to take it.  Apparently an old tenant left it and she didn't have any need for it:

FREE!!!!!

So... naturally... I couldn't just leave it alone.  So I started looking at blogs... here were some pictures I used for inspiration:

After agonizing for farrrr too long about colors and design choices, (and forcing Dan and Lisa to give me all of their input), I finally went off and bought supplies.  I hit up Home Depot and JoAnn.  I knew I didn't want to sand, so first, I had to make sure I used a lot of primer.

This particular primer was AWESOME.  I could really feel it sticking.

Again, after more agonizing over coloring at Home Depot (and forcing the ladies in the paint department for their input), I went with Emergency Zone (orange) for the interior, and Charter Blue for the exterior.  Originally I was going to go for Navy, but I wanted it to be a little lighter and little grayer. This is what it ended up looking like the first night:

I wasn't crazy about the color.  It was too purple.  :(  I was pretty bummed.  But oh well, I would just redo a different blue the next day.  

At least I made one pretty thing that day.  I grabbed an old mason jar (which Johnny HAAATES to see in our cupboard because he thinks using mason jars as drinking glasses is garbage) and used some leftover acrylic paint I had to paint the outside.  I took the rough part of a sponge and scraped off the paint where the lettering was.  Gave it that shabby look pinteresters loves so much:

I bought 2 bunches of those little flowers at JoAnn's for about 89 cents each!  Cheap cheap decorations.

Went back to Home Depot... on the way I made a detour and stopped by Ross (yeah, it happens) and bought an adorable vintage milk jug.  I stopped back at JoAnn to buy a pretty flower to put in it.  :)  You'll see it later.  Oh and I painted the INSIDE of that one.  But... again, we'll get to that later.  So I went with a new color.  I can't remember what it's called.  Probably Cobalt something.  Whatever.  Anyway, it's a lot more BLUE-BLUE, and not quite as dark as I was hoping... but I was definitely happier with it than the blue from the day before.  It grew on me.

Voila, BLUE.

Then I taped up the little shelf to ready it for spray painting.  I've always really liked the chevron design, so I figured I'd add a little zing to my nightstand by adding that.  I also went with GOLD.  The nightstand has one tiny little gold knob on it, so I just went with gold :)

Funny story, as I was taping this, I swear I thought I was going crazy.  I had put the tape down next to me, and went to pick it back up and it was NOWHERE TO BE SEEN.  I heard Johnny walking by my door so I opened my door and begged him to help me out.  I knew it had to be close, but I could not, for the LIFE OF ME, find it.  It had simply rolled across the floor to my dresser.  I'm going to blame the paint fumes for that.

I LOVE HOW THIS LOOKS.  

Anyway, I spray painted it and then waited for it to dry.  While I did that, I debated on what color to paint the inside of my milk jar.  This time, I enlisted the help of Hollie :)  I sent her this photo (along with the previous photo of the blue mason jar so she'd know what was going to be it's partner):

It's pretty, but you can't really see the lettering.  Blue on blue... so we went with a really creamy light yellow.  It's like a sweet cream, if you will.

I LOVE HOW THIS LOOKS EVEN MORE!  (It's so satisfying to peel off that tape!)

Once I did that, I just painted some lasting touches over the whole thing, and voila!

Of course I had to "dress" it up.  So... here's the REAL finished product :)

And there you have it!  LOOK WHAT I DID!

"I hear in my mind all of this music and it breaks my heart..."

Oh Regina.

No, not of the George variety (though I believe that's Johnny's favorite Regina), but of the Spektor kind.

Today I told someone, "She's saved my life a million times.  I love her."  When I said it, I was merely conveying how important she was to me (in an admittedly dramatic fashion).  It is true, though.  She's played a pivotal role in helping me cope with a lot of things.  I've always known this.  I guess I just never knew to what magnitude.

Prior to going to the concert I looked up a setlist of one of her recent shows.  It had a pretty good mix of songs from the last 2 CDs with a sprinkling of other goodies.  I didn't look into it a whole lot, I just kind of skimmed it.

I decided to listen to the newest CD a little more since I hadn't listened to it a whole lot recently.  I remembered how much I loved the song "How" and it got me a tad bit emotional, and I was preparing myself for the tearful breakdown I was sure to have during the concert.  I made sure to do a good listen-through of the "Far" album as well, because a lot of the other songs were going to come from that and I figured I should brush up on some of those (although it's Regina and listening to her is like riding a bike--yeah, I just made that comparison.  Whatever.)

Regina comes out, grabs the mic, politely waits for the applause to die down (which, mind you, meant she waited for quite some time) and she sang "Ain't No Cover" and it was ASTOUNDING.  A cappella.  Her voice was crystal clear and it was glorious.  Ugh, it makes me sick how good she sounds.

Then she sat down and did "The Calculation" which is one of the happier songs on "Far" and that was, I think, a great way to sit down and start her show.

Then she started banging out the first few chords of "On The Radio" and I felt the immediate need to cry.  And not just cry like, "Oh, this is lovely I think I'll tear up a bit," but cry like, "Oh my god, I'm crying so hard that snot is going to start dripping towards my upper lip and I'll HAVE to wipe it away and then it'll be SUPER obvious that I'm crying and suddenly this just got awkward."

I wanted to fight that feeling and ignore it, because I didn't quite understand it.  Before officially allowing myself to start bawling, I turned to Lisa and I said, "Umm, why is this song making me want to cry?"  And she immediately replied something along the lines of, "Oh my god, I feel THE SAME WAY.  I just suddenly needed to cry."  So there we sat, my sister and I, crying over one of the happier upbeat songs from "Begin to Hope."

She played some other great songs, but even when she got to "How" I didn't really feel like crying all that much.  It was beautiful--but I think it was how the song started that got the mood to run away from me a bit.  Right before the song, an audience member shouted, "MARRYMYBROTHER!"  Regina started the song, but right before singing the word "how" she stopped and giggled and asked, "Did you just tell me to marry your brother?"  And she continued to giggle until she said, "Okay I can't laugh.  This is for serious."

After a few more songs she played "Better" which made me tear up a bit again.  Whyyyyyy?

She ended her set with "The Party" which is such an adorable song.  She also made sure to add a little spiel about going out and exercising your right to vote--also that she loved Obama and that she hopes everyone votes for him, but isn't saying you have to.  As if I didn't already love this woman.

Her Encore, however, had me crying almost the entire time.

1. Us
2. Fidelity (sob sob sob)
3. Hotel Song (calming down but still with tears collecting at the bottom of my chin and dripping onto my shirt)
and of course (and uggggggggh, whyyyyy)
4. Samson

She sang 5 songs from "Begin to Hope" and all 5 made me cry.  It was not lost on me that these were all on the same CD.  It also wasn't lost on me where exactly I was in my life when I was spending all of my time listening to said CD.  It came out Summer of 2006.  This was one of my favorite summers ever, but also one of my hardest years ever.  I kept making side comments to Lisa saying, "This CD.  All of the songs I'm crying to are from the same CD!"  She felt the same way.  When the concert was over and the lights came back on, we both stood up, and Lisa said, "You know why, right?"  And even though I had only kind of thought about it, and hadn't really considered it as my reason, I knew INSTANTLY.  Anne.

My brother David had mentioned Regina Spektor and how much he liked her.  At the time, I was just glad my brother liked anything, and I was thankful to anything that could lift his spirits up at all.  After Anne died, I think I listened to Coldplay's "Fix You" on repeat just waiting to think of something that would help David.  I was in need of something new.  I had seen Regina before, when she opened for Keane, but me being someone who generally enjoys music she already knows, was unsure how I felt about this odd singer with an odd way of... singing.  Odd?  Maybe unique is a better word?

Anyway, "Begin to Hope" is probably the most appropriate name for that album.  It's insanely appropriate.  Regina, after all, gave me back hope.  I sound sooooo cheesy--I realize this.  You have to realize that I was sure my brother's heart was broken, and that in turn broke my little 20 year old heart.  But Regina really did make sense of things for me.  She really did help me.  "Fidelity" for example:

"Suppose I never ever met you
Suppose we never fell in love
Suppose I never ever let you
Kiss me so sweet and so soft"

And later,

"All my friends say that of course it's going to get better..."

And when that still didn't quite heal my broken little "Why, God why????" heart, "On The Radio" made it all better (it kissed me where it was sore--if you will--and made me feel better):

"This is how it works:
You're young until you're not
You love until you don't
You try until you can't
You laugh until you cry
You cry until you laugh
And everyone must breathe
Until their dying breath.

No, this is how it works:
You peer inside yourself
You take the things you like
And try to love the things you took
And then you take that love you made
And stick it into someone else's heart
Pumping someone else's blood
And walking arm in arm
You hope it don't get harmed
But even if it does
You'll just do it all again."

You hope it don't get harmed, but even if it does you'll just do it all again.

All I can say is that I'm deliriously tired, but I am so in love with the night I had tonight.  Yes, I cried WAY more than a regular human should have, but I am so happy.  It's been 6 years, and these songs still speak VOLUMES to me.

Regina Spektor saved my life a million times.
I love her.

I Should've Written, "5. A Million Dollars!"

In general, I don't expect gifts.  Well, okay, I take that back.  Thomas I expect something from.  (Not always, we did have a deal a couple years ago to not give any gifts!)  :)

This year, I got literally everything I wanted and more!

On Monday (the day before my birthday) I jokingly (and randomly) wrote a list of things on the dry erase board in the class I was subbing for.  This was more my way of getting their attention (they were all talking to each other when the bell rang, but they got a lot quieter once they started trying to figure out what I was writing):

1. green
2. size 7
3. Anthropologie
4. gerber daisies

I proceeded to ignore their questions and comments ("Miss Nguyen, 'anthropology' is spelled with a 'y'") and take roll.  I then went through the instructions for what they were supposed to be doing that day and right when I was done, on the tail end of the last instruction, I pointed to each item on the board and said,

"My birthday is tomorrow.  Oh and by the way my favorite color is green, I wear size 7 shoes, my favorite store is Anthropologie," (here you see some girls nod in agreement, and the rest of the class still remains clueless as to how there is a store dedicated to the discipline of anthropology), "and my favorite flowers are gerber daisies!  So, you know... just... saying."

The next day, I actually had some students bring me things!

Not only did I get green things (a green bag with an umbrella and some green lotion and body mist and also green cards), but I also got some flowers including (of course) gerber daisies!  :)

That night, Lisa, Luke, Thomas, and I went to Jasper's.  We had some (and by some I mean all) of their happy hour bar menu.  My favorites were the: pizza, sliders, and pork satays.  Skip the blue cheese potato chips--especially if you're expecting it to be as awesome as Plucker's version.  Then we... went to... *drumrollnotreallyneeded* ANTHROPOLOGIE!  Where I found myself some silver shoes... size 7.  And my sister was, of course, sweet and wonderful enough to treat me to it (this is after she already treated us to said dinner at Jasper's)!

Probably could've gotten a better photo, but too lazy.  :)

So there you have it.  My four things that I randomly off-the-top-of-my-head listed, and I got all four!  I even got a couple more things I hadn't expected (but would definitely be somewhere on my list of favorite things): TWO--yes, count it--TWO bottles of sriracha--one from Miss Maggie and the other from Thomas's family.  Thomas's family then threw in one more really really awesome thing:

Seth Meyers @ Paramount Theatre

I have such an awesome nerdcrush on him.  I look forward to weekend updates so this SNL Headwriter can make me giggle.  I still haven't decided if I have a bigger crush on him or Tina.  It's a tough one.  Now, if I got this combo, I might not have such a hard time making the decision:

Or, even better (if you're not reading this from your iPhone and/or the book I plan to print and make of this):

Yes, guys.  Really.  This was a GREAT birthday!  Much like Edwin McCain, I've got all I've waited for, and I could not ask for more!  (Yeah, I went there)

My birthday cupcake!  Luke helped me blow out my candles!  :)

Spring Break 2012

It was a good Spring Break, though I can barely tell you what all I did!  Here's some snapshots!

BFFs forreal

Riverwalk!

Luke snapped this shot!

Chamberlains hanging out at the Alamo

Shelby was in town so natch, we went karaoke-ing!

So great to see her! :)

Spring Formal 2012: Under the Sea

The night we watched "Better Luck Tomorrow" for one of our Monday Night Dinners, Johnny became inspired to have a formal.  Have a formal, we did!  The following weekend, we went shopping and went ahead and decorated the house:

Then the night of the formal (March 10th) finally came!  All day was spent putting some finishing touches up on the decorations and Maggie spent much of it making delicious goodies for the dessert table!  There were a lot of DIY elements that made this night possible!

Yum!

Really wish I had one to eat right now!

We blew (pumped?) up a LOT of balloons :)

Luke had a blast kicking them around!

I also set up a photo booth.  There are roughly 100 photos or so that were taken, so here's just some of the photos that were snapped in our photobooth.  I even bought a remote for the person to make the shutter work!  It was awesome... except sometimes after a period of inactivity, it would need to be reset, which kind of defeated the purpose, but it was still worth it :)

Mike and Lisa were the first to test out the photobooth!

Maggie, our goldfish of the night :)

Yes, Hallmark chose to place our Christmas tree into the picture

"Red cup photo!" with Trevin and Abby

The Wacktastic Adventures of Mr. & Bud: Under the Sea

The Party Planning Committee

In case you didn't know...

I mostly just wanted to include this because Mark was by far the shnazziest male at the party.

The girls got the memo for the fishface... not sure what the boys were doing.

Justin, our King and Vince, our "Queen"

Our host... standing up and taking a photo past midnight: Success!

Kite Festival 2012

3/4 - Mom's birthday!  :)  Also, Austin's salute to kites day!  So Thomas and I went with Lisa and Mike (and of course Luke) to Zilker to enjoy some fun in the sun and some height with the kites!  Luke and I had some fun throwing popcorn into each other's mouths (or just at each other's faces...) and Mike seemed to have fun trying to get the world's most dangerous looking (pointy) kite up in the air!

Lisa and Luke chowing down on some kettle corn!  (Man, I REALLY want some now!)

Lisa feeding luke some delicious corndog, while Thomas and Mike try to get the kite up!

Beautiful.

Just beautiful.

Our town and the awesome people in it