Fighting the war on neutrality: DIY Painted Vase

We recently (finally) purchased a dresser to replace the one we gave away in the move. Envision, for a moment, piles of clothes, underwear, and socks on our bedroom floor and crammed into the nooks and crannies of our closet and you can understand my excitement. So, I was thrilled to be able to use my $25 off coupon at Ikea (and free breakfast day!) and pick up this bad boy. We were equally as excited to be able to set up our nicer TV, although we prefer not to have one in the bedroom (there was no where else to put it).

However, things were looking a bit neutral (the rest of the room has a white bookshelf, white bedding) so I am trying to add more pops of color (mostly blues to tie in with a few framed prints I have). (Excuse the poor photo quality, it was a cloudy day when these were taken). 

So, I decided to add a pink faux flower I picked up at Ikea as well. I picked up a small bud vase at Target for $1.99 to hold it.

The stem was way too long so I trimmed it using pliers...

 and popped it into the vase:

I liked it, but things were still looking a bit 'blah.' I decided to try my very un-crafty hand at the painted vase tutorials floating around Pinterest to add some color.

via Pinterest, original link from Sugar and Charm blog

I have seen others use acrylic paints so I decided to use some leftover "Ocean Blue" Americana acrylic paint I had from another project.

I followed the directions of pouring the paint in liberally, and swirling it around as I turned the vase upside down.

After I had covered about 90% of the inside of the vase, I placed it upside down to dry on some newspaper. I later learned this would be a mistake and would recommend using plastic (bags or sheets) to dry on.

I checked on the vase periodically, moving its position on the paper so there wouldn't be too much paint piled up. I also used a sponge brush to help some of the paint along on the parts that weren't filling in. I don't know if it was because I was messing with it so much, but there were a few small gaps where the paint either dropped off or didn't fill in. Otherwise, it was looking great!

Remember how I advised against drying the vase on paper before?

Here is the finished product, tucked behind my candle sleeve next to the TV. It definitely adds that pop of color I was looking for, and the entire project was less than $5. Awesome.

Happiness... is a warm cookie

Please drop everything and immediately procure yourself one of these:

Pumpkin Cookie, Panera Bread

Oh, man this was delicious. I was thinking it would be a cinnamon-pumpkin-ey cookie but instead it was the.perfect.iced.cookie. A buttery shortbread-esque cookie with a hint of lemon and perfectly sweet, but not-too-sweet, frosting on top. And it's seasonal. AMAZING.

Go. Go now.

You're welcome.

And yes, I do get this excited over food. 

United States Botanic Gardens, D.C.

One of the many things I love about living in NoVA (is it NoVA or NOVA? I'm not a 'local' yet) is being able to hop in the car and head to our nation's capitol on a whim. This past Sunday we did just that. After mentioning to Justin that Dylan and I hadn't been to the National Botanic Gardens, and considering the beautiful sunshine and end-of-the-heat-wave weather we were having, we picked our destination.

Scooting through D.C.

The entrance is beautifully seated outside the Capitol Building. 

The "Garden Court" was breathtaking in color and in smell. You can feel your air become cleaner as  you walk through. 

The Botanical Gardens feature indoor 'exhibits' where different regions (prairie, tropical, desert, etc.) are illustrated through flora and fauna. Our favorite was the "Children's Garden" where the kiddos are invited to water, touch, and smell the flowers. 

Dylan waters the plants, these must be hardy ones.

I loved the face planter

The hand pump caused the fish to squirt water.

The seasonal exhibit featured both real and non-real carnivorous plants. 

Dylan gets eaten by a plant. Bummer.

It is just so cool to see how excited Dylan gets learning new information from all the different museums. Have I mentioned I love living here? 

For more information about the US Botanic Gardens, see here: http://www.usbg.gov/

Funny, looking at my last post...

It's nice to be able to look back and see the emotional roller coaster I went through to get to where I'm at. We've officially relocated to NOVA.. I keep saying it, and it doesn't seem real (yet).

I love the area, the weather, the people, the things to do. I'm not trying to glaze over the difficulties with moving out of state, the loneliness, getting new plates, new licenses, job hunting (for me). But, I can't help but express joyful gratitude for a dream coming true. I am so thrilled to be closer to an amazing city, to the ocean, and with my family.

Image found here.

Hurrah for making dreams come true. Here's to my husband for supporting us in doing this. 

complacency

I want this move so badly that it seems like it's always on my mind- at breakfast, lunch, and dinner, through workouts, work, playtime, and in the middle of the night when I lie awake worrying. I am so fearful of 'losing' the move to the day-to-day demands that seem to saturate my life.

It seems so many people want to move out of state, and try really really hard to, but it doesn't work out. I meet people who have been unemployed for 3 months, for four years, for forever, and it makes me worry. Not that I don't have compassion and sympathy for their situation, but I also think about ours.

Up until this past week, I was on an adrenaline high with thoughts of warm winters, 3-bedroom homes, a new city to explore and enjoy. But then reality was served up on a platter in my mind and the doubt crept in: are we really going to move?

I worry because I can see ourselves letting day-to-day life get in the way. First the car breaks down. Then we need to pay an unexpected medical bill. After months of you searching for jobs in (one of the many) perfect location(s) we realize that this whole, living-on-my-income thing isn't working and you need to find a job, like, yesterday. With that, we realize after months of you being in your job, searching here and there for a job out-of-state but not finding anything, and me finally succumbing to the fact I will be in mine, we decide to just quit wasting our money on rent and purchase a home here.

We'll keep saying to ourselves, "Oh yes, it has always been our dream but we just ended up here. We'll move when we pay this home off," then,"When the kid(s?) go to college," then it will be "We'll move when the kids graduate," "...the grandkids are older," "...when we retire." In all likelihood, it will never happen.

I'm worried to let go of this hope of a different future that I had almost in my reach, I never dreamed of having this possibility even presenting itself. Years ago, I wrote college essays in frustration at my inability to move out of state. I cried tears of joy when, five years after that, I was granted permission to go.

We have so much optimism, so much hope, so much daydreaming for this new home in this unnamed location where we can start (over) as a family, build up our home, our traditions, become citizens of our new city and state. But doubt keeps creeping back in.

Happiness will not come to me, once I get the perfect home, the perfect city, get away from the people who frustrate me. I need to find happiness right here, right where I am at.