Trip Complete...

Well almost... We still have about 16 Hours left in the air. Not too pleasant but I cannot wait to get home to my wonderful family!

So where have we been?

In the last 7 days we have been to Afghanistan, Pakistan, & India. I cannot what to share some amazing photos and stories!

Where in the world...

So guess what??? I was sadly not home for Hunter's birthday! I'm actually on a work trip... So where in the world am I???

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AFGHANISTAN! 

I've been here now for three days and it has been an amazing experience. I cannot wait to get home and download my own photos... If you want to see what the entire delegation is up to visit the flicker site for my boss. 

We are off to another location tomorrow and I will update you on my location in the next few days. 

Hunter Man is ONE!!!

It seems like this was just yesterday...

But it wasn't... our little man is ONE! 

It has been such an exciting year and I feel so blessed to be the mother of this wonderful guy!

Basment Progress

I swear I've been working on the basement playroom! I've just been such a slacker in blog world!

Here is one update that I was working on over the last weekend....This is what Emma's "American Girl/Barbie" Corner looked like:

The bins were just no longer functional for us and things were not fitting with the color scheme that we are trying to achieve in the space...  Only downside is that I really didn't want to spend much money when it came to revamping this corner. So... I shopped my mom's garage! There was an old book case that my parents were no longer using and it was just the perfect length for the space!

I didn't take a proper before photo but here it is laying down and partially taken apart...

Not exactly what we were going for... so of course I purchased some spray paint and got to work!

I started to spray the backing of the bookcase but the material was more of a plywood and was soaking in the paint too much... so I had to come up with a different solution.

here is the bookcase after my painting...

And here she is with my quick fix for the back!!!! How lucky that I had just the perfect roll of wrapping paper on hand to give the back of the bookcase just the right POP that it needed!

I love all of the colors together and the wrapping paper was super easy to put on with the help of some double stick tape and a razer!

So pretty! The Bookcase was free, Spray paint was $13.00, and Wrapping paper was free (because we already had it on hand)... not too shabby! Cannot wait to get this thing styled!

The Drama of the Playroom Rug

I was starting to get frustrated and I was feeling like I would never find a good rug for the playroom.

The rug currently in the space is this old Pottery Barn Alphabet Rug

It was the rug from Emma's old nursery and while it is cute and very playful it just does NOT fit with the colorful room that I want.

So off I went to search for a colorful rug... and my search was a LONG one! I feel like I searched all my usual places... Rugs USA, Overstock, Target... and found NOTHING that fit what I had in mind.

After searching for a few weeks I finally at the IKEA website and found TWO options...

TASTRUP Rug

PS 2012 Rug

I loved the colors and playfulness of the big button rug and I liked the cut outs on the second... So on Monday (Labor Day) I packed up the kiddos and we headed to our local IKEA (about 15 minutes away) to see the rugs in person.... FAIL.... the first rug was out of stock and the second rug felt like SUPER ROUGH felt (not comfy for the knees of my baby). I felt deflated after so much searching.

But I am happy to report that my luck has changed! While looking through Zulily today to see their daily sales I found the PERFECT rug...

ZIG ZAG RUG 

I LOVE THE COLORS and I love that it would also look great in Emma's room should we decide to switch it up one day. It is just the right balance of play and sophistication! Also, at only $179.00 for an 8x10 rug!!!!! SCORE! I will now have to wait about two weeks for it to arrive but worth the wait and I'm happy that my search has come to an end!

VICTORY!!!

Craigslist Fears!

So I desperately need to sell some items on Craigs List...

I've been working on our basement playroom and as a result we have a few items that we no longer need anymore... Also confession we still have our old bar stools just sitting in the garage...

So today when I stopped by one of my favorite daily blog reads... 7th House on the Left I was excited to see a post all about selling items on Craigslist!

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In the past I posted a HUGE TV with no luck...So fingers crossed I'm actually able to sell something this time... Here is a sneak peak on the key points.

1. Always post large and clear photos. 
2. Write your description in an easy-to-read list form. 
3. Include your phone number in the listing.
4. Add some personality to your writing.
5. Check out the competition.
6. Double- and triple-check your spelling.
7. Delete and re-post your listing after 48 hours.

Be sure to stop by the blog to read the full descriptions. I'll post again next week with an update on how I did :-) 

New desk area

One of the first areas that I wanted to tackle is the desk space....

Matt got Emma a super powered computer for her birthday this year and it has been down in our play room on an old desk.

The space was a DISASTER. Here were the negatives:

• Desk didn't have enough surface space. 
• The style of the desk is not what we were envisioning for the space. Too formal
• The legs on the desk forced us to turn the "computer box thing" (yes that is the official term) on its side and I feel like it does not properly hide the cords
• No leg space under the desk. 

So I purchased the extremely economical

Next I taped off the legs with some frog tape that I had on hand...

I applied navy spray paint to the legs and the drawer to give the desk some personality and here she is now...

 

I love her!Not only do I love the added color but also that the keyboard and mouse are tucked away in the pull out drawer. This makes the desk top look much less cluttered and there is now enough room on the top of the desk so that Emma could do homework here now. 

Now that this is also going to be a "homework station" I went to Pinterest to see what I should do with all that empty space above the desk... 

Here are some images that I found for inspiration:

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 Also, LOVE this caddy!

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