C'est bon

I woke up dreaming about bechamel sauce. Mark told me he had dreams about cooking. 

We went and saw "The Hundred-Foot Journey" last night. France and gastronomy, two of my absolute favorite things. I was absolutely captivated and smitten the entire time. If you haven't seen it and are looking for a happy-go-lucky, fun, makes-you-feel-good cinematic charmer, this is it. Helen Mirren is brilliant. You'll love her character. And I currently have a woman-crush on Charlotte Le Bon and aspire to dress just like her character. Really, I just wish I were French, and I told Mark my dream of all dreams would be to live in a stone cottage in France. He replied, "I know." *sigh* I can't wait to watch this movie again. I even had an omelette that I tried to jazz up for breakfast (you'll get it when you see the movie).

My mom left on Monday and I came home and went back to painting. Thank goodness for my mom. Her visit came at theee perfect time. She came in, saw the house, and told me what to do. I had and have tons of ideas zipping around in my brain (can we say overwhelming?) but I needed someone with experience (it also helps that our taste is similar) to help me organize, critique, tweak, and make my ideas happen. I think I almost cried when my mom said, "let's paint your room!" So we did. And now, I am in love with our bedroom. It's cheery, dreamy, cozy, pretty. Oh I just love it! The second floor isn't very big; it only has the master bedroom, the master bathroom, and attic space. But, it's so neat. I feel like the second floor is its only little apartment, just missing a kitchenette. We still have to hang a few things so it's not perfect but here is one before and after picture. 

Before: 

Though this dark red color works because the room gets a lot of light, I don't like having an almost dried blood-colored room you know? And there's already a bedroom downstairs that is this color. Come on man, there are way too much colors in this world to have 2 bedrooms the same. Non.

 After

Much better, don't you think? 

I am so in love with it. We also ended up painting the ceiling, the trim, the baseboards, the doors, and the windows (because they didn't look so good). It looks so much better. Crisp, clean, and ooooh so cozy. 

More pictures to come and now I have a nice long list of painting to do. Mostly touch ups and I think it'll make me love this house so much more. 

Switching topics. Can we talk about friends? 

I don't know if I've turned into an introvert or what but I think that making friends as an adult is a tad more difficult than back in school days. Long gone are the days of bonding over Nancy Drew books, N'SYNC, same classes, sports, dreaded teachers, nail polish obsessions, etc. Plus, I find Mark and I are kind of in an awkward stage of life because we're married with no kids so that kind of wedges us out of some circles. Not that we feel shunned or excluded because we don't. Plus, I'm currently partially employed but not working quite yet so I am not really meeting anyone tons of people except at church. Although, Mark and I scoped out the young couples with no kids and the young couples with one or two kids and thank the stars there are some here!!! Now how to approach without appearing overzealous? It's a struggle I tell ya! A struggle! And a ridiculous one at that.  

Well, as luck would have it, I made a friend. AND we live on the same street. AND she's so cool!! I pretty much tried not to act like a gleeful third grader but after we exchanged numbers I couldn't help but act like one when I told (or exclaimed, cried out excitedly, beamed) Mark, "I MADE A FRIEND!" We went running this morning and it was glorious. Not so much the running because, well, running up hills when you've been running at or near sea level for the past 3 years, AND trying to talk (animatedly), AND being slightly out of shape, makes for a nice challenge but it. was. GREAT! Yay for friends! 

Then, after finally receiving a piece of official mail to prove I now live in Washington, I rode my bike to the library and got myself a library card!!! Our neighborhood is amazing. Tree-lined, quiet streets and the weather is crisp and very fall-like today. GLORIOUS. These library workers are either going to love me or hate me because I requested a lot of books today. Also I borrowed "The Hundred-Foot Journey" because I heard it was better than the movie and since I am so infatuated with the movie, I think I'm going to love it! Plus I got a few more books...and they may or may not be related to France/cuisine/cooking and the like. 

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have books to read (and probably a few more to request...heeheehee)! 

The week I realized I am most certainly human

What. a. week.

I was in a funky mood this week. I think part it stemmed from Mark had to do a lot of studying so I saw him for an hour when I got home and then he went back to base to study or was studying in the kitchen, or both, and that was a bummer. My deepest, sincerest sympathies to those of you who have significant others in med/law/dentist/post-grad/any-other-schooling-that-takes-most-of-their time. The other part of me is just so torn with so many things I want and hope and dream to do in my life. I'm restless. I'm bored with being a dietitian. I keep talking about culinary school to be a pastry chef with Mark and he's all for it and so am I but I have to wait because there isn't the right program here and I don't know how long we'll be here so I have to wait. Waiting. 99% of the time I do not like waiting. 

You know when you're in a funky mood or an impatient-you-want-dreams-to-happen-RIGHTTHISSECOND mood and there are certain things you should stay away from? Things that you know will make your mood worse? Well. Sometimes I'm a masochist so I do those things anyway. And/or, I do them and instead of controlling my emotions I let them take over completely. I was reading some blogs my mom recommended and I love them. One of them is Bluebirdbaby about a sweet family that lives in an old restored church in Maine. The blog is brilliant and beautiful and fun. I love it. Work was WIIIIIIIICKED slow a couple of afternoons this week so I read the blog. And then one of the nurses on one of the floors I cover recently visited someone in Boston and was going on and on and on and on about how wonderful it was and how her friend lives in Nashua and it was so close to Boston. I just stood there and smiled brightly, one on hand wanting to jump in and tell her all of the cool things and places to eat in Boston and on one hand wanting to cry because I was jealous and envious. Jealousy. Good, old-fashioned jealousy. Green with envy. Mad. So between that and the blog, I was home sick. And mad that I'm stuck in the middle-of-nowhere Texas where it was in the upper 80s this week and I wanted to melt. Yes. I know. I complained about this to my brother and knew I shouldn't have said anything since New England is preparing for yet another snow storm. Oops. 

And then I was reading another blog, Floret Flowers. A family owns a farm where they grow ACRES of flowers in Washington state. And the pictures. Mesmerizing. Wow. I also spent time reading post after post after post jotting down notes and planning my own gardens someday. An herb garden. A vegetable garden. A flower cutting garden. The varieties I want and the ones that grow well together and when they bloom and which are annuals and perennials. And there it was again. A ping of envy. How much I ache for a real house and land to garden. I know I'll have that someday but then impatience surges through my veins and that quickly turns to frustration. Next I knew it, my cute pots of flowers weren't good enough. I wasn't good enough. I felt stupid and mad and incompetent and hopeless. Impatience gets me almost every time. 

So. One day after work I decided to just peek at the plants Home Depot had. Just a peek. Just to make myself feel better and be surrounded by flowers and maybe help me add a few more to my list for my future garden. I don't need any more plants but I just... wanted to...see. And then I walked out with these:

Succulents meant for our bedroom window to greet us in the morning.

Gerber daisies because I decided I needed more color and had too much purple. Plus I can cut them and put them in vases!

And after reading about Floret's farm and seeing the magnificent arrangements she has created I decided I also want to take some floral design classes. While I was in college I took a floral design class to fulfill the required "arts" credit. No joke, it was one of my favorite classes. Learning about flowers and then creating arrangements and getting credit for it. Yes PLEASE. It was a blast! My last semester and shortly after I graduated I worked at a wholesale flower placed called "Mountain Bloom" just because they needed extra help for the holidays. That has been my favorite job. Hours of creating bouquets and arrangements. It was so much fun. It's my own way of being an artist. Pairing different colors and textures together. It's delightful. And much like baking, how can anyone get upset by flowers? 

So on a whim I sent a message to a woman who owns a local flower shop asking if she needs some extra help during the holidays and I'd do it for free just to learn and get some experience. I didn't think about it until 2 days later when I actually got a response! We've been playing phone tag the past few days so hopefully we'll finally have a conversation tomorrow. I'm giddy and nervous and there are moments where I think WHAT I am I doing??? Or I shouldn't have done that. But what have I got to lose? I hope she lets me help. I certainly think I would love it!!!

Toward the end of the week my mood got better. My first pot of grape hyacinths is doing well and lately I've been watching a bee come and visit them and pollenate them. But, sadly, I think their blooming is coming to an end so I've snipped two small bouquets so I can enjoy them before this pot is done. I think the heat expedited their blooming. 

But my second pot is coming along nicely! I've decided that if the weather is forecasted to get too hot, I'll bring them inside where it's cooler to try to elongate their bloom time so I can enjoy them a little longer. 

On to DIY project updates.

I think we've finally completed all of, or most of, the DIY projects we had on our list. Mark sanded down two night stands he had and we repainted them. The one on the left is Mark's (hence the star...gotta represent Texas!) and the one on the right is mine. 

 

Saturday Mark went golfing so I spent the afternoon running errands and wandering around downtown. The boutiques here are crazy. I don't get the fashion. I walked into every boutique and then walked out about 1-2 minutes later. Yikes. It's like bohemian/gypsy/bold/I don't even know how to describe it. It's not me, that's for sure. I popped into Pier One just to look around and found a cute plate I knew belonged in my kitchen (the one on the very top)! I love birds. The cute singing kind. There are lots of grackles here that are eery and creepy. Beady little eyes and strange calls. Yuck. I loved my room growing up because of the four walls, three had two windows each. It always so bright in my room. Every morning I woke up to birds...or Scotty pawing my face to wake up...but usually birds.   

I found Fiona, that's what I've named her because I name a lot of things I have, at Hobby Lobby a week or so ago and decided I had to have her to decorate our book shelf.  

And we finally got a new dresser! I found one I liked for over $1000 at a furniture store but that was WAY more than I was willing to pay. Then a colleague recommended a wholesale place because we have been looking for a nice reading chair and though we didn't find a chair, we found this for a fraction of the cost and got it. It arrived this week and I love it! 

The flower arrangement for the week. The sunflowers I bought lasted two weeks! Two! I was so pleased but they quickly started wilting 2 days ago and I wasn't going to buy another bouquet but I love hydrangeas and they were so cheap! Thank you HEB. 

These have been my new lounge wear for the past...4 days. 

This morning it rained. The weather has been saying a 30-40% chance of rain the past few days and nothing. We got nothing. So I have stopped believing it would actually rain. BUT, this morning while I was getting ready for church Mark told me it was really raining so I flung open the door and skipped outside. It was raining! Aw the smell of rain. Happiness! So after church I watched "The Three Musketeers" from 1993. What a great cast: Chris O'Donnell, Tim Curry, Kiefer Sutherland, Oliver Platt, and Charlie Sheen (before he went crazy). Good flick. Last night we watched "Parent Trap," the one with Lindsey Lohan (when she was young and cute). I remember I got that movie for Christmas one year on VHS and must have watched it 4 or 5 times on Christmas day. And every day that week. I love that movie, and the original. And tonight I made risotto for the first time. We liked it! And per Mark's request, I made cinnamon roll cookies. So I'm going to go eat my 5th another one.