Archives for March 2011

you want free stuff, right?

Okay, you know me.
I’m never one to beg for followers or comments….except for sometimes.
And this is one of those sometimes.
Quite often I find amazing products that I love and adore, and then of course I immediately want you all to love and adore them as well…
and what better way to get that stuff to you than to offer it free through giveaways here and there???
I know, right?
Sounds amazing, I know.
But here’s the catch…a lot of companies require blogs to have at least 1000 followers before they’ll offer up their products to a blog for free.
And I would just HATE for you to miss out on some of this stuff….so, ya know….if you’re reading this and you haven’t made things “official” between us yet…it really just takes a second to make that happen.
It won’t even cost you a thing…really in the end…it pays YOU!
Don’t be scared of the commitment….I promise, I’ll treat you well.
And we’ll live happily ever after.
With free awesome stuff.
Amen.
© 2011 “Le Musings of Moi”
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she makes me crafty

Sometimes in life you just get lucky, and God blesses you with a person like this:
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Meet my sweet friend Gilly (aka Gillian) whom I love and adore…

And when I say “friend” I mean long lost soul sister because we swear we were separated at birth.
Ya know, if we had been born the same day and year and all that.
Which we weren’t (same month though, sag’s unite!)….but still….
It’s crazy how similar we are.
Lovers of:
pizza 
organic (on non pizza days)
tattoos
talking about poop
pete yorn
bright colors
forever 21
thrift stores
jesus
vintage furniture
decorating
reality tv
chunky jewelry
sweets and chocolate
Non lovers of:
whiny kids
grumpy husbands
{can i get a whut whut?!?}
And while I won’t go on and on about all the ways she makes me happy, I will go on and on about all the ways she makes me crafty.
Take a look at all she’s taught me so far….
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{wreath for chloe’s room}
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{front door wreath}
tutorial here
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{tissue paper flowers…may change them to different colors eventually}
tutorial here

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{fabulous felt flowers}
Kind of fun, ya?
You should also see the cute little hair clips she just busted out for Chloe out of nowhere…
{too lazy to snap pictures at the moment, but i will}
Now normally I’m not the crafting type, as I’d rather pay someone to make me handcrafted things…
but I guess that’s when you know you found someone special.
You know….when they make you crafty.
I just have to draw the line at scrapbooking.
Sorry.
I tried it once…and I got kicked out of the club.

I’ll stick to felt flowers.
Swoon.

© 2011 “Le Musings of Moi”
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revolution organic foods deal on amazon

Okay this is a great deal….revealed to me by the Nature Knockout gals that I absolutely ahhhh-dore.  The following was on their blog and I had to pass it along to you guys, because if I die for something that means you might as well.
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are as low as $16.46 right now then use code PLUMOR33 for 30% off + if you choose subscribe & save you’ll get an additional 15% off!! Taking the total on some of these treats to $9.05!

 

(which totals$1.81/box)

 

 

*With Subscribe & save there is no obligation & you can cancel at anytime once your order has shipped. Just go to my account, subscriptions & modify or cancel your account.

 

© 2011 “Le Musings of Moi”
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are you there {lamp} god? it’s me summer

I BELIEVE, I BELIEVE!
The other day, after the great Lamp Crisis of 2011 post, I decided to make yet another quick pit stop into my thrifties and what do you know…
I happened upon A PAIR of perfection!!!
A PAIR!!!
The same two lamps with just the right look…
Placed there just for me.
Oh ya, God knows what’s up.
Are you ready to feast your eyes on my babies???
newlamps
{$9 a piece, score!!!}
Okay, so maybe to you they don’t look like much NOW….but in my minds eye…they have amazeballs potential!!!  
My initial instinct is to spray paint them silver, but I’m going to wait until the room is painted before making any final decisions.
I also found the most gorgeous crystal lamp EVER for $10, which now resides in my living room, and I still can’t believe it’s mine.
{pictures to come!}
There are others out there who get excited about thrifted lamps, right?
p.s. 
i FINALLY got my babymac back, with only minimal amounts missing!!!
ahhh, reunited and it feels so good….
© 2011 “Le Musings of Moi”
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iStress, the great lamp crisis of 2011

As I’ve shared, my goal is to have our master bedroom done and complete by the end of the month…and yet it’s the details I’m getting lost and caught up in. 

Do I want green as my accent or yellow?
I thought green, but with such a dark paint color as Trout Gray, maybe I then need a bright yellow instead?
No?
Stick with green?
And what about curtains?
Do I go with pattern or print?
Ruffles or not?
green, yellow, pattern, print, ruffles…
And this is ONLY the beginning~
Because then there’s this whole Summers Lamp Crisis of 2011, or better yet, Summerlocks and the Three Lamps. 
Except I only have two…but give me a day!
It started with these but I thought, eh too small…too plain.
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And then I found these for a steal, but now I wonder, too big…too funky?
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And while I love big & funky (NOT what she said!), I then have the whole Lamp Shade debacle!
Which is, I need to find one, preferably rectangle that is longer than 9 inches.
(okay, SHE said on that one for sure!  orrrrrr, maybe not.)
The one I have now, the large size from Target, is just not cutting it.
Much too small a top for such a big bottom.
{kind of how I feel about my boob to butt ratio, but that’s WAY off topic.}
I mean, do they even MAKE lamp shades bigger than large?
But then, even if I find a perfect lamp shade, I have to revisit my original concern of Too Big/Too Funky? 
Will it bother me that the base is lit-RALLY as wide as the nightstand?
And then look at my little tray!
photo
{gotta love the iphone picture quality…but i have bigger issues at the moment than capturing quality shots!}
See?
How small does it look next to that lamp?
That’s an issue, yes?
Aye Aye Aye.
I may lose sleep you guys.

In fact, my sister (heather) and I have been texting back and forth, and now my problem is her problem, and we’re both considering a drink to calm ourselves down.

Whatever will I do?
And by “I” I mean “we” because now you are involved in this issue and I expect that you will have the words of wisdom that will bring resolution.

Go ahead…comment away!
My sanity depends on it.

{this would be the time my “critics” on that one site should speak and offer advice rather than talk behind my back.  a girl needs her gays!}

© 2011 “Le Musings of Moi”
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our home back in the staged day

I keep meaning to share these pictures with you guys…
Here are the pictures of our house when it was staged and on the market.
These are the pictures that had me at hello.
{to read the crazy drama filled love story of our house, go here and then here}
The front of our house:
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Front porch:
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{view}
Back yard:
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Below the house, all our land that we get to landscape over the years:
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Living room:
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Kitchen:
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Dining room:
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Master bedroom:
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Master bath:
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Laundry closet:
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Main bathroom:
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We’ve been here 5 months now, and while a lot has changed, we still have many changes planned and in the works.And despite the stress that owning a home creates, I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else.
This place felt like home the moment I stepped inside….

© 2011 “Le Musings of Moi”
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are you a SAD girl? there’s an APP for that.

I used to be a SAD girl.

{also known as a Scale ADdict….}

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It used to control my life, my days, my emotions.

Each and every morning I would wake up and right after a good pee, I’d step on that baby and let out a deep breath…hoping in some scientific way that just maybe that breath would release another half a pound.

And then, ever so reluctantly, I would look down and focus in on a number that would then determine exactly how I would feel about myself for the rest of that day.

That three digit number controlled me.

If it was within range of my ideal, I would smile, bounce out of the bathroom and sing a lovely song with the birds outside my window.

If it was above my range, even by a half pound, tears would well up in my eyes and I’d pinch my stomach, my thighs, my arms….and want to crawl back into bed because something was obviously so wrong with me that I couldn’t keep to a “simple” goal.

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Can you even imagine such a life?
I bet you can.
Because I know for a fact that I’m not the only SAD girl out there.

This went on for years.
YEARS!!!!
So many mornings wasted.  So many days wasted.  So many TEARS wasted!!!

If you’ve followed me for a length of time, you know my journey through my body image issues….and you know that finally at one point I just decided enough was enough.

So I schlepped my SAD bootie into counseling and decided to face it head on and find healing.

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But I didn’t find healing in just the counseling.
I mean it was good, and it was necessary, and I certainly began to understand WHY I had those issues and quite possibly WHERE they came from….but what I didn’t get from it was a cure.

There was no formula written down that allowed me to be free.
I had to find that for myself…and little did I know, there was an APP for that.Action, Prayer, and Patience.

I could no longer WISH to change…I had to take ACTION to change.
And that is when I gave up the scale for good.
While it didn’t fix me instantly by doing so, it was a HUGE catalyst in helping me to let go of the daily struggle I faced.
{along with that, I read Change Your Habits Change Your Life, which also helped tremendously!}

But in order to find strength for those ACTIONS, I needed a lot of PRAYER.
I had little self control when it came to my bad habits, and I definitely accepted that I needed all the spiritual strength I could get.
I knew that God’s hope was for me to see myself through His eyes.
The same eyes I see my own daughter through….and so daily…hourly sometimes, I would lift up my struggles in PRAYER.
And when I did, He was, WITHOUT FAIL, faithful to provide comfort and strength.

Finally, I had to find PATIENCE.
Or rather, I had to pray for PATIENCE.
Since this struggle didn’t come on overnight, I had to come to terms with the fact that it wouldn’t be cured overnight either.
I would never make progress without a little patience and grace.

And now it’s been 6 months since I’ve stepped on a scale and looked at the numbers (i have stepped on the scale at the doctors, but asked them not to tell me)…and I feel that I truly am free from that addiction.  BUT, I am not naive enough to think that I am absolutely healed and cured, and I’m okay with that.  Because I am learning that the best things in life take TIME….and on this I will not give up.

I am far from recovered, yet absolutely reformed.

If you’re thinking you couldn’t do it…that you are destined to be a SAD girl for life…
know this:
I could have NEVER imagined giving it up either.
In fact, I remember my sister telling me she didn’t own a scale one day, and I looked at her like she had a third eye.
Who didn’t own a scale and live by it every single day???

A happy girl, that’s who.

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And that’s exactly who I’m becoming each and every day I apply my APP.

I have to ask….
Are you a SAD girl?
Are you finally ready to get the APP and join me in recovery?

It maybe tough…but in the end, I promise you…
The freedom you’ll feel is kind of ahhh mazing.
~~~~~~~

{obviously there are lots of people out there fully able to weigh daily and be okay and healthy and normal about it.  for those of you, consider yourself blessed, and weigh on!}

*um….i think i found the topic for the book i’ll write one day, ya think?
can you say soapbox?

links are to relevant stories of mine, and in addition here’s more of the story behind me
in case you missed it.

all images via weheartit

© 2011 “Le Musings of Moi”

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our master bedroom in process

I was just telling my sister that it feels like we are always in process when it comes to our house.
I’m not a patient person…but I’m really trying my best to be when it comes to “finishing” our home.

So for the last month (or more it feels), I’ve been putting all my focus on our master bedroom, trying to make little changes here and there….hoping to reach my goal of completing it all by the end of March.  
It’s a bit complicated though because since we have such a small home (1200 sq ft), we had to combine our room with our “office.”
It’s a tricky task keeping the bedroom calm, serene, and relaxed when you have a desk o’bills in there as well…
But calm and serene it will be…in my own way at least.

And because time is a tickin’, it’s time to put my ideas into action!
Last weekend we began with the night stands, which was just a tad difficult being that I was only a week out of surgery.  
But, I’m a determined girl with goals, and a missing gallbladder wasn’t about to stop me.
We started with these $29 Rast Dressers:
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And then with some rollers and paint, I turned them into these:
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It’s all still in process though…as I’m waiting for these ring pulls to be delivered:
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And I’m still not sure on those lamps.
They were an impulse buy, but they’re not exactly what I envisioned, as I was hoping to find something a little funkier and quite possibly a tad taller.
But maybe they’re fine.
Or maybe I’ll just leave the tags on and in the meantime keep (patiently) looking at my thrift stores and on craigslist.
Sigh.
But those trays?
LOVE!
Especially because they looked like this originally:
photo-2
{easter trays from the dollar ($2.50) section at Target…candle holders, thrifted}
Two coats of primer and two coats of glossy white, and wa la…brand new trays.
I will say, I should have sanded them first….but ya, guess who was impatient?
Kind of noticing a theme here…
{I may need to go back and get more in case I feel the need to do it properly one day.}
And now here’s what’s left on my to do list:
~hang mirrors or art above the night stands

~BUY art or mirrors for above the night stands. =)

~ paint the room (next weekend) Trout Gray by Benjamin Moore
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~paint the writing desk using the same white as the night tables:
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{it’s way more cream then this picture shows}

~arrange shelves above desk for storage

~paint end table the foot of the bed

~save up for this amazing duvet:
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~find, buy, and hang curtains…we’ve been sleeping with bare windows for months now so it will be most definitely be a strange day when we finally shield the morning sun
…okay this list is getting long….
and I know there’s more that will pop up here and there as well.
Good thing there are still two more weeks of March…
um…

Like I said, always in process.

{if you wanna see my inspiration pictures, check out my bookmarks blog}

© 2011 “Le Musings of Moi”
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speaking of shopping…

I love being a partner with csnstores.com…and I LOVE when it’s review time.
The only thing I DON’T love is trying to narrow down my choices on what to review!
I have SO many home projects going on in my head, that I don’t even know where to begin.
Our bedroom is the project we’re ever so SLOWLY working on at the moment and some may-jah needs would be a duvet cover, curtains, and possibly some funky fresh lamps or new sconce lights for our new DIY night tables…
Picture 2 11-15-18
Picture 3
Continuum+One+Light+18"+x+11"+Table+Lamp+in+White-Chrome
Or….maybe since I’m on this organizing kick, I should start my search in the storage/organization department…
Oh ma word.  And this is why I love CSN…because whatever I can possibly think of, they absolutely will have.
Can’t wait to share with you once I decide!!!
© 2011 “Le Musings of Moi”
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i went shopping and i’m happy

Sometimes it’s the little things that make me happy, and today it was getting this pink chevron iphone cover in the mail.
Now I just need a sticker with my monogram to put in the middle and it would be complete perfection.
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I should mention before I continue, that shopping online makes me happy. 
Period.

And it seems that it could quite possibly be getting outta control…says the man who sees the credit card bill.
BUT….it’s such a sweet joy when a package arrives on my doorstep and even if it’s simply a box of diapers, my heart jumps a little.
And isn’t a slightly elevated credit card bill worth that joyous moment in my day?
I would think so.

And so to stay in the giddy spirit I have found a way to order vitamins, diapers, food, books…you name it actually, if I can find a better deal online, I will have it shipped.
PLUS.  
In my defense, the cost of gas is too insane to be driving around anyway, so really I’m SAVING us money when all is said and done!!!
Now let’s move on to my other exciting purchase that I couldn’t resist.
Because, ahem…I NEEDED it.
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When I saw pottery barn jewelry holder being used as a fruit basket here, I knew it was meant to be mine.  And in 7-10 days it will be.
My fruit is going to be so happy.
I’m pretty sure when Jimmy told me to cut back on spending, he meant AFTER those two purchases.
Oh but wait….I think I need this particular duvet cover too…
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and then of course HauteLook is having an amazeballs sale on Korres All Natural Products today, and I really have been wanting to try their primer…
Ya, so I’m definitely thinking he must have meant after that…
Ahh who cares, all that matters is….MAMA’S HAPPY!
{maybe all this happiness is coming also from the supplements i started taking today, which guess what?  i ordered online as well.  double happy!}
© 2011 “Le Musings of Moi”
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It means so much that you are here! I know life gets busy though, so if you don't want to miss a thing, I invite you to subscribe to my blog through email!