The start of a scrapping room

Hmm.. Well I haven't blogged in quite a long time.. But I really want to keep up with it more (not that anyone reads it) but for now I thought I would blog about the room I am currently sitting in because I am so excited it finally got cleaned out and my desk is set up! Its my scrapping/craft/office room, but mainly I love it because its a cozy place of my own! And its truly girly! So far its only painted, and the curtains and chandelier are hung and than the desk is on one side of the room. The other side is going to have this Ikea Expedit shelving running across the back wall

Which I cannot wait to get! its going to be awesome, because I can get mirrored doors for some of the cubbys, fun boxes and baskets for others and than just decorate the rest of them with picture frames, vases, trinkets, etc. So excited! I also hope to get this small yet comfy little chair to put in there so I can hang out and read a book or something!

Anyways here is the rest of the room so far, Enjoy, Ciao!

Lead me...

Sanctus Real - “Lead Me”

I look around and see my wonderful life
Almost perfect from the outside
In picture frames I see my beautiful wife
Always smiling
But on the inside, I can hear her saying...

“Lead me with strong hands
Stand up when I can't
Don't leave me hungry for love
Chasing dreams, what about us?

Show me you're willing to fight
That I'm still the love of your life
I know we call this our home
But I still feel alone”

I see their faces, look in their innocent eyes
They're just children from the outside
I'm working hard, I tell myself they'll be fine
They're in independent
But on the inside, I can hear them saying...

“Lead me with strong hands
Stand up when I can't
Don't leave me hungry for love
Chasing dreams, but what about us?

Show me you're willing to fight
That I'm still the love of your life
I know we call this our home
But I still feel alone”

So Father, give me the strength
To be everything I'm called to be
Oh, Father, show me the way
To lead them
Won't You lead me?

To lead them with strong hands
To stand up when they can't
Don't want to leave them hungry for love,
Chasing things that I could give up

I'll show them I'm willing to fight
And give them the best of my life
So we can call this our home
Lead me, 'cause I can't do this alone

Father, lead me, 'cause I can't do this alone...

I am the lucky one...

I saw this on a message board today and it made me think of when Nevin and I first met..

"Her eyes met mine as she walked down the corridor peering apprehensively into the kennels. I felt her need instantly and knew I had to help her. I wagged my tail, not too exuberantly, so she wouldn't be afraid.

As she stopped at my kennel I blocked her view from a little accident I had in the back of my cage. I didn't want her to know that I hadn't been walked today. Sometimes the shelter keepers get too busy and I didn't want her to think poorly of them.

As she read my kennel card I hoped that she wouldn't feel sad about my past. I only have the future to look forward to and want to make a difference in someone's life.

She got down on her knees and made little kissy sounds at me. I shoved my shoulder and side of my head up against the bars to comfort her. Gentle fingertips caressed my neck; she was desperate for companionship.

A tear fell down her cheek and I raised my paw to assure her that all would be well. Soon my kennel door opened and her smile was so bright that I instantly jumped into her arms. I would promise to keep her safe. I would promise to always be by her side. I would promise to do everything I could to see that radiant smile and sparkle in her eyes. I was so fortunate that she came down my corridor. So many more are out there who haven't walked the corridors. So many more to be saved. At least I could save one.

I rescued a human today."

I know he chose me that day. He jumped up and said that one needs loving. And I am the lucky one for him choosing me.

Business...

"Jesus loved the outcasts.

He loves the ones the world just loves to hate.

And as long as there's a heaven, there'll be a failure to excommunicate"
Failure to Excommunicate- Relient K

Ugh. I have not blogged since valentines. Almost a month has passed. Not that I am some super blogger anyways. But anyways this is my last semester in school so I had to double up on classes, which reminds me I need to go and sign up for commencement right now, anyways because of this and the stress that work is making me feel, along with the boys and house renovations I am pretty much completely busy and exhausted. We kinda tor apart the downstairs bathroom this weekend. For some dumb reason I was going to try and live with the ugly counter top on the vanity and paint the bathroom red. So I painted one coat of the red about four months ago, then never finished it. Well thank goodness a pink french toile towel at target brought me to my senses and we repainted it a light blue/grey color called pelican and tore out the counter top and sink and replacing it with a new plain white counter top and super cute faucet. O and we have painted the oak vanity white and added super cute pink nobs. now we just need to save up to do the bathroom floors. Hopefully this weekend I can have before and after progress pics to post.

With graduation approaching I have been doing a lot of thinking of what I want to do with my life.... There are so many things I want to get into once I don't have the stress of school to worry about. Cause really school is a major stressor on me. I kinda get anxiety over even the thought of doing homework and it really just causes a kink in my week. There are hobbies I want to pick up again such as a social life, scrapbooking and leisure reading. And there are hobbies I want to start such as photography. I would love to really learn how to take beautiful pictures so I could capture beautiful moments. And there are causes I want to fight for. Right now I volunteer for nothing but there are so many things I am passionate about i'm having a hard time trying to figure out where to. I would love to volunteer at an animal shelter, or volunteer for an organization like pro life, do volunteering at church, or there are many other options. anyways I need to do something to change the world and not just sit on my bum... I would encourage anyone reading this to do the same. Is there stuff you are passionate about? Are you actually doing something about it or just sitting and complaining about it? I know right now I am just sitting and I know that needs to change..

Happy Valentines Day!

I hope everyone has a good valentines today! Kyle and I spent our valentines yesterday. The day started off with going to my favorite stores in Downtown Anoka, The French Flea and The Wrens Nest. We found a couple of goodies including a lovely silver platter, a pair of shutters, and a little wood chair. These things are all going to be worked into my bathroom decorating somehow... I might paint the shutters white today... And they would be hung up a bit higher than that, but than I still have the challenge of figuring what to put in that space between them... Maybe a window? maybe some artwork like some old framed prints of birds seashells or flowers? I also want to get some little bottles and a small pillow to set on the chair.... Here is a picture of the whole bathroom kind of...

I have plans for this bathroom, We plan on having vinyl hardwoods installed. What you ask? Yes they make vinyl planks and they look amazingly real! And the best thing is they are amazingly water resistant... Which makes it the perfect alternative to get that wood look in the bathroom.. This is the link to it: CarpetOneEarthScapesBrand

I love the warm feeling wood will give to it over something like ceramic tiles.. which are really cool on the feet! And then of course we have eventual plans to put in a double sink in this bathroom since it is set up for it and than last I really want to put beadboard over the ceiling.. This one is a big iff but I love the look and think it would look great with the rest of the style of the bathroom..

But back to valentines. We went and saw valentines day the movie last night, cute flick, and than went downtown to the Melting Pot for dinner. The melting pot is a four course fondue dinner. It was so yummy!!!!! And then in spontanity we stayed downtown for the night at the Marquette hotel.. It was a great day!!!!!!!!!!I hope everyone else has a great Valentines too!

Lastly I will leave you some pics of my future projects and some decorating I have been doing lately..

Here is the Kitchen, The renovations include painting all the cabinets white, adding harware to them, and putting in new countertops, probably butcher block...

This is my scrapping room. So far we have painted the pink, put in the chandelier, and hung the curtains. Right now it is like the storage room, But i still need a desk and furniture for it anyways so once that happens it will get organized and set up. I am thinking of white painted furniture including a desk and hutch/shelf type thing and an old vintage chair or a slipcovered comfy jenny lund chair from ikea, like this: JennyLundChair

And last here are some pics of the new chandelier and new decor...

I heart faces- Kisses

Hey this is Kyle here. http://www.iheartfaces.com/ has a weekly contest and the theme this week is kisses... So here is one I took of Jenni and our dog Nevin... They love each other alot... Head over to the sight to check out some other awesome photographers..

A tale of two chandeliers...

we bought two chandeliers this weekend. Yay! One for my craft room and one for the entry way. I hope to get them hung soon and have pictures. Here is a link to the one for the craft room.

http://www.homedepot.com/Lighting-Fans-Interior-Decorative-Lighting-Chandeliers/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xr5Zapy8/R-100665765/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

In other news I also found a cute little curio cabinet for

the living room this weekend. The living room is coming along quite nicely now I just need those darn laminate floors.

And last I will leave you with my kitchen inspiration... White cupboards with butcher block countertops and beadboard backsplash, this project will come once the laminates are in..

Photo from countryliving.com

~Jenni

A quest for Shabby Chicness...

Now that the holidays are over I feel I can work more on decorating the house! I love decorating and well although we have lived here seven months now, weve barely gotten anything done on the house besides most of the painting. We painted the upstairs, except for the master. The office, which will be my future crafting room is painted a beautiful dark pink, the hallway upstairs and going down the stairs is a lovely shade of gray called vintage grey. The bathroom was also suppose to be a lovely shade of light gray called bay waves but I guess the paint swatches lie because it turned into a lovely shade of light blue, which at the time is driving me crazy because I a m realizing I cannot stand it because it is pretty much baby blue. I am going to repaint it a very, very light shade of grey, almost white. I just simply cannot live with the blue. And for the loft we chose to paint the one wall navy blue, one wall is cream because it is the same wall from downstairs and the rest extends into the hallway so it is vintage gray. Then the downstairs is all cream! A beautiful softened white. The only crazy thing is I decided to paint the downstairs bathroom a deep dark red. This does not go with the shabby chic decor and the lightness of the rest of the main level but I will make it work somehow.

So anyways my living room is starting to shape up. I feel I have finally found my decorating style. Something I would never have thought of myself actua lly. A love of all things old, tattered, floral, white, pure, and beautiful. A style called Shabby Chic. I find myself loving going to antique and thrift stores, seeing the beauty in offbeat treasures. Kyle and I just went friday and I found these:

And I found this little glass container:

And here is some more of my living room decor, we also have a hutch and a trunk we are repainting white and this spring once tax time hits I h ope to put in dark wood laminate floors and two chandeliers! One above the kitchen table and one in the entry way.

Well I need to get to bed so that is all I have to say for now... Happy New Year!

Jenni