inspiration overload

If you’re following me on Facebook, you might know that I’ve been feeling a little bit overwhelmed about our impending choice in paint colors. When we started our house hunt, I was thrilled that we could finally have colored walls, and found inspiration everywhere I looked.

Now that we’ve signed with a contractor and construction starts next week(!), there’s a looming deadline. Somehow, I’m finding too much inspiration, so I’m feeling the pressure to choose. After some friends gave me wise advice about searching for color combos here, here and on Pinterest, and just by googling the name on the paint chip to see what others have come up with, I’m starting to feel a lot better. (Thanks.) Ian is much more relaxed about the whole thing. (Who’s surprised?) He has already chosen his office color: white.

photo finish

I am excited to announce that Ian and I have finally finished with a household project that's been half-done for ages. It all started in July 2007 (the 11th to be exact), when we were in town for Andrew and Amy's wedding. Ian and I hadn't been alone for the whole week we'd been home, so we took a drive into Sheboygan to grab a coffee at the Weather Center Cafe and then to see what was going on at the lakefront. After we got our caffeine fix (only the best coffee in the city), we decided to park by the cottages at Blue Harbor and walk down to the beach where there's a boardwalk and some grassy dunes (reconstructed, I think -- pretty sure this land didn't exist 10 years ago).

What we found there was absolutely breathtaking. It was about 8 o'clock, and there was fog over the lake, but it was translucent enough to see the clouds and the sun starting to set in the background. Luckily, we'd brought our camera along, so we started shooting. Here are our favorites:

Later, we decided to frame them...and until today (when we found out the new Michaels next to the new Whole Foods has very affordable frames) we'd only gotten around to framing three. Because of this, only a few of the frames match, but they're all black with white mats. They look tres chic, if I do say so myself.

Yay! Another item checked off the list. Now on to putting a bird feeder on the balcony...

feeling a little more grown up

When did you start feeling like a real adult? I still don't (at least consistently). I've hit all these milestones: turning 18, starting college, turning 21, moving into my own apartment, graduating from college, buying a car, working in the "real world," getting engaged, getting married, moving half-way across the country without knowing a soul except for Ian and Eric McMiller...without ever experiencing an A-ha! I have reached maturity! moment. Ian feels the same way -- even friends who are in their thirties with kids have shared similar musings. I'm kind of embarrassed about it.

Today, however, I think we got a little bit closer. But first, some backstory: It's been a long road, which happened to start on my 24th birthday when Ian gave me a wonderful vintage rose print. It has lived in four different apartments, because we always had the intention of framing it, but we needed to find something to complement it. A Christmas or two later, Ian gave me a set of vintage flower notecards -- and we realized that they were what we'd been waiting for (they have only resided in three apartments).

That brings us to last weekend, when we finally took the prints to the very nice little framing shop nearby. The owner helped us pick out mats and some fantastic brown-black barnwood frames. On Thursday night, we got a call. The prints were ready! So we picked them up today when we had time to hang them together. On the way home, Ian said rather proudly, "Wow, I feel really mature." So did I. So did I. (For about five minutes.)

Here's one of the smaller prints.
It's a drawing of Ixia or African corn lily (the other is of narcissus).

Ladies and gentlemen, you are witnessing a rare occasion:
Mr. Let's Just Eyeball It is measuring.

We're both so pleased with how they turned out.
They look great with the toile bedding we bought for our most recent anniversary.

Now, don't go pitying Ian because his toile and flowery bedroom is feminine. He picked out everything. Didn't he do a nice job? (Trust me, it looks even better in person.)

Alright...I need to go find something to hit the ceiling with (or go into another room). My upstairs neighbor has been playing Frère Jacques on his new electric guitar for about an hour and I can't take it any more. Maybe I'll feel fully mature when we buy our own house...