Things are a changin'

Many things in my life are changing. Important things. Serious things. Mind-boggling things.

Like the decor of my bedroom.

What? So I may be exaggerating. But I am REALLY excited about how things are looking now! It started with the chair, which was supposed to become part of my reading nook {digression- isn't nook an adorable word?}.

I obsessed thoroughly perused fabric options for making a slipcover or reupholstering it, and found several I liked but... the entire cost for that huge chair would have been over $250 for fabric alone... plus my time... and time for me to make mistakes and have to redo stuff...

It ended up not being worth it to me. I felt a bit tool-ish for giving up, but a little bit of quick craigslisting {yes, its a word} gave me a better solution! My big chair was gone for as much cash as I had in it, and I had a more compact and classier chair in its place!

But that isn't all! Did you notice the white thing next to the chair? I made that! Guess what is inside?

I started with the ideas from Ana White's Faux Apothecary Chest . I didn't need anything so large as her plans, and I didn't need shelves. I took her basic plans and adjusted the size down to what I needed (though the two basket shelves are the same sizes as hers), and then put a divider in so the feline princess would have a separate eating area {dare I say nook?}. There is also a hole on the side for easy kitty access.

After some hinge issues (put the entry hole on the far side from where you want to put your doors- it will save you a lot of trouble), we were ready to go!

I made this piece from mostly scrap wood from other projects, so I opted to paint most of it with some white paint we had lying around. The top was all of one type of wood, so I figured that staining it would add a nice contrast. Oh yeah, and I had the stain lying around from a previous project as well.

Total cost for this project:

New wood- $20
Knobs- $9
Hinges- $5
Baskets- $15

Total = $49 out of pocket

We went from having this-

Storage on a dog crate (now in baskets) and a dome litterbox that I did not want to document photographically!

To this!

There has been even more decorating adventuring, but I'll save that for later this week:)

Memories, Dreams and Reflections 2010

Photo maven Ashley Sisk at Ramblings and Photos is hosting an awesome linky this month. Memories, Dreams and Reflections 2010 is a fun way to relive this year. Head over and join the fun!

1. Me! - picture of yourself (you don't have to show your face). What are you most proud of accomplishing in 2010? I'm proud that I've made it to 2011, but it makes me feel really old! Shot 10-10-10

 

 
2. I Love You- picture of your husband, boyfriend, children, pets, etc. We went to New Orleans and there were so many beautiful photo ops! Shot 11-21-10

3. Still Laughing- a moment you're still laughing about now... tell us a story. This is the first in a brief nose-plant series. Chowder was permanently temporarily unable to keep his feet under him while running, so he ended up somersaulting in the field. Of course, he is way to clumsy dignified for such things to happen now. *cough* Shot 2-21-10

4. Winter Wonderland - a picture that reflects Winter. Driving along the highway to my parents house, I had to pull over and take this shot. The landscape seemed unearthly, and I loved how you could barely make out the horizon. Shot 12-29-10

5. Birthday - share a birthday picture (your own or someone you love). 

6. Friends - a picture with friends (this could be your friends or your children with their friends). It was hard to get an in-focus shot of this whirlwind of play! Shot 11-14-10

7. I Was Inspired... - could be a picture of your inspiration (person or thing), or inspired by... Mostly I was inspired to get out of the car, but at least is offered a unique view! Shot 12-28-10

8. Spring Fever - a picture that reflects Spring. Shot 4-14-10

9. Travel or Vacation - a picture taken on vacationor on a recent travel experience, OR of a place you'd like to travel. Our last big vacation was to Europe, including Venice, and oh what an amazing trip it was:). Shot 5-14-10

10. Summer Days - a picture that reflects Summer. Shot 7-11-10

11. A Day In My Life - a picture of a typical day in your life.  A lovely cappuccino made by Mr. Pony and a good book- my perfect morning! Shot 12-1-10

12. All Smiles - a picture that makes you smile or of smiling faces. At least Chowder is smiling! Shot 2-3-10

13. Autumn Harvest - a picture that reflects Autumn/Fall. shot 10-14-10

14. Family - a picture of your family or a picture that represents family for you. I never remember to have my camera out while with my people family, so the closest thing is this shot of Copper. This year we'll have been together 13 years, or 1/2 my life. Pony!

15. Celebrate! - a picture that reflects a celebration. We celebrated our first anniversary slightly early- that way we got to celebrate in Paris! Shot 5-26-10

16. Let's Do It Again... - a picture of something you'd like to do again soon. I LIVE LOVE to travel. This time last year I was planning a trip to Europe. While something that extravagant is not in the cards for 2011, I would love to take a trip somewhere amazing again soon! Shot 10-28-10

17. I Miss You - a picture of someone or something you really miss. I don't really seem to take photos of human family. However, these felines are family from when I was in high school, and I do miss cuddling with them on many frigid, Frozen-North nights.

18. Beautiful - a picture of someone or something you find beautiful. The man I love, doing what he loves {cooking}, adding a beautiful plethora of food to our lives. Shot 12-16-10

19. Dress Up - this might be a picture from Halloween or not...but someone who is all dressed up! Ok, so this isn't a person, but what is more dressed up than the Eiffel Tower when she glitters?

20. Macro - share your favorite macro image.   I <3 Macro!

21. Holidays - a picture from the Holiday of your choice. Shot 12-31-10

22. My Favorite - share your favorite picture or memory from 2010. We added a puppy to our family, and even though we had to nurse him through parvo, he was a family member from day 1. This was taken the day we signed the paperwork to adopt him. Shot 1-16-10 (from a camera phone- don't judge!)

23. Don't Ever Change - something you love about yourself, someone, or something that you never want to change.  Lyric is big, a bit goofy and 100% a character. Taken 8-5-10

24. Just Because...So There! - share any picture(s) that you really want to share, but doesn't fit in any other category.  Straight from the horse's mouth. Shot 5-24-10

 25. Hopes and Dreams - share what you hope to come or dream for 2011. Feel free to share an image of your choice. I hope to live a happy and enjoyable life. I hope to learn more about photography and possibly expand my skills into some photo-editing (right now all I do is SOOC) and start riding my {hopefully soon-to-be-healed pony} again, and I hope to live more of a carpe diem lifestyle. Huzzah 2011!!

 Thanks to all who stopped by to share my photographic journey through 2010! Good luck in 2011!!

Project 365- Round 2

Sometime in October, my general interest in doing the Project 365 sputtered out. Looking at all those blank calendar spaces made me feel a bit hopeless, so I finally made a pretty obvious groundbreaking decision- I will start over!

I've been able to fill in from Dec 1 through today because, thankfully, I've been taking more pictures lately. Hopefully I'll be able to make it all the way through the end of Nov '11 without missing any more days!

Of course, I have to leave you with a couple recent pictures of the 2 critters who will probably get the most camera time. Enjoy!

Long time no post!

And so I have finally returned to the blogging world. Life has been exceptionally busy (as I'm sure it has been for anyone else), but I've decided its time to return to the blog-o-sphere. Whats new here?

-I've made a few changes to my 101 in 1001 which I'll post in the new few days. Over the last month, I've made next to no progress on my list and found that several of my goals didn't really matter that much to me, so... I changed them and I'm starting over as of Dec. 1, just to make a clean break of it. I suppose I could procrastinate until New Year's, but then I'd probably never get started.

-I'm obsessing over new ideas in home decor {shocking} and I'm just itching to distract Mr. Pony long enough to spend hundreds of dollars on airy bookcases, delicate knick-knack tables and tidbits of foolishness to decorate said tables. I may have to content myself with daydreaming for now, but one day, victory shall be mine!

-The Pony family is strongly considering adopting a dog from one of the local animal rescues. Mr. P thinks a lab puppy would be super. I'm a bit more... tentative on the puppy-ness of what we adopt. I'm leaning more towards a mature animal that will hopefully be past its puppy chewing phase, etc. After all, we already have the catdog that chews on shoes, wires and small pieces of wooden furniture- isn't that enough?

Nothing major has changed, but important things for me! Upcoming will be some updates to the 'look' of the Pony site, plus *hopefully* more regular additions. Cheers!

The begining is the most important part of the work. - Plato

Personal Goals: By the Letter

I now have a pretty camera (its 9 years old, but its new to me!), and it is... frightening. There are so many buttons and bells and whistles that I could start my own brass orchestra with the bloody thing, and that makes it quite disconcerting to use stepping up from a point-and-shoot camera.

So for the first couple of days it sat on my desk. I stared at it. It stared back. I think it won the contest. And I realized that such treatment of a nice camera simply won't do. I've read a bunch of things on the interwebz and recently pestered various members of the IL family with questions about using 'The Beast' {affectionately, TB}, and I've reached a decision.

Goals must be set with this camera or I'll never get it! I'm like this with things- if I just go with the flow, I never end up learning anything- it just isn't my style. If I really want to do a project or learn a skill, I have to set weekly/monthly {some kind of timeline} goals to reach on a regular basis. I can make a list that way, and I L.O.V.E. crossing things off of lists {please tell me I'm not the only one!}, so its much more likely that I'll actually follow the plan.

With that in mind, I have created a new plan for myself: Photography by the Letter. Each week I will wander around and use my imagination and my lens to capture a new letter (in order!) in a creative yet easily recognizable manner. This was inspired by The Art of Whimsy, and it seemed like a fantastic way to get myself out and taking pictures! Today I spent about 40 minutes wandering down our street, and while I'm not entirely satisfied with my 'A' yet, I still have all week to find 'the one'. Bear with me, you might have to use your imagination on some of these! What do you think of attempt #1?

Imagination disposes of everything; it creates beauty, justice, and happiness, which are everything in this world.- Blaise Pascal

*photo by me