chair love

Okay. . . if you're one of the friends who have been waiting to see this. . .here it is. My chair choice. I will be getting the rest sometimeish. . . ya know. . . whenever that is :) But in the meantime. . . I love this one I brought home for a test drive. I love marrying the modern lines of the chair with the uber-traditional lines in the table. I love the skinny chrome legs that let you see around the chair and are not bulky and don't block the view of the table Jonathan loves so much. AND it's comfy. . . a Jonathan must. So there it is. My new chair. I hope you like it too.
p.s. the chair is really dark brown. . . not black. just so ya know.

why mondays are the best day for blogging

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On Mondays. . . most bloggers blog. It's a sure day. . . it's a rare Monday when I don't get sucked into blogland and just live there for at least an hour. I'm usually tired on Mondays. . . so it's a good day for blogging. And. . if you don't love Design*Sponge . . . you do and just don't know it. . . . their sneak peaks are on Monday. Another reason why Monday is a good day for blogging.

gray skies

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So we are getting more snow. Just watched the news. . . it's a true story. I think this weather is depressing. Bahhh . . . I am so ready for spring. . . how about you?

kitchen inspiration

light

When we were in Texas we took a trip to Ikea to pick up some things I'd picked out. . . and among them were some new light fixtures. Jonathan picked out the dinning room light. It was a good compromise. . . you can't tell in the picture, but it really looks great in the room . . . pulls together a lot of my eclectic crazy :) I can't wait until I finish a few more things in there and then posting before and after pics. . . so fun. We've come a long way.

Here are the kitchen light(s). Again. . . I think it's hard to tell in pictures how things really look/feel in a room. Jonathan shocked me when he liked these. . . I thought I was going too far for his semi-traditional taste. . . but he likes them!

If you cant remember the before lights/fan from pics. . . trust me, it was bad. Miss-matched and black with gold trim. . . very circa 1982. I like how these feel unified and are just as pretty when not lit up too.

snow day

Lots of snow today. Lots. I generally like snow, when I don't have to work :) I've been calling today a snow day, except I wasn't scheduled to work so it's less like a snow day and more like just a normal day off. But that's okay. . . I like snow. The doggies like the snow. Jack eats it. He doesn't lick it like other dogs, he bites at it. He loves snow. He doesn't love shots. . . and he got shots today. I'm thinking though that his love of snow and hate of shots balanced each-other out today so his day didn't totally stink. The doggies spend their whole day looking out the windows, especially on snow days. I think it's weird. . . what are they looking at? It's funny when they do see something though. . . like on the movie UP. . . 'squirrel'. So funny.

Yes . . . I am one of those people who writes blog posts about their dogs . . . and I'm okay with that.

p.s. I am working on my computer skills . . . because they stink. Jonathan is helping me learn photo shop. . . hence the fancy picture above.  Bear with me people . . . I'm trying.

gifts

You may have heard of all the 'love language' stuff after a book by Gary Chapman became very popular both in churches and out. In some of the circles I am in, it was common (and still is) to be asked what your love language is during a get-to-know you type conversation. . . and I've always felt uneasy answering. If you say my primary love language is gifts, especially to someone who's love language isn't gifts. . . it sounds selfish or materialistic (at least to my ears). I don't want people to feel like I'll only feel loved by you if you give me stuff. And truth be told. . . there are other love languages, and we all feel loved by all of them. My husband is not a big gifter. . . giving or receiving . . . but I sure as heck feel loved by him. :)

I think it comes from my mom. My mom is a great gift giver. She loves LOVES thinking of things to give. She is creative in her gift giving and gives things you didn't remember or realize you wanted but when you receive her gift you feel known. I have other people in my life who are the same way, from close friends to my step-mom too. . . I have a lot of gifters in my life. I'm one too.

My birthday was a couple of weeks ago and I received some great gifts from family and friends. Some really great gifts. None huge or super flashy expensive or anything like that, but as I opened them each on different occasions. . . I felt known. When you receive a gift you didn't ask for, that so perfectly meets a need or fits inside of your taste you feel known. And that, I decided, is why my love language is gifts. Because giving a gift that makes someone else feel known, is a priceless feeling. It's not about stuff.