Dream In Color

Him.

his name is nathan.

he lives just outside of washington d.c but he grew up in ghana, africa.

he is the kindest person i've ever met and never has a negative thing to say about anyone.

he is an amazing christian, and inspires me to be a better me.

london and him became buddies like 2 seconds after they met.

he is patient and a good listener and an amazing cook and he would do anything to help someone in need.

sometimes i don't feel like i deserve someone so amazing.

so i act a little crazy.

and he just tells me he loves me anyways and isn't going anywhere.

which just makes me fall a little bit more in love despite the crazy girl inside of me.

he is my polar opposite in every way.

which just works for us.

i'm crazy about him.

WE are crazy about him.

and i think he likes us too. alot.

i'm happy. so very very happy.

.

 

   

I Ain't Worried Doin' Me Tonight, A Little Sweat Ain't Never Hurt Nobody...

• first of all, thanks so much for all the sweet comments about LB and what was said about him.  i'm not going to lie, when i first found out i was devastated and cried for a long time, but now i know that it's not worth it.  there will always be people who won't understand or try to hurt others and i'm just going to try very hard to live my happy life in spite of it all. because he really does make me happy.
• speaking of happy, i am going to be getting some visitors over the next few weeks. rebekah is coming next weekend from saturday afternoon till tuesday and my new bff ruth is coming on the weekend of the 17th of april. we are all going to party like rock stars, i'm sure.  i haven't seen rebekah since last spring just before i moved from chicago and was newly pregnant so i'm super excited to introduce her to baby london.  and ruth? she's totally my alter ego.  we can text each other all day and never have to worry about offending the other person or being politically correct. i adore her. she makes me laugh when i want to scream. we are so going to make crazy art together. oh, and someone super special is coming to see me on thursday and then heading back on saturday. pretty pumped to see my love.  long distance relationships are never fun but he's so worth it.
• speaking of rebekah...she tagged me to share a photo of myself in the moment. and considering i always seem to look amazing, i was happy to oblige.  perhaps you can learn some fashion tips if you look long enough at my orange and creamed striped dress, green maternity sweats and peacock hair.what can i say? i strive to look perfect all the time, whether the cameras are rolling or not. 
• the rules are as follows:
• 1. Take a picture or 2 of yourself right now. No primping or preparing. Just snap a picture.
  2. Load the picture(s) onto your blog.
  3. Tag three people to play. Remember, if you are tagged on another blog, we will all be heading to yours to see if you played along.
• my photos:  
• (i am going to tag amy, kristina and tara. because they are my besties for life.)
• speaking of looking horrible, holly and i are still trying to do our power90 program everyday.  today, in an attempt to stop myself from having a heart attack in the middle of it all, i took a breather (or 10) and took a shot of holly working her butt-kicking magic:
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• and then when we were all done she took this photo of me. which gives a whole new meaning to the word hot. mostly because i died of a heatstroke 3 seconds later. but at least i went out with "unique"  hair and a cool, yet completely unflattering orange dress.
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• and then there was mr. wonder-britches sitting on the couch watching us exercise and falling asleep from the effort of it all. i find it ironic that people say how cute his growing chubbiness is all the while i'm working so hard to get rid of mine.  sometimes life is just so unfair.
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• ok, i'm off to do some more art for the garage sale. unless, of course, i decide to just crash on the couch and watch tv instead. which is a distinct, yet tragic possibility. i'm such a compulsive procrastinator.

Love Me, Hate Me, Say What You Want About Me...

• so this week i'm working on some art projects to sell.  not online or anything, but for a garage sale that we are having next weekend.  i am going to make up some premade albums and scrapbook pages and decorating pieces and see how they sell and then if i feel like anyone would want them, i'll maybe look into doing something online or more often around here.  (suggestions and requests are welcome!) mostly, though...i just want to pay my heat bill.
• speaking of art...i am way into this art journal that a friend recently gave me as a gift...not so much in keeping it all together as it is intended, but as an art journal prompter that i'll scrapbook and art journalize with and then hopefully put in my own album.  love the freedom it gives you. love the entire idea. i want to be that wicked cool guerrilla artist. except instead i just made myself look native american. which i'm pretty ok with. 
• also you can post your wrecked journal pages here.
• so i have recently gotten into the celebrity apprentice show for the first time ever.  100% due to the fact that tom green is on it.  tom green is a ridiculous human being who just happens to star in the funniest movie ever invented: stealing harvard. i cannot even tell you how many conversations we had in college where we could only use lines from that movie. love it. (except by going to the site to get that link i just saw that he got fired and now i totally don't want to watch it anymore. well.  that just opened some space in my dvr library.)
• londonerpants has been growing crazy fast these last couple weeks...i think he hit a growth spurt because he suddenly eats like twice the amount he did just a week or so ago. and despite the fact that he clearly hates it, i have been informed that i need to get him to learn to love baby food. we'll see how that works out. i'm just nervous about the day that he is taller than me. because i think it's fast approaching.
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• oh, and it has been brought to my attention that some people do not think that london is a cute baby and that clearly i am the only person that thinks he is because there are much much more beautiful babies in the world. and while i was heartbroken to have been told this, i'm just going to go ahead and publicly say that it doesn't matter to me whether anyone else EVER thinks he's cute. i will always find him to be the most beautiful child that ever lived. because he's mine. if you don't feel the same, that's ok.  we are all allowed to have our opinions. just please don't say that to me.  and i swear i'd never say that to you about your kid. 
• ok, so i think that's all i have to share tonight. nothing real exciting...just wanted to share a couple photos and let everyone know i'm still alive.

• oh and did i mention that i'm in love with a boy? because i am. photos to come soon. :)

All Eyes On Me In The Center Of The Ring, Just Like A Circus...

• so i have been neglecting my blog lately.  mostly because i'm tired and uninspired and quite honestly, facebook obsessed.  it's so much easier to just post what i'm doing in a one-liner than sign all the way in over here to post a bunch of stuff that i think only 2 of my friends read anyways. also i haven't been working on anything amazing lately that i can share. i DO plan on scrapping all day tomorrow with my sister-in-law so hopefully sometime soon i'll be able to share some new fun stuff. until then i'm just going to mostly type words. 
• but i'll start with a photo...just to pull you in and trick you into thinking there could be more if you just scroll down.
• lb took his first carousel ride today at the mall. loved it so much he couldn't stop laughing and gasping and checking to make sure i was watching.  well, i think he more loved the taste of the pole coming out of the tiger because he kept licking it before i could pull him away.
• 
• seeing him totally reminded me of back in the day when i was a kid and i would get myself all dressed up in the most colorful combinations of clothes i could find and proudly skip downstairs only have have my mom say almost every time "CHERYL SUE MANZ! you look like a zoo! go back upstairs and put on something that matches." pretty sure she still thinks that everytime she sees me but refrains from saying it. 
• also pretty sure that has nothing to do with carousel rides, but i remembered it when i was on it, so i decided to share anyways.
• i am currently trying to find great songs to download and listen to while i'm exercising.  because beyonce's single ladies gets a little old after you've heard it 50 bajillion times in rapid succession. suggestions please. songs that don't make you want to move need not apply.
• speaking of exercising, holly and i are doing the POWER 90 program 6 days a week. you are supposed to have a complete body makeover in 90 days. which is awesome except it makes you so sore that you are pretty sure you aren't going to be able to get out of bed the next morning.   but i also have been riding mr. schwinn each day and walking with kayla so i might be overdoing it a bit.
• speaking some more of exercising, i just found out that my fibromyalgia medication that i take every morning and night is preventing me from losing weight and making me gain instead. awesome.  i'm going to the doctor in the morning to ask him about getting off of it.  then we'll see which is worse: the pain or the weight.
• i am insanely jealous of amy right now because she is in NYC with her husband's journalism class.  and just yesterday she called to tell me that she was right outside where they were shooting Gossip Girl, which made me hate her a little bit on one hand and so pumped for her on the other. i want to go to new york. just maybe not as a chaperon to a bunch of teenagers.
• actually, i'd rather go to d.c. at the moment.  or perhaps baltimore.  for undisclosed reasons that i'm not allowed to talk about but that make me very happy. 
• speaking of big cities, i'm starting to feel like maybe i'm going to have to move back to one to find a job.  because the ones in this little one-horse town are few and far between.
• so my dvr shows have been piling up lately, a little bit because i'm so tired by the end of the day that i don't even have the energy to keep my eyes open to watch anything and a little bit because i'm currently obsessed with the boomerang channel.  i'm trying to only watch shows that aren't bad for lb to see when he's around to get into the habit when he is old enough to pick stuff up.  but i tend to leave it on when he isn't around too...because the boomerang zoo and pink panther and the flintstones just crack me up. that's what happens when you grow up without a tv, i guess.  because despite the fact that i'm actually 26, in tv years i'm only like 3 or 4...hence the amusement over old-school cartoons.
• speaking of watching stuff, i owe the local movie store $58 because i forgot to take back pinapple express for 2 weeks when i rented it only for one night. ridiculous.  i mean, it was probably one of the funniest movies i've ever seen in my life and i want to marry james franco after seeing it, but not for that price.  so i'm currently a movie gallery refugee.  i'm never going to be able to rent another movie in this town.  and i constantly have to look over my shoulder to check if they are coming after me. i could just pay the bill, but i feel that if i give in to this they will stop at nothing. what's next...$10 bags of popcorn?
• so we are having a garage sale the first week of april at my house.  thursday, friday and saturday...and we have been sorting through tons of stuff and will hopefully start putting it all on tables in my garage this weekend. it's my first garage sale ever and i'm kind of pumped. i'm selling tons of scrapbook stuff and clothes and books so if you live close, stop by. because i really need the money.
• and i leave you with one last photo of my lovey on his tiger. never on earth has a cuter child lived. just my humble opinion but also the truth.
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• oh, and one more of the 2 of us.  because that smile melts my heart.
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How To Save A Life...

so granted, the title is a bit dramatic, but it sounds better than how to save a couch. so i will leave it, as nothing else in my life is all that dramatic right now.  and just to warn you...if this post makes no sense or consists of pointless rambling it's because i'm feeling very very sick and am not thinking straight. 

anyways, let's begin with the sharing of the magical transformation of my living room sunday. very much in partnership with amy, the greatest friend that ever lived, who stayed with me until it was finished. i just love that girl. i will owe her for the rest of my life for all she's done for me over the past year alone. 

the main project we had to do was to convert this disaster of a piece of furniture into something that wouldn't make me ashamed for people to see my living room.trust me when i say that i'm embarrassed to even show you the before photo.  it feels a bit like sharing that horrible photo that was taken from directly below you that makes you appear to have 11 and a half more chins than the main 3 you actually do have in real life.  but i think sharing the after photo makes it a little better, so i will. 

before:

  

and after about 200 safety pins, a small mountain of staples using the staple gun, 2 runs to the store for supplies, approximately six hours of work and a tornado scare, we have a new couch:

 

ok, so granted, i'm not in love with the green bottom (made out of bed sheets) but we didn't have enough ikea fabric to cover it all so we improvised.  and considering it looks about 20 hundred 50 bajillion times better than the old couch, i'm going to stick with it until i can get to ikea again. 

and to give credit where credit is due...the idea to cover the couch with fabric was elizabeth's idea. if you click on her name you will see the blog i created for her non-profit.

anywhoo...we also did lots of rearranging (and when i say we, i mostly mean amy) and spray-painting and other random projects...which i will now share starting with the little area by my front door. i got the shelfy cool looking thing from holly's garage, the C from anthropologie and the pinwheels were 87 cents at hobby lobby (they make me ridiculously happy because the spin every time someone opens the door.) the frame was also from hobby lobby, the vase was left by the lady that used to live here and the colorful thing around the top is an old bracelet that i never wear anymore:

 

next we have the beginning of a photo project that will be above my couch...right now it doesn't look cool at all because it's so small, but it's a start.  the orange part is an old vent from an antique store that i spray painted and the little people are magnets that bend around. photo by angie and the whole thing is straight in real life.

 

and alas, that's all i got for now.

i'm off to try some chicken soup and take another nap.

pray for me (she said dramatically).

Cause I'm A Rock Star, Baby...

sometimes you just have to embrace your inner rock star.

 

  

  

and then you go back to making bottles and drool-filled kisses and baby chatter and realize your life is much better than any rock star out there. 

but you still keep the hair for those random rock star moments...   

How Are You Today Sir? Very Well, I Thank You...

1. first off, i'm going to go ahead and get the bragging out of the way.  i have rode (ridden? roden? rided?) my schwinn-pal for 40 minutes every day this week, and i walked at the school on the ramps all but wednesday, when i had to work on taxes. the thing about the ramps though, is when you are pushing a stroller up them you think you are possibly going to die after about the 3rd lap...and you find yourself puffing and wheezing and oddly annoyed at the small child chattering happily away and possibly throwing in a tiny baby sized WHEEEE while you are doing all the work. and then when you are going back down that same stroller pulls on you so hard that you really only have 2 choices: A. go up on the toes of your sneakers and skate ballet style down 3 stories of ramps or B. hold on with all your might while your feet move faster than you ever believed possible and your arms feel like they are about to tear themselves apart from their socket.

usually i chose the latter. just for fun.

2. in other news i have reason to believe that something has died in my kitchen. hence the horrific smell that is quite literally driving me insane.  while i'm fairly certain it's not human, i'm still investigating.  after spending half the night last night tearing apart and sniffing every inch of my house i have finally come to the conclusion that it's coming from beneath my refrigerator.  perhaps in the crawlspace because a thorough search conducted on my stomach at 3am this morning did not produce anything, dead or alive, besides massive amounts of dust.

awesome.

3. london has a new little thing he does...it's somewhat like talking only it's continuous and done with his mouth wide open. more like a growl, really. and the funny thing is that he only does it when someone else is talking to me.  on the phone or in person, it doesn't matter to him. my baby is starting to get jealous. it's been awhile since a man was so vocal about his possession of me.

kinda flattering, in an obnoxious sort of way.

4. i'm currently watching iCarly. i tell myself it's because lb wants to but i do not have an explanation for the laughter that keeps spewing out of me every few seconds. nor can i explain why it continues to stay on despite the fact that he's sound asleep in his crib and has been for the last half hour.

what can i say? i love me some sam and carly.

5. have i mentioned i'm facebook obsessed? because i am.  i feel like i'm getting to know people that i've been kinda friends with forever so much better...and perhaps making other people realize just how crazy i am.

shoot.

6. every single time i cook my fire alarm goes off.  to the point the LB doesn't even glance up from his exersaucer anymore when it happens. so annoying. i swear i'm not burning anything.  is there such a thing as a firealarm with an overly sensitive nose?

because i think mine has that disease.

7. due to the recent overhaul i have given my living room, i am left with many things that were previously stuffed in out-of-sight places and that now have no home within the new decor. i fully plan on begging my organization queen friend amy over to help me figure out what to do with it all, but until them i'm on a mad search for extra storage space.  it's not so bad when it's just me losing my mind about the sad state my house is in, but when company comes over i'm forced to shove things anywhere they can fit.  i have been known to put things in the dryer, behind bookcases and even once i threw the entire  contents of my living room floor in an old trunk stored in the garage and then strategicly placed it in the corner of my bedroom to fake them into thinking it was part of the decor. but alas all my hiding places are now full. and i am left with no choice but to spring clean. otherwise i will surely go crazy.

or perhaps i'll just hide them in the crawlspace with the dead person.

 

(that's a photo of all the scrapbook pages i have completed since moving back to paulding. they just sit in my living room. yeah, i need to buy albums.)

8. the love of my life. (just in case anyone has forgotten what he looks like in the last 4 seconds)

 

exersaucer and stroller photos by me...good photos by angie manz.

Bring In The Light...

just really quick posting my expedit now that it's all set up and has a few things on it.  although, not going to lie, i just threw a bunch of things from around the house on it to make it look colorful and cheery for this photo.

we covered just one shelf with fabric using a staple gun and then we turned it on it's side. 

i love it.

i also love CHUCK.

 

You Spin My Head Right Round...

i have a new friend and his name is schwinn. well really he's my frenemy, to put it in tabloid terms.  today i moved him into my living room, and my comfy rocking chair out. why you ask? because it's been 5 months now since i had a baby and this is ridiculous. so now the only chair i have to sit in to watch tv is my super motivating exercise bike. which is totally fine because i prefer the couch anyways. shoot.

in other, more exciting news, amy's and my trip to ikea yesterday was a huge success. i got the expedit that is just one strip of cubes and turned it on it's side to become my tv stand. sounds not cool, but i promise that when i take photos tomorrow in better lighting you will see why i love it so much. it totally opened up my living room up AND is storing my paper close by where i scrap, so now i can do it without making a huge mess of my living room.  words cannot express my excitement at the thought of scrapping again. it feels like forever.

i also got some fabric that i have big BIG plans for.  hoping to get that done and ready to share one day this week.  i had no idea that ikea carried fabrics...let alone such cool ones.  we had a really hard time figuring out which one we like best. there were tons of bright funky ones to choose from.

other than that, we didn't get a whole lot.  mostly little things that were just too irresistable to pass up.  we also went to a couple antique stores but didn't buy anything.  why, i'm not sure...mostly because i walked out of one of them without buying these glasses.  which, in my humble opinion, was the tragedy of the century.  i just wish i could go back and buy them right now.  i would cherish them forever. i cannot get over how much i love them. i think i might have found a new obsession outside of rainbow hair.

 

and a few other fun photos from our day trip...

obligatory mirror shot at the antique store:

  

 playing in line at ikea:

  

a cool hat:

  

lb in his stroller and checking out photos amy took (he was absolutely perfect up until the last 20 minutes of the trip...which he spent screaming at me for making him shop for so long):

the little town where everything was:

 

it was, definately, one of my top 15 most best days ever. girlfriend roadtrips are thebomb.com. i'm ready to start planning the next one.

and now i'm going to post this without proofreading. because it's 1:30 at night and i'm exhausted.  it's all marti's fault for getting me addicted to facebook. how does anyone get anything done with that sucking you in?!

goodnight all!