Friday's Letters

Dear Husband, I am excited about our first camping trip together this weekend! I can't wait to build a fire and cozy up with you! Dear Bugs, please leave me alone while we camp. I don't like you or any of your cousins so just get lost. Dear S'mores, I really want to make you tonight and enjoy your marshmallow chocolatey goodness, but that probably doesn't line up with my P90X nutrition plan I got goin' on...BOO! Dear Livingroom, you look so cute!!! I love your new rug and sofa and I promise your bookshelves shall be painted and your windows dressed very soon! Dear Community Group, I love all of you guys and I am really looking forward to our cookout this weekend! Wednesday nights are something I look forward to every week now too. ;) Dear Ramesses, you made your Daddies very mad this morning (thats just one "Daddy" by the way...thats just how we say it, K?) You are not allowed on mister sofa and you drooled on him and left a spot! You really are a crazy slobbery mouth pup, but we love you. Dear Husband, This week has been so fun with you. I love when we get to settle in and spend time together and our schedules match up. Best weeks ever!

Dear Readers, here is a few photos to show you the grace and wonder that is our lovey pup. Enjoy ;)

This is my trying to get a shot with both of us, he does not cooperate, as you will see...

Kisses! Kisses! Kisses!!

IN THE FACCCCEEEE! Yep. Just like that. 

I think he was happy with himself.

Have a happy weekend!!!!

Featured Sponsor and a GIVEAWAY!!

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Gotta Have It Bracelet (Premier Designs Jewelry)

The bracelet comes in two stone choices (black or clear) and the winner gets to choose which they prefer!

In order to win you need to be a follower of both blogs. Don't forget to comment if you are following :)

Happy Wednesday!

Friday's Letters

Dear Husband, I am so glad it's the weekend and that I get to spend it with you! We are going to paint the heck out of some bookshelves this weekend so they will be well dressed for the new sofa to arrive. Dear New Sofa, Eeeeeeeeee! I am so excited that you will soon be here! We have waited quite a bit and its time for you to come home now. Thanks. Dear P90X, You are kicking my butt!!I really need it and I hope we can stay friends. It would really help if you were a bit nicer to me though.... Dear Spider, When you came dangling down from the visor in the car the other day, I umm...."reacted". No offense but I don't really like you and my freak out made Dan think we were about to wreck. Luckily there was a somewhat empty soda can to drown you in...sorry about that.....sorta. Dear Husband, Your ability to catch Mr. Spider in the soda can (while I remained calm in the passenger seat) AND keep your other hand on the wheel was impressive. You are my knight in shining (aluminum can) armor!

HAPPY WEEKEND!!

P90X.....Day 1

About a year ago my now husband and I started doing P90X and only got through about 3 weeks of it. I got sick, then had surgery and then we had an awesome trip to Ireland and just completely got off track. So I decided I wanted to try again but this time I am going with the lean version, which has different work out schedules--more cardio, basically. I know that working out is only part of getting back in shape so I will be trying to change my eating habits as well. I will still drink a coke now and then, mac and cheese (I love all pasta...and cheese) and let myself have the yummy foods I love. I just won't be having them on a daily basis. I am going to do my very best to stick to the P90X diet and meal planning they provide. I am a very picky eater though and unfortunately don't care for a lot of the healthier foods. They have some different options in the nutrition guide and I am going to move it around some so that I can make it work.


Yesterday was day 1....Lord please get me to day 90!


The first 30 days is high protein and very low carbs. Here is what my day in food was looking like:


Breakfast:
2 slices of turkey bacon
cherry greek yogurt


Snack:
2% milk string cheese


Lunch:
chicken salad w/ grapes
10 garden veggie crackers
sliced peaches (no sugar added)

Snack:
soy nuts 
1/2 cup of broccoli
ranch dip (made with non-fat sour cream...YUM!)


Dinner:
honey chili chicken (cooked on the grill)
quinoa
peas
glass of wine :)


I felt so much better going into the first days work out knowing I had fueled my body better. I also drank about 64 ounces of water throughout the day.


The first workout was Core Synergistics and let me just say....DANG! There is a lot of rolling around on the floor bowing, banana-ing, boating, superman-ing or whatever else they call it. We took turns doing this one to avoid any injury by flopping into each other. Overall we did well...I made it through and at least tried every exercise. The push ups were the hardest for me due to some shoulder pain, but I am hoping that as time goes on it will get better. Dan was a champ and made me look like a ridiculous flailing string bean on most of the exercises. :) {{Love you babe!}} I am feeling it some today (the squats got me big time!) but I know tomorrow will be the whammy.


I will be posting my starting stats (minus before photos....can't bring myself to show those bad boys off just yet...maybe if my after picture is rockin' I will show them at the end). I will also post some healthy recipes that we will be using (most from the P90X nutrition guide). Last night I made some butternut squash soup to bring for lunch today so I will give my little twist on that shortly.

Hope everyone is having a great week!! I need prayers and happy thoughts sent my way to get me through all 90 days of this!! So send 'em on over! :)

Pinerly: A Pinterest Dashboard

Happy Monday!

I was looking through some blogs this morning and came across a new site called Pinerly (over at My Covered Bridge) and had to check it out.

It is a Pinterest dashboard and it looks pretty awesome. I am currently on the waiting list so I need your help! If you follow this link: http://www.pinerly.com/i/IS4Ah and sign up with your email address you will be added to the list as well. If I can get 5 friends to sign up I can get an early invite. 10 friends signed up would give me some bonus features.

As soon as I get in I will do a follow up post to let everyone know how it is! As far as I have seen (from my sneak peak) one of the features tracks your pins for you and their traffic....pretty cool if you ask me!

A Night at the Ball

Dan and I recently went to a ball for a fun evening out....It was a blast! Here are a few photos from the night!

Friday's Letters

Dear Blog, I am sorry that I haven't been giving you enough posts. You need more lovin' and I promise to get on the ball! Dear Blog Readers, I am so thrilled that you are here, please hang in there. I have so much to share and I am so thankful for each and every one of you!! Dear Husband, you took our sweet sweet Rammer-pup for a walk today down by the river, which I know he absolutely loved. I laughed when you told me how he walked bow-legged over the bridges (I think he's afraid of heights). Dear Ramesses, you are a lovey dovey pup but if you don't quit eating all of our socks as snacks I'm going to go insane. I don't love my socks more than you, but they do keep my feet warm so I need them....and you always pick the cute ones. You have your mama's good taste I guess. Dear Weekend, I could not be MORE happy to see you arrive. Dear Husband, I love you and I am so glad I am your wife. xoxo

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!!!

IKEA Visit & More

We headed to IKEA on Saturday for the main purpose of picking up a few RAST dressers for our entry way. I have seen so many awesome transformations on the web with these! When we got there and realized how short they are we realized that they just were not going to work for that space....  : ( I was so excited too! My bad for not paying more attention to the dimensions! Bummer...but we still got some pretty cool stuff. Here are a few things we picked up and some other randomness that we saw along the way!

Our new bedding :) Love the pattern!

Wonder if I could DIY this?? Spoons and saucers as a chandelier!

A maybe for the entry way? Not sure if we are loving it or not...

 Our new bedroom curtains! They are a dark grey...not really the best picture ever. We actually hung these up last night and the room already looks so much better!!

Where does one put something like this??

We are thinking of putting this in our kitchen entry area. Right now our kitchen table is there (basically its an eat in kitchen) but we will eventually be making the room that is off of the kitchen our official dining room. We really need more kitchen space...storage, counter space for prep etc. This would be a great option because one side has a bar where guests (or me, since Dan does the cooking) could sit facing the kitchen and the other side has open shelving!

Love this wall! They made a window shutter into a mirror...I didn't get a good shot of it but its over on the far left.

The hubby trying out the inspiration space for our future guest room/office. We look at this area every time we go and talk about how it would be great...but that project is a little down the road.

Antler candelabra...might be weird but I really like it!

We finished off the night with some PF Changs! YUM!! We also found out that our new sofa has been shipped from the manufacturer!! I can't wait to put everything together and reveal all of the living room updates!!

For the Birds

Part of what I want to share on this blog is my husbands photography and love for birding. It was very fitting that the name of our blog be "Nest Love". Making our "nest" into our home together as newlyweds, through our DIY projects and decorating plus sharing his talents and love for some real nesters.

These are just a few. Enjoy :)

 

Meet Ramesses

This is our sweet pup, Ramesses who turned one year old on Jan 1, 2012! He is the sweetest dog I have ever seen in my life. Seriously people, he is just so loving....I really think he doesn't realize he's a dog and not a person, but contrary to his beliefs, he is actually a blue weimaraner.

I guess I had him on my mind because we had to get a puppy sitter for the day (my mom). Weims have severe separation anxiety which has really reared its ugly head lately and is gaining casualties. Over the weekend he somehow moved his cage (after kicking the tray out of the bottom that is normally locked in) and pulled my favorite pair of black riding boots in and had himself a good ol' chew! Luckily he's not always a chewer, he just doesn't know what to do with himself when we leave!

He is also a goofball and loves to roll around on his back and stare at us upside down. Usually he mimics us and how we sit or lay which is quite amusing (we don't lay like this though, for the record).

He really is a sweetie and always has to be touching us (usually in the form of leaning against us). If Dan and I are sitting together, Ramesses feels he needs to be right in the middle of it....all 95 plus pounds of him. I am only guessing at his weight. He hasn't actually been weighed since he hit about 70 pounds but let me just tell you, he is a lump! He likes to give hugs where he puts his face on your shoulder and lays but his body is attached after all and usually makes it where I can't move.

I am currently looking into getting him into some agility classes to give him more obedience and have a way for him to get some energy out. We put him in obedience classes as a puppy and that was really good for him (and us) but I think he would do awesome with more. I will post some updates on how that goes once we figure out all of the details. Are there any other weimaraner lovers out there? What kind of dogs do you have? Are they crazy like mine? :)

I hope everyone had a great Valentine's day!!

Chalkboard Paint + Wine Glasses

 In the very early stages of my Pintersting (is that even a word??) obsession I remember seeing a picture of a chalkboard painted wine glass and I knew they would make great gifts. So I decided to make these as Christmas gifts for some friends!

I picked up a box of 12 wine glasses at Walmart (I think it was around $10 which was a great deal). I did not have any painters tape so I decided to use Duct Tape and it worked pretty well but it left some sticky ickyness after removing the tape. It came off with some hot water and a little scrubbing, but I would still suggest painters tape for those who have it on hand.

I started out with some plastic grocery bags and cut them up so that they fit over the top of the glass. Then I just twisted the bag a little around the stem and used the tape to secure it.

Next I took more tape and started at the bottom of the stem of the glass (creating a crisp line to keep the paint from spreading upward) and then just twirled it around until everything was covered. I also left a longer piece of the tape once everything was covered and folded it over so that it left a "tab" to help me get the tape back off once it was finished....much easier than searching for the start of the tape (like I had to do with the roll I was using)!

I used Rust-Oleum Chalkboard spray paint (found at AC Moore)

I took a box outside and turned the glasses upside down and sprayed them. It took a good two coats (only about 10 minutes in between spraying). I could have waited 24 hours and given them another coat but I was being impatient and it worked out great with just the two.

 

Once they were dry I used some regular chalk (that comes in the box) and rubbed them covering the whole chalked surface. Be really careful on this part and take your time. The chalk can scratch the surface if you press too hard or use a sharp edge and the only way to fix it is to repaint it...booooo.

I found these Chalk Ink pens at Michaels (in a pack of 4) and put one in each persons gift. I like this better than plain pieces of chalk (no scratches) and its MUCH easier to write on the curves of the glass (and prettier). You will need to wet them to remove the ink though. I just took a damp papertowel and wiped it off and its good as new!

The finished product!

I think these are so cute and really functional! Each guest can simply write their name (or a little drawing) so they know which glass is theirs! It would also be fun to have something written on the bottom of one of the glasses at a shower and whoever gets that glass gets a door prize! The possibilites are endless!

I'm partying over at:

   Young House Love

Blog Hop

Its a BLOG HOP!!

Since Google Friend Connect will be going away on Feb 29 for anyone that is not with blogspot I have decided (along with many others) to sign up with Linky Followers!

You can go here to sign up: Linky Followers

Cheri has started a blog hop over on her blog {{ Its So Very Cheri }} for those who use Linky Follower or decide to sign up! Isn't that awesome?!

RULES:

1. You MUST have the Linky Followers tool on your site to participate.

{ you can have both the Linky Followers and GFC on your site byt you must have the LINKY FOLLOWERS to participate in this party hop }

2. You MUST follow the person who has the party on their site as a thank you.

3. Just add your blog button to the LINKY PARTY below.

4. Then grab the BLOG HOP code.

5. Then you follow other bloggers--(as many as you want)

-leave each on of the blogs that you follow a comment letting them know that you are following them and ask them to follow you back.

If you want to add the BLOG HOP to your own site YOU will get lots of new followers--{see rule #2}

I am not able to add the Linky Party to my blog at this time (it makes my side bar disappear..boooo) but head on over to Its So Very Cheri !!

Happy Following!!!

Welcome Wednesday {{A Little Late}}

I have really been enjoying meetings lots of new blogger friends and found a great new linky party that helps you do just that! Check out the Welcome Wednesday blog hop were you can link up, meet new bloggers and learn new things!

Plus every week they will have a featured blogger "spotlight"! It could be you next week!





Better late than never!!

Living Room Inspiration

I am excited about our bookshelves coming together (slowly) and decided since we are holding off on putting everything together I would get a good feel for the room and what I wanted to add or take away by putting it all together in a mood board. We already have some of the items, but for some reason don't want to put any of it out until its all done, is that weird? We have blanets (still in their packaging), frames, a rug, fabric for curtains, wall hangings etc just hanging out for a while until its show time.

Here is a run down of everything so far:

Rug: West Elm

Curtain Fabric: Ikea (still needs to be made- with new sew iron on hemming)

Wall Color: Valspar Cliveden Leather (already painted...YAY!)

Sofa Table: TBA...will probably be a DIY building project

Built-in Bookcases: ALMOST DONE! Big DIY project for us that's still underway

Mirror: Good Will find for $9!

TV Stand: Not sure about this yet...its just a photo stand in (Ikea)

Sofa: Pottery Barn Square Sectional

Here is our living room mood board!

I seriouly can't wait until everything is all there! We basically took everything out of the room when we painted and other than our old couch, loveseat and TV...nothing has retunred yet. Its still a work area so to speak with the tools and such from building the bookcases. We have lots of things that will be displayed on them too and I am Pinterest hunting for different ways to arrange books and such so that it looks balanced, lived in and pretty to look at!

We had some delays on our couch that was originally from West Elm....ehhem, they discontinued it! We didnt find this out until about a week ago...but no worries, we found a replacement. It just wont be here until March 27th (at the latest). I am really hoping it doesn't take that long since we ordered our first couch back in November during a Black Friday sale.

I will definately share the process as we go forward with our living room makeover! I am thinking its about time to tackle those no sew curtains!

Check out jenniferrizzo.com to see other room refresh ideas!