My Pier 1 Chairs

These chairs were originally $300 each from Pier 1, but I snagged them for $68 each! Then I spray painted them and bought some cushions from Pier 1 at a discounting price of $25 each. Not too bad!


Ohhhh man, I love them in black.

Living Room

The office still needs: more decorations, curtains, built-in bookcases (Kurt's gonna build them!), a loveseat, and a coffee table. But it's not too bad for now. :)

The Office

As in, the office in our home. :)
We plan on doing built-in book shelves in our living room, at which point that hideous wire shelving system will do into the annex to hold kitchen things and the horrible heavy duty plastic suited-for-the-garage shelf that's currently holding our kitchen things will go into a shed. Even though this room isn't ... refined or whatever, I like the way it's masculine but still has some femininity in it with the zebra rug and color-organized bookcase. :)

Grad Schools!

So, I was originally planning on applying to the University of British Columbia's optional residency MFA in Creative Writing program. I thought it was my only hope. Then I googled and found 30 other low residency MFA programs! I narrowed it down to 22, then 9, then 5. I'm not even applying to the U of British Columbia anymore because it's super expensive. The schools I'm applying to are:
Converse College in Spartanburg, SC deadline Oct. 1
Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, WA deadline Nov. 30
Queens University in Charlotte, NC deadline Oct. 15
Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester, New Hampshire deadline Dec. 20
Whidbey Island Writers Association on Whidbey Island, WA deadline Oct. 1

I feel like a kid on Christmas day; I'm so excited! These dates are spread out so I won't have to kill myself, which is nice. Wish me luck!!

28

Happy Birthday to my lovah and favorite person ever, Kurtstan.
He's 28!
Wowzas!
But he'll always look 25 to me. ;)

My Garage Sale Chairs

So, remember the sneak peek at my garage sale chairs? Well, I finally finished them about 20 seconds ago and I LOVE them so much I had to get them up here right away!!

Before:

During:

Finished Product:

OH MY GOSH!! Does anyone love these as much as I do? Because I am in love with these chairs now!
Price breakdown:
Chairs: $10
Paint: $0
Fabric: $18
Total: $28
Not bad!

August!

Egads, August is halfway over! Seriously, where is the time going these days? I can't believe the summer's almost gone and Kurt and I have only done one local camping/hiking trip. *Sigh*

Anyhow, I have one goal this month:
Beef up my portfolio and apply for grad school by September 4th.

That's right... I'm taking the plunge and applying for various MFAs in Creative Writing*.
AH!!!!

Actually, I'm really excited but still nervous. I'm working on my portfolio right now--furiously writing and editing. Holy crap, seeing it written out like that makes me want to leave work for the day and dedicate an entire day to writing/editing! Unfortunately, I still have to live life (you know, cooking, cleaning, eating, working out), but to make things a bit easier on myself, I've decided to let go of the half marathon. Grad school's a smidge more important. So... wish me luck!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Lots of exclamations reflect my excitement/anxiety in this endeavor. Either that or I'm just on crack. You decide.)

**8/26 Edit: I'm applying to a few schools as well! I'll keep everyone posted as to what schools as soon as I narrow them down...**

Guest bedroom

Our guest bedroom is pretty close to being done. Except, our accent wall blue is warmer than the bedding and curtains (I have the fabric for the curtains, but no sewing machine yet so they'll be coming sometime this winter/spring) and some days it bugs me and some days it doesn't. So we'll see.


Lovely wall sans horse wallpaper. Lovely lovely lovely. Just a little bare.


Yeah, we need closet doors. I think this painting might be too high. What do y'all think?

Wow, this pic is really blurry. I would've gotten a picture of the window, but it was super sunny and kept coming out really dark. This chair is 1/2 of a garage sale find (the other chair's in the office currently). It used to be stained wood, but I painted it white. Now I'm on the hunt for the perfect fabric to reupholster it with.

The bathroom

We haven't really done anything to the bathroom yet, other than move the toilet paper dispenser and put in some decorations. But I still like it a lot.

I eventually want to put those on a shelf lower down, where they'll be more noticeable. And put a picture of a Charleston beach in the frame instead. I wish it could be a picture of Kurt and me on the beach, but that won't happen again for a while. :(

We have a waffle knit shower curtain that I just luuuuurve. Here's a closeup.

It's simple but oh-so-classy (in my opinion).
So, I want to paint the bathroom at some point, but I'm not sure what color to paint it. I was thinking one of these browns, or maybe some fat horizontal stripes in two of these browns. What do y'all think?

Mom Came to Play!

My mom stopped for about a day in Denver on her way back to Charleston from Utah. Even though it was a short trip, we made use of the time given to us! It was so fun having my mom come see our (very) humble home and she gave us tons of great ideas! In the morning we took her to our favorite breakfast spot, the Cozy Cottage. She declared their cinnamon streusel pancakes the best she's ever had. After that, we hit up Sonic (of course) and headed to the mountains to do the Mt. Evans drive. There is a road that goes almost to the top of Mt. Evans, one of our 54 14ers in the state. It stops about a hundred feet from the top, which you then scale via a very easy trail. My mom and I finally got to the top of a 14er! Woohoo! And, while it wasn't that hard, we were all feeling the elevation!

It was really cold (43 degrees!!) and very windy, so I wrapped our car blanket around my body and head. I look like a muslim in this pic because the wind was blowing my hair all over the place!

I think I'm on crack. But I'm not sure. Strange...

Even Kurt, who is always hot, was a little chilly!

Ew, the blanket made my hair gross. And my eyes are closed. Sweet.

After Mt. Evans, we snagged some yummy lunch at Ya Hala mediterranean restaurant. Then we dropped Kurt off at home for a nap while my mom and I went house shopping. And I found ca-yute wicker chairs at Pier 1 for $75 when they were originally $300! (I went back the next day and bought them, getting an extra 15% of each because I opened a Pier 1 card. Score!!) Then we trekked back to the apartment, played some nertz, then headed to the $3.50 movie theater to watch Up. Thank you Mom for visiting with us! I miss you already!!!

Seriously, how cute is this?

This elephant clock is so completely adorable,
I don't even know what to do with myself!
Wouldn't this be so cute in a little girl's bedroom?

I absolutely adore this alphabet print!
It has the exact colors I have in mind if our first child is a boy.
It's whimsical and so sweet!

One of the latest items over at Ikea.
I love the colors!
This would be great for a boy or a girl.

And since I'm so baby hungry right now,
I couldn't help but think about dang adorable these would be in a nursery!

*Wistful Sigh*

Master bedroom

Our bedroom is uncharacteristically clean right now, so I snapped a few pictures of it to show y'all what it looks like. Sadly, these pictures do not capture our chosen yellow very well. I know what kind of curtains I want to do now, I'm just waiting till it's closer to Christmas because my present is going to be a sewing machine. Until then, we'll "suffer" with our bare windows. Going to get black sheets and some king sized pillows. I've got some decorative pillows in mind to make. And we desperately need new laundry hampers. Also, I'm going to be redoing the nightstands. Painting them black and a few other ideas I have in mind to make them look not so tv stand-ish.


I actually just hung the mirror a few minutes ago, lol. I saw the mirror on Craigslist for $15 and immediately thought of using the hooks to hold my necklaces. I'm actually kinda proud of myself for that creativity. :D

Hatch Girls Reunion Oh Nine

Last Saturday through Wednesday I got to go up to Utah to see my family. Saturday and Sunday we were in Idaho for my cousin, Mal's, baby's blessing. It was so sweet and during sacrament meeting I couldn't hold back the spirit and I had to get up and bear my testimony. Then my uncle Brad (Mal's dad) did, then my Grandpa Hatch, my mom, and Mal all did too. It was so cool to hear my grandpa bear his testimony. Pretty sure I've never heard him before. Let's just say I cried nearly the whole meeting and the closing hymn ('How Great Thou Art') definitely didn't help!
Also, as usual, I forgot to take pictures. :(
Then we all headed down to Salt Lake for a girls reunion! It was so much fun! The first day we got to the condo (my great aunt's) and hung out, eating food and making cute journals.


And goofed off.

A lot.
The next day we went shopping. Anyone who knows the Hatch batch knows how well dressed they are! (I say they because I'm not nearly as cute as everyone else! Seriously, I went shopping with my grandma and aunt once and they wore me out!) But I did buy myself some stuff, which was really fun because I don't shop for fun anymore, just necessity.
We started at Stein Mart and Down East Basics in Salt Lake, then ate lunch at Dodo Cafe in Sugarhouse, and finished the day at Gateway mall. You may have noticed that we had some of the younger boys with us. Well, they were so good during the morning and were dying to go play in the fountains at the Gateway mall, so I forewent shopping to watch them while they played. And to be honest, I was happier sitting in the shade then walking from store to store in the extremely hot sun.




Julianne, Jackson, and Sammy. Yes, Sammy is my cousin.
That night we did our favorite things (all shared our favorite book, recipe, scripture, quote and a memory of 2009). On Wednesday we packed up and my mom, grandma, and I did a bit more shopping (for my grandma!) then headed to grandma's house. On the way, I saw a Deloreon and had to get a picture!

At home we rested, watched Glen Beck, and ate creamies. Then I had to go and it was really hard to come back to reality. I love the time I get to spend with my mom. It'd been 11 months since the last time I saw her, so I really treasured it. And I LOVE spending time with all of my family. They are awesome!

The Kitchen!

So, our kitchen is by far the most complete room. So I'm going to post pictures of it!
So far we have: painted 2 walls a lovely shade of apple green;

added shelving to the bare wall for extra storage;

updated the light fixture from a boring, bad light quality round white thing to chrome track lighting. I simply cannot say enough how much of a difference that made!!

Notice how I said "most complete?" Yeah, we still have more to do on it. But I'm not going to tell whaaaaat!
You'll just have to wait patiently. It's good for you.

The Fun Continued...

Back to our 4th of July weekend extravaganza with Collin.

After Moab, we headed up to Zion National Park! This is my favorite national park. I just love it! We introduced Collin to Angel's Landing.


Collin says, "I'm hiking up to there??"

Picture in our favorite cave from last year.


Don't look down! (That's a condor, by the way.)



We made it!


And we took lots of pics of Collin!




Whenever we've driven down I-15 and we've passed the sign for Kolob Canyons I always tell Kurt that I want to do that scenic drive! So we finally did and it was gorgeous! Really cool finger canyons!
Next we journeyed to Provo to repeat our 4th of July camping trip on the backside on Y Mountain complete with firework watching from the top! It's funny, because when we were trying to decide what to do with Collin, I suggested doing this hike again. Then Kurt called Alex, who asked if we wanted to do it with him and Allison. How funny is that! So Alex and Allison were our 4th of July buddies this year, along with 2 of their friends from their ward.


Kurt was Alex's bladder. It's complicated.

It was SO hot!


Alex was being punished by carrying a 15 pound dutch oven the whole hike. It's complicated.



Coco came! It's not complicated. She came along with us. The end.


What do you do when the dishwasher doesn't work?

Kick her and tell her to get back to work!