Confirming I Am Still Alive

After getting multiple emails checking on my well being after a week of blog silence, I want to assure you all that I am, indeed, still alive.  Here's a little summary of what's been goin' on 'round these parts.

*  Southern Dairy Conference.  Last week, I made a whirlwind trip to Atlanta to speak at the Southern Dairy Conference.  It was a really fun presentation on how to prevent and survive an undercover video on your farm.  There was a great group of dairy industry folks in attendance, and this was a fun (and important!) new topic for me to speak about!

* Bucket List Checkmark:  Meet a Blogger in Real Life.  For years I've hoped to meet one of the bloggers who I follow (and didn't already know) in real life.  I was able to do that in Atlanta when I met Dairy Carrie.  She is a huge blog and twitter sensation, so when I saw her on the agenda, I had big hopes that I could introduce myself and check this one off the list.  Sure enough, she actually raised her hand to comment during my presentation, Tweeted that I had done a good job, and we got to visit for about half an hour while waiting for an airport shuttle.  She was the sweetest person in the world and, turns out, we have quite a few things in common.  Biggest blogger regret to date....no picture was taken. What was I thinking??

*  We suspect a pregnant dog in our midst.  Don't even get me started.  Apparently the dog The Boy from Texas repeatedly told me as old and barren is like Sarah of the Bible and it looks like we will have puppies in the next month or so.  The puppy daddy belongs to my parents, so I'm on a mission to make these things half their responsibility.  They claim no parental responsibility.  Sheesh.

*  We've hit up several sheep shows.  So we've been running all over the Panhandle going to sheep shows.  Our lambs have been doing an excellent job of bringing home purple banners.

*  We bought a house!  We are so excited to have closed yesterday on our very first house together!  It's a tiny little cottage (well, not quite like that show Tiny House, but not that far from it) with a few acres.  As you know, The Boy from Texas and I are both farm kids and we love the idea of having our own land.  So the next week is going to be chaos as we clean out junk (why is it that when people move they don't haul off all of their crap??), doing a bit of work and painting, and moving in.  I took before pictures last night and will have after pics soon.....stay tuned!

House Tour!

"Don’t worry about being worried. You’re heading out on an adventure and you can always change your mind along the way and try something else." ~Tracy Kidder

Okay, I know you guys have been patiently (some of you not so patiently!) waiting for a tour of my new casa.  Well, today is the day!!  I am absolutely in love with my house.  In love.  I've had a lot of fun making it my own.

It all started with a little painting, for which I called in reinforcements.  Aunt Evil Kineval, College Roomie and The Bride are the most amazing people in the whole world.  They traveled clear to Texas and spent three days helping me paint, pick out a new bed, and generally get settled in.  They.  Are.  Amazing.  Thanks, girls, for having my back.  And a roller!

Me and Aunt Evil Kineval at work

Painting break at Buffalo Wild Wings...

I only got one before and after shot.  The Grady blue guest room HAD TO GO.  Mr. Franklin raised me well! :)  I ended up doing grey with a turquoise accent wall. Thank you Pinterest for that idea!  (Linking up with Saw It, Pinned It, Did It.)

Before / After

Then it was time to get the furniture moved in and get all the decorating done.  I finished that up last weekend and I have to say that I am quite pleased with my interior decorator skills.  Without further adieu, let's kick off the tour.

Please keep your feet and hands inside
the tram at all times....

In order that I do not end up with a stalker who wants to chop me into little pieces, I'm not taking a photo of the outside front of my house.  But suffice it to say that it's super cute.

This is the entryway.  I decorated with an old end table that belonged to my Aunt Jean that my mom refinished that holds a picture of my family.  I also hung two photo frames, all of which hold pictures of me and my friends at various football games.

From the entryway, you walk into the living room.  Here she is!

The piano belonged to my Gran and it was the one I learned to play on.  We spent hours sitting at that old piano, so it's fun to have it in my house.  I decorated with this canvas I love that has sheet music to the Louis Armstrong song Wonderful World behind the lettering spelling out "And I think to myself what a wonderful world."  I also have a couple of little pianos that I had bought for Gran over the years, and a photo of here that I love that are sitting on top of the piano now.

The cow painting is something I picked up while out and about shopping in Stillwater with SoulMate Friend and her sister.  I love, love, love it.  I think it goes perfectly.  They had two more smaller paintings of cows by the same artist and I keep kicking myself for not buying those too!

On to the mantle, which holds some of my favorite décor, including the painting of me, my and my brother moving cows, a cute sign College Roomie got me that says "You can take the girl out of the farm but you can't take the farm out of the girl," some showing/FFA pictures, and the piece from the covered wagon that my great grandparents drove to New Mexico.

Behind the couch you will see these amazingly adorable pillows that College Roomie got me for a housewarming gift.  They have all of the places where I have lived marked by a star.  They are just perfect!

I also have a couple of end tables with various pictures, books, candles, etc.  Oh, including these four little books I found that give you advice circa 1904.  I bought "Wedding Don'ts" "Advice for Husbands" "Advice for Wives" and "Advice for Mothers."  Hilarious.

Okay, so from the living room, you walk through the arches into the kitchen. 

Which is decked out in John Deere motif.

I also made this super cute sign that hangs above my pantry based on a quote from Meg's blog.

Connected to the kitchen is the dining area/office.  I went with an OSU theme, which includes the gallery wall you have seen before.  I also hung up all of my running photos and bibs along with making a cute shadow box of ticket stubs I saved from fun events.

If you go out the door off of the kitchen, you are in the backyard---my favorite part of the house.  I have a huge patio that I've decorated with furniture and a grill.

Plus, the back yard is huge and green and full of plants that I swear pop up new every day.  It's so fun!

 Okay, so back inside and off of the living room we have two bedrooms.  I have one set up as the guest room/banner wall/travel souvenir collection/book shelves.  There's a lot in there, BUT it has a comfy bed and I welcome house guests!

The second room is going to belong to my roommate that will be moving in at the end of the month.  She wanted to paint it, and I love the color she chose and how it turned out!

Back to the living room to the other side, we have a little hallway leading to the laundry room.  Here, I put my bookshelf that holds pictures of the people I love who now live in Heaven, and some other keepsakes and books. 

From there, we head into my bedroom.  This was one of the rooms we painted, and I got new bedding, and I have to say, it worked out quite well! Eventually I want to replace the lampshades, but baby steps on this house decorating thing.

I love all the little decorations I have up all over the room.

I made this little project from the Kip Moore song I love called Hey Pretty Girl, where he says, "Hey pretty girl, let's build some dreams, a house on a piece of land...."  So I found a poster of a country road and painted the words over it.  For all of like 7 bucks, I have decoration for above the bed.

I also have a little reading nook in the corner, which I enjoy sitting in and relaxing.

Then we have the master bath, which we painted this awesome shade of green.  Love it!

And, finally, last but not least, my closet.  I am also in love with this!  When I begged The Boy from Texas to help me hang these shelves, he was totally perplexed why I would decorate inside a closet.  Um....I go in there every day and it makes me happy.  He gave in, and this is what I ended up with.

I love the shelves and photos--my Goddaughter's baptism, the Mud Run with the family, BFF's wedding, me and Little Brother, and a photo that says "She packed up her potential and all that she learned, put on some cute shoes, and set out to change a few things."  Love that.  In the corner we have my Gran's turquoise chair that was always in her bedroom and has since always been in mine. (Thank you to Pink Lou Lou for the closet decorating inspiration I needed!)

So there you have it.  Home sweet home.  And mi casa es su casa, I love visitors!!  Come visit any time!  (I mean, call first....)

What's Going on in Your World....

“We all have the same 24/7. What we do with our time becomes our priority. Choose what you do with your time and do not lead a life by default.”  ~Patt Hollinger Pickett

...it sure is lonesome in mine.

Not really.  I'm just gearing up for the Cowboy Rides Away George Strait concert that I'm hitting up in just over a month and that title worked for this blog.  Never too early to be excited about seeing George Strait in concert!!

Things have been a bit crazy lately, so I thought I'd fill you in on what is going on in my world.

*  I have finally let go of all my objections and have joined Pinterest.  Just what I need....another way to kill hours of my time on the internet. I blame peer pressure and my excitement of getting to decorate a new house in Texas!  Follow me here if ya want to see lots of cute house stuff, fun travel stuff, and (of course) OSU football stuff!

* Speaking of a new house in Texas, I have been house shopping.  Zero fun sir.  I do not like shopping, I do not like spending money, and I do not like decisions.  Ergo, house shopping is pretty much my mortal enemy.  But thanks to my sweet friend Mrs. BFF who I drug along with me into every house for sale in Texas, I have managed to get a super cute house in a great neighborhood.  Here are a few photographs.

*  I have been planning paint colors.  Well this combines the first two items on the list, because I've got big plans for how to paint the walls in my new abode.  I'm thinking some light turquoise, mint green, pale yellow.  Here are some examples.  I'm seriously beyond excited.

* I have been "staging" my condo in order to sell that baby. My realtor actually said that my house was in "pretty good shape" and that he liked a lot of my decor. But, alas, there were a couple of speeches about Grand Champion banners hanging on the wall and clutter on a bookshelf, and dirty dishes in the sink, that made clear I did not pass inspection.

*  I have been bachelorette party planning.  In April I have College Roomie's bachelorette weekend that will be taking place here in NM.  She was involved in some of the planning and knows that we will be headed to Santa Fe to do some shopping, a progressive dinner, and some dancing.  But because she can't know everything, the other girls and I have a few surprises up our sleeves that I'm quite excited about.

* I have been bachelorette party planning again.  Nope, I didn't accidentally repeat myself.  I'm also working on a bachelorette party plan for Cousin Whitney.  We're doing this sort of in two parts.   When she gets out of school in May she and I are headed for a little weekend getaway in Texas.  San Antonio, to be exact.  Then, the night before her wedding I'm throwing a little champagne and dessert party at her house for all of her girlfriends.

*  I have been a little trip to a place called Europe.  That's right, friends, the 30th birthday extravaganza has been booked.  I'm looking at 14 days in Europe and I could not be more excited.  I'll have another blog soon about exactly what's on top for this major adventure.

* After reminessing thanks to this blog, I have convinced my parents we need to go back to San Francisco for a little vacay.  We've got a trip planned for three days in May and we plan on filling it up with a night tour of Alcatraz, lots of yummy food, and the Farmer's Market.  Cannot wait!