Can't sleep

Not sure what my problem is, but I can't sleep tonight. Maybe it's because Ryan is out of town, maybe it's because I have too many things I want to watch on the telly or maybe it's because I just haven't had a great chance to relax tonight.

I had some fun shopping today! My very generous parents and in-laws gave me Easter gifts (cash and a Target giftcard!). Since we added the new dark chocolate drapery panels in the living room, I decided that our lamps needed new shades. I found the perfect shades at Target today...simple white drum shades and the best part? They were only $14.99 each!

I also found a great round mirror that will look fabulous in our dining room. I need to get rid of the 'first apartment' vintage liquor prints and upgrade our style a bit. I tried to hang the mirror tonight with my Mom's help, but it didn't work out so well. Sorry Ryan--another thing for you to hang for me!

Lastly, I bought some songs on iTunes. A little "As Seen on TV" commercial came on during my evening of insomia advertising the Monsters of Rock Platinum Edition CD set. So, I perused the song list and ended up buying "Kiss Me Deadly" by Lita Ford. Great song that one of my law school friends used to sing in bars. I also bought "Livin' on a Prayer" by Bon Jovi (not sure why we didn't already have this song!), "Take Me Home Tonight" by Eddie Money and something a little more current, "Love Like This" by Natasha Bedingfield.

Introducing our new living room curtains

I have been waiting to add curtains to our living room since the day we closed on the house. Well, my dream finally came true this past Saturday!

After searching (and saving) for a few months, I found the perfect curtains. The Milano grommet panels from JCPenney. Since I needed 5 95" panels, I decided that grommets were the way to go. No need for the extra expense to buy curtain rings (I much prefer rings over just hanging them directly on the rod) and the grommets are pretty cute, too!

After finding and buying the perfect curtains, I had to find a curtain rod long enough to span the entire 13+ feet of my windows. Between Lowe's (which, by the way, does have a great selection of curtain hardware), Bed Bath and Beyond and online shopping, I probably spent a good 3 hours of my life searching for a curtain rod that would be long enough and not cost me a fortune! I finally found one, actually two, at BB&B. They are two separate wooden rods (one 6' and the other 8') joined together by a tiny screw. The look is seamless and you can hardly tell that they were two separate rods. I love it and will definitely try the wooden rods in other places in my home.

So, for the big reveal....here is the before photo:




And the after! I couldn't be more pleased (yes, I know they need to be steamed)! :)

The Madness!

First of all, the Hoosiers were terrible and I can't say I'm sad to see the miserable end to the season finish.

I filled out three brackets this year (2 at work and one for a pool on The Nest). I'm tied for the lead in my work poll with my first bracket and in second place with my second bracket. I'm also tied for second in the Nest pool. I should be excited, right? Except that I have already lost one Final Four team in both of my office brackets. Georgetown in one and Kansas State in another. I guess that's what I guess for picking an 11 seed to go to the Final Four! I also lost Kansas State in my Nest bracket.

Now, I get to just cheer for Tennessee and any upsets! Go Michigan State!

March Madness! My favorite time of the year

I love college basketball! I'm looking forward to winning my office pool and watching the Hoosiers...I just hope they can do a little better than bowing out of their first game in the Big Ten Tournament. Go Hoosiers!

I love my birthday presents!

Ryan got me a new digital camera, a Kodak Easy Share ...I can't wait to figure out how to use it and take some fabulous new pics! He also gave me beautiful flowers that smell so good.

And, finally--He gave me the Konrad desk from World Market, without the hutch on top.

I've been wanting this desk forever! It won't actually be in for a month or so, but that gives me some time to plan out our new office.

I also got some great gift cards (Bed, Bath & Beyond and Ann Taylor Loft), thanks Mom and Brenda!

30.

Happy Birthday to me! The big day is finally here...after all of the anticipation, I am willingly saying goodbye to my twenties. I hope 30 has great things in store for Ryan and me. We'll work some more on our house, hopefully host lots of great friends and family, soon enjoy the spring and summer, celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary and take our annual vacation in the fall. Here's to my 30th year!

T-minus 3 days.

My wonderful coworkers are so encouraging about turning thirty. By the way, the ones who are encouraging are already in their 30s. They want me to join them! Their words to help convince me that my life is not over: "It's the best years of your life"; "the thirties are great"...all except for my one dear coworker, who says that 23 was the best year of his life! Great. Just great.

5 Ideas for my Birthday Wishlist

Countdown to my 30th Birthday: 4 days. eek!

5 things I'd love for birthday gifts, are you listening Ryan?

1. The brown Zebra rug from westelm.com. I've been lusting over this rug for months and I think it would look lovely in my new brown bathroom! In the 3x5 size, please!



2. This beautiful white trench coat from White House Black Market. Isn't it just gorgeous?



3. The aqua and camel Conservatory I area rug (5x8) from Home Decorators Collection. It would be perfect with my new olive sofas and the new grommet panels I ordered for my living room in chocolate brown. If it weren't for the $400 price tag, I might have just ordered it myself!



4. A king sized bed and mattress. Of course a new bed would lead to new bedding! I really like this pewter bed from JCPenney and I found a memory foam mattress from overstock.com.



5. These prints from allposters.com. I think they're stunning and they would look great in my dining room!

The master bathroom!

Yay for our new bathroom! We still have a few finishing touches to complete, but we're both pretty happy with the the way it's turned out so far.

5 Days and Counting...

Until I'm 30. Only a short time left to live up the remaining minutes I have as a 20 year old...boo hoo. This is gonna be hard!