New Artwork--Yesssss

So way back when I started this blog, I had the intention of focusing my posts mainly on my artwork. Naturally amidst the engagement, home-buying process, and wedding planning stress, my artwork has fallen by the wayside. That deserves two sad faces. :( :( Although I had lots of great content to write about, I was missing the main reason why I started the blog in the first place. Now with the wedding craziness disappearing (awww) I was able to finally work on something new for the humble abode!

Meet my three new friends:

They have found their new home in my recently re-vamped master bedroom. Yeah, you may remember that about a year ago I already went through one re-vamp. Just something about it didn't feel right with me. I wasn't in love with our room the way I expected to be. I didn't even post any pictures of the completed room online. That has to mean something, right? So, time for another change! Even better, it meant I was able to paint something awesome to hang above our bed. :)

I'm definitely feeling the love now! Sorry the pic is a little dark, but I was getting some great sunlight! Ever since my wedding colors were determined, I have been obsessed with the color emerald green. I just love its richness and brightness at the same time. It's a great accent color with gray, so it was an easy switch from my previous color choice. Add in some new bedding, and new accent pillows, and I'm all set! I'll post some more pics once the room is totally done. I have a few more things I want to do before I consider this case open and closed. :) FYI, here's what color the room was when we moved in:


That's a whole lotta blue! So here's hoping I can get back to painting some more, and maybe even start up my Etsy store one of these days. Hey, a girl can dream about quitting her job and relying solely on hand-painted artwork, right? Right??? Please???

A Brand New Start--Literally

So today I remembered that I actually have my own blog. Oh blogging, who has time to do it anymore? Okay so it's been a lot of months since I've posted, what can I say, wanna fight about it? With the wedding going off literally without a hitch (thanks to some awesome family coordination), a one week incredible honeymoon in Cabo Mexico, and not one but two new jobs for the newly formed Whitney family, things have gotten crazy! You heard me right, both Jared and I are both proud owners of new jobs. We figured, hey, we might as well throw what remained of our single-lives in the trash, and start all over, good idea right? (Not really, it was totally planned, but the timing of how this whole thing went down has been rather, well, strange). First and foremost, wedding, horray! Photo above taken by our uber-talented photographer Jeremy Arnold (see full blog post here with more images)! There's my own horn, tooted. The wedding was incredible, can we do it again? :)

Now on to the decision to uproot my six year career. From my standpoint was simply ready to move on to a new career with more potential and move on to something bigger and better, and Jared was finally ready to have a job which allowed him to be home more than away. We are SO INCREDIBLY lucky to have both found GREAT jobs in this rather lousy job market. Don't get me wrong, it took about 2 months before I was able to land an offer, but I still consider myself lucky. Interviewing the Wednesday before the wedding however? Not desirable. I'm surprised I didn't come off like a complete stress-ridden, basket case.

So today was my very first day at at my new job as the new Internet Marketing Coordinator and I think I'm going to like this place! (although one guy did say to me "you look like someone, and this is nothing against you at all, but like that ditzy girl from that one show....you know what I'm talking about?" No sir, I have no clue, but please be more specific for my own personal ego...sheesh). This exchange happened only minutes before the cheesy sexual harassment video aired. Ironic.

And Jared? He is finishing out his 2 remaining weeks at his current position and starts at a local software development company thereafter! I'm so excited for him, I think he will love it there from all the great things people say about the lucky company who landed him. :)

So, we have a brand new start on our hands, fo sho. Here's hoping my sanity sticks around throughout this transition process. Three cheers for the Whitneys! Yayflag! Yayflag! Yayflag! :)

Warrior Dash/Stroll

Today was the big day, the day of the Kansas City Warrior Dash. This year is the first year the Warrior Dash came to Kansas City, and I was so excited to give it a try! A group of my friends signed up together to join the fun. Here's a group photo before the race.


Little did Red Frog Events know, they scheduled the Warrior Dash to be held during one of the most trying heat waves in Kansas City. Today, we dashed in 97 degree heat at least that's the temperature it was during our wave. I use the term DASH figuratively. There was not much dashing on our part, more power walking/strolling instead. We jogged for maybe the first mile of the course, and then it was all over. The heat was so intense, the heat index was over 100 degrees, and the course was MUCH more challenging than originally expected. That, coupled with our 11:30am start time, made for a good 50min 5k course time. We should have expected trouble, when the starting line announcer told us to hydrate about 20 times, and then found it imperative to say that "they have seen over 30 people go down just this morning due to the heat". Fan-friggin-tastic. That really motivated me right from the start.

My friend Kate had warned me that the course was full of hills, but I was completely caught off-guard at the quantity and significance of the elevation changes we experienced throughout this course. The incline and decline were so steep, that just walking up these hills was trying, let alone the 10 challenging obstacles sprinkled in between. One participant actually had already ran in the Chicago Warrior Dash held earlier this year, and said that this Kansas City track was ten times more difficult. That made me feel like much less of a pansy. :) It was challenging, but still very fun! The obstacles ranged from cargo nets, to jumping over fire, to balance obstacles 6ft in the air, to tires, to a mud pit at the very end. The link in the beginning of this post will show all of the obstacles we encountered if you want to check it out. It kept us on our toes with every turn and every hill. A few were a little out of my comfort zone--mainly those that required climbing over a tall obstacle to climb down the other side--but all in all, I am so pumped that I finished every one of them! This is my favorite image of the day--My best friend Lindsay and I tackling the fire pits:


My friend Abby was a spectator at the event, and I have her to credit with some of the rockin photos she captured. Thanks Ab! It was fun, but the jury is still out whether or not I would participate again next year if the event is held at the same time of year. That heat was crazy bad, so bad that they cancelled the event shortly after our wave finished. I'm glad I had the opportunity to participate before it was called off! Whew! Otherwise, I would never have known what crawling under barbed wire in utter sludge felt like:

Cake vodka & what's for dinner

Why eat plain ol' pizza, when you can have pepperoni pizza bites!? This recipe popped up on Annie's Eats, one of the MANY cooking blogs I follow. I couldn't resist, so I made this delicious, pizza-riffic finger food tonight for dinner. Super easy to make, and super yummy!

*I substituted 2% cheese and turkey pepperoni, so I could eat more with less guilt. :) Pair it with a side salad, it was a satisfying little meal.

Prepared, ready to hit the oven

After only 20min of baking. It smelled amazing

Ready to eat with a side of marinara for dipping!

Drool

The cheesy, gooey, yummy

I treated myself to a dinner cocktail as well. Anybody ever heard of this cake-flavored Vodka?

Well I heard it was amazing, and I had to try it for myself. The smell of it alone was DIVINE. Mix it with a little Sprite zero, and I had myself a nice dinner time refresher. :) Seriously, try this stuff. The mixing possibilities are ENDLESS. Tomorrow night is my high school 10yr reunion, (if that doesn't make you feel old, what will)? A few of us are meeting up over at my house for pre-reunion cocktails. This is sure to be a hit!

Making lollies

I have no idea why, but I really want to make some homemade lollipops for the girls at the office (and myself I suppose). :) With all of this inspiration and easy how-to recipes, it shouldn't be too hard. Check out these lovely lollies:

photo and recipe cred



photo and recipe cred


photo and recipe cred

I'm seeking out some fun molds and then the candy making is ON. :)

Bag-Pipes--Game time!

It was the weekend of the fourth of July, and Jared and I really needed a break from all the wedding planning festivities. We quite literally spent the entire fourth of July weekend doing ANYTHING BUT talk, plan, buy, or do whatever associated to the wedding. It felt great to shut the ol' brain off for a bit.

As Jared is quickly learning, I have a tendency to not understand how to just sit and be completely unoccupied, especially when there are so many things we could be doing instead! I figured, this was a perfect opportunity for a DIY project I have been really wanting to try. So off to Home Depot in an attempt to make this new yard game! We have dubbed our game, Bag-Pipes (we're using bean bags instead of tennis balls. I couldn't imagine what a nightmare tennis balls would be if you're playing on concrete, and although I searched, hacky-sacks are not that easy to come by these days. Bean bags it is).

As with any DIY project, the instructions always seem to appear easier than what you actually go through when you attempt to DIY (especially when you do not own either a circular saw, or a jigsaw--lots of hand sawing and sore arms). Case and point: three days later we are finally done. Also, we opted for PVC pipe rather than the drain pipe, this may or may not have contributed to our extended assembly time. Now that it's done, our test runs to determine fun-level of the game went over really well! It's a nice change from bags, washers, and yard golf for sure, and is actually more challenging than it appears. Of course I got lots of photos during the process. I DO have a blog to update after all. Check it out!

Sawing, the seemingly never ending process. Jared and I took turns, as much as I wish I could have just sat around and taken pictures. :)

That's 4inch PVC. Not as easy to saw through as originally expected. Also not recommended, is our sawing support--a step ladder. :)


Rupert had to get in on the action. :)


All 20ft of PVC cut up into their correct sizes


The pieces arranged in formation.

(not pictured--borrowing my parents jigsaw to cut the tops of each tube to a 30degree angle, or whatever was close to that in our case. It wasn't pretty, I'll just say that, by planning, or execution).

Next step, spray painting the inside of each tube


Then I spray painted the outsides with a contrasting color--probably unnecessary, but I can't help myself apparently. My neighbors pretty much had no idea what I was up to, and likely thought I had some strange idea of yard decor.


(Also not pictured--the process of gluing the pipes together. Way challenging when you are dealing with unlevel tubes--due to handsaw cutting. Once again, it wasn't pretty)


Next, on to the point-level labels


It's finally starting to come together now!


One complete set, ready for action! (pay no attention to the uneven spray paint. Two days in, I started to care quite a bit less about perfection) :)


Matching bean bags, of course!


Two complete sets! We're done, finally! Hooray! Who wants to play?!


And what does one do with a scrap piece of PVC that just happened to resemble a crown? Spray paint it yellow and photograph Rupert in it of course! :) He looks thrilled about it, doesn't he?

So there it is, we're primed and ready to try our new Bag-Pipes game out at the Royals game this Saturday for Lindsay's birthday! Yippee! Here's hoping it doesn't fall apart. I might cry...The good news, is that Jared and definitely can work well through adversity in a rather difficult DIY project. :) It's meant to be.

Last Anniversary, as a single

via

Happy three years together future hubbs! :) Hard to believe it's been three years already! I'm also personally celebrating the last time I will celebrate an anniversary as a legally single woman. The next anniversary we will celebrate is on August 27th with my husband, every year, for the rest of our lives. :) Blissful sigh. :) I absolutely love this saying, and I absolutely love him.

Emerald Perfection

Thank you Etsy, for providing me with these lovelies:

Vintage Swarovski crystal bracelet via Bumbershoot Designs on Etsy. It came in the cutest little packaging too! Love it!


Custom heels? Yes Please! Via Paris XOX on Etsy

2 BIG questions marks on my wedding to-do list are officially checked off! I know, I know, I already had shoes....but they were so tall, I just couldn't walk normally in them, on a day where I really need to be able to walk. :) Done, and Done.

Invites here by Tuesday, picking music for the ceremony, wow, this is really happening! Squeeeee!

Gardening like a boss (ok maybe just like a beginner). :)

The garden is up and running. Grueling work, and quite a reality check about how few gardening/landscape tools we actually own. Thank goodness for the good ol' rents, they offered not only their supplies, but their time to help, which was awesome. I've got lots of goodies growing now, both herbs and veggies!

If I can take a moment to share a word of advice. Ok a few words. Never, and I mean NEVER, plant mint in a garden bed. Always plant it in a pot. The previous homeowners of our home decided to plant some mint (for whatever reason I have no idea. What use is there for mint anyways? You can only drink so many mint julips. Rant end). Anyway, so the mint had totally taken over the entire bed. The root system on that herb, is the king kong of herbs. Wow. There's a good chance it will still come back, because it had worked itself under the tarp of the garden bed. Ugh. If it does, I may have to Round Up it's minty ass! That is my lesson to all of you. :)

Here's hoping I don't kill everything I planted!

P.S. Rupert is still going strong. No problems. Hoorray!!!!

Past 2 months of Rupert

Sorry blog, I have been severely, but not blissfully, ignoring you. I have been somewhat preoccupied with worry and care of our 1.5yr old rescue dog, Rupert. People always say our dogs are like our children. It has always sounded ridiculous to me, b/c afterall, they are just dogs...right? I thought I agreed with that statement, until these past few months, when J and I have had to deal with a still yet unclear situation with our little guy, Rupert. For the past two months, Vet prescribed pills have taken over our kitchen counter top. It looks like a pharmacy. I think we have been through about 6 different types of pills, and we still aren't done.

I won't bore you with a detailed account of all the events and issues that have happened with our pup, but this whole thing has been a domino-effect of one issue after another, all ending up with Rupert needing biopsies taken from different parts of his body (mainly, and sadly, his face) to try to figure out just what the heck is wrong with him. They took five skin samples total, as well as a skin-scrape to test for mange, and Rupert had stitches and wounds (and cone of shame) to prove it. The vet suspected a pretty serious Auto-immune disease, which also meant an expected 40% survival rate....however THANKFULLY the test came back negative (a HUGE relief after many tears, nervous thoughts, and waiting for test results). Still today, we don't have an answer as to what has happened to our dog. Here is the progression of what happened to the Rupster:

The supposed allergic reaction a few weeks after emergency room treatment (we thought the red, swollen, irritated eyes were still a result from all of his itching and he just needed time to heal)

Weeks later, things had not improved, and significantly worsened. The skin was almost alligator-like, and the hair loss was spreading. Another trip to vet was in order.

Post Biopsies and sporting the cone like a champ. :) Waiting for test results.

Eyes healing, yet hair continues to fall out on his snout, and the hair does not seem to grow back. Treatment begins soon after this picture was taken.

It has been so heartbreaking to see his face the way it was. Things just wouldn't seem to get better, and they only continued to worsen. He kept losing his hair, his skin was peeling and taking hair off with it, and there was nothing we could do to stop it without having certain test results and treatment reccomendations. At this moment, I truly understood why people say our pets are like family...the thought of our young pup going through this, possibly losing him over it...it was a lot to take. You just don't realize how much you love these furry friends. I cried, more than I would like to share, throughout this entire process. I kept telling myself, "I love him, but it's a dog, get ahold of yourself". Yet somehow I never could believe myself. Who am I kidding. I'm a total animal lover, even if it wasn't my own. :)

The good news, is that we saw significant improvement after a week or so of the steroid treatment regiment. Below is what he looks like as of this weekend, back to his handsome furry self :) He does have some scaring on his snout where the hair may never grow back, but I'll take that ANY day if he can still be here with us for many years to come! His 1.5yr doggie life has only just begun. :)


We are tapering him off the steroids now (he's due to be done by Wednesday), and we just have to wait and see if the problems return after his system returns to normal function. Fingers crossed friends. Should the issues return, we will have to start all over again with biopsies, cultures, and more expensive pill bottles. :( Here's hoping this was a temporary thing, some extreme reactions to some outside influence we may never know, and it will not come back, at ALL.

On a side note, here's also hoping I can get back to blogging again! I've missed it!

Best Manhattan, KS shirt EVER

Btw, thanks to my awesome older sis, as well as the achievement of my 28th birthday, (which I will no longer age from this point forward, just so everyone is clear) I am now the proud owner of this rad shirt:
Check out effinggear.com and see if your school/city/etc has a shirt! Way cool, even if not entirely classy. :)

Target acquired and hit

Nothing like a good, strong hail storm to show you the ropes of home ownership. Sure, sure, the hail was fun, scary, and exciting last night. We even grabbed a monster piece for a quick photo shoot, like I'm sure most everyone else did. However today after surveying the damage in broad daylight, it's instantly not fun anymore. The casualties include:

8 shutters

6 screens

1 window--outside pane literally shattered

As I swept the front driveway of the broken glass from the window above, I came to the realization that we probably have to pay for this, don't we? Bummer. As I survey our home's damage compared to the other houses in the cul-de-sac, I am shocked to see no one else with broken windows or shutters. Only one measly hole in a screen can be found on neighboring homes. That hail apparently targeted us, and our poor shutters. :( Finding multiple pieces of broken shutter slats in the yard, I gathered them up in the hopes it won't be entirely necessary to fully replace the damaged shutters, at the very beginning of the spring storm season none-the-less. A little gorilla glue and some black touch up paint should do the trick, right?

I love owning our home, but I now officially hate hail.