Dreaming big...and my vacation!

Maybe I’m dreaming big…but I’d really like to start my own business. After a week-long vacation, it’s REALLY hard to go back to work! I’ve been thinking of all the things I could make and sell on Etsy to earn a living from home. I’ve got ideas for various sewn goods, paper goods, knitted goods (although I only recently learned to knit…like a few days ago, so that would be later after I gain more experience and confidence) and a few other misc. crafty goods. My oh so supportive husband is all for my ideas. It’s just a matter of getting started. And where do you begin?! Oh, and I need a company name. I have yet to think of anything clever (suggestions are welcome). And I still want to go back to school for interior design and/or digital design. I guess I feel like not having a degree in that stuff makes me less talented or less capable in some way. But maybe I don’t need a degree. Maybe I can just take a few classes that would be helpful. It’s a goal…maybe a long-term one…maybe I’ll achieve it faster than I realize. Who knows. It all sort of depends on the timing of life and other things going on, I guess. And money. You need money to get a business started. Not lots, but I need enough to cover my initial start-up expenses before I start making a profit. Most small businesses don’t make a profit for the first year, so I should be prepared for that. I suppose my Business Management Degree might come in handy after all :) And I thought I’d never use it…I entered the corporate world and realized that this was NOT where I wanted to spend my life and my career, so I felt like my degree and schooling was all in vain. But maybe God has a plan for it all. He’s awesome like that ;)

My vacation was MUCH needed and not long enough, as always. The weekend before I left was spent at the beach (Ocean Shores) with my hubby and in-laws. We just relaxed, walked the beach, rented mopeds, watched movies and napped. I fell asleep on the sand for a good couple of hours. It was wonderful. We had a little pod of whales swimming within view of our condo. I had never seen whales in the wild before, so that was an exciting experience.

Last Monday I left for California and spent the week with my best friend, both catching up and planning her wedding. She’s getting married in September, so we were getting our craft on and shopping for apparel basically all week. Aaaand we took a pleasure trip to Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie in San Francisco…because they have the best stores around. Their UO is four stories! Four stories of awesomeness! The Anthro is two stories. Lots to look at and drool over. It was a good week. Less than four months to go for her, and I’m so excited! She has an awesome guy, and they’ll be so great together. He gets extra points in my book because her marrying him means she’ll only live a little under 2 hours away! In our entire lives, we’ve never lived closer than 8 hours apart (how we ever became friends in the first place is another story for another day). Being two hours away is basically like being neighbors for us! I’m so stinking excited!!! :D

And now I’m back to the grind. My dear husband rearranged our bedroom while I was away…and I actually rather like what he did with it! It’s got me inspired a bit…now if I can just rake in a little extra cash to buy some things and finish our bedroom. I’ve got lots of ideas, just not enough resources (ahem…money…) to accomplish it all. I’m planning to do a lot of it myself to save us money and make it more unique, but even that can get pricey. Urban Outfitters has a huge influence on the inspiration for our room, so if you know their style, you can pretty well picture my plans.

And I’m off to clean my house and wash me some laundry! Projects and picture posts coming soon!

Bedroom redecorating

Pretty UO ruffle curtains

The coolest looking coat rack (UO)

Owl bank (like a piggy bank, but it's an owl!)

Corey's nightstand

My nightstand

Curtain tie backs

Love these pictures frames from UO!

Storage bench from UO that I'm in love with

Our sheets

I'm still looking for dressers and trying to figure out what to do for a duvet cover. I haven't bought everything you see...it's a work in progress. It's just to give you an overall feel for the style I'm going for. Pretty much I just want to buy everything at Urban Outfitters (UO). If anyone wants to take me there for a shopping spree, I would gladly oblige!

Weekend Musings

Overall, it was a rather successful weekend. This is going to be a picture post of my great finds...

Awesome nightstand from DanaLee's...now I just need to find a 2nd one of similar style and paint it to match

A cool old toolbox painted aqua...it will be used to store fabric in my sewing room :)

Sweet lamp. Like the color, but it won't match my room, so it's going to get a makeover.

LOVED the shape of this lamp, but not the brass. It too is getting a makeover (before & after pics to come)

A couple chairs from a moving sale...$40 for both! Need to be badly reupholstered.

New sheets to match the nighstand...$20 at Macy's (50% plus a 25% off coupon!)

A close-up of the new sheets

Initially, I wasn't huge on the color of the nightstand...until I put it in my room. It brightened the place right up! And now I love it! I just need to come up with a new color scheme for our bedroom (which is fine because I was planning to redecorate anyway). I think the sheets match rather nicely and will go well with my ivory duvet cover. Busy sheets but a plain duvet cover...still need to put them on the bed.

The toolbox was just too cool and only $5. I'm always looking for unique ways to store fabric because I just have WAY too much! Why not store it in something super awesome? I need to clean the inside out first, but it'll look great in my sewing room next to the briefcase I'm also using to store fabric. :)

The lamps...the first one was a find at an antique store. I actually like the color of it, but it's not going to match anything in my house...except the kitchen. But I have no place for a lamp in my kitchen. So it'll get a makeover and will sit atop a green nightstand in our bedroom. I'm thinking of painting it a darker dusty blue (the blue of the darker flowers from the sheets) and finding a cool linen shade to match. I'll paint the brass one (a $2.99 score at Value Village...loved the shape but not the color) to match.

Aaand the chairs...found them by accident on my way to church at a moving sale. Aren't they amazing?? It was only $35 for both! I'm taking an upholstery class this summer and will use these as my first subjects. Unfortunately, they're sitting in my garage for the time being both because the fabric on back is falling apart and because they smell like cigarette smoke (something I didn't realize until I was driving off with them in my car). Hopefully reupholstering them will be enough to get rid of the smell. If not, I'll have to rent an ozone oxidizer and let them de-stink for a day.

I've got all the fabrics for my new quilt! I think...I'm not entirely sure about the greens. I think they may be a little too yellow, although I love the pattern. What do you think of the color combo? That glacier colored Kona Cotton (2nd from the left) is also a bit dark. Not what I thought it would be online...I'm trying to find something lighter and less green.

And I'm off to do some cleaning and chores. Time to put my house back together after a crazy weekend!