don't make me adult today

For the love, I just cannot adult any longer today.  

This morning, I woke up with a pounding headache after dreaming that gangsters broke into my parents house and there were frogs everywhere and I was trying to get to my parents room to wake up my dad but I couldn't make it in time.  I KNOW, right?  Like I woke up out of breath and my heart was absolutely racing.  As soon as I got out of bed, I knew that my headache was sidelining my gym plan for today.

After driving Brian to the train, I came home to make my breakfast and coffee, and I let Molly out to sun on the deck.  She keeps finding gaps in our (brand new) fence (it's like we don't even have one) and escaping, so I keep a pretty close eye on her when she's in the yard.  She went from sitting on the deck to charging out into the yard super fast, so I went out to see what she was looking at.  Well, I have to say that I wasn't expecting this (please feel free to scroll through should you dislike snakes and frogs as much as I do):

Our basement has windows that have these little half-circle cutouts into the yard.  This is the second time this spring that a snake has gotten stuck in there, but the first time a snake AND A FROG were there.  So Molly of course ran straight over to them and started barking, and half-jumped down into the hole, which caused me to freak out and grab her collar.  

We went inside because I sure as heck was not going to remove either the snake or the frog, and I thought that we were good.  She was on guard, but she calmed down and took a little nap while I did my blog-browsing for the morning.   

moment of calm before the day went to hell

I had an interview today at 2:30pm so I started getting ready around noon.  I knew that Molly needed to go out before I left, so before I jumped in the shower I decided to peek outside, thinking maybe they had figured out how to get out of the hole.  

Was that...

a) wishful thinking

b) absolutely fucking wrong

c) both of the above?

If you guessed C, you're the winner of being smarter than me because LOOK AT THIS HOT MESS (or don't because it seriously put me over the edge):

I cannot.  It ate the frog.  The SNAKE ate the FROG.  I don't know if this is normal nature or not, but I do know that frog-eating snakes are slithering around my backyard when my dog (and my barefeet) roam and I am not okay with this development.  

I (wisely) opted to walk Molly on the leash on the street behind our house instead of letting her in the yard, and she was all amped up and impossible on the leash.  Every wind gust spooked her, she kept running super hard and pulling on the leash... and this was all as I was walking her in my interview outfit.  Just as I started to make the turn to head back home, I felt the leash pull and realized that she'd stopped moving.  I turn around just in time to see her sit down with A DEAD MOLE in her mouth.  And I swear to you, she was holding it so gently in her mouth, like she had a prized possession and wanted to be ever-so-careful not to mess it up.  I (again) freaked out and told her to drop it, which she quickly did, and could not get home fast enough.  I walked back into the yard and took one last look at the hole and saw this:

 

It's safe to say that at this point, I was OVER TODAY.  I took Molly inside, threw on my shoes and was out the door in a matter of two minutes.  Driving to the interview, I followed the directions that the woman who coordinated it had given me and I could not find the building where I needed to be.  I finally called the building and I had unknowingly driven by it three times (kudos to me for that one).  When it was finally over and I got back in the car, I honestly just felt like I wanted to have a big ol' pity-party cryfest for myself.  The day has been all over the place, it's hot and muggy outside, and I was just so, so over it all.  

Once I got back home I let Molly outside to test the waters and she ran straight for the hole (obviously), went INTO the hole, then came back out drooling, so that's fantastic.  We're both going nuts because we're stuck inside with each other until Brian gets home to deal with the snake, and she has proceeded to (much like a small child) empty her toy basket all over the living room and bark/growl at me for attention for the last two hours.

Not even Ellen could make this day better.

So we're leaving shortly to make a trip through Starbucks and meet Brian at the train.  And as soon as we're back home, I'm swapping the Starbucks for a glass of chardonnay the size of my head.

Here's hoping Tuesday allows me a fresh start because today nearly sent me to crazytown.

Five on Friday

Happy Friday, friends!  Let's hop right to this, shall we?

one. paint crazy 
After painting our front door last weekend, I decided to use some of my free time during the day to tackle painting our main bathroom.  Our house doesn't have a master bath, just a larger shared bathroom upstairs, and it was painted an awful tan color.  The previous owners also laid beige tile and a small blue tile pattern on the floor.  Not much makes sense in this house, particularly their design choices and the clash of it all was driving me crazy.  It's the only bathroom in our house with a shower/tub, so any overnight guests will be seeing it, too.  After lots of debate, I took to Instagram with my narrowed down paint choices and with lots of input (y'all are the best), I finally decided on "Tranquil Pond" by Behr.  It's a darker blue and much darker than I would think that I like in a bathroom, but the room has good light and already has great white molding and wainscoting, so it really makes the blue pop.  Here's my little before and after: 

Next up, the living room!

two. summertime = grilling time

We brought our new grill home a few weeks ago (it's basically a new homeowner's right of passage, right?) and have used it every single day, save for the couple of days that it poured and was freezing cold.  Actually, on the first night that it rained, we already had dinner prepped and ready to grill, so we went back and forth in the rain as I held the umbrella over him (#winningatwifeing).  It's our new little routine every night, to hang out on the deck with Molly while he grills and I man the sides and it's been pretty much perfection.

three. doggie play dates

When we adopted Molly, the people at the shelter warned us that she can get really worked up around other dogs and that she tends to be super protective around her food/treats.  We've passed dogs on walks and have driven past them and whenever we do, she absolutely loses her mind.  We have family and friends with dogs and want to be able to have them over to our house and go to theirs and not worry about her freaking out.  The tough part was, we didn't know if she was worked up "Let's play!" or worked up "I want to tear you apart."  My wonderful friend Jeannette volunteered to bring her super sweet dog, Sasha, over last Friday for a meet-and-greet... and they passed with flying colors!  Y'all, I was so happy.  They first met through our chainlink gate, then Sasha came into the yard and they ran and chased each other for two solid hours.  It was the best thing, and I could tell that Molly had such a good time (that might be the most dog-mom thing I have ever said).  So, this was a great start to doggie friendships and we hope that we can work up to the point of taking her to the beach.

four. wedding season 

I feel like so many people complain about wedding season, having weekends filled with showers/parties/the weddings themselves, the money you spend on gifts, etc.  Well, call me crazy but I stinking LOVE weddings.  I mean, ours was obviously my favorite, but there has been something special that I've taken away from every single wedding that we've been to, and there's something so neat about watching your people exchange vows and join The Marriage Club.  And honestly, that's the season that we're in with friends and family right now, and I feel like it will go by so fast-- before we know it, our weekends will be filled with baby showers and bouncy-house birthday parties, so I'm going to go ahead and continue cheersing to the champagne toasts and boogeying to "Shout!" on the dance floor.  We have weddings three consecutive weekends in late October/early November (my favorite time of year AND our wedding anniversary-- perfection) and I already can't wait.

five. weekend relaxation

We have zero plans for this weekend and for that, I am happy.  I'm cleaning house today (my new Friday normal) then treating myself to my first mani/pedi in a month (praise Jesus) and we're meeting Brian's dad for dinner at a restaurant on the water tonight (yes, yes please!).  Tomorrow and we have basic errands and some yardwork, and I'm painting the shed door red, but other than that, we plan for lots of grilling time and outside happy hours.  My favorite way to spend the weekends for sure.

dwell: front door fun

When we first started house hunting over a year ago, I had this ideal picture in my head of buying the perfect little white colonial house with black shutters and a red front door.  I mean, you can't get more New England than that, right?  We looked at tons and tons of houses and there were a good number of them that had absolutely zero curb appeal-- even when your real estate agent is telling you that anything can be changed, it's hard to fall for a house when it just doesn't fit the picture you've been imagining.

Fast forward to September when I finally came across my dream home in the MLS listings-- two stories, white siding, AND the black shutters.  It was like it was meant to be, and luckily Brian loved it as much as I did.  As you know, we made the move in November and have absolutely loved our first little home... except for one major thing:

There was way, way too much white.  The house came with white fencing on the left side of the house, the house was white, the garage door was white, we had the rest of the backyard fenced so off to the right of the house is more white fencing, which meets up with the white shed.  THAT'S A LOT OF WHITE.  Obviously the house and garage door will remain white, but I knew that a quick and easy fix to add a fun pop of color would be to paint our front door.  

I've saved ideas for ages of fun colors for front doors but I couldn't help coming back to a good, classic red.  There's just something about a red front door that makes me so happy and looks so welcoming: 

source

source 

So, on Saturday afternoon we headed to Lowe's to buy my paint and supplies, and I got to work first thing Sunday morning.  After a few hours and four coats of thin and even paint (Valspar "Classic Red" for any inquiring minds), we are now the proud owners of a red front door!

And here's the gross before: 

Here is a view from the driveway (sorry for the gross pictures, but it's been pouring rain and cloudy the last two days, so I'll take better shots from the street later today or tomorrow and share!):

  

I am really happy with how it turned out, and it wasn't difficult at all.  The only thing working against me yesterday was the weather, but thankfully the rain brought MUCH cooler temps so while it was damp, there was a cool breeze blowing all afternoon/evening for it to dry. 

Now my next debate is whether or not to paint the shed door to match-- what do y'all think?

No judgment here either, friends-- the ramp obviously needs to be replaced and the beds need help, but Rome wasn't built in a day, folks.  This also faces the street alongside the fence, so it's definitely visible when you drive past.  My debate is to leave the door white but paint the hardware (the door handle and lock on the left, and the two hinges on the right) black, or to paint the door red to match the house front door, and paint the hardware black.  Any input would be fabulous!