Showing posts with label Brian Wurzell. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brian Wurzell. Show all posts

Monday, September 19, 2011

Home Makeover

This post has been a long time coming. This is the secret project I was working on last month!

In August when my dad went to Texas [for the third time since April] on a Fire Information assignment, my mom and I went to work. She wanted to surprise him, so during the three weeks he was gone we made over the master bedroom and bathroom. They had never really decorated their room and weren’t happy with the recent purple paint job in the bathroom.




I loved my extended paint roller brush!

Heather wasn’t able to help because she was recovering from whiplash. So it was pretty much just mom and me. It was hard work, but really fun! I even became mayor of Home Depot on Fourquare during the process. While we were cleaning out their room I found a stash of some of my dad’s old photography. I got the idea to use it as part of their décor. It ended up working perfectly and was a fun surprise for my dad. I also found some gifts that were given to him when he retired from the BLM a few years ago. Mom and I bought a shadow box to include some of his favorite pins, name badge and a pocket watch that was given to him when he retired. 






After we finished up the master bedroom and bathroom, my mom “surprised” Heather and I by telling us that we could makeover our bathroom. I wasn’t sure if I was happy or stressed about it, haha. Mom went to a convention in Minneapolis and gave Heather and I some cash and guidelines. She wanted us to keep the shower curtain and the soap dispenser, cup and a few decorations. 



Heather and I spent the next three days picking out paint at Home Depot, stripping old wallpaper off, texturizing the now stripped, previously wallpapered walls, priming and painting. We even created some new decorations for the wall in our bathroom. We used DIY project ideas from Promise and Elsie. It was hard work, but we loved how it all came together. My mom was a little shocked by the color of the paint we chose. She was expecting/hoping for something subtler, but she likes how it came together. 



Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Seen It, Heard It, Read It

Seen It

Make It Or Break It


Heather and I finally watched this on instant Netflix after hearing about it for a while. We immediately got hooked on it and then unintentionally got our mom hooked on it. We had finished up the first two seasons and then one night our mom was like, “Could we watch that gymnastics shows?” We ended up starting it again and are almost done with it for the second time. I’m just hoping that it’ll be back for season 3!

The Joneses


This was a Netflix recommendation that I ended up putting in our queue. It was very different than anything I expected. It’s a very bizarre story, but was really interesting.

The Source Code


Jake Gyllenhaal is an Army helicopter pilot who tries to understand how he got to his current mission, which is trying to find the bomber of a commuter train. He’s in something called “The Source Code” which allows the user to experience the last eight minutes of a person’s life within an alternate timeline. This is one of those crazy movies where you’re not exactly sure what happened. It’s really interesting and makes you want watch it again.

Unknown


Liam Neeson is a badass. This is a great action/thriller movie. Liam plays doctor who goes to a work conference in Germany with his wife, but ends up in an accident. When he wakes up his wife doesn’t recognize him and neither does anyone else. While he’s trying to uncover his identity he must escape from assassins who are out to get him.

Living Proof


I think this was a Lifetime original movie that I had seen previously. I’m pretty sure my mom had put it in our Netflix queue. This time I wasn’t actually able to watch it, but rather just listened to it while I was doing some other things. It’s based on a true story and was really inspiring.

Blue Valentine


Wow. This was heart wrenching. I don’t even know how else to explain it. The young Ryan Gosling is hot. Um, that’s all.

Sorority Wars


The story was a little familiar, á la Sydney White, but definitely more serious. My school didn’t have sororities, so the concept of pledging, etc. is a little foreign to me. It was a pretty good movie, fun for a Friday night in with the sister.

Heard It

I’ve been listening to a lot of good music lately. I’ve included some videos with each of these for you to check out. Amazing.

Rayland Baxter: The Miscalculation of Song [EP]

Carlos Whittaker: Ragamuffin Soul

Brian Wurzell: Grace Ocean

Laura Jansen: Bells

Mat Kearney: Young Love

Matt Nathanson: Modern Love

Read It

Picture Perfect by Jodi Picoult


This book was a little hard to get into. It always takes me a while to get use to her writing style after I’ve been reading other authors. It was a good story, but also hard to read given some of the circumstances and relationships in the book.

Beautiful Things Happen When A Woman Trusts God by Sheila Walsh


This is one of those books that have been half-read and sitting on my shelf for a couple months. I tend to do that with books that have some tough stuff to swallow.
“Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don't try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he's the one who will keep you on track. Don't assume that you know it all. Run to God!”
Proverbs 3:5-7 MSG

Quitter by Jon Acuff


MUST. READ. BOOK. Not only is Jon Acuff the funniest guy ever, but also this is such an insightful book. It digs into closing the gap between your day job and your dream job.