Project Headboard

So my latest project = re-doing my room! I guess all these beautiful pinterest pictures finally got to me and I couldn't seem to be able to live in my obnoxiously green room* any longer! Haha. Anyways, one of the new additions to my room is a new headboard! I have never had a headboard or ever even cared about headboards, until I saw the inspiring and beautiful headboard pictures below that were floating around pinterest. Aren't they just fun??

I love the tree branch/painting on this one!

Love the wood in this one! And I'm drooling over that gray snuggly throw on the bottom of the bed...yes please.

And here is the universal dream-picture for a headboard...love love love it!

*And here is my obnoxiously green room. I hate that this is the only picture I have of my old room! It's so messy and ugly in this picture, so don't judge it too hard. I did love this color all throughout highschool! But it was time. for. a. change.

So one saturday afternoon, I pushed all my furniture in the middle of my room and painted my room a beautiful cement-grey color. I live in the basement and my room has no windows or natural light, so I was a little worried the grey might get to dark, but I looove how it turned out. I splurged a little bit and bought my paint from Sherwin-Williams instead of Walmart, and I was sooooo impressed with the coverage one coat of the SW paint had!! I'm hooked.

Dad has a bunch of old barn-wood out in the barn, so we figured out a little barnwood headboard together! All it is is a bunch of panels screwed together, it took like 20 minutes! I also painted my bookshelf a nice yellow. Mhhhh, I'm on such a yellow kick these days.

I thought the headboard looked a little too grey itself on the already-grey wall, so Mom and I white-washed it with watered-down white paint.

I found the tree-decal from Target (love!) and just stuck it on my headboard for now. I may paint something on there later, but by this point I was just ready to be done! I bought the "RELAX" letters from hoblob and modge-podge-covered them with napkins I found at Target, because I couldn't seem to find any good yellow patterned scrapbook paper anywhere!

Tahhhdahhh! And there is my version of a headboard! It was sooo easy and fun, and its like, my favorite part of my room these days!

Thoughts.

One of the worst things about my job: Sometimes, I have to take care of people who are actively dying. It can be heartbreaking, awkward, emotionally exhausting.

One of the best things about my job: Sometimes, I get to take care of people who are actively dying. It can be very emotional, spiritual, and special. It is a privilege to be a part of something that is so curious and devastating and refreshing, all at the same time.

the "hello-there-three-day-weekend" high

AHHHHHHH!
I just got off of work.
Well, actually about like 4 hours ago (I work the night shift, 7p-7a) but anyways, I have the whole weekend off. Off off off!! No leaking foleys or bed alarms going off, or Duonebs or wet briefs or 3+ pitting edema or charting left accounts for a whole 3 days! And I don't know about you, but I'm pretty pumped! I don't know if it is just a nurse thing, or just a working-nights-thing, but I seem to get this natural high when I get off work. I could of had the most exhausting night at work and can be dreaming of my bed the entire night, but the moment I punch my employee number into that computer to clock out, knowing that I don't have to come back the next night, I serrriously catch a second wind. I get giddy, I want to jump up and kick my heels together, I want to call up that adorable Mediflight nurse that I saw last night and tell him that I love him, I want to have deep conversations with all of my best friends, I want to make exotic things for supper, I want to sing to every single song on the radio, I want a mojito with my breakfast burrito, I want to buy every song on Itunes, I want to paint my fingernails turquoise, rent all the movies from the Redbox, steal every single color of paint chips from Walmart, and buy plane tickets. It's a dangerous feeling, but just dangerous enough to be exhilarating.
And it is not that I don't like my job! I actually love my job, and the people I work with! But there is just something about leaving that hospital that feels sooo freeeing and refreshing and energizing.
I usually lose this high after eating some breakfast, changing into my comfy clothes, and reality hits with a list of "productive" things that I neeeed to get done that day--laundry, supper, cleaning, etc. Ugh. Then, I go into a rebound "low" and all I want to do is be alone and sleep and be braless and pantless in my bed catching up on last night's Greys Anatomy episodes while drifting in and out of sleep/conciousness. My high does not last long, but it is honestly one of the best feelings in the wooooorld.
ANWAYS.
Here is a list of other "natural highs" in life, aka, feelings that make me forget everything wrong in my life and make me just want to pee my pants because I am so happy! (Some are more short-lived than others, haha)
Here we go:
-When it is a crisp, clear 68-degree september evening and I can wear a hoodie with shorts. (Honestly, its just sooo satisfying.)
-When I need to buy something, and go to the store only to find out that they are having a sale on JUST what I need.
-When I admit something weird or quirky about myself to someone, and they say "NO way, me too!!"
-When I finally kill that stupid fly with the first swat of the fly-swatter.
-When I live life with painted nails.
-When I make a new recipe and it actually comes out looking exactly like the picture.
-When I walk away from a class knowing that I ACED a test that I studied my butt off for.
-When I find a song on Itunes that says exactly what is on my heart but I couldn't put into words.
-When I accidentally get a nice tan, when I wasn't expecting or trying to get one.
-When I slip into cool, freshly washed sheets...mmmmhhhhh.
-When I get a perfect IV on the first stick, after a patient has just gone over "what a hard stick he is" (which isn't very often, haha)
-When I dine outside at a restaurant and it is not windy.
-When I surprise myself.
-When I have just poured out my heart to someone, and I feel completely understood.
-When the UPS man delivers the things that I ordered from Target.com and I tear open the box and it is EXACTLY what I wanted.
-The feeling I get after doing hard, manual labor, shower, and go to bed feeling exhausted, but in a good way, like I truly deserve a good night's sleep.
-When I am driving in the rain and depressing songs about rain come on the radio. (i dont know why, but I loooove that feeling.)
-When I get a new mix CD from one of my best friends and I feel like they are right beside me when I listen to it.
-When it snows and it is completely still and silent outside.
-When I catch a fish after having my hook in the water for only like, 3 minutes.
-When people ask for the recipe for something that I cooked because they love it so much.

Ahhh! I'm getting a natural high just re-reading over this list!!

But alas, my "hello-there-three-day-weekend" high has now faded.
I'm exhausted.
So exhausted. And ready for bed.
I am too tired to even think of a cute little ending to this post.
I am annoyed at all the dirty scrubs I have to wash today,
and annoyed at myself for still being awake.
That's the thing about being high, I guess. It can only last for so long.
Whew.
GOOOOOODNIGGGHT.

Hmmmmm.

"If you wait to do everything

until you are sure that it's right,

you'll probably never do

much of anything." -Win Borden

Is this a truth in life? Will you never be 100% sure that something is 100% right? Or does every decision in life have a jump of faith involved? Just thoughts.

Happy Monday.

3 Summer Projects

1.) THE STRING-TREE PROJECT:

My friend Tessa got a cute little apartment in OKC and wanted to add some unique decor to the wall! You can see the "before" picture to the side that T is modeling!

So one sunday evening, after filling our bellies with chinese takeout from Pei Wei (yummm!), we attempted to make a tree out of yarn and pins behind her couch. NOT as easy as it sounds, it took a few tries, 

 and a few trips to walmart, but we finally figured it out, ish! Here me, Michael, and T are just so excited about the final product! Whew!

super classsssy!

2.) THE YELLOW DRESS PROJECT:

 Okay, I'd be lying if  I said that I made a dress. I wiiiish I could say such a thing! I was a server in my friend Becky's wedding in August, and the servers were to make a dress out of the same yellow material, but we could make it any pattern we wanted to. Ahhhh! I am so glad I have a mother who knows how to sew!! Honestly, my initial plan was to buy a white dress and glue the yellow material over it...I'm so not kidding. As crafty as I am, I have not taken the time to figure out sewing yet!

There is so much precise-ness and measuring and numbers and gross things like that that I just haven't been able to dedicate any time to learn. ANYWAYS. I went through the process of sewing a dress, which was a big step for me, haha. Mom and I went through pattern after pattern until we found a simple, comfortable, easyish pattern. After the dress was finished, I added a little rosette, as see in the above picture! I thought it

was so fun to see all of the different dresses! LOVE! I also made Becky's garters for her wedding. I guess I am the garter-girl these days!? Haha. Beck's wedding was adorable, very country-chic! Her colors were yellow and blue. We used leftover material from my dress and extra material from her wedding dress to make the garters!

It was such a fun, unique, refreshing wedding to be a part of!!

3.) THE OLD-BARN
WINDOW PROJECT:
So my friend got me this fabulous, light-blue window-thing from a legit, old, abandoned house for my birthday! Isn't it neat? Anyways. I put some twine in between the panes and hung up some of my very favorite pictures! I am kind of wishing that I would have re-painted it with a pretty, old, crackled turquoise, but I didn't want to ruin the legit-ness of the window, right!?    
    I also made a bunch of little fabric flowers to decorate the sides. I still don't know if I am completely done with it, but this is how far I've gotten. It's been one of my favorite projects to work on this summer!

mix cd's & the mac store

I went shopping in the city this weekend with my sister, Courtney. We had a fabulous time being sisters together and yada yada. Court had to go to the Mac store in the mall, so armed with our GPS and diet cokes, we found our way just fine. (whew.) Oklahoma City is about an hour drive from home, and Court drove this time, so I had the chance to sit in the passengers seat and play DJ. I packed my big, beloved case of mix CD's that I have acquired over the years. Some from highschool, some from college, some that I have received in the mail in the past couple of weeks. Mmmmmmhhhhhh. If you know me well, you probably know that mix cd's are one of my love languages. I loooove when people make me mixes. Mix cd's are such a representation of who you are, where you are at, inside jokes, personal styles, times in our lives together, etc. (Is this getting too cheesy yet?! haha) But seriously. While I was playing through them, I couldn't help but smile. Some songs immediately transported me to another place, a memory, a presence of a certain person. Here are some of my favorite places that the songs took me!

-Be True To Yourself [by 98 Degrees] --Oh my gosh. I am on the way to clinicals at NMC with Steffen and Sarah in Stef's big red van. This makes me smile so hard.

-Viva La Vida [by Coldplay]--Everytime I hear the beginning of this song, I can't help but think of Laura and our motions/"piano" playing skills.

-Imma Star [by Jeremih]--this song screeeams Chad Newcomer. I can toootally hear his PA accent saying "you see the liiiiiggghhttss, you see the caaaarrrrrsssss...". Haha oh Chad. :)

-Perdoname [ by La Factoria]- Took me straight to the streets of La Brigada and Guatemala City. Also to Allison's amazing Guate birthday! Looooove!

-Say Hey [by Michael Franti]-I am driving through Illinois on our way to Indiana with Kayci, Angela, and Bird. This song (and sooo many others from that trip) were completely over-played, which just makes the memory that much stronger! Warm and fuzzies.

-Irreplaceable [by Beyonce']- I am of course with Ky and Tess in Kyle's room, probably packing or cleaning his room.

-Little Lion Man [by Mumford and Sons]- I am at the Licoln Perk with Kayci, drooling over this music video.

-Wagon Wheel [by Old Crow Medicine Show]--I am so many places with this song. Driving in the pouring rain to Halstead with Sarah, singing with Ethan at the arboretum, in Chloe's car on the way to the Wellness Center. And there is alllwwwaays some serious tummy-guitar involved with this song.

-The Seed 2.0 [by The Roots]--HAHA! I am sooo with Angie, Kristen, and Sarah during Kaplan! Ahhhhhh!! (Blushing!)

-Anything by the Waillin' Jennys- I am in the Peter's basement knitting away. :)

-Whatcha Say [By Jason Derulo] -In Kyle's jeep doing doughnuts in the Hesston parking lot with SJ and Kris. Or, anywhere with Kyle for that matter!

-Apologize [by OneRepublic]- Freshman year with Shae. Enough said.

-Every Morning [by Basshunter]- Nooooo!!! I am in my room, being forced to watch an awful series of overdramatic Sweedish music videos by Sarah and Chad. Torture.

-Muddy Hymnal [by Iron and Wine]--Iron and Wine was my token study music group, so this song took me to the HC library, in my own little cubby, with my cup of library-coffee beside me, my earphones in, trying my hardest to not fall asleep. Iron and Wine is also good sleeping music, by the way, haha.

-Bow Chicka Wow Wow [by Mike Posner] - I am in the empty ER after a busy night, with Kayla, secretly watching this video over and over to learn the words, making sure no one catches us. Haha!

-Almost Lover [by A Fine Frenzy]--Immediately took me to the 2EC bathroom during my sophmore year. Memories of pulling hair out of clogged drains and scrubbing mascara off the counter flooded my mind! Ahhhhhh!!

-Wannabe [by The Spice Girls]--Dogg's apartment with the Norma's, trying to transform the Spice Girl's lyrics into old women's teatime conversation. Success.

-Skinny Love [by Bon Iver]-This song took me straight to the presence of Sarah, locked in the 1st floor study rooms together, trying our best to study the dang endocrine system while soulfully playing our tummy-guitars to every Bon Iver song.

-Thats Not My Name [by the Ting Tings]-Ahhhhhh. Spring Break 2009, Colorado Springs with the girls. They call me staaaaacccyyyy! I love this memory.

OKAY okay i'll stop. I could keep going all day!! This blogpost is soooo self-indulgant, but it is sooo true. These songs (and more!) hold so many memories, jokes, feelings, thoughts inside of them and are so fun to re-visit!!

(Here are some of my most prized possessions, pieces of my friends, aka my mix cd collection! Aren't they beautiful!?)

ANYWAYS.

Completely unrelated to my mix-cd rant, the second realization that I had on our little sister-trip was that the people at the Mac store are amazing! I had no idea. They are all geniuses and wear blue shirts and are all so nice! The Mac store blew my mind.

I guess thats all for now.

Now go make me a new mix CD, please?! ;)

five silly things.

1.) i love this. i just love it! this picture is a more than a picture, it is a whole feeling and mindset. carefree. cute. dainty sandwiches. summertime. best friends. potato salad. i wish it wasn't 108* out everyday and i could go on a cute picnic in a cute summer dress without having some serious sweat issues.

2.) the batchelorette.

im so embarassed to say this, but dude, im kinda into this silly show. okay, not kinda. im really into this show! haha, its not my fault, mind you! angela, kayci, and i just happened to accidently watch the season premire one summer night, and ever since then, we've been hooked on this un-natural, un-realistic, guilty pleasure. its so great--you get to snoop on a date, and then hear commentary from both sides! its like, the ultimate in human-observing!

seriously.

don't judge.

(angela with a skeptical look while watching our first love, william, on the season premire)

(the batchelorette, ashley, on a date with ames, the guy i was rooting for!)

(...im rolling my eyes at myself, haha)

3.) this is what summer is to me:

(an ice-cold can of crush and candy's cooking)

(hanging out on the porch cause the electricity went out!)

(sunday afternoon swim)

(picking out the best watermelon of course)

4.) this is my new car. i have sold rhonda my ole trusty honda and moved on the this beautiful 2007 equinox. isn't she beautiful!? im trying not to be prideful in my car, but its so hard because i am now driving my dream car!! honestly. i love the way i feel when im driving her. i love the way i feel when i see her waiting for me out in the parking lot after a long night at work. she makes me feel like a 23-yr-old college-graduate-with-a-steady-job kate. she makes me want to do other grown up things. like move out of my parent's basement....haha.

5.) i just bought this book off of half.com for $3.43, and its supposed to ship in 3-5 days. i love and hate waiting for things in the mail. anyways, im not sure what this book will be like, but it sounded interesting and a good, fun read. im trying to get back into reading these days, because my dang "lemone and burke's medical-surgical nursing" book ruined me for a while. hah.

okay, goodnight for now.

i liked this.

bridesmaids fail.

so this weekend i went to go see the movie 'bridesmaids.'

its adorable and raunchy and hilarious and disgusting and over the top, but i did love it.

ANYWAYS.

in the movie, kristen wiig's character gets pulled over by an adoooorable irish cop for her taillights being out, and they end up falling in love. ohhhh that cop character, i fell madly in love with him! melt my freaking heart (see below...)

isn't he precious?!

anyways, on the way home from the movies with my friends, i sighed and said outloud

"sigh, where is myyyy cute cop to come pull me over and fall in love with me?!"

and honestly, not 2 minutes later, i see red-and-blue lights in my rearview mirror, and i get pulled over! and the cop tells me that my TAILIGHTS are out! just like in the movie.

however, this cop was not as charming or as cute as chris o'dowd,

and we did not fall in love

and we did not live happily ever after.

but it makes for a good story i guess, right? haha!

crafting with friends.

sometimes,

i like to craft by myself in my barn where there is no pressure, i can take my time, experiment, wear crappy clothes, sing obnoxiously to mix cd's, etc. and since i usually craft at such weird times of the night, when normal humans should be sleeping, i have learned to enjoy crafting solo.

BUT.

crafting with a friend is my favorite.

i looooove to see how the same concept manifests itself in different ways!

i love to see ideas churn and grow and develop.

i love it when my crafty friends and i have a vision and are excited about crafting!

plus, its so satisfying and fun to share in the glory of the final project!

at hesston, there was an abundance of fellow crafters (shoutout to my l-dog, kayci, kristen, & angela!), but alas, i can't seem to get my roomates here (mom & dad) to get excited about crafting with me! all they want to do is work in the garden, aka their version of a creative outlet.

but tonight, tessa reminded me what it is like to craft with a friend.

and it was sooo refreshing.

AND i'm also excited about what we created!! i have been wanting to do freezer-paper-stencil-shirts for fooorrreevver and i finally found some freezer paper at walmart!

we decided to do a simple-ish tree for our first project, but it turned out to be pretty annoying to cut out!

[soooo we took an icecream break of course!]

then we painted over it with fabric paint!

tessa revealing her finished product....

haha i think t is in awe of how cool they turned out!

and there you go, the finished product of a great night! i dont think ill be able to sleep tonight because i can't stop dreaming of the possibilities!!

paska

so my mom made this bread called "paska bread" this past easter.

it is some sort of russian citrus easter bread, and its soo amazing!

but what i really love about it is the name.

paska, paska, paska!

how fun is that to say?

i am determined to name the next cat i own "paska."

paska!

i love it.

dear 16 year old me.

uhhh, i saw this on one of my friend's facebooks, and it honestly broke my heart.

i appreciate well-made videos and commercials that get people's attention and their point across in a creative way, and this one certainly did.

i still can't watch it without tearing up, im sucha sap.

plus, its pretty informational and will make you never want to tan again.

ever.

homemade wedding!

AHHH!

it must just be the summer of love or something, but i just got back from yet another wedding!! sarah & jason, one of the cutest couples ever, got hitched on may 28th!

[arent they just the cutest? love them.]

anyways, this wedding was in indiana--and it was one of the best weddings i have ever been to! so personal, laid back, hilarious...soooo jason and sarah.

sarah and i also made almost all of the decorations in her wedding! sarah came down to oklahoma for a weekend in april, and we spent a whole fabulous, sunny saturday working on decorations! our first project was some picture frames that we found for $1-2 at the etcetera shop that we spray painted "sunshine yellow." (her colors were purple and yellow). it took sevvvveral coats, but they turned out really fun!

you can see the progression....

haha i guess someone forgot to take out their picture before etcetera-shopping it! i actually kept that picture, its hanging up in my craft barn. i love old people!

the frames--i love all the different sizes!

spraypainting with the "sunshine yellow." i guess it was cheap or just too windy in oklahoma that day, but it took soooo many coats and like 4 cans of paint! not as easy as it looked, right, sarah? haha we had fun with it.

these are the finished products that i finished after sarah headed back to kansas. i glued cloth flowers over the places that were messed up or not covered very well.

i kind of had a little kuhnzie shrine in my craft barn going on for a while! haha. here you can see that we made little signs out of dad's stash of beautiful barn wood. i even learned how to use some sort of wood-cutter-thing! legit.

and here it is in action! proud!

at sarah's batchelorette party! the scarf is from the etcetera shop, and the i made the "happy" sign for sarah for christmas one year! purple and yellow--such a fun color selection! i found the purple and yellow M&M's at a store in indiana called "meijer." its honestly the best store ever. it has EVERYTHING. and everything is fresh and beautiful there, and they....well, dont let me get started on it. lets just say that i loved meijer, i miss it already!!

and this was the kuhns sign by the end of the driveway! sarah's kuhns cousins put everything together at the wedding, and it looked amazing!

and now i'm semi-sad that this wedding is over! i looooved dreaming up crafty things to do for it! haha, oh well. i think i can deal.

:)

garter making!

my beautiful friend brooke got married this past weekend!

(isnt she just glowing? gorgeous.)

anyways, she asked me to make her garter(s) for her wedding! an interesting request/challenge, i must say, but it turned out being really fun! she gave me some embellishments to use on it, and wanted it to include the "borrowed/blue/old/new" trinkets on it. she had found one on etsy that was kind of the idea she was looking for ( here ...so cute, right?!), but thought it would be more personal (...and cheaper) to have a friend make it!

so, along with my wise and sewing-machine-savy mother, we came up with our version of a garter set! mom made a casing of white, silky material, fed elastic through it, and then i added some fun fabric flowers that i just can't stop making!! i also added a section of a "old" anklet that she provided for a little dangling charm! (and to fulfill the "old" requirement.)

if i was to do it again, i think i would try to find an already-made plain garter and then just embellish it, or look for elastic lace. when corey (brooke's new hubby!) tried to shoot it at the reception, it only went a few inches! haha oops!!

i made this brown one as well--brooke is a simple girl, so here is a simple garter. haha. i'm not sure which one they shot and which one they kept, but i liked the blue one better!

and so ends my garter-making adventure. i wouldn't call myself a garter pro yet, but maybe someday. :)