About Me Update

While creating my last blog post, I happened to stumble onto my own about me section... and then I realized, almost all of it is no longer true. So I figured it was time for an update.

I am Emily a twenty something post grad, spending my days Marketing. I finished graduate school in July and moved from New Mexico to Dallas TX. Right now I'm adapting to life in a new city and the full time working world.

My heart is taken by the best guy in the world. He must be pretty great, after all he did convince me to move to Texas.

 

 

I am a native New Mexican.... yes it is a state! That means you will notice an extreme pattern in the recipes I post, many will include green chile or salsa. What can I say food is bland without it. I cant tell you how much I miss the food since moving, oh and those beautiful mountains.

 

I'm just here to share recipes, crafts, exercising, fashion and anything else that may randomly pop in my head and I feel the need to share.

 Facts about me:

Caffeine Addict

Night owl/ Insomniac I guess it just took a normal schedule to cure this one

Delta Gamma

Country Music Lover

Wanna be Runner and Yogi

Love all things with glitter

Shopaholic

Hopeful future entrepreneur

Ice Cream Obsessed

Nightstand Makeover

Well its Monday morning and I must say I was extra disappointed to see this weekend end. It was a great one but not because I did anything overly exciting. I had a wonderful, low-key Valentines day with my guy as well as a day of exploring. The weather was absolutely beautiful all weekend which I think greatly added to its appeal and that nice weather is supposed to stay all week so I'm happy with that. In addition to the weekends activities I also finished up a project I have been working on.

I started the makeover of this nightstand earlier in the week and was doing one step a day (most days) and finally got to the end yesterday. I must say I am so happy with the results and will now have to take up the project of making the dresser match.

You can see the makeover of the matching dresser Here

 

This was my first attempt at painting a piece of furniture so before I started I set out on Pinterest to find a good set of instructions. After reading quite a few I pulled all the best information from all of them and went from there.

 

Things you Need:

• Sander or sandpaper
• Wood filler- Elmers
• Primer- I used Zinsser brush on formula (oil based)
• Paint rollers
• Angled paint brush
• Paint of Choice
• Paint Conditioner - I used Floetral
• Hardware - knobs and drawer pulls
• Drill

Step by Step:

1. Remove all existing hardware, if you intend to reuse it then just set aside
2. Sand down the piece, I used a sander and went over it a couple times. You don't need to sand it completely down to the bare wood
3. Wipe off all dust with a wet wash cloth, important to get it all off so it doesn't get in the paint
4. Fill in any scuffs, scrapes, etc. with wood filler. I also filled in the existing holes where the drawer pull was on the bottom drawer because they didn't match up with the measurements for the new set I bought.
5. Sand over any areas you used wood filler on to make them even with the rest.
6. Now you are ready to prime, I used two coats leaving at least an hour between them to dry.
7. Let the primer dry overnight (if you have all day you would probably be ok with just a few hours)
8. Mix in paint conditioner into your paint per instructions on the bottle
9. Apply two coats of paint and allow to dry
10. If you are not using existing hardware holes then drill new ones
11. Reattach new hardware
12. Complete, Step back and admire your work

 

Some things I learned and you should know before you take on a similar project:

• All over Pinterest you see posts about how people redid their furniture similar to this for $20 or less, well that will not be the case unless you have all your supplies already laying around the house (which some people might if they do projects like this often) If not you will have to buy them all, for me that came out to over $100, which is a lot but ultimately a lot cheaper than buying a new set of bedroom furniture
• This project is messy, seriously I couldn't believe what a mess primer is in particular, make sure you are in a good space to work and put a tarp down
• It likely wont be perfect, I was a little disappointed when I looked at the end paint job up close because it wasn't perfect, however once I put the hardware on and stepped back to look at it, it really does look nice and you can only see the imperfections upon close examination
• Use a foam paint roller, the first one I got was not and left little "hairs/lint" in the paint
• Overall a project like this is pretty awesome and something I will do again in the future



In Times of Disappointment Lets Count Our Blessings

I know it has been awhile, I’d love to say I have a good excuse but I don’t. Life simply got the best of me in this situation. I have been adapting to my new life in the full-time working world, I’ve been crazed, overwhelmed, bored, joyed and so much more over the last few months but ultimately never felt like I had any great things to share. I’m hoping todays post will get the juices flowing again and change all of that.

We have all seen disappointments in our lives, that’s no question. Anyone who says they haven’t would clearly be lying, but ultimately it’s how we deal with those disappointments that determine what kind of life we’re going to live. As a sit here today facing a disappointment, I have decided to change my outlook. At other points in my life this very same situation would have gotten a different reaction from me. However as I look at my life right now all I can think is I have so so many more blessings in this life than I do disappointments and I can’t help but feel like maybe this all happened to show me there is something better out there for me. So today I am going to choose to count each one of those blessings and focus on all the things that went right, rather than the one that went wrong.

• I have an amazing, crazy, large, different but oh so loving family
• I have an amazing boyfriend, who amazes me every day with how kind he is
• I have great friends, near and far to make me smile and talk me through any given situation
• All of these make up the best support system a person could ask for
• I have a good job, in times of economic struggles
• I was blessed with a great education
• I am in good health (can never take that for granted)
• I have an awesome new apartment that I am in love with, in a new area I enjoy exploring
• So many more that I can’t put into words

I know that I have a lot of things many other people would love to have and I need to remember that each and every day. I am so blessed by this life I am living and am so thankful. I hope everyone will take a quick moment to count your blessings; it is really the best way to change your mood and your outlook.

Have a Blessed Thursday Everyone

-E