Let the project(s) commence!

The first thing I'd like to say is, my parents are amazingly awesome. We closed on the house last Thursday; Friday morning they started work on the house while Alex and I were at work. In one morning they had already taken down the wallpaper in the kitchen and started painting in the master bedroom. Plus, my dad brought over tools and supplies galore. How great is that?

Alex and I had purchased paint Thursday night (primer, master bedroom, guest bathroom and ceiling paint) so we picked up where my parents left off earlier in the day. Friday night we taped off the master bedroom and did a 2nd coat in one of the very RED closets in the master.

Check these red babies out... they were so dark!

 

Here goes coat 1 on closet #1... my brave father blazing the trail! We started with Kilz primer.

 

And here's mom pulling down the wallpaper in the kitchen. We were blessed that it just came right off... POOF! You're gone, old stuffy wallpaper! Thanks, mom! :)

 

 

Here's the kitchen, sans wallpaper, and Alex later that night working on the 1st closet again. What a great start for work day 1!
 

House day 1: It's Halloween... let's do this!

10/31/13 we closed on our house! At one point, this day seemed like it would never arrive! We were supposed to close the week before, but due to some random circumstances, it didn't happen that way. But what can you do, besides go with the flow (and grumble a little)?

Here we are outside the lawyer's office, happy as can be, with the K-E-Y-S!

After the papers were signed and the keys officially ours, we decided to go shopping! Not just any shopping... RUG shopping! I've been dream shopping for rugs online for months and now the time was here to actually start buying. We decided to go to Gaffney, SC to the Rug & Home store to check out the sale they had going on. BTW... looking at rugs is no joke. It's a bit tiring, which is comical to admit. Alex did most of the "turning" of the rugs on hooks and I did the looking and deciding. We left with 2 rugs for the den and living room, paid for by gift cards we saved from the wedding. I knew those would be clutch one day! Thank you to our friends and family that provided them! :)

Here are the two rugs we chose... What do you think?

 

We arrived back to the new house around 8:40pm to drop these off and nearly immediately, trick-or-treaters started ringing the door bell... over and over again. What a great sign for next year's turn out, although we were SO not prepared for this year (actually, we were, but the candy was at our apartment)! I never imagined kids would still be out that late. I promise we will be ready in 2014! :)

Let's start at the beginning (again): We bought a house!

I've decided to revive my old blog and focus on my life as a married-career driven-home owning woman!

My husband Alex and I met on October 31, 2008. Fast forward 5 years and we just closed on our new house together on October 31, 2013. Pretty ironic (and cool), huh? We think so.

Alex and I were married on May 11, 2013 in Spartanburg, SC. In August we decided to start looking at homes and thus the exciting, stressful, fun and maddening experience of home buying began. I am thrilled to be able to say it all ended well, but the process wasn’t the easiest. Thankfully, our trusty realtor and my parents and sister helped keep us focused on the end result – a home that will truly be ours!

 

Our first house payment is due December 1, 2013, which will be a big change from the “free” home we’ve had for so long… I work as an apartment community manager, with the major perk of a beautiful free apartment. However, free also has its challenges. I have loved living on-site but it’s time for us to regain our privacy (and a back yard). We will continue living in our apartment until the work is done (for the most part) at the new house. I feel beyond blessed to even have that option!

So back to our new house… We got the keys on Halloween day – Thursday, October 31, 2013. Shopping and renovating began immediately! Now I’ll be keeping you updated as we go along.

New exciting project!

I am so excited to share that I have been asked to design some theatre backdrops for Over the Moon Productions, which owns Tiddely Pom Children's Theatre. Check them out here: http://over-the-moon-productions.com!

My best friend of nearly what... 12 years or more??? Is the creative mind behind this company that is based out of Myrtle Beach, SC. I am so thrilled that she trusts me enough to make the set backdrops for her very first round of travelling children's shows. (Yay!) First up is Peter Pan and then on to Snow White and The Wizard of Oz!

We don't have much time to get this done, but we will pull through with flying colors! I will be getting started tomorrow on Peter Pan and will keep you updated along the way during the creation process!

If you live in and around the Myrtle Beach and Grand Strand area and have children or have friends with children (which is pretty much all of us, right? :) you should visit Over the Moon's website and check out the upcoming Theatre Camps, Musical Theatre Camps, and a Create-A-Play Camp that will be starting again once the warmer weather hits. In addition to theri travelling shows, they also offer all sorts of themed parties and do great work at other types of events, too! (And the travel to you!) Basically and all-in-one entertainment company! They've already proven themsevles as experts at their craft but you have to experience it first hand to truly appreciate it! Imagine this... adorable 5'2" blonde breathing FIRE at your next party?? While on stilts? Yeah, it doesn't get much better than THAT!

Check them out on Facebook at: Over the Moon Productions to stay updated on everything they're offering!

Grilling in the kitchen? I think so!

So, my mom is awesome and bought me a stove-top grill/griddle for Christmas. I'm in love with this thing and have now decided that every home should have one. So go out and get yours tonight, ok? :) It goes across 2 burners (you can use 1 or both, depending on the size of your meal) and pretty evenly distributes the heat, even across the middle.

It's pretty much just a way better version of a George Foreman grill - easier to clean, faster to use and just as "healthy", depending on what exactly you're cooking. :) It doesn't even need any non-stick spray to produce fantastic results. It's basically bringing the indoor taste of grilled foods we all love right to your stove top!

I've owned it a month as of today and so far I've made bacon on it, pancakes, grilled hamburgers, bratwursts and chicken. It's tha bomb! All of the food has been super yummy and for the most part, it cleans up super easily. I'll admit, cleaning the grates on the grill side are quite tedious, but that's what men were invited for, right?! :) hehe jk.

My favorite thing I'm made on it so far is turkey bacon. It's one of my new fav breakfast foods, seeing as how it doesn't have quite as much fat and is often the best price (because many coupons are available to encourage you to purchase it!). I normally make it in the microwave on my special bacon plate (also thanks to mom!) but this bacon tastes amazingly better on the stove top griddle! You must try it! I kept it on a pretty long time so it got semi-burned and it was yummmmmyyyyyyyy that way! The fat drains right off into the side wells and the grittle side is especially easy to clean up in a snap and reuse. My 2nd fav has been making mini-hamburgers. They are so darn cute and cook up in probably 1 min per side. A quick and enjoyable dinner.


I used this contraption every day while we were "snowed in" and we had great gormet "Lauren style" breakfasts and dinners. Thanks, mom!

Bravo to the BRAVO TV Network!

I'll be honest: Bravo TV takes up most of my TV watching time when I'm home alone or allowed to control the remote. From The Real Housewives phenomenon, Tabatha's Salon Takeover, to Flipping out, Project Runway, their brilliant cooking shows, Millionaire Matchmaker and sooo many more amazing shows, I think it's time they feature something out of South Carolina.

So, in honor of the net-to-last show of season 3 of RHOA... (and the finale of Beverly Hills that just aired)...

Dear Bravo TV:

I was doing some thinking today and I believe it's time that South Carolina had it's turn in your TV spotlight. Now, although it's up to you what type of show you choose to do based out of our lovely state, I would like to suggest 2 options:

1) The Real Housewives of Greenville (or if you must, Columbia, but give a shout out to us G'ville ladies!). Trust me, we have plenty of interesting ladies to cover in our area. Really, the best spin on it would be ladies that are either about to be a so-called housewife or are just young professionals. More like RHW "the next generation".

2) Rentalvention... or Leasin' Out... or Community... something covering the multi-family housing industry and rental market in Greenville, SC. We can have our own version of The Young and the Restless!!! I promise that enough happens in one week in this industry that it could fuel a show for months, seeing as how it normally takes 1 week in TV land to complete 1-2 days in the real world. :)

Anyhoos... contact me when you're ready to talk business! I'd love to consult on and be in some of your shows!

xoxo,
Lauren

Well, those are my random thoughts for the night... now it's time to watch this season finale (I mean, almost season finale... getting too head of myself here!)! Thanks for keeping your loyal fans entertained night after night! Even if some of the drama is scripted, we all still love it.

NERDS: The answer to all things creative?

These days my head is swimming with ideas of how to get my art business booming. My interests fall into so many categories, it's hard to even get started. As those of you who are following my blog and FineArtbyLC page on Facebook have seen, I'm mostly doing colored pencil drawings and paintings. What you may not know is that I'm also working on making jewelry and making art out of unique mediums. I'm really looking for the 2-3 things that are really ME in an artistic form.

I'm really, truly addicted to the Internet, whether on my phone or lap top, so I use this love of technology to help me find my artistic way. I love love love to research artistic sites, coupon sites, etc. Anything and everything that can help me either a) do an art project/learn a new process, 2) save me money or 3) teach me a new recipe to use in the kitchen. Today I came across a project that marries two of my loves together... art and food.



DELISH!!!!!!



NERDS have long been my favorite candy (well, Sourpatch Kids, too!), especially the pink/purple ones, strawberry and grape. In early October I went on a hunt to find all the flavors available in my area, which was actually quite a challenge! Actually, Greenville, SC doesn't really offer much of a variety and seems to hide these delicious creatures from its citizens! (If you're looking, though, I can normally find them at BP and Spinx gas stations, otherwise you can get the rainbow packs at most big chain stores). Luckily on a trip to Myrtle Beach, SC to see my bestie I came across a plethora of options in a random gas station for a bathroom break. I nearly bought them out...ha! The pic here shows my FAV flavors that I found there. Needless to say, they didn't last long, but they were seriously enjoyed by me and Alex! (BTW... I'm sooo glad he shares my passion for these, although we do fight over them!! ha!) Since then I haven't seen many of these flavors again... if you have, please share! :)

So back to the moral of this little blog... someone read my heart's desire and posted an article on making art (specifically, portraits) out of NERDS!!! Clearly I'm excited by this, seeing as how I'm writing on and on about it, so I decided to share it with you. I'm totally down to do this project first off because NERDS clearly rock my socks, but also I bought several boxes of the rainbow ones a few months back in an effort to fulfill my cravings for the strawberry/grape ones that I couldn't find at the time and never ate them (they just aren't the same all thrown in the same package - I like them in their own little compartments). Glad I kept them for a rainy day, though!

I got this info off of CreateProjects.com by a gentleman named Andrew Salomone, who makes artwork derived from popular culture. He is also a college art professor.... go figure! Here's what he's done below:

 

So all I need now is a great idea for a humorous piece of art to show my lighter side... I'll need to do some thinking on this one! Any ideas from you readers on what you'd like to see???