Bathroom redo (again)

Back in 2010, I was so proud of myself for de-beiging the bathroom and snazzing it up with some paint that looked like Indian red from a 1993 Crayola box (yes, brown paint was popular and you liked it, too). I was happy with it for a couple of years, but then the trends started switching to lighter colors in the house. I bought some nautical artwork three years ago and then did absolutely nothing else until I bought new bathroom towels and a shower curtain last summer.

Last October, I talked Mark into painting over all the brown with Spring Melt by Martha Stewart (MSL114) color matched to Behr paint, and two weeks ago I finally framed the artwork so I could do this post. I don't know why it takes me so freaking long to finish things. (I blame the kids.)

Come with me on a journey from 2009 to 2010 to now. Here are the BEFORE befores, next to the regular befores.

 

I don't really know what I was thinking aside from trying to do a masculine, Asian sort of thing for Mark's sake. It really didn't look bad, it was just dated and I was tired of everything being so dark.

♥YAY♥ The strong vanity lights make it hard to see the true color, but it's sort of a beachy aqua blue--almost mint green. It is 1000x better and feels like a breath of fresh air.

 Here's a better picture of the color. And of how Tiger matches my cabinets.

 

The tile in there is not my favorite, but it's staying. I don't have THAT much time and money on my hands.

 

 Normally I cheap out on shower curtains, but I really loved this one from ModCloth and so splurged ($55 is a splurge for me). It's the Chic-y Clean shower curtain in Emerald. Since I ordered this last July, they don't carry it anymore. But they've got lots of other options--I love that website!

Here's the nautical artwork I talked about that I ordered from etsy three years ago (THREE...YEARS...AGO). It's a super cool shop called RococcoCo that prints images onto old encyclopedia pages. I used to read the encyclopedia like it was a juicy novel as a kid. I'm excited about this.

These two prints are now in my laundry room. I don't know why it took me three years to frame them and get them on the wall. Probably for the same reason that I haven't had real pictures hung in my dining room for the past 5 1/2 years. That project WILL HAPPEN this year. It has to, I'm tired of being so pathetic about it.

 I also painted over the bathroom doors and trim with some ultra white glossy paint. Because, yuck.

 Another project that went along with all this was that I had Mark frame the mirrors in both our bathrooms. He's been unemployed for a month (that is a post in and of itself...) and so I took advantage of his free time and dragged him to Home Depot.

We bought some vinyl trim (no painting or worrying about it getting wet) and Mark cut it with his miter saw and we slapped it up there with some Command strips. You can use Liquid Nails, but this is less committal and won't damage anything. Plus, vinyl trim is really lightweight.

Our hall bathroom got the treatment, too. It's so fabulous, you guys. I feel fancy.

And I think we might finally be done painting the house. If I can take 3-6 years to finish something, then so can you!!

President's Day in Zion

President's Day rolled around and we thought we'd take advantage of the nice weather we've been having and go to Zion National Park. Because, you know, ZION. It's our thing.

So we hopped in the car after lunch and drove down, and the closer we got to Zion, the windier it was getting. Right around Virgin, the road goes right by some steep cliffs and there were about 40 tumbleweeds blowing straight UP those cliffs. And dust devils were swirling and plants everywhere were getting flattened by the wind. So we began to rethink things.

We decided we might as well stop at Zion Rock and Gem as long as we were all the way up there. The wind wasn't too bad, and I figured that once we got in the canyon, we'd be pretty sheltered.

Luke bought a wolf slingshot (a dear ambition of his for many years) and Madelyn got some geodes.

Angel's Landing. There is a hike (which is Mark's favorite) that goes clear to the top of that thing, which I am never, ever going on.

We decided to go ahead with our plans, and we lucked out. The wind died down in the canyon, the weather was nice and it was FREE! Our park pass had expired and we were going to have to pay $80 for a new one (the National Parks pass that gets you into all of them). It was an awesome coincidence that we happened to go on a fee free day. And it wasn't even crowded, either!

 

 We decided to stick with some easy walks and went up to Weeping Rock. Madelyn insisted on calling it "Hanging Gardens". Water seeps out of the rock and drips everywhere. It takes 1,000 years for the water to make its journey all the way through the rock.

 

 This particular hike is so pretty in the fall. Check out the zillion pictures I took here in October a couple years ago.

We had to stop to poke around the stream and this giant fallen log for quite a while.

Every time we come here, Luke is obsessed with playing in the powdery sand.

 Isabelle was 7 weeks old the last time we came to Zion. It was 100° F that day, I remember it very well! We were crazy to go in July with a new baby.

After Weeping Rock, we thought about going on our old favorite hike to Emerald Pools, but it was getting cold and dark and we were running out of time, so I walked the Grotto Trail with Luke and Madelyn while Mark and Isabelle drove to meet us at the Lodge.

 

Luke was hitching a piggyback ride when he spotted a group of deer right by us. The kids were so excited. We ended up seeing at least a dozen.

 

 It was such a pretty trail--I've never walked it before and I'll bet it's gorgeous when everything is green in the summer.

 As we were leaving, Mark decided to take us on a detour to the Zion-Mt. Carmel tunnel, which cuts directly into the mountain for over a mile and brings you out to the east side of the park. It was built as a shortcut to be able to reach Bryce Canyon and the Grand Canyon more easily from Zion.

Can you spot the opening in the side of the mountain? There are several "galleries" that allow you to see glimpses of the canyon as you drive through. 

 View from inside the tunnel gallery.

 Mark took these pictures of The Watchman as we were leaving the park to go home.

 We live in a beautiful place!

Valentine's Day 2015

 I love this holiday. Chocolate, flowers, red and pink hearts everywhere, and (slightly) less pressure than other holidays. Not to mention no sneaking around trying to help Santa or the Easter Bunny.

 This was the first year that we had to "engineer" a Valentine's box for Madelyn, though. That was a big project. She wanted a TARDIS with a working pulley system but I talked her into replicating a Rubik's Cube I saw on Pinterest. I did all the work, of course.

She didn't win the class contest, but it turned out cute and she liked it.

 I got the kids' class valentines from etsy this year, from this shop. For $5 I got the digital file and could print off as many copies as I needed. We cut them out, taped a Laffy Taffy to the back of each one and called it good.

 Madelyn hand made cards for her grandparents and the rest of the family. She always makes the best cards. She also painted a little wooden heart for me that she had Mark cut out.

 Luke had a preschool party and had a great time. No pictures to show for it, but I'm sure we'll live! He thoroughly enjoyed all the candy.

 Isabelle turned 9 months old on V-day.♥

We are re-doing her side of the room and painted over the pink wall that weekend. It is white now and awaiting some new decorations.

I got some glorious pink roses and a lunch date to The Pizza Cart with the hubs. It was a good day!