Scraplog

Everyday Life: 03.16.12 – 03.22.12

As I’m sitting here this morning, I can hear the birds singing. I went for a run earlier and although it was overcast, it was a beautiful morning and perfect for a run. The weather was warm and the trees are all in bloom. Poor Jason can’t run with me right now because the pollen count is so high that his allergies go crazy. So I had to settle for a run on my own :)

This month we celebrate our 6th year of being here in Tennessee. You would think after six years I would be used to the weather patterns but spring here always catches me off guard. In Oregon we wouldn’t get this kind of weather until June or July so to have it in March, well, it feels early to me! This whole week it has been in the 80′s and it’s supposed to be the same next week. I can’t complain though, it’s so nice. The only reason I don’t like spring coming so early is that I know summer is just around the corner… Me and summer do not get along. It’s way too hot and humid for my liking :) Last year I was really working on not complaining about the heat. I’m going to have to continue working on it since complaining about it is my natural response. Besides, it doesn’t really help to complain about something you can’t control. It just draws even more attention to it. Anyone else struggle with wanting to complain about the weather but knowing you shouldn’t and that it’s pointless?! Ha!

Moving onto photos for this week. I will show you what I have up my sleeve…

Day 16. Sunglasses. I have had these sunglasses for 4 years. I got them from Fossil and I love them. I actually have lots of pairs of sunglasses but these are definitely my go to pair. I’m not the kind of person that lovingly takes care of my sunglasses and I never will be so I don’t invest a lot in them. It’s actually amazing that these have lasted so long. They get tossed into my purse on a daily basis and thrown on the seat of the car. I have yet to sit on them but that has definitely happened in the past with previous pairs. And the Starbucks… Jason and I went on a date that morning. It was magical :)

17. Green. The name of the game was green for St. Patty’s day and without even realizing it, I wore green. I got dressed for work and threw on a green shirt. Yay for me! I don’t wear too much green so it was lucky that I had it on :)

This one I totally forgot to Instagram. I took a photo when I was in a hurry and simply forgot. Sequin skirt + cardigan buttoned up + boots. I saw on outfit on Pinterest that was similar and copied it :)

PS Look at my whitey white legs!! I need a tan or something!

18. Corner of my home. This is a corner in our family room, the fireplace hearth. I have had this plant for many years now, I think about 10 years or so and it has traveled a lot for a plant. Originally, I got it while I was in Idaho visiting my aunt. She gave me a clipping from her plant because I said how much I liked it. This clipping rode home with us back to Oregon. Amazingly enough, the clipping grew into a plant (at least that’s amazing for my black thumbs)! Then, I brought it with us when we moved from Oregon to Tennessee. Somewhere along the way, I re-potted it and it got a lot bigger. I still love this plant and it is the most successful plant in my house. Thank you Joni, for the start :)

19. Funny. From time to time I have to post photos of my cat. I mean, look at that face! She is so cute :) I chose her as my subject for this day’s word because she makes us laugh all the time. She is somewhat psycho as I’m sure most cats are. She might not be doing anything funny at this particular moment, but believe me, she is funny!!

20. Before & After. You know me, I love a good before and after. This one was an easy no brainer because I forgot to take a photo of something that was actually interesting. So, my water glass filled in for my lack of creativity.

21. Delicious. Seriously? These are some of my favorite candies all year. Jason and I look forward to Easter candy more than any other holiday candy because these are so good. Cadbury mini eggs. That’s where it’s at :)

Side note: we had a friend that knew we liked them and she brought us a huge bag from Sam’s Club a couple of weeks ago. We have been making our way through it and enjoying every single one. On Wednesday she asked if we needed a new bag yet. We don’t, but isn’t she the sweetest?!!!

22. Kitchen Sink. Haha, I grabbed a shot when it was a full kitchen sink. Mostly because this rarely happens. Normally is looks like this. I’m sort of married to the cleanest guy on the block and he does not like his kitchen sink to be messy. As soon as there is a spare dish about, he sets to cleaning it up. Me? Not so much :) Right after I took this shot I could hear him cleaning it up. Thank you sweetheart, for cleaning up after us :)

I love the Instagram challenge. I causes me to take photos of random things that I never would have thought of before. It’s helping me to document our life right now. If you haven’t tried it, you should. It’s fun :)

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Tagged: Everyday Life, Personal, Photography

Everyday Life: 03.09.12 – 03.15.12

I have been trying all day to get this post put together and I keep getting distracted! But now I am finally going to sit down and make myself get it done!

I hope you all have had a good week. We have had a very warm weathered week. It was about 80 degrees the past two days and now, while it is still warm, we are having a thunder storm. Strange :)

Moving on… here are my happenings for this week according to Instagram…

I had the pleasure of hanging out with my dear friend Heather last Friday. It had been way too long since we had hung out. My March Photo A Day assignment was Red. Since Heather was wearing red pants that day, I made her my photo of the day :) By the way, she just recently did a whole post on what she is wearing with her red jeans these days. You have to check it out, she is so cute! See it here. While we were together she bought some green jeans and then did another post about them. Check that one out here. Isn’t she the best?!

Our house is usually pretty quiet. So when #10′s word was Loud, I didn’t have any ideas. And then I made our newest obsession (as I stated earlier), frozen yogurt. I realized the ice cream maker is loud and it would work just right :) By the way, the homemade version of frozen yogurt doesn’t last long at our house. It is super good!

11. Someone I talked to today. This was easy because it was a church day. I talked to lots of people :) But I chose my friend Ashley for the photo because I just might have talked to her the most aside from Jason of course.

12. Fork. I thought this one was kind of boring and I sure didn’t do anything creative with it. So now you have had a peek into my silverware drawer. Speaking of flatware… I would love to have new set. Preferably this gold set from West Elm. Pure delight! Anyone else hankering for gold flatware?

Outfit post from Sunday. I forgot to actually post it on Sunday so I posted it on Monday instead. Stripe dress + navy blazer (from the little boys section at Goodwill!) + belt + boots.

12. A Sign. This sign was bought by some friends of mine for me right before I moved to Tennessee. I have it hung in the kitchen and it makes me smile to remember the day that it was given to me because we spent the day together. I love those girls!

13. Clouds. We had the most beautiful weather on Wednesday and at first there wasn’t a cloud in sight. I was kind of thinking I wouldn’t get my shot. But then some little clouds rolled in in the afternoon. I think clouds are beautiful!

Wednesday’s outfit. I figured I should probably take advantage of the weather and wear a dress. I love dresses. They are so comfortable. Unless you are wearing a belt with it. Then, in my opinion, it makes it a tad bit uncomfortable because I had it cinched at my waist. Hey, you do what you gotta do for style!

We were at a friend’s house and there was mud on this tree in the shape of a heart. I don’t know how it got there but I liked it :) It made me want one on a tree at my house. Not so permanent as etching but still cool. Maybe I could make some moss grow like that. Hmmm… something to think about!

15. Car. While my parents are in Brazil I have been driving their car around. It’s been fun. It’s even more fun now that I washed it because it shines. (See Mom, I’m taking good care of it!)

Clouds, cars, signs, belt cinching, frozen yogurt, forks, and friends! It’s been quite a week. What will next week turn up?

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Tagged: Everyday Life, Personal, Photography

Everyday Life: 03.03.12 – 03.08.12

It’s Friday! Yay! We’ve had a good week in the Dykast household and we’re ready for the weekend. How about you all?!

Here are a few photos from how my week went down…

Day Three of the March Instagram Photo A Day challenge was Your Neighborhood. You can’t actually see my home in this photo but I am standing next to it (on the left) and shooting down the road. Actually, I think I shot this through the car window :)

Jason baked the most amazing oatmeal bread last week. Wow, was it good. It didn’t last very long at our house :)

I’ve been doodling a bunch lately. This is one of the pages I was marking up.

Outfit for Sunday. I’ve had this vintage polka dot skirt in my closet for months and I finally shortened it to make it cute. Before it just looked frumpy and we don’t want that, do we?! So, because the sun was shining, I felt like dressing with spring in mind. It was a little cold but who cares?!

Um, yes. Got one of these in the mail last week. We jump for joy when these come in the mail. For those of you who don’t know, it’s a free drink from Starbucks. When you earn enough stars in their rewards program, you get a free drink. These cards are money. I enjoyed every last drop!

4. Bedside. It’s my little corner of the room. I have my little tray, alarm clock, coaster for my water glass, and lamp. Am I the only one that still uses an alarm clock instead of my phone? I like the big numbers so if I wake up in the middle of the night I know what time it is. Plus, I’ve had that little guy since I was in 6th grade. It’s my faithful little buddy. I can’t get rid of it now!

Wow, is that larger than life or what?! 5. Smile. It took me quite a few tries to get this one. It feels very weird taking a photo of myself smiling. It feels too fake. And with all of these close ups, I realized I look older than I use to. Sheesh! It’s no fun getting wrinkles. And it will only get worse :) Bring on the Retinol!!

6. 5:00 PM. Five o’clock means dinner time for us. And do you know that I had been craving burgers and fries for weeks? The weather cooperated and so Jason was finally able to grill us up some burgers. We love the burgers we make at home. We actually like them better than burgers from restaurants. And the baked fries turned out amazing. It’s making my mouth water just thinking about it.

I told you spring has sprung around here! We had a big storm last week with tornadoes and everything (we are fine by the way). I knew it was coming so I picked all of the flowers that had bloomed so they wouldn’t get ruined in the storm. They were so pretty, I’m glad I grabbed a shot because now they are dead. Hopefully, more will come up soon!

7. Something you wore. For this day, I decided to document what I wore all day long. Ready? Here goes… First, I put on my workout clothes. Black shorts and a sweatshirt. We did yoga on this day so I had my slippers on for the photo but they came off when we started our program.

Next, I changed into painting clothes and worked on the laundry room for a while. Sweatshirt designated for painting + cargo pants that I have literally had since I was a junior in high school (also designated for painting now) + slippers.

After I finished painting for the day, I took a shower and put on my pajamas. I knew I would be home for a while and it’s way more comfy to wear pj’s. Sweatshirt + sweats + slippers. My slippers seem to be a reoccurring theme around here. I love them :)

Then, in the evening, I got ready for church. Red pants + gray shirt + black cardigan + black boots. I had no idea at the start of this day that I would change my clothes 4 times!

8. Window. I took this photo looking through the window in our living room. Isn’t that white tree gorgeous? And the tree that’s the closest is just starting to bloom. It’s a weeping cherry and it’s my favorite. One it blooms, it covers the whole tree with little white blossoms. Then, after a bit, they all fall off and it looks like snow. One time, we left our garage door open without thinking and it look like it snowed in there! Now we are sure to keep it closed when the blossoms are falling :)

Remember last week I said we needed a new coffee table at church? Well, we got one. It’s great, isn’t it? I still need a few more things to finish the space but it’s coming along.

Now you know all about my week, what happened in yours? Any big plans for the weekend? I don’t have any. Which is just the way I like it!

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Tagged: Everyday Life, Personal, Photography

Everyday Life: 02.24.12 – 03.02.12

Wow, this week has been much better than the last! It’s gone really fast though, and I can’t believe it’s already Friday! I have another round of photos for you and I finished out Instagram’s February Photo A Day and started in with March’s. Whew! What a month!

Day 24: Inside your bathroom cabinet. I have a linen closet in my bathroom and it is where I put all of my stuff. So this is a photo of a portion of one of the shelves in the closet. Not very exciting, I know, but that’s how I roll.

We got a new couch for the entryway at church. I got it online from Target and I tried to find it again to link it but they must be gone now. Anyway, I really love it and think it looks nice in the space. Even better, I got it on sale for around $200. What? For real? Yes!! You can see why I was so excited. Plus it’s a bed. So if I ever want to spend the night at church, I can now.

Next I need a coffee table or something. And maybe some artwork for the wall under the shelf. Hmm… always something :)

An outfit. I wore this to work on Saturday. Orange skirt + blue shirt + black tights + black wedges + black cardigan.

25. Green. Not my cat, the couch! My couch is my favorite green thing in the house so I figured it deserved a photo :) My cat was just a little bonus since she usually is perched there during the day.

Sunday’s outfit. Funny thing is I came home from church and changed my clothes before I remembered that I had wanted to take an outfit photo. So I put the whole outfit back on and snapped a pic. Yes, I am very dedicated to this :) Stripe shirt + tweed skirt + gray tights + nude shoes + glittery gold belt.

Sunday evening we went to a concert with some friends. It was a free concert put on by the university in our town. I really don’t usually like concerts but it was Phil Wickham. He is one of my favorite Christian artists so I just had to go. Plus it was free. And there was free pizza afterwards. How can you say no to that? Just saying. And even better we went to the new frozen yogurt place afterward. Fro yo is my new favorite addiction. Jason and I really would go every night if we could. In fact, I would take some right now. My favorite is the coffee flavor. Naturally. Anyone else addicted? I will just end this paragraph by saying it was a really good night :)

26. Night. Coming home from the concert. Boring shot but I wasn’t feeling too creative with my belly stuffed full of fro yo. Hahaha.

27. Something you ate. I love this photo. The bright orange against the black and white is wonderful. And the clementines weren’t so bad either. I like mine when they are just a bit sour rather than too sweet and these were perfect.

28. Money. Rather than take a boring shot of a dollar bill I decided to fold it all up into a heart. I hadn’t ever done it before so I watched a clip on Youtube. It was pretty simple. The thing I was thinking of while I was doing it is that with all of those folds it probably won’t be accepted into a bill acceptor at the self check anymore. Bummer :)

My new salt and pepper shakers from Target. They were on clearance. I had to have them! So they came home with me and I’m so glad they did!!

29. Something you’re listening to. What was I listening to? Nothing. So I took a shot of nothing. I really was in a quiet house all day. It was a Wednesday and we have church on Wednesday nights. Jason was in his office studying and so the house is quiet. And I like it like that.

Now we move onto March!!! 1. Up. We had to make a post office run and so I jumped out of the car when I saw these pretty blooming trees there and took a photo Up. It might be hard for my Oregon friends to imagine all of the lovely blooming trees here right now since they have snow (which is unusual) but we really do have them. And now I have proof. It was the most gorgeous day yesterday. I think it might have even gotten to 80 degrees without a cloud in sight. But we are making up for it today with thunderstorms and tornado warnings. Fun, fun!

2. Fruit. My current favorite snack is frozen blueberries. They are so tasty!! I really can’t get enough of them lately. I gobble them down too quickly and then just want more. {sigh} Another addiction.

Well, I guess that wraps up this week. Anything exciting going on in your neck of the woods? Things like tornadoes, frozen yogurt, or concerts? I guess it’s been a pretty eventful week here :)

Have a great weekend!! May it be full of blue skies and frozen blueberries!

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Tagged: Everyday Life, Personal, Photography

Everyday Life: 02.17.12 – 02.23.12

You know, one of these days I might actually post a regular post again about my house. And that will happen once my life calms down a little bit. Do you ever feel like you just go from one thing to the next sometimes with no break in between? That’s how I feel these days :) I thought I was going to get back to regular posting last week and then I ended up with the stomach bug and was out all week. I just laid around in bed or on the couch the whole time. I haven’t been that sick in who knows how long but do you know what? I think it was good for me. Being sick is no fun but a little down time was beneficial. But now, of course, I’m trying to play catch up from being out for a week! So no promises, but I will try to squeeze in a post this week!

Day 17 photo for February’s Photo A Day Challenge was Time. I took a photo of the clock on our oven. Several years ago we switched to military time. I really can’t remember why, maybe even just for fun, but we love it. It takes a little bit of getting used to but it makes so much more sense! No more of this AM PM stuff. Try it, you might just like it :)

Day 18: Drink. I have probably mentioned this before but besides having a cup of coffee at 3:00 PM everyday (or 15:00 for you military time lovers!) the only thing I drink during the day is water. I switched several years ago when I realized how much other stuff I was drinking instead of water and water was a last resort. So, I pretty much got rid of all other beverages (except my beloved coffee, I couldn’t part with that!) and solely drink water. The only other exception is on Sundays. We go out to lunch with our church friends after service and I usually get a soda then. Because I love it so and can’t give it up completely :) Is that quirky or what?!

Day 19: Something I hate to do. The dishes. I really do hate this chore. But can I make a little confession? I rarely do them. My wonderful, sweet, amazing husband does them 99.9% of the time. Even the ones in this photo were washed by him. In fact, I sort of felt like I was cheating taking a photo of them when I didn’t actually do them. But hey! You do what you gotta do :) Am I spoiled? Most definitely!

20. Handwriting. This was my last normal day before I succumbed to illness and I was making a grocery list. A couple things to note. This has my hand writing and Jason’s since we both add stuff during the week. The way it works for us is I plan meals and write them on a calendar that I keep with our grocery list in the kitchen. It’s a system that works well for us. Plus, when I want to remember something I made previously I can refer back to the calendar. Or, if I don’t feel like coming up with a new menu, I can copy a previous one. Another thing, do you see I have spraint on the list? Yes, I use that word (spray + paint) all the time. Please tell me I’m not the only one. Have I caused anyone else to start using this word regularly? One day I hope to see it on Pinterest. Then I will know my influence in the blog world!

Day 21: Fav photo of me. I’m not sure if this is necessarily my favorite photo of me from all time but I do really like it a lot. It was taken way back in 2007 by our friend Rich Smith. I took this photo of a photo the first day I was sick and I actually hardly left the bedroom but by evening I felt well enough to venture downstairs to the living room and I remembered to I needed to snap a photo and this one hangs on the wall so it was easy access and that is about all the energy I had. Plus, I really do like it :)

A good thing about being sick? I got to snuggle with my cat a lot. She wanted to be every where that I was even when it wasn’t so comfortable for me :) But she kept me company. Thanks Sydney :)

Day 22: Where I work. You have all seen my work room but here it is again. I love my little work space and it gets a lot of use.

Day 23: Shoes. There weren’t any shoes on my feet this particular day. Actually, all week :) I bummed around in my slippers and pajamas the whole week and it was great. I figured my slippers would have to take the place of shoes for this shot. Good enough, right?

Anyone else been sick lately? I talked to my brother today and I learned that their whole family had strep throat last week. They have 5 kids and 5 out of the 7 of them got it (that’s including my brother and his wife). Poor them! They made so many trips to the doctor that he finally said they could just call it in when the next one came down with it. I felt so bad for them. It made my little sickness seem easy! There is always something that puts things into perspective, isn’t there?

I hope you all have a great week and stay healthy!!

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Tagged: Everyday Life, Personal, Photography