The Guest Bathroom

Welcome to the only room that is fully finished {except for some trim that needs painting}... the guest/hall bathroom. I am ridiculously proud of this cute little space and couldn't wait to show it off! I think the plan is to ultimately paint the cabinetry white to match the trim or get new cabinets entirely, but that is about #49 on our list of priorities. So excuse the the boring, basic cabinets and focus on the rest! :)

I wanted a beach-themed bathroom, mostly due to my newfound love of the beach thanks to our honeymoon, but if you look at bathroom sets nowadays, everything "beach" themed is covered in seashells or seahorses or sand dollars and it's just a bit much for me. So I set out to create my own beach motif!

Obviously, my first stop was Etsy. I love the two little prints that I chose for above the toilet because they are just oceanic enough to give it a seaside feel. Both prints are from here and the frames are from Target. The basket was on our wedding registry from Bed Bath and Beyond and fits perfectly on the back of the toilet! I'm not sure if we will end up getting some shelves or cabinets for the space above the toilet if and when we redo the sink cabinets, but I'm fine with the minimalist look for now!

I love our wicker basket but wasn't quite sure what to fill it with. The tissue box holder is also from Bed Bath and Beyond and I love the way it ties in with the sandy tan of the bathroom decor - and it isn't covered in seashells! I tossed in the sand dollar we found on the beach the first day of our honeymoon {and I should probably finish bleaching it one of these days...} and I wanted to include some of the shells we found as well. Simply placing them in the basket didn't quite look right, so I got a small apothecary jar from Hobby Lobby to put them in until I find another way to display them. The lotion got thrown in the back section as a filler :)

One beach-themed item I did go for was this set of shower curtain holders. I think they are neutral enough that you aren't overwhelmed by the beach theme :) the shower curtain is one of my favorite new purchases! I think it looks like nautical ropes. Both are from Bed Bath and Beyond.

The print next to the tub above the towel rod is also from Etsy, found here, and the frame matches the two smaller prints above the toilet, from Target.

On the wall next to the door is yet another Etsy print, found here, with another matching Target frame. The hand towel is from a package we got from Bed Bath and Beyond (I think) and the plug-in warmer is from Scentsy! It has a cute little sand dollar on the front.

I stuck our shadowbox frame with the photo and sand from the beach in the corner and I think it looks just lovely there. The soap dispenser and tumbler are from Bed Bath and Beyond. I love the sandy color and texture!

The jar of sand from our honeymoon also found a home on the counter, next to the jar that I really only bought because it matched the set... it's currently holding cotton pads. Again, Bed Bath and Beyond's only "beach" bathroom sets were covered in tacky, beachy goodness, so I opted for a more subtle set :) 

Another shot of the lovely backsplash and mirror, thanks to the previous homeowners.

The rug in front of the sink is purely for decoration purposes. It's from Bed Bath and Beyond and has little threads of gold running through the stripes!

The rug in front of the bathtub is more for comfort. Also from Bed Bath and Beyond, it's plusher and thicker than the other rug.

The wastebasket is one I tossed in the cart on a whim {and because it was on clearance}. It keeps with the neutral theme and looks a little like nautical rope, I think. 

So there is the first house tour post! I'm hoping to have another room finished in the next week or two, but may not happen until one of my classes is over. We've had a few friends over and everyone has such kind things to say and are very generous when I explain that it's quite all put together just yet. Once we finally get curtains up and decor on the bedroom and living room walls, I will be a happy girl!

Chinny Chin Chin... and a cymbal.

Just when I think life is starting to slow down, it speeds right back up. The master's program I'm in only allows you to take one class at a time, but somehow I got enrolled in a class that overlaps with my current class by about four weeks. The class I've been in since September has been a ridiculous workload so adding on a second class has left me with virtually no free time. Here's a condensed version of what we've been up to lately!

More housey things... the back door had almost no sealant around the frame so that was on the top of husband's to do list before it got cold! It took almost a whole tube of caulking to get it fixed and I'm not sure how the previous homeowners' electric bill wasn't through the roof...

Top of my to do list? Getting the doors painted. Husband took this task on for himself and spent a whole Saturday sanding the doors down.

Pretty white doors to match our pretty white trim!

Here's my cutest update: our chinchilla! I've wanted one for years and years and when the Humane Society took in two, I knew I had to go visit them. I only brought home one, though :) his name is Zippers! He is still pretty skittish around us - we only allow him to run around the guest room when the door is closed, since the cat is a jerk, and he enjoys running around us and perching on me but still isn't quite comfortable being picked up most of the time. But he is super duper adorable and so so soft!

We got our first snow only halfway through November!

This was my "domestic goddess" episode, as my dad dubbed it. The cat got a urinary tract infection and had an accident in our bed, so I had to strip the sheets, comforter, and mattress pad off. I found out the hard way that our washer is not big enough to contain our mattress pad and it got wrapped around a spring or something on the inside of the machine. When I went to free it, I cut a huge gash in my finger and dripped blood all over our destroyed mattress pad before I realized it. Genius! Thankfully, my mom helped me sew up the mattress pad and it's not a total loss. (The cat is doing much better. She got confined to the basement for a week since it's unfinished and easier to clean up any accidents. After 10 days of pills, she's back to her old self.)

I skipped the last football game because it was somewhere around 17 degrees but I got to go to the fun part of band wifing - the drumline performed during a college production of Legally Blonde: The Musical and I got to catch one of their performances! The audience went crazy and they sounded perfect!

This is not so much an update as a peek into the band wife life... there is a cymbal on my couch. 

Guilty Pleasure Shows

I've always been an avid reader, but sometimes I love to just veg in front of the TV. And I never really got the fuss over Netflix until I used it for myself, but I've turned into one of those who finds a show and gets hooked! School and renovating the house is kicking my butt, but there are some shows that I just need in order to unwind.

1. 90 Day Fiance

Do y'all watch this?? Husband and I started watching it last season out of curiosity and we are hoooooked. American meets person from another country, they fall in love, and they bring their love over on a K-1 visa and they have 90 days to get married. It's so fascinating to watch the different dynamics of the various couples. Some couples are clearly just in it for a green card but others are truly in love and it's interesting to watch them work out the issues that come with being from different countries.

2. Breaking Amish

Oh TLC, you sure know how to get me with your reality TV. I watched the first season on Netflix in, like, a day, and I followed the original cast through their sequel show, Return to Amish, and am loving the new cast on this season of Breaking Amish. It's not a show about Rumspringa, the rite of passage for Amish teens when they learn to be English, but rather about grown adults who are making the decision to leave the Amish culture. So naturally, the show gets them a one-way ticket to NYC. Because the best way to get acclimated into the English culture is to head to the largest, craziest city that America has to offer. But these Amish people have more than enough drama to sustain their own reality show!

3. Flea Market Flip

Have I talked about this one yet? Two teams have to buy old trash from the flea market and transform them into new treasures. But they have three specific projects to complete and the winner is the team who makes the most profit from their flips. It inspires me to be creative but I don't have the creativity or the tools to turn an old stoplight into a bench :) it's fun to watch, though!

4. Hotel Impossible

It's the same premise as Kitchen Nightmares but with hotels. This hotel guru goes into failing hotels, yells at the owners, whips the staff into shape, and makes it over into a hotel that you would actually want to stay in. He brings in fantastic designers and their makeover reveals are always gorgeous!

5. Kardashians

It started when I turned on an episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians on Netflix one day because I wanted background noise when I was trying to sleep and I had the flu. I was looking for something I wouldn't care about falling asleep while watching it and I ended up watching half a season on accident. Whoops! Let me clarify. As a whole, I do not like the fame whores that the Kardashian clan has turned into, and I really don't care for Kim. But I like tuning things out for an episode and watch rich people problems instead of thinking about my own. I really love Khloe and Kourtney, so while I watch KUWTK, I much prefer the shows that don't feature Kim - like Kourtney and Khloe Take the Hamptons, which is airing now. It's total fluff and not something I watch to be intellectually stimulated, but darn if it isn't addicting...

Playoff Game #1

Same song, different verse: band played amazingly well and the football team dominated. It was home game #2 in a row with the third taking place this week, so as much as I am loving the band wife life, I am ready to have Friday nights back and have my husband back! One of the difficult parts of the band wife life is our limited time together during marching season, but it's not just because of football games - he goes to bed super early most days because they have marching rehearsal before school three times a week. But the absolute best part is seeing how much the kids have grown over the last few months and getting to be a part of their amazing program. I love being a piece of the puzzle and being a helper to my husband - last game, I had to dash to the band room to grab extra saxophone reeds. Whatever needs to be done, I am there to do! I'm extremely proud and protective of my husband and all of his students and I am one of the first people to brag about how fantastic they all are! {I mean, it's hard to compete with some of these proud band parents :) } A couple of the moms made a comment about how I sit through football games to watch the band perform but that I don't even have a kid in the band, and I found it pretty funny - yes, I'm here to watch the one person who doesn't do anything during the marching show :) but there is nowhere I'd rather be. I can't even imagine sitting at home or being out with friends instead of watching my husband do what he does so well!

The band leaves the bleachers a few minutes before halftime to practice and line up, so if a touchdown is scored and the band isn't there to play the fight song, the band parent section sings it loud and proud :)

The Halloween Game

The final home game of the season {at least till state...} was on Halloween night. Being the kind of school where most kids come from large families, usually with little kids at home, the stands were emptier than I'd ever seen them - but still more full than a lot of schools! The night started off well - it was ridiculously cold but the band played better than they had all season. Unfortunately, some events happened to put a major damper on the evening and the kids were dismissed during third quarter to go and enjoy the rest of their Halloween. I can't go into many specifics as to what happened, but I am so glad that I am part of a community that stands by those who were wronged and support those who need it.

The Last Competition

Thankfully, this one was only a 30 minute drive from school! It was a beautiful day outside and, of course, the band got all superior ratings!

Another band did a Lion King marching show... Second best show of the day ;)

And what would a competition be without a little sunglasses sunburn?

Poor husband burns just walking from the car to the store, so he is bright red, just like every other competition where he forgets to put on sunscreen. Maybe one day he'll learn....

Top 5 Broadway Cast Recordings

As I've already mentioned, one of my passions is musical theatre. I do not possess the talent to perform onstage and much prefer to stick behind the scenes, but I do love me a good Broadway cast recording, much to the dismay of my fellow technicians. I love musicals all across the board but it takes a really good soundtrack for me to listen to every song, every time. Some of my favorite showtunes come from shows where I only care for one or two of the songs, so I will do a separate fave showtimes post another time. For now, here are my top five cast recordings!

5. Wicked

Of course, the ever-cliche Wicked shows up on the list. But how can you not? This entire soundtrack is a masterpiece. I still get goosebumps when I listen to Defying Gravity or For Good. Should I even bother putting a mini-synopsis of this show? If you don't know what Wicked is, you are seriously missing out on one of the best shows Broadway has ever seen. Please do yourself a favor and listen.

I could recommend a million different versions of Defying Gravity with various different actresses playing Elphaba, but I will first recommend the original cast, with Idina Menzel (yep, Elsa from Frozen...) as Elphaba. And I have to throw out a recommendation for the incomparable Eden Espinosa singing No Good Deed.

4. Next to Normal

This one is only so low on the list because I cannot tolerate Alice Ripley's vocals. Next to Normal is an adult, edgy show and the every single song portrays ridiculously deep, mostly painful emotions. Not a good listen with kids around or if you're having a pity party. Definitely a good listen for anyone who thinks that musicals are nothing but fluff and romance.

This clip of Superboy and the Invisible Girl shows off the gorgeous harmonies in most of the songs... and here's I'm Alive, because who can get enough of Aaron Tveit?

3. The Lion King

It's no secret that the Disney film is one of my favorites of all time, so I was really hesitant to listen to the Broadway version. I mean, how can you top the greatest animated film ever? Well, they did. I found that I love the stage songs just as much, if not more than, the original movie songs. Circle of Life is amazing with the new arrangement. My favorite song, hands down, is Shadowland. Close second is They Live in You.

Check out the new lyric video for Shadowland! And here's a TV performance of They Live in You.

2. The Last 5 Years

Here's another lovely one not for kids and not about fluff. It's a love story told from the first date all the way to the divorce, but the wife tells it backwards while the husband tells it forwards. Brilliant concept. And it's a two person cast. The original cast recording with Norbert Leo Butz and Sherie Rene Scott is my favorite, although the Adam Kantor and Betsy Wolfe revival is still amazing. I am very much looking forward to the Jeremy Jordan and Anna Kendrick movie version. I'm about to be that person with three versions of the same soundtrack on my iTunes. Anyway. This soundtrack is a total roller coaster ride and is heartbreaking from beginning to end. It's also easy to follow along with, as the majority of the story is told exclusively through the songs with very little dialogue in the show.

It's hard to pick a favorite since they're all so interwoven, but I Can Do Better Than That would probably be it.

1. Aida

This show is surprisingly not well-known for being a) a Disney show and b) with music by Elton John and Tim Rice. It's a Romeo and Juliet-esque story set in ancient Egypt to some rocking music. The original Broadway cast is an all-star cast with Adam Pascal (of Rent fame) as the leading male and Heather Headley (original Nala in The Lion King) and Sherie Rene Scott (from The Last 5 years and The Little Mermaid) as the two leading females. I have loved this musical for 10 years and I still cannot get enough of the gorgeous ballads, high belts, and soft Egyptian undertones. 

Favorite has to be The Gods Love Nubia! But I also love Every Story is a Love Story/Fortune Favors the Brave. And, obviously, Written in the Stars. See? You can't pick just one favorite from a flawless soundtrack.

Okay, go listen to one or more of these fantastic recordings!