Self Challenge...

I want to start by thanking a friend for being supportive and giving me some encouraging advice. Amazing how just a few simple words can make a person feel empowered.

You're probably wondering what the heck I'm talking about.

Most of you know that I decided to get into a little business called Mary Kay. I wear it, I love it; so I can honestly say I swear by it. But that's not the only reason that I got into it.

For starters, my whole life I have loved making people feel good. As a teenager, I didn't have a ton of self confidence until about my Junior/Senior year in high school. Over time, I have learned that confidence comes from accepting who you are and not constantly comparing yourself to a) a friend b) the girl you love to hate because she's so dang pretty and c) the unachievable model/actress glossy magazine photo's that have been photo-shopped to smithereens. Love your freckles, your beauty marks, your curves and/or lack of curves. You were made to be exactly who you are.

Example A) Teaching horse back riding lessons. This is a great form of confidence boosting to people of all ages but most especially children. You don't have to be tall, fast or beautiful to succeed at horse back riding. But the right form, the right skills and the right color combinations can make a statement that will make you one of the best. When you know you look good, you will ooze confidence.

Example B) Selling wedding gowns. It doesn't matter what shape a bride is, when she has found the right dress that makes her feel like the prettiest bride on earth, I have done my job. The right fit (to emphasize the assets), color and amount of bling will make a woman feel sexy, classy and gorgeous. When she feels all these things, she will be more excited about her big day and she isn't going to question who she is. When it comes to that special day, she knows exactly who she is and her confidence will make her shine.

Lastly, example C) Selling makeup. Whether a woman wears none or she looks like a showstopper, she still wants to feel beautiful. At the same time, she wants to look in a mirror and see herself. This is what I want to encourage. I do not want to create clones. Not everyone should wear the same eye color, or as much eye-liner, or any eye makeup for that matter. But, if a woman doesn't wear makeup, shouldn't her skin look dynamite?? And if a woman wants to wear makeup, shouldn't she be able to know what looks best on her without spending a fortune that she cannot return if she's not happy? Or what if a woman was never taught the best way to apply makeup? This is why I decided to sell Mary Kay. Because I (ME. Little ol' me...who had to teach myself how to wear it) get to help people look and feel spectacular. I'm not sure about some of you but when my skin is looking great I have confidence and when I'm having a stellar makeup day, I feel like a million bucks. This is what I want people to know: I'm starting my own MK business because I care. I think everyone deserves to feel fabulous and why not reflect how beautiful you are on the inside, on the outside as well. Nothing can accomplish more in this world than a woman with a smile.

But now here's something I'll bet you didn't know. I get scared. I am afraid of failure. I don't want to look like an idiot. Seriously. I have confidence in myself but yet, I let these things hold me back. Because I put so much pressure on myself to succeed that I'm worried that I won't do well right away. How foolish of me, right? I want to help people be confident and here I am worried that I might not be perfect. Well, this is where that friend opened my eyes. She said you have to start somewhere. And then she told me how she started wearing MK and I thought, wow. That was an easy and painless conversation. I can do that.

I don't want to be pushy. I don't want to be intimidating.

I want to be a girlfriend. I want to be fun and informative. I want to help spread confidence.

I can do this. I will do this.

So I'm giving myself a little challenge...

Starting today (well, it's 11:00 PM...so maybe tomorrow) I'm going to do one thing each day that will get me out of my comfort zone and help me achieve the success that I want. I'm going to put myself out there and see where it gets me. All my life I've wanted to be known for something I'm good at. I can't do this sitting on the sidelines.

"Success isn't about how much money you make, it's about the difference you make in people's lives."

Thanks for listening friends. Wish me luck!

It's about Time...er...Tile...

It's day 14. Not that I'm counting....

Our shower is finally tiled! Now I realize that installing subway tile does take a little longer than larger tile....especially when you have to take it down and start over. But we won't go there. Nope.

And my husband had to go out of town for a couple days.

But in my mind I thought we would be further by now.

However, I AM aware that this is easy for me to say because I'm not the one actually doing the work. See, husband?...I can admit it. :)

But that doesn't mean I won't still be chomping on the bit, waiting. Waiting. Trying to be patient.

Mr T is currently working on puttying the drywall and sanding the layers. (Well, not currently as in right this minute. Right this minute he's watching the back of his eyelids. It's still light out and the birds are chirping. How one can fall asleep already baffles me.) But all this sanding is making our house an absolute mess. We have dust everywhere. I spent my entire Sunday off cleaning every inch of this house. (I'm feeling optimistic that he'll be sure to put a tarp up over the doorway when he sands next.) I will be especially glad when this step is complete.

Next up. Painting. And you'll all be happy to know that I did indeed get my paint colors picked! I'm pretty stoked to have it start looking like a real room. I've got some fun ideas that I want to do. I can't wait to share them!

This is way off topic but is anyone watching the Billboard Music Awards? Michael Jackson is performing. I'm not sure what just happened but it was kind of cool. And kind of weird. What did I just watch??? Huh. And I'm sure I'll get hate mail for this statement but they need to bring Luke Bryan back. He's going all GQ on us. I am no longer getting that "hey baby I'm a country man" vibe. Sorry ladies.

Uh..hum...anwaaaaays......

I'm thrilled to show off our fantastic shower (so far!) I'm being told that we should be able to shower by the end of the week. I'm crossing all my fingers and toes. Watching everything come together is so freaking cool.

Ta da! Isn't she a beaut!?

Enjoy this beautiful weather and rummage season! I'm going this weekend...first one of the season for this girl!

Thanks for reading friends!

Bathroom Renovation Day #3

We have a wall and a tub! Woot! Woot!

Once again the husband said he got everything done that he wanted to do today. My husband is very blessed that he has a great father who is willing to put aside his free time and come out to work for another 4 to 5 hours after a full day of working his day job. I don't know about him but I tend to forget just how much we have to do until we have a finished bathroom. Example: I forgot we...er... I have to paint. I kept thinking that once drywall was up we would just magically have a finished room. Whoops. There I go with that wishful thinking again.

Hit the rewind button.

I tend to fast forward through things. I already have a new bathroom rug, a really neat mirror and contemplating towel colors and wall fixtures.

I should probably think about paint.

Anyways...thankfully my wonderful hubs (I'm abbreviating here. I may be saying husband way too often) stays on task and knows what needs to be done next. Tomorrow he's hoping to get the whole room dry walled. I'm actually pretty excited about that. It will really start looking like a room!

Today, I was ecstatic to come home and find that the tub had been installed, a wall was framed in and dry wall was started.

SO thrilled that I had to get the camera out. Again. :)

Here is our bathroom thus far!

Working hard and thrilled to have their picture taken.

Our My Our soaker tub!

Wall for our shelves or closet, still undecided.

I love seeing progress! And since I've gone and started picking out the fun stuff, I thought I would at least share. What's the fun in shopping for things if no one can see them?!

The fabulous mirror that I scored an awesome deal on at TJ Maxx!

How about these lights? I am beyond excited for these. Are they not adorable?

Check back to see what the next couple of days bring us! I wish I could stay home and watch it all take place but sadly, I must continue going to work. Besides...I know how much my hubs would love to have me home and scrutinizing supervising helping him but I wouldn't want him to get too dependent on me...*cough, cough*

Goodnight everyone!

Bathroom Renovation DAY #1

First rule of thumb: never stay home sick on the first day of a renovation. That's tear everything out day. Or in other words, non-stop pounding and dusty as heck day. A few ibuprofen (to lessen the hammering headache...no pun intended...ok maybe a little), some HGTV and couch time and I managed to rest and relax as much as I could.

8 hours later we have a "clean" slate. It's amazing how much easier it is to envision things when you have a completely empty room. And also what you find when it's an old farm house. We've got some lovely new floor tile and the husband thinks there was a fire at one time. I wish the walls could talk!

Here are our Day #1 bathroom pics:

How about this for our new tile?

Where the shower was.

Where the sink and toilet used to be.

According to my husband he's right on track and got everything done that he wanted to today. Tomorrow he's tackling insulation and electric. I'm really glad that he's super handy. And I'm delighted that all I have to do is tell him where I want things. I'm hoping to kick this nasty cold so I can go shopping (which is what I really do best) and pick out some neat things for the bathroom. Not to mention I now have a very dusty house that needs cleaning. This is a terrible time to be sick. But as usual I have impeccable timing.  Here's to hoping for a better tomorrow!

Good night everyone!

Ready, Set, Reno!

It's here. The day we've been waiting for since we moved in.

The beginning of what will undoubtedly be a continuous couple weeks of cuss words, headaches and frustration.

Tomorrow is bathroom renovation day!

Even though I'm well aware that my husband and I are most likely in for a stressful undertaking, not being able to use our main bathroom and sharing a half bath, I'm excited to see the end result. That's right. HALF bath. No shower. We'll be showering at my parents place. Until it's done. No pressure to stay on schedule. At all.

Good Lord...I'd better stock up on wine.

The challenge for me will be keeping my mouth shut and not questioning my husband to death. I believe him to be totally capable, I really do. But I have this unnecessary need to know EVERYTHING that's going on and to understand every little thing. And I know it drives him crazy. But I'm just curious...

I'll just keep reminding myself to be patient and that he was very willing to let me pick everything out that I wanted in this bath. And he didn't ask questions. In fact, it may have been the very first time ever that he kept saying "whatever you want." Huh. He picked the biggest project we've worked on to let me make the decisions. This could be very important. It could make or break all of my future decision  making for all of our future ventures. Oh God.

There will definitely be wine in this house. Pronto.

* I am by no means a wine-o-holic or have any drinking addictions. It is a means of therapy. Simple, affordable, short term therapy.

I can't wait to see the progress throughout the week. Here's the before shots.

The bathroom housed the washer and dryer.

This is from the day we moved in.

Our gross, scuzzy shower. Ick.

The odd corner storage and random mirror.
Toilet is staying there but getting replaced.
Hoping to make it look a little less cramped.

Washer and dryer have moved downstairs. The
cupboards came down today. We have a good
sized bathroom!

The sink that lived in the corner. And isn't that
an awesome medicine cabinet and light fixture???

The husband is chomping at the bit. He had to get a head start by
hammering a hole in the wall. Boys...

Hope everyone had a great weekend. Have a wonderful week!