I ♥ the Internet. It has given me LOLcats, the broken goat, Damn You Autocorrect, double rainbow, Pinterest, and so much more. I love it today because I’m getting so many good ideas for DIY projects I want to do in 2012. We’ve lived in our home for almost 8 years, and if I have my way, we’ll be moving within the next 2 years. So it’s time to start thinking about making improvements and rehabbing the things that are wearing down. My challenge is to budget all of this not only within our means, but also within a range that keeps our home similar to the comps in our area. And I certainly don’t want to over-invest in a house I hope to sell in the foreseeable future!

Project Get ‘Er Done

Last year my BFF inspired me to find and embrace my inner DIY’er and I redecorated the guest bathroom. While I love the new look there are some loose ends I need to tie off. Most annoyingly, the painters tape didn’t have a good seal on the ceiling so there are lots of paint smudges I want to touch up. Nothing annoys me more than a paint line that is all yucked up.  Also, I’ve been reading about the Rustoleum Cabinet Transformation kit and I really want to try it. I think the bathroom provides a great opportunity to try it out on a smaller project as a test before my kitchen project.

Project Drab to Fab Kitchen

Our kitchen is the poster child for builder cookie-cutters with absolutely no character. I hate my kitchen cabinets but not enough to invest in new ones before moving. The counters are a lame, bland laminate that extends up the wall as a backsplash. If money were no object (ha!), I’d rip everything out and redesign the room so it’s not just a long, boring rectangular galley. Alas, money is an object, so my goal is a facelift to freshen the space with a few small touches to  increase functionality. This will definitely be my biggest project of the year.

Project Loft Library

One of my weekend and sickday obsessions is HGTV. If I’ve learned one thing from those shows (besides clean up your mess before you show your house), it’s that things like storage and built-ins can add that bit of value that nudges a buyer over the purchase decision. As I said, our house is pretty cookie-cutter, so I want to add some customizations to glitz it up a bit. My plan is to convert our loft into a library and media room. With my collection of nearly 1000 books, I also want some great book storage space!

Project Grungy Be Gone

Back to the aforementioned builder cookie-cutter design, we have what must have been the world’s cheapest carpet. We also have 3 cats and 1 dog, who have taken their toll on the neutral beige carpet. I want hardwood in the living and dining rooms, and porcelain tile in the kitchen and entry. With the new floors, we’ll also replace the baseboard and give everything a fresh coat of paint.

Project Curb Appeal

The icing on the cake! Now that the inside of the house is looking all spic and span, time to get the outside up to snuff. I’ll spiff up the back patio (with rubber pavers, an umbrella, and a container garden), replant the front yard beds (those bushes are getting out of control!), repave the front walk (so the door is more accessible), and either repaint or replace the front door.

So I’ve got my wishlist of projects, I’ll need to spend some time thinking about budgeting and timing. I’m sure there’s more that will need to be done—but I’ll tackle that in 2013.

My annual winter sinus infection hit again this year. At least it waited until after Christmas and laid me out over New Years. For some reason the congestion and coughing completely addled my brain—I don’t even remember how many times I ripped out a new knitting project because I couldn’t even keep track of eighty lousy stitches. So, in those blurry redeye hours, without being able to concentrate enough for handcrafts or reading, I finally jumped on the Pinterest bandwagon.

Oh boy. I can see that I’ll be spending a lot of time there!

The pinner who invited me was Allison of House of Hepworths, which is also how I encountered the first pin that inspired me to do something. When I saw this weekly summer schedule for kids activities, I immediately thought I should adapt it for me.

See, my normal state of mind is cluttered with grand notions of indulging my creativity—from writing to jewelry making to home improvement to genealogy research—that unfortunately seem to stagnate. I feel like I’ve had an alarming lack of followthrough the last few years. I don’t know whether I’ve gotten lazy, overwhelmed, or I’ve got ADD, but I’m always on the lookout for ways to get past that feeling. So I took the original author’s awesome idea and tweaked it to my lifestyle and pursuits.

One of my perpetual desires is to journal more, so I whipped out my journal and reasoned through what I wanted my schedule’s pursuits to be. I wanted them to be attainable, relevant, and fulfilling. I decided that my calendar would have six days, so I made a brain-dump list of activities and goals that are important to me. Then I went through each one again to think about what held the highest priority. With that done, I decided to indulge another hobby and prettify my calendar using digital scrapping supplies from Scrap Girls. Now I’ll print it, frame it, and hang it above my desk and craft table—that way my goals and intentions are front and center in my work and play areas.

Here’s looking forward to a fun, fulfilling, and productive 2012!

Link roundup:

• My Pinterest profile
• House of Hepworths blog
• Somewhat Simple inspiration
• Scrap Girls: ScrapSimple Digital Layout Album Templates: 12×12 Picture a Day
• Scrap Girls: Skidamarink Collection Biggie

I wasn’t going to do resolutions this year—the whole notion just seems over-commericalized and cliche by now. My career is chugging along at a pretty good clip, so it’s time to focus a bit more inwardly. I plan to devote some of my 2012 energies to living a better, more fulfilling, connected, intentional life. Add to that a few more tangible things I want to accomplish, and I hope to challenge myself and grow through the year.

One of my Christmas presents was The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are by Brené Brown, “a guide to a wholehearted life.” As I begin this new year, it’s with the desire to step out of my self-imposed shell. To speak and own my dreams, then do something about them. Ready, set, GO!

Though I heart me some Hulu Plus, I’ve been annoyed that I still have to watch advertisements for a premium, paid service. But my newfound Hulu Plus addiction has yielded a surprising find. (But, Hulu, if you’re listening, I still don’t like being held captive by your repetitive ad rotation!)

Sheryl Crow, a longtime proponent of a greener, earth-friendly lifestyle, has partnered with Tom’s of Maine for her summer tour. Normally that wouldn’t merit a passing thought from me. But Crow’s video message just grabbed me. Her words spoke loudly enough to me that I created a snazzy version to print and hang on my monitor.

See it for yourself:

Crow also says, “It’s interesting being a songwriter because no matter what you’re writing about, the human experience is the same.” So I want to leave you with a parting thought. Our lives are our story. Our story is our connection, to our selves, to our loved ones, to our fellow humans. There is power in that shared connection. And there is power in your story. Never forget, we all have a story to tell.

For our last full day in Spain, we took a day trip from Madrid to Segovia. With the high speel rail route, the trip only took about 25 minutes. Segovia was one of the highlights of my trip—the old town was amazing! Studying aqueducts way-back-when in school did not prepare me for seeing the ruins of one in person. The sheer scope is incredible. Seeing the construction is stupefying. And if you manage to visit Segovia, do not miss the cathedral. You can’t take photos inside the church, but take my word for it. It’s breathtaking.

We visited Real Jardin Botanico in the evening right after visiting the Museo del Prado. Since they’re right next to each other, it made sense. And since we visited in May, many of the flowers were in bloom. It’s a lovely place to visit and meander. K and I took tons of photos—turns out we can both happily photograph flowers till we’re old and gray. Enjoy my photos!

See the entire gallery here

After 3 days of 5+ mile treks around an event venue, I finally got to take some time off and explore Madrid a bit more with a coworker, K. Once again, I lucked out and was able to spend my overseas holiday with a fabulous companion!

First, we slept in. After three days on an event, lemme tell you, that is the first priority. After a delightfully slow start to the day, we ventured into the city to visit the Museo del Prado. I’ll admit, I’m not a big art person (I prefer natural and historical locations), but Museo del Prado was absolutely stunning. Literally, the experience left my brain a little stunned–so many seminal works and masterpieces in once place! K and I spent over 6 hours there, easily the most time I have ever spent in one museum. Part of me wishes they let you take photos because there was so much to see. On the other hand, I think I enjoyed seeing the art more since I wasn’t preoccupied taking photos (even if I won’t remember everything I saw!).

One of the funnest things was I remembering pieces that my kooky art history prof covered in my college art history class. All of the text book reading and class discussion doesn’t prepare you at all, though, for the sheer scope of some of those pieces! And in some cases the frames are more complex and ornate than the painting itself.

See all photos in the gallery here

We spent a lot of time wandering the streets of Madrid in search of food, money, and awesome architecture. The buildings are absolutely stunning with amazing detail in sculpture, glass, and ironworks. Several times we missed a destination because we were transfixed—we had to keep reminding ourselves to look ahead, not up!

See the full gallery here

6 days, 30 miles+ walked, and gallons of Fanta Orange later, I’m heading home from Madrid, Spain. The trip’s theme was Fun In Spite of Murphy. And, indeed, fun was had.

I arrived on a Tuesday morning after an overnight flight. Upon arriving, I promptly forgot that my hotel offered an airport shuttle so I suggested to my coworker that we hail a cab. And oh, the cabs in Madrid! They are everywhere.

A friend warned me that English isn’t as prevalent in Spain as in other European countries and she was right! Aside from the hotel desk clerks, I met maybe half a dozen people who spoke more than a few words of English. Which I suppose is fair since I only speak a few words of Spanish. I feel completely unable to absorb another language–my one year of Spanish in college was even more traumatic than Physics, which is really saying something for me–so this was a bit out of my comfort zone. Thankfully I had companions who could laugh with me through the language barrier.

That first day we walked over five miles orienting ourselves with the event venue, including the two mile adventure to replace toiletries that I left back at home. Then we racked up a few more miles (literally!) tracking down a Western Union since my ATM card wasn’t working. Turns out that wasn’t such a bad thing since we got to see a few miles of city we might not have otherwise.

Highlights from the photos below:

• Snapped some photos from the plane on the approach to Madrid–gorgeous countryside!
• Fanta. Oh, how I love orange Fanta. Don’t know what they do differently, but it tastes different and oh-so-yummy in Europe.
• We chose dinner at the Taberna Alhambra not from recommendation or any particular draw from the menu. Only because it was decently rated on Trip Advisor and two of my favorite period-book-to-movies refer to Alhambra (Northanger Abbey and North & South). But it worked out very well!

See the full gallery

Back in March I visited my friend Ali. She and her husband have done all sorts of improvements to their home, which leaves me in total awe. Despite the fact that my dad is a handyman extraordinaire I’ve never been proficient with tools and repairs. While I was visiting Ali I dropped my earring down a sink drain and lamented to her that I’d lost my favorite earrings. She looked at me and asked why I didn’t just get them out of the drain. Like, duh. I had no idea what a simple task it was! So I was inspired to tackle my first home improvement DIY when I got home—I replaced two light fixtures all by myself. With that small victory, I installed a ceiling fan. And completely hooked at that point, I decided to give my guest bathroom a facelift.

So now it’s been repainted and I replaced all of the cheapo builder fixtures. I still need to do some finishing touches, and I’ll likely paint the trim, but it’s all put back together. When all’s said and done, in addition to the paint, I replaced the towel bar, towel ring, TP holder, light switch plates, light fixture, faucet and drain. I also added a glass shelf and robe hook. The drain was a pain in the butt, and I had to break my promise of doing it all by myself to bring my hubby’s muscle. Hubby also upgraded our shower fan to be quieter and pull more air. It’s freakin’ awesome!