Goal #2 - Life Updates: July

Devin and I spent our Forth of July weekend doing some apartment-improvement projects. Including this one and this one:

(the newly painted blue wall in our living room)

When we re-signed our lease for another thirteen months, we figured that since we'd be staying put for awhile, it was time for a little change. I love our new blue wall (it compliments a larger wall in the same room that was already painted a lighter shade of this blue). The deep blue makes my little antique table (which I rescued from a garage sale for $1.00 and re-painted white) stand out beautifully. Mmmm... ::contented sigh:: The whole project only cost us about $9.00 (as we borrowed all of the tarps, tape, trays, rollers and brushes) and makes such a big difference in the space.

I could blog about this subject for another hour. I used to watch way too much HGTV and TLC and I get really excited about decorating... But will move on for the sake of those of you who just barely care.

Mid-July, after spending a whole day cleaning the apartment and baking cookies, we had some new friends from church over. You know what Mama always said, "You have to be a friend to make friends." And since making a real friend at church is one of my goals, I figured I better start putting forth more of an effort to be a friend myself.

We had a blast with Keith, Kaydee, Barry and Steffani while playing some very funny games. (Ever heard of the 1990's game True Colors? Yeah. Awesome. But be ye warned: feelings can definitely get stepped on during this game. One consumer description I found said, "Do your friends hate you? They will if you play True Colors." All went well for us this time around, however, I have played the game and had friends wind up in tears... sooo... play if you dare.)

The living room looked so neat and tidy after our get-together and when Devin mentioned that it makes for such a peaceful, relaxing place to be when its clean - it really touch my wife's heart. It gave me such a desire to keep our place picked up in order to serve Devin better. If having tidy apartment helps make my husband feel relaxed at home, then I need to make a much greater effort to keep that peaceful atmosphere intact! I'm trying to pick up little things right when I see them, so that stuff doesn't pile up. So far so good. (Which is a BIG deal for me - as any of my family members or prior roommates can attest to.) (I can't take all of the credit though - Devin has been really helpful too. He's just awesome like that.)

Clean living room! (you can see both blue walls in this shot also)

I also got to go on a little trip with my girl friends for my birthday - more on that in a later post!