yahoo!

today we bought the first (two) pieces of furniture for our new home!

they're waiting for us to bring home, and i can't wait!

they have a nice honey hue, but i may recover them along with the couch at some point.

i just love the color scheme the folks over at young house love created for this mood board:

and i think it would look g-r-e-a-t! in our living room.  we have the chocolate colored floors, the straw colored walls, blue green in the kitchen and the bedroom, and i think the yellow/orange would really brighten the room up!

today while we were out at the used furniture store, berry hill home, i saw these cute wood paintings that i thought would be fun in our teal guest room: 

 that might be a fun project!

for the summer, of course. 

The perfect cure for Thanksgiving day boredom

What better have I to do today while my husband sleeps than search the worldwide web for things to furnish our new home?  While our fixing the living room and kitchen will necessitate waiting to buy new furniture, it is fun simply looking at what is out there! I rediscovered World Market in the process, and I am almost certainly going to get these curtains for the living room windows.  I just love them!

OR

They have the perfect balance between solid and too busy; and because the branches are still pretty neutral, the room can still be accented with any color.  

I can't wait to make pillows for all the beds and couches.  When it comes to looking for fabric, one of my favorite things to use is a beautiful cloth napkin!  

Wouldn't this make a lovely pillow for a couch?

Or this?

As for the furniture, I read in a magazine that sofas and chairs with open wooden legs create more of a flow and serve to make a small room look more open.  

So I'd like to search for furniture like this:

For my music room?

For the living room?

(See the wall color?  This is the color I like!)

For the dining room, I'd eventually love to get a solid wooden table like one of these:

 They are not terribly expensive at World Market, but M and I also plan to search the local second-hand stores to look for similar antique ones. 

This painting (also at World Market) is something I love.

It would look better in a darker frame.

I like that the neutrals are highlighted with modest specks of color.

I think I could decorate my entire home with one (expensive!) trip to World Market!

Hello Again, World Wide Web.

I have been way too busy to blog much lately, but I find myself here with the computer (a rare occasion since M's fantasy hockey obsession began) with the dogs napping on my lap and an M.I.A. husband. I seriously have no idea where he is right now. Probably at a record store somewhere. So I'm back with some exciting updates on life. 1.) I have decided to go back to school in the fall, and I've been accepted to Roosevelt University, where I'm choosing to go. The tuition is pretty high, but the program is strong and the school is connected with the most important Chicago-based professional singing companies, so I know I'll be able to make great contacts there on top of receiving a high-quality education. 2.) A couple of weeks ago I participated in a local opera company's annual voice competition, and I placed 2nd! About 40 singers in my age group sang in the competition, and receiving a 2nd-place award (and cash prize!) is just the affirmation a struggling singer like myself truly cherishes. I even found a beautiful dress (pictured below) at a thrift store for $4 to wear. (I'm not above that.) I'm now more encouraged than ever to begin studying for a Masters in Vocal Performance, and I can't wait until the fall! Now just to get through a summer of working six days a week.