not a trophy wife

The Week- Ends | Favorite Super Bowl Commercials

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Are you ready for the Week-End? My son attends school near Minneapolis so he is in the middle of Superbowl 52. He got tickets to attend the college player awards tonight (I don’t know the official name). My son also happened to be at the same SuperTarget in St. Paul around the same time JT (Justin Timberlake) posted his Target trip video here.  If you follow me you know I love a good commercial. I shared this favorite commercial because it has nothing to do with the product that is being promoted. So with Superbowl 52  this Week-End, I wanted to share a few of my favorite Super Bowl commercials.

favorite-super-bowl-commercials

Favorite Super Bowl 52 Commercials

Budweiser does it again with this commercial.

For every mom who had a child try any sport, every musical instrument, or was a part of a theater production …we all know the journey. Procter & Gamble captured the emotions… and can we all admit the songs get us too!

This is a funny  Super Bowl commercial getting a lot of buzz when Alexa loses her voice.

And, I love the athlete commercials. Here is a favorite because I love the song that is paired with skating favorite Nathan Chen. It’s all about the journey.

Enjoy  Super Bowl 52. Cheer responsibly. And, please share your favorite Super Bowl commercials in the comments!

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After Christmas Finds Sent by Angels

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Hi everyone! January can be a blah month with the twinkling lights missing from the front yard and the inflatable polar bear no longer there to greet us when we pull into the driveway. But with gift cards from grandma, I make the most of the chilly month with tracking down after Christmas finds at HomeGoods.

I don’t do the day after sales most years. It’s too early and my house looks like a Hallmark storage room with gift wrap, tissue paper and bows tossed to the side. Even I have my clutter limits. I prefer to go in search of after Christmas finds in January. Like the Island of Island of Unwanted Toys: I call it the after Christmas clearance finds at HomeGoods. The Land of Unwanted Christmas decor.

After Christmas Finds

And, that is where I found the most amazing Christmas tree for next Christmas.  The after Christmas find happened when my husband and I went to pick up a deep dish pizza at Patxi’s Pizza.  One of the larger HomeGoods is on the way so my husband dropped me off with plans to pick me up 13 minutes later. Challenge accepted. This was the text I sent him with 11 minutes until pickup.

First Text:

after-christmas-finds

Second Text:

after-christmas-finds

 

With no one to share the news with I texted my sister-in-law’s, sister-in-law; Erin. We bonded over Thanksgiving about our HomeGoods habit. She seemed like the logical person to text about my pending purchase. When she sent me this text I grabbed the base of the tree to claim it as mine. And, I laughed out loud when I read the following text:

Third Text:

after-christmas-finds

And, so I grabbed a store clerk and he carried it to the front. I volunteered to carry the container in case anyone tried to pull a fast one before I purchased it. Seriously, the lights and ornaments alone are worth the clearance price. It wasn’t until the tree was safely tucked into the trunk (in three sections) that I let out a sigh.

It was mine… for next Christmas.

 

 

 

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The Weekend & the Christmas Cards Fiasco & Fun Finds

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Weekends don’t feel the same during the holidays. Do you know what I mean? It feels like I am on a 24/7 work schedule with both work and family tasks are colliding. On any given day this week, I had simultaneously grocery lists, work lists, technical difficulties at every turn, and a dental appointment I almost missed. And, then there was the Christmas cards incident.

Seriously? I was on the top of my game a month ago.

I started the season with a sprint; kind of like in middle school when we had to run a mile in gym class in under 16 minutes. I would start out full speed ahead, breaking from the pack only to end up with a side cramp ten yards from the start line.

That’s pretty much how to describe my holiday organizational skills. Yep, day one I was on my game, checking off my little to do boxes.

And, then that side cramp kicked in;  my Christmas cards.

I mailed our Christmas cards on November 30th. I got ahead of the Christmas card frenzy. And having that big box checked lured me into a feeling of accomplishment and organizational skills I don’t usually see until January 10th.

And, the next day, yard eight or nine, I got the side cramp; the Christmas card cramp.

A few days after I mailed our cards. I got two almost identical texts from two of my sister-in-laws- within a few hours of each other. One took a photo for illustrative purposes. Yep, I was so on top of it I printed two copies of labels. And, somehow I used the same sheets twice.

A third of our friends and family received duplicate cards. Which explains the missing Christmas and holiday stamps.

 

Christmas-cards-notatrophywife

 

Ad this just threw me off my game! Like what else did I duplicate? Did I already buy those cute Vineyard Vine shirts for the boys? Did I already wrap the cute whale baseball cap on the same site I bought for myself (on clearance)?

CHRISTMAS CARD CHAOS

In my defense, here are a few totally legit reasons why I got derailed and now feel like the girl on the spin bike who can’t click her heels to get off the bike! Make it stop!

I got distracted by a few finds around the internet (before the net neutrality rules repeal). On a side note, I hope I don’t get charged per Target, Crate & Barrel or Vineyard Vines click.

Christmas-cards-notatrophywife

 

FUN FINDS

If you want the most minimalist and beautiful kitchen inspiration click here. 

If you want to see my version of a minimalist kitchen read this post.

And, if you want to see Dawn’s Christmas kitchen in her cabin read this one.

Ever wonder where the expression naughty or nice originates? You can read it here.

And, this quick list over at Country Living shares ways to celebrate Christmas traditions from our parents and grandparents’ generation.

Merry Christmas!

 

 

 

 

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Days of Limes and Lemons | My So Close to Amazing Story

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I am so excited to be a part of KariAnne Wood’s  book launch, So Close to Amazing on  September 5th. KariAnne’s debut memoir shares the stories behind her crazy popular blog, Thistlewood Farms. I met KariAnne at the Haven Conference in July. It was like sitting inches away from a real-life celebrity. She had the personality to match her hair and a contagious smile in any size group.

We need more KariAnne’s in the world.

MySo Close to Amazing Story

I first met (spoke) with  KariAnne over the phone last August. It was a consult about the direction of my blog. Her energy grabs you over the phone and by the time I hung up I was a little overwhelmed and hyped up at the same time. She convinced me I could do any of my goals. I just needed to start with one. One of the goals for my blog was to improve my photographs.

KariAnne suggested lenses and “f-stop” settings. At the time I had no clue what she was talking about. I just answered with a series of “a huh/s” on my end of the conversation.

I decided photography was my biggest challenge. And, a successful blog or social media platform is all about the image; staged, captured or edited it’s all about the feelings we attach to the image.

I guess I have strong feelings for lemons and limes.

My so close to amazing story was more like so far from amazing.

Kind of like my tag line, more trailer than trophy. 

989 photos

I took 989 photos on my Nikon after my conversation with KariAnne. I had note cards parsed together from Google searches. And, with the energy from the most recent  Haven Conference, I signed up for a photography class for the first Wednesday in August.

I had my camera discreetly tucked into my bag (my handbag, not a camera bag). It turned out everyone in this class was there because the two-hour course was free with the purchase of a new camera. I leaned over my chair, being careful not to spill my Starbucks, and I zipped my handbag tight.

No need to share my vintage camera to this crowd.

I listened to the instructor and impatiently thought, “Just get to the manual mode settings.”

M is for Manual Mode 

The instructor eventually reviewed f-stop, aperture and the relationship between the two settings. Oh, and ISO and other functions. I made a note that M is for manual mode and it’s the mode where the photographer takes control of the settings. I knew “M” was for Manual because the “M” was on my camera. Duh.

My notes had arrows, equal signs, and less < and more >  symbols, and looked more like the notes I doodled in my high school Physics class.

And, then he went through the other letters on my camera, “A,” “S,” and “P.” I think at that moment, I tilted my head in response to my mind putting the breaks on my thoughts.

In that moment, I realized I had taken 989 photos using all the letters on my dial, at the same time for one photo.

Yep, every single photo since January, I started on the “M,” turned the dial to the “A”, followed by the “S” for shutter speed. I never knew what the “P” represented, so I skipped it. Each turn of the dial erased my previous setting.  I thought I had to adjust all three modes with the click of that dial as long as I started with the “M.”

It turns out, if  I commit to the “M” I don’t need the other letters.The M is where real photographers hang.

this was #soclosetoamazing moment

I didn’t touch my camera for days. But on a casual Saturday, with the family out and about, I grabbed my camera with a new attitude and resolve. But first, I deleted all 989 photos. It was a clean start and memory card. August just got me so (much) closer to amazing.

M is for me and my time

A is for an amazing attitude

S is for soo……….

P is for perspective….

Solving a problem means looking at it from a different view or mindset. Sometimes I get sideways in my thoughts (sidenote: that is my new favorite expression), and  I need a new perspective.

 

So Close to Amazing

KariAnne’s book, So Close to Amazing, includes stories of encouragement and the constant reminder to not take oneself too seriously. It’s in the voice of a woman who could be your neighbor, friend or colleague.

The messages in her book inspired me to start my photography journey all over with a bag of lemons and limes. It’s about capturing and celebrating the little lime in the middle of the crowd or the noise. Or the lemon that can’t quite sit still, prefers to be sideways or upside down and #soclosetoamazing … but not too close.

 

 

 

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Our backyard nightmare is finally over after seven years

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Everyone, okay some people, have a space in their home where it’s easier to shut the door than to address the problem. Kind of like family dynamics. Wink. Well, our backyard was that space. We nicknamed it, using two words, with two vowels and the first word rhymed with the second word, pit. It was a bad word to match a bad space.

Welcome to our …

backyard nightmare

Our backyard was ignored for seven years. It needed a caution sign to warn our neighbors (and our friends), family and kids to enter at their own risk.

backyard wasteland

We removed our children’s playset seven years ago. We were left with a nickname that left little to the imagination. In our two word description, it basically described the gravel filled 12×18 space into a kitty litter box for our two dogs.

Even our Berner puppy Chloe tried to escape from the backyard nightmare from this gate.

It became a wasteland for canine waste and lacrosse equipment. Shutters were drawn when friends came over. We entertained in our cul-de-sac to avoid the backyard. It was bad.

Shawshank Strategy

Last fall I hauled a bucket of the pea size gravel to the trash every week. One bucket at a time. I felt like Andy Dufresne removing the plaster crumbles from his pants while digging through a wall in the prison. Shawshank Redemption remains one of my favorite movies.

backyard before

The grass was in poor shape. The backyard faces north and gets little sun during the winter. The snow sits longer in the backyard creating a mud pit come April. The flagstone pathway stopped at the gate and picked up in front of the former swing set area.

Clearly, it drove our Australian Shepherd, Tanner,  crazy too. Tanner eventually took on the role of a  landscaper and created a path that clearly should have been flagstone. Tanner is smarter than our entire family.

This was the view from my office.

It’s a wonder I could write a sentence with this view outside my office window. The only difference during the summer was the weed infestation on the top level. The weeds did add much-needed color.

 

In seven years we had as many bids to tackle this backyard nightmare. All of them came back either way over budget or some household or medical expense derailed our plans. I could make some cool analogies that might impress our “lifecoach” but I will save that for an entirely different post.

There was always something …

Until this spring.

Stay tuned for the backyard makeover. We have spent more time in the backyard in six weeks than the past six years.

Here’s a peek you guys…. remember the grass worn walkway…. look closer.

Here’s the backyard reveal.

 

 

 

 

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Blog Hack Update … “Dear Hackers ….”

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Hi everyone! We have rain in the forecast here in Denver. We always need rain so it’s hard to complain.

So many of you asked about the hack-palooza event in May,  I wanted to give a brief blog hack update.

I almost titled this post,

“Dear Hackers”

But that sounded like an invitation for a bored bot to just pounce on my blog’s server.

Let me give you the blog hack update in a sentence. My blog got hacked. Yep, at the end of May, my blog got hacked. I lost everything. My first post on my new blog was published here. There was nothing else to read so surprisingly it got a lot of attention!

What about my backups? Oh.. those got hacked too. I believe corrupted was the word the hosting associate used with me over the phone. Oh, but first he casually asked, “How long have you been blogging?”

At first, I thought he was making chit-chat while I listened to him type frantically on a keyboard. But as the brief phone holds turned into minutes and more minutes; I realized he was calculating how many posts, words, stories, projects, links, and images were lost forever in a data table.

blog hack

I lost everything!

Any and all backups were also corrupted.

I reached out to anyone who had helped me with my blog in the past two years, hoping they may have stored a backup on their server. Nothing.

But, what doesn’t kill ya makes you stronger. I slept okay and when I woke this morning I began of list of “must do now.”  I was fortunate to have a team of fabulous women, I had worked with in the past, who worked over the weekend to get my blog back online.

It’s going to be okay.

The night of the blog hack was devastating until I remembered I had something the hackers didn’t delete permanently.  I had backup copies of all of my blog images. Every single one. Because a few years ago I upgraded my Dropbox account to store all of my RAW images from every barn door project, master bath update, sugar cookie dough pictures.

It’s going to be okay.

I knew the images were the most important thing I needed at that moment. Why? Because the images jogged my memory of favorite projects. And, the reality was the bulk of the photos were pretty crappy from the earlier days of the blogs. Which empowered me to either edit the photos or delete them and back new photos.

the blog images

The images jogged my memory for my favorite posts. Although the posts (data tables) got hacked, the words and stories around those posts can be recreated. Photos trigger our memories and thoughts; our steps and processes and our emotions. Hackers can’t take away the feelings and emotions attached to our photos.

Like this photo. I may have lost the post about the day I found this leaking from my main floor closet, but the image reminds me of the, “What in the h*&&” is that leaking from the closet.

It’s going to be okay.

I’m just getting started! Literally!

PS This shot of Olive from Little Miss Sunshine is what I looked like when I was eight years old, except I didn’t get glasses until fifth grade. If you have not seen Little Miss Sunshine it was one of those quirky movies about all types of families. In the beginning of the movie, I thought it took place in the early 1980’s, but the cell phones gave it away.

Source: LIttle Miss Sunshine

If you are reading this it means my blog IS back up and running, but it might look like I have been blogging for a few months, rather than years. Thanks for stopping by and please visit. I need traffic and comments!

Oh and here’s my new logo!

 

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The Sisterhood of Traffic & Travel

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I’m back from a whirlwind trip to the Haven Conference in Atlanta.  I went for DIY inspiration and to support KariAnne’s #soclosetoamazing BIG news. It’s ironic the title of her book because I don’t think my sister and I came close to amazing during our adventures of traffic and travel.

We came close to killing each other. Correction: one of us (she) came close to ditching the other one (me). So she is farther away from this close to amazing, than me.

 

This is how two sisters navigated traffic to get to Atlanta to attend the Haven Conference. And, we both lived to tell about it so I am using my blog as a platform to share my version of the sisterhood of traffic and travel.

 before the traffic jam

I flew to Knoxville (Tennessee) to see my sister, brother in law and their niece who is staying with them during a summer internship. Knoxville was my first leg of the trip so my sister and I could travel together to Atlanta.

I now refer to Lindsay as my half-niece. I got to know my super cool niece when she offered to do our makeup the night before the traffic jam.

My brother-in-law, an award winning journalist and news anchor, captured a moment of bliss, more we headed into the silent abyss of a confined space on wheels. I love this photo.

Sidenote: My sister and I do not like photos of ourselves so it’s a big deal it’s in here. That’s what hanging out with a 21-year-old will do to your spirit…. we should have taken “our niece” on our road trip. I will share this fun drink later!

Processed with VSCO with p5 preset

With fresh faces and water bottles, my sister and I loaded her car to travel down to Atlanta for the much anticipated Haven Conference. Haven is the mecca of DIY. If you have questions about this conference please comment or email.

traffic and travel

I should mention we are both directionally challenged. We missed the gene sequence that gives us the ability to read a map or directional signs.

Apparently, my sister prefers written directions over the more personal touch of me reading my interpretation of the map. Just sayin’.

My sister’s calculations put us in Atlanta right around three hours. Even though all three calculated routes put the drive closer to 4 hours. Just sayin’.

After a few hours, one of us made her own calculations to unload the other one (me) on the side of the road near Rome, Georgia. In my defense…

Someone has to fill the silence in the car.

My sister and I would agree I am the chatty one between the two of us.  My sister refers to me as Gayle (King) and Tricia’s personality favors Oprah. And, I would love to go on a road trip with Gayle, and Tricia and Oprah can go read their favorite books and take a hike. Just sayin’.

Three hours into the drive to Atlanta, I figured out what the solid red line on the map app meant. I thought it was a heads up the highway was going to segue into a new number (highway).

How did I know the solid red line on I-75 ish meant 90 additional minutes of traffic?

I found an alternative route, where 45 minutes later we were at least 25 yards ahead of where we started when we crossed four lanes of traffic to exit the traffic filled highway.

bathroom breaks

Traffic, however, meant additional bathroom breaks. The traffic was not my fault. And, one of the few things I refuse to do on road trips is to use the facilities at a gas station or any place that requires a key.

God Bless our fast food establishments across the United States. Shout out to McDonald’s in Chattanooga.

This is the face my sister made pretty much every time I either asked for a bathroom break or apparently exceeded my words per hour for traffic talk. And, she’s not very nice about letting me know I am getting on her nerves. I was a little anxious about how we would do at the Haven Conference.

A conference with a lot of chit chat….here’s that face she made when she is about to tell me to stop doing whatever I am doing that annoys her. Or, I remind her of our mother. Let’s save that for another day.

At this point, I was a little nervous about how we would get along at the conference. One of us doesn’t blog because she is an 8th grade English teacher AND volunteers most of her free time here. 

fast forward to the hyatt regency

Eventually, we hit the exit for the Hyatt Regency. It took us 22 minutes to move less than a mile. But, after 23 minutes we drove up to the valet. I was sweating. I haven’t even mentioned the heat and humidity. Colorado has no humidity. I was about to have a sweat induced psychotic break! And, then this happened….

My sister got her hands on the Haven bag. She smiled.. like a legit smile… not the teacher face smile after three hours of back to school night.

She is enjoying her bag this week whereas I had to ship it back to Denver so hopefully it arrives today!

The Haven tote was loaded with Wagner, Ryobi, Deco Art samples, Beyond the Paint, SaltWash samples and so much more. And, the schedule included DIY workshops that included calligraphy and concrete. This was a fun project using m-d metal sheets and available at Home Depot. I had to leave my larger metal sheets with my sister because they would not fit in my luggage. We made lanterns and magnet boards. So much fun!

After a weekend of meeting new bloggers, making crafts, learning DIY projects we left happy and tired. And, the ride home was uneventful. In a good way!

Thanks, everyone! Shoot me questions about Haven if you are thinking about it next year!

 

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My blog was hacked

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HI there

It’s hack-palooza on my blog this weekend.  That’s the term I used to shine a little humor on my blog’s social status. My blog was hacked on a random day in the middle of the week.

blog hacked

Details to follow, but I have a team of fabulous women who are at work to get my blog design and hosting on board.

I lost everything! My file backups were corrupted too. I tried to save it. At one point when I thought I found a 2015 backup, I was excited. That was my last blog overhaul date. But, in a matter of seconds, that data table was lost too.

But, what doesn’t kill ya makes you stronger. And, in light of last week’s event in Manchester, it’s all about perspective.

** FILE ** In this file photo, provided by 20th Century Fox, actress Abigail Breslin appears in the film, “Little Miss Sunshine.” (AP Photo/20th Century Fox)

starting over

Stay tuned… I’m just getting started… literally!

 

laura

 

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owner & contributor | not a trophy wife

owner & contributor | not a trophy wife

Home & Life Style Blogger. Licensed Realtor. DIY & Upcycle Projects. Every Home Deserves to Feel Special. About Me: Coffee. Sharpies. Contracts. Break a Sweat Every Day. Words. Family. Just like our homes I am a work in progress!

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