One Year Blogiversary!

Happy Blogiversary!

To me!

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Today marks the one year point of my first month of blogging. I am really excited! It came up so fast it's unbelievable! I've been extremely grateful for this year first of all because I've met a few fabulous people via blogging. 

For example! Sam at The Junk House! Check her out!

I'm so grateful to have met someone else that has turned out to be a great friend and ally in the whole young DIY blogette world. Thank you Sam for being awesome!

My family has also been a major part in helping me keep the blog going. My parents both check the blog daily and even my busy brother and sister keep up to date on it.

Oh! And by the way! My baby sister just graduated from High School and will be attending Colorado State University in the Fall! Good work Ally! (I'm in the whiteish pink, Ally is in the center, my brother Aaron is in the top left, my Dad Wade is on the right, and Mom Stacy.)

This blog has been my constant in the last year and has keep me feeling empowered and motivated to get projects done and have a positive creative outlet. Sure, it's not the biggest blog, the most awesome house, or  the most mind blowing renovations or project, but it's fun!

So thank you for everyone that has hung around for the last few months, year, week, or days! You all keep me going. Thank you!

New Look and Outdoor Walls

As you can see I've been making some updates and changes to my blog trying to get it all prettied up for the summer. I've neglected it for the last couple months and it needs some love! So just hang with me while I get it all situated! And if you have any suggestions feel free to email me at thismessybusiness@gmail.com or comment.

 But moving onward to home related things. I've been tossing around some ideas for sprucing up my front porch space.

Here's what it currently looks like:

That one lone star is the only wall decoration that I have up. And it's been there since the first summer I've owned the house. I'm trying to think of some other ways to decorate that big ole blank wall.

I've seen some really cool "urban gardens:"

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I really like this one because it seems really natural. Also looks like I could make that out of free wood pallets. Free. Love that.

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I've seen these little guys all over the place and the more I see them the more I like them. I think they would be fun in the concrete area where we keep the grill. They'd be up and out of the way but would add some interest and greenery. Perhaps I could do my own version with one big pot and then several little ones around it? Hmmm. 

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This may be a better solution! I could find some wall scones from the thrift store or something that are supposed to be used for candles and instead find a way to use them for some cheap clay pots that have been spray painted. That way I'm not drilling any major holes into the exterior walls and I can paint them any color and change them around. I think I like this idea better. 

What do you think? What have you seen that is a great, easy, and preferably low maintenance outdoor wall goodness?

A Little Desk-perate

Since the semester is finally over and the summer has begun, I've finally been getting around to the things I should have done a long time ago. After this summer I move into my student teaching semester and then graduation (!!!) so I really needed somewhere a little more organized and ready to take on a full teaching work load. And that looked prettier.

The chaos of my desk before:

Needless to say there was not very much work going on in this corner. Just looking at it I feel panicked. Not good. Since my roommate Karly moved back to Alaska (sad face) I decided to take the desk that I had originally purchased for her room way back when and put into mine. 

Here's the switcheroo (and of course Lucy investigating. Cat.):

At least she's kinda cute....

After I chased her off and rearranged a little bit...

It's not very comfy on the wrists to have the keyboard on top like it is so I want to convert this little top pull drawer into a keyboard drawer. I think it'd be fairly simple and would look way better.

But for now this is the set up that I have going. It is much better! It first of all looks way better because it coordinates with all the other white furniture that I have in my room but it also has those handy storage drawers. I can fit stuff inside of them! It's magical really.

Here's an angle of the whole "office" corner:

When I grow all the way up I am definitely going to have a separate office area so that I can have my bedroom for it's original purpose but for now this definitely works much better then the old desk situations that I've tried. Not too bad for a thrifted $30.00 desk!

What do you guys think of the switch? Better?

Linked to: Liz Marie   Beyond the Picket Fence