How to Chalk Paint Your Furniture

-For people who normally suck at things like Chalk Painting furniture.

    For all of you who are terrified to tackle a huge piece of ugly (used to be beautiful in the 90’s) cherry wood furniture, this is for you. If you normally destroy nearly everything that requires manual labor, this is for you. You can do this. If I can, you can. My husband and I do projects like this together and have so much fun! If you’re super busy all the time like us, just take it ONE STEP AT A TIME! We can typically get a piece done in two days or so just working just one to two hours in the evening. If you need some alone time, this is so therapeutic. Just play your favorite music or podcast (I HIGHLY recommend Dear Sugar) and paint!!

What you need:

·         Piece of furniture that needs some love

·         Some kind of drop cloth (blankets my puppy chewed holes in worked great for us)

·         Chalk Paint

·         Crème Wax

·         Sand Paper

·         Paint Brush

**If you furniture has hardware you can either paint over it or you can take it off and paint it with spray paint. I selected a dark grey matte color that was $5.99 at Hobby Lobby (but of course, I used a coupon). It took two coats! Oh, and you probably need a screwdriver to take the hardware off. My husband obviously did this part. 

Tips on buying what you need:

·         Michael’s & Hobby Lobby both carry the Americana Décor Chalky Finish paint. A small 8 fl oz container will work great for things like a pair of night stands, a medium sized table, a bed, etc. These are typically $8.99 a container but with a coupon (you can nearly ALWAYS find one for either store on www.retailmenot.com for about 40% off). This means a container should be around $6.00. I LOVE this brand. It goes on very thick and the quality is GREAT!! Wal-mart also has chalk paint for $4.96. I have never used this so I can’t speak on the quality of it.

**if you are doing a very large project like kitchen cabinets (we did this) or a dresser set, you can mix your own. My dad actually mixed us about 5 quarts and that’s the off white color that you see on some of our furniture. I actually suggest buying a small container already mixed and ready to go if you are only doing a single piece of furniture. It is more headache to mix it than it is to spend $6. And honestly, with the materials you need to mix it you will probably spend more than that anyway.

·         Crème Wax is typically a little more expensive than the chalk paint. You can get an 8 fl oz for $11.99 at Hobby Lobby or Michael’s (but again, you can use a coupon and get it for around $8). This is in the section with the Chalk Paint! It is in a container that looks just like Chalk Paint. Wal-mart also has a version (once again, I haven’t actually tried this) for $4.96 that is also with the Chalk Paint.

·         Brushes- You don’t need the nicest brush for this. We both love the 1.5” brush that I bought at Big Lots the most.

·         Sand Paper- This is really just your preference. I let my husband pick this out. It should be less than $2 - $3 for a pack of 6 sheets. 

Pictures of some of the things you need: 

Okay, so what do I actually do?

1.)    Put your furniture piece on the drop cloth that you selected. Make sure to wipe off any dust or randomness that could be hanging out on your furniture with a rag.

2.)    Paint a coat of Chalk Paint with your brush. It does not need to be perfect! Let the first coat dry completely.

3.)    Do another coat of Chalk Paint. We typically do another coat on the top of whatever furniture we’re doing since it’s used more than the rest of the furniture. Just judge it by what you think looks good!

4.)    After the paint has completely dried, get out your sand paper. Sand the edges or whatever you want to create a distressed look. You don’t have to even do this if you don’t want the distressed look.

5.)    Get the dusty stuff off of your furniture. We use the attachment on our vacuum cleaner to make sure we get it all.

6.)    After it’s dried, sanded, and wiped down, get out your wax! Put a coat (or two) of the clear wax on your furniture.

7.)    If you have painted some hardware, but the hardware on it after the wax has dried. If you just painted over the hardware or didn’t have any to begin with, carry on with your life.

Don’t freak out if something isn’t perfect, it’s distressed furniture. It’s not supposed to look perfect. That’s what makes it interesting and pretty.

You have just created a magical piece of furniture with your own stamp of awesomeness. Congratulations! 

Here are pictures of our most current magical furniture creations:

Marriage Comments by People Types

           “Marriage.” This word freaks a lot of people out. And while this is an extremely scary word (it technically denotes FOREVER and FOREVER is a really, really long time), it doesn’t have to have a negative connotation. As a newlywed myself, I can tell you the most annoying, yet telling, comment that drives me insane. When someone asks me “How is married life?” (And I get this multiple times daily) and I say “It’s going great!” or “It’s wonderful!” and I get an “Oh, just wait” or an “Oh yeah, you’re still a newlywed.” It doesn’t scare me about the future of my marriage, it just tells me how miserable of a person you are. I don’t always get this, though. I sometimes get an “It’s a team effort, but it’s so wonderful” or a “That’s great! I wish you guys the best!” Do you see the difference? Person Type #1: The “Person who can’t be happy for anyone else.” My advice to those people: don’t ask a generally happy individual how a happy time in their life is going if you don’t want a happy answer. Just stay in your miserable, sad little shell while I hang out with Person Type #2: The “Even though my first marriage failed, I still have hope for others,” Person Type #3: “I’m actually happily married too, I’m glad to see you are too,” and Person Type #4: “I may/may not get married in the future but I am glad someone else is happy during a happy time.”

            All of the previously mentioned People Types do have a point, I promise. My mom gave me some REALLY awesome advice a long time ago and it is advice I would give to any other person in the entire world. She basically said if you’re not happy in your relationship, don’t get married. This sounds like complete common sense, but if you think about it, you probably know several people that are in relationships and miserable and those same miserable people do something crazy unheard of: GET MARRIED. WHY!!?!?!? If you're miserable in your relationship, you are also going to be miserable in a marriage. If you're just miserable all the time about everything, please just stay single and don't even get a cat. They don't deserve that...  

A while ago a lady at a drive-thru in Greenwood asked me how married life was (before you ask: yes, I make friends with everyone, especially food people because they’re THE BEST people). I said “It’s great! It’s not really that different except we spend more time together.” She, as a Person Type #3, said “Well, it’s not supposed to be a lot different if you’re happy to begin with!” That really put my mom’s advice from a long time ago into perspective. Marriage shouldn’t be this entirely different world if you’re already healthy and happy relationship. Marriage doesn’t automatically make everything harder, it just brings new challenges along the way.

No, I don’t consider myself a marriage genius and yes, like other human beings, my husband and I have disagreements sometimes…. But as a person with 25 years of life experience, I will say that generally if you’re positive about something, your outcome has a much larger likelihood of also being positive. If you’re negative about everything, you’re obviously going to be negative in your relationship (and eventual marriage if you’re lucky to find someone to deal with your negativity). In closing, EVERYTHING is what you make it, marriage included. So if you want a positive life, be positive. Of course we all have hardships and sad days and the occasional “I pity myself and am very negative because I’m having a bad hair day and nothing you say can make it better” days, but those of us who can eventually snap out of it are going to be okay. We will hopefully lead generally happy, positive, and productive lives. Negative Nancy’s, perk up, smile a little and skip the marriage advice! 

Monday Mindfulness

   

     I have had so many unexpected curveballs thrown my way here lately and I haven’t been prepared to deal with them very well. Honestly, I have been nothing short of a mess for so much of the last several months of my life. I have over consumed products, overate disgusting food, and have been only going through the motions of life without being mindful of one second of it.  

     Quite some time ago, I practiced mindfulness. I was very dedicated to being in the present moment each and every moment of my life. It was a challenge but it helped me deal with stress better, I ate better, and I actually thought about what I was doing before I did it. I made sure to carve the time out of my busy days to write, read, paint, and do yoga EVERY DAY.. even multiple times a day. I listened to NPR and kept up with all of the world’s issues, always making sure to practice extreme gratitude for my light, easy, simple life. I listened to my favorite music and laughed and cried along with my favorite podcasts (Dear Sugar on WBUR if you need a new one to listen to, hint hint). I was a much more pleasant person and I truly did more than just exist. I LIVED my life with the purest intentions, paying attention, soaking up every precious detail. My heart was bursting with gratefulness, love, and intention.

     …But then one day I just stopped. I put down my favorite fine point Sharpie markers that bled my thoughts onto my pretty journals. I pushed my books out of sight and tried to learn the work I was doing at the time. Instead of coming home excited to pick up where I left off in a good book, I literally came home and crashed. The numbness my mind felt was too exhausting to even read a page. I didn’t even know where my iPod WAS. I couldn’t listen to my music or podcasts while I mindfully folded our laundry because I was too exhausted to even do the LAUNDRY!!! I ate fast food…. I FREAKING ATE FAST FOOD… nearly EVERY DAY. Something I was so against and so cautious to plan my groceries and meal prep around FOR YEARS, and I just stopped caring. I ate disgusting crap that made me feel like crap just because it was easy. I stopped caring about becoming a better person. I was fine how I was anyway, right? I tried really hard to just work and come home and just do the “adult” thing and do what “matters” to so many people around me, in the “grown-up” world. Work, come home, sleep. Work, come home, sleep. I was not happy. I was merely existing, a hollow shell of the mindful, joyful person I used to be.

     So, a few weeks ago I went back to my journals I kept during the times I was the best mentally, physically, and emotionally, and dug in. I read my own words. I read the quotes that had motivated me, I read about the foods that made me feel sick and the moments that made me exude beams of happiness. I read so many things because that was ME. That was who I REALLY was, not this boring person who didn’t care about anything!! I knew I could be myself again even though it felt impossible in that moment.

     It happened over night. I woke up one day last week and I had no place to be. I found my iPod and blasted Vampire Weekend radio on Pandora and danced around our room while I made our bed and put up our clothes. I made myself breakfast, I watched the news, and I did some yoga. Then, I went to the closet inside my closet (long story) and pulled out my bag full of my messy “Marina-ness.” I found a set of my favorite Sharpies and a half-written in journal and sat down and just wrote for the first time in months. I seriously just froze. I knew, that second, that I was myself again.

     Since that morning, I have been working really hard at practicing mindfulness again. Being mindful helps me not feel guilty for the time I let the world steal from me. I didn’t soak up the precious little moments I was given for so long and I vow to never let that happen to me again. Please friends, do not let the world, adulthood, or anything else steal YOUR joy. Don’t conform to the world around you. Truly appreciate this awesome life! Anyone can go through the motions but it takes a mindful individual to really LIVE. Stay mindful and grateful friends! 

It's My Birthday

First of all, let me say that I realize it’s been a very long while since I wrote something. I write on paper multiple times a day but I rarely just sit down and type. Today I felt like typing something. Today, December 9^th, is also my birthday. I turn 24 today! I’m very thankful to be alive and to be a part of this beautiful world. If I’m lucky, I will hopefully see many more birthdays in my time here and I hope they’re very happy and healthy!

But as I sit here in a hotel lobby, listening to annoying Christmas music and people laughing in groups of people (I, unfortunately, brought my iPod and forgot to bring the headphones), I am not thinking about cake or presents. I am thinking about all that my 365 days of being 23 taught me.

23 taught me A LOT. I learned that being in a different stage in your life than a lot of your peers and people you truly care about are in, is HARD. Although it’s hard, it’s also totally okay and normal. For a while I blamed myself and felt like I didn’t belong anywhere but then I found my happy place and made some realizations about it. Sometimes you don’t grow with people, you grow alone. You’re molding into who you truly are (or honestly just who you’ve always been). In order to become comfortable in your own skin, you have to discover what makes you uncomfortable and what makes you truly happy. More shockingly, some of the things that used to make you truly happy, no longer make you happy anymore. I’ve heard some people call this something crazy like “growing up.”

I am no longer interested in going out or surrounding myself with people who I’m forced to have small talk with.  Instead, I am so extremely excited about going home and doing laundry and watching Netflix with my husband. I am no longer interested in exploiting my life for other people to see, I’m interested in meditating and making myself better for ME (yes, ME). I am no longer interested in what others think of me, I am more concerned with making sure I think that I’m a good person and that I’m making moral, ethical decisions when I eat, when I shop, and when I decide what topic to dive into with my binge documentary reading/watching self.

            It would take another entire blog SERIES to explain all of the things I’ve learned this year, so I’ll just leave it where it stands and say that I’ve learned A LOT. 23 wasn’t all scary and lessons, though. I got married, I moved, and I’ve learned to be mindful this year. I have discovered what’s really important (that’s another blog post, y’all). It’s been a year of life lessons and interesting self-discoveries but I am truly happy with who I am and who I am becoming. If 24 can teach me half as much as 23 did, I have a feeling I’m in for a super interesting year. I’ll keep you guys posted (if I stop writing all of the time and actually type sometimes). I would like to close with a simple “happy birthday” to myself. So, happy birthday, Marina. You’re doing the best you can. Have an awesome year as a 24 year-old.

Dreary Days

First off, let me apologize (without really apologizing) for not posting anything for a few weeks. Planning a wedding, moving, and starting a new job (yes, at the SAME time) really takes most of my free time away. And to be honest, when I do have free time I usually am working out or listening to NPR. AAAANYWAYS, today when I walked outside for lunch I noticed that it was an extremely dreary day. Before you think I’m going to complain, trust me, I’m not. I absolutely LOVE dreary days. Yes, I know, most people HATE them. I’m extremely weird and this is just one of the things I embrace my weirdness on.

On dreary days everything moves just a little slower. People aren’t in as big of a rush, the birds are quieter, and the sky is usually one solid tone of bleak blue. The air feels slightly cooler and the leaves on the trees are still. Dreary days are so simple and uninterrupted. It’s in this simplicity that I find some of my best ideas, contentment, and peace of mind. We get so busy trying to be on time, planning the next big night, or trying to complete to do lists that we forget to enjoy the boring, drab day we’ve been given.

Enjoy the stillness. We don’t have to be on the go all the time! I’m an extremely busy person and it’s a small miracle for me to walk outside and feel like I don’t have to live up to this day’s expectations. I can relax and breathe. I don’t have to worry about how busy tomorrow is going to be, I can concentrate on what I’m doing right now. I can go to lunch, enjoy this day most people will deem depressing, and not have to worry about putting on my sunglasses.

One of my all-time favorite quotes is “What we see depends mainly on what we look for” by John Lubbock. It is extremely easy to pick out things that are wrong with this type of day (and any other type of day or situation for that matter). Instead, why don’t we look at this dreary day as an opportunity to slow down, be mindful, and just enjoy the tranquility days like this bring. Life doesn’t always have to be busy and complicating. It can be simple and that’s always enough. Dreary days don’t have to be “depressing.” They can be just the mental break you’re looking for J

Things to Think About: Part One

We all get into these deep and dark places that are extremely scary from time to time. We’re sad and we think we should be more. We complain constantly about how hard and wrong our lives are. We think negatively even though we really all have so much more than we deserve. Before you argue about what has happened to you, let’s get real for a minute: You obviously can read this post, you have access to a computer or phone, you have eyes that allow you to see, you have electricity, you have the ability to think a coherent thought, etc. So really, even though we are all guilty of complaining from time to time, we have NOTHING to complain about.

I’ve somehow been able to pull myself from deep and dark places a few times and I thought letting people know some of the ways I have helped myself become a more positive person would help someone else. As a goal-oriented person, it really helped me to set goals for myself each day. Nope, these are not hard. They are extremely easy and also enriching. I can come up with 100 of these but here are 5 for you to start with:

 Goal 1: Find something extraordinary beautiful every day. Yep, there is something extraordinary beautiful in even the worst days. For example, the sky looks 100% different every morning and every evening. Trees and flowers change every day. Every person you will ever meet is unique and has something to offer the world. Everyone you ever meet will teach you something new (even if the only thing you learn is how to have more patience).

Goal 2: Find your happy place. I, myself, have several “happy places.” I especially suggest finding a place to watch a sunrise/sunset every day. It will help you out with Goal 1. Your happy place should be as quiet as possible and a place you feel comfortable going alone. You NEED a place to reflect, write, meditate, pray, or whatever it is that makes you be the most awesome version of yourself as possible!

Goal 3: Give 3 compliments a day. People hear enough of what they need to improve, what they do wrong, and society is already hard enough to live up to. Just tell someone 3 genuinely NICE things about themselves a day. It will change your life.

Goal 4: Wake up with a grateful heart. BE GRATEFUL YOU WERE ABLE TO WAKE UP. It’s easy as that. Instead of thinking of how horrible or busy your day is going to be, just tell yourself “I’m alive. That’s awesome enough.” You will win every day!  

Goal 5: Pay attention. Practice mindfulness while doing something today. You will NEVER complete Goals 1-4 if you don’t look up and pay attention. I’ve been amazed at how much more beauty I see in the world when I consciously pay attention to my surroundings.

I hope at least one of these can help you live a more positive and cheerful life! :-)
 

What We're Made Of

 

We’ve all heard the nursery rhyme “What Are Little Boys Made Of?” You know: Boys are made from snips and snails and puppy-dog’s tails and little girls are sugar and spice and everything nice. Yeah, well, that’s all crap. We’re made of a heck of a lot more than that.

We’re actually made of the people we come home to when we’re little. We’re made of their positive examples and negative attributes. We’re made of their habits, their words, and the way they look at the world. We’re what they’ve taught us, their tough love, and childhood memories. We grow up, move on, and form our own opinions, but they’re still what we’re made of.

We’re made of our friends’ laughter and the tears from the sadness of their first heartbreak. We’re made of late nights, long conversations, and the crappy unhealthy junk we eat when we’re together. We’re made of bad decisions, college choices, headwraps, failed savings funds to move out of the state, and of our best friend’s mom’s sweet tea. We’re all unique and one-of-a-kind, but we’re still made of each other.

We’re made of birthday cards, first loves, and the first time our hearts actually felt something. We’re made of disappointments, irresponsible choices, and our (many, many, many) favorite songs. We’re made of the visions we have of the way life is supposed to be. We’re made of dreams, colors, the air we breathe, and the ground we’re standing on. We’re made of second (third, fourth, fifth…) chances and the people we’ve left behind. We’re made of the pain we’ve felt and the optimism we still have despite the odds. We’re made of sunsets, our happy places, and our favorite books. We’re made of memories and our commute to work. We’re made of the drive to be more and the positive vibes our favorite people pass on. We’re made of everything we’ve ever seen, felt, and heard.

We’re made of so much more than water, tissue, oxygen, puppy-dogs tails, sugar, and atoms… What we’re made of is infinite. Infinite possibilities, hopes, dreams, and passion. That’s what we’re really made of.