Rain

Have you ever thought about the rain? How it makes you feel inside? What is feels like? What it looks like? What it does to you attitude? Its funny how weather can affect someone so greatly. I usually see the rain as an opportunity to explore something old in a new way. Like the nook in the front bedroom. Last time it rained, I built a fort, grabbed a book and some tea and literally camped out for hours. I feel liberated when I go out in the rain and dance. Something inside gets set free. There is one negative to rain. I HATE ice cold rain. I won't go out in it. If I have to, I probably pout and get in a bad mood. Its dumb, I know. But I can't help it. If rain comes as a total surprise, like today, and I am unprepared, it takes me awhile to be happy that its raining. Aaron&I love to play in the rain, alot. Usually in summertime though. 

My statement "Its funny how weather can affect someone so greatly." is kindof strange to me. Most people think that sunshine is means happiness, rain means sadness, cloudy means blah,etc. But me, I try to think about it differently. Sunshine is happy, but I tend to associate it with some negative things. Like swimsuits, sunburns, sweat, and hot cars. I love to swim, be outside, and all that, but there is something I absolutely hate about sweating. That's the worst one. I know its good for you, but I hate it. Like exercise.  When its rainy, I don't always have the best ideas, but I try at least. When it rains, my hair usually looks alright, unlike some peoples' hair. I love to curl up with a good book and some tea when it rains. However, I can't wear pants when it rains. And if I do, they have to be rolled up to my knees,  wrapped in plastic, or I have to have an extra pair to change into....if they get wet. I cannot handle having wet pants!! Overcast days are probably my favorite though. Best days for taking pictures, not too hot not too cold. They're usually good days.

Rain is also metaphorical. You know the saying " Life's not about waiting for the storm to pass...its about learning to dance in the rain." Its true. Some people view their situations in life as "neverending, constant, and heavy". All of which can be used to describe rain. When i go through rainy, even stormy, situations in life, I'm not always the most positive person. I'm thankful for Aaron, because he always reminds of the rainbow after the rain. When you feel like you're going through a monsoon, tsunami, or even hurricane, keep your head up. God is bigger than all of it. Mercy Me, so far, has said it best :

"Bring me joy, bring me peace
Bring the chance to be free
Bring me anything that brings You glory
And I know there'll be days
When this life brings me pain
But if that's what it takes to praise You
Jesus, bring the rain"

I hope your rainy days always have a rainbow at the end.

♥

Blueprint

House decoration has proved to be a lot more stressful than I’d originally planned. We’re going for the earthy tones, with subtle hints of romance, charm, and intellect. HA, that’s a load of bull!  We pretty much want our house to be comfortable, personal, warm, inviting, relaxed, challenging, and peaceful. Yes, we want all this for our 800 square foot house, excluding the ginormous laundry room slash garage.

I’ll start with the front bedroom, which actually has no work done to it just yet. But our inspiration for this room is where we are taking our honeymoon, in 18 days by the way! Seattle, Washington! We have put our new-to-us FREE piano in this room, there is a window nook, and a big walk-in closet. We will definitely post before and afters of this one, because this is our favorite room in the whole house! The room is going to be painted a light grayish-blue, with the nook being a creamy tan color.(we’ll post pictures) The nook is going to have a chocolate brown seat cushion with about eight fluffy, different shape and designed pillows in various shades of blue, green, gray, and white. Since the nook has a cutout that extends the full length of the window and beyond, we are going to have floor to ceiling sheer white curtains. In the window, to add a little privacy, we’re going to add a white roman shade. A 6 foot tall bookshelf will be painted a lovely shade of stark white, and have pictures and vases, and random knick knacks on it. And this is our relaxation place.

Our bedroom. We’ve decided out bedroom is going to have the romantic-warm, hate to break it you, but sexy feel. Warm browns and burnt oranges cover this room. We are almost done with this room now, so there are just a few things to add. Like a canopy, similar to the picture, but different. We’ll post pictures of it to better explain.  We’re going to add sconces above the night stands instead of table lamps, so our night stands are freed up. Some shelves lined with candles will be added on two walls, and a picture frame above the bed, but beneath the canopy top, and we’ll be done with this room.

Our hallway is pretty much going to stay how it is since its mostly doors. Our closet/bookshelf is going to be just that. And we’ll probably change out the sconce at some point.

The bathroom. OH, the bathroom. Well, we painted it the chocolate brown, and are regretting it now. So, this room is going to get a complete makeover. New paint in the color that the nook is will be the biggie. Our current shower curtain is going to become our Fall/Winter curtain, and we’ll get a lighter, more airy feeling one for Spring/Summer. Probably the same light blues, greens, and grays will be used here too.

The living room is going to be mixture of the bedrooms with those colors. We haven’t quite decided what we’re going for here, other than we are going to have a picture wall. For example, check out www.younghouselove.com. The pictures will all be ones that we have taken ourselves. Other than this, we’re pretty much undecided at this point.

Our dining room is small so we’ll combine it with the kitchen. We want to have a pendant light with a vintage shade, we already have a pretty sweet clock up (thank you Target!). We’ll eventually decide on some curtains and then that room will be done. There isn’t much wallspace, so I think we’re going to start searching for an interesting thing to do to the cabinets.

The laundry room will eventually be closed in smaller, so we can open the garage up! We will paint it some off the wall color, just to be fun!

Well, this is the inside plans of the house!

The outside plans are much shorter, but probably just as expensive. Our lovely dogs have begun to dig craters in the yard, gnaw on the deck, and they even escaped once. So the grand plans are:

Replace the privacy fence
Replace the railing on the deck
Put up a fence from once side of the privacy fence to the other(the width of the yard) flush with the front of the deck, it will have a gate
Build a sand box around the tree they are trying to uproot, so they can dig,dig,dig all they want!
Build a doggie-pool where they can cool off when it gets hot
Build a dog house
Move the shed up next to the house?(maybe)
next to the deck(between the privacy fence and the dog-blocking fence) plant shrubs, flowers, and put a bench there.
Other side of the deck(hopefully the shed will go here, if not then...)same as other side

DECK
move the patio furniture onto the deck
put up umbrella
hang up garden lights
Build firepit
get outdoor cushions
get outdoor storage box
move grill out here

DONE.
Hopefully. The outside is gonna be crazy.

Picture of the Day:

 

♥

Weekend

Well, we had quite a busy weekend. Between returning things, picking up other things, rain, hail(my tulips survived!!), wedding slideshow, best friends birthday, baby shower, 2 church services,wedding music rehearsal, a movie, and somewhere we found time for sleep...we're exhausted. But, it seems that its only the beginning of 3 very hectic, busy, cram packed weeks. We have our Bachelor(ette) parties Friday night, Aaron's co workers are throwing us a party Saturday night, music rehearsal again on Sunday, judging district CTS competition..all this weekend. THEN, its gets worse/better? all at the same time.

I've given up my beloved Dr. Pepper in a dire time of need it seems. But so far, so good. Only one major headache. 

I got quite a bit of sleep Friday night considering the storm, with all its hail, and having to sleep with a 65 lb husky on top of me. (Oh, btw...Embry doesn't care for storms too much. Elliot, however, slept like rock.)  And once Embry FINALLY got to sleep, she slept in until 9:15 am!! Which is super late for her! I was proud.:)

We have 19 days until the wedding, and we're now in crunch time for getting things done. I didn't realize it, but I'm  a pretty big procrastinator. Oops.

PICTURE OF THE DAY:

 This is in our slideshow :) ABSOLUTELY PRECIOUS.
This is Aaron around age 3.

Buried

Well, Aaron never posted yesterday, so its my turn again!

Today is my first movie review. And its not a movie I wanted to watch, but we watched it anyway.

Buried is seriously a movie about Ryan Reynolds being trapped in a box that is buried somewhere, no one seems to know except for the Iraqi guy on the phone, in the desert of Iraq. All he has is: a lighter, a flask of alcohol, a dying cell phone, and a bag for his "ransom" video. It was alright for the first few tantrums, but after awhile the tantrums just became...sad. The whole scenario is sad. Clearly, no one expected this movie to be cheerful and funny. About the halfway mark, it gets a little exciting when he wakes up with a snake in his pants. And that is where I was completely hidden under the blanket with my hands over my eyes and ears.(scared of snakes much? Yes, I am terrified!!) And an hour later a ransom video, saddening phone calls, lots of sand, and only 9 fingers left...he dies. The movie ends. Its over. An hour and a half of my life I will never get back. Thank you Ryan Reynolds, for making a movie that is such a waste of time.

Now on to happier things...we have 22 days until we're married!! Things are finally coming together and our hair is all still here! We're hoping to finish a few things up tomorrow, and then get started on our "outdoor work" day! I'm excited;Aaron not so much. But its gotta be done! And tonight for dinner, I'm making shrimp and scallop tortellini with garlic and herb sauce, with french bread. Pictures and recipe coming tomorrow! I think as a part of this blog, I am going to try and share a Favorite Photo of the Day. So here is today's picture:

We're stopping here while we are in Washington for our honeymoon! This is Cape Flattery, the Northwesternmost corner of the Continental  US.

Tomorrows post should be full of pictures and adventures!

My Crafts!

Well, here it is! The headband and tutu I made for Ms. Isabel Patillo!

This is my post for the day! Aaron will have one later on! So check back!

Plans

Well, I meant to upload the updated pictures of the house this weekend, but unfortunately things just go too busy for it. And I'm still rearranging a few things, so when I'm happy with it I'll upload them.

We are about to embark on an Outside Work day at our house. Weeding the flowerbeds, painting the posts on the porch, mowing the yard, fixing the deck and fence, planting more flowers, finding gnomes, filling craters the dogs have dug, and washing the house. Hopefully all this will get done in one weekend. You'll see if it does. Pictures coming!

We also have a couple friend that is having a baby girl! The cutie's name is going to be Isabel Jade Patillo. Their shower at our church is this weekend, so sometime this week I'll be making their gift. Yes, I said making! I am going to make a tutu and headband for baby Isabel. We all know how cute little girls in poofy tutu's and obnoxiously large flowers on their heads are! So my step-by-step instructions on my endeavor will be up sometime this week too! And of course, there will be plenty of pictures. The picture below is my inspiration!

Last night, Aaron and I had an amazing dinner! Lemon zested wild salmon, four cheese mashed potatoes, broccoli, and our fave, sparkling grape juice.  And during dinner, we watched an awesome movie....KUNG FU PANDA! We absolutely love this movie. Oh, and by the way, Aaron MADE dinner. 

So, for the time being, these are our plans and plots.

~Shannon

25 days!

Holy Crow!

Yep, I'm pretty proud of myself. I planted these in late October and yesterday morning, to prove to us that Spring has officially sprung, my tulips have started blooming!

-Shannon

Home

We bought our first house in September! Here are the before pictures! Tomorrow I'll post the pre-decor, after pictures!

 

 

 

                                                     

                                                                     

                                                              

                                                                

                                                                   

 

 

 

                                                                        

                                                                     

                                                               

                                                 

Purpose

We're Aaron&Shannon Ray. Well, technically, I(Shannon) won't be a Ray for 32 more days, but you get the jist.

Our thoughts about books and movies, even tv shows.

Our favorite bands.

Our random thoughts.

Our successful, and maybe even unsuccessful, household projects.
Our puppies, Embry and Elliot.


Its all in the details.