The Past Decade.....

Next week marks the ten year anniversary of my graduation from high school! Sometimes it's hard to believe those days were a decade ago! But then I reflect on all that has happened since then, and it feels like a lifetime!

June 2002 - Graduation! Bittersweet, but ready to let go of the past and start my future!

My Senior Picture!!

November 2002- Moved to Southern Oregon to be closer to my boyfriend, who eventually became my husband.

September 2003 - We got married!

Young and in Love!

September 2005 - We moved back to Idaho.

October 2006 - I started my real "career" in banking.

April 2007 - We moved back to Oregon.

September 2008 - I started back at college, in hope of completing my associates. That lasted 2 terms.

September 2009 - Yup, right around our 6 year anniversary, we found out we were going to be parents!

April 2010 - Our beautiful daughter was born!

September 2011 - We bought our home.

June 2012 - Looking forward to the next 10 years!!!

Tuesday 10 - The Soundtrack of My Life

Super excited to be co-hosting The Tuesday 10 with Mom2Memphis&Ruby this week!
Lena is one of my "bloggie heroes!" Working Mama... Kick ass blog.
Yeah, she's pretty fantastic!

This week's theme? The 10 songs on the soundtrack of your life. It's hard to try to go in chronological order, from birth to present, so mine are kind of all over the place.

1.) A Little of the Good Life - Three Days Grace
This one is kind of odd, because I am not a huge fan of the song, however, it will forever remind me of the day my daughter was born. Apparently, it was a fairly new single on the radio at the time, and my husband was singing and humming it during our wait in the hospital. Our baby girl really has brought us "a little of the good life." Aww... corny.... I know!

2.) You Were Always on my Mind - Willie Nelson
This song will forever remind me of my Grandparents on my fathers side. My uncle took old home "video" from when my Dad and his brothers were kids, and had it made into a VHS tape in the early 90's for my grandparents. And on that tape was this Willie Nelson song. I loved watching it. Seeing my Dad as a little kid. Seeing my Grandparents when they were so much younger. The song always brings back fond memories.

3.) Sugar Mountain - Neil Young
Ok, in all honesty, ANY Neil Young song reminds me of my Dad. Perhaps because he's one of the only other people I know that can stand to listen to Neil Young. Ok, his voice is a little screechy, but I associate Neil Young with my early childhood, roadtrips with just me and my Dad, and good times camping. I heart Neil, don't care what anyone else has to say. =)

4.) Hero - Mariah Carey
When my little sister, who is now 15 was a baby, I used to sing her "Hero" to get her to sleep. Honestly the only Mariah Carey song I can even name the title to.

5.) Talk About Me - Toby Keith
When my little brother, who is now 13 was a toddler, like 2 or 3. He would sing his little heart out to this song. "Talk about MEEEEEEEE!" So adorable, and will never forget that.

6.) Chattahoochee - Alan Jackson
I am not a country fan now, but the very first concert I attended was in late 1993, with my parents. It was Alan Jackson opening for Brooks & Dunn. Won't ever forget that!!

7.) Walk - Pantera
Still one of my all-time-favorite-songs-ever! My husband introduced me to Pantera, something I am still thankful to him for!

8.) Swing Life Away - Rise Against
Rise Against is definitely on my top 10 favorite bands. This song doesn't have one single particular memory I associate to it, just a song I've always loved, by I band I love.

9.) Baby Baby - Amy Grant
My Mom listened to a lot of Amy Grant in the early 90's, and for some reason, whenever I hear this song, I always think of her.

10.) Good Riddance - Green Day
I remember when the "Dookie" CD by Green Day came out, and my older sister had it. I was jealous! Loved that CD, reminds me of late elementary school and looking up to my big sister. But when "Nimrod" came out, I bought it right away. Good Riddance is just one of those songs that seems good to finish something with. Trying to remember, but I think they may have played it at our high school graduation?

Told you there was no particular order, or rhyme, or reason for that matter. Just songs that remind me of my loved ones, or good times in my life. Hoping you'll find this weeks theme fun as well, and link up below. Can't wait to hear about your soundtracks!
Would love for you to grab a button when you link up as well!

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Sunday Style - In the Home

For the past 6 weeks or so, I have been sporting a lot of pretty sad outfits. But I have an excuse! We've been remodeling our home. Ok, our home is less than 10 years old, so it's not necessarily remodeling, as much as making it our own. We tore out carpet and engineered hardwood. Tore out the existing doors and trim. Painted the ceilings and walls and installed our beautiful hickory floors. Next, my husband will be putting in the new doors and trim.And all new light fixtures!

This kind of hard work is rewarding! I absolutely love how things turned out so far, and can't wait to see the finished product. Here's a little taste of the "before"

And our "in progress" :

Very much in love with our choice of rustic natural hickory for the floors and "mushroom bisque" for the walls. After we tackle the main living area (living room, dining room, entry, etc.) we are moving on to the bedrooms! So exciting! Can't wait to start on the real landscaping and exterior too. Wish I didn't have to have a day job, so I could just focus on decorating and landscaping my home. But alas, back to work in the morning! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

7 things you didn't know about me

I am honored to have been nominated by {Two.Shades.of.Lovely} for a Versatile Blogger Award. Isn't that sweet of Jeni and Kendel? I thought so!

VBA Rules say I now need to tell you 7 things about myself. This is hard for me than one might think! Especially since I just wrote my formal introduction post not too long ago. In case you missed it.... you can check it out HERE.

So, here's me!

1.) I am a 28 year old wife and mama. I have been married to my husband for going on 9 years. He's pretty awesome.

2.) I am a mortgage loan officer by day. And I love it. Nothing cooler than helping young folks become homeowners!

3.) I, too, shoot people after a rough day, much like Jeni from {Two.Shades.of.Lovely}, on Call of Duty. But, my all time favorite game to play on Xbox, is Halo!

4.) I grew up in North Idaho, but moved to Southern Oregon not too long after graduating high school. I love it here. And it feels like home! Sorry North Idaho, I don't miss your winters.

5.) I love thrift store shopping and finding a good deal. I like the finer things too though. I guess you could say, I just love shopping!

6.) I got my very first job when I was 15, as a hostess, at Red Lobster! Sometimes I miss the fast paced environment of working in food service.

7.) I hate snakes. Absolutely horrified by them. They creep me out!

There you go! Seven random things about me. Now on to the fun part! I get to nominate some of my favorite blogs for the VBA as well! Please take the time to check out these gals. They have been instrumental in my blog success and I adore each and every one of them! CUTIFUL
Spoonful of Sunshine
Let Them Eat Cake

Thank you again Jeni & Kendel for thinking of me!

Not enough hours in the day....

Lately, more than ever, I'm feeling like there are not enough hours in my day. I don't know how with working full time, being a wife, being a mama, trying to start up Rogue Baby, did I think I had time to blog?

I love writing. I always have. I want this to be fun. I don't want to feel I have to stay up until midnight on a work night, just to prep my post for a link up. I want to write about what is important to me, and forget what is not. That might mean I don't have as many followers as everyone else, but I will have my sanity.

This week, more than ever, I felt overwhelmed with life. Changes at work. Migraines several times a week. Boo Boo being in the heights of terrible twos and tantrums. It also marked 8 years since the death of one of my dear childhood friends. It's always brings back memories. All happy. But then I get sad thinking of what the past eight years would have brought for that friend.

Last night, was just about my final sanity straw. We are full on mid-remodel of the house, so we've been without flooring, furniture displaced around the house. Last night, around 2:30am, poor Boo Boo came stumbling in our room, tripped, and cracked her head open on the tv stand that wouldn't usually be in our room. Head wounds bleed. BAD. It made me feel ill. I'm such a sissy. I don't know what I'd do if she ever broke an arm or something serious.

I just feel drained. Emotionally and physically, just-tapped-out. I'm really looking forward to life hopefully calming down a bit soon, enjoying summer, starting some of the projects I've been looking foward to, and just relaxing. In the meantime, I will try my best to keep new content on the blog. I may not participate in every hop or giveaway or link up, but I will try my best! I admire all the bloggers out there, who have found their balance, who have helped me get to where I am today, and who seem to do it so effortlessly. You are my heroes!

Business Fail: Fabric.com

It's been said, you make a customer happy, they tell one or two of their friends. You tick a customer off, and they share their experience with 100 people. When a business excels or goes above and beyond my expectations, I give credit where credit is due. When a business fails entirely at customer service, the world deserves to hear as well.

Last Thursday, I placed an order with Fabric.com. I was pleased with their fabric selection, and plastered all over the website was "Orders ship within 48 hours." Sweet, by business days, the order would ship by Monday the 7th, and I'd have it by this weekend to start some new projects. I wish.

On Tuesday the 8th, my order hadn't shipped, so I emailed for a status. I received a response Wednesday the 9th, that the customer service rep was not sure why my order hadn't shipped and they would check with their warehouse and get back to me. This morning, the 10th, I get an automated email stating one of the items I ordered is not available in continuous yardage, and would I be ok with two 1/2 yard pieces, or not? The email indicated once I responded my order would be shipped within 48 hours. Are you kidding? It took a full week to check to see if my order could even be fufilled?

Now, I am not an impatient person. I would have been totally ok with this entire scenario if the site had said "due to high volume, it may take up to a week to review and ship your order." But it does not. So I contacted their "chat live" feature on their site to get my order cancelled. It took over a half hour, when there were only 2 people ahead of me in the "queue." But I finally reached someone who responded with. "I have cancelled your order. Is there anything else I can assist you with?"

Nope, no "sorry" no offering a coupon code. Poor customer service all around. I highly recommend steering clear of Fabric.com. While the prices and selection are appealing, I would rather my hard earned money go to a business based on client service and making things right.

Ok, stepping off my soap box now. Does anyone have any sites that sell fabric that they would recommend, or have had good experiences with? I'd love to hear!

~ Ricki ~

Pinterest Project Bucket List - 1st Edition

Oh Pinterest, how I have a love - hate relationship with you. I love spending wasting hours pinning recipes, crafty ideas, and so many things I have yet to try.

When I first joined Pinterest, I tried so many new recipes out. Many turned out awesome, and some, well, not so much. I've been disappointed lately with the content on Pinterest. It seems a lot more "spammy" than it used to. Often times, you can't even get to the original source to get the recipe / tutorial, etc. But I still have so many Pins I'd love to try my hand at!

So here's what I did. I went through and decided to make my Pinterest Project Bucket List! Over the coming weeks/months I plan to cross each one of these bad boys off my list.

1.) KIDS ARTWORK DISPLAY - This here is a must for me. Who knew that real stainless steel fridges will not hold magnets? I gotta have a place to hang Boo Boo's artwork!

2.) TEA CUP PIN CUSHION - How cute is this? And would make a great gift for Grandma, Mom, etc. Fortunately, this Pin credits the original author, so I want to give credit where credit is due. Thank you to this blogger for this sweet tutorial.

3.) DIY CUPCAKE STAND- No tutorial on this one, but the picture gives you the basics. 2 cute decorative plates, dollar store glass candle stick. Dollar store glass tea light holder. Wa-lah! Super cute!

4.) BOTTLE CAP MOSAIC TABLE (for our patio) - I have been saving bottle caps for years, for just such a project! =) I saw one of these 7 or 8 years ago while at a little restaurant in a tiny town in North Idaho, and have been saving caps since. Literally have like ten 1 gallon freezer bags full of caps! Some even look "retro" now.

5.) ANIMAL PAINTED ROCKS- For landscaping! This is a must-do project for Boo Boo and I. My Grandmother and I did this when I was young, and it was so much fun. We painted lady bugs, and owls, and all sorts of animals. Half the fun was picking out which rock was going to be which animal. I think this would be a fun tradition for us. A couple new rocks each year. With the year painted on the underside.

Stay tuned for my fantastic or fail results on these and many other upcoming projects! =)

Ricki