Nightstand Make-over

A few months ago, I was on the hunt for cute black nightstands to match my bed and dresser, but was not really excited about spending hundreds of dollars on a table, with a main purpose of holding my alarm clock. 

So, Mr. Army and I were taking a little grocery trip to the Walmart (don't judge me),  and we met this lady in the parking lot that was selling all of the furniture from her storage unit because she was moving. The fact that we even stopped to talk to her was out of the ordinary for us, but I saw the nightstands and wondered how much she wanted. I ended up paying $60 for the pair of real wood nightstands that just needed a new paint job.

I've had these nightstands for probably 5 months and every time I looked at them, it would make me cringe. I like when things match, and I have an idea of the way things should look. Therefore, a change was in order. I think I was hinting to Mr. Army to complete this project for me, but he kept saying "Kate, I don't think they look so bad..." aka 'These are ugly, but I'm only going to tell you they look okay so I don't have to paint them myself.' 

Well, with Mr. Army gone, I have projects and an agenda. Last weekend's project was the nightstands. $6 worth of spray paint, and a little sandpaper...I'm extremely pleased with the result. Check it out!

Before

Loving the sun bleached top?

After

 a few nicks in the wood...already there, but I think it adds to the effect :)

 Ta-Da! I think they turned out to be pretty cute alarm holders.

Time Consuming...

So, being that I am alone most nights since Mr. Army is gone, I am trying to stay busy with different hobbies.

Hobby One: Cooking (more like Baking)

Last night I made what I like to call "Bite Size Candy Cookies". I used this recipe , but since I'm not a huge Rolo fan, I decided to mix it up. I ended up using Rolos, Reeses Peanut Butter Cups, and Snickers. Personally, I could eat the Snickers ones all day long. Someone, please come visit so you can take these off my hands!

Also, if anyone has fun recipes, please send them my way. I love to try new recipes.

Hobby Two: Reading

When I went to the Shakespearean Festival a couple of weeks ago, we went to a bookstore where "The Hunger Games" caught my eye. I know that a lot of people think I'm so behind the times, but that's how I roll. Wait to read the first book until the last one is about to come out. Now I only have to wait two weeks, while the rest of you have had to wait forever. :) If you haven't read these books, please please please look into reading them. I finished both in a week and can't wait for the third book on the 24th.

What books have you read lately, that you loved?


Hobby Three: Goals

I've decided it's time to really start watching what I eat...again. I do well for about six months and then somehow fall off the wagon. I've written down goals that I'm trying to accomplish with my weight, and work out schedule. Yes, I'm dorky enough to even make a chart and put it on the fridge.
Also, I have wanted to work on other personal goals to keep me motivated and progressing in life. Sometimes getting in a route, which we all know I love to do, ends up putting me in a rut and I lose track of some of the things I love to and/or should do. So, I have daily goals, and more long term ones that I'm working on. I'm a little OCD, it's okay to think that :)


These things are definitely keeping me busy, but I can't pretend that I am not totally wishing away the last month of Summer. I miss Mr. Army and September is not coming fast enough, but I'll enjoy my time to improve on all the things I love.

More Condo Updates!

I'm working on several different projects in my condo to make it more "Kati", and I'm far from being finished, but I thought I would show some of the ones I (meaning Mr. Army and I) have finished.

Remember here and here where I mention that I have this awesome TV that my amazing boyfriend mounted to the wall, but I refused to take a picture of, until said boyfriend put the ghetto cords behind the wall? Well...he did it! and he was even impressed about how good it looks.

I'm really pleased with how it turned out. I must say that Mr. Army saved us a lot of money by being so handy with his "inventive" skills. Now I'm ready for ya'll to come over and hang out with me!

The master bath was really lacking in the decorative department and since I am super picky about how things look, I had a hard time finding any art I liked, to put in that bathroom. My sister and I went to the Farmer's Market one Saturday morning, and one of her friend's has a booth there with his photography. I saw this picture and could not pass it up. If I had more money, I would buy all of his photographs.

Since Mr. Army has left for training and then will be leaving for deployment, I've been trying to figure out what to do with the Army junk room. I'm leaning toward an office, that might have a futon or something in case anyone needs a place to stay. So, this is my first piece of furniture for this room. As of now, it will house Mr. Army's clothing that won't be used for a year, but it might turn into something else later. I think it is so cute, and for $65 on KSL.com, I can't complain.

Currently, I'm working on changing the 1985 blinds in the living room to curtains, and will hopefully switch out the 1970s closet doors eventually. If anyone has any ideas of what doors I should put in there, please let me know! I'll keep you posted on new condo improvements :)

Vegas- 4th of July

It's true, I am a month behind posting about Mr. Army and my trip to Vegas, but better late than never, right?

We thought it would be a fun opportunity to get away for the holiday weekend and spend a little time together before Mr. Army had to go to training. We had so much fun, that we forgot to take a lot of pictures...

I found an awesome deal on hotels.com on thought it would be fun to stay at Treasure Island. Once we FINALLY got checked in (I'm pretty sure we stood in line for about an hour), we entered our room to find someone else's stuff in it. I was a little freaked out that TI would double book the room, so of course, I went back down to the front to complain. As we were going down the elevator, Mr, Army was coaching me on being stern and not giving in, to make sure we were comped the room, or upgraded. Well, I must have done well because they upgraded us to a suite that had two windows facing the strip. The picture above, and two below show the nice view.

 Taken the next morning...obviously right after I woke up.

One of the reasons we decided to go to Vegas was to see if we could find a fun place to watch the most hyped heavyweight fight in the UFC...ever. Well, we found a really awesome Skybox type place that had TVs everywhere, but we were a little late and there was only standing room left. Therefore, we thought we would be walk the strip to find another place...shouldn't be hard, right? WRONG. We walked the whole night until we got to the MGM Grand where the fight was held and they weren't even showing it! But, they were preparing for Wanderlei Silvia's birthday party. 

I asked the "bouncer" to see if there was anyway we could get into the party. He handed me a VIP ticket, a wristband, and told me to come back at 10:30. Then he told me that I couldn't bring Mr. Army with me because he wasn't wearing pants. True story. 

I still can't believe I was invited to Wanderlei Silvia's party!

View from our room at night.

Mr. Army's magic with the manual settings on the camera. Not too shabby for the first time :)

It was a good show!