Pantry Makeover

Sometimes it is nice to have a full weekend of no plans but on the other hand it can be very exhausting when you have so many ideas.  I had plans to paint the guest bedroom this weekend and that was it, but something took over and all of a sudden I was painting the pantry instead.

I had been itching to tackle this area for a while now.  Every time I opened the door, I cringed.  So, I had some blue paint laying around and decided that I wanted a splash of color behind that small door.  The walls were so beat up from years and years of wear and tear (they have probably not been touch since the house was built).

Nothing a little paint can't fix.  Painting this small of a space really threw me for a challenge.  I had paint on my elbows, knees, shoulder, in my hair... pretty much everywhere.  But look at the difference it made!

Then I decided that the shelves needed some pattern to tone down the wall color.  So I bought some foam board and covered it with some shelving liner I found a while back at TJMaxx.

This was very time consuming but what else could I have been doing on a Saturday night.  Please look at the before and after side by side! It just makes me so happy!

Then I organized and purged our food and found a new home for everything.  Now I can sit back and admire this Saturday night project.  I could think of 15 other things I should have been doing but the product is so worth it.  I open the door randomly just so I can see inside and smile!

Happy crafting! Hope you have a good week!
xoxo

Q's trip

Here is an update of some of the pictures I have from Q's time so far in Japan. You probably can understand these photos as much as I can.

These first few photos are from a ferry that he took with some guys.  I am not sure where they went on the ferry but they saw wild deer and spent all day out exploring.

The thing to do over there is collect a bike and take parts from random bikes around to make your bike better.  He has gone through multiple bikes.  I am not sure if he still has this one or not but this is one of them.  This is how he gets around base, to and from work, and out to explore on the weekends.  They went on a 40 mile bike ride a couple weeks ago.  Some of those photos are below.  They went to a dam, as you can see in the photos. 

This is from a restaurant.  The food was served on a conveyor belt; they don't have servers over there for every table.  Looks like he is enjoying his time outside of work when he gets the chance.  I will try to update more often as I receive photos.

Girls on the Run

Every Tuesday and Thursday at work, we have been doing Girls on the Run at the Boys and Girls Club here in Havelock.  I have done many things around this community so I have learned a lot about the people that live near and around the base.  I don't think there are enough people out there that reach out to the community and really understand the community they live in, especially the military.  It is easy for military families to get wrapped up in the military life and not look outside of that community.  There can be a vast difference between a base community and a civilian community depending on where you are located.

I started running cross country/track when I was 12 years old.  At the time, I just thought it was something that I was "supposed" to do since my brother ran as well.  Of course, when you start in 7th grade, they have to try to make it as fun as possible so it was a "fun" thing to do.  After 6 years of competitive running and then 5 more recreational, I have become to love running and do it because I want to and enjoy it rather than because I have to.  I do understand that not many people see it that way and do not understand how I can possibly feel that way about running, but I also don't understand how someone wont even give it a chance. Running changed my life forever.  I didn't know this when I was 12, but I gave it a chance and look what happened.  It has become a part of my life, even 11 years later.

This past week was a rough one at Girls on the Run.  When we started on Tuesday, many of the girls complained.  We had planned to warm-up, walk 5 minutes, and run-walk-run-walk for different amounts of time, aka intervals.  They complained and complained. We received comments like, "Why do I have to be here? Why are we doing this? I didn't dress up for this; I dressed up to impress my boyfriend!!"  These girls are between the ages of 10-15. What a tough age to motivate.  Then on Thursday, it was like a total change in the game.  The girls were receptive and willing to try.  We told them to run for as much of 15 minutes straight as possible.  They complained some but not near as much.  When it was all over and we were getting ready to leave, the girls were telling us bye and giving us hugs and everything.  Very weird.  I left feeling very accomplished and proud. I was hoping we had finally reached to them and we were finally on their "good" side.

Well, Tuesday came and went today and the girls were just like they were last week. Rough.  It is very hard to want to go and be motivating.  We leave on days like today wondering, "What can motivate these girls? What are we not doing?" I never really realized how hard of an age this is to reach out to.  We have two more weeks and they are supposed to run a 5K.  We will see how that works out.