Look at me...I'm DIY!

So before I begin this post, there are two things you must know about me:

1. I love a good DIY blog, even though I rarely never do any of the things on them.
2. I have recently fallen in love obsession with Pinterest (trust me, if you're not on it, you should be!)

Hey Roohi, What do these two things have in common?  Oh, I'm so glad you asked!

Basically, my all time favorite DIY blogger, Young House Love, issued a Summer Pinterest Challenge!  YHL challenged its readers to stop pinning and start doing!  Well, that was all the motivation I needed!

logo credit: younghouselove,com

So, here we go:

I have a  this giant blank wall in our new living room.  

It's floor to ceiling, and longer than my "wingspan" so right now its a blank, tan canvas!  I found an awesome lady on craigslist selling a bunch of frames for $1-$3 and will be picking some up today.  I plan to paint them all white, so that the frames pop-out on our tan wall.  I have a couple pinterest inspirations (aka pinspirations..,haha get it?) to help fill it:

PINSPIRATION #1: THE WHITE PHOTO WALL

photo credit: younghouselove.com

Hopefully, my finished product will look as cool/comparably cool as this one!  Either way, this is the general end goal!

PINSPRIATION #2: THE STARBURST MIRROR

photo credit: inmyownstyle.com

I plan to paint the clips white to match the frames! It will also add a little dimension to our giant wall so that not everything is square...

PINSPIRATION #3: MAP ART

Photo Credit: everythingfab.com

Since we've lived in so many places (we're up to 5 now!), I thought it would be cool to honor our homes with maps...I probably won't do hearts, but something along these lines would be cool.

PINSPIRATION #4: HEAD SHOT

So I love the idea of putting a head shot/silhouette on the wall, but with a twist (cliff hanger...check back to see if my silhouettes with a twist ends up on our wall!)

PINSPIRATION #5: R

Photo Credit: etsy.com

Of course, a good sturdy R will make a showing in our wall.  Haven't decided on the color yet, but it will be there! ...maybe I'll even add an "A" and "F" depending on the space...

OTHER PINSPIRATIONS I'M TOYING WITH:

some of these are a little more complex, and they may be more the add in later once you figure them out type of projects...we'll see!

Photo Credit: andreasteed.com

Photo Credit: manmadediy.com

Photo Credit: patterybarn.com

 There will, of course, be some photos on our wall, but stay tuned for updates on my Pinterest Summer Challenge project!

Our new home

Okay so I know I'm on a posting rampage, but don't lie, y'all love it!  Here are the before/in progress/after pictures of our new place!  Enjoy!

Amir's Study Nook

The beautiful part about this apartment, aside from increasing our calorie burn hiking up 3 flights of stairs in the heat, is that Amir has his own little study area.  He is visually distracted by nothing but the wall in front of him and can keep the light on as late as he wants when I go to bed.  Law School here he comes!

The Living Room
Its a pretty good size, but has a bit of an awkward layout with no natural place to put the TV.  Luckily, Amir's visionary skills made it work!  We're also looking at flea markets/antique stores/craigslist to put a little side table (drawn below) between our couch and the wall so that gap is a little less awkward.

Kitchen/Dining Area

Delicious meals made & eaten here so far: Baked Chicken, Spicy Mediterranean salad, Faye's spectacular Turkey Burgers, Speghetti with Spicy Turkey meatballs.  The storage is a little more awkward in this kitchen than our last, but it all worked out in the end.

W.C./Laundry Room

The Jack & Jill bathroom is still weird to us, but it has 2 sinks (I can brush my teeth for as long as I want) and tons of storage so its a trade off, I suppose.  I'm also trying to create my own piece of art for the wall over the towel rack so more updates on that when its finished!

Bedroom

Bedroom=smaller than Austin, closet = huge!  I love it!  Also, I forgot to take a before picture, so the "in progress" photo is just where the movers dumped everything in our room!

Balcony (with a view)

We're on the Move!

The Roohi Seven-Step Process to Moving:

Step Three: Have movers put all of your boxes in a truck

We used "Keep Austin Moving" and these two guys were amazing!  Despite the fact that I packed all of those large boxes pictured above to weigh over 100lbs (oops!), they were done in under 2 hours!  They made sure nothing fell over during the truck ride, and even left us about 3-5 feet in the back of the truck to throw our left over miscellaneous stuff!

yes, this was a 16 foot truck that I drove the whole way, including through Houston's 5:00 rush hour traffic!  My new name is Rockstar --Amir agrees.

Step Five: Have the movers unload the truck

In Houston, we used Three Men Movers, and I think that they won the "best movers" award!  In approximately two hours, they carried everything we own up 3 flights of stairs...oh yeah, and it was over 95 degrees (plus humidity) the entire time they were moving our stuff!  Amazing!

 

Adios Austin...

Yes, we can all shed a tear with that last statement...

But on a happier note, here is look at our last few days in "the most unique city" in Texas!  We attended/hosted a couple gatherings in our last week to say good bye see you later to all of our fabulous friends!

**Harry Potter #7 part 2: MIDNIGHT SHOWING**

In order to get in line at 10pm, Amir and I rushed back from Amir's UH Preview Day.  Anna, Aubrey, Eric, Matthew, Aubrey's friend were a pretty fun group to stand in line with for 2 hours.  Our group did not dress up, through two boys (who will remain nameless) were pretty tempted, from what I understand.  The group in front of us dressed up to the max and placed chocolate frogs on the ground as the line moved...it was pretty funny if you are a Harry Potter fan :)

**OCVT 6th Street Extravaganza**

We started at Savannah's house for an awesome match-off of Just Dance 2 on Wii.  I wasn't very good at it but it was a pretty legit work-out!  After that, we all headed down to 6th Street for some Alyssa-Savannah-Faye Good Bye/Ashton's Birthday Celebrations

**Roohi Pool Par-tay/BBQ**

The next day, Amir and I hosted a pool party to say adios to some of our friends.  Some of our South Austin friends made the trek up to the Arboretum to hang out with us for the afternoon.  They were rewarded with food, drinks, a cool pool and sunshine!

Livin' la Vida: South Austin

We spent a vast majority of our day in South Austin today, much to our surprise!
First, we had a fabulous lunch with one of my favorite people, Miss Lindsey Langford!  We had some great discussion and good food to start off an awesome Monday!

After a several housr of packing (further updates to come), we returned 2 phenomenal books to Los Christiansens.  Now, let it be known that Amir and I LOVE the Christiansens for several reasons:
1.) They have the cutest kids EVER (if you don't believe me, check out their blog)
2.) The kids in said blog have the coolest parents EVER!
3.) This family was the reason we realized raising kids in Austin was not only do-able, but awesome!

So, basically, we went to return some books and say good-bye (for now), and that turned into 4 hours of vino, pizza and friends!  Needless to say, we will miss them dearly and expect a call every time they are in Humble (hint hint)!

Livin' la Vida: HAPPY HOUR

So this past week, Amir and I have had tons of fun hanging out with our friends before we leave Austin!

Last Tuesday, it was Curra's and 6th Street with the Tauntons!  The best part of Curra's were the  Avocado Margaritas (of course)!  The best part of 6th street was going to The Stage where an 80's cover band was playing.  OH YES, I did say 80'S COVER BAND!

Please notice the lead singer's leather plant, the long mullet-esque hair on all of the band members, and the fact that they installed wind machines to make sure that their blew while singing!  We stayed for "Jesse's Girl", "Summer of '69" and some pretty fantastic selections from Journey!

The Tauntons & The Roohis

If you ever have the chance to see LC Rocks in Austin, DO IT!!

Ashley, Erin, Faye, Amir & Marco

This Tuesday it was Cheddar's with the Coleys & Erin!  After a couple Texas Sweet Teas (think Long Island Ice Tea, but everything's bigger in Texas), we were all having TONS of fun!

Oh, yeah...PS. I also cut my hair today! Think brand new Jennifer Anniston do!

Livin' la Vida: SUPER STARS!!

As we were getting ready for church this morning, our friend Stormi invited us to be extras in a movie being filmed at her office!  We got ready as quickly as possible but missed the first opportunity to be in the film.  After lunch, our second chance at being in a movie was yet to come!

The film is called "Somebody Up There Likes Me", starring Jim O'Heir (yes, the guy from Parks & Rec).  Its a small, indie-type production about a guy throughout his lifespan, we think?  Don't expect to see it hit the blockbuster list, but it was still super cool!

As for being on the set, we got to meet Jim in the hair and make-up area.  He also made several jokes like we were all besties and he wasn't a famous actor.  Very cool guy.  Anyway, we were extras in an "office drone" scene.  The back of Amir's and Stormi's heads will star in the background of the scene (as long as they don't get cut by the close-up).  I was sat behind a cubicle wall so I'm just there in spirit...  *sigh*

So, maybe "SUPER STARS" was a bit of an exaggeration, but it was a fun Sunday morning, nonetheless!

Livin' la Vida: EL PASO

Nuestro semana en El Paso ha sido fabulosa!  Here are the top 10 things we did (in no particular order)...

#10: Kinley's Coffe House

Amir cannot get through an El Paso visit without a trip to Kinley's!  It has a delicious Oreo Cookie Mocha Frappe that is to die for!  Imagine drinking an Oreo...enough said!  Its too sweet for more than a sip for me, so I stick to skinny vanilla lattes, but the one sip of Amir's Oreo Cookie Mocha Frappe make the trip totally worth it!





#9: Royally Sweet

This year-old boutique is founded and owned by Desiree, on of Amir's high school friends.  She sells adorable hair bows, tu-tus and accessories for little girls...there is also jewelry and soaps for the older than 10 crowd.  Everything in the store is pretty much hand-made by Desi or her mom and I personally plan to buy out the store when I have a little girl of my own some day!  Check out Royally Sweet on Etsy or Facebook!  So adorable!

#8: Hal Marcus Museum

Hal Marcus is a local El Paso artist, and we visited his new gallery in El Paso.  The gallery was awesome and features not only Hal's work, but art from other El Paso artists.  Its not too big, but definitely worth seeing!  We also met Hal Marcus' wife who explained how Hal's daughters inspire a lot of his work, as well as the history of Hal's career.  She was really sweet and gave us a ton of insight to his art!  If you're ever in El Paso and like art, this is a place to visit!

#7: Rain
El Paso received about 120 raindrops the second day we were here.  For drought ridden El Paso, this was super exciting!  Amir and I took the time to enjoy all 120 of the raindrops outside before they promptly evaporated.  I jumped on the trampoline while it was raining, and it was awesome!

#6: Cappetto's Italian Restaurant

After seeing Desi at Royally Sweet, we made dinner plans at an El Paso establishment called Cappetto's.  It was voted #1 Italian food in El Paso, with almost 50% of the "Best of El Paso" votes.  Olive Garden had about 30% of teh vote, but don't let this distort your take on Cappetto's...the food was truly delicious!  Our table at Shrimp Ravioli in Basil Cream Sauce, Chicken Pesto Linguine and Spaghetti with Tomato Sauce and everyone went home stuffed, with left overs!  Plus, there was a guy doing magic card tricks while we waited for our food!



#5: A Tour of Downtown, by Amir Roohi

Since downtown El Paso is changing, updating and gentrifying by the minute, the family went downtown one afternoon to check out all of the changes.  There are lots of renovated buildings and potential homes for hipster businesses to move in.  For the most part, El Paso is keeping the awesome facades of the old buildings, and simply gutting or renovating the insides.  Well done, Paul Foster, well done!






#4: The Wyler Tramway

If you're ever in El Paso, this is a little known, often missed gem!  The tramway takes 6 people at a time from a the parking lot (elevation: 4,692 feet) up to Ranger Peak (elevation: 5,632 feet) in a little gondola.  From the top, you can see almost El Paso, New Mexico and Juares (this is the easier version of a different mountain top where Amir proposed).



#3: Hot dogs & Hamburgers!

Nothing says America like hot dogs and hamburgers!  For 4th of July, the Roohis indulged me by grilling out and making corn on the cob.  It was a delicious way to say Happy Birthday America!







#2:Cupcake Contest

I decided to make cupcakes for 4th of July dessert.  However, "making cupcakes" turned into a 3-way cupcake decorating contest between Sarah's friend Carla, Sarah and myself.  We all decorated tehe 2 dozen cupcakes and let the rest of the family choose their favorites!  The 3 winning designs are pictured above.



#1: Fireworks? fail.

After a delicious meal, Carla, Sarah, Amir and I decided to trek up to Scenic Drive to see fireworks over teh city.  We figured by going to a high spot, we'd see at least one show.  Nope.  We saw some fireworks from New Mexico on the horizon, but they were about an inch big from where we were sitting.  The fireworks we waited almost an hour for had been set off about 15 minutes before we arrived so we went home only dreaming of fireworks.  I created my own picture of what they could have looked like had we executed our fireworks plan better....

Overall, El Paso has been good to us, and tomorrow morning we'll road trip back to Austin...