SPRING FORWARD

Finally, the weather is starting to warm up.  Spring is right around the corner and the days are getting longer.  I can hear the lawnmower and weed eater calling my name as the grass crunches in defeat under my every step.  Although technically we lost an hour this weekend, it seems worth it having the opportunity to visit with the sun a little longer after the work day ends.  There's something about the slight delay of daylight succumbing to the night that makes one feel more productive.  Motivated.  Inspired.  Bring on the fresh blooms, the 70 degree weather and the wagon rides... but please keep the pollen.

THE YHL BOOK

Every once in a while someone excels in a field that allows their talents to overflow into other arenas.  For example, Justin Timberlake's claim to fame with 'N Sync paved the road to a solo career... Oprah's excellent talk show skills helped in developing her own (no pun intended) network... Dr. Dre made beats which led to making headphones... Lindsay Lohan's performance in Parent Trap and Mean Girls eventually gave us Liz & Dick... scratch that Lohan isn't a good example here, but I digress.

Once opening the door, opportunity can develop a habit of visiting again or so it seems for John and Sherry Petersik, the married duo behind the blog Young House Love. 

In case you're not familiar with their home on the web, not to be confused with a home on the range, the Petersiks could be considered celebrities in the world of blogging with a size-able following that rivals Lady Gaga's little monsters or maybe Jimmy Fallon's Fal Pals.  The daily (or more often than not, twice daily) posts follow the self-proclaimed DIY dorks as they makeover their house while parenting a toddler and a dog who occasionally make cameo appearances in between and/or during said projects.

One visit to their site and it's easy to see how their fanbase continues to grow... with a down-to-Earth writing style and the if-we-can-do-it-anyone-can-do-it approach taken with every task explained, it should come as no surprise these two would answer the knock when opportunity visited carrying a book deal.

Almost immediately upon its release, the book titled Young House Love soared to the top of the New York Times Best Sellers list and almost every blogger with an Internet connection jumped at the chance to purchase their own copy to include in the styling of a bookcase or coffee table (and to read, of course).

The book shares the same laid back voice as the blog and provides tips and advice for making your house a little more you by tackling a range of projects from wall decorating to couch styling to creating a headboard and knife storage.  Each idea comes complete with a chart displaying the cost bracket and the time frame one should allot for completion (kind of as a disclaimer, or a preview, of what you're signing up for).

Among the numerous projects, a little gem of an idea stands out for me. The idea of framing keys belonging to dwellings of the past is such a sentimental suggestion and is sure to capture an extraordinary amount of memories in one small place with one small punch.  My wife and I are planning to pull out those old keys (were we supposed to return those? oops!) from our past apartments/house to include in our gallery wall above our staircase.

After reading through the pages of inspiration the Petersiks compiled in this book, I would be surprised to hear anyone say they weren't motivated to make their house more of a home by trying at least one (if not more) of the 243 suggestions mentioned within.  Even if John and Sherry's aesthetic isn't necessarily catered to your specific taste, it's hard to argue that their ideas can't be executed in such a way to reflect the personal style of your own home.

Consider this the proverbial knock of opportunity at your door with a hammer in one hand and a paint brush in the other... after all, John and Sherry opened the door to blogging and with each consecutive knock their brand continues to build (they even have their own lighting collection now, click here to check out their line with Shades of Light).

For more information regarding the Young House Love book, including behind the scenes details and where to purchase a copy, click here.

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Note:  This post was in no way sponsored or directly affiliated with the YHL site or its creators.  The aforementioned words are my opinion of a book I purchased and was not paid to do so or required to provide any sort of feedback.  I just wanted to... so deal.  Plus this book won me over with the reference on page 186 -- I'm a fan, what can I say?  Hopefully, this post was somewhat informative and did not leave you with the impression of this lady. 

iPOST

Last week was pretty busy for me, thus the lack of posting around here.  Sorry!  I wasn't trying to neglect the blog, but sometimes life happens and you roll with it.  We started using a new operating system at work which tends to ignite mass chaos among folks who don't catch on quickly, consequently, causing me to drink an entire bottle of wine with dinner midweek to deal with those folks. 

So there's that and there's this...

That's right.  I finally gave in and broke up with my BlackBerry and fell in line with the rest of the iPhone sheep.  It didn't win me over at first as I still found myself longing for the ease of my BlackBerry, it's familiar and we've been together forever.  Now?  I love my iPhone.  I get it.  I understand why people say it's the only phone you'll ever have, blah blah blah.

Everything is all in one place.  Music.  Social Media.  Pictures.  Videos.  Games.  Blogging.  It's all there in the palm of my hand and while BlackBerry tried to make it work, I had to pop that battery out more times than I wanted to because of freezing issues... and I was over it.  Over.  it.

I know I'm late to the app party, but I've become addicted.  I love the TiVo app since it allows me to control my TiVo box on my phone.  Seriously, being able to set recordings and modify or delete them or even watch them right from my phone makes life so much easier.  Plus there's no more "remind me to set the TiVo to record..." when Allison or I hear someone suggesting a new show.  Speaking of new shows, please tell me you're watching The Following on Fox.  It repeats on FX a lot in case you've missed it.  I can't turn away from it.  If only I can get the Netflix app to work, it keeps telling me my username/password is incorrect and I've even changed it to make sure it's not... still no luck.

Again, I know I'm late here but Draw Something is fun.  I'm sure I'll be tired of it soon like the rest of the world, but for now I'm enjoying poorly drawn finger pictures and the coins I'm hoarding for guessing correctly.

I'm also addicted to Instagram.  I know. I know.  Late.  I get it, but it's new for me.  I like the simplicity of it... where Facebook gives people the opportunity to say too much and Twitter limits them sometimes leaving a sea of sentence fragments to swim through, Instagram is the baby of the two proving a picture is worth a thousand words.  Perfection.  Follow me here if you want.  Warning:  I'm that parent so you'll see the obligatory "my daughter is cute, see?" pictures along with some other really random photos.

Since I mentioned her, it's probably worth saying that Allison and I enrolled little Miss Madison in preschool this week.  I can't even begin to explain how hard this decision was for us.  She'll only be attending two days a week for three hours each day so it's a nice transition for us and her... she needs some social interaction with kids her age. That's what we keep telling ourselves. She starts in the Fall so we have some time to get used to the idea before she actually starts attending, but I can already tell we're going to drop her off and she's going to run in laughing and screaming without even turning around to tell us goodbye.  They grow up too fast!

Also, and this is probably what I'm most excited about, I'm starting my novel.  No, I don't have a book deal but one isn't needed to write... and I need to write.  I've got the synopsis nailed down and the main character analysis is done, now I'm working on the outline before beginning the first chapter.  Hopefully, I can translate the book in my head onto paper (or the computer screen, I'm not writing this thing in a notebook with a pen).  Even if it doesn't ever see publication, I can at least say I wrote a book from beginning to end.  It's been a dream of mine since I was little and with my 30th birthday around the corner, it's time to make it happen.

So what have you been up to?  Any big changes happening?  Can you believe it's March already?  Any suggestions for troubleshooting the Netflix app?

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Note:  This was not in any way a sponsored post.  All opinions are my own and I was not paid or swayed to write about any of the things mentioned above... I just wanted to because I like them plus I'm the boss of this blog.