Keeping Up Appearances, a Year Later

It's been one year since we relaunched the blog. One year since the rebrand. One year since our "Keeping Up Appearances" Project. One year with the new Pinstrosity!

Last week, which was supposed to be my week for posting on the blog and Instagram, I took a "sabbatical". It was the opposite of the Keeping Up Appearances project. I wasn't trying to show how ridiculous it is to try to live up to social media standards (the point of the KUA project), instead I was forcing myself to take a step back from it all because in the months following the KUA project I got sucked back into the "I can do it! I can live an Instagram/Pinterest/Facebook perfect life! And if not, I obviously don't have anything worth sharing."vortex. 

It wasn't consciously. It definitely wasn't on purpose. But when I realized what was going on it felt like I'd been sucker punched. I wasn't even living up to our own "preaching". I'd meandered away from "Life isn't Pinterest Perfect, and neither are we!" mantra. 

This collage of photos pretty much sums up a large portion of my life. If I had a picture of one of them crying to put in the collage, it might have made it more real life. I love these people and I truly do love the life we are building. But it isn't all pretty days and happy trails. And often when things are smack in the middle of diapers, grocery runs, bills, keeping the kids fed, getting people to sleep, and building a business, it is hard to look at it all and feel like there's anything to share (because as cute as I think my kids are, I'm pretty sure you all don't need or want daily doses of my children and their pretty normal antics ). It gets easy to see all the very non-glamorous parts of life and feel like that's all there is. So then hopping on social media and you see everyone else's best 5% of life that gets posted, it's hard to remember that they are sloughing through the mundane parts of life too. It gets hard to feel like what you're doing is going anywhere. 

So I took a week off. Well, sorta. It ended up being a crazy week, but I didn't blog. I didn't post on Instagram. I didn't post on Facebook (well, beyond a few groups I'm in when I needed to ask a question). I didn't plan posts or blogs. I just lived. And it was great. 

The week took me all over the state, and gave me a lot to think about. Directions I want to go with my online posts. Messages I want to rally behind. Things I want to incorporate into my life. Stories I want to share with you all. 

I follow a great account on Instagram called A Home Made for Hosting. This account follows the home building dream and story of a photographer husband and wife team I follow. She just did a blog post about fear of showing their house online because they are afraid that people will judge their house. This home is beautiful, and will end up being a huge blessing to so many people (they are incredibly giving and have serving hearts, and have designed their house so that they can use it to bless others). But without knowing the heart and the why, some people may send nasty-grams their way about it (which really is ridiculous that people do that). I feel much the same way, only on the opposite side of the spectrum. 

I feel fear about posting about my life because too often I tell myself that I don't have the experience I need to have a voice. I fear that people will look at my life and dismiss this "redneck" girl from the sticks. I fear that I don't really have anything to share, and that everyone feels that way too. 

But, as this same photographer stated, fear is the opposite of faith. Fear holds back. Fear restrains. And in this case, I'm using fear as a pity party. I'm using fear to tell myself that I don't have anything worth sharing. 

We did the Keeping Up Appearances project to show just how ridiculous it is to try to live a "perfect" life. We didn't realize the opposite end of the spectrum though. The Keeping Up Appearances project wasn't just to say "We can't do it all, and that's okay!" but it also was to say, "Our lives have worth and meaning, even when they are not 'perfect' or dazzling!" 

This past week wasn't "beautiful" as far as imagery goes. But it was exactly what I needed. It gave me perspective. It gave me time. And it gave me motivation. I didn't get ahead on blog posts in the least bit. I didn't plan out social media posts. I didn't keep a perfect house, make amazing meals, or try new make up. But I did spend more time with my kids. We just got done with an at home game night date night. I finished an audio book. Skeins of yarn were actually used. And the neighbors got to witness the crazy lady running around the yard in her pajamas at 6:30 in the morning because there was fog outside and it had to be documented accordingly (fog in AZ is not a common thing).

And sitting here typing all of this I'm realizing that even with all the craziness that was last week (16+ hours in the car for eye appointments, hair appointments, grocery runs, etc), I wouldn't trade it for a week full of "social media worthy" activities or life. I lived life not worrying about how to blog what I was doing, or how I could show it on Instagram in a way that would fit into my feed aesthetics, or worrying about what people would think if I showed my life. I lived. I put myself back into my life, and it was glorious. 

This past week reminded me about life, about family, and really about the heart of this blog and the heart of the new direction we took with it last year. Life isn't Pinterest Perfect, and it doesn't have to be Pinterest Perfect to be worth sharing about. Our lives won't resonate with everyone. It's just not possible. But through sharing our lives, our fears, our goals, our failures, our triumphs, our quirks, and our love, maybe we can find a tribe of people, our sweet Pinstrosipeeps, who might need our voice (and who's voices we'll need in return, because you guys blow us away with your love and support and we are so grateful for you! You buoy us up!). 

So welcome to Year 2 of the "new" Pinstrosity, in which we relearn old lessons, grow in ways we didn't expect, try new things, fail a few times, laugh a lot, cry a little (because we're girls and that's just what we do), and adjust our tail feathers. We're so glad you're here on this ride with us! Buckle up, keep your arms and legs inside the car at all times, and hold on tight, because we're not exactly sure what this ride is going to bring, but we know it's going to be worth it! 

Lesson Relearned: Find Joy in the Journey

For the first time in a year, Emilee and I got to spend time together. It was pretty much a live version of "Chicken Soup for the Pinstrosity Soul". There were snow cones, hugs, laughs, late night pizza, amazing root beer, dogs in tutus, a floating lantern, a husband running after the floating lantern to catch it before it went into the trees, hair coloring, real and raw conversations, tulle dresses and skirts, and breakfast burritos.  Could it get any better? Only if there'd been more time. 

We've both experienced things the last little while that left us feeling drained, uncreative, and unsure of what to do here on the blog. Do people really want to hear our life? Do we really have something worth sharing? Are we doing any good? It's been a bit of a blogging identity crisis after the first few months of the relaunch. I know I have gone through weeks where I felt like I really didn't have anything worth writing about because my life is just not really exciting. 

But that time spent together retaught us so much. The whole point of this blog is to remind all of us that life isn't Pinterest Perfect, and it doesn't have to appear so to be worth living and sharing. We don't have to have fast paced, mountain climbing, world traveling, daily DIYing lives before we have anything worthy to share or find joy in. 

What we do have is our journey. Our journey through life. Our journey through adulthood. Our journey through marriage. Our journey through family. Our journey through creativity. And you know what. They are amazing journeys. Just like yours! No journey is too ordinary, too mundane, or too "normal". Every journey has growth, and every journey has joy. Sometimes the joy is easy, and sometimes we have to really work to make it. But it's there. 

Sign by @handcraftedbrunette

And that is what we are excited to share with you and experience with you. We want to share in your joys, and share our joys with you. 

The Kett-Files: Thoughts and Lessons from the Keeping Up Appearances Project

Holy Cow. 

I knew before we started that this would be hard. I thought it would be hard just to keep on schedule and get everything done, but beyond that I didn't think it would be too bad. It was only a week. Because I wasn't trying to change my entire life to this, and I wasn't actually trying to life a picture perfect so others would think I'm cool or have it all together, I didn't think there would be much emotional or psychological "trauma". I'm embarrassed to even admit that I even worried, in my pride, that maybe I'd actually do just fine this week. 

The best word for this week is Humbling. 

It was hard time-wise. Against what I thought though, that wasn't where the only difficulty was. I cried. On the first day. It was physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually exhausting. I can't imagine trying to do this to impress people or for more than a week. 

We meant this week to be mostly entertainment for you all, and I hope it was just a little bit, but it ended up being so much more than that to us. It surprised us. It taught us. And maybe, in a small way, it has changed us. There were things I enjoyed about the week, things I learned about myself, things I learned about what I was trying to do, and things I hated. Let me recap for you:

It was expensive! 

• I spent twice as much on food as normal. The food was yummy, but I can't afford to feed my family like that all week. Not to mention Darrow wouldn't eat anything I made (good thing there were bananas around that I can't eat and Cameron won't eat...Darrow ate many this week!). 
• In addition to the food, I bought the makeup. While it was supposed to be a cheaper route to do the contouring supplies, I still spent $21 on it. 
• And then there were the crafts. I purposely tried to pick projects that I thought would be cheap. I didn't plan on having to buy more orange paint for the table ($8). I also originally planned on taking apart a pallet we found in the yard when we moved in, painting it with paint I already had, and making a sign. By the time it got to the scheduled day for that I didn't have the oomph or time left. Technically the welcome step I didn't have to pay anything for, but I did end up spending $12 on the wreath. 
• That doesn't seem like much when you look at each piece individually, but it adds up! I can't spend $20 a week on craft supplies, nor $21 a month on makeup, nor double our food budget.  

It was hard on my family!

• Daily keeping a picture perfect house, making cute crafts, spending good time on appearance and working over big meals does not leave much time for family. Darrow and Cameron both felt neglected during the week. I ended up unintentionally brushing them off thinking I'd have time later in the day. Darrow has gotten extremely clingy and wild. Cameron's felt a little lonely and forgotten. My house could look perfect, but if the people I love don't feel loved in that house, what's the point? 
• Cameron didn't know how to respond all week. Did I want constructive criticism? Did I want pats on the back? Did I want help? Did I want to do this on my own? He hasn't been himself completely, and I think it's because he's just not sure how to respond. 

It did reinforce how important good habits are! 

• The days where I got up, immediately got my hot lemon water, got dressed, and got Darrow ready for the day were my most productive days. I didn't waste time online in the morning, I didn't just lie around. In my head I knew those tricks before, but this really helped bring the points home. I do want to make this a habit in my life.
• Water! I do feel so much better when I have the water I need. I like this cup system, it helps me remember. 
• Meal planning. I loved knowing what meals we were having on what days. It made life so much more simple! No time wasted on Pinterest every day at 4 to try and decide what to make. No last minute runs to Taco Bell because I just didn't want to decide or pull food out. No late night runs to the grocery store to pick up ingredients for the meal you just decided to make. 
• The cleaning schedule is doable! That schedule works perfect for our little house. It didn't take me long each day to do my daily chores. 

It was exhausting!!

• I was pooped and ready for bed by 8:30 or 9 each night. That didn't mean I could get in bed by then, but I was ready to crawl in bed. I'm normally good till at least 10. It took all my energy and my efforts. I was so beat by the end of every day!! 

It helped me try new things. 

• I loved all the new things I got to try this week. I'd never made ganache, or used pickle brine for anything but storing dill pickles, or tried spray painting furniture. I'd never tried contouring, or mimicking an outfit from Pinterest. I loved how this pushed me to get up and do and try. I'd like to continue trying new things...just not all at once in one week. 

Oh the guilt!

• As we were closing up our Keeping Up Appearances weeks, we had the following discussion: 

• I couldn't believe the guilt and pressure I felt all week. I felt like if I didn't have every minute of my day accounted for that I wasn't doing enough, or that I'd "get in trouble", which is silly, because no one was standing over me. But I felt guilt. Anxiety. Stress. That was not what I was expecting. This was just going to be fun. As some of my planned pins had to get cut out I felt disappointed in myself and like I wouldn't have much of my week to show you and you'd all think I was lazy. Isn't that ridiculous?! The pressure I felt was real. And it was all self inflicted and basically made up! 
• The more guilt and pressure I felt, the less I wanted to do and the more guilt I felt. There were some days where it was hard to get going because I just didn't want to do this anymore. But then that made me feel guilty. See the bad cycle here?! IT'S NOT WORTH IT! The frustration, the guilt, the picking on myself, is not worth a "Pinterest Perfect Life". 
• I felt pressure to make sure I matched up to Emilee's efforts. This wasn't a competition. This wasn't a test. And yet I felt like I needed to keep up with Emilee and make sure I was doing at least as much as she was. And I hated that I felt that way! It put a spark of worry and competition where I didn't want it. 

I don't feel like I lived the Picture Perfect life that matched all the "Social Media Standards", but I feel pleased with what I was able to accomplish. I tried hard. I didn't reach perfection though. That image is an illusion. Sure, I could show you the highlight reel from the week, and it would look like I had a fabulous week. 

At the same time though I could show you all the messes and "fails" and it would look like I had a horrible week. 

But neither collage there gives you an accurate view of the week. Even if I showed you every single photo from the week it wouldn't capture it just right. There was the good, the bad, the ugly, the pretty, the insane, and the mundane. It is so easy to create a persona online by carefully selected photos and status updates!

Keeping Up Appearances was just what we needed at the launch of this blog. For us, it drove home all the points we want to make.

Yes, there are people who seem to have a beautiful life, and it looks so effortless and easy. It's ridiculously easy to fall into the trap of wanting what they have and looking at yourself and finding yourself lacking. It's so easy to take the praises and the criticisms of others and try and mold our lives around those (and trust us, we've had both regarding this project). We have to stop that! It's so destructive. It's so consuming! It makes us ungrateful for what we do have or what we can do. 

And that's the easy part. Saying "Stop it!" Learning how to stop is a whole different issue.

-We have to learn that people's criticisms aren't the final word, and aren't always right or even sound. There will always be naysayers, internet trolls, nosy neighbors, overbearing family, or whoever to dampen your spirit. We have to learn not to let them dampen our success or our willpower to keep pushing on.

-We have to learn that it doesn't do any good to be bitter jealous over someone else's successes. There's no point. Success is a pie factory, not a single slice of pie. When I start getting jealous about the pie that someone else is eating I try to remind myself that my pie's just taking a little longer to bake, but it'll still come down the conveyor belt, and when I get to dive in and eat that pie it is going to be amazing! And then we can all have a pie party together, rather than hoarding our pies and snarfing it all by ourselves, alone and bitter. -We have to learn to be okay being who we are. We strongly believe in always trying to improve yourself, but not to try and look good on social media. We love social media. It can be such a good tool! But you can use it as a weapon against yourself as well. Use it for good! Use it to spread cheer. Use it to find inspiration. Use it to share ideas. But quit trying to be social media. That is not you. You are you. And you are fabulous!

The Em-Life: Keeping Up Appearances, Life Lessons Learned

**For 1 Week (and only one week, thank goodness!) Emilee and Marquette attempted to live a life that matched up to Social Media Standards, mostly just to show what that could look like in real life and how ridiculous the idea is. New to our Keeping Up Appearances series? See what all the fuss is about here, then catch up on what you missed on Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7. Enjoy!**

Hello! We made it!

In a lot of ways, now that the KUA project is done, it's back to life as usual, but in a lot of ways this project has changed me, in some ways a better change, and in others ways negative changes that I certainly wasn't expecting.

I learned sooooo much this week! Attempting to live a social media perfect life was exhausting in every way possible. Mentally I'm drained, physically I'm exhausted, emotionally I'm spent, and spiritually I am pretty out of it as well. Attempting to live up to social media standards, to live a "Pinterest Perfect Life" what have you, is so all consuming I can't even explain.

This project was so eye opening in so many ways. I was surprised just how exhausting it was. There was this moment at the very beginning of the project where arrogant Em thought that maybe this wouldn't be so bad and that maybe, just maybe all those people who live "perfect" lives, were on to some big secret that the rest of us weren't in on, that living this "perfect" life wasn't that hard, and that you just had to have the guts to go for it.

That Em was so so so wrong. This was so awfully hard. This was hard on me, on my husband, on our house, on our budget. This was one of the most difficult weeks I have ever willingly put myself through.

So what did I learn this week?!

-Budget

I completely blew our budget this week. I spent over 2x what we usually spend on food, lucky for me my husband knew this project was happening and he planned accordingly. How crazy is that?! To do a lot of these recipes we see floating around the internet that look like they came from a restaurant you have to spend what you would if you were actually at a restaurant. It was all REALLY good food, but as far as budgets go, it isn't sustainable for us to cook by social media standards every night.

I also spent a good chunk on the crafts and makeup. I will use all the makeup supplies I purchased, but that was still a $26 purchase I don't usually make for all my contouring materials. With that being said, I will use them still so they aren't going to waste. The craft supplies were almost $50 bucks! Even with everything 40% off or more, I definitely can not do that each week.

Time-

I woke up earlier, went to bed later (even though I tried to get on a better schedule), didn't nap (except for that one accidental nap) and still didn't have time for what I needed to do. There were literally not enough hours in the day to do the exercise, the clean eating, the cleaning schedule, the DIY, the daily meditation, the home cooking, and still see my husband and do normal life stuff.

The dog didn't get as much attention this week, and my husband spent a lot of time doing his own thing while I was doing the project. He felt bad for me during this whole thing because he could see how stressed I was, and how much pressure I was putting on myself, he helped out a lot around the house, but it STILL DIDN'T GET DONE!

Competition-

Not only did I feel like I was in competition with my to-do list, but inadvertently I felt like I was in competition with Marquette. I felt like she was keeping track of her stuff better, and that her writing was doing better than mine. I felt like I needed to make sure and do big pins like she did, and have as much material as she did. I didn't resent her whatsoever, but there was an element of competition there that I wasn't expecting and that I didn't like. I am so glad this is over because let me tell you, Marquette is amazing and the fact that she did all this with a  toddler is super hero status people! I know for a fact I would have hit break down status on day two if I had kids.

Backlash-

This is a huge one. I really really struggled with this. Bear with me here.

This project was, for us, really important.

We just re-launched the blog which we have been planning and working on for months, we were really excited about that and we were extremely excited for this project and the potential it had to help people see what real life looks like, despite our best efforts to be social media perfect.

At first it seemed like everyone was really interested in it.

Then day three came, and so did the nasty e-mails and messages.

We had people message us how sad they were for us that we felt the constant need to be perfect: we don't. There were people who said our new material was crap and that we should go back to how things used to be because they liked it better: the blog has evolved and so have we, and that is more than ok. We had messages of how fake we seemed doing this, how we weren't perfect and we were living a lie; we agree with you! We aren't perfect! This project isn't real life! We had messages of how we were promoting self-loathing and how we were using our voice to spread unrealistic expectations that would potentially hurt people: we were literally trying to do the exact opposite.

These nastygrams, as we like to call them, really hit us like a ton of bricks. We worked really hard on this and we were in love with the idea of spreading positivity through showing people what real life is like. Not everyone saw it that way.

We were getting a lot of positive comments, but somehow the few nastygrams we got really overshadowed the people who we were actually helping.

The point of this project was to show just how ridiculous it is to try to the live the life that so many people try to show they have on social media. We all know that one person, that person who dresses impeccably ALL THE TIME, has a beautiful family, eats healthy all the time, has fun working out everyday and everything seems to just come natural to them. That's how it looks anyways. I can now say from experience that it is all smoke and mirrors. No one's life is actually like that. No one wants to show the crummy days, because then it might look like you have a less than stellar life.

Marquette and I intentionally did everything in our power to live the life that those pictures elude to, and despite our very best efforts real life took over anyways. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

I learned some great positive things about myself during this project.

-I have always wanted to be the person who washes her face twice a day, everyday: I started doing that this week!

-I was doing my daily scripture study everyday first thing in the morning, which I have been trying to do for years!

-I had a set menu everyday! I love that! I have also been trying to do that one for years.

-I tried new scary recipes which were out of my comfort zone.

-I decided on, shopped for, and completed three crafts in one week, for me that's a lot! I usually only get halfway through a craft over a  period of a few weeks so this was really fun.

-I learned how to deal with rejection.

I have read a lot of articles talking about the harmful affects of online rejection in the form of negative comments. I had read these articles as a third party observer not being connected to the commenters or those whose feelings were at stake (the writers or subjects of said comments). It's hard to see your work on the chopping block. I have had tons of school papers torn apart by professors, but having your passion critiqued by the people you are (in part) doing this for is hard. But guess what, I lived! I still love my work, I still love what I do and I love the people who are involved with the blog. Just because something isn't your cup of tea doesn't mean they hate you, or that what you are doing is wrong. It just means you are different from one another, and that is what makes life interesting.

In all it was a week of growth. If I had shown my Pinterest Perfect week, this is what it would look like.

Here is what my week really like!

Thank you for sharing this crazy week with me!

Love you all!

Xoxo, Em

The Kett-Files: Keeping Up Appearances, Day 7

**For 1 Week (and only one week, thank goodness!) Emilee and Marquette attempted to live a life that matched up to Social Media Standards, mostly just to show what that could look like in real life and how ridiculous the idea is. Click Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, or Day 6 to see how the week went so far.**

It's the final day!! I can't tell you what a relief that thought was when I went to sleep on Day 6. The guilt I have felt each day as I haven't accomplished what I planned on has been dumb. It's just guilt I feel towards myself and Emilee. I'm not letting anyone down. This was an experiment. And yet I feel anxiety and guilt I didn't expect.

However, with it being the last day, I was bound and determined to make it good! We'd all wake up happy and ready to go!

Darrow woke up at 5:15 ready to be awake for the day. 

So we were all up and dressed (not beautifully, but I wasn't embarrassed to be seen in what we were wearing) by 6:15ish. I knew today could be long or it could be okay. Eek. 

Darrow and I took Cameron to work so I could have the car. We were out of milk, eggs, and I wanted supplies to make something for the front door (trying to designate it as the front door). And we needed a new phone. Darrow takes after me in his love of donuts and knows that if he's really good in Walmart that a donut is a possibility. We were there for nearly 40 minute while I went up and down the very limited craft aisle (there's only 1 here for the non fabric/yarn craft supplies...I'm used to 3 in Silver City!), and went back and forth on the phones. But Darrow got his donut (and I did too...I was good and happy in Walmart too!), and we headed back home to do our cleaning chores for the day and get started.

My littler sister and her family (her husband/Cameron's brother, and their two kids) were coming that evening, so I knew we had to get things done early. We got the kitchen cleaned up, the floors swept, and the house put in order. I skipped over the squat challenge. I'd only done it two days, what was the point now I figured (gee...why exercise, hmmm...because it's good for you?! I'm a dork.). I wanted to wait until Darrow was down for his nap to do laundry and get my DIY projects done, but it was another battle day to keep him in bed. Finally around noon (after refusing lunch), he fell asleep. I started scrambling! I didn't have much time left!

This wasn't a project I planned on doing, but I saw the stuff in Walmart and decided it would make the front door look good better and add an autumn touch to the house. So I pulled out the wire wreath form I got for $2.96 (much cheaper than the grapevine wreaths I discovered!), and the sets of autumn plants (two bunches of oak leaves and a floral arrangement) I got for $3 each (ouch! I remember the leave bunches being $0.99 two years ago!). I dismantled the leaves, clipping them into singles leaves rather than pairs.

I pulled out the hot glue gun and just started gluing them on with no rhyme or reason.

And, I found a great use for the Bumbo (Darrow still loves this thing and it comes in handy when we have two toddlers in the house needing somewhere to sit during mealtime). It makes quite the handy little holder for the glue gun between leaves!

I got all the leaves on and decided I did want to put the items from the floral bunch on, so I clipped those off and glued them on as well. I love how it turned out! I probably could have only bought one bunch of oak leaves as I had a ton left over, but I didn't know that before.

I've had a pin saved for forever about using a command hook to hang wreaths (especially on cabinet doors, or if you just don't like the metal over the door hangers). I didn't have a wreath hanger (and didn't want to buy one), but I did remember that pin. So I used some twine out of the craft drawer and secured the wreath to the back of the screen door, only I did this redneck style. You know the little hydraulic thing on top of screen doors that keeps the door from flinging open or slamming shut? This door is missing that I discovered. I was going to use a command hook, but using that bracket meant that there wouldn't be the back of the command hook visible through the glass. So I tied the twine to that and hung the wreath. At least this way I know the command hook isn't going to give out.

It adds some cheer and color to the front. This picture made me realize just how badly the house is in need of a paint trim job. I'll put that on the list. Sigh.

But now I wanted to get to the other project I actually had planned, which coincidently also was for the front porch to try and dress it up and designate the front door as the door to come to. The other door opens into my kitchen...which inst' always clean. Neither is the living room, but the living room is usually just Darrow's toys, not dishes or food. Anyway. I saw an idea for spray painting welcome onto the porch in front of the door. I definitely wanted to do that here! I almost pulled out my coral spray paint but decided to go with something more neutral for whoever moves in after us.

But first I had to figure out stencils. I didn't have time nor the inclination to part with the money to order a stencil, so I knew I had to make my own. I almost decided to draw it by hand until I realized the printer would be way easier. I pulled up Microsoft Publisher (but Word would work great as well!) and found a font I liked that would work well to turn into a stencil. I put each letter on a separate page and printed them out. This next bit was the slow part (but not horribly slow, just more than I wanted). I cut the letters out with an exacto knife, saving the little pieces to go in the inner parts of some of the letters (like the e). Next, I gathered my paint, some boxes to use to protect the rest of the porch, spray adhesive, and went to work.

I used my quilting basting spray as my adhesive because it would be gentle and not leave a residue for dirt to stick to on the porch step. I sprayed the back of the paper and stuck it to the step (lining up the bottom of the paper on the bottom of the step so the letters would all be the same height).

I then did a quick coat of gray, and a quick coat of nickel to make it shiny and stand out better. I was nervous when I pulled off the paper, but it worked great!

On to the next letters. This font has the letters all connected (cursive), so I made sure the e overlapped a little onto the edge of the w when I stuck it to the step.

That worked great. I followed the same steps with each letter, being careful to not get paint beyond the edge of the paper. It turned out just right!

It doesn't stick out huge, but it's a fun little touch on the steps. I might try doing another layer maybe with gold, I think that'd stick out just a little better. But for now I love how this looks!

(update: It rained a week later and man the words stuck out so pretty on the wet concrete! Now...how to get it to look like this all the time..."

And since I was already on a spray paint kick, I decided to give the table from days 1 & 2 it's final coat. I LOVE how it turned out! It's the perfect color pop in the living room.

 Here's the before and after:

Doesn't that make that table much more fun and happy?! I love it!

It was shortly after putting everything away from these projects that Darrow woke up from his nap. I got my craft projects done, but not the laundry. Oh well. It wasn't too long after that that our siblings showed up. I had a new recipe planned to try out on them, but in the end we decided to take them to our favorite Mexian place here in town (their Horchata is amazing, and the Mole Enchiladas are my favorite!). It sits right on the airport runway, so the kids were pretty excited to get to see 2 planes while we were there.

Beyond that we spent the evening visiting (minus the short time I took to transfer all the new design from the "fake" blog to the real one for the relaunch in the morning). I felt like I'd been productive with the day! I love how the projects all turned out, the blog relaunch was set and ready to go live in the morning, and we were there with family. The end of the Keeping Up Appearances week was so much better and happier than the beginning!

And there's my "Pinterest Perfect" week! I can't believe I survived! I didn't know if I would after that first day. 

Come back to the blog tomorrow for our recap of what we learned, what we liked, what we didn't like, and if we'll ever do this again (bahaha...right). 

The Em-Life: Keeping Up Appearances Day 7

**For 1 Week (and only one week, thank goodness!) Emilee and Marquette attempted to live a life that matched up to Social Media Standards, mostly just to show what that could look like in real life and how ridiculous the idea is. New to our Keeping Up Appearances series? See what all the fuss is about here, then catch up on what you missed on Day 1, Day 2, Day 3,  Day 4, and Day 5. Enjoy!**

Thank heavens Day 7 is upon us! It's my last day of the challenge and I could not be more ready to be done. I feel the things I had on my to-do list just sitting on the side lines and I can feel myself pulling towards my regular routine and my usual habits.

I did not get in all of my water today, I did not do my squats (for the 7th day in a row lol), I did follow my social media rules, I also washed my face, but only once today. I have really enjoyed waking up and reading something positive to start my day and I am happy to report I did that one all week! Woohoo!

As for the things I did accomplish today other than usual day-to-day stuff, here they are!

Here was my inspiration for my OOTD.

And my version!

Fedora: Target

Dress: JUNIEblake

Plaid Button Up: Target

Shoes: Converse

This outfit was crazy comfy! I wore it ALL day long, when usually I come home and I'm Misses-No-Pants the second I walk in the door, that says something! I get lots of compliments on this dress that I picked up from JUNIEblake, a clothing company from Thatcher, Arizona that I ADORE! Seriously their stuff is great quality, goes with everything, and is seriously comfortable.

I also did my nails day 7, I didn't really have a specific look I was trying to emulate but I got inspiration from a few sources on Pinterest. 

I took a little bit from each of these and came up with my own look!

I did a shellac top coat on these as well because I'm a shine addict.

Unfortunately because it is just polish with a shellac top coat (they aren't built for each other), I don't expect these to last the Shellac promised 2 weeks, but they are fall-ish and I love them!

Those were the two pins I completed today, I literally didn't have the mind power to make dinner tonight so we each scrounged for leftovers.

Today was 1 week into paleo so I weighed in and saw that I lost 3 lbs. by cutting out (most) sugar, grains and dairy! Woohoo! Small victories!

Tomorrow I will share my final thoughts on the project, what I learned and what's next for me so make sure to stay tuned!

The Kett-Files: Keeping Up Appearances, Day 6

**For 1 Week (and only one week, thank goodness!) Emilee and Marquette attempted to live a life that matched up to Social Media Standards, mostly just to show what that could look like in real life and how ridiculous the idea is. Click Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, or Day 5 to see how the week went so far.** 

Day 6:

I didn't journal at all today. I think it's interesting to see how it got less and less each day. It's tedious!!

I realized yesterday that while cocoa is definitely more yummy than lemon water, it didn't do much to help me feel energized or motivated to start right away. So I started today out with my lemon water instead and I did feel much more ready to get to work and to be productive.

Even though I was productive all day, I don't have much visual productivity to show you for Day 6. We've had a private "fake" blog to play with templates and color schemes for the relaunch so we could get everything just right and making the install in the real blog faster and more smooth. Day 6 was the day I had scheduled to update all the coding, tweak the template, install the new designs from Llisel, and troubleshoot. I started working on the blog at 8am and, other than taking food breaks and breaks to play with Darrow, that was all I did for most of the day. I can't believe how long it took!!

I was able to use pins I had found for adding in a contact form, uploading and using custom fonts for titles, and adding in a custom Pin-It icon on the photos. I learned the hard way though to only do those at the end after I was done tweaking the template in the blog editor because tweaking the template took those changes to the coding back out. So I did those pins a number of times. I spent a lot of time with GIMP open, tweaking photos we wanted to use, creating menus on the blog, moving things around, and installing Llisels work. My eyes were burning by the end of the day!

This was a hard day on Darrow. I tried to take good breaks and pay attention to him, but he still gets antsy when I sit at the computer because he knows I can't pay attention to him. He plays really well by himself, but I don't want to take advantage of that and push him away too much. I think that was part of the problem with Day 1. So we took breaks to play cars, "huggle", and to pull him off of tables and out from under things.

By this point in the week we had amassed quite the collection of leftovers, so I didn't cook us anything new. However, we did tweak one of the leftovers. We didn't follow the ingredients or instructions in this pin, but it was the same idea. Cameron took the mashed potatoes from dinner the night before and turned them into potato soup. He added chicken broth, the rest of the cream, a little bit of milk, some onion powder, and salt and pepper to the potatoes until it was the right consistency and flavor. That was yummy soup!! It was fun to get to use up leftovers out of the fridge without eating the exact same thing.

The rest of the night I spent working on the Pinstrosity social media accounts, updating profile and cover photos, updating links, and then completely revamping the Pinterest account. There's way more that goes into maintaining a blog/site, and relaunching than I ever imagined when we first started this Pinstrosity journey. It was really exciting though to see all the pieces coming together after months of planning and working!

By the end of the day my eyes were pooped and I was tired (which seemed silly because I'd literally sat most of the day). I didn't exercise at all, but I did get in all my water!

The Em-Life: Keeping Up Appearances Day 6

**For 1 Week (and only one week, thank goodness!) Emilee and Marquette attempted to live a life that matched up to Social Media Standards, mostly just to show what that could look like in real life and how ridiculous the idea is.New to our Keeping Up Appearances series? Get the 411 here, then catch up on Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, and Day 5.**



It's Sunday as I write this, and part of today's challenge was a OOTD picked out the day before and photographing said outfit in a style worthy of social media. Here is the pin I used, and my interpretation! I think I did pretty good!

http://www.projectinspired.com/glam-for-god-our-favorite-looks-and-trends-for-summer-2015/

Hayden Panettiere is cute and classic in this chambray dress and cognac fall boots! How did I do?!

Dress: Old Navy

Belt: Thrift Store Score

Leggings: Nike/Sport Authority

Boots: Zappos

Earrings: Rue 21

This look was comfy, simple, classic and I had everything I needed! I think I hit it pretty spot on! I really enjoyed this aspect of the challenge today!

I wanted to recreate a makeup look from Pinterest today as one of my Beauty to-do's on the list. With the fall weather blowing in I thought a good darker eye look would be fun.

                                                                               Link for this eye look is here.

While the original is darker than mine, I thought I did pretty good with what I had on hand, and in truth it looked darker than this in person, so I would call this one a success!

I made another paleo dinner tonight! We had bacon wrapped chicken and veggies, and just now I am realizing I forgot to take a picture of this one too (will I ever figure this thing out?!).

But...here is the recipe I used, and I got a lot of compliments on it from Chip and a friend we had over for dinner too.

www.paleocupboard.com

I can feel myself slowly waning as far as how many pins I complete in a day. I just feel it slowly fading to the way side as other more important priorities come into play such as work, and some teaching responsibilities I have at church etc. I am just starting to feel like, "Is this all necessary?", I know there are a few of the daily pins I will continue to do after this is all done, but I know that this is in no way sustainable for me in the long run. If anyone should know anything  about sustainability, it should be me, I majored in it!

Let me tell you, this perfection for the sake of social media thing is falling straight to the bottom of my priority list the longer this goes on. On the one hand I want so bad to finish this as strong as I started, but on the other I am proud of myself to see that social media standards just aren't what is as the most important to me...obviously. I have a project I am committed to with my business partner the requires me to aspire to Pinterest Perfection and I just can't get there, mostly because I don't see the need to get there! I have one day left of this...what will I do with it? I am as interested to see that as you are! Stay tuned for tomorrow!