The Perfect Paint

Ever since thing started looking like we were really going to get this house I started looking at paint colors.
I am now OBSESSED with paint.

There are SO many options. I have felt myself desiring more rooms, just so I can use all of the colors that I want. If I could just choose paint for people and decorate around those paint colors for a living I would be a happy girl. Maybe I should have gone into interior design?

Anyway, I've learned a ton of things about paint. Like, how it never EVER looks the same as those little paint swatches you get from the store. But, good news, you can buy little tester cans of paint. BRILLIANT.

Even after testing the paint on the wall you just really never know what the paint is really going to look like until it's on the whole entire wall. I discovered this when we painted the basement family room. I had the color picked out. I got the paint sample. I loved it. I put it on the wall and wow. It was WAY different than I pictured. I even thought for a minute about repainting it. I decided to leave it for a couple of days and see how I felt. (I've also discovered that certain colors of paint grow on me after I'm around them a while.) Guess what? I love it now. I just brightens up the whole room.

Speaking which...shall we go on a small tangent so I can show you the basement family room? It's basically done. I'm so please with how it turned out.

Here are some before pictures to refresh your memory.

And here is after....(the camera makes that wall look yellow. It's really super light beige.)

Do you love it? I am in love with the carpet. It's so soft and so lovely. The pictures really don't even do it justice. It really completes the room. Sigh. We still need to do a few things down there, but, for the most part, it's done and live-able.

Anyway, back to paint. There are so many more paint dilemmas than I ever thought possible. What colors should I use? Should I do an accent wall? If so, which wall do I accent? What sort of mood do I want to create? What color should I do the ceiling? My walls and ceiling are a bit textured, which makes for some nasty corners where the wall and ceiling meet. If I do them different colors will I ever be able to get a straight line in those corners?

Now, let me tell you a little quirk about myself. I can be a very picky person. I mean, generally, I'm pretty easy to please. If you buy me something, I'll probably like it. But, I usually have to absolutely LOVE something to buy it. I'm often very particular about my purchases. I honestly have tried on like 12 pairs of pants at a store and not gotten a single one. I really feel bad for people who come shopping with me sometimes. I just figure, if I'm going to buy it, I might as well love it, instead of wasting money on something I just like. I have discovered that paint is no exception. I mean, it is going on my walls, where I'm going to have to stare at it for years and years every single day. My dad and Jayson tease me about how picky I've been with it, but I've been on a quest for the perfect paint colors.

I have literally spent over a month thinking and analyzing about paint. Although this is frustrating at times, I honestly love paint. There really is nothing like having fresh paint on your walls. It's an incredible and glorious feeling.

Also, paint is one of the main reasons I'm so happy we bought a fixer upper. I actually love to paint. I love the feeling of the roller gliding with fresh paint all over it. I love opening a new can of paint and seeing the pretty color in it's silky-smooth texture. I have absolutely loved being able to pick out all of the colors I want to use. I think I have FINALLY come to a decision about what colors to paint the main level upstairs. It only took me a month of grabbing swatches, buying samples, spending hours upon hours looking at more swatches, looking up ideas on Pinterest, etc. It was a long process. Below you can see the choosing process:

Yup. Those are my paint samples all over the walls.

I honestly feel like I change my mind like every other day about what paint I want and where I want it, but I think I finally have it down. Hopefully we can start painting the main level this week. I'm pretty stoked.

So, you can see why I've loved paint samples so much. They allowed me to pick out the perfect paint. The only bad thing about paint testers is that I never really use the whole thing. In fact, I use way less than half most of the time.

So, the real question is..
What I do with all of this left over paint?

Does anyone have any craft ideas that involve a small amounts of paint?

The Story Lives On

Ok, so, I know I already did my post about Harry Potter, but I simply could not pass the opportunity to share a few words and a really great quote by J.K. Rowling herself.

Last night I saw the movie and I thought it was very well done. There were, of course, parts I was sad that they left out, and stuff they changed, and all that jazz that naturally comes with converting a book into a movie, but the overall movie and the feeling of it captured the book pretty well. It was wonderful and I want to go and see it again, right this minute. I won't do too much of a review, as I know many have not seen it yet, but I will tell you that I cried like 1/4th of the movie. Also, McGonagall pretty much steals the show. I think she was my favorite part of the movie.

Anyway, I wasn't sad last night when the move ended. I don't know why. I was sad the day before, thinking about all of the amazing times I've had waiting in line for hours to get a book or see one of the movies at midnight. Maybe it hadn't really sunk in yet or maybe I was just too tired when it was over to think about it. However, today was a different story. Now, don't worry, I haven't been lying around all day sulking about it, but I have had a sort of sad, almost loney feeling about it all. You know, that sort of feeling you get when you see a friend you haven't seen in a long time, but you don't get to spend too much time with them, so you you miss them even more when you part than you did before you saw them. Anyway, it's not an overwhelming feeling, but a strange one.

Well, you've probably heard enough of all of this from me now, so, I will share the quote I mentioned above. It's really lovely and captures things perfectly. I may or may not have been close to tears when I read it.

"No story lives unless someone wants to listen.  The stories we love best do live in us forever.
  So whether you come back by page or by the big screen, Hogwarts
will always be there to welcome you home."
-J.K. Rowling, at the Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows part 2 premiere

I might have just gotten a little choked up again.

The Finale

One day I will post about my 4th of July weekend in Bear Lake and our progress on the house.

But, today is not that day.

Today I have to write about something that hasn't been given as much attention by yours truly as it should be: this Thursday.

Why? Two words: HARRY. POTTER.

My step-mom's work got tickets for a preview showing of the movie on Thursday evening. Needless to say, we're INSANELY stoked.

However, is it just more does the coming of this movie seem to have a different feeling than the others? A bit less exciting and a bit more somber? I can only pin point it to one thing; the fact that after this it's going to be over. I remember getting about half way through the seventh book and feeling the same way. I was so anxious to find out what was going to happen, how it all would end, but I knew that once I got there, it was over. There weren't any more books coming. No more midnight book releases. But, I was able to console myself by telling myself that there were still the movies. They, of course, are nowhere near as awesome as the books, but it's always exciting when they come out.

This has been a really strange and bizarre thing to wrap my mind around. For the last 12 years of my life I have been captivated by Harry Potter and the excitement of new book and movie releases. This week it's over.

I also feel like it came SO fast. When the first half of this movie came out I thought July would never get here. It seemed SO long to have to wait, but the months since them had flew by and now that exciting day I've been waiting for is on my door step.

But, I just read a quote about Daniel Radcliffe that just sort of made everything all better:

"I don't think the end of the story happens tonight, because each and every person, not only in this square, but also watching around the world, who will see this film and who have followed these films over the last ten years, will carry this story with them through the rest of their lives , and it will affect what they do." (and I'd like to add " who they are" to the end of that.)

Thanks Daniel/Harry, for saying exactly what I needed to hear and expressing exactly how I feel.

Enough about the somberness of the occasion though. I really just want to tell you a little bit about why I love Harry Potter.

• It really is a HUGE part of why I love to read. It was the first book that I really just couldn't put down. I like reading before I read Harry Potter, but it always came to the point where I'd want to stop and go do something else. Not with Harry Potter. These books have given me one of the most precious gifts in the world: a true love for reading.
• The characters. I love almost every character in these books. Almost every character that's not a death eater anyway. And, even then, I kind of like the Malfoys. I definately don't love them, but I'll always have a little soft spot for Narcissa, since she did basically save Harry. I have a really hard time narrowing down my very favorites. I seriously just love almost all of them so much. I don't think I've ever read anything else that had so many wonderful characters in it.

My top three favorites are as follows:

ALBUS PERCIVAL WULFRIC BRIAN DUMBLEDORE
First of all, how cool is his name? Dumbledore has always and will always be my very favorite. He's amazing, powerful, incredibly wise...what's not to like? Also, he's super quirky. I think people forget that a lot. I even forget that, but it's one of the best things about him. I find the fact that he loves lemon drops and raspberry jam incredibly indearing. Plus, he can speak mermish. Enough said. When I read the sixth book I cried from the time he died until the very end of the book. I still cry every time I read that part and every time I watch the sixth movie. I just love him.

HARRY JAMES POTTER
Again, the name. Isn't that a fantastic name? I know, it's cliche and sometimes it seems lame to love the main character, but come on. He's amazing. He has so much just pushed on him and he takes it. He doesn't back down from what he believes in because others think he's crazy. I really admire that. I really don't think I could do that, but it's a quality I really want to possess. He has his whiny moments, but all in all I think he's incredibly noble and brave. Plus, he always said that he was Dumbledore's man, through and through. The first time I read that I was sold on Harry. I also did always find him really attractive while reading the books, which didn't hinder my love for him one bit.

HERMIONE JEAN GRANGER
She is just plain wonderful. My love for her is a recent development. She didn't become one of my favorites until last summer when I re-read/listened to all of the books to prepare myself for the first half of the 7th movie. She's brilliant and I just adore her love for learning. She's a true friend and honestly, just plain rocks. I mean, really, where would Ron and Harry be without her? In a lot of ways she's the sort of person I want to be. She never gives up and she's incredibly brave. She always had the utmost integrity too.

• The names. The names in these books are absolutely wonderful. Let me list some of my favorites: Alastor, Albus, Regulus, Sirius, Remus, Karkaroff, Dolohov, Severus....I could really go on and on.
• The friendships. They're so beautiful. The love the characters have for eachother is wonderful.
• Last but not least, the story. You can't deny it, it's wonderful. It's mind boggling-amazing! The plot, the messages, the symbolism. Sigh.

There you have it. Some of the many reasons I LOVE these books.
Now, let's face it. This post wouldn't be complete without some amazing quotes:

"Differences of habit and language are nothing at all if our aims are identical and our hearts are open." ~J.K. Rowling, "The Beginning," Harry Potter andthe Goblet of Fire, 2000, spoken by the character Albus Dumbledore

"There was no point in worrying yet.... what would come, would come... and he would have to meet it when it did." ~J.K. Rowling, "TheBeginning," Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, 2000

"We must try not to sink beneath our anguish, Harry, but battle on. ~J.K. Rowling, "ASluggish Memory," Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, 2005,spoken by the character Albus Dumbledore


And, my personal favorites:
"It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." -J.K. Rowling spoken by Albus Dumbledore

"It was, he thought, the difference between being dragged into the arena to face a battle to the death and walking into the arena with your head held high. Some people, perhaps, would say that there was little to choose between the two ways, but Dumbledore knew - and so do I, thought Harry, with a rush of fierce pride, and so did my parents - that there was all the difference in the world." ~J.K. Rowling, "Horcruxes," Harry Potter andthe Half-Blood Prince, 2005

Happy Harry Potter Week.