Marriage is Like a Bike

My husband, Ryan, always says you can't have your cake & eat it to....I know many other people say this as well but he says it because I have thousands of ideas that I typically think of, tell him & want to do ASAP. 

Well, I want to let you know you can totally have your cake & eat it too. 

You know how, BALANCE! 

Balance is the key to life & marriage (thanks Kelli ;) 

Marriage is a path that is extremely hilly & slippery! 
Sometimes the ride is hard, exhausting and slow. 
Other times the ride is so damn fast you should probably 
slow down! Oh, & safety- don't forget about safety! 
Protection is super important in a marriage. No no, not 
like gutter minds. Protecting each other- say what you mean, 
how you feel when you feel but stop and frigging think about 
what you are about to say! Some times it is better for 
you to just keep your mouth zipped, other times- 
speak up damnit! Supporting each other through 
even there worse ideas (sometimes) helps. Use your 
brain on this one people. Next, you know when you are 
riding a bike and you have to use your ears to listen so 
you don't get hit by a car? Yeah, apply that to your marriage. LISTEN to the other one when they talk- even if you 
give two shits about what they are saying! It will keep 
you from getting hit by a car later when you are asked 
about that conversation or when you forget to do something because you weren't really listening. 
(If you are wondering, this is typically me. I totally
 zoned out and my mind wonders with ideas-half the 
time I have no frigging clue what Ryan is talking about 
but I started listening and learning all his engineer terms 
so I could actually be involved and provide more 
feedback than "yeah", "hmmumh".) Next up, the pedals, 
chain, and air in your tires...those are all the little things 
in you bike that keep things moving along. 
The little things in marriage are also what keep things 
moving along. Women love this shit! Men typically 
don't realize all the little things women do. Yes, cleaning 
up after you counts (hair in the sink.) The things that we 
spend hours on Pinterest finding just the right recipe 
or cute DIY for the spouse. Little things piled up 
create something HUGE! Last, remember when 
I said balance was the key to life & marriage? 
You can't ride you bike if you don't have balance 
& you sure as hell can not ride it with no balance 
up and down a slippery hill!! 


We don't have a picture perfect marriage. 
We didn't take the "typical" marriage path but 
did create our own & our path is frigging fun! 
When we first met, we both had said we weren't 
looking for a relationship...I mean, I was in Fargo, ND 
visiting friends! Last thing I every expected was to 
find someone I would fall head over heels for 
(which I totally did- googly eye and all) For being 
so creepily alike (it is actually chills creepy sometimes) 
we think completely different! Ryan is as logically as 
you can get, and I am like let's just be happy and drink 
coffee all day- we will be fine. In reality, no we wouldn't 
but we also wouldn't have too much fun if we were always logically. We balance each other out to where we have fun 
& enjoy life without crashing our bikes. 


Tip: Women are crazy like 97% of the time. Our minds 
function in a very strange way that even we don't understand. 
Don' let us be hungry either, that is a bad mistake. 
Life will be way more fun if you hop on for the ride 
rather than try and figure out how we think because 
that is a trick and you will crash and fail. :) 

We have talked about so many outcomes of our life, so 
far not one things has panned out like we discussed 
besides doing our best to make each other happy. 
Life is going to hit you with some hard bumps and 
will have rough SHARP turns. Hang on and ride with it. 
As long as you now that your plan will most likely not 
goes as plan you will do this marriage thing just fine. 
Plan for the unexpected by knowing that change happens, 
life is challenging but you have someone to do it with 
and to help you take those uncomfortable rough & sharp 
turn with out. 

TODAY ONLY you an find a code for a discount in the 
spirit of our anniversary. Just head over to my shop blog 
to get the code and shop away! 

Thank you to everyone that has provided us with love and 
support throughout our adventure together. 

I love you Ryan, you oh so strange yet wonderful man! 

Here is a good laugh from my mother:) 

SEE THE JIB JAB MY MOM CREATED FOR US

Laters! 

Return from the Dead

Brushes and Bolts return from the dead

With the inspiration if fall and Halloween, I have brought Brushes and Bolts back to life. Today I will be sharing a quick DIY fall painting and a link to a steal of a deal scarf & beanie combo I am offering in my online shop. It ends TODAY!!!

My apartment building does a lot of events for everyone that lives here. The next one I get to help out at! They have called it paint and pour and we will be painting and well, pouring wine into our glasses so our paintings looks beautiful by the time we are done!

Our painting will eventually (fingers crossed) look something like this

Here are a quick view of the materials and steps I used to do this painting.

Use your pencil to mark where you want your birch trees. Now, use tape to act as your trees, be sure to press all edges down so nothing leaks.



Once you tape is on where you want. Put TINY, TINY drops of paint onto your canvas. Place the drops where you want the color to be the most bold! My picture of above has TOO MUCH PAINT!!!

Now, water down your sponge brush so you can cover you background with a small amount of paint. You want this to dry fast so a lot of paint = not drying fast!

be sure to dab your sponge brush to it is not soaking wet! 

Now start spreading your paint around covering your canvas. 

Dab your sponge brush as needed. If your colors are mixing too much, clean your brush. 

for a more blended look, use the entire sponge. Press the entire sponge down firmly until you have the desired amount of blending. 

You can also use you pencil to draw in any other trees in the background. You will use black paint for these for don't worry about the pencil showing through. Take your tiny, thin brush and dip it into your black paint as need to "trace" paint you little trees in the background.

Here is a good place to take a sip or 5 of wine while you wait for your background to dry...trust me, you want it to dry! 

Here is me being lazy and not fixing this....

you canvas should be covered with your trees. Have a few sips of wine while you wait for it to dry. 

About 3 sips in, take off your tape carefully. 

Use a brush that fits right into you taped off trees. Add white to the base background of your tress. 

Here there is no need to wait for this to dry, the less perfect your birch details the better! 

You will need a piece of paper, thick paper. I used old paint sample color swatches. Dip just the edge into black paint. Start on one side of your white birch base and drag the strip of paper across your tree.

Do this as you see fit. Switch sides of where you begin your drag. 

You can than use the edge to add lined details to your trees. 

Also, your tiny, tiny paint brush dipped in black paint will help with any other added details you want to ad. See below:

& now sip some more wine. 

Be sure to wait until your painting is pretty dry at this point.

Once it is dry, re- tape your trees! 

Now the fun part....which I for some reason do not have any photos of? hmm....

yse a small circle sponge brush..or anything smaller brush and add your colorful leaves over your trees. Space them out first, than go back over and do layers. Wait about 3 mins between each layer so your color spots do not blend too much together creating an abstract blob. 

Take off your tape when you are ready for your LAST layers of color! 

Ta-Duh! 

If you are reading this and attending well well- I will see your lovely face there! If you somehow got lost in the world of blogging and ended up here well, hello and I hope you enjoy this post!

Ps.
want more blog reads? You are in the right place. Just click here to get to my other blog! Tom & Orrow is releasing new scarfs &  jewelry this week so stay tuned there! I also extended a steal of a deal scarf and beanie combo that you do not want to miss out on! 
Tomandorrowtrends.indiemade.com

My Online Shop

HELLO THERE! 

Sorry I have been MIA from this blog. I have been focusing on my online shop & exploring the world. By the end of 2015 we will have hit 10 countries this year, moved to Boston and started a business. I can't complain! 

TOM & Orrw TRENDS 

Go ahead, take peak at it! Let me know what you think. I opened it in June and have been busting my butt off working on it. I make daily changes and learn something new every friggin second! 

I plan to use this blog to share my more personal experiences, food love and any DIY projects that are not related to my shop. Hope you stick around to see behind the scenes in our life- should be pretty interesting, normally is. 

Happy Friggin Friday! 

Be sure to take at look at our Instagram and/or Facebook for a special offer right now- super simple game! 

Much Love,
Amanda