World Champion Ravens!

'Nuff said.

One More Sleep Til Game Day

Five weeks ago as the Ravens entered the playoffs I painted my nails what I called "playoff purple" (trust me, it's dark purple even though it looks more maroon/brown in the photo). As the Ravens continued to progress through the playoff season knocking out first Houston, then Denver, then [gasp!] New England, I realized that whatever we were doing in Ravens spirit we had to keep doing. It was right before the New England game that I decided this nail polish was staying on as long as the Ravens won. Five weeks later and with the state of Idaho impressively chipped on my left thumbnail, here we are on the night before the Super Bowl. Whatever is left of this nail polish is in it for the long haul. 

We've spent the past 2 weeks since our win over New England planning our party for tomorrow. We're having a small group of close friends over to eat, drink, scream, cry, cheer, whatever the game brings. It's practically like Christmas Eve around here tonight.

We're cleaning, decorating, and food-prepping like crazy. I wish I could say I have the most creative Super Bowl party planned with all kinds of homemade details and decorations, but as you know I've been doing double-duty between getting the house ready for this party and trying to finish up Carsen's bedroom (I'm thisclose!), so we went with what we had for decorations and kept our menu festive but simple. I'll post those photos early next week. Happily, as a light snow falls outside, the house is very clean and smells of lavender, the fridge and pantry are full of yummy game-day foods, and all of our favorite Ravens toys, banners, and decor are turning our everyday living space into a fan cave of Super Bowl proportions. 

Football season is just a few short weeks of every year. If you're lucky your team gives you an extra week or two in the playoffs. But only two teams make it to the Super Bowl, and with so many variables in play there's just no way of knowing if or when your team will go again. It's a big deal. If the extension of the season wasn't fun enough, everyone and everything becomes focused on your team. Stores are decorated, team merchandise is on sale everywhere you look, and perhaps most fun of all, your team gets national recognition. All eyes are on our boys, and for the first time (in what feels like ever) we're finally getting the attention and recognition we deserve for the hard work and impressive numbers we've put up. When most people outside of Baltimore think of the Ravens, they think of Ray Lewis "the murderer." When most people outside of Baltimore think of elite quarterbacks, Joe Flacco is no where on the list. The truth is, not just these two incredible players, but our entire team have overcome a whole lot this season and have been playing their hearts out. We deserve to be in the Super Bowl. We deserve to be nationally recognized as a force to be reckoned with in the NFL. We deserve some long overdue credit for being an incredible team. We've proven everyone wrong. We've been underdogs the whole way. Now it's time to shut some people up and let them hear us roar. This is our game. This is our day. 

Super Bowl!

It's a great day in Baltimore! After an extremely emotional season full of ups and downs, victories and major challenges, the Ravens have defied every analyst, pundit, and statistic out there. We're going to the Super Bowl, and we could not "B-more" proud!

"We will win." 

-Anquan Boldin 

"We fear no team." 

-Bernard Pollard

There's no doubt, we're playing for Ray.

The heart & soul of this team

Every Ravens fan expected a nail-biter. We've been here before.

As the 2nd half ticked by and Brady threw INTs instead of TDs, it started to sink in.

We capitalized on turnovers, Joe kept his cool, and we put up more points. Finally, about half way through the 4th quarter it began to look like time was running out for the Patriots to catch up to us. As the clock ticked away we were just waiting for our moment to jump and cheer. A Carey Williams interception in Tom Brady's endzone was the perfect moment.

It was amazing to prove all the analysts wrong, to beat Tom Brady in Foxborough, and most of all to give Ray Lewis one more game - the Super Bowl.

We're very excited to be hosting our group of friends for the Super Bowl party. It's going to be one heck of a day. As if a Super Bowl isn't amazing enough, we'll be playing against the 49ers who are coached by our coach's brother, and it will be Ray Lewis's final game of his career. I know every team works hard all year to go to the Super Bowl. Every player wants that experience, and of course everything else that goes along with playing in or winning that game. I just can't help but feel like we have a determination this year that other teams do not. We have overcome so much just in this season. Then came the announcement of Ray Lewis's impending retirement a few weeks ago. I know every team wants it, but I just can't imagine they want it as bad as we do right now. Sending Ray Lewis out on the highest possible note is a whole lot of motivation. And we're that strong a team. 

Baltimore is a fun place to be during football season, but for the next two weeks leading up to this Super Bowl it's going to be unbelievable. You can bet that my jersey will not go back into the closet but instead will hang on a knob on my dresser drawer. My "playoff purple" nail polish will go untouched despite the fact that 3 weeks in, it's in pretty rough shape. I will not wear my Ravens socks. I will drink out of only our Ravens glassware. Buildings everywhere will be lit in purple. Cars will be decorated. Flags will fly. We will observe Purple Friday, but will probably wear purple any chance we get. Store shelves will be packed and promptly cleared of any and all things purple. 

It's a good time to be a Baltimore fan :)

How. Is. This. Possible?!?

I'm really here today, blogging on a Sunday, just an hour before an incredibly important Ravens game, because I need some confirmation that I'm not plain crazy (or blind, but that's actually debatable). Here's what happened...

Remember how I linked to Decor Chick's blog in my last post to show you that she too had paint-selection issues and I wasn't the only one? So I decided that I liked the color she chose (SW Balanced Beige) so much that I'd just go buy a sample can of it. I was pretty confident that I'd love either that one or the other one she was looking at seriously, SW Windsor Greige.

Here are her swatches to remind you what those colors look like:

Especially note in this photo how they look next to her white trim to give you a truer sense of their shades and values since her walls are a very warm color already.

You can see that they are nice, cool, neutral colors. They're that delicate mix of beige and gray that I'm trying to pinpoint. This is why I was so certain that one of those two colors would be "The ONE."

Furthermore, here is here finished living room and entry hallway that she painted Balanced Beige.

Lovely, right? Almost precisely the look I'd love to achieve. So finally, I've found these two colors that are actual serious contenders and I really really like them. I ran out to the Sherwin Williams store on Friday night and just grabbed sample cans of each because I was that confident. I wish I would have known that Sherwin Williams sample cans are much bigger than Lowe's or Home Depot, and cost about $3 more as well :/ Lesson learned.

So I rush home and can. not. wait. to put this paint on my walls and begin an agonizing debate over which PERFECT color I'm going to choose since both are just so close to what I want. And here's how they looked...

Balanced Beige (same color as Decor Chick's living room above) on top, Windsor Greige on bottom.

Is it me, or do they not look at all like her swatches? I mean, I know lighting and my God-forsaken blue walls do play a part, but I was stunned and instantly disappointed. So-called "Balanced Beige" looks exactly like a brown paper bag. How is it so light, and mid, and so much grayer/more soothing on her walls?

I really thought the samples she painted looked a lot like the samples I had been pouring over. But as a comparison, here are my samples with Balanced Beige and Windsor Greige at the bottom.

 You can see that those two colors are drastically darker than the ones I've been considering and seriously make me afraid that if my whole house was that color it would look like we were in a cardboard box/paper bag. If you haven't noticed, I'm really really trying to avoid that effect.

Here they are on a wall by themselves away from the other samples.

And one more time in a different spot near the other samples.

And for good measure, in the kitchen on an already neutral-colored wall.

So am I nuts? Or do they look dramatically different in my house than in her pictures? I really started to think maybe I was losing my mind. They do admittedly look a little better in the kitchen without the blue around them. These pictures were all taken in daylight though, and I'm really afraid that on a cloudy day, or in the evening, or in artificial light they're really going to look like cardboard. It's possible that they'll be nice and cozy but right now they just look dark and scary to me. I will try painting a bigger swatch, but I also don't want to have to prime over the swatches if we go with a lighter color.

This morning I went back to my paint chips and started reconsidering them now that I'm leaning more in the direction of a cooler neutral. 

I narrowed those down to about 10 that I think are honest contenders. I guess we'll see though. For now, it's game time. Good luck, boys!!

And Happy Birthday to the best (and most adorable) running back in the NFL, Ray Rice!

Happy Purple Friday!

We're looking forward to a great game on Sunday!