I Have News. BIG News. HUUUGE.

So…if you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen my snapshot last week of a list in the works.  A long list.  What wasn’t clear in the photo was that it was a list of cleaning and straightening that I need to do in my house this week.  Because right now it kind of looks like we’ve been burglarized.

But this week is major cleaning/straightening week, and I cannot WAIT to get on top of it all.

And it has to be this week for a big, huuuge, heart-poundingly exciting reason.

Better Homes and Gardens is coming to my house the following week!

BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS IS COMING TO MY HOUSE!!!

And they want to take pictures of me!  And my sofa!  The one I reupholstered!

And it is totally impossible for me to even pretend to be cool about it, I simply cannot help the overabundance of exclamation points in this post.  There will probably be a lot more to come still.  Because I am SO excited!

This is pretty much how I’m feeling (replace all “Santa” references with “Better Homes and Gardens”):

Hold on, I need to catch my breath…

Here’s how it all went down:

Three weeks ago, when I was on vacation with my in-laws, I checked my e-mail in the middle of the afternoon and there was an e-mail from Kit Selzer, Senior Remodeling & Projects Editor for BHG, that said something along the lines of, “We really love your sofa transformation and would like to feature it on the “I Did It!” page of an upcoming issue of Better Homes and Gardens.  Can we send a photographer to your house in the next few weeks?”

So I read this e-mail.  Then read it again.  And read it a third time.  Then I looked at the e-mail address sending it, thinking this HAD to be a joke.  But it looked legit.  So my heart started pounding and I almost shrieked with excitement before I remembered my four year old was sleeping in the bed next to where I was sitting.

Instead I sprinted up the stairs and found my sister-in-law and husband in the living room and, honestly, I can’t even remember what I said because at this point I was dangerously close to passing out.  But I think it was something like, “I JUST GOT AN E-MAIL AND BETTER AND HOMES AND GARDENS WANTS TO COME TO OUR HOUSE AND TAKE PICTURES OF ME AND OUR SOFA!!!”  Perhaps marginally less shouty than this.

Marginally.

Then I called my mom and said, “I have some exciting news!” to which I am reasonably sure her first thought was, “Oh my gosh, I’m going to be a grandmother again!” (sorry, Mom) and then told her the big, not-pregnant news.  And then she asked me to hold on while she told my grandmom, who was sitting with her, and in general there was just a lot of disbelief and erratic heartbeats and breathlessness happening for me at this point.

So finally I got around to replying to Kit’s e-mail with possibly less-than-cool gushing happening on my end and we set up a phone conversation for the next afternoon.

Kit couldn’t have been sweeter or more calming – which, obviously, I needed – and we settled on a week to target for the photo shoot.  “Photo shoot.”  Can you even believe I am using that phrase so casually?  Because I can’t.  But now that the date has been locked in I am free to share with all of you, which I have been dying to do for three weeks now.

To date, my biggest worry about all of this has been the temperature in my house – we don’t have central air and it has been about 1000º this past week – but thanks to the generosity of a friend who had an extra AC window unit lying around I ran two window units downstairs over the weekend and they worked beautifully cooling the downstairs down.  If any of the BHG staff venture upstairs, however, they will maybe die.

Now that the temperature issue has been addressed I am having a full-on tornado of wardrobe ideas happening in my head.  I’m supposed to look casual and fall-ish (because it will be in a fall issue), wearing something I might reasonably be wearing at home while sitting on my sofa.

Here’s the tricky part: I don’t know if they will be using my pillows or ones they bring and I shouldn’t “match” the decor but also not clash but I don’t actually know what colors will be in the photo, soooooo…I’ve been pretty much focusing on navy blue up to this point.  I’m hoping I’ll have a little more focus later this week, or at least some fun different ideas.

In the meantime, if you have any brilliant ideas of what one should wear in a Fall issue of BHG, I would LOVE to hear it.  If I can get my act together, maybe I will share some ideas later this week and you can weigh in on your favorites.

Ultimately, the stylist will make the final call, but it would be fun for me to get your input!

So, phew, there you have it! 

I am over the moon and can’t wait to share the whole process with you.  It hasn’t even happened yet and it’s already the highlight of my year.

And, every now and again, I remember to thank all of you for showing up and reading what I write and looking at what I do.  Thank you.  I appreciate it SO much.  I’m so flattered and humbled by this opportunity and by all of your encouragement and support.

Shucks…you guys are the best!