Have you ever had that time in your life where you made some ”questionable’ choices?

Decisions that you now look back on and wonder, “What the heck was I thinking?!”

Possibly the time you dyed your hair orange, dated that guy with the ferret tattoo or dropped out of college to become a mime?  (It seemed like a good idea at the time.)

Looking back, I unfortunately have many such instances where my judgement could have been called into question.  Although most involve the shenanigans from my youth, as an adult, I still occasionally make choices that cause me to think, “WHAT??”

For example:  I used to walk my pooch (the dog, not the belly) around our subdivision at around 11:30 to midnight each night.  I tend to be a night owl and walking around the neighborhood before I went to bed was relaxing.  Plus, my dog, Bella enjoyed it, too.  I felt that our neighborhood was relatively safe and that no one would bother us.  Now, the funny thing is, that if one of my friends had told me that she was strolling around the hood at midnight, I would have said, “You crazy, girl!  That’s dangerous with all those creepers slinking about!”  And yet, I thought it was perfectly fine for me to do it.

Well, one night, that all changed.  Bella and I had a late start on our walk.  It was well after midnight but the night was illuminated by a bright, full moon.  (You know where this it going, don’t you?)    As we hit the corner of the street, I looked ahead up the road and my blood literally ran cold.  (Ok, maybe I’ve read too many crime novels…)  But seriously,  I froze on the spot.  Up ahead in the middle of the road were two giant shapes viciously tearing into something lying in the street.  I could not move.  The trees cast funny shadows so I wasn’t exactly sure what I was seeing.  Two giant feral dogs?  But these things were huge.  They looked wilder.  Possibly coyotes but again, they were much, much bigger than a standard coyote.  To be honest, the very first thought I had (after my terrifying internal scream) was “WEREWOLVES.”  Seriously.  That was the first thing I thought of.  And then the rational me was like, “No, that’s ridiculous!”  While the imaginative me was all, “Well some people (albeit crazy) have claimed to have seen them.”

So I’m having this irrational conversation in my head at the same time I’m willing my legs to unfreeze.  Bella stiffened up on alert but thankfully didn’t make a noise.  I knew if those creatures (whatever they were) spotted us, we wouldn’t be able to make it back to the house in time.  I finally was able to slowly turn around and walk carefully around the corner so as not to attract attention.  We then booked it straight for my front door.  It truly was frightening.  Consequently, I no longer take a midnight stroll around the neighborhood.  (Although, up and down my street is still fair game…)

Now on to an even scarier subject:  the hideous BEFORE shot.  In any good makeover, you need a stunning AFTER shot of your cool new design and a cruddy (dark and out of focus) BEFORE shot.  That way it is adequately documented what an awesome job you did transforming that unfortunate space into something fabulous.  Typically, the BEFORE photo is also paired with a few witty remarks about the previous owner’s funny design choices.  But what if you were the previous owner?

About 13 years ago when our house was first built, I had a great idea for the powder room.  I envisioned an African Safari theme and even started collecting items before we actually moved in.  The wall treatment was five layers of various shades of brown applied with a feather duster.  I was so proud of the finished look.  My neighbor even brought a friend of hers over to see it.  At the time, I really thought it looked great.  I kind of laugh when I see old pictures of it now.  (Somehow it didn’t occur to me that painting a bathroom wall brown might not be the best idea.)

I did end up redoing the space a few years ago.  (See post here.)  I cleared out all the safari themed items and painted the whole room in Southern Breeze by Behr.  I then made my own cardboard template and traced it all over the wall with a pencil.  After that I hand painted the lines (two coats) and added a fun mirror.  When my husband saw the design I was painting on the wall, he mentioned that it looked exactly like the (original) tile in the entryway of his parents’ 1960′s ranch home.  Retro cool, Dude!

I love the way it looks now, so bright and pretty.  But perhaps in the future, will I be scratching my head and wondering, “What was I thinking?”

So what about you?  Any close encounters of the wolfish kind?  Or scary design choices from days past?

~Miss Charming