Monday, November 30, 2015

Grateful 2015

Every year around Thanksgiving I make a layout with a list of things I'm grateful for. (because I'm the best at being grateful.) I kid, I kid. The lists are kind of personal, really.. I always feel kind of weird sharing them.. but they are what they are... a collection of big things and little things and silly things and whatever came to mind at the time. (so basically I'm trying to say pretty please don't judge me or my random list.) :) Here is this years page...


apparently embellishments should have made the cut...


and here are years past...



It's pretty interesting and even amusing to read previous lists (man I am one ridiculous lady.).. I'm going to keep doing this time capsule-esque tradition, for sure. If you want to read more about this kind of thing check the links, yo: the first one. another one. more. yup, another

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

A Buncha Turkeys

So tomorrow is Thanksgiving... here in the states at least. :) I'm conflicted about how I feel about it. On one hand I am excited. I love cooking for the holidays (especially this one). I love making the table all pretty and watching the parade (even though Hottie says he'd rather watch football.. which is saying a lot because the dude never watches football.) I love making the most delicious desserts on planet earth. *pats self on back. I love stuffing myself while I look around at everyones satisfied faces. I love it all, but here's the thing...

this will be the first year since we've left our extended family to move to the other side of the country that we won't have visitors for Thanksgiving. and that's tough. Hottie works like a maniac this time of year and having a house full of guests makes me happy. It's not the same without it. So I'm a little bummed. A little less excited. A little less driven to make the perfect meal or care if the house is nice or any of that. So it's weird.. 3 years of company to care for and now it's just us. 

But that's life, right? It's what happens when you move away from family and your husband works in a grocery store. There's no chance to leave town for holidays. So we'll gobble down our tiny turkey, just the 5 of us. and I'll probably burn some stuff (cuz I am so not on top of things this year). but hey, on the up side, we'll probably have lots of leftovers!

Here's some layouts from last years celebration...






Have a great Thanksgiving everyone... or if you're outside of the US, have a really great Thursday!

Friday, November 20, 2015

Project Life: Sept/Oct

Here are some more crappy photos of Project Life! *grumbles to self that this is just not cool. no more delaying on fixing that camera *shakes fist at self in disgust.














So many great things happened in October. I'm glad I documented every last little one of them!

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Project Life: (mostly) September

Hey there. I'm back with the promised PL spreads... I have more to share soon. yay! I apologize for the quality of the photos. My camera is on the fritz and I have yet to take it in to see what's up.. guess I should get on that before the holidays hit... do you guys know if you're supposed to take nice DSLR cameras in for regular service/cleaning or whatever? I'm kinda worried something major is wrong with mine. Maybe I should be doing more preventative maintenance? Oh boy. Hope not. 

I feel like maybe that's a question google could answer... but I am not a good googler. I'm afraid if I try I'll fall into the internet and not get up.. or I'll put in the symptoms of my broken camera and find out I have cancer (looking at you, Web MD.) Oh, internets. I love/hate you. Ok! Here's some stuff..


Ev was on a big watercolor kick this week so I included some of her art..



Whole 30 begins. Holy crap, how have I not blogged about this yet?! 






A bumper sticker that I PLife-ed because for some reason I'm too chicken to use these on actual bumpers. I do love Trader Joes.. but I guess not enough to proclaim it to the entire freeway.


I'll be back soon to share more stuff. Have a good day!

Friday, November 13, 2015

Project Life Sneaky Peekys

Dudes! I have so much Project Life to share with you. I have to edit the actual spreads a bit but hope to have them ready soon. Like, tomorrow soon. So please don't feel totally abandoned. I haven't forgotten about you... I am just slacking on sharing! ugh! Here's a couple of close ups...




Friday, November 6, 2015

That One Time I Made a Dining Table..

with my own two hands! I totally MADE a dining table! From scratch! From this..


To this!!!....
The greatest DIY of all time.


Ok. So when I say I "made it with my own two hands," I mean I had some help. My Dad, Hottie, and brother threw their hands in there too... thank goodness.. because now we can actually put things on the table and they don't slide down onto the floor. and when I say, "I built it from a forest," I mean, I didn't actually chop the trees down myself, you silly bills.... but I did use wood.

So let me take you back quickly to how this all came to be. When we moved to Kentucky (3+ years ago) we had this nice new giant house and I wanted so badly to have some nice furniture to fill it. The biggest struggle was the kitchen table. Our dented Ikea one wasn't cutting it. But I had something pretty specific in mind, and I couldn't find it anywhere!  could only find it for like a million dollars 
well over our budget.

Then I saw this post on A Beautiful Mess and my heart stopped. (like, literally. I needed a defibulator, or whatever those things are called. *not literally.) I knew two things: 1. I had to MAKE my own table. and 2. If they could do it (and provide somewhat of a tutorial) I could do it too!

So I ordered these hairpin legs (which I am now obsessed with and want all over my house.) and gave myself the permission to make it happen. 

Then two years went by.
*hangs head in shame and disgust.

Cut to my Dad and family visiting last month and me casually mentioning that I want to eventually get around to making that table I've been putting off.. for two years. My Dad took the idea and ran. It became clear pretty quickly that this was not only do-able.. but we were going to do it... that day. 

After some quick measurements and power tool inventory we were off to Lowe's.. to talk about screws for hours what felt like hours.... apparently screw are very important. who knew?


I picked each board out carefully, paying close attention to the knots and color variations. We spent about $75 on the initial supplies. Wood, screws, Nails. we set to work...

measuring and re-measuring and measuring again. My Dad is like the King of measuring, ya'll. It's ok to be jealous.


Before I knew it we had braces on the bottom and had attached the legs. The biggest hurdle was squeezing together the boards as tight as possible. You don't want gaps in your table, ya'll! You want this to look like you spent a million dollars big bucks on it.


We added in side pieces of wood to conceal the braces below (to add to the illusion that a bunch of rookies who just bought their power tools didn't make it.) By this time Nakiah was home from school and was not nearly as impressed as I felt like he should be wanted to help. 


Here. it. is. Assembled. Flat and flush and just damn gorgeous.


My Dad left the finishing to us (probably because there's no measuring required).. lots of sanding and some stain and lots and lots and (more than you would expect) lots more poly to seal it. About another $25.


Holy crap I made we made a table! and it couldn't be more glorious! It's exactly what I wanted... nay, better than I even hoped for! And it was for less than $200!


Now excuse me while I photograph it from every angle and declare that photos simply don't do it justice... (they don't, btw.)


Look at it. Just look! It's so beau-tee-ful!


and now I can think about my Dad every time our family sits down to eat. (and also, now I really feel like we need new chairs. These ones just, no.).. and a new rug (because I seriously hate this one.) don't you just love DIY?!


Sunday, November 1, 2015

Paper Camellia: November

It's November, ya'll! Can you believe it? Me either. The November Paper Camellia kits were revealed today and are ready for purchase. woo hoo! Here's the Scrapbook Main-Kit that I worked with..


Here's what I made..


I had tons of fun thinking outside of the vellum box and fussy cutting my favorite patterned paper from the kit. I was seriously needing out over this one, guys. Hurry and buy it while you can. These kits sell out in a flash... & while you're at it take a look at this beauty.. 

a December Days kit at a realistic price point! $36.95. I love the idea of grabbing one of these and maybe mixing in some of my own holiday stash favorites to make a special to me album. Why not? You can pick one up here... and it will ship with your November purchases. Right on!