So Sad, yet still laughing!

Today is my last day of summer. Tomorrow I go back to school for my very last semester and I'm feeling a little mixed up about it. I'm excited to be done with school and a little overwhelmed by the "great beyond". Today I ended up working a while and then catching a "matinee" (still payed $8 b/c the movie wasn't before 12...LAME!) The Time Traveler's Wife. I read the book and really loved it, and watching the movie helped me remember just how sad it is. I really do recommend the book, as usual the book totally beats the movie, but I think they did a good job summing up the book, more or less. The movie left me feeling rather sad, as well as the thought of going BACK to school, but when I do I just remember how today I became that girl who walks out of the bathroom with her skirt tucked into her underwear....and this lightens my mood....I probably gave the poor old couple behind me a good laugh! Uhhh....these sorts of things seem to happen to me quite often, not the exposing myself part, but the part about being SUCH a humiliating nerd. Oh well!

I don't know...

....how else to start this post other than by saying, I love our neighbor's kid, Kevin. Joe and I introduced ourselves to him and his mother a couple months back, Joe offered to throw a football with him "anytime", and the boy has taken the offer quite seriously! He is such a sweet kid, and I must say he's renewed my faith in the idea that there are GOOD KIDS out there: he has great manners, never takes the Lord's name in vain, and is always eager to learn. Any time Joe is out working in the yard he offers to help out and watches Joe and asks questions.
Joe's played Frisbee, thrown footballs, taught him how to manicure his lawn, and (Kevin's favorite) had him over to play Lego's. If our doorbell is ringing chances are it's Kevin, and I love that. He wants to grow up to be a football player, and more recently, a lawyer. I hope Joe and I can continue to be a part of Kevin's life and that the world doesn't change who he is.

Sewing Projects

I feel as if my sewing machine is finally getting some good use between those pillows and now two more successes. My friend Stacee has been teaching me some of the basics of sewing and using patterns. It's been a test of patience for me but she says I'm doing great. Stacee really is a great teacher and I've really appreciated her encouragement and help in learning to sew. The first project we did was an Amy Butler pattern, and we both used Amy Butler Fabric. After we finished our husbands took us out in our new skirts: I feel as if I've learned to truly appreciate the difficulty of making clothing. All of a sudden Project Runway seems infinitely impossible for mere humans, but then again I am a beginner. The second project we made pajama pants. Stacee made hers out of bed sheets and I made mine out of an Ikea duvet cover that was $2 in the "As-Is" tub.
(Yea, I'm a nerd, I took this picture of myself and intentionally posed like that) I love my pajama pants! They are maybe a little too long, which I could fix, but being as tall as I am, most pajama pants only go to about my ankles leaving my feet cold. My pants are long enough and big enough around the feet to cover them up and keep them warm. After Stacee and I finished our pants our husbands took us out to dinner again, only this time we couldn't wear what we made.

House Projects

So, I suppose it's been a long time coming, here are some of the house projects we've had going on around our house.
Before:
Notice the two slopes into the red barn doors? Well, any time it rained it left our basement wet because the grates in front of the door would fill with mud . Well, NOT anymore. It's obviously still a work in progress. We've got to get rid of all the extra mud and rock that has been dug out. Also the wall to the left is just a retaining wall, once we are done the rock will match the wall to the right. Joe has worked so hard on this, I've mostly been moral support and water girl (I had studying to do those weekends).
The next project I don't have before and after shots, just the after shots. We had decided to redo the molding and ceiling in our bathroom b/c it was old and chipping. It was a long weekend project AND the first time I discovered that Joe doesn't always have it all figured out haha! I know this isn't all that exciting for you, but it is for me. The bathroom looks so much better!
Our room looks a lot more complete with those curtains I mentioned a while back. I couldn't believe the difference it made in cozying up the house. It also makes it easier to sleep in late.
We installed can lights into our living room as well. This is probably the project that excited me the most in the end because our living room is so dark at night, plus the chocolate brown walls don't really help. Here's a picture that shows you why my anxiety level rises when Joe decides on a whim to start a house project (notice the TWO holes in our ceiling)
Well, I think that wraps it up. Joe is an incredible handy man, and with his job as a project manager on a construction site, we get a lot of the supplies for this stuff FREE! Woohoo! All these house projects have taught me a lot about myself such as:
1. I do not have the creative vision that Joe has to see the beauty of the end result
2. Sometimes I need to trust his vision
3. Sometimes I need to challenge his creative process b/c it's not always 100% thought through
4. I enjoy house projects, but I don't like them every weekend

#4 has been a point of contention these past few weekends, but I'm working through it. I honestly can't think of a single weekend that we spent entirely at our house that did not involve some sort of project/fixing/touching up. It may sound like I'm complaining, but I'm not. How many girls can say that their husbands love to work around the house and come home from work only to work on the house? I would venture to say that there aren't many girls that can say that.

Photo Run Down of Life

Tomorrow I have a final and then I will have TWO whole weeks of vacation. I'm already starting to carefully plan my time. And instead of studying I thought I'd give you a little run down on what Joe and I have been up to the past few months, since I don't keep you updated. That Spring break trip I mentioned forever ago went fabulously. We stayed with my beautiful sister and her beautiful family in PA for a while:After the 12 hour drive from GA to PA, we took a "quick" 6 hr. drive to NJ to stay with my cousin who was sweet enough to let us stay as we toured NYC:
Here's a pic of Joe and I in NYC, after we discovered a great market of emerging fashion designers, and bought our hats as a way to remember our trip . NYC is incredible! We will actually be heading back to NJ/NYC for my cousins wedding, so I'm SO excited to see more and experience it all again. I think if I could I would live in NYC for a period of my life. Speaking of weddings, Ray (my brother) got hitched in June. It was a perfect wedding and it was so much fun! Here's a few favorite shots:
Me with the other Bridesmaids and my new sister, Amanda. She looked SO CLASSIC! Her dress was perfect and she wore this beautiful head piece that her grandmother had worn on her own wedding day. I loved how she also picked two different complementing dresses for us girls. Here's me and the sis:
LOVED my flowers, I have them dried and in a vase in my kitchen now:
And of course the lovely couple. I'm so happy for them! I think Ray really married the perfect girl for him and she comes from such an incredible family and fits our family so well. They had this photo booth area set up with one of Ray's cameras so that all the guests could take pictures with the backdrop . It was fun Our summer has been quite fun. We've been to the zoo, we celebrated Joe's birthday with fondue at Dante's Down the Hatch, spent several weekends at the lake, and dressed like cows for free Chick-fil-A.I mean, what more can you really ask for? Oh I KNOW.... a good number of our weekends have been spent (slave) laboring around the house doing projects. Up next...I'll share some of our home improvements.

I love Pillows!

So, I'm finally doing some obvious catching up on blogging. I have some serious dry spells, and it's really because life is just so darn busy, I'm sure you know all about it. But I finally put that sewing machine (from Christmas) and that fabric (from a month ago) to good use!!! I know, many of you are thinking "It's about time!!" So, I started simple with pillows! Man do I love pillows too, I think that it may be my #1 home decoration item. You wouldn't know it by looking at my house, but it's true. I love pillows and I would buy different bunches of them for every season if I could afford it.
Before..
Not so bad, but the swirly fabric was just so bland, and we really need some color. Now, I was really trying to go for an Anthropologie type fabric (they have GREAT pillows!), but you'll have to let me know what you think. After:

I'm just excited about the added color, that it's something new, and that I was successful with my sewing machine.

Ants!

One of the not so joyous things about having an old home is that it doesn't take much for little crawling critters to find some imperfection to crawl through. Winter was a nice break, and I had almost forgotten about the cockroaches, cricket spider things, spiders, and the most annoying, ANTS! As soon as it started getting warm Joe and I found large ant hills forming all around our yard. It didn't matter how clean I kept our kitchen, they STILL kept coming back. I was so fed up that I finally forced Joe to grab some caulk and seal them off. Maybe a month later they found their way through our door. We set out ant poison but it didn't work! I finally got fed up and I remembered some blog post I stored away with recommendations on getting rid of ants.

Now I wish I could take credit for the the way all of this turned out because I feel so handy and proud, but unfortunately I have to thank Apartment Therapy. I sprinkled some cinnamon along the doorway, as if I were using holy water to keep vampires out of our house, and it's worked WONDERS! I sprinkled it yesterday and I haven't seen an ant anywhere near our doorway since! VICTORY! Apparently the smell is just too potent for them and it causes them to suffocate. It may sound cruel but if you've ever had an ant problem you know it's difficult to conjure any pity for them. So, if you have the same problem as me check out Apartment Therapy's newest blog post on the subject. They aren't really a fan of the cinnamon trick (it DOES make your house smell yummy, but it ALSO get kind of messy!), but they had a few other handy hints.

It's Sewing Time!

Well, I must say my stamp collection has grown tremendously since the last time I posted. I think I am mildly obsessed with it, and I'm constantly looking for sources of inspiration. I have a few I'm particularly proud of and even have an entire alphabet in this font I downloaded off the internet. I'll have to share my favorites some time.
BIG NEWS!!! I FINALLY have fabric to sew with! I have not sewn anything yet because it is time consuming, I don't really know how, I didn't really have any fabrics I liked and I had NO projects to plan for. This past weekend however I was up at my in-law's lake house getting my car fixed, and Joe's mom wanted to take me to this fabric store that she heard about. Little did we know it would be SO STINKING amazing. Apparently this fabric warehouse opens to the public only once a month. We entered this warehouse wide eyed and in awe. We had no idea where to begin or what to do with ourselves. It didn't take long before Joe's Mom had several great project ideas for our house and had mapped out an entire game plan to make it happen. She's an incredibly creative person and she has so much experience with home decor that she was coming up with ideas left and right, meanwhile, I'm the most indecisive person in this world and have NO experience with home decor so I was just paralyzed. She was SO extremely patient with me as I processed it all.

They sell great fabrics at this place for SUPER cheap. I apparently got some well known fabric brand for $4 a yard, when it usually goes for $10-15. Some fabrics are also sold by the pound, which I've never seen, but I liked the price, so who cares! I could have come home with more fabric than I know what to do with.

The fabric on the left is the one I bought and still am not sure what to do with. The fabric in the middle will probably end up in our bedroom to break up the monotony of all the solid colors. The Fabric on the right I'm thinking about reupholster our couch's pillows with because I really don't like the fabric they came in. Anyway, the three fabrics are all very different and they don't necessarily look all that great side by side, but they'll get spread out throughout the house enough so that it doesn't look to bad...or at least I hope...like I said I'm new to this. I would love your input or opinion!

My HUGE bargain was the curtains I bought!! I bought 4 curtains from the Disney Hilton, which I thought was pretty funny, and I CANNOT wait to get them up in our house! Curtains are so darn expensive and that's why I don't have any at our house, but these were a steal! There will be no more sunlight waking Joe and I up on Saturday morning! HOORAY!

Spontaneous Stamping

I mentioned before that the only stamp I had made was for our Christmas card. I was pleased with the outcome, however I honestly did not enjoy the process. I'm realizing now that I didn't enjoy the process because there was so much pressure, considering it was my first stamp, our first Christmas card, people were going to see it, there was a time crunch, and Joe is fanatical about Christmas.

Something I'm learning about myself is that if I don't succeed or enjoy myself wildly the first time I try something, I tend to not want to try it again. Kind of lame, I know. It's been hard to realize this about myself. It's probably why I never really stuck with any sports as a kid.

Anyhow, I was inspired by this crafty lady's stamps to pick up all my tools and give it another shot. This time there was no pressure, and this time I loved it so much more. I truly did enjoy the process and I'm fairly happy with the results.
This was found on her eraser stamp tutorial.

I printed out a picture of her succulent stamps because I thought they were SO cute, I traced it with tracing paper and then rubbed the trace onto my rubber stamp with a ruler so I could carve it.

Here were the results! Mine are a little more sickly and frail looking, while hers are bright and bubbly, but you got to start somewhere. I like to think it's because of the color of the ink, and not so much the quality of the carving.

And finally, I traced seagulls from my "Printing By Hand" book. I had a lot of fun with this. My next goal is to improve the quality of my carving and to come up with some stamp ideas of my own, which will be TOUGH considering I am really bad at drawing.

Senses Overload!!!

I'm sure many of you bloggers can relate to my current state of mind. It all started with my "daily blog run" through some of my favorites. I got a little bored of the usual stuff and started digging deep to see what else the blog world has to offer. Now I feel a complete and utter senses overload! I saw so much I loved that I feel like my head may explode. There are so many creative people out there and it's so neat that I can peek into their lives.

Here's a highlight of some favorites.

It all started at craftzine and from there I just went all over the place. What first caught my eye was this cute little felt project. I'm remembering that project if I ever have a little girl. There are tons of cute projects with felt, but of course the butterflies caught my eye.

I was completely captivated by this website for a little too long. If you are a people watcher, like me, and if you like fashion then I think this will entertain you. I was a little surprised that I enjoyed it so much, but I guess I shouldn't have been, considering I like to watch people (in a non-creepy sort of way) and I like clothes (probably more than I should).

I was also re-inspired by this lady to pick up my stamp making tools. I need to flip through my "Printing By Hand" book that Joe bought for me. I've endeavored to make one stamp for our Christmas cards, and even though it looked elementary I truly did like the outcome. Anyway, this blogger has all kinds of handmade stamps, but what I ended up loving the most was the love birds. She's got some items for sale.So for any of you who are way into birds, you should check out her Etsy.

I was excited to find a step by step tutorial on how to make a tote bag, but I was bummed when I realized that this was WAY beyond my skill level. I should probably learn to sew in a straight line first, and maybe get familiar with all the ins and outs of my machine. Most sewing projects are way over my head, but ONE DAY I will conquer!

Half of the items I saw and loved are lost and gone forever already. I can't remember where I saw them. I saw a lot of inspirational work spaces, that made me wish I had a little space of my own to spread out, make a mess, create, and pin up inspirational pictures so that they aren't always lost and gone forever. I can't ever remember where I saw what (ESPECIALLY when I've seen a lot in a short span of time, hence the senses overload).

Of course you cannot feel completely overloaded until you have found several items you wish you could either buy or make. (If I did it right, you should be able to click on the picture for their Etsy site)













Well now I don't feel quite so overwhelmed. Blogging about it makes me feel a little more calm and collected. Thanks for listening!

What we've been up to...

I realize it has been much to long, but I promise I haven't forgotten my blog! My attention starved blog is always looming in the back of my head as one of the many things I'd really like to do once I find some free time. I also realized that if I blog about daily life, rather than the house and house projects, I'd be much more likely to to have something to say. House projects are few and far between (Maybe not for Joe, but for me). So here's a little catch up.
We had our first Christmas together as a married couple:
I got Joe a riffle, for fun and for home protection. And look what he got me!!



















A brand new hobby! Now all I have to do is learn how to sew. Lucky for me, I have a knowledgeable mother, mother-in-law, and my good friend who knows all sorts of great tricks, and have way more experience. I'm really looking forward to learning and putting my sewing machine to good use. The sewing machine itself is just amazing! Joe found it in great condition on Craig's List for $15 and after a bit of tweaking, it runs perfectly! I love how older generations keep their belongings in such good condition. They don't "upgrade" like people today, but keep their belongings until it is run into the dirt, and are forced to replace it. This machine has the original 1961 manual and all its extra pieces and it is all so well kept. I admire the previous owner and hope to fallow in her footsteps.

After Christmas Joe and I celebrated our 1 Year Anniversary. We had our own Atlanta weekend retreat. We stayed in The Four Seasons and got a great anniversary deal, since we had our wedding there. This is what welcomed us to our room Friday night:
This is one of MANY reasons I love the 4 Seasons. YUMMY! We spent our weekend eating good food (My favorite was Thai food at Nan), watched some good movies, and visited some great Atlanta tourists sites that we had been wanting to see. We took a tour of the Fox Theater, saw the terracotta soldiers at The High, had a relaxing couples message at Spa Sidell and went swimming several times at the hotel pool. We went all out for the 1st year, I'm sure it'll be different in the future. (At least until we reach one of those more impressive years, like 10)

We finished our holiday season with tickets to Cirque du Soleil. As soon as we saw the tent go up we were trying to figure out a way into it. It was wonderful! It is a rare occasion, I'm sad to say, when I feel the awe and wonderment of a child, and Cirque most certainly does that for me. I think it's a beautiful thing.

Now we are back to the grindstone. Work, school, house cleaning, and other daily tasks. Our holiday season was a GREAT break from life's responsibilities and the daily grind. We were quick, of course, to give ourselves something else to look forward to. So now we have a spring break trip planned to visit my sister in PA and to see my new nephew, who was born over Christmas!!! Then we'll spend a couple days with my cousin and visit NYC!!! It'll be Joe's first time to the Big Apple and I'm so excited to see him experience it all. He LOVES cities and he LOVES sky scrapers, so I just can't imagine a better place for him to visit. Have any good NYC recommendations???

There is more to come soon! Joe and I had a few little projects during my long absence from the blog world. I'm looking forward to showing off our handy work.

Homemade Christmas

This is our first Christmas, and considering we are on a tight budget, I've been scavenging the internet for great homemade ideas. I found more than I have time for and some beyond my level of craftiness. I wanted to share two of my favorites. Of course they are both from the website I shared with you just a few blogs earlier, but there are far more out there.

For those of you who can't justify the prices of ornaments, I highly recommend this one. It's super easy and I'm sure you have all the supplies somewhere in your home. Click here for full instructions.

I also needed to jazz up my wrapping tonight and remembered another easy DIY post I saw. I'm sure you shop at Target...

Click here for instructions, and better pictures.

The last was a more time consuming task, but an enjoyable one. My husband helped quite a bit. We were going for an "Anthropologie" look.

Merry Christmas!

Fans

I was actually requested to post these pictures! I feel honored to actually have blog requests, especially since I'm so bad at keeping up with my blog. (Hence, two posts in one day to make up for lost time) Well do you remember this?









All these dirty pieces of stuff turned into this beautiful piece:



It almost works a little too well. If you stuck your finger in there, you wouldn't be getting it back. My husband is so handy, he put a lot of work into this, yet it really look him no time at all to figure it out and fix it! Now we have a beautifully unique fan for our home.

Happy (belated) Halloween from 1114

So, I couldn't help but rhyme in my title, it was just too good! I also realize that I haven't blogged in FOREVER, so I apologize for neglecting all of this. I'm a lazy blogger.
Halloween has already come and gone, but I really have been looking forward to sharing with you all of the festivities. I've always known that Joe was big into Christmas and Thanksgiving, but I was a little shocked when he came home from work about a month before Halloween with a detailed drawing of Halloween decor, all over the house!! As Halloween approached I became more and more hesitant as Joe grew more and more ecstatic. I grew up in a house that never went crazy over Halloween, we didn't buy costumes and we didn't buy decor. We had a pumpkin and a homemade outfit, and that was as good as it got. And I'm OK with that. So, I was a little bothered when Joe turned our yard and living room UPSIDE DOWN for Halloween.

Joe put together a rickety old fence, we pulled a bunch of dead plants that we had cleaned out from our gardens over the months and put them in the "scary old" pumpkin patch, leaned some dead tree branches up against the house to look like dead trees, and of course what is Halloween without some fake spider web? Obviously, you can't really get the full eerie effect since I took the pictures during the daylight, but oh well.

Joe pulled all of our furniture out of our living room, did some electrical work for the "old" chandelier, hung a deer head , pulled out my china and covered it with cob webs, and hung a sheet with pin tacks.

He took an old door from our basement and leaned it in the doorway of our office. Hung that sword, put old looking books in the book case, as well as the outside of his grandfathers radio, and of course MORE cob webs. Behind the door was a fog machine which was smelly.


Joe dressed as an old butler and his brother visited us for the weekend, and dressed as an old man too. We had a really great time, and had to run out for candy twice because we had so many trick-or-treaters, which makes all of it SO worth it to me. Joe would stand in the guest bedroom with a candle looking all scary, and it really was a big hit. Everybody got a real kick out of it.

Yard Sales

You will hear me say, time and time again, just how much I love my neighborhood. I feel like I moved into a community of people who care about us and are watching out for us. Plus, they put on great events!!! This past weekend was their annual Yard Sale Saturday. If Joe and I weren't tight on time we probably would have walked the neighborhood, but instead we jumped in the car and explored the sales. I didn't think we would actually buy anything because we don't normally have extra cash just laying around, but I was proven very wrong. I knew I was in trouble when Joe left the first yard sale with TWO items! We stopped by three or four others and drove past at least 5 because we didn't have much time left. WELL, the last stop Joe bought another item that he "Had to have" in his words.



That's right a SECOND lawn mower. This one also plugs in, so it's environmentally friendly. It also has adjustable height, which is why we really wanted it. The other lawn mower cuts our grass too short, and makes it difficult for it to thrive.
$25.00

What's a house without a latter? $5.00

The final object that Joe "had to have" was an old fan. Joe has been restoring several old objects, including his grandpa's old radio. (he's making amazing progress on that!) So, this morning I went down to the basement to take a quick shot of the old fan and this is what I found. I was too late.



Fan $6.00
I promise it's real cute when it's in one piece.







So, I think Joe felt bad for making all of these purchases, because when we were done with the yard sales I went off to grocery shop and when I returned I found this on my kitchen counter. A love offering.

$3.00
I pointed it out at a yard sale because I thought it was adorable. I was TRYING to save us money, but Joe refused and went back and bought it for me as a surprise. I think this little casserole dish is begging for some yummy brownies. I have the most thoughtful husband!

So, I would say Yard Sale Saturday was a great success. Maybe not for our wallets, but oh well. We got some great deals in my opinion. We also got to meet some new neighbors and catch up with some old ones, so all in all we had a great time!