Give Thanks!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! This is one of my absolute favorite holidays because I love spending time with family, I love the amazing food and dessert, I love the Macy's parade, I love an excuse to drink all day, I love three football games in a row, and I LOVE the 5 day weekend :) (better enjoy this while I'm still in school!)

Tomorrow morning we are hitting the road to Raleigh to spend the day with Trav's mom's side of the fam... I know this means southern rich food and I am all about it... :) I've been working out extra hard so I can go into tomorrow with NO inhibitions.

And I am making about 3 gallons of winter sangria that I will post my recipe for later tonight. :)

I hope you all have an amazing and safe holiday tomorrow!

'Tis the Season!

Why hellooooooo bloggers! wow, it's been awhile, right?  I just keep remembering how amazing it was to blog all of my Christmas crafts and sweet treats last year and I think it's due time I come back and do a little bit of that this year! 

I also have to tell a funny story about our Christmas Card photo saga:

Last year I waited until about a week before Christmas to do the Christmas card thing.  I think a lot of my friends and families didn't even recieve our card until AFTER the 25th.  That's how slack I was about it.  (Plus I ended up spending entirely too much on expedited shipping and such.)

So this year I was like no way, I'm doing this BEFORE Thanksgiving and I'm going to get these out ASAP. 

Our problem? NO photographer. We live in the middle of nowhere.  All of my friends that were not working were at least 35 miles away, and the ones that live close were working at least 35 miles away.

I REALLY wanted to take our photo on this really old (like 1960 old) rusty tiffany blue chevy truck that's sitting in a field by our house.  So we hopped in the Sube and mosied on down there and Trav knocked on the door of the house next to the field.  (didn't want any tresspassing charges for our harmless little photo)  No one answsered.  Scratch that plan.

The pup was OBV. thrilled with the events of the day.

We decided it might be nice to do it on the stoop of our house.  Holy sun in my eyes.

So we dragged a chair in our yard (a tripod might be a great investment...) and sat under our pecan tree and tried to self-time that ish.  Notttt so much.

nala would NOT look at the camera.
and i can't look anywhere but trav's socks. :/

So I pulled out the big guns, I texted my 12 year old sister and asked for her little friend's number.  I went to her house, picked her up, and brought her back to take our photo for us.  Such a sweet little girl.  She honestly saved the day.

So after about a million tries. We got one worthy enough for a Shutterfly photo card!  And this is how it turned out:

Photo Card

View the entire collection of cards.

Yay! I love it so much :)

Until next time!

Oh, How Pinteresting!

My best friend Sarah introduced me to Pinterest a few weeks ago, and I must say my life hasn't been the same! I can spend hours just browsing and drooling and I can feel my mind wheels constantly rolling and my creative juices flowing.  It's genius, it really is! :) 

So with that said, I am linking up with The Vintage Apple to participate in

"Oh, How Pinteresting Wednesday!"



Here are some of my favorite pins at the moment:

loooove the idea of a using different shades of chalkboard paint to
make a calendar.

and using a drawer pull as a chalk holder! :)

a wall for kid's art. super cute!

my dream craft closet.  i'm drooling.

cutest little wagon planter.

handmade rosette throw pillows

decoupaged switch covers.  i have just the fabric to make these!



my obsession with apothecary cabinets continues.  i MUST have one.




a homemade 'check your pockets' sign for the laundry room.



super cute bookcase that I know I could manage to make!



giftwrap organizer!

genius idea to sew 5 pillow cases together and stuff with
cheap pillows to make mats!





As much as I'd love to keep going, I think I'd better stop ;)

You can follow me on Pinterest here.

If you need an invitation to join Pinterest,

please comment with your email address and I'll get right on it!

design fever and quilting dreams

As of late, I've been completely consumed/obsessed/addicted to decorating this house.  I spend 50% of my day scouring Craig's List, and the other 50% scouring home blogs or attempting projects.  I can't even explain how much I've learned from reading, watching tutorials, and just experience through trial & error.

I haven't yet gotten the go ahead to paint the walls of the house (I will absolutely eventually paint every room because it looks like a rainbow threw up in this house) so I've directed my focus and energy towards furniture.  I love antique wood furniture.  The wood, style, detail, and quality just can't be beat.  When I can score a great piece from Craig (I have yet to spend more than $50 on any one piece... including our fantastic couch!) I picture in my head what it will look like and go from there. 

I only actually started refinishing my first piece this weekend so I've got a LONG way to go.  After this end table I'm working on, I will do the other matching end table (they will go in the living room) the coffee table, a long dresser that needs a LOT of TLC but has so much potential, our two bedside tables, a chest of drawers from the unfinished furniture store, and who knows what else I'll accumulate until then!  I am on the hunt for an armoire to use as a craft closet, a sofa table, and a chest. :)

Now, for my most exciting find. 

A tutorial to recreate this $400 duvet/comforter from Anthropologie:

Into this gorgeous handmade duvet/comforter... for only $30!!!!!

It's gorgeous, right?!? I haven't sewed since I was a little girl, but it doesn't seem like it's too tricky.  It will just be assembling the knotted squares together in straight lines, like quilting.  If I can pull this off I will be estatic!  I definitely want to try to find fabric for the grey color, even though the white looks so clean and lovely.  I just don't see how I could keep it clean with the pup always unmaking the bed and sleeping under the covers :)

I'm so excited about this project I might just have to stop where I am on the end table and start the quilting today! I can't wait to post before and after pictures of all of my projects.  And before and after pictures of my vintage country cottage in the making!!!!!

Hope everyone is having a fabulous weekend!

"ketchup"

oh gosh! it's been months! i'm so terribly sorry, but a lot has been going on and i've had zero time to get on this thing! here's a quick recap:

It's SUMMER! I live for this season, basically.

The Coach (he will probably need a new name seeing as how he's not a coach anymore) graduated college and got a fantastic job with Enterprise Rent-a-Car! :)



his first day of work :)



I finished my spring semester with a bang and I'm well into summer semeseter now.  This is our phsyical rehab semseter and I've been splinting up a storm :)  Only one more left after this!

I've been a pool maintenance girl and I have managed to get the pool

from this:

to this:

There are quite a few stubborn patches of algae, but they will be gone with time. 

I've learned with pool maintainence that patience is key...

and especially to appreciate even the smallest sign of improvement ;)

My best friend came to visit us last weekend for memorial day weekend and we had a fantastic time soaking up the sun!

We are in the process of moving into the house I grew up in, way out in the country.  It is completely empty and needs a lot of work and love (and neutral paint color), but I am so excited about the prospect! I've been slowly but surely collecting awesome little furniture pieces on Craig's List and I can't wait to try to my hand at refinishing and distressing.  I'm going for a vintage, old-country, shabby chic style with this house (only fitting out here in the middle of no where, right?) These will be my guides:

I can't wait to start some projects and blog about them!

I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!

Happy April!

With April, comes so many wonderful things.  In south-eastern NC, one of those things is SUMMER TIME!!!!  April is officially beach weather, and although the weather has been funky lately, you better believe my toosh will be in a beach chair at SOME POINT this month! :)

April is Occupational Therapy Month!  I absolultely love what I do... and I love talking about it any chance I can get!  I know a lot of you don't really know what OT is, and I forgive you, for now!  But I hope I'll have the chance to change that at some point this month!!

April is Autism Awareness Month! Here is your fun fact about OTs for the day: we work in the field of pediatric sensory integration and we help children on the Autism spectrum with vestibular, proprioceptive, visual, and tactile input!  Autism has such a stigma in today's world and it is so unnecessary!  Please wear blue today to raise awareness!

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend! I'm off to Greensboro with the coach to visit the in-laws :)

Oh, how He loves us...

Got an awesome reminder about how GREAT my GOD is, yesterday. <3

Have a fabulous day! :)