Oh my goodness! Holy cow! I am sooooooo excited! Do the math people, no I’m not pregnant. IKEA has announced they will be opening a store in Kansas City in 2014.
I love IKEA so much! I’ve only been once. I’m continually jealous of all these people who constantly say, “Oh, I picked this up at IKEA the other day.” Right now the closest IKEAs are in Dallas and Chicago. Way too far from Kansas City for just a shopping trip.
So now I have great shopping trips planned in my head. I want to be able to buy big things if I want to. I went to the IKEA in Dallas one fall. I was visiting my sister and I went with one of her friends. I was flying home so that severely limited what I could buy. But that shopping trip was one of the highlights of my trip to Dallas.
On the same trip we saw The Boys Named Sue play at a bar in Deep Ellum (I think), I drank a lot, danced a little (I’m a terrible dancer), and my sister tried to get me to make out with one of the guys in the band (I didn’t). We also ate at this amazing restaurant called Gloria’s that has the best mojitos and black bean dip in the world. Yum. I swear you cannot get a good mojito any farther north than Texas.
Yup, those were the highlights of my trip – a concert, drinks, and a shopping trip.
And now IKEA is moving in close to me. I just know we are going to be the best of friends.
Well, now that I've decorated for fall all I can think about is making my Christmas cards. I think they are going to involve jingle bells this year. I've been pinning tons of jingle bell stuff to my pinterest Christmas board. I think this year I'll try to actually design one and then maybe get it printed at Kinkos. I think it will be great. And if I play my cards right (ha ha!) I can use leftover wedding invitation envelopes. Yes, after two years we still have wedding invitation envelopes (it was cheaper to buy a buttload than just the 100 we needed.)
I feel like there are more clever things floating around in my head but I'm not feeling great today, kind of that foggy headed feeling plus a headache. I'm going to resume laying on the couch with my blanket.
We started painting the outside of our house yesterday. Well, technically I guess I started painting it back in August, so in reality we just kept working on painting the outside of our house. A new coat of paint is making such a huge difference!
When I painted outside of the basement I was pretty impressed. The siding got a new coat of white paint, we added some grey trim and I painted the shutters. They had been a disgusting turquoise green. The front and south end were not aesthetically bad colors, they were just in bad shape. On the south end of the house, the paint was peeling horribly. The front was bad. I had started painting but never finished it.
Yesterday my mom and I got the lower part of the south end of the house done. There wasn’t really much to it. Just two sets of shutters and a tiny bit of siding under the windows. The rest is brick. But it looks so much better. We patched some of the wood that had issues and everything got a new coat of paint.
My husband and dad got all the soffit on the front of the house painted and we got all the siding, shutters, and trim on the front painted. And they tackled the shutters on the back. These were probably the ugliest. They were still that gross turquoise green. So yes, until yesterday we had three different shutter colors. The dark grey new paint, a slate blue paint on part of the shutters and that turquoise green on the rest. Super attractive, right. Now there are just one set of ugly shutters left. They’re going to require a ladder to get rid of. Hopefully they will be grey when I get home today.
My amazing parents are spending two days painting our house. They came up yesterday and are going to work all day today while we’re at work. I’m excited to see how it looks when I get home.
No house pictures yet, they are coming soon. I am so excited about it! The only pictures I took yesterday were of my mom sitting in our shrubs, not exactly a picture the world needs to see, even if it was very funny.
My fall decorating is done! And I'm officially in love with it. I painted pumpkins with ideas I got from pinterest. I was a little worried about the chevron pumpkin. It turned out okay. It's not my favorite but it's not so horrible I felt like I needed to redo it. The argyle one though, amazing. I love it. I freehanded the diamonds in the argyle, I was pretty pleased with how it turned out.
Pumpkins. Ready for their close up. I added the crate for some height. I thought about a mini haybale, but then I thought about the giant mess and the allergy situation.
The whole picture
The mantle. Love it! I had that small canvas kicking around, I bought it for another project that turned out as a fail. I repainted it a golden and stenciled a dark brown leaf with hints of red.
Mantle up close. I added some cute ribbon around the bottom of the candle holders. They are left over from our wedding.
I think my fall fun projects are probably done for the weekend. My parents are supposed to be here this afternoon to help us start painting the outside of the house. I have a lampshade I may try to redo before they get here. The husband is hunting so it's been a morning of mopping the floor and watching Gilmore Girls.
I meant to post this yesterday, but I didn't. So pretend it's still Friday....
Oh boy. I have a case of the Fridays. I want to do nothing except go to Hobby Lobby or Joann’s and buy stuff and then go do serious craft projects while watching Gilmore Girls in my living room. That would be absolutely perfect.
I have gone pinterest crazy. It’s a serious problem. At first I was just going and looking for specific things I wanted to make and pinning them. Now it’s just a crazy free for all where I waste tons of time pinning random things. Then I of course decide I must make them immediately. If I don’t watch out we’re going to have a serious case of crafting hoarders on our hands. It’s bad people. Really bad.
So, what am I going to do this weekend? Clean my house because my parents are coming to visit on Sunday. And I’m going to get my craft on in a serious way. I’m going to finish decorating our house for fall. That’s going to involve some pumpkins, maybe a tiny hay bale, and a painted canvas I am in the process of finishing.
I may also coat some candle holders with glitter. I just saw it. And I’m in love. I wish I had known about this great idea before our wedding, then we would’ve glittered everything. I can’t wait.
I made a tray for our coffee table back at the end of the summer. I’ve never been totally in love with it. It just doesn’t look quite right. Then I saw this great idea on pinterest. They spray painted bottle caps and then lined the bottom of a wooden tray with them and set the caps in with resin. Well, we have a ton of bottle caps. I think I’m going to spray the tray a dark turquoise to start with. And then I’m going to leave the bottle caps as they are. I think it’s going to be amazing! I can’t wait to do it.
So let’s have a real list so I can see what progress I actually make -Buy pumpkins -Paint pumpkins -Finish decorating for fall -Glitter candle holders and maybe other things that look glitterable -Make bottle cap tray
I saw this great jewelry holder from Pottery Barn Teen the other day. It’s like a remake of old lady dishes to create a lamp that has tons of jewelry storage. I totally ripped off the basic part of the idea and have an ice cream dish holding my earrings right now. But I think I can totally make one of these with a lamp kit, some washers, and some melamine plates and bowls. It’s going to happen. And I cannot wait. I think I can drill through melamine with a regular drill rather than mess with trying to drill through glass (Eek!). I’m excited about it. Especially since I’ve gone on an earring buying frenzy.
Oh boy. That's a bad pun. I had this whole post planned out in my head about all the fall crafty/house projects I am getting ready to start on. I am super excited about them. And I was super excited about the post too. Then I started thinking about shoes during the last twenty minutes of work and everything changed.
I love shoes. I mean I really love shoes. I worked at a shoe store all the way through college. And I am still ridiculously loyal to that shoe store. I even still make a special point to go to that specific branch of the store to buy shoes because I am still partial to it. I have shoes in two closets and all my flip flops hanging in a shoe bag on the back of our spare bedroom door. I have a lot of shoes.
Here's the thing though, I rarely spend much money on shoes. I blame it partially on working so long in a shoe store that if I waited long enough I could get a super deal. Also, I'm kind of cheap. I love flip flops and ballet flats. They are my go to shoes for practically every outfit. Heck, I even wore $10 red ruffled flats from Target when I got married.
I wear flip flops from March to November. I finally have started wearing Reef flip flops. I'm in love. We're pretty much in a committed relationship. Sure, I have at least a dozen other pairs, but the Reefs are my favorite.
Then there's the flats. I bought two new pairs last year. One of which were actually fairly nice shoes. I forget what brand they are. They're a little granny-ish, but nice and comfy. And I can wear them with socks and not look like a total idiot when it's cold out. But the rest of my flats are in sad sad shape.
The sad state of my flats is what prompted me to start looking at shoes online instead of working. Today I had on some bronze Skechers ballet flats that I bought at least six years ago. Yes, six. There are a few problems with them. First, they smell really bad. Probably because I've worn them barefoot for six years. So that's six years of foot sweat. Gross. Second, they are totally worn out. Maybe because they're six years old. Third, the soles are practically worn off. And yet I still wear them, probably about once a week, to work. I also have a pair of zebra print flats I bought at Target probably about three years ago. They are also absolutely worn out. I need to just give up and throw them in the trash. But I can't. They are my "neutral" shoes. I know, bronze and zebra are not neutral. But if you think about it, they are. I can wear them with almost anything.
So, I am refusing to throw them in the trash can until I find a suitable replacement pair for each. I have come to the realization that it might be okay to spend more than $20 on a pair of shoes. Especially since I wear them until they are absolutely dead. So, today I hit up Zappos, my favorite place to get shoes if I can't go to my shoe store. And I found a bronze pair and a leopard print pair. I really desperately want new zebra ones but the leopard might have to do.
So, they are the same shoes, just different colors. Here is the link. I am totally drooling over them. I think I may order one and try them out and then order a second pair. They are pretty pretty shoes. And maybe they would last better if I paid actual money for them.
So, we never watch TV shows when they are actually on. Right now I'm watching the CMA thing that was on last night. And nobody told me The Band Perry sang their cover of Fat Bottom Girls. I embarassingly love this song. I mean it's made me totally like The Band Perry more. They did it when we saw them open for Brad Paisley. I love a good cover, especially if it's unexpected. BTW, Brad Paisley does a cover of Sharp Dressed Man. Amazing. Anyway, for your viewing pleasure.... Watch it, you'll thank me. I promise.
I don't really like fall. Well, it's not that I don't actually like fall. I don't like what comes after fall. I want to wear fuzzy sweaters and boots for about a week. After that I'm totally done. Spring and summer, I'll take those any day. I love flip flops, the lake, fishing, boating, grilling... All of it. I drag out summer as long as possible. I wear flip flops longer than really appropriate.
That's why it's shocking that yesterday I busted out real shoes much much earlier than normal. I threw on my black and hot pink Nikes with jeans and a fleece to go to work. Don't judge the casualness. I work at a school, that means jeans day on Friday. Usually with a school shirt. It's just another amazing part of my job. But by the time I got home from work, I was totally done wearing socks. Sometime I told my husband shoes were like toe prisons. I don't remember saying it, but it's definitely something I would say. So, back to flip flops today. Even if it's a little chilly and fall-like.
This morning I am home alone, my husband is hunting. We've hit that time of year. So that means I made myself a delicious breakfast. Scrambled eggs and coffee cake muffins. Man oh man, was it good.
And now it's time to switch laundry. Do a little house cleaning. Run to Maurices to exchange a pair of earrings I bought yesterday that are broken :( And then do some fun crafts. I should probably work on painting the outside of the house. I just am absolutely not in the mood for house painting. But, that means some craft projects will hopefully get done. So, pictures are probably coming soon. Yay!
Okay, maybe not really. I didn't even wear black today, today it was a plaid summer dress. I do wear a lot of black though. But really, we're back from vacation. It was perfect. And I felt so relaxed when we got home. I love vacation. So, here are a few vacation pictures. Or a lot. Oops.
It rained on Friday. :(
Saturday morning we went fishing. Then I gave up and went shopping. I got a new Coach wallet that matches my bag. Yippee!
I took a stalker-ish picture of my husband when I got back from shopping. The zoom on my new camera is amazing.
Saturday night we watched the Mizzou game and drank wine. There are no pictures from watching the game because we were too busy being sad they lost. And no one looks good in pictures after much wine.
Sunday we ate at Captain Ron's. It's shaped like a pirate ship, sets right on the water, and serves delicious food. They have a Captain Morgan statue outside, obviously we had to pose with it. The split picture is yet another fun feature my camera offers.
We sat outside and drank wine. Mmmm, wine.
Watching the sun set.
Almost down. Perfect view for a glass of wine.
My husband caught a lot of fish. One of those is mine.
Hilarious signs on the way to a winery. We chose to ignore the white sign and listen to the orange sign. Well worth it!
Our view for lunch on Monday, overlooking the river. We managed to eat every meal on the water. Perfect!
Now that we're back from vacation I'm working on making a pom pom wreath. Pretty excited about it. And so far I've only used yarn I already had in my embarassingly large yarn stash. Pictures to come. Right now the pom poms are all in a basket in my living room waiting to be trimmed and fluffed.
I will be on vacation. I know, I know, I just went back to work from summer vacation. My husband and I always take a trip for our anniversary. Always.... it's only our second anniversary. But it's a tradition we already love. This year we're celebrating a month early because it worked better for our schedules. Anyway, by Friday this will be my view
Like that is for real the view. Where we're going to stay is where my husband lived when we first met. He lived at a resort at the lake. We could literally fish from his front porch. So we're going back for our anniversary. I'm super excited!
Craft projects and house projects will resume after vacation. Until then, it's time for some serious relaxing. Or it will be after I get off work tomorrow.
This summer I think I did remarkably well being a stay at home wife. I cooked dinner. I kept the house clean(ish). I did house projects. I decorated. However, there are chores I avoid at all costs...
I hate folding laundry. I had these great plans to get all the laundry put away before my mom came Saturday, and if not that, at least put away before our Labor Day party on Sunday. It Did Not Happen. I didn't even pretend. I kept my mom away from that part of the house. On Sunday though, there were people that hadn't seen our house before and wanted a tour. And we got to the spare bedroom and laundry room and there were my guilty mountains of laundry. If I were a good blogger I would have take an honest and embarrassing photo. I failed though. Seriously, four baskets of laundry in the spare bedroom and a bunch of laundry on the floor in the laundry room. Bad. I just shrugged an apology and continued the tour. If people are true friends they won't judge your piles of laundry, right? And the thing is, I felt okay about it. I did put most of it away last night and washed another load.
I really really hate doing laundry though. I don't mind the washing or the drying or really even the sorting. It's the folding and putting away that I don't like. During the summer I would bribe myself with TV shows while I folded. I would save up some Royal Pains, Gilmore Girls, Craft Wars, pretty much any of the shows my husband doesn't like. And I would watch one episode per load of laundry. And I had to put away each load between shows. During the school year that works out less well because I am working during the day. And there is considerably less TV watching time at night. So I am still trying to figure out how to fold laundry like a grown up.
I also don't like cleaning the shower. When we bought our house the master shower was a terrifying place full of mildew. My mom and I worked for days to get it clean. There was an unhealthy amount of Kaboom shower cleaner and DG bleach. Now it sparkles. Why does it still sparkle? Because we have not used that shower since it got sparkly clean. Weird not to use our master shower, yes. We use the shower/bath in our main bathroom. Which I avoid cleaning. I did the grout a while back, I used one of those nifty bleach pens, it worked like magic. I occasionally spray vinegar in the shower/tub and pretend that counts as cleaning. I really want one of those zero effort shower cleaner products to work as well as they swear they do. They don't. Sigh.
Then there are chores I don't mind, I'm just too lazy to do. Specifically the floors. Like I'm pretty good about keeping the house picked up, for the most part. Vacuuming, sweeping, mopping -- I suck at getting it done. I'm trying to get better at those though.
In other news.... I'm kind of excited for hunting season to start. That will mean more time for sewing projects. I can't wait to start using my new sewing machine! I'm thinking some throw pillows to start with. Super excited! And it will be another excuse to avoid doing those distasteful chores. Or maybe I can bribe myself, a bathroom for a throw pillow. A load of laundry for a set of napkins.
I'm also already planning the fall wreaths I'm going to make. I can't wait! I have plans to make a warm fuzzy wreath for my sister for her birthday. And a new scrap wreath for the front door in fall colors. And I'm starting to think a little about Christmas wreaths and decorations. I'm also debating whether I want to switch out seasonal decor on the mantle. Opinions?
So my birthday may have been a week and a half ago but my mom and sister came up this weekend to celebrate. My mom took us out to lunch at one of my favorite places. And she and my dad got me a sewing machine for my birthday. I could not be more excited. If we didn't have people coming over tomorrow I would be making a trip to JoAnn's to buy fabric and making some throw pillows tonight. I cannot wait to start making things. It's going to be great. Super excited! I played around with just some scraps of fabric this afternoon, just to try it out and I am in love.
And my mom brought me a birthday cake. I'm pretty sure it was some of the best cake I have ever had. Thanks to all of my food allergies, baked goods are a little tricky. My mom pulled out one of my granny's cake recipes and made me a cake from scratch. Chocolate cake with real butter and buttermilk in it. And chocolate buttercream icing. It was absolutely amazing. She left the rest of the cake at our house. It's possible that I ate another piece of cake after they left. It's just that good. And I am seriously thinking about a third piece of cake but I'm resisting.
Tomorrow is our annual Labor Day party. I'm so excited to have our friends over and make some delicious food. Right now I have fish laying out on the counter for a fish fry. And I'm going to make my mother-in-law's stromboli. It's one of those things that I have to make whenever we have people over, and it's so easy. I'm also thinking about margarita pie. And just for fun for the holiday, here's the recipe. Everyone always loves it. It is super strong though.
Margarita Pie
Graham Cracker Crust
2 14 ounce cans sweetened condensed milk
3/4 c lime juice
6 T tequila
4 tsp orange liqueur
Whipped Cream
Mix sweetened condensed milk, lime juice, tequila, and liqueur until combined. Let set up until the consistency of pudding. Pour filling into pie crust. Top with whipped cream and chill.
*I usually add a little green and yellow food coloring to give it more of a green color.
**Super delicious, it will catch up with you, but it's so worth it.
