Somewhat Couture

Pinterest Fun!

2012-02-17T15:55:00.000-05:00

We Love Pinterest at my job! Connie did Amanda's hair today and we were joking that people on Pinterest would love her new look so I am pinning the picture to see who likes it!

Happy Valentines!

2012-02-14T13:45:00.000-05:00

Hey! I took some pictures with my BB. I was supposed to be organizing the craft room/guest room/crap room and then I decided to redo the front door wreath! Here's some pictures of the before/Christmas wreath

It's a P wrapped in a dollar tree garland. I had to trim up the "greens" so you could tell it's a P!

After/ Valentinezed!


I love these little stuffed animals with the large eyes. I want one but I really don't need to be displaying this stuff!

So I am working on my wedding stuff. I have everything picked out, just got get some $$ to pay for it! Have a Happy Valentines Day!

Swedish Styling in Central Louisiana: Ikea in our House!

2011-08-02T23:13:00.000-04:00

When Holly and I went to our friend Katie's wedding in Northern Virginia, a big part of the weekend had to do with visiting Ikea. Since I was about to move, I couldn't really buy anything but I took some pictures and got some ideas for what I wanted to do once I did get to my new house.

Cute netural living room. I like light and dark stuff mixed together

This is Ikea's bedroom. I like all of the pillows and the gallery over the bed. Too busy? I kind of want something but I don't want to over do my bedroom!

Our current bedroom. Kind of plain but it's relaxing and clean!

This is what our kitchen looks like now. There's a funny space between the cabinets. I made this "picture". It's okay but I want something more interesting

This is kind of what I was thinking. Stainless steel to match the appliances. I don't want wood because I think that it would be too hard to match.

What are some of your favorite Ikea finds?
Please be really, really, really excited that I finally got pictures to upload to Blogger!! Maybe I got to wait later on in the evening when all of the locals are asleep to upload my pictures!

Success and misc catching up!

2011-07-28T16:20:00.000-04:00

As per Holly's urging, I am back to playing on my blog! I have done a lot of fun stuff but I haven't blogged about it! Part of the issue is that the desktop computer here doesn't want to cooperate with me when I want to upload pictures! I can't stand blogs without pictures! So here's a couple of pictures. Lame but they are pictures! Here's some highlights of what's going on with me:

I have a job! It's Media on the Battlefield. From what I understand, I am a role player who pretends to be a reporter and helps the soldiers who are getting ready to deploy to Afghanistan, learn about how to work with the media. I start that on Monday. They already told me that they don't have any work for me Sept or Oct. Awesome! That's my kind of job!
I just finished my receptionist training for Weight Watchers and I should be going to Leader training some time this fall when I am not working my "real job". For those who don't speak Weight Watchers, it's the person who weighs in people and takes the money. It's a lot harder than it looks. It has really made me appreciate the people who have worked at my meetings
I am in the beginning stages of getting some crafts together to sell at a local craft/gift store. I have always wanted to do something like that and now I have the time!

I promise to get my act together with this blog! Thanks for sticking around! I did lose one follower while I was gone!

Hose reel that's made for a 100 foot hose, I got a 150 foot!

My little container garden. I threw away a lot of plants because they died off in the 100+ degree weather. Since this picture was taking, the fern has gotten really crunchy!

Somewhat Couture's photostream

2011-07-28T16:01:00.001-04:00

Somewhat Couture's photostream on Flickr.

Playing with Flickr

2011-07-28T15:59:00.001-04:00

pictures from June 16 and before 770, a photo by Somewhat Couture on Flickr.

I am about to throw the computer across the room! Holly said that I could upload pics easier with Flickr. Not so sure!

Im here!

2011-06-14T20:53:00.000-04:00

In case you forgot what I looked like! Here's some pictures from Jon and Sarah's OBX wedding. Josh and I got to spend some time with our friends from VT.

The other day I logged into blogger and saw that I lost a follower! They probably figured I was never going to come back! But here I am!
Here's what happened, just the highlights!

I had my final defense, and got my MS degree!
Josh and I were reunited and went to a wedding in the OBX
In transit from Virginia to Lousiana my car, that I wanted to live for another 2 years, had to be sold for scrap! First the ABS brakes went out and then the transmissions started to lose it about 30 min outside of Birmingham, AL. I got $302 for my car and the rental car came out to over $500.
Cats and Dogs aren't intergrating that well! It's manageable with the spray collars and a shock collar but it's not ideal!
So I'm here and getting adjusted to being in Louisiana! Darn it's hot! I need to blog more with all of my time off!

Tre snuggling in the clean laundry the night before we left VA

House Progress: More living room fun

2011-03-16T19:00:00.001-04:00

I spent most of my time unpacking boxes and putting things in the right room or pile. I haven't figured out what I want on the walls yet. I like meaningful, interesting art. I don't like mass produced art work from Bed, Bath and Beyond. So I will continue to think about that. We also need new pillows for the living room. I am not sure what color to go with. The rest of the room is really neutral. Ideas?

Before I messed with anything

Big living room

We are working on making this a wine bar area. The lamp got a little broken in transit but I can just glue it back.

Little arrangement that's not too over done.

Love this little arrangement. Josh got the Muqtada al Sadr picture in Iraq. I think that it's really funny. It adds an interesting punch to any arrangement don't you think?

I lined up all of my animal figurines so I could see what I had. Darkness was fascinated with the line up. Josh was nervous that this was their destination! They have been distributed around the house.

Living room in progress: Crappy curtains

2011-03-15T06:30:00.006-04:00

We made some progress in the living room. I really trying hard not to have too much clutter and junk in the house. I usually like tables topped with tons of knick-knacks. I want our new house to much more serene and airy. We are going to get a new couch and bookcases this summer.

Heres some pictures of the progress so far and some window covering drama!

So much wrong with this picture! I spray painted a plastic pvc pipe for a curtain rod, it was okay expect for how it bowed once it was up. This would work much better for a small window.

I thought that white sheets would look great as curtains. The white didn't look good at all, Josh told me they wouldn't but he was sweet enough to let me try it. He was also handy and put up the rods for me and didn't laugh at the crappy curtains!

I hate buying curtains because they are usually overpriced and use cheap-o fabric. I found these faux suede curtains with the grommets at Walmart for cheaper than I could have made them. Much, much better than the white meth house curtains.

Snotty Bride

2011-03-14T13:03:00.000-04:00

I caught something while I was in Louisiana last week. I am still feeling gross. My nose is stuffed up and my throat is killing me. I was laying on the couch stalking other blogs and found this wedding post. It's pretty much exactly what I want for my wedding: simple, pretty, casual. Check out the wedding at Cherry Hill Cottage:

Spring Break Update

2011-03-10T16:37:00.000-05:00

Hey! I always say that I don't update my blog because I don't have anything to take pictures of at my apartment (everything is now here in Louisiana). I have been unpacking, spray painting, rearranging and loving being here with Josh!
I have pretty much everything out of the boxes and now trying to figure out where everything goes. Josh and I bought several totes this week! So here's what's going on so far!

One thing that is done, the bedding on our bedding. It's Ralph Lauren and really plush. I have enjoyed watching TV in bed in the morning.

A big corner with NOTHING there. I want this house to be open and not cluttered but the corner needs something.

Walk in that became really small after I put most of our stuff in it

Uniforms!

Uniform Closet- All for Josh!

My sink with misc clutter

More pictures to come!

Little Updates

2011-02-05T12:56:00.000-05:00

Hi! My life hasn't been that crafty or exciting recently. I work, go to school and workout. I joined Weight Watchers for the 2nd time, 3 weeks ago. I have been really working the plan and I am only down 4.2 lbs. It's really bugging me. My goal this week is just to relax and go with the plan. I am making healthy changes, it's just that I want to be skinny again NOW! :)

Josh and I have been doing some online shopping together. We bought a clock for the living room on ebay. I have no clue what it looks like but Josh said that he liked it in person. Josh has been working on the house and sends me update pics periodically! I can't wait till next month to go back to Louisiana and spend time with him and set up the house.
Here's what Josh has done with the place thus far:

The house didn't have towel bars or toilet paper holders. Josh had to install these.

Towel bars and sweet Asher. I am sure that the cats were a huge help

Livingroom with the new clock on the wall. It's supposed to be 24" wide.

Josh's totally iced over truck. This is when a garage is nice to have. The other car was nice and ice free in the garage.

I am going to go pickup Girl Scout cookies today! Terrific! I am only going to eat one a day! My cookie of choice.. Carmel Delites!!

Picture remake continued......

2011-01-23T12:50:00.000-05:00

Blogger was not being my friend last night. I wanted to show off the the new name sign I made first but blogger wanted to put my thrift store finds first. So.. I found a hand towel holder that I think could be cute as a necklace holder. I am going to spray paint it black later on. I wish it was a little taller. I might actually use this for a towel holder.

This is some kind of wrought iron-thingie. I thought that it could hold toliet paper but I forgot that the cats like to destroy toilet paper.

This is the rack with dishtowels rolled up inside because Josh always asks "What are you going to do with it?"

Finished product. I pulled out the old angel picture and turned into a name sign.

Closer view of the letters. I cut them with the Cricut.

Supplies: houndstooth scrapbook paper, modge podge and brown wrapping paper. I thought I was going to use the triple thick but I didn't need to seal it because it was behind glass.

I am back!

2011-01-22T17:41:00.000-05:00

After all of the craziness of the new year, I wanted to strive to be more consistent with my blogging. I got back from LA and I couldn't find the USB cord for my camera. I didn't want to bore people with posts about how much I miss Josh and the cats being here. If you were interested in that, I do miss him a lot. I have been busy taking care of business here but I do wish that he was here for date nights on the weekends. We text a lot and call each other so it makes it a little better! So I found the cord today! So let's get on with it!

Since I have been back from Louisiana, I went to Ohio to visit my sister and my new brother in law. I had a great time in Ohio hanging out with Emily, Jack and Declan and crafting with the Cricut. We did some craft shopping and thrift store shopping. I didn't take any pictures while I was there because we were busy having so much fun. Emily needs to come visit me so she can bring me the stuff I left at her house. I am excited that she's only 5.5 hrs away now. I need to work in more visits before I move to Louisiana. Here's some pics of what I have been up to!

Went shopping at Target. I am going to go back next paycheck to get this for Josh! Joking! I saw this and knew it would make him gag!

I did buy these vinyl wall decals. They are only $3 something at Target right now. The biggest key is about 12 inches long. They are really cute. I think that my house may too many J's and I wanted something different on the walls.

I have outgrown these two signs/pictures. They didn't make the cut for the move. I decided that I wanted to remake them.

Blogger is not letting me add anymore pics to this post! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! When I come back there will be pictures of this remake!

Home from Louisiana!

2011-01-10T14:06:00.001-05:00

I left Josh and the kitties yesterday to come home to Blacksburg. I wasn't ready to leave. I wanted to stay and get the house set up. I guess I just have more time to make decorating plans. I was sad to come back to Blacksburg because I am so done with being here. Blacksburg at times has been the vortex of hell for me. I did meet the love of my life at school there but I am really ready to be done with school and get on with my life with Josh. I have 5 more months here. I am going to try my best to be positive and enjoy the "lasts" I have here. I have the following things to work on and try to enjoy in my last 5 months here:

lose weight and get better at working out
last semester of my master's degree
visiting my sister who now only lives 5 hrs away from me. That's really close when compared to Idaho!
having fun with my great friends
focusing on training my dogs to behave. I know Josh will be happy when he sees this.
hosting a bunco party at my empty apartment in March

On my flight home from Louisiana I flipped through Delta's Sky Magazine. They actually .a lot of good articles in it. I really like Oprah's article on being positive and happy. Steps to being happy as per Oprah.

Online home shopping

2011-01-07T10:36:00.000-05:00

Josh left me to go check in with his unit. I am hanging out in bed with the cats, looking at house stuff on the internets.
We have a little covered patio area at the new house. I want this chairs from Home Decorators. I think that they would be cute to put around a little table. We could also use them inside if we needed extra chairs for the dining room. I want comfortable chairs outside. I hate little tiny bistro folding chairs.

http://www.homedecorators.com/P/Garden_Side_Chair/200/

I am on the hunt for a shower curtain. I am not 100% on what I want to the master bath. It has to be Josh approved. He doesn't do floral, pasiley, polka dot or anything frou-frou. I found this shower curtain online at Walmart online. It's only $18.00 and it's 100% cotton so it's not a nasty polyester mess. I can get it shipped to the store and not have to pay shipping and handling if it's ugly in person.

We had the house inspection yesterday. Pretty much everything checked out with our really nice home inspector. He found a crack in one of the guest room windows, that's the only major thing. I doubt
we will close tomorrow. Josh has a reservation for him and the cats until the 17th. Keep your fingers crossed that we can close soon!

PCS Quesadillas

2011-01-05T17:57:00.000-05:00

Cute door hanger "Shhh...that's an order!"

Since the 1st house fell through, we are staying at the Fort Polk Holiday Inn. Eating out can get old and expensive so we decided to make dinner in our hotel room. With only a mini fridge and a microwave, we whipped up a real Mexican fiesta. For this recipe you will need:
Flour tortillas
Shredded cheese
Sour cream
Salsa
Precooked chicken chunks or steak pieces. These are usually around the lunch meats
at the store.
To Prepare: lay a tortilla on a paper towel or paper plate, whatever you got. Sprinkle some cheese on, probably about 1/4 of a cup. Sprinkle on some chicken chunks. Microwave for about a minute, watch it because microwave cook vary. You can spoon salsa and sour cream over the chicken before you fold over the tortilla. I spoon, Josh dips. We had carrot sticks on the side.

We went looking around the PX (the Army store on base). I found these amazing sunglasses! Juicy Couture for only $50.00. I think that they are just what I need to attract sassy new friends on the base. Josh commented that I would meet the wrong sort of friends! I had to put them back for now!

More pictures

2011-01-05T17:18:00.000-05:00

Blogger gets a little crazy when I load too many pictures in one post. So here is a continuation of pictures:

Master bedroom

Master bathroom vanities. The mirror really need something. They look unfinished.

Checking out the tub. Josh was sweet enough to take all of these pictures so I could measure and scheme up plans!

More pictures to come. When I do frame out the mirrors, what color do you think I should make the frames?

New House!!

2011-01-05T17:11:00.000-05:00

Dining area

Modeling in the kitchen

Love these deep drawers! What to put in them?

We went out on Monday to look at houses. We really liked this one. The price is right, it's in a good location and it has lots of nice features. We are hoping for a closing ASAP so Josh and the cats can get out of the hotel and into the house. The moving truck with all of our stuff showed up on Monday so it's ready to be unloaded into our new place. Lots more pictures to come.

Roll Tide!

2011-01-02T21:24:00.000-05:00

My apartment packed up.

Josh & the head packer guy

The truck that came to move out our junk!

We left Blacksburg on New Years Eve to head for Louisiana. We spent the night in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The night before we left we watched this seriously funny commercial on ESPN.

It was fun to be in the home of U of Alabama for the night. We drove around the campus. Because it was Christmas break, there was no one around. Their stadium is freaking huge. It puts Lane Stadium at Virginia Tech to shame. The fraternity and sorority houses were huge. We ate dinner and went back to our room. The dogs barked their heads off and whined all night the night before so I passed out at 9! We had the cats in a no pets allowed Holiday Inn Express. They enjoyed their stay.

Lil' D hanging out on the TV stand

Ash approves of the all white linens

Bling-Bling Jewelry Box Makeover

2010-12-28T11:28:00.001-05:00

Josh bought me a new,really big jewelry box for our Anniversary. My old one was nice but I wasn't sure what to do with it, I didn't need two! I decided to make it over for Josh's 5 year old cousin Elizabeth. She is into pink and bedazzles like me! This was a lot of fun. The paint job took me forever to tape off and get the paint to cooperate with me!

Required before picture

I spray painted all of the handles white.

taped off all of the red lining parts.

The bedazzled lid

Glitter gloss rings

Glitzed out mirror.

Catching Up with Pictures: Christmas Decor and Josh Graduates

2010-12-27T11:18:00.000-05:00

We have had so much going on that I haven't had the time to sit down and blog about it. Well here it all is!!

Josh graduated!!

Josh and I meet in class at Virginia Tech. It was fun to have him at graduation with me (I work graduation because I work for the school). I am really proud of him and ready to move on to our new life together but I don't want him to go!

Our friend Justin Tanner. He got his PhD in Biological Sciences.

I couldn't get him to pose on stage!!

Walking into Cassell. He was right on the end in the front row.

That's him!!

In line to walk out. Talking to his Northern Virginia Army friend

Christmas Stuff!! I didn't get too Christmas-y this year. I had to sort through the Christmas stuff to get it ready to move. I set up my Peanuts Christmas stuff and that was it!

Me in the mirror looking hot in my sweats!

A little Hokie Snowman!

I didn't craft too much! I just didn't have time but I made cute & simple ornaments using my Cricut.

I cut out letters with my cricut, carefully modge-podged the letters on, stuffed the ornaments with crinkle paper and then put on a loop of ribbon. I think that they turned out pretty cute.

Moving Day

2010-12-27T10:21:00.001-05:00

This is a lame no picture post. I sat down to blog while the movers are here, I got my camera out of my purse to get some pictures to post and then the movers asked me question and I put the camera down somewhere. I have piles of junk everywhere for the movers and then piles of stuff that I don't want moved with this move. So here's a quick run down of what's up with us. I will have more detailed posts soon!

Got engaged to Josh! Have that post written up but I need my camera so I can post pictures of the rock.
We are no longer buying the house in Deridder. The bank apprasial came back more than $10K under the contract price. The buyers wouldn't move on the price and we aren't interested in paying cash for something that's not even worth that much! We do not know where we are going to live. We are leaving at the end of this week to get Josh to Fort Polk and will spend the week finding somewhere to live!
We had a fun Christmas in Virginia with Josh's family. I got to meet more of his family and hang out with the rest of them. I like his family.
Movers are here to pack up our stuff. Josh will come live with me until we leave to take him to Louisiana.

I am hanging out today with the movers and once I find the camera I will write up some more posts!

LAME POST UPDATED!! I left the camera in the kitchen and Windell, the mover brought it to me.

Eat Your Words

2010-11-27T01:57:00.003-05:00

Credit: Just Noey on ETSY

Four Eco-Friendly Holiday Party Ideas

2010-11-22T05:00:00.001-05:00

I have been thinking about ways to make my holiday parties more eco-friendly. Here are some ideas that I thought up!

1. Sending an electronic invitation can save you time, money and be easy on the environment. I love using evites.com. They a lot of cute themes and even the option to customize the look of the invite. Evites allow your guests to easily RSVP and leave comments for you to see. Some electronic invite websites also give you the option to assign guests things to bring or to sign up for food items to bring. My favorite feature of the site is how the site will tally up how many maybe's, yes and no's you have for attendance. It saves so much time when trying to figure out how much I need to buy of everything.

evite.com

2. Stay away from cans and multiple bottles by serving your party beverages in pretty pitchers and classy beverage dispensers. You could serve ice water in a beverage dispenser and float lemon and orange slices in it instead of setting out cases of plastic water bottles. This will also save you time on your party clean up! I really want a pretty glass dispenser like the one below. It's a good idea to have plenty of non-alcholoic beverages available at your party so you and your guets don't get in trouble! You can serve warm apple cider directly from the stove top or put cider in a crock pot to keep it warm.

Credit: Classic Hostess

3.Bring out your fancy stuff! Do you have tablecloths and fine china that are collecting dust in the closet? Break them out instead of purchasing disposable plates and tablecloths. Running a load of laundry or dishes uses up a lot fewer resources than a couple of packages of disposable party supplies. Are you lacking in fancy table linens and dishes? During the holiday season Target and Wal-Mart sell simple white dishes in large qualities. It’s a little investment but then you won’t need to buy paper again! If you don’t have a tablecloth, do you have a pretty sheet or large piece of fabric you could use? I used a Wal-Mart brown sheet as a tablecloth at my friend Holly's baby shower. It was a twin sized sheet and worked out great!

4.Giving your guests a favor when leaving the party is a nice touch. Useful favors are the best favors. Cute reusable shopping bags are everywhere these days! Present them to your guests rolled up and tied with ribbon. White Elephant gifts are a good way to reuse unwanted junk and can provide the entertainment for your party!

Credit: Greenfeet.com

Idaho Thanksgiving Trip

2010-11-20T05:00:00.001-05:00

Credit: Google Images

Josh and I are off to go visit our families in Idaho this week. We are starting off the trip by flying into Boise. We will spend a couple of days hanging out with my family. On Tuesday we will fly up to Spokane, WA where Josh's parents will pick us up and take us to Northern Idaho where we will spend Thanksgiving. This will be a big meet the family trip for both of us! I will take a lot of pictures and hopefully have tons of exciting blog posts!

Wild Wednesday and I am taking a break!!

2010-11-16T20:06:00.000-05:00

Hi! I stayed home from work today because I had a headache and a gross stomach all day. I did a little bit of work on my final paper for the semester. I looked over my take home exam for my quantitative methods class and that about made me throw up again!
I got to get down to business so I can get my work-work, school work and house work done so I can go to Idaho next week!

My Sister is Famous! Sweet Valley Cookie

2010-11-15T05:00:00.002-05:00

Credit: Treasure Valley 365

My sister Heidi's new cookie store was featured on the blog 365 Treasure Valley TREASURES. The pictures above are from the 365 Treasure Valley blog. I haven't seen the store yet! Josh and I will get to see it on our Thanksgiving visit. I am looking forward to lots of coffee and lots of cookies.The store is in Eagle, Idaho. Heidi said that she wants to a blog sponsor. That means a big cookie giveaway is coming up! Check out Sweet Valley Cookies website to start thinking about what kind of cookies you will want!

Happy Rainbows!

2010-11-14T11:56:00.001-05:00

Credit: Goh Li Kim

I was playing around on the internet and found this girl's really sweet illustration blog. I love her art work. She does tons of Jack Russell work!

Shutterfly Personalized Holiday Cards

2010-11-13T18:00:00.001-05:00

If you have read a couple of my blog posts, you'll know that I love anything that I can personalize! I am in love with Shutterfly's Holiday products. Josh and I had only been dating for a couple of months last Christmas so it would have been pretty psycho to send out holiday cards from the two of us!

I don't have the "official" holiday portraits done yet but I played around with some of my favorite designs from the site. I liked how I could customize the text to say what I wanted to. You can change the color, size and font of the text. Go check out the rest of their cards! It's a lot of fun. I am glad that I have time to decide because there are tons of cute card design s!

I am also really into their gift tags. They are way cute and I could see using some of the designs year round! I like to make little trinket gifts. I think that it would be really amazing to put a little pin or attach a pair of earrings to one of these cards. I plan on taping these to plates of holiday cookies. Sorry that the images are blurry, I am not sure what's up with that. Go see the tags on the Shutterfly site!

Gift Tags

Vinyl is all over the blog world but check out this use of vinyl!

Photo Vinyl

Isn't that wild? They come in a couple sizes. Maybe I should get one of Josh for when he moves! Ha ha! He would kill me! They have a lot of other photo gifts, such as canvas prints, coasters and posters. Go to their site to see it all.

What is your favorite product on Shutterfly? Let me know!

I also want to know when you plan on sending out your holiday cards?

Hey my blogger friends! Check this out:

Bloggers get 50 free Cards. Check out the deal here!

Show Us Where you Live! Apartment Bathroom

2010-11-13T14:18:00.000-05:00

I think that I came up with some good fixes for this bathroom. My apartment is older but it's not too outdated for the most part. The bathroom is another story. There are all kinds of strange and ugly stuff going on! Thanks Windsor Hills! I have managed to make the bathroom livable!

View from the hall

World's ugliest bathroom light fixture! I was trying to come up with a way to replace it and still get my deposit back. I couldn't because the room's only outlet is inside the cabinet.

I spray painted (mocha) and and screwed a set of brass door knobs to the wall so I can hang my bath towels on. If you look at the next picture, the towel bar that is installed is pretty worthless. I would rather my towels not drag into the the toilet!

See the bad towel bar? I don't have any counter space so I keep my cotton balls and q tips in the jars. I have my breast cancer ducky that my friend Kat made. So cute that I can't stand to use the soap that it sits in.

This is a laundry hamper! It is muy ugly. It's rusted out in the inside. It reminds me of EVA from Wall E. I usually hang my robe up over it! If this was my house, I would have ripped it out and dry walled over it.

. This is a two for one post! These are pictures of the master bathroom in our new house in Louisiana. It's a huge improvement over what Josh and I have now. I do want to change some stuff but it's all newer stuff and it's clean!

I want to frame out the mirror and talk Josh into letting me paint the vanity.

I am going to build, built in shelves to go over the toilet in this little nook.

I am linking up to Kelly's Korner Blog. Go check out all of the other bathrooms!

Go Josh!

2010-11-13T06:49:00.001-05:00

Josh at his tri this summer!

Josh is running a marathon today in Richmond, VA! Good luck babe! Love you!

How to make amazing Baby Leg Warmers!

2010-11-12T04:00:00.005-05:00

Baby leg warmers are one of the top selling items on ETSY. They sell for around $10.00 a set. These are a very cool baby accessory, they allow baby's legs to stay warm but give you the ease of a quick diaper change with only having to deal with a onesie. These leg warmers are crazy cute, inexpensive and easy to make. Despite the look on Auden's face, he enjoyed his Halloween pair. There are so many cute knee socks out, that you could make these for any holiday or outfit!

My Lil' friend with bat argyle leg warmers!

So here's how you can whip up a pair of your own!

cut into "long piece", heel, toe, "bottom piece"

make cuff

adding cuff to long piece

I stretched the cuff over the sewing machine arm

1. lay the sock out, cut the "long part" off, then cut the heel off and the toe of the remaining piece. Throw the heel and toes piece away. This becomes. "the bottom piece"

2. Take the piece and fold it in half. It makes a cuff and this the part that goes up on baby's thighs.
3. Add the cuff to the long piece. Tuck the cuff into the long piece right sides together.
4. Sew the cuff to the long piece. I was able to stretch my sock over the arm of my machine.
5. Turn the socks right side out and your baby is really to sport some seriously cute leg warmers!

I am linking up to the following parties


http://romantichome.blogspot.com/

MARTHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-11-11T21:02:00.000-05:00

Martha was on Colbert Report last night! Thank you Josh for letting me know! You can click on the link below to see the full episode. She comes on at the last part of the show. Martha is funny in her own Martha way!

Click here for the episode

Navy Girl!

2010-11-11T13:29:00.000-05:00

This was me back in the day, when I was kicking it up and down on the coast with the Emory S. Land AS-39!

Veteran's Day

2010-11-11T06:05:00.002-05:00


Credit: Veteran's Administration


Josh!

Happy Veteran's Day! I don't have digital copies of me in my Navy uniform. I do have some gross old I.D. cards! We're going out to Applebee's to celebrate tonight with our free dinner! If you have a chance go to the VA's website and look at all of the old Veteran's Day posters. They are really interesting. I think that it's interesting the battles that they choose to put on this year's poster.

I love the picture above because when I was showing my nephew Trevor Josh's Iraq pictures, there was a picture of him giving candy to some kids. When we got to this picture, Trevor asked if Josh had enough candy for all of those kids. He was really concerned. Such a thoughtful guy!

Crafty Cricut Fun: Making Lettered Signs

2010-11-08T21:02:00.004-05:00

My amazing boyfriend Josh bought me a Cricut cutter for my birthday. It was a total shock! It was like getting a bike for Christmas when you're little. You're the best Josh!!!

I have enjoyed playing with it and trying to figure out everything that it does. Our fun friends Jon and Sarah are getting married this spring at the Outerbanks in NC. I decided to make them a sign with their last name on it. They are big Hokie fans so I used the cutest maroon, orange and polka dot paper.

I cut out the letters using the Keystone cartridge

I used Elmer's glue and a older paint brush to lightly brush on some glue to the backs

I arranged the letters on a $ Tree platter that I spray painted black.

I am going to seal this before I give it to them but I think it turned out pretty cute!

My sister Emily is getting married next month. She was going to order some vinyl letters to make a family name sign. She's going to use the sign as part of her wedding decor on one of the larger tables. Good idea! She emailed me this picture to use as a guide. I am not sure whose ETSY store this came from. Let me know if you do!

I think that I did a pretty good job with the limited amount of fonts I have!

I used a patterned paper for the last name. Josh looked at it and thought it was too busy. I love him and respect him but I am not sure if he's right but I am also not too sure that he's wrong. I am sending these pictures to Bride to have her decide. She can always use the letters for another project. What do you think? Straight up black and white? She's going to modge podge the letters on to a painted blue background.

Parties I am linking up to:

Today's Creative Blog

http://allthingzrelated.blogspot.com/

What happened this weekend!

2010-11-07T21:29:00.000-05:00

I had a good weekend and I needed it!! I just had a hard week dealing with my job and I needed to just relax! The Hokies played on Thursday night so no football hogging up the whole weekend! Here's some of the highlights for my low key weekend!

I re-did a monogramed Christmas Ornament for my sister. She's getting married Decemeber 18th and she is having a Christmas tree instead of a gift table! How cute huh? Anyways I bought this ornament from Kirklands. The ornament is pretty but the tirm and ribbon was a bit cheap-o!

Removed the ribbon and added a wire with some beads to form the "loop" to hang the ornament on.

topped off the loop with a clear bead and made another loop to thread the ribbon in.

I used a white organdy ribbon. I wanted to add more to this but I don't want the ornament to clash with her other decor.

Tia and I went to go watch our first fly ball tournament. It was really fun to see those dogs in action. There were a lot of Jacks competing. Tia got into it watching too! Hopefully she'll be ready to run at the next meet up!

Tia was barking her head off and pulling at the leash most of the time.

This is a "box". The dogs have to run up and make the ball pop out and run back. Poor 9 lb Tia has to have a good running start to make this happen!

I just liked this little Whippet.

I got a brief explantion of the different ribbon levels. The dog who won the big maroon and white ribbon has been doing flyball for 6 years.

Something totally random and awesome happened at the flyball tournament! There was a book exchange table. In the midst of How to deal with Menopause and a lot of old religious books there was the book that I had been really wanting but was to ashamed & cheap to buy!

Lauren Conrad

I really miss The Hills! I checked out Lauren's blog the other day. She has a really pretty theme. Go check it out!

LC at a recent book signing!

I ended the weekend by making English Muffin Pizzas and salads for Josh and I. My weekend included crafts, dogs, relaxing with Josh and a little eating/cooking so I worked in all of my favorite things. Here's hoping that I have a better work week! I hope you have a good upcoming week too!

Make Something Fun Today!

2010-11-07T15:07:00.001-05:00

credit: Earthboundwinglessdream

Whatcha Think?

2010-11-06T15:02:00.002-04:00

Credit:Twentythree

I am a Weiner!!!

2010-11-03T08:30:00.001-04:00

My sweet officemates keep winning things in blog contests. Tons of books and a ritzy chandelier! I think that they could tell that it was starting to really bug me! When I came back from my class today, I found this amazing gift basket!

It turns out I won a very exclusive blog giveaway from Acting Up With Books and My First Home!!! I couldn't believe my eyes!

This sucker is burning a hole in my Coach purse already!

A joint giveaway with even a non-blogger joining in?

I have been looking for this key all my life! THE KEY TO MY DESTINY!!!

Thank you Holly, Joli and Janice! This gift basket blew me away!

In other big news! My Dad sent me a Amazon gift card for my birthday! I used it to buy a bulb for my

OTT lamp that I bought at the church garage sale. You can read more about that here. I popped the bulb in and it WORKS!!!!

I love the look on little Tia's face! It's so dramatic! It's like we don't have any lamps in the house!

In not so lucky news! My laptop is dead! Lucky for me, Josh loves me and is letting me use his laptop. I hope I win a pink laptop that I can't break sometime soon!

Wild Wednesday! Fancy Dog Crates

2010-11-02T20:07:00.000-04:00

Tia Mia & Tre locked up!

On my birthday weekend, I went out and bought new wire kennels for the dogs. I won't show pictures of the travel crates that they used to stay in because they were le ghetto and my dogs would probably get taken away from me! So new crates that match each other was a huge improvement! I currently have these crates out in the middle of the living room. In the next house the crates will be in the garage or in one of the extra bedrooms. I was interested in masking the "cages" I have in my living room. I am going to just live with it for now but there are some really cool dog kennels out there that are really stylish if you want to spend the money.

credit: Den Haus

This is a great crate makeover idea. The owner incorporated the crate into a support for her desk. I really like this idea! I got two dog crates to work with too!

Credit: Design Sponge

Ha! My dogs would never lay nicely in their kennel like this! Credit: Cratehaven

1 year with Josh and a trip to Washington D.C.

2010-11-01T08:35:00.000-04:00

Beautiful Flowers from Josh. He had them delivered to work! Made my day!

Josh and I went on a mini vacation this weekend. We started on Friday and drove to Richmond to see his mom. I forgot my camera in the car for that leg of the trip. Saturday was our one year anniversary of dating. We were looking for something fun to do to celebrate. When Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert announced that they were doing their Rally to Restore Sanity and or Keep Fear Alive in D.C. on our anniversary, we made plans to go. We are really big fans. The event exceeded my expectations. I couldn't get too many good pictures and we watched most of it on jumbo tron but it was a lot of fun and I am glad that we got to go!

They played Daily Show & Report clips before the rally started.

Tons of signs. Some serious, a lot really funny and not so serious

lots and lots of people everywhere!

This was the best picture of the stage I got. It's on the left of this guy's head.

Me at the rally. I like this picture because my nose ring never really shows up in pictures.

John Legend and the Roots opened

Even after the Rally, this was as close as we got to the stage.

After the rally we walked back to our awesome hotel The Mandrian Oriental. It was way fancy. I loved it!

Some great mirror photography!

Dream bathroom. Huge mirror!

Beautiful shower with marble subway tile and glass surround. I would need a maid to keep the glass that clean!

Awesome bathrobes

I liked getting ready with the 3 mirrors!

Josh and I before going to dinner at the Melting Pot.

A men's wear store in Dupont Circle

White House at night. Couldn't make out what was hanging down in the middle of the portico.

This was the best thing I saw the whole weekend. The White House driveway was lined with pumpkins.

Nation's Capitol at night. We sat on the ledge and talked for a while. There wasn't anyone else there.

The rally stage being taken down late at night and the Washington Memorial in the background.

We came back from dinner and the maid had turned down the bed and laid out our robes. This place was beyond fancy. I wanted to stay forever!

"City view" The little people on the street are running the Marine Marathon.

More marathoners running in the lower left. The roads to get on the highway to go home were blocked. I was so glad that Josh was driving. It took forever to get on the right highway so we could get home.

Great weekend with the guy that I am so in love with and lucky to be with. Back to work and school this week. Above is the anniversary gift I made Josh. I will post how I made it later this week! Have a fun week!

Just so you know!

2010-10-29T06:00:00.002-04:00


Source: http://www.growyourbusinessnetwork.com/tag/fork-etiquette

Kitchen Advice Wanted

2010-10-28T16:51:00.000-04:00


Kitchen in new house in Louisiana

I have a problem. I want white cabinets in my new kitchen. The following are the reasons that I am hesitant to paint:

None of the houses that we looked at had light cabinets. This was the lightest color that we saw. They are doing really dark cabinets in all of the new construction.
Not that I care what other people are doing but Josh is with the Army and we will be reselling this house in 2-3 yrs and I would like it to sell.
The counter tops are white and in perfect condition.We aren't going to replace these. I am good with white on white but I don't know if that will freak some people out who come to look at the house.
I also wonder if the black appliances and the all white cabinets are going to look strange.

What do you think? I am linking up to White House Black Shutters for more opinions!

Cat Thursday @ The True Book Addict

2010-10-28T04:00:00.004-04:00

Josh texted me these pictures of Darkness this morning.

It's really funny because this Halloween box is up year round at Josh's house and he isn't into posing animals for pictures! Lil' D did this all on her own. She is really advanced. She doesn't jump on to the counter tops just cabinet tops!
I am linking up with the True Book Addict for Cat Thursday. Check out the fun cat pictures. You can also link up to my Wild Wednesday Post for this week.
.

Rise and Shine Day 3 & Wild Wednesday!

2010-10-26T18:40:00.000-04:00

Taking care of Tia and Tre in the morning can eat up a bunch of my time. They act up if I leave them out while I am at work so they have forced me to lock them up in the their crates.

In their new crates

I have to make sure that they have food and water before I leave in the morning. This doesn't seem like a lot but in the morning I move really slow and it takes me a lot of time.

So at night I fill up their food bowls. They are Jack Russells so they only need about a cup of kibble. Pampered Chef makes 1 cup glass bowls. They are awesome because the dogs can't chew them up and they are small enough for me to tuck in the corner of the crate.

dry food in Pampered Chef bowls with a little treat on top.

everything set out on top of the TV

Since their kennels are out in the livingroom, I set the food bowls and a cup of water to fill their water bowls with on top of the TV. All I have to do is dump the water in the bowls, put the food bowls in the kennels then finally throw the dogs in. Sometimes Tia runs off and I have to drag her out from underneath the bed but Tre is usaully so impressed with the dog treat that he runs in there on his own.

Sunday is Halloween and do you know what your pets are wearing??

This is the best dog costume ever. I have been laughing about this all day!

credit: Stacie Joy

If you don't know who Antoine Dodson is, do yourself a favor and Google him. Too funny! Go to the Gothamist to check out the rest of the really great dog costumes! There's a doggie Lady Gaga and lots of other clever costumes! I set up a linky below if you want to post anything about your animals!

Coke Crate or Coffee Table Wrangler

2010-10-26T07:51:00.002-04:00

I have been trying to limit the amount of house stuff that I buy lately. When Holly and I visited the Curiosity Shop a few weeks ago, I saw a lot of stuff that I wanted but nothing I really needed. I saw this Coke crate and knew that I didn't want it but I NEEDED it!

The store had crates with lots of little compartments for individual bottles but I opted for the 4 section crate.

Coca-Cola is stamped all over the crate.

1964!

This crate was only $16.00! Pottery Barn sells Pepsi crates for $24.00 + S&H. I am a Coke girl and I liked the yellow paint on the crate I bought.

Credit: Pottery Barn

I love Hudson Goods use of this crate. They have a whole post on soda crates and some for sale on their site.

Here's how I decided to use my crate

I added some candles. I needed to add some height to this centerpiece. The remotes fit in the space just right.

I left one space empty. I didn't want to load the crate down with junk

I cleaned up the rest of the living room because the crate looked so nice.

Tre says " Do you mind?"

Today I am linking up House of Grace for Twice Owned Tuesdays

Rise & Shine! Day 2: Make Your Bed!

2010-10-26T05:00:00.000-04:00


Credit: Ralph Lauren

I am doing white sheets with my comforter. This is way too much blue!

Josh and I bought the Oxford Stripe Comforter for the new house. It was the only pattern that we could both agree on. I heart these monogrammed shams but I am not paying $49.00 for one! credit: Ralph Lauren

I love Ralph Lauren Bedding. I love going to nice department stores and looking at the RL bedding displays. A pretty bed makes me happy. Even with my love of bedding, I usually don't make my bed! I struggle to just get up and out the door on time. Making my bed on a more consistent level is something I want to work into my morning routine.
Making my bed doesn't have to mean hospital corners and perfectly pulled up sheets. Even just picking the pillows off the floor and throwing them at the head of my bed would be an improvement.

Gretchen Rubin from the Happiness Project believes that making your bed can lead to a better day by giving you a sense of accomplishment first thing in the morning. It's an interesting read.

When I was clicking around some blogs this morning I found that someone else was talking about better mornings: Check out Remodeling This Life for some more thoughts on better mornings. I liked reading the comments and seeing that I wasn't the only person who doesn't like to get up!

How often to do you make your bed?

Rise and Shine! Day 1: Clothes really make the girl

2010-10-25T06:00:00.001-04:00

When I like my outfit, I feel a lot better about myself and my day seems to go better. When I wake up 20 min before I have to do to work, I end up pulling on something that usually isn't that appealing. When I put together my outfit the night before, I am usually able to put together something that I like. When I am not rushed I can accessorize my outfit and actually wear the jewelry that I have.

This is a picture of an outfit that I put together the night before

Here's the steps to putting it all together so you can jump out of bed and pull it on:

Figure out what you're doing the next day. Is it a jeans day or do you need to look a bit nicer. I have to do customer service at my work so I can't do jeans.
Pull out the outfit. Does it need to be ironed? Is it covered in dog hair? Take care of this now or find something that's ready to go.
Put out all of your under things! I have my underwear and bra hanging off the hanger. I also have my tights hanging over the skirt hanger. I like to verify that I have tights to wear the night before and that they don't have runs!
This sweater has a bow on the collar so I will just wear my necklace from Josh. This is the step where I usually decide what jewelry I want to wear. I hang it over the hanger or I set it out on my dresser where I will see it in the morning.
Shoes, shoes, shoes. I don't keep my shoes organized, that's a whole other post though! I pick out my shoes so I am not digging through my closet for a pair or trying to decide which pair I want to wear.
Depending on time of the year pick out the coat or jacket that you will wear.

I usually hang my outfit up in the bathroom or over my closet door in the picture. Even if I don't do anything else the night before, having an outfit ready to go saves me in the morning.

When do you put together your outfits? On the fly? All at once? Let me know!

Rise and Shine! 5 daily habits for having a better morning

2010-10-24T23:30:00.001-04:00

image credit

This series of blog posts are meant to get me back on track with a good morning routine. I am NOT a morning person. I have never been into getting up early, I will hit snooze until the very last second. Most of my morning routine actually has to be done at night.
I started off strong earlier this semester with setting everything out, that I needed for the morning but lately I have been slipping.
Please feel free to comment at any time or let me know what you do to have a better morning that makes you have a better day!

Happy Birthday to Me!

2010-10-24T08:40:00.000-04:00

My favorite youtube video of all time. Makes me feel good every time I watch it!

Good things to think about no matter what time of the year it is!

Sock Monkey! That Funky Monkey!

2010-10-21T04:00:00.004-04:00

I learned a lot writing this post! I originally wanted to embed a video of Beastie Boys "Brass Monkey". All of the videos that I could find were labeled as explicit or were just plain weird. I had no idea it was a "bad" song. I also didn't know what a brass monkey was. It turns out that it's an alcoholic beverage.

Here is the recipe for Brass Monkey:
1 part Orange Juice
3 parts Olde English Malt Liquor
Mix together in an empty Big Gulp cup as all of the ingredients may be purchased and probably are purchased from 7-11.
So I don't have a really fun video to play but I do have this cute monkey picture

Photo credit: http://lalasworld-.blogspot.com/

As the title promises, this is a tutorial for how to make sock monkeys. This are truly funky sock monkeys. This fall Holly and I saw some sock monkeys made from Virginia Tech socks. They were so cute but so $$$. So last week Holly and I got together to make some sock monkeys out of some patterned socks.
If you would like to craft along you will need the following materials:

One pair of tube socks with a colored toe and heel

Cotton batting for stuffing

Ribbon (optional)

Fabric pen or a marker

Needle and thread

Scissors

Ruler

2 Buttons or 2 ½” googly eyes

Embroidery thread

Sewing machine

Fabric glue (optional)

Instructions:

Note: These are really fun to make but they are tricky to figure out. This is a good picture to look at to figure out what I am talking about!

Tail1. Turn the second sock inside out.2. Lay the sock on its side so the heel and toe are parallel to your stomach. 3. Cut the colored toe off. This will be used as the monkey's hat or will be leftover scrap if you choose not to use the hat.4. Mark a line from the opening at the ankle to the opening at the toe that is 1" from the top of the sock all the way from one opening to the other.5. Make another line with a 1/4" seam allowance below the line from step 12, but this time make it from the opening at the ankle to just above the colored heel.6. Sew a seam down the line curving at one end like you did with the legs.7. Cut between the two seams.8. Turn the tail right side out.9. Fill it full of stuffing.10. Whip stitch the tail onto sock one just above the colored heel.

Arms1. Cut the remaining part of the sock off just above the heel. 2. Draw a vertical line all the way down the center of this piece.3. Stitch two seams 1/4" in from each side of the vertical line curving them to the edge at one end to make hands. 4. Cut between the seams. 5. Turn them right side out.6. Fill with stuffing. 7. Whip stitch the arms onto sock one.

Head1. Wrap embroidery thread around the first sock just above the arms to make a neck. 2. Cut the colored heel off of sock two.3. Whip stitch the heel 3/4 of the way to the face of sock one turning the edges in. 4. Fill with stuffing.5. Whip stitch closed. 6. Sew on button eyes or use fabric glue to attach googly eyes. 7. Using what is left from the foot of sock two cut out four half circles, these will be the ears.8. Sew two of the half circles together inside out most of the way. 9. Fill with stuffing.10. Sew the rest of the way up11. Repeat steps 8-10 from this section for the remaining two half circles.12. Whip stitch the ears to your sock monkey.

Optional Steps:1. Use embroidery thread to sew a mouth onto your sock monkey.2. Take the toe that you cut off of the second sock for a hat. Turn up the outer edges to create a brim.

And we're sewing!

We drew a line with a marker so we could see how far we needed to sew up.

Sewn together monkey legs

Babies love stuffed socks!

I have a bad caption for this but I will refrain! Stuffing the monkey.


Tail waiting to be whip stitched on!

Arms

After sewing on the arms and making a neck by gagging the poor monkey.

Sewing on the heel for a little mouth

Heart eyes and a bow for the little Frenchie Monkey. Holly made this one.

Monkey Love! I made the yellow one. I stitched on a little smile and eyes. So it would be more baby friendly.


My little monkey friend.

As always, when you see good pictures on my blog, they were taken by Holly. We had an fun time making these. I am sort of thinking about making some Halloween monkeys from the cute knee socks Walmart is selling 2 for $5.00.

If you want to take it one step further, check out these cool websites for how to make or buy more sock friends.

The Original Rockford Red Heel Sock Elephant:
http://lennytaylor.freeyellow.com/elephant.htm

Friends of Soctopus:
   http://www.friendsofsocktopus.com/

Super Sockmonkey:
http://www.supersockmonkey.com/

Parties I am linking up with:

Fireflies and Jellybeans

Wild Wednesday! Meet Tia Mia

2010-10-20T01:00:00.003-04:00

Tia Mia is my other Jack Russell. She is 8 lbs of naughty! She is sweet and overly loving but she is determined to get what she wants. She loves sushi. Tia loves to swim. She always draws a crowd when I take her to dog pool parties. She's a tiny dog jumping in the deep end with the big dogs!

At the Windsor Hills Doggie Pool Party

Tia in her Halloween costume. She actually won a costume contest with this get up!

Link up pictures of your pets!

Knock it Off! A Pottery Barn Hack

2010-10-19T08:12:00.002-04:00

A couple of weeks ago I spotted this lamp at the YMCA thriftstore

dangerous cord and flaky brass accents!

I thought that it looked a lot like one of these lamps:

Both pictures from potterybarn.com

I bought the lamp for $5.00! I brought it home and took it apart. I didn't want the brass rod inside, the base was pretty rough and the cord looked old and out of code. I thought that rewiring the lamp would be a lot tricker than it was. I am no expert but it wasn't hard to do. I did all of it by myself but Josh did strip the wires for me. I found this great tutorial video from Howcast.com . I am a visual learner so this really helped. Plus all of the parts that I bought to rewire the lamp had instructions on how to rewire a lighting fixture.

So after the techincal stuff was out of the way, I got to playing with the lamp. I painted the base a dark bronze along with the hardware that goes near the socket. I went around the house trying to find things to fill up the lamp.

This thing is huge! It will hold a 4 creamers and still look empty

cork collection?

Faux fern? I thought it might look too old lady-ish. I wasn't into it.

I ended up deciding with Josh's help that the corks were the best option. I can remove the base later on if I want to change out the items I stuff in there.

Do you have any ideas for things in put in here? Josh already said no to seashells!

Updated: I am linking up to this party! Check it out!

I am linking up with House of Grace for Twice Owned Tuesday

and Today's Creative Blog

Weekend Update! Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-18T08:41:00.000-04:00

This weekend Josh and I went to the Wake Forest v. VT game. VT destroyed Wake Forest. The game was pretty much over before half time. I was cold at the end so we stopped at Starbucks for a pumpkin spice latte on the walk home.
Today Holly and I met up with her friend Carly to take pictures of the babies at the Pumpkin Patch. It was a hot and sunny day out but it was a fun activity to get into the fall spirit! The pumpkin patch had a really sweet petting zoo, behind bars!

My favorite! They didn't want their pictures taken. They wagged their little piggie tails.

Good eats!

These bunnies were HUGE.

Moo!

Oink!

Then we messed around in the pumpkins. We decided to not pay to ride on the wagons pulled by tractors because we are a. cheap & b. needed a workout. Those strollers weren't made for walking around a farm!

Love the twisted stem!

Not my style. Worth $8?

My friend Auden. Who behaved the whole time!

Riner, Virginia

I love seeing Robo Hokie!

After the pumpkin patch we headed over to Wal Mart. I bought supplies to finish up some projects. I finished my lamp FINALLY!

Hope you all had a great weekend! Have a great week!

Happy Fall Y'all!

2010-10-17T06:00:00.000-04:00

Source: http://creativeinspiration.tumblr.com/

Things to think about...

2010-10-16T10:57:00.000-04:00

I am not into Legos but the rest of this manifesto works for me. Maybe I should create my own. You can learn more about the family who created this manifesto here.

Show Us Your Office: My Cubicle

2010-10-15T08:31:00.000-04:00

I don't have a home office but I work in an office 40 hrs a week! I work at Virginia Tech's Graduate Admissions and Academic Progress. I have a little cubicle all to myself! I like to keep it cheerful and fun.

I got this flyer at a speed dating event. The guy was an international student. I hung it up by my desk because it makes me laugh every time I look at it. He's a real catch! He knows what he wants out of a woman. He comes right out and says that you can't be obese but you just have to be beautiful in someone's eyes!

I am addicted to chapstick! I made this little dish by spray painting it bronze and bedazzling it with little rhinestones. Put in your orders now for Christmas!!

More little junky things by my desk.

I am linking up with Kelly's Korner Show us where you live today. Check it out! It's a lot of fun!

Cat Thursday @ The True Book Addict

2010-10-14T11:14:00.001-04:00

Just because it's Thursday and we all need a little something! These are pictures of my ( and Josh's too) kitten Darkness or Lil' D. She isn't this tiny anymore but she's still a cute one! I am linking up to True Book Addict's Link up


My favorite picture of her. She is so crazy it's hard to get a good picture!

For more about my pets check out my Wild Wednesday Link up!

House Tour: VT's The Grove

2010-10-14T08:27:00.000-04:00

When I was looking through my pictures on my computer, I found the pictures from when Janice and I toured the Grove on employee appreciation day. The Grove is the official residence of Virginia Tech's president. It was built in 1902. It has 3 floors and 15,147 square feet. Here's a few pictures from our tour.

Image credit: Virginia Tech website

The wallpaper is hand painted. Love the light fixture.

One of the guest rooms. The house is currently used by high profile guests of the university.

Me on the pot!

2nd floor column detail

My friend Janice and me on the second floor porch.

The white Viking stove of my dreams. My dream house will have this!

Looking into the kitchen. The guy in the middle is the house manager and our tour guide.

Paneled subzero fridge. Awesome!

China closet

butler pantry

Silver set out for our snack!

Silver tea service on the sideboard.

The spread!

Janice waiting her turn in line for the snacks!

We had a great time on the tour. I don't know if we'll ever be back as invited guests or not!

Polyvore Link Up Party

2010-10-13T22:14:00.001-04:00

Have you ever played on Polyvore? You can create look boards for outfits and rooms. It's fun to play and also see what different colors and items look like together!

I created this Jersey Shore look for Holly's Halloween Polyvore Link Up Party. Go visit her site and link up your freaky costume. You could even design a creepy haunted room!

Wild Wednesday- Meet Tre

2010-10-13T01:00:00.000-04:00

Happy Wild Wednesday! Please meet Tre (pronounced tray). Tre is the 1st Jack Russell I have owned. He was my "getting out of the Navy" gift.

He was just too cute to eat!

He is a grump and not always the nicest dog in the world. If you really get to know him, he has a very sweet
heart and just wants to be loved.

He's a great DD!

He loves to run and fetch tennis balls. He enjoys all kinds of food but doesn't eat bread! He howls when people whistle!

This sounds like one of the ads I would write for animals when I interned at an animal shelter! Tre is all mine going to live out his days with me! I have added a linky if you want to add your fun animal link! I would love to see them!

Craig's List Tables

2010-10-12T08:19:00.000-04:00

Sometimes I look through Craig's List to see if there's anything I want. I have a whole apartment crammed with furniture but I still like to look. I saw an ad for these two nightstands.

The top of one (the one on the right) has some bad water damage. I only paid $30.00 for both of these. I am going to use them as end tables in my new living room. At first I thought about painting these white and maybe distressing them but the wood is actually really pretty. It just needs some stain touch ups.

I copied this picture to my files off of flickr. I don't know who it belongs to. Please let me know if you do!

I really like the living room in the picture above. Josh likes dark colors. I don't mind some dark colors but I am more into lighter colors. I really like their white coffee table with the dark leather.

Last week Sherri gave me an awesome tip on where to buy a cheaper bulb for my OTT lamp. Does anyone know this week how to remove watermarks from wood? I have no clue!

I am linking up with House of Grace for Twice Owned Tuesday!

Announcement- Wild Wednesday

2010-10-11T15:00:00.001-04:00

Hi! I am going to start doing a weekly post on Wednesdays about my pets, pet crafts or anything else related to animals. I will post a linky so you can feel free to upload anything animal related that you would like! I would love to meet your pets or see what clever crafts you have made for them! See you back on Wednesday!

What happened this weekend!

2010-10-11T08:26:00.000-04:00

I had planned on finishing my lamp project this weekend but that didn't happen. I went and had awesome Mexican food with some friends who moved to Northern Virginia on Friday, went to the Central Michigan University v. VT football game, went out for dinner again, went to bed really early on Saturday, woke up, did laundry, went to a really neat antique store, had dinner with Josh, went to bed! Here's the pictures that show it all.

This is the only picture I took from the tailgate.

The Corp of Cadets with the canon.

Only picture I got of the fly over!

Hokie Bird was dressed in Pink for breast cancer awareness month.

View of Lane Stadium

A little sneak peak of the cute antique store that Holly and I visited today. We meet two really fun ladies and saw a lot of great items at awesome prices. Holly took really great pictures while I talked and shopped. You can check out more of Holly's photography on her photography blog.

I'll be back later with all the pictures and the whole story on this fun shop!

Kelly's Korner- Show Us Your Kitchen!

2010-10-07T21:36:00.000-04:00

I have had so much fun with Kelly's Show Us Where You Live Link Ups! So many people let such nice compliments. It's a lot of fun looking at what everyone else has going on at their homes!

So here's my kitchen!

My kitchen has a good amount on pink in it. I love the color pink. This apartment is special to me because I picked it out all by myself after my divorce. At 29, I had never lived all by myself. I had a lot of fun picking out whatever I wanted and not having to worry about compromising with another person.

11th month anniversary flowers from Josh.

Dark pic on a really sunny day. Doggie bowls.

I can't wait for the glass top stove at the new house. The burners on my stove are all wonky and I have to prop up the panhandles so things like pancakes will cook evenly!

This is a piece of Laura Ashley fabric tacked up with some push pins and gathered with some safety pins.

I don't like a lot of junk on the front of the fridge but I'll pile it on, on the side. I have my undergraduate school, Old Dominion University and my graduate school Virginia Tech represented on my fridge!

I bought this coffee maker just for me! It only makes 4 cups but that's enough for a single girl like me!

The top shelf is bad news! I am afraid of something falling on me every time I open the pantry!

Thanks for dropping by this week! I can't wait to see other kitchens and get ideas for my new house!

We have been reblogged!

2010-10-07T10:22:00.000-04:00

This morning I got a link that my pictures of the dogs and I had been reblogged on a cute Jack Russell Tumblr site. I hope that the title of the blog doesn't offend anyone. If you like Jack Russells, this is a fun site to look at.

Tiamia is an up and coming fly ball phenom! She has been doing really well at her lessons. Last night she snagged her toenail on something and it was bleeding all over the place. Poor thing is a trooper, she got her foot wrapped and kept going. She was limping this morning when I put her outside. Hope she makes a speedy recovery!

Tia at the dog swim at the Blacksburg Frog Pond pool. Look at those legs!

Deal or No Deal?

2010-10-05T08:29:00.000-04:00

So on Saturday morning (11:30 ish) I was driving by the Blacksburg United Methodist Church. They were having a yard sale at ended at noon. I went in to see what "treasures" they had left. When I walked in the church ladies told me that everything was half off because they were shutting down. They had a lot of junk but then I saw the lamp that I had been searching for! I thought that it had to be this Pottery Barn lamp. It had the price tag of $25.00 on it but it was 1/2 price!

image: Pottery Barn

I flipped the lamp over and it said Ott lamp. I had seen these to Joann's. They're a fancy kind of sewing/crafting lamp. I thought it's even better if it's a fancy crafting lamp. It happens to be this lamp on the Joann's website.

image: Joann's

I did notice when I looked into the lamp shade that the light bulb socket was really odd looking. I didn't think that it was an issue that it took different bulbs. I bought the lamp home and googled OTT light bulbs. So my $139.00 lamp on sale, that I bought for $12.50 only takes $30.00 bulbs! Josh and I went to Lowe's to see if we could find an off brand bulb that would work. We tried 2 that looked like they work but no luck! It all suddenly became clear why someone would give away such a pretty lamp! Does anyone have a source for light bulbs that work with these lamps?

Have you ever seen such a thing?

In my apartment. Please excuse the naked couch! The slipcover was in the wash!

I am linking up to House of Grace's Twice Owned Tuesday. Check it out!

Kelly's Korner- Show us your Dining Room

2010-10-01T07:33:00.000-04:00

I really enjoyed linking up last week with my bedroom. My diningroom is

kind of an after thought in my apartment. Its more of a hallway than an actual room. This area gets a lot of use though. I do homework here, do crafts and eat here when Josh is over.

Close up of top of the desk

The Litte Shepherdess is one of my favorite prints of all time. It's so serene. I keep all of my gift wrapping and misc craft supplies in this desk.

Coocko Clock from Germany. I never wind it up because it's a pain but it's pretty.

Thanks for coming by my blog! Can't wait to click on all of the links!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

2010-09-30T22:04:00.000-04:00

Josh and I have been dating for 11 months today. We started off strong with celebrating all of our monthly anniversaries. Josh totally surprised me by sending me flowers at work for our 6 month anniversary.

Since the six month mark, we have really slipped and stopped even mentioning that another month went by. We are planning on going out to dinner tonight but I wanted to make him a little treat to show him how much I appreciate and love him.

Here is my Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake Recipe or how to throw together some stuff from the store make one!

For this project you will need:

An 8 inch pan, any shape you would like
A batch of chocolate chip cookie dough. You can make it or buy it. I bought mine because it was 8pm when I thought about creating this and I wanted to get to bed at a decent time!
A tube of decorating icing. Again you can make your own.
Sprinkles, chocolate chips, M&M's, go crazy!

Step 1: Press your cookie dough into the pan. I nuked mine (with the metal ends cut off!!!) for one min just to soften it up.

Step 2: Bake according to directions on package. I baked mine at 375 degrees for 11 min. While baking you might want take the time to do your dishes and wipe your counters off. That's how I used my time!.

Step 3: Once cookie cake is done baking let it cool somewhere. I wanted to get to decorating so I put my in fridge for about 45 min.

Step 4: Once cookie is cool it's ready to be "written on". Make sure that your cookie really is cool. If it's warm, the icing will spread everywhere and it won't be pretty! Pipe on whatever you want to say on your cookie cake. 8 inches isn't a lot of room. I thought that I had enough room for "month" but I didn't! Oh well!

Step 5: Decorate with your decorations. If you want your cookie cake to be understated and not too busy, skip this step. I choose to accent my letters with M&M's. Josh loves chocolate. I can do without it just fine. Boys love crafty details so I made sure that I added a little something!

Step 6: Enjoy your chocolate chip cookie cake. I have yet to cut into it yet so I am not sure if you should use a pizza cutter or knife. Any ideas?

Next month will be the big ONE YEAR! We are going to Washington D.C. to attend the Rally to Restore Sanity and hang around the city!

Fall Table Decor- Nesting Place Fall Mantel Party

2010-09-29T08:10:00.000-04:00

Because I don't have a mantel to load knick knacks on, I am linking up pictures of my Fall table decor for the big party! This is sort of a repost of a previous Fall table decor post, I posted. I added a couple more pics for the link up.

This is the table right when you walk into my apartment. I try to just keep pretty things on this table. I throw junk, keys and other things elsewhere.

I keep my shoes in a basket underneath the table, along with my CD player/Radio. Those cords need to be wrangled.

Desktop in diningroom. I not crazy about this but it will change pretty soon when I put out the Halloween decor.

Close up of "pretty pumpkin" I think that my Mom bought it from Kohl's. So pretty and it stays out until the Christmas Decor goes up. I spray painted some old books. You have to check out Tracy's post about this on her blog.

I pulled an old lamp apart and I have been playing around with putting different things in it. Come back later on for hopefully an awesome Pottery Barn hack!

Thanks for dropping by my apartment! Can't wait to see everyone's fall table and mantel decor!

Something New for an Old Frame

2010-09-26T12:20:00.000-04:00

I bought this old chippy frame about a year ago. It was only $5.00. The thrift store that it came from will put a $2 sticker on something that still has the Dollar Tree sticker on! So this was an amazing find. I had big plans to turn it into it giant chalkboard. Its 2 ft by 3 ft so it's a good size. I went to Lowe's and had some wood cut to go in it. I had to dig through a bunch of pieces to find one that wasn't warped too bad. The board that I used turned out to be warped and it never fit into the frame all that well. I used glue dots, hot glue, nails
So the frame sat empty for a couple of months until I saw this idea over at Jones Design Company. She used a canvas but I thought that I could use a big moving box. The box was just big enough.

I don't measure or do a lot of math in my life. I just sort of traced out how big I needed the cardboard and cut it with a box cutter. I did all of this on carpet. Maybe not the best idea but I didn't mess anything up!

Then I cut out pages out of some old books with an exacto knife. I just kind of lined them up to cover the cardboard. You could do it messier or artsy-er but I didn't want it too busy. I always use cheap-o brushes when I use Modge Podge. I could only find a tiny brush so most of podge was applied by me pouring it on the cardboard and dragging the pages through the puddle and then placing them where I wanted. I got pretty good coverage with this method. I also tucked some newpaper behind my project to protect the carpet.

I am smooth like Keith Stone so the project came out great of course! I did layer some pages with cute drawnings on top of the other larger pages.

I used the shiney or I think they call it "luster" Modge Podge. I like the light shine to it. I think that it turned out pretty cute. A lot better than staring at a blank wall while we eat! I think that I will layer wreaths and other junk on top of this later on.

Holly Anne Photography

2010-09-26T12:13:00.000-04:00

My friend Holly was having a photoshoot with a real model and I crashed the shoot! She graciously took pictures of my dogs and I. Most of what I know about modeling has come from Tyra Banks but I am mainly self taught! The dogs weren't really into the photo session but it was still a lot of fun. Thank you Holly for taking pictures of my babies and me! Check out Holly's photography at her blog.