fall makes everything better

The good news is, I work from home. So unless I run out to check the mail or water the plants, I won't know that it's 92 degrees outside. This might be the exact definition of denial. Perhaps. Don't care :)

The fall decorations couldn't have come out at a better time. There's this "thing" I have in my foyer that's been an eyesore since we moved in. It's a beautiful piece of furniture, but it just wasn't working for the space. Do you ever have pieces like that? And to complicate things even more, it's a family piece so it can't [read: Hubs doesn't want it to] be painted or altered in anyway. It just needed some light sprucing. Buuuut, every time I thought about it I was like mmm don't feel like it. Thanks for asking. Maybe next time.

Then it happened. Labor Day Weekend. And I was like wait, what? I need somewhere to put my bowl full of acorns? Okay! You see where I'm going with this? I figured you might :)

The task at hand:

See how I thought it would be okay as long as SOMETHING was on top. Pitful.

Step 1:

Get hype.

Step 2:

Prep the materials: burlap ($2/yd), Dollar Tree pumpkins (spray painted white), candle thingies (Goodwill finds + superglue) and ball thingies ($2/each with a Pier 1 gift card)

Step 3:

Fluff up your wreath and salvage the frame from the Clown Incident.

Step 4:

[sigh]

Oh, glorious day :)

Hooray for Fall! Link up to the party at The Inspired Room!

(long) weekend recap: family and food

That just about sums it up.

We visited my folks up in NC for the long weekend - which included lots of home cooking with my dad's garden veggies, lots of chatting with my mom, lots of sweet time with my baby brother who came home from college and of course, lots of football.


I am beat. Completely exhausted from staying up late to laugh with the fam, traveling and then rushing to get some Fall decorations up this evening. Not because I had to, but because I'm that crazy. And who wants to waste a day of potential Fall goodness? And who cares if it was 90 degrees outside today? NOT ME, to both of those questions.


So, listen. I'm going to let you in on a little secret. I love lists. Grocery lists, to-do lists, quote lists, idea lists, book lists, etc. Anything in bulleted format makes my heart go a little haywire. That being said, here are three things worth mentioning about this weekend:

1. Fall is really, really on it's way. The leaves are starting to blush and I can't stand it. I'm so happy. Charleston, SC summers? Ick.
2. You peeps are creative. I leave for three days and come back to a brand new stash of inspiration. You and you and you were my favorites.
3. I laugh at the "boutiques" that charge $72 for a "vintage" child's rocking chair. Excuse me, I see its unfinished twin in the back of the store. Your labor to paint it red does not cost $72. Nor does sanding it down make it vintage. I could do that myself for $5. Please and thank you.

That is all.

I hope you all had a wonderfully relaxing weekend. As for this week...here's to kicking off Fall, in full force :)

labor day

Here's to the last of the lazy days.

Here's to a touch of crispness in the air while you enjoy after-dinner conversation.

And to football [and the yummy foods that make the game seem that much more fun].

Here's to browns and golds and reds and yellows.

And to the first of the fallen acorns.

And the sprinkle of yellow on the trees that line our drive to see sweet family.

I hope it's blessed and enjoyed.

Happy Labor Day :)

stay at home lunchies

When I made the shift to working from home a few months ago, one of the things I was most excited about was being able to eat whatever I want better. I tried to do the leftover thing when I was in the office, but more often than not, my sweet husband's "pre-dinner snack" was usually my lunch for the following day. So I reverted to frozen meals as the quick and easy substitute.

Now that my commute is just a few steps down the hall, I like the flexibility of being able to eat more balanced meals. I've gone from a box of cereal in my desk to homemade breakfast burritos. And instead of raiding the vending machine at 3pm for M&Ms, I'm munching on fruit.

Except for today, when I had a piece of cake. But that's neither here nor there and I was busy and frustrated and I do what I want so just leave me alone, k? :)

But my FAVORITE [have I really been rambling about food? Yes. Yes, I have.] stay at home meal of the day is lunch. Because of this little yummy that I concocted.

I call it the BATM. Bacon. Avocado. Tomato. Mayo.

Because avocado is my favorite fruit.

And bacon makes everything better.

And a layer of Dukes is like southern nectar of the gods.

Happy Friday. And Happy BATM.

diy dry erase board

Let me give you some background on that hubby of mine. He's an officer in the Navy, training to be on submarines - at the Naval Nuclear Power Training Command.

Did you check out just then? Because it's alright if you did, it's hard not to :) Basically, because I have bragging rights as his trophy wife, I'll say this: he's uber smart and is in school all day to get smarter.

The other day, he came home and asked if we had any extra dry erase boards. Not exactly something I have an abundance of, but I aim to please. Turns out, he draws a lot of diagrams in class and is tired of wasting paper [adorable] so he thought it would be nice to have a small dry erase board instead.

When he says diagrams, I see this:

But I'm thinking it might be a little more advanced than that.

I digress. Somewhere in blogland, I read about turning picture frames into dry erase boards. Makes sense, right? I've written on mirrors with dry erase markers, so why not glass? I have a stash of these guys that I scooped up at Target [for no good reason] and they looked just right for the part...

At only $3/each, thankyouverymuch.

All I did was frame a white sheet of paper. I mean, really? Does it get any easier?

[Something tells me the note of encouragement wasn't there when he took it in this morning.]

So what about me? Don't I deserve a cute version? Why of course :)

Old frame + scrap fabric [neutral, of course] + scrapbook letters + ribbon + clothespins [for holding receipts and stuff]

Ta-da! Cutie little dry erase board!

Note to self: buy ground mustard, apple juice, cumin and cheddar cheese. Who ARE we??

Oh and don't forget the craft room...

Look out, friends and family everywhere. You may or may not be getting one of these in your stocking this year.

I'm linking up with the Fine Craft Guild :)

googler reader is my friend

That picture, however, is NOT. Just go with it :) I've been blogging for a while, but it was only in the last several months that I discovered the great world beyond the "family update" blog. But inevitably, every time I found a blog, I lost it. I couldn't remember what it was called or how I got there. Then I discovered why "following" someone was actually a good thing. See the little faces over there to the left, under "Why can't we be friends?" That's the Google Follower contraption. This is probably no news to you mega bloggers out there [who aren't even reading this] but it's news to me!

Every time I follow someone and they post something new, they pop up in my Google Reader feed. LOVE. Because I'm OCD, I categorize all my blogs - decorating, crafts, cooking, friends, family, general musings. And it's how I start my morning. Breakfast, check. Coffee, check. Blog roll, check. It makes me positively giddy to see what all you lovely ladies are up to on a day to day basis. And now I don't forget anyone!

So that's my word-o-wisdom for the day. I was feeling some special love toward The Google today and wanted to pass it along. Free of charge :)

So go! Follow! Discover the happiness that is cyber-stalking.

Oh, the joys of the good ol' internet.

diy ottoman

Gratuitous living room pics, coming right up :)

As you may or may not remember, I recently revealed my new and improved living room. [I'll stop bragging in a minute or two, don't you worry.] For the record, I have loved every single corner of this room. While I've waited for my office to be finished, I've been working from our dining room table, facing the living room. And I smile.all.day because it's just so happy. I lovelovelove it. Is it okay to be this mushy, gushy over something you did? Is that arrogant? I sure hope not, because I can't stop :)

Anywhoey, when I first posted those pics, a few peeps wanted to know how I constructed the ottoman/coffee table. Allow me to demonstrate...

Supplies

• Wood for the top, cut to desired size. I used MDF and it's 35x35.
• Legs: I scored some scrap banisters from the Habitat Store and we cut them down to size. And by that, I mean The Boy cut them down to size. I read somewhere that the top of your coffee table should be slightly shorter than the seat of your couch [2 inches shorter, maybe?] so we followed that rule when measuring.
• L-brackets
• Foam
• Fabric
• STAPLE GUN!!

Position the foam on top of the wood and cover with fabric - pull it super, duper tight and staple it along the bottom side. Paint your legs and once they're dry, you're ready to attach them to the top. We had square legs and on all four sides of each leg, attached an L-bracket. Then you can screw the L-bracket into the bottom of the tabletop to attach the legs. I need to paint over the brackets, so they don't stand out as much, but that's for another day.

Does that make sense? Probably not, but it might make sense once you get it all laid out. I hope so, because I didn't take pics of that part :)

See? Isn't it pretty? And that cutie little tray is DIY, too. Remember this creepy little guy?

Well, he's broken. When I was taking him out to burn him, the frame shattered. Probably because it was framed in 1978 and fragile. So I robbed an old poster of its frame and did what I set out to do in the first place. Just paint the frame, frame a piece of fabric and you're done, sir, done!

And what did I do with our original coffee table, you ask?

It's greeting guests in our foyer, thanks to a World Market run. I'm not sure how I feel about those pillows just yet, but go with it. Maybe I'll cover them with (sshhh!!) Fall fabric :)