autumn day dreams

Don't judge me. Yes, it's not even the middle of August and I'm already thinking about fall. Yes, I know the temperature probably won't even dip below 70 degrees [but the humidity will be gone, hollerrr!] Yes, I know that the official first-day-of-fall is more than a month away. And yes, I know that picture is blurry but it's before I knew how to use a camera.

I.don't.care.

I'm so excited, I want to talk about it NOW. For the last 3 weeks, I've purchased something every time I wandered into Goodwill with my fall tablescape/mantel in mind. Sue me. I love it :)

The first fall I had my very own abode, we were living in the cutest apartment ever, The Boy had just gotten laid off and we lacked the dolla dolla billz. I got that wreath for $7 at HomeGoods, splurged on a Yankee Candle and called it good. The second fall, we were in the middle of moving and I don't even remember the leaves turning. And now here we are: settled, semi-stable and in loooove with this Charleston rental. I have my very first dining room table. I have my very first front porch. I have my very first [legit] craft room. We are in for a wild ride.

I'm forcing myself to wait until September 1 to break out the big [hot glue] guns, but I'm saving my mad money for a trip to Hobby Lobby to rack up on the goods. [!!!!!!!!!] In preparation, here's some inspiration I've been eyeing for the last few weeks:

How cute are these? You could totally coordinate your entire table with just a few stamps. Love it.

One of my most favorite things about our house is our front porch. This would look A-dorable out there.

I'm totally copying this. Every single part of it.

Purple, is that you? YOU can decorate with my favorite color appropriately!!

Easy peasy. Are you kidding me? I love how subtle it is. Perfect for the handful [read: 8] pieces of glass candleware I've purchased in the last few weeks.

I'm DYING. The littlebittycutielittle acorns are SO me.

All of that wonderfulness comes straight from the Hostess with the Mostess. Thanks, Marty.

[You're the meaning in my life, you're the inspiraaaation]

Totally kidding. Sort of.

repurposed: t-shirts to shopping bags

You know I'm all about saving a buck. And the environment. But I'm also about making my life easier. I'd be lying if I said that the reason I wanted to make these bags was because I'm earth friendly and want to decrease my carbon footprint. That's part of it, but it's really just an added benefit. What I really wanted to do was get rid of those ever-loving grocery bags stashed in my laundry room. Sure you need them occasionally for mini-trash cans or something, but really...do I need eleventy billion of them? No. And do I remember to recycle them at the grocery store? No. Also, they're hanging above Rudy's food bowl and one day they shifted and it scared the BEJEEZUS out of him and it took several seconds for his little paws to gain traction on the floor to high-tail it out of there. Then it took him three days to eat in there without company/protection. THAT was funny. But not worth the collection.

And I digress. Bottom line: I hate plastic grocery bags.

I saw this in blog land somewhere, a long long time ago. Now that I'm semi-comfortable with a sewing machine, I decided to give it a go. It's so easy, I really might turn all of our t-shirts into shopping bags. Take that, bag boy. I don't need your stinkin' annoying bags. Paper or plastic? How about cotton? Thankyouverymuch.

First, turn the shirt inside-out and cut out the sleeves and collar.

You'll only be sewing along the bottom of the shirt, so pin it. Or don't, whatevs.

[PS: every single one of the shirts I used was from Carolina (the REAL Carolina). Every one was from a Campus Crusade Hoe Down. It's easy to figure out a couple's history by looking in their t-shirt drawer, eh??]

Oh, and make sure you have good company. Here's Rudiger thinking, "This bag looks a lot less scary than those other bags."

Once you sew those babies up, you're ready to go! Your arm holes are the straps!

Eaaaaaaaasy day.

And yes, I know there's a plastic bag INSIDE the tshirt bag in the picture above. That's only because the blueberry lady at the farmer's market looked at me funny each time (x3) that I told her I didn't need a bag. So I took it anyway. And it's too small to do anything with, of course.

But the organic man said my bag was "really cool." We're besties now.

weekend recap: thrifty findings

This beautiful little southern town we've recently found ourselves in is crawling with thrift and antique stores. I love it. Our Saturday morning has turned into this: breakfast, coffee-to-go, the farmer's market and thrifting. We'll do a quick run [not literally, let's be honest] through the neighborhood looking for any yard sales and then we'll busy ourselves with chores around the house. Or just opt to enjoy the sunshine in downtown Charleston [Chaaaaalston]. If the Navy owns my husband for 60+ hours during the work week, it just means we have more reason to play hard on the weekend. Right? Right.

So what's better than thrifting? Thrifting in a store that's going out of business and has everything marked 70% off. It was AMAZING. I give myself about $20 every weekend and once it's gone, it's gone. But boy did I stretch it this week :)

As a bonus, my sister-in-law was in town and I couldn't wait to introduce her to my habit hobby. And let me just tell you, she can hang with the best of them. We'd been in the store 5 minutes and she said, "Just so you know, I've already staked my claim on those [beautiful McCoy pottery] bowls and those yellow plates. So don't get any ideas." Girl after my own heart.

Here's how I racked up:

Warning: Shield your children from the picture below.

I've been looking for a chunky picture frame to turn into a tray for my soon-to-be constructed ottoman. Little did I know that the perfect frame would come with the most terrifying picture.

He's been face-down since the second I put him in the cart. I'm not kidding. He's propped up in my craft room right now, facing the wall. I can't wait to cut that creeper out.

These wooden candlesticks set me back a whopping $0.33.

Not pictured: a beautiful silk tie [never been opened] and a CD for the boy and some great glassware that I plan to use for holiday decor [yes, it's the first week of August and I'm planning for Thanksgiving/Christmas].

Now ladies, brace yourselves for the score of the century. I actually said, "Omigosh, score of the CENTURY" when I spotted this across the room:

Cue the hallelujah chorus. This picture doesn't do it justice, but it's a GORGEOUS gray wool Kate Spade tote and it's in great condition. You guys...I only paid $4.50 for it. Eeeeks!! That makes me so happy. I can't wait for the appropriate season to rock.it.out.

Also not pictured [because it's already in the garage waiting to be painted and I was too lazy to go take a picture] is an adorable old window that has the PERFECT weathered look. I'm not quite sure what I want to do with it, but I'm thinking I'll put pics behind the panes of glass and hang it in the guest bedroom. Pics like this:

That's from our stroll downtown on 4th of July weekend. Love it.

That about does it! Oh and the best part? I only spent $15 :) Hollerrrrrr.

I'm linking it up to support a fellow blogger today. This lady keeps me laughing all.the.time.

poor girl's pizza

Y'all. I love pizza. There was a Mellow Mushroom near my office back home (not that this isn't home, but you know what I mean) and I would seriously eat there every day if it didn't cause tremendous amounts of health guilt. Every day, I'm not kidding. And I like just cheese and pepperoni, that's how bad I am. No veggies, just good ole kill-you-in-a-minute pepperoni.

Nowadays, thanks to my lifesaver (literally) Michael Pollan and his rock-my-world book AND because of this whole budget thing, pizza is not often on the menu. At least not the kind that comes conveniently to the door in the arms of a cute college boy. So what's a girl to do when she gets a hankerin' for some pizza? Make one, duh.

This recipe is for Margherita Pizza, made with farm-fresh tomatoes, mozzarella cheese and basil from my very own pot out front. And it's made with a homemade crust - good for you and easy as pie (no pun intended. Ok, maybe a little bit). So here goes:

For the crust:

3 cups all-purpose flour/bread flour

2 teaspoons dry yeast (instant active)

2 teaspoons kosher or sea salt

1 cup water (more as needed)

2 tablespoons EVOO

• Combine the first three ingredients. Add water and oil and mix for about 30 seconds, adding more water a bit at a time until the mixture forms a ball and is a bit sticky to the touch.
• If it's too dry, add a splash or two of water, mix for 10 more seconds and repeat…until it's sticky to the touch.
• Turn the dough onto floured work surface and knead by hand for a few second to form a smooth, round ball. Put it in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and leave it to rise (1-2 hours, until it’s doubled in size)
• When the dough is ready, form it into a ball and let it rest about 20 minutes.

I made this in my breadmaker, which made things even easier, but the most involved part if you don't have one is to knead it. No too shabby. Now for the good stuff:

• Flatten out the dough onto a baking sheet, to the desired thickness. Brush with olive oil.
• Add: two diced tomatoes, as much mozz. cheese as your heart desires and about 10 leaves of fresh basil, or more if you're obsessed. (yummmm)
• I sprinkled a bit of pepper and garlic powder, but that's your call.
• Bake at about 425 degrees for 10-15 minutes, until the crust is golden and the cheese is melted and it SMELLS DELICIOUS.

• 

Papa who??

what's my style again?

I have to tell you something.

I'm fickle when it comes to decorating. For realz. My style from house to house has been completely different. I guess because (a)
it's a blank slate and (b) the houses have been SO different and (c) we're renting (thanks, Navy!) so we can't do anything permanent, like paint. That gives you a license to be even more creative, don't you think?

But really, I don't even know how to define my style. That chair? LOVE.IT. It's vintage, it's curvy, it's turquoise for cryin' out loud. And I found it on a blog called Big Daddy Seashell. Hellooo, what's not to love? But it wouldn't go with anything in any.single.room in my house. NOTHING I have would go with this chair. And yet, there it is. Beautiful and pulling on my heart strings.

The funny thing is, if you showed me the fabric that ties my living room together, I would be like "uuummm, no. That's not me AT ALL." Because I'm fickle, and I don't know what I want. But looking at it in there, so cute and traditional and modern, all at the same time and I absolutely adore it. So what gives? Why do I like things that aren't reflected in the style that I thought I loved?

Here's what I do know:

I love bold things, like this awesome painting, but I'm not quite brave enough to pull it off in my own home. And I don't know if it's what I really want to define my style.

I'm easily inspired and love a design that can be tweaked to take on a different feel. White, white, white....you are my friend.

I live with a boy who wouldn't appreciate it if I decorated with my real favorite color. (Sigh)

But listen. As I've been working through this in my most recent abode, I've finally defined my style: modern traditional. Sounds boring, doesn't it? It's not cottage-inspired, it's not vintage, it's not shabby chic or french country. It's modern traditional. And that's okay! Page, it's okay that your style is modern traditional. That's just who you are. And it means I can spice it up with little pieces of flair in unexpected ways - little glimpses of the other styles I like that don't necessarily require transforming the whole room.

Am I right, or am I right?

PS: This totally turned into a "you go, girl" post and that was not my intention. Just do what you want - you pick up what I'm puttin' down?

PPS: All those other pics are from IKEA, because who doesn't get inspired by IKEA? Except for the purple bedding, which is from Crate and Barrel. I've wanted it foreva-eva. Maybe that could be the inspiration for my next guest bedroom?

lighten up: bookshelf backdrop

Ok, two things to tell you:

One, after living in this house for two months, I almost have the living room complete. Cue the Hallelujah chorus.

Two, I have had a recent obsession with brightening

things up. I don't know why, but I want everything in my house to be white, white, white. Light, light, light.

In our living room, I have a shelf that holds the collection of knicky-knacky things that I love too much not to display. A pair of Korean ducks that a friend gave us as a wedding gift while he was teaching in South Korea. An antique bird cage that my mom bought me for my birthday. Hand-bound family recipes (OLD ones) from The Boy's aunt. Our wedding verse, written in Chinese, from my maid of honor while she was living overseas. Okay, maybe it's a shelf for our international wedding gifts, but whatevs. You get the general idea.

The problem is that most everything on the shelf is dark and wooden. And the shelf is dark and wooden. And I felt depressed when I looked in that corner because you CAN'T SEE ANYTHING. Darkness...uuuggghhh, I hate you.

This picture may not look that bad, but it really is. It was sad. So what's a girl to do? I'm all about sprucing things up, but sometimes I don't want it to be too permanent in case I change my mind later, which I almost certainly will. In that case, paint wouldn't do. Fabric? Only I didn't want to glue/staple it on, because of that whole "nothing too permanent" rule. And then I found a piece of posterboard. Cha-ching! Perfect.

I just cut the posterboard to the exact size of the inside of the bookshelf, covered it with some fabric and glued the edges down along the back (xoxo spray craft glue!). Then I inserted it into my bookshelf. The individual shelves hold it against the back, so there's no need to attach it. Nifty, eh?

Much better. Also - totally by accident, the fabric is almost identical to the wall color. I wasn't sure if I'd like that, but it flows so much better. Your eye doesn't get caught on a busy fabric or a contrasting paint color, it just shows off my beauties!

before and after: kitchen island/hutch

I love, love, love a good before and after. I'm just warning you now, there may be a lot of these :)

Right before Andrew and I got married, we got a Target gift card at a shower and bought this:

Looking back, I wish I'd known the joy that comes from hunting for something like this at yard sales, but alas I did not. And it's served us well. As we've bounced around from small kitchen to small kitchen, it's held microwaves, cookbooks, linens and random pieces of kitchen necessities that didn't have a home.

When we moved into our current place (which we L-O-V-E) I had all of my cookbooks lined up on the counter in the corner. It was fun for a while, then it started to drive me nuts.

Clutter. Domino-effect. Clutter. Cooking grime on the spines. CLUTTER.

So I consulted my ever-faithful island and asked what it could for me this time. And this time, I saw it in a different light. What if it held the cookbooks on top, WITHOUT having to be precariously placed to keep from falling over? Oooooh, carpenter, where aaaare you? :)

Enter: The Boy. The greatest, cheapest carpenter and rigger-upper there ever was. We found some scrap wood at the Habitat Restore for about $1 (for realz) and he whipped up a shelf to sit on top. A few coats of white paint to make it look like one piece and I'm in love..

Oh brother, that plate on top isn't centered. But other than that, isn't it so great?? I haven't been able to stop saying, "I just love that!" since I got it set up. That's a fun feeling.

Much to my surprise, the original hardware looks great. I've had my eye on these beauties for a while, but at $18 each, I'm pretty sure they're not in the budget. Oh well, it's still dreamy :)