November GOALS!

Since I JUST posted about my late September and October goals I figured I should set some goals for November.   Here are some things I hope to accomplish...


1.  Paint the kitchen!  This is a HUGE job that will take some mullah for paint and supplies... SO, if I cant finagle it this month then I will scale down my goal and paint the downstairs bath instead!


2.  Continue collecting plates for my plate wall.  I have 7 now... need about 7 or 8 more  before they can go up.


3.  Make a picture wall in my family room... I'm thinking something like these...  just not sure if I should go with all 1 color frame like black or white OR if I should mix it up and use black, white, silver, gold... what do you all think? 

Source: Nuestra Vida Dulce

Source: Young House Love

That's it!  I think November is going to be a uber busy month with family and shopping and cooking so I am keeping my goals to a minimum. 

What are your goals for November? 

Carolyn

Goal Update!

First of all-- HAPPY HALLOWEEN everyone!

K..now that the formalities are out of the way lets get to business.  Time to figure out if I was successful in meeting my September/October goals or if I fell flat on my face and failed miserably.  Lets take a look shall we?

Here were the goals that I set on September 20th... i.e. 6 weeks ago. 

1. Find a table to go between these living room chairs... 

2. Fall up my front stoop

3. Revive my coffee table that looked like this...

4.  Maintain my weight loss

5.  Make some art- a la Young House Love.

Here is the low down on how I did...

1.  GOAL: Find a table to go between my living room chairs. How did I do?  Well I will tell you... I FAILED miserably.  Lets be real though people, if the thrift store doesn't have anything then I am out of luck.  Still on the search.

2.  GOAL:  Fall up my front stoop.  Well you all know that I was successful here!  Look at my pretty after:  

3.  GOAL:  Revive my coffee table.  MAJOR success!  Take a look at the before pic above and at the after below...  I am a smitten kitten. 

4.  GOAL: Maintain weight loss.  Not sure after this Halloween weekend but as of a few days ago I had maintained!

5.  GOAL: Make some art like Young House Love did.  Massive Fail.  I promise it wasn't based on my effort... I tried to follow the directions but I could never get the cute little cut out "T" large enough to fill more than a 3x5 frame.  For some reason me and directions do not mix at all! 

So basically out of 5 goals I was successful in 3 of them and I failed miserably at two of them..

BUT to look at the much brighter side here are ALL the other things I accomplished during those 6 weeks...

1.  Updated a dresser

2.  Made a new little jewelry holder from a $2.00 thrift store find

3.  Painted my front door!

4.  Updated my Mantel for Halloween

5.  Made some art

Hope you all had a BUSY and productive month!

Carolyn

copy-cat dresser

I tend to like the word borrowed more than stole... but to be perfectly honest I flat out stole this idea from one of my FAVORITE Blogs, Young House Love!

Let me back up a wee bit... remember how incredibly excited I was to find this thrift store dresser a few weeks back for 10 tiny dollars??

Well, I was!  I knew I wanted to do something special with her but wasn't really sure what that would be...so I took to my computer and started to get ideas from some of my favorite blogs.  That's when I found Sherry and Jon's re-make of "almost" the same dresser.  Here is their after pic...

NOT MINE:)  Inspiration from Young House Love!

I probably shouldn't have posted that picture cause lets be honest, mine is not even close to that good... so go ahead and lower your standards a little bit.  A little bit more.  K.  Here is my re-make...

So after looking over my cheap-o dresser I decided that the veneer was too thin to sand and paint...so I had to move to option 2: spray paint.  I love me some spray paint but lets be real...espresso is a hard color to grasp from paint.  Regardless, I picked up some Rustoleum spray paint in espresso and got to work.  After sanding and a few coats this is what I ended up with:

Shiny, huh?  So, is it the same as the inspiration piece?  Not exactly...but the brown is close--just missing the pretty wood grain.  Once it dried I moved onto the white top.  Here it is after three coats:

Sorry for the odd yellow-ish pictures... I cant decide if its my camera or if it is because I am taking pictures at night and using lamps for light (KATE--- a little advice please).  

So... what do you think?  Not spot on but a close replica right?!?  :) For about $20.00 total this was a makeover that was def worth it to me! 

She is currently sitting in our guest bedroom, which is in need of some TLC.  With the dresser done I am ready to tackle the rest....moving onto a fun comforter, some wall art, and some accessories.  Stay tuned:) 

Carolyn

a place for my jewels

Look at what I found last week at the thrift store... this ugly little thing...
I am guessing it is a "catch-all" or jewelry holder---at least that is what I am going to use it for!

It was only $2.00 so I figured I would take it home and add a little spray paint action to it.   LOVE it!  Now I have another spot to put the jewelry that I wear on a somewhat regular basis... She's pretty right? 

Love a 5 minute project that costs nearly nothing AND helps to organize things:) 


Carolyn

Bentley

My little Bentley is having oral surgery tomorrow (Tuesday)... wish him luck!!!

Carolyn

foodie

Why do I insist on torturing myself?  I am a eater... a no joke, lets get down to business eater. I am one of those girlie's that thinks about food... all. the. time.  I always need to know when my next meal is coming and what it will be. Its an obsession really.  SO why is it that I insist on watching a full hour and a half of "the best thing I ever ate" on the food network?  My mouth is salivating right now.  stupid TV. 

Just cause I think its important... I want you all to know what I consider to be good eats.  Besides the obvious choice of bread and pasta, here are my favorite guilty eats...

1.  Fried Oreo's from any fair or random stand.  They are the most ridiculous, yummy, scrumptious little heavenly packets of food ever.  This is my latest obsession:)
2.  Guapos three taco meal.  Its to DIE for... but you gotta get a side of friend yucca to make it legit.
3.  Most cupcakes (lemon or chocolate) or a lemon pie
4.  Tony's cheese pizza
5.  Artichoke dip.. I gotta say I make a mean one but I kindof prefer the one from Costco...it's seriously delish.

Ok... Im heading to bed before I ruin my diet or embarass myself any further.  


Carolyn 

sneaking a peak

Someone was a busy bee this weekend (me... )!  Here is a little sneak peak of the sheer excitement that is coming your way this week...

• Remember my $10.00 dresser find?  You are going to see what she looks like when her braces come off and the make-up goes on (laugh.. it was funny). 

• You will also meet my new little jewelry organizer that I got at my fav thrift store

• AND... cause that's not exciting enough you will find out how I did on my mid September and October GOALS!

See you all back here soon!

Carolyn

come and knock on our door...

Was that a cop out?  Did you expect more from me?  Sure I am a clever girl but the obvious blog title won out this time.  I mean...this post is about our front door... it really was the clear choice, you cant blame me, really you cant!  Here were the other contenders..i.e. the runners up that didn't quite make it to the prestige of my blog title... "black beauty" (eh?) or what about "the shining"--see its funny cause my new front door is really shiny... ok...moving on...

Ahh... well, the nod to three's company won out and I am going to finally get to the point:)  I painted our front door! I was not loving the maroon door that we currently had and was pining for a shiny black door to match our shutters.  Here is a old pic...

Nothing that a can of glossy black door paint cant fix!  Here we are after two hours of sanding and painting...

Isn't she pretty?!?!?!  She is just so shiny and glossy and pretty!  What a difference a can of paint can make!

Carolyn

The Proposal

Guess what today is?  Me and my hubby's three year wedding anniversary! I thought in light of the occasion I would share the story of our proposal!  

Get ready---I am loooooong winded!  BUT I promise the story is very sweet...a little sad...but very sweet :-)

The Background

Dan and I met during our sophomore year in college and became friends during our junior year- we didn't actually go to the same school but we went to schools that are really close together and ended up meeting at a friends party.  We were friends.  Just friends.  No joke. I know everyone says it but this is the honest to goodness truth.  There was no funny business here…just really good friends!  After graduating college in 2002 we stayed really close--always talking on the phone and hanging out- again still friends:)  In 2003 all that changed when we went camping and Dan decided to kiss me RIGHT after kissing another girl- classy right?  We spent the next year trying to figure out what we were..friends?  More than friends?  At some point in 2003 we got our act together and started dating.  After 4 years of dating I was ready to have a  big fat shiny diamond on my hand.  

Fast forward to Christmas eve 2006.  Dan and I had our normal ritual of driving around to look at Christmas lights, opening presents, and then heading to my moms to spend the night on Christmas eve.  I was almost 100% sure that he was going to ask.  He HAD to.  I was actually SO sure that I bought him a Movado watch cause I figured if I got a diamond he should get a good gift too.  Ahh..silly girl.    So anyways- we went out looking at Christmas lights and I was ready.  I knew he was going to ask me as we drove around..I mean, it was the most perfect scene and every moment that he looked at me I was thinking.. "OMG!!  This is it".  It didn't happen. So then we drove back to our townhouse to open presents.  This was my next opportunity and I was ready. He gave me a few gifts and then pulled out a small little box from behind the tree.  This WAS my moment.  I knew it!!!  I carefully unwrapped the paper to find a small black box…a ring box…MY ring box.  I took a deep breath and opened the box up- tears in my eyes… and found…

Diamond earrings.  Earrings.  Not a ring, earrings.  I was crushed.  I know it sounds crazy...who wouldn't want diamond earrings?  I'll tell you who...a girl who is expecting a diamond ring!  I put my big girl panties on and said thank you--mustered a little bit of excitement and then went outside, called my friend and cried.  

The Proposal

We headed to my moms house and spent the night.  We were driving to his parents first thing in the morning and then going back to my moms for Christmas afternoon with my entire family.  We got up pretty early, got dressed and were about to head out.  Dan was in our family room watching TV and asked me to watch something real quick.  I ran down stairs and went to sit in my dads recliner chair when I saw a gift there.  It was a medium sized box so I pushed it aside and sat down.  Dan walked over, pulled the gift that I was now half sitting on and said, "this is for you".  For me?  I was confused.  It was early, sheesh!  So anyways I really wasn't thinking... I opened the gift quickly and pulled out a stuffed animal cow.  Oh my goodness THIS WAS MY MOMENT.  Dan got down on one knee and asked me to be his wife. 

The Significance of the Cow

To truly understand the importance of the cow I have to take you back to 1999 (or 2000...Chrissy, when did you get married??).  Anyways-- In 1999ish my now-brother-in-law Brian proposed to my oldest sister Chrissy.  Throughout the engagement my daddy used to joke that he wanted a equal trade for my sister---a cow like the olden days.  So at the rehearsal dinner Brian stood up and told the group that he had a gift for my dad in "exchange" for Chrissy.  My dad opened the BIGGEST stuffed animal cow you have ever seen.  He was tickled pink.  He thought it was the funniest thing ever:)  I love that memory...

Fast forward to May 2, 2003- the day my dad was diagnosed with esophageal cancer.  Now in  an effort to make this the happy posting that I would like to it be I will spare you details but just want to throw in that my dad was the BEST dad in the entire world.  I know many say it--but it is the gods-honest truth.  Anyways--back to the COW.  Almost 9 months to the day that he was diagnosed my dad passed away.  Before he passed away my sister Katie's boyfriend, Jason came over one night with a backpack on and asked to talk to my dad alone.  We all knew what was about to happen... about 20-30 minutes later we joined them upstairs to see that my dad was sitting with Jason and TWO cows.  Why two?  Cause he couldn't find a cow as big as Brian's so he decided to give my dad two of them when he asked permission to marry Katie (typical Jason...always has to one up you:)).  Due to the timing of everything the proposal came much later...


When Dan asked my mom if he could propose to me he gave my mom and my little brother each a stuffed animal cow.  I love that he understood the significance and made it a part of my proposal:)  On a side note... Dan only wishes it was my dad that he had to ask.. my mom can be a tough cookie:)  

Anyways- that is the story of the cow and why it is so important to our family:)

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY DAN!!  XXOO!!

Wanna see some honeymoon pics? Here you go!

This is the ONLY wedding pic I have on my camera... otherwise I would have to upload them and who
wants to do that right now??  This is after the wedding--sitting on the hotel floor... classy gal huh?

Look at me all athletic!  We went hiking in St. Lucia:)

XO

Carolyn 

A tale of two chairs

Wasn't this weekend beautiful?!? Well, I wouldn't really know...while you all may have spent your weekend playing outside in the gorgeous fall weather I chose to spend my time walking aimlessly through thrift stores looking for a bargain!  I am pretty sure I hit the jackpot on Sunday. Seriously.  Here's the story...about three weeks ago I visited my most favorite thrift store ever and saw a set of four chairs that I fell in "like" with.  Sure they were good solid chairs but where would I put all four of them?  Did I want to spend $50.00 on the set?  The cost came out to $12.50/chair but for chairs I really didn't need it seemed a little iffy.  But quickly my little crush turned into a for real obsession.  I thought about these stupid chairs all the time.  It was seriously a little ridiculous. 

Fast forward to Sunday at noon (I know it was 12 on the dot cause they opened at 12 and I was the loser waiting at the door when the lady finally let me in).  Feel free to judge...I am judging myself.  Anyhow, the lovely manager opened the door and the first words out of her mouth were sheer music to my ears "all furniture is 50% off".  OMG!!!  This was my LUCKY day!!  So I quickly ran over to my chairs and said, "I am taking these...should I bring them to the counter or will you make sure no one takes them?"  She looked around and said, "honey...your the only one here...I think your OK".  Only a little embarrassing.  So I finished my shopping and decided that I really only needed two of them so I asked in my kindest voice if I could purchase two of them, instead of the set of 4.  She paused so I quickly added in, "well, if you really cant sell me two then I will buy the four for $25.00 and donate the other two back to you".  Killed them with kindness, no joke.  They thought I was SO stinkin sweet that they ended up selling me the two chairs at 50% off the cost for two of them.  $12.50 took both home.  

What do you think?  Do you love them?  Did I build them up too much and completely underwhelm you?  Shoot-- I really need to work on that.  Well I like them!  Guess what I am doing with them?  Painting the legs (of course) and I am going to attempt to re-upholster them (although I actually do like the fabric but it is dirty) and then I am going to use them as the "head" chairs at my dining room table.  I have seen that done a lot and think it is genius!  Lets just hope I don't mess them up too bad. 

Did anyone else find any deals this weekend?

Carolyn 

I finally got my "fall on"

Look at me... a girl of my word!  I told you all I was going to fall up my front stoop and this weekend I finally did just that!


The BEST part is that while I tszujjed up my stoop I didn't spend a ton of money.  So you know how big-ish pots of mums are typically $14.00 or if you have a Costco card you can get one for $10.00?  Well, $28.00 seemed steep for two pots of mums that I am probably going to kill in two weeks and I am a girl without a Costco card, so I went the next best route.  I hit up a nursery that sold fully bloomed mums for $6.00/piece.  I know, pretty smart of me huh:) 


So here my stoop is looking all festive!

All I need know is some pretty pot holders to put these mums in and another Saturday to carve my pumpkins!


Carolyn

spookin' it up

Well its about time that I paid attention to the fact that it is mid October and I have yet to shed some festive-ness in my home.  Times they are a-changin!


I decided that my mantel looked WAY to summer-y so that was the first to get a little makeover.


As a reminder...here is the before... all tan-ish and sea-shell filled

And here is my slightly "dark" and very thrifty after...  In fact I didn't spend a penny, just used what I already had.

P.S. The ant lookin' things are actually spiders... I got them on clearance after Halloween last year
and the "BEWARE" blocks were $2.00 at T.J. Maxx after Halloween last year.  Whoop whoop!!!

These are my thrift store find candles covered in some left over fabric!

The front porch is the next to get "fall-ed" up!  I realize I should have done a fall theme for my mantel instead of a spooky theme since this one will have to change come November and the fall decor lasts through November...but I did it anyways--I guess I'm kind-of crazy like that ;-)


P.S. Happy Birthday BEVERLY :-)  30 is the new 20...at least that's what I'm telling myself :) 


Carolyn

Tszujjing It Up: For the love of fabric: "What is it with me, fabric, and frames? Obviously I love the combo and think it makes the BEST and cheapest art ever but does that give me t..."

For the love of fabric

What is it with me, fabric, and frames? Obviously I love the combo and think it makes the BEST and cheapest art ever but does that give me the right to frame and hang fabric all over the place?  Well... it's my house so I guess it does:) You all remember my living room frames, right?  You know, the set of three that looks like this...

Well look what I found at target a few weeks ago...

That's right... clearance frames with LOTS of possibility!  At $3.74 they were a steal!  I ended up buying them out...and took 5 of these beauties home with me!  

A little proof in case you thought I was yankin' your chain

So, when I was leaving Target I thought to myself, hmm.. I wonder if T.J. Maxx has any cool pictures that I could frame?  So off I went.  Instead of cool pictures I found two sets of tea towels that caught my eye right away and BTW they were also on clearance (except I have no proof for you!  I believe they were $6.00 for each set..no lie).  I didn't get a picture before I cut them up but here is a jumbled mess of the fabric

I decided it was a match made in heaven and began the matting process (um... so basically I cut the fabric and taped it to the mat...very technical stuff).  This is what I got!

I'm in love all over again!  P.S. my camera is not the best... the frames are more the color in the first picture... not as gold as the second picture.   

How bout' that for some thrifty shopping!  OH!  Sorry-- I know you are dying to know what happened to the other tea towels and frames... well they were put together and birthday gifted to one of my friends (who, if a loyal reader- which I am sure she is, cause lets be real, who isn't, now knows that her gift was the result of some thrifty shopping:))

Now I just need to figure out where these pretty little things are going... 

Carolyn 

busy weekend!

Sorry loyal readers (sarcasm) for the lackluster posting this weekend...it was a non-stop busy weekend!

So what did I do?  It was a weekend full of wedding festivities and family! 

Here is the rundown...Friday I headed out of work early for my friend Karen's wedding rehearsal.  I was one of the lucky ducks chosen to be a brides maid!  Here we are at the rehearsal dinner...

Bev (my BFF and fellow bridesmaid), ME, Lauren (friend from high school and fellow bridesmaid)

All the maids! Bev, Karen (BRIDE), Ashley, Lauren, ME, Sandy, Lauren.  We are
showing off our very cool bracelets that we got as gifts! 

 Here are some wedding day pics...

Bev, ME

Bev, ME, Ash

The BEAUTIFUL bride and some friends striking a pose.  AGAIN...WHY must I always be doing something weird?  Scratching my back maybe??

 So the wedding was beautiful and a BLAST! I danced my rump off (which is always comical cause I have NO rhythm!  Thank goodness for liquid courage:))

Onto the rest of the weekend... My sister, bro-in-law, and nephew came up for a visit so my entire family went to a local festival... It was "eh"... I mean I can't lie- it wasn't Ah-mazing like my brother in law said it would be, but as far as fairs go, I guess it was OK.  It was great cause I was with my niece and nephew and I LOVE being with them...but a fair without fried oreo's is not a top notch fair in my book.  I don't have any pics..so sorry!  Then I spent today sleeping in, shopping with the family, and playing super mario brothers with my nephew (its his FAVORITE and he thinks I am the coolest for playing with him!).

That's about it!  Me and the husband are eating some Chinese right now and watching old episodes of Prison Break (hence why I am typing... Prison Break is the worst). 

I *think I am going to head to the store to pick up some mums and pumpkins... I need to get this house all fall'ed up!

TTFN!

Carolyn

Thoughts..STAT!

Please tell me the truth... do I look like an idiot?  And I'm not referring to the idiotic expression on my face, I am talking about the outfit... I need to know (and kind of fast cause I am wearing it Friday night...unless you say that I shouldn't) whether this looks silly or cute.  You wont hurt my feelings... well you might but I need some tough love right about now.  Nothing worse then leaving the house with a false sense of confidence. 


P.S. Yes- Quentin appears to be eating Bentley.    

P.S.S. Between my facial expression in the first picture and my hand in the second picture it is clear that I cannot take a normal looking picture. 
P.S.S.S. Stripes.  I know, I know... Its a daring look for those of us that have heftier portions than others. Whats a girl to do...you know my love of stripes...

What am I doing?  I think I was just getting ready to put my hand on my hip
(you know...a much "cooler" pose...) when Dan snapped the pic... we will blame him..not me.  

So people... which is it? Wear it with confidence or don't be caught dead in it? 


Carolyn