What are your plans / traditions on the Fourth of July? We typically have a family cookout, sometimes go out on the boat and always walk down the to the beach to watch the fireworks over the ocean. No matter what your day includes – I hope its filled with fun festivities and love!
Our chalkboard is now sporting festive art to celebrate as well!
Would you like me to do a tutorial on how I do my chalkboard art?
Being a bride is one of the most exciting yet overwhelming times of your life. You have a million things to decide, a million other to keep track of and a never ending to do list – all while maintaining everyday life! If you’re lucky like I was, you have a super supportive family and amazing coordinator [shout out to Jill at Sunkissed Events] to help you through it.
Shortly after I got engaged, my sister made and gifted me a Bride Binder. It was full of checklists, worksheets, information, etc. I’m not sure if she knew at the time but it ended up being one of the best tools I had while on my bride-to-be journey. It gave me a place to organize all my brochures, contracts, notes, torn out magazine pages, etc. [better than tagging everything “wedding” in my email] Now that she’s engaged, I’ve made some updates to it and gifted it back to her to carry along her bride-to-be journey.
Find a 3 inch+ fun binder, something she’d be happy to carry around and keep her excited for her upcoming wedding! You could even find a fun decal like my sister did to affix to the front. The word bride, her wedding date, new last name – get creative!
Inside mine I added a few items I found helpful and I knew she would too. A fun zipper pouch to hold all the things, a 3 hole punch – those contracts don’t come pre-punched, fun pens, post-it tags to mark all those finds in bridal magazines and a small notebook to keep in her purse to jot down any questions, ideas or notes as she thinks of them.
When my sister gave it to me she had it all divided out into sections to keep everything super organized. Pick up some binder dividers and pre-fill them out for her. Ours included the following sections:
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Lastly, include some worksheets and checklists to help her stay on top of things and organized. I’ve created blank versions here for downloading. *Note: The files are large and may take a while to download and fully open. Let them fully open and load before trying to print.*
I also kept in some of my contracts, brochures, collected save-the-dates, etc. for her to look back on or compare to.
What are some things you found helpful on your bride-to-be journey?
Our house was built in the 80’s and I don’t think our hall bathroom had been updated since then either. Every time I walked past it and saw the faux marbled sink, orangy wood vanity, pink rose linoleum with pink walls to match, I would shudder. When we first bought our house we updated almost every room except this bathroom. Money was tight from all the other updates so instead of a full overhaul, it was time to give it a face lift.
Here are some before pictures so you can relive the 80’s style in all its glory.
The first step was to take everything out! Since the vanity was in good condition I knew we could re-purpose it. We carefully removed the sink top and then the vanity. Next was the mirror, light and toilet. The wall cabinet was attached to the wall really well so we left it to just paint around. The tub/shower was in good condition and since this was just a facelift – it was saved from my sledgehammer. We then primed the vanity, wall cabinet and baseboards and painted the walls a lovely shade of tan. [we weren’t thinking of needing to see when we originally removed the light -ha!]
Now to tackle those hideous dated floors. We decided on a large tan/grey and white glossy porcelain tile. We first installed the tile cement board and nailed down all the creaks. Then it was placing and cutting the tiles and adhering them to the floor. After many years of watching and helping my mom remodel her house and do tile – I had a general idea of how to. Just apply a generous amount of tile adhesive to the floor and mark ridges using the trowel. Do the same to the back of your tile and stick them together! Using spacers to allow room for grout and a level and more adhesive to keep things even. Once all your tile is in and set a day or two – apply your grout using a float and then a large sponge and water to wipe away the excess. Boom – beautiful tile.
We then painted the vanity and cabinet a light Robin’s Egg Blue and reinstalled the vanity. We topped it with a pure white sink and new brushed silver faucet and hardware. We installed a new light fixture, white toilet, towel rod and other accessories. Our mirror isn’t pictured because it took us a while to find the right one… but I finally found a white framed mirror at TJMaxx.
Here is our updated 2010’s hall bathroom. We were able to complete the entire revamp for less than $500 and in about 4 days!
May 4th was always just another day, until I met this amazing man…
Now May 4th is known as “Star Wars Day”.
Before meeting Leep I had never seen a single minute of a Star Wars movie. [gasp] Now, I’ve seen all 7 [there’s currently 7, right?] and Star Wars has become a part of my everyday life. I’ve made Star Wars cakes, hosted Star Wars birthday parties, dressed in Star Wars clothes and even had a glimpse of it at our wedding.
So in honor of today, and my amazing husband Leep, here’s a photoblog of some of our best Star Wars moments.
R2D2 cake – homemade
Storm Trooper Cupcakes
Lightsaber Wedding Entrance
Lightsaber Wedding Entrance
Lightsaber Wedding Exit
Lightsaber Wedding Exit
Star Wars themed Christmas ugly sweaters
Star Wars themed Christmas ugly sweaters
Storm Trooper onesie
Leep’s Star Wars birthday
Leep’s Star Wars birthday
Leep’s Star Wars birthday
Last year my family started the adventure of a lavender farm on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, with my mother being the fearless leader, green thumb and brains of the operation. We all have done our fair share of weeding and tending to the plants and are proud to be entering our second year.
This year we’ve added an exciting addition – BEES! The bees will not only pollinate the lavender plants, but provide healthy local honey to customers.
Shore Thing Lavender also has an amazing line of natural, organic products for the body, home and culinary use. Be sure to follow along with our journey and adventures at the site below!
Source: We have bees!
Walking through Babies R Us with the scanner in my hand trying to determine what “theme” I wanted my future child’s nursery to be, I realized that everything is so cartoonized and predictable. There were varying shades of light blues, greens, pinks and yellows. Cartoon animals, hearts, nautical and underwater scenes. I wanted something different, something my child could grow with and continue to enjoy. It was clear I was on my own but knew with my creative abilities I could make it something great.
I finally landed on “Whimsical Woodland”. Our color scheme is grey, white and navy blue with pops of gold. I wanted it to feel rustic and have non-cartoonized woodland animals.
For my baby shower I wanted something different – I wanted each person to have a “piece of the painting” to hang in Gunnar’s room. We bought 4X4 canvases and provided paint in blue, grey, gold and tan and gave general directions and had each person paint the canvas to their desire. We then hung them all together to form one larger painting – here.
For the most part it’s completed and will change and grow as Gunnar does. Photos with details below.
Crib, Bookself, Antlers – Homegoods and spray painted gold
Recliner – already owned, Giraffe, Pouf – Homegoods, Shelves – homemade
Growth chart – homemade cedar, Rocking Moose
Dresser, Changing Pad & Cover, Basket & Letters – Hobby Lobby, Paintings – homemade
Knobs – Deer, Wood, Fox – pulls came with dresser spray painted gold
Homemade – pattern
Wood Sign – won in an auction, can purchase here
Does anyone else fall in love with something ridiculously expensive, put it in your online shopping cart knowing you’ll never spend that much on it, then obsess over it for a while? Just me? It’s OK – you don’t have to raise your hand, I know you ‘serial shopping cart abandoners’ are out there.
I knew I wanted a rustic farmhouse-esque table for our dining room, but I couldn’t bring myself to spend the $1500+ they are at Pottery Barn or West Elm. So being the amazing Supervisor/Forewoman that I am – I knew this was the perfect job…for Leep.
It all started with a butcher block counter top we found at our local home goods store. It was about 9 feet long, which was too big for our space so we first cut it to size – about 6 ft.
Once it was cut to size and the edges sanded, it was time for a couple coats of stain and sealant.
Now, to make this beauty stand! We used 2 – 4x4s cut to the appropriate height for our chairs. This is not the place to use an exact measurement others use, but better to “sit” at it with your chairs and cut the legs to your desired height as some chairs sit taller than others. We also used 2 – 2x4s to create an under-edge and supports. We probably didn’t need so many cross supports since the table isn’t huge – but what can I say, Leep likes a sturdy table.
Once everything was ‘measured twice and cut once‘ to the proper length, it was time to stain the underside pieces to match and put it all together. We used wood screws to attach all the parts together and L brackets to attach the bottom structure to the underside of the table top.
Voila! I say this beauty can stand tall and proud next to those $1500 tables. We were able to make it custom to the size that best fit our room & chairs and choose a stain that matched our decor. Costing about a total of about $220.
Yes, yes – I jumped on the trendy chalkboard craze & I kinda really love it! Continue reading
Malmy Madness 