It's a Cloud 9 Day

I am on cloud 9 today...so many great things are happening and I just can't really believe I have gotten this far:

This morning I interviewed and it was confirmed that I will have a booth at the Deep Ellum Outdoor Market on April 16th!!!  Here is the link and if you are around Dallas - PLEASE COME.

I also just created my ETSY shop - there's nothing in it yet to buy, but I can't download those pictures here at work...so I have to finish that process when I get home and over the weekend. 

I have a ton of work to do in the next 16 days to be ready...but I welcome it all - I am so excited, happy and thankful. 

Back Yard Dreams

I do have to report that garage sales rock!!!  Cana and I were driving home from MOPS this morning and I passed a sign, then I thought about it and told myself I had to turn around - it is these moments that will keep me busy in the future...
Glad I did - this chair was tagged at $15 and I asked her if she would take $5 and I walked away with a new chair getting my way.  I have ideas for it...

Tomorrow will be at least partially committed to getting the backyard ready for the next phase - grass - which is coming next weekend.  This is the not fun step - leveling, digging, cleaning, etc., so I decided to dream rather than just dread the hard work...

Oh how I would love to decorate the finish product with any of the following West Elm back yards...

This one for the beach, the lanterns, and the straight clean lines of it.

This one because it feels so homey and inviting!

This one because - "hello orange candelabra."

    

Hated Spots

In our den - other living room - the back one - by the kitchen - I don't know what the technical word is for this space.  What do you call that space attached to your kitchen that is a room with couch and a tv?  It's been a debated topic in our home since we bought it.  Anyways, in that room, there is a spot I hate.  The builder had some logic behind (well I assume he did) putting the cable plug and the electrical outlets right in the middle of the wall.  I am sure it has something to do with hanging your tv, but if you go to that much design trouble (or laziness - I really dont know which it was in this case) why wouldn't you put something below where you could run your wires out and/or be able to plug things in that don't hang on the wall. 
So not being able to ever buy a TV large enough to sit on the console and cover the plugs - I have stared and loathed that spot - until now. 

I was sitting at work one day, much as I am right now thinking and reading through other blogs.  I saw a coffee table on one that had been redone, which made my mind drift to the coffee table I had to recently put in the garage because she just no longer had a place to sit in our house.  I was sad about her demotion but really truly no room.  I then started thinking ... what can I do with her - who needs her - etc.  Then it hit me - I immediately texted Jerod and said "I have a brilliant idea - we don't have to get rid of the coffee table."  IT was such a good idea I even told him I couldn't text it - it had to be in person.  I know - dramatic and silly, but sometimes I really don't want the greatness of an idea, the tone of a comment, or the beauty of a wall to be lost in a cell phone - in my sometimes crazy mind I think it will be received the way I want/expect it to be received if I just wait for the conversation or the real camera. 

So let me show you the idea of getting rid of Hated Spot #1 and using the coffee table...

First of all - meet the coffee table that served us so well.  We first got her in our uptown apartment because we didn't have room for a dining table in that place so my mother in law made this for us out of an old church door.  So cool - right?



Here you can see the leg and overall shape



Here you can see the top of it (and yes Harrison almost always comes for a picture).

It was big enough for us to eat at, work at, and it was durable.  It went with us to House #1, then to Jerod's studio away from home, then to House #2,  then to studio #2 and it is (was) still in great condition for a coffee table.

Here is the HATED SPOT...We didn't have any choice but to plug the cable in up there, but we were using the plugs on the side to plug everything else in so they weren't hanging from the center of the wall. 

I hung that huge loud picture on the side to try and draw attention over.  haha...I tried. 

 

And NOW....

There she hangs...in all her bronze and black silk glaze finish...

I sawed the legs, painted her and then Jerod worked his magic and did a perfect job of hanging her (straight I may add)!!!!!!

 

I am so happy with this cover up and I am falling in love with gold tones and bronzes.  So now that I like the furniture in the room, the tv wall, and it feels more complete - I got inspired yesterday to start working on the big blank wall next to this wall and really want to fill it with some sort of wall art bigger than what is there.  That project will come later this week...stay tuned as we finish the final details of the Starkey den, back living room, by the kitchen room, or whatever you want to call it.  (we even for awhile tried to call it underseas - since that was the sherwin williams name given to the walls - but we couldn't get that one to stick...)

Weekend Top Ten

I knew it was going to be a good one!!!  Here is the list in no particular order...

#1 - The weather - It was beautiful... lots of outside time - called for sunglasses, many rides in the jeep,l and taking the long way home as often as possible.

#2 - Remembering the camera - I carried it in the purse all weekend - thus caught random memories like these...

I randomly cut bangs this weekend too...

"Who me?"

  

 Striking a pose in Deep Ellum

Daddy's Girl

#3 - Play time at Mammaw's with all the girl cousins...which included paint, water, and fun!

The girls painting flower pots

Hello World!

Who needs a bathing suit?

#4 - Finished one of my favorite home improvement projects to date...Pictures to come later this week.



#5 - Found cheap furniture to buy for a future project...
Urban Outfitters was selling old display furniture and I got two pieces for $20.

#6 - Went to the Deep Ellum Outdoor Market to check it out and decide if I could be ready to have a booth next month - and the answer is YES so I am so excited.

#7 - Did some shopping at West Elm (favorite store) and got a new chair for the den.

#8 - Went to brunch at Dream Cafe - yum yum yum - love omelets with pesto, goat cheese and sundried tomatoes

#9 - Took at 3 hour nap on Saturday afternoon - I had to get up and wake everyone up at 5 so that any of us would go to bed that night.

#10 - Ended the weekend with a fire truck next door and us peeking through the living room curtains trying to figure out why our neighbor was hoola hooping with a flaming hoop.  Yes I am so serious - I unfortunately couldn't get a picture but you will have to trust me that I am tellin' the truth!

Hope you all had great weekends too!  Now for a week of welcoming spring!

Thursday is the new Friday

One of my favorite things about life right now is that Thursdays are Fridays in our home.  Jerod doesn't teach on Fridays, I don't work on Fridays and so it's the WEEKEND!!!  Yea.  The forecast is calling for 80 degrees, I have two pieces of furniture almost done, and got to new pieces tonight to start on, 
I just found this great tutorial (little girls shabby ruffle skirt) and can't wait to try my hand at a skirt for Cana AND we have a cousin play date scheduled for tomorrow, hitting an outdoor market on Saturday and brunch at Dream Cafe on Sunday!!!!  I am on cloud 9 just thinking about spending the weekend with the fam!

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Choo - Choo Here Comes Spring

I LOVE spring.  I love how really one day you wake up and you all of a sudden realize the trees are budding, the birds are more plentiful and there is a heck of a lot of work to do.  This will be our second summer in this house and the first summer that we are actually making plans for the yard.  Cana needs a place to play so we are trying to make it in our pretty small back yard.

This project will be broken down by weekends and I will try to keep you posted of it's development...but I have to show you my little pride and joy from this weekend.  Choo Choo Planters (as Cana puts it)...

Seriously they are old HEAVY hub caps from a train car.  How cool is that?  They were underneath all this mess...









So after pulling them by tying them to the jeep and pressin the gas, Jerod and his dad got them here...How good are they at placement!!

Then I got to go to work.  I transplanted all the plants that were in the back half of the yard to this very small concentrated area.  Now we are daily watering with a little prayer for them to survive.  Transplanting is SO much cheaper than going to Home Depot three times on a Saturday and buying new (because you never buy enough the first time - right?)  I did go and buy some seasonal annuals to plant in the planters for color and a little life to our half worked on back yard.  I love them though, so unique and totally go with our house and the sounds of the railroad across the street.  They scream - Hello Spring!!!  What could you use to make your own unique planters for spring?

This project was entered in the CSI Project this week - themed "Spring" !  Click here to view this project and all the others entered this week.

Good Day...

It's only 10:50 in the morning...

• I have finished my tasks at work
• I have finished our 2010 taxes (or putting together everything the accountant needs to do them)
• I have read enough of Anna Maria Horner's blog that I am dying to go home and sew.
• I have clipped coupons and made a grocery list
• I have had three cups of coffee
• I made toast with Cana girl (she did the jelly by herself)
• I have dreamed about wanting some thing at a restaraunt for dinner, talked myself out of it because it's "not as healthy", and then looked again online for some Thursday night specials, because maybe if it is a really good deal I can overlook the calorie/fat factor.
• Saw a potential name for an unborn boy baby and Jerod kind of liked it too.
• Sang some old sing a longs with Cana on the way to work
• Found a market that I want to goal out to sell at by May
• And wrote a blog entry!

I love the feeling of a productive day before lunch.

Jesus on a Cloud and a Nightstand

Cana is finally better - praise God...that was a long week. I do have a funny story from the sick time though. Around 4:00 every afternoon she would go into this vegetative state in front of the tv watching Nick Jr. and her fever would creep back in and her eyes would glaze over. It was so sad, but one afternoon during this time we were mean and were trying to break the stare by saying things like, "Cana want some candy." nothing "Look there's a squirrel." nothing, "Look Cow is walking" (that's her stuffed animal) nothing, this went on for a while and we never got a response and then Jerod goes, "Look Jesus is coming on a cloud." She ran to the window and goes where??? She is one smart cookie...Dear God, may you always be the one that gets her attention!

In furniture news...I finished a nightstand.

Before:


In Process:
I do all my painting in my lady cave in the front of the house...Jerod has his man cave in the studio above the garage and my space is this random room that made this house just right for us. I couldn't remove the hardware on the drawer because it was covered up by the plastic drawer that I am sure my grandfather somehow maneuvered - he was crafty and silly like that and we all loved him for it. Therefore kept the old stuff and just painted around then cleaned up the rust on it with fingernail polish remover. I started with a metallic gold coat and then in the after shots you will see added a black glaze over it for more dimension and a little older look.

After:







And now she resides in the adult guest room at my mom's house.

Been busy...

Ok so I am not even feeling guilty anymore for not posting in two weeks…last weekend I sat down and wrote this long confession and pictures – I went to put in the last picture on Thursday and when I did the whole thing deleted. So last night I started it again and just now a full 24 hours later I finished it – wrote a final sentence and poof – it was gone again. This is so frustrating, as is listening to my sweet little Cana who can’t go to sleep because she feels so bad even after four days of antibiotic. It is so hard to not be able to “fix” it and make her better.

I am not sure what I am supposed to be learning from these posts continuously being deleted…I am determined to show you what I have been working on the last two weeks.

My mom is letting me redecorate two of her guests rooms upstairs…one is a kid’s guest room and the other is the adult room…I only have pictures of the kid one for now. I picked a much lighter fresh color, picked fun brighter colors for bedding and added a lot of wall hangings. Much more kid friendly and exciting than the cream and black toile that was in there. It was so much sewing, painting, and making up stuff.

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This is a map of Waco framed since Waco has meant something to all of us in the family at one point or another...

The next project that I am still in the middle of is Jerod’s studio. We never painted or did anything to personalize when we moved in so it was way past due and fun to do for him. So far we have painted a couple of walls, built a frame for the wall mirror, built a shelf out of a railroad beam and a collage board to cover the back of the piano.

And to make sure there is a little mess and progress going on inside the house – I am slowly but surely working on Cana’s room. I have painted a new old headboard for her “big girl” bed and done some work for a couple of her walls.

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All of this has made me very happy…I so love creating. I am bad and slow at showing because I am afraid of what people will think…is she a good mom if she is doing all this other stuff too, this isn’t really that good, or is she crazy for thinking that any of this would be something someone would want. I am really realizing that if I don’t want any of those things to come true, I have to start sharing and showing – in process and completed things. I do so badly want to do this for a living…I want to make gifts for others to give, I want to help women see a project done that has always been in their head, or help someone see a possible project out of what they just see as the everyday stuff around them.