Not quite ready :(

Well people, we aren't quite finished working on the dining set. My husband had to abandon table duty and actually go to work (the nerve). Hopefully we'll be done and loaded in by Wednesday or Thursday (fingers crossed)! Here's a pic of my little cutie pie for ya. DIY really is a family affair over here :)

Happy Monday everyone!

Teaser...

Happy Friday friends!!! I just wanted to show you a couple of teaser pics for the project I (well my hubby and I) will be finishing up this weekend. I'm hoping to reveal it on Monday (fingers crossed). It has been a TON of hard work (my husband definitely logged the most hours on this project) and I am THRILLED with how it is turning out. Stay tuned people, seriously! This is gonna be a good one :)

Oh yeah baby, oh yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Woohoo!!!
Have a GREAT weekend!!

Various What-have-yous.

If you're wondering about the title of this post, it's just a funny phrase my sis, hubby, and I use when we mean to say "random things." ha ha! I laugh because I picture my husband saying it in a funny voice. Crack up. Anyway, all of this is to say that you are in for another random post today :)

First, I have a couple questions for the universe. Some hypothetical/rhetorical, others that I would like an answer to but fear I will never get.

Questions:
1.WHY on Earth was my soda at the movies $4.75. Am I the only one that thinks that is robbery??
2. WHY do bad and sad things happen to really good people?? This should NEVER EVER happen! EVER!
3. When will my neighbors (the bratty neighbors as we like to call them) stop screaming at each other. They are ALWAYS yelling over there.
4. Why are all the things that I love love to eat and drink SO SO bad for me? Arg.

Ok, moving on.

A DIY?? Sure, why not!

So, I have had this outdoor urn style flower pot for about 6 years. Now, I am definitely a fan of the shabby chic style, but after being outside in the elements, this once pretty pot is definitely more shabby than chic. See for yourself:

See?? Pretty shabby, huh!? Nothing a little spray paint can't fix. BAM! Pretty!

Now it lives to the right of my front door with a pretty new shade dwelling plant. Actually, for the very first time, I picked out a plant that had exactly the right specifications on the tag. It said, morning sun only, mostly shade. That is the perfect description for this spot. We'll see how it goes. Ha ha! Hayden popped in to smell the only Gardenia bloom we've had all year. I think gardenias need more sun than this little spot gets.

Here's the big picture for you:

We are going to landscape our big dirt patches pretty soon, and eventually I plan to paint the door either black, or a fun color. Hmmmmm.

While I was plant shopping, I grabbed a new leafy green indoor plant because the one I had previously is dead deadskee. Ooooh, so pretty!

o.k., moving on. Can you guess what this is????

If you guessed that it was a lap top computer, you were right. BUT, it's not just any lap top. It's my very OWN lap top. NEW, PRETTY, and ALL MINE BABY!!! With help from a special friend (you know who you are), I have decided to name her Harriet! Yippppe! I have never had my own computer. Ever. My sis and I shared one through college. Then, Josh and I bought a "family" computer when we got married. After that, he got his own computer to bring to the fire station with him. Shortly after that, the "family" computer died. So, with some of the $$ from the flea market, I bought myself a shiny new computer. YAY!!! I am seriously SO excited to have it all to myself. YAY!

So, there you have it. My various what-have-yous for a sunny CA Tuesday :)
Bye.

Here comes the {COOLEST} bride...

Some of you may already know this, but prior to becoming a stay-at-home-mom, I was a wedding planner. I worked for a local hotel as the "Social Catering Manager" where my primary focus was on planning weddings and other social events. Let me just say, this is definitely my "niche." If I ever have to go back to working full-time (please no, please no...ha ha), I will definitely go right back to event planning. I loved all the details (small & big) that come with planning personal events and I was pretty good at it (if I do say so myself). Ha ha! Anyway, the reason I am even bringing this up is because I recently had a super sweet girl order her bridesmaid's necklaces from my Etsy shop. I also have to add, that this girl may be one of the coolest girls on the planet! Why you ask? Here are my reasons: Number 1, she ordered 10 necklaces from my shoppity shop. Yep, TEN! Number 2, the ten necklaces she bought are the quatrefoil friendship necklaces. COOL. Number 3, her wedding colors are grey and aqua. Super stylish and very "now." Number 4, she asked me to include a quote from the musical Wicked on the necklaces (& if you don't know already, I love me a good show tune). So, there you have it. Don't you totally want to be her friend!!?? I do!

Here are a few shots of the necklaces which are now ready to be shipped out :)

She also asked me to add each girl's name :)

Such a pretty and meaningful quote, huh?

I truly hope she loves how they came out. I really tried to make them special for her and her friends. Funny, she has 3 friends in her bridal party named Kelly! I guess when you have 10 bridesmaids, the chance of having girls with the same name increases. Oh, and, because I couldn't resist, I'm throwing in a matching necklace for the bride. This way, when all the wedding hoop-la is over, she'll be able to be matchy matchy with her closest friends :)
Yay for Etsy, Yay for weddings, and Yay for being COOL!!!!

Famous.

Click HERE.

Now do you see why I will be sitting around my house all day wearing BIG sunglasses and demanding that my hubby peel my grapes and my kids tilt the fan towards me. Ha ha!

If you haven't already fallen in love with Hi Sugarplum, sit down, relax, and start reading. You will be in love in no time!

Happy happy Friday!

Finally, a Craft!

Hi people! It feels like forever ago that I posted about anything crafty. After flea market mania, I felt a little tired and burnt out. I'm currently working on my new dining room set (well used, but new to me anyway, ha ha). My hubby has gotten really involved in the redo (well, he really had no choice) and he has been working a ton lately so the set is currently half done and waiting in my garage for some more TLC.

My craft space is currently a mess and is in serious need of organizing. But, I managed to squeak out a little craft project that I have been wanting to do for a long long time. I purchased these letters from Michael's over a year ago with plans to make them look cool and hang them in my kitchen. Yep, you heard that right. Over a year.

Well, today I finally got crafty and spiffed them up and I'm really happy with how they turned out. I decided to use the fabric that I will be upholstering my new dining chairs in to help tie it all together.  My plan is to keep it fun and funky and a bit mismatched and unexpected. Here's what I did:

First I picked out the part of the fabric that I wanted on the letter.

Originally I planned on wrapping the fabric all the way around the letter. I traced the letter with a pencil leaving enough extra width to wrap the fabric around and glue it to the back. I'll just say, that this didn't really work out, so I went with plan B.

Plan B was to simply trace the letter, and mod podge it on to the letters. I also dabbed some mod podge along the edges of the fabric so it wouldn't fray. Simple? Simple.

Pretty?? Pretty!

As I mentioned before, I am liking the mis-matched look lately. For my dining set, the 2 armchairs will be upholstered in the floral fabric. The other 4 chairs will be done in the more neutral beige chain-link rope nautical type fabric (don't you like my description, ha ha).

I haven't had a chance to hang them up in the kitchen yet, but here they are on my mantle looking all spiffy :)

I think they came out cute, and will look even sweeter when they are hanging in my kitchen near my new fancy dining set (stay tuned.........like, maybe for sort of a long while. Ha ha).
Happy Hump Day!

Fun in the sun

We went out to Palm Springs this past weekend to hang out with friends and have some family fun in the sun. We had a blast and stayed cool in our friend Catherine's pool. Yay!!! Here are a few pics :)

Noah and Josh :)

Hayden & I :)

Auntie Lisa (& our baby cousin in her tummy):

The kids had their first official sleepover where they got to sleep together on the floor. Hayden is finally old enough to not need a pack and play, yay! Noah fell right to sleep, but I had to cuddle with Hayden for a bit while she got used to being "free" while falling asleep.

The next day on the ride home, we were nice and cool in our car while it was like this outside:

And the kids did some of this, which is always a nice treat :)

Shhhhhhhhhhhh!

We had such a fun weekend with friends and family! Ah the joys of Summer!
Now, back to the grind :)

I'm working on my dining set (well, when I say "I," I of course mean my "hubby and I" and if I'm really being honest, I mean "My hubby." This project is a bit over my head. I mean, I can do it, but if it is to be done the totally right way, the hubby and his power tools must get involved. Stay tuned, it's going to be AWESOME). Here's a teaser pic for you....

I feel like the floral is totally cool and anthropologie inspired. Agree?? (you better agree or else, ha ha).

Oh, and here is a random picture of Hayden on her way to swimming lessons. Ha ha! Crack up!

She makes me laugh!
Happy Monday :)

Funny.

While I was at swimming lessons today with the kiddos, a woman sitting near by struck up a conversation with me. This is how it went:

Her: How old are your brother and sister?

Me: My sister is 32, and my brother is 29.

(She looked at me with a confused look on her face)

Her:"Oh, sorry, I meant your younger siblings."

(Now I had a confused look on my face. Then she gestured toward the pool)

Me: Oh, those aren't my younger siblings, those are my kids.

Her: No!!?? Really!!?? You must have been really young when you got started, huh??

Me: Um, well, no, not really. I think I was 27 when I had my son, and 30 with my daughter.

Her: Oh my gosh, I'm so embarrassed. I totally thought you were like 23 years old, at the most.

LIFE IS GOOD!!!!!!! Ha ha!
Happy Friday :)

Stuff.

Well, it seems as though this week is filled with a bunch of randomness, ha ha!
Let's see, first, another new necklace for the shoppity shop :)

Next, I finally found a lamp shade for my sunny yellow lamp. Jane of all Crafts reminded me that I could take off the harp all together and use one of those shades that goes directly on the lamp base under the bulb (this one being from Target). Duh! Why didn't I think of that!? Thanks Jane (aka Andi)!

Third, this deal was WAY too good to pass up. I'll start by mentioning that we are not quite ready to move Hayden to a big girl bed (aka, she hasn't figured out how to crawl out of her crib yet). But, when we do, I want her big girl bedding to be FAB! My sis and I were at Home Goods the other day and I majorly scored in the clearance section. Check it out :)

The perfect color turquoise coverlet for $15 (Um, yeah, I'll take it!)!! And then, sitting right beside it as if magic angels placed them there for me:

This  perfectly mis-matched and adorable pair of "Liberty of London-esque" pillows. Aren't they pretty!!?? They have the perfect yellow color in them that will match her dresser, and pink to match her walls. Even the back of them are cute!!

\
AND......

Um, yeah. that was for the pair. I'LL TAKE THEM!!!! Woo hoo! Is it bad if I try to teach her how to climb out of her crib so we can get this ball rolling!!?? ha ha!

And last but certainly not least, here is a teaser "before" pic of my new dining room table and 6 chairs (YIPPPEEEEEEEE). Sorry, had to get that out of my system. I can't wait to get started!! I impulsively sold my old dining room chairs on Craig's List about a month ago so we've been using random mis-matched one from the garage. I can't wait to have it all done and fancy!! Stay tuned!!!

(note, there are only 3 of the chairs in this pic. The other three are in my car).

Happy hump day everyone :)

A newbie and some YUM!

Happy Tuesday!
I just wanted to show a pic of my newest necklace for my Etsy shop :)

I love that Sinatra song so much, I thought I would make a necklace to go with it. I'm singing it in  my head as we speak :)

Also, remember these guys!?

Well look at 'em now!!!!

Look at these...

and these......

and these.......!!!!

OH YEAH baby, oh yeah!!!!
ok, that's it :)