Pillow Party

This isn’t just any pillow; it’s one near and dear to my heart. Last time we were at my parents house my dad gave me an old embroidered piece of fabric that his mother used as a pillow. It was falling apart, and needed some love. I got to work on it over the weekend and I couldn’t be more thrilled with how it turned out.

The first thing I had to do was remove the rotting fabric from the back, and cut out a new piece of material for the new backing.

Isn’t that embroidery work gorgeous? I loved the colors immediately and thought it would be a perfect fit in our home.

Once I had the piece cut and the two pieces pinned together I thought it would be a good idea for me to draw where I needed to sew, since the seem needed to be in such a particular spot. It was easy to trace because of the raised embroidery.

I did that all the way around the border.

Ok, so after the pillow was all sewn up and stuffed, it was time to hand-sew the small hole on the fourth side shut.

I have a trick for you. A very scientific trick with expensive and complicated tools.

Just kidding! All you need is a binder clip.

Using a binder clip to hold the fabric together as you hand sew the open seem makes life so much easier. I think the first time I tried to sew a pillow shut I desperately wanted to be one of those Hindu gods with multiple arms and hands. Can you imagine how much you could done with all of those extra appendages?

Alas, I could not grow extras — I tried — so I devised this binder-clip trick.

Works like a charm every time!

Isn’t that old, green chair the perfect spot for this pillow? It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy knowing that I have something from my grandma. If she were still alive I know she’d be thrilled. If she were still alive she would also be trying to get me to eat something right now. She didn’t know too many words in English, but you better believe one of them was “EAT.”

I love how the hint of turquoise is seen from the back. It’s a nice little “Why hello there, how you doin’?”

That’s the end of our weekend projects! And just in time for a new one. There are tons of garage sales this weekend around my town, so I’m hoping for a few more solid finds. I will, of course, keep you posted.

Hopefully we can started on our night stands tonight! I will be perusing Pinterest for some painted-furniture inspiration. Any links to share with me?

Pst! Here is another one of my pillow-sewing tricks.

 

 

 

Skeletons in our Garage

I have a dark secret. A very dark secret.

Our garage hasn’t been touched since the day we moved in.

As in, all of the junk that we plopped on the counter tops and stacked in the corner on move-in day haven’t moved. I know. I’m ashamed of myself.

It looks much worse when you’re all up in it. Old paint cans everywhere, tools stacked like the worst Jenga game you’ve ever seen. Just absolute chaos.

We were able to use some of the hooks from the previous home owners, but for the most part stuff was just leaning against the walls.

We had a lot to tackle last weekend so instead of taking on the entire garage we settled on just half of it. It seemed more manageable and probable that it would actually get done if we cut the job in half.

Here is what’s wrong with this picture:

It may not look all that bad but the way this side of the garage was set up wasn’t practical and needed a good cleaning. Jimmy Hoffa could’ve been stuffed behind that pressure tank and we wouldn’t have even known it.

First step was to pull everything away from the wall, start cleaning, and get rid of what we don’t want (which was basically everything in that white cabinet — left over from the previous home owners, of course).

We sprayed down the white cabinet with the hose once it was empty, and obviously Olive got sprayed down, too. Because, we had the hose out… why not? Every time she gets a bath she darts around like an escaped mental patient.

Also, as we were in the midst of our cleaning session I spotted this:

If that isn’t just the smuggest skeleton face I’ve ever seen. That expression looks like he ripped a huge fart and is just waiting for the room to get hit with the funk.

Are you ready for the most non-dramatic reveal ever?

Ta-dah!

I know it doesn’t look like much, but trust me when I tell you this feels like an entirely different space now.

Here’s a break down so you don’t have to scroll all the way to the top:

Getting out of my car is so much less stressful now. I don’t have to shimmy past all of the junk to get in the house anymore. We took a bunch of old gardening and yard chemicals to Tox Drop (dispose of those properly!!) which really cleared out that white cabinet. Now it’s virtually empty and when we tackle the other side of the garage we can load it with tools.

It felt really good to be able to re-purpose our old TV stand as a vertical shelf, too. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, people! All of those loose, small items that were scattered on the garage floor now have their very own cubby. Just like kindergarten.

Oh, and you could totally eat off that pressure tank, now. And behind it. Just sayin’.

Now all we have to do is organize the second half. ALL WE HAVE TO DO. See how I just made that sound really easy? Yeah, it’s not. Steve wants to come up with a “plan.” Plans make things sound like a lot of work.

I suggested just throwing everything away but got vetoed.

Have you guys been up to any spring cleaning? Doesn’t it feel good to get rid of stuff? Olive better watch her back: I’m on a purging kick.

 

 

 

 

 

Another Splended Weekend

Man, if I don’t blog until Thursday of any given week, if sure feels like my months are filled with weekends. I have more weekend updates for you today. But I am warning you I am nowhere near as funny as Tina Fey. Tina Fey, if you are reading this I would really like to be your friend. Or even Liz Lemon’s friend. Two in the same, right?

Ok, focus. Weekend. We had a rip roarin’ good time! We got a few projects done that I’m going to share in more depth in a separate post (I know, go ahead and roll your eyes) like cleaning and organizing half of the garage and sewing a few more pillows. But here are some of the highlights:

Sconces! Finally! We hung three out of the four over the bed. One of them was broken and I was always afraid it was going to shatter and sprinkle little shards of death upon us while we slept. Three felt like a better fit, anyway.

I’m just going to say one thing: I recommend candles in the bedroom. And before this gets any creepier I’m just going to move on to the next topic.

Steve hung my “see the back of my head while I do my hair” mirror in the bathroom. This may not seem like a big deal but you have no idea how much I learned about my backside this weekend. I can see it all now! Still debating if that’s good or bad news.

There are a kajillion garage sales this coming weekend, but we decided to hit one up on Memorial Day. And I’m glad we did because we scored a pair of nightstands for our master bedroom!

Use your imagination. I REPEAT: use your imagination. A few coats of paint and some new hardware ought to welcome these babies to 2012.

It’s all in the details. These babies had me at the faux keyhole and detailing in the woodwork.

Oh yeah. And they also had me at the price tag. HIGH FIVE.

And when did garage sales get so fancy? Printed prices? Oooh lah lah!

Angela and Christian taught us Dominoes last time they were in town, and we went out and bought a set after they left. We’ve been playing it pretty much non stop since then. It’s addictive!

Olive helped out a little bit. Or napped. Whatever.

It’s adorable how she meanders through our playing field, though. She wants to get right up in our business but manages to step around all of the Dominoes without knocking anything over. Bravo Olive, bravo.

Forever a goof ball. I wish you could see the ferocity with which her tail wags as she’s pushing the limits of Dominoes tightrope walking.

More project pictures from the weekend to come later this week! It was so nice to just relax and work on the house again. There is nothing more exciting for us than crossing things off our to-do list. Oops! Our Nerd is showing!

In The Bedroom

Are my bedroom references making you uncomfortable? Have no fear, I’m only referring to our new bed that we just assembled. I mean, if you’d like me to make you uncomfortable I totally can… no? OK, then. Moving on.

It arrived in two packages, and to be quite honest I was a little nervous to assemble it because I heard some pretty negative reviews about missing screws and overall bad directions on how to put it together. Oh the joys of bargain shopping.

The first thing we did was lay out all of the parts and figure out how it needed to go together. My task was the headboard.

It required screwing in four screws + washers so my task was over in about three and a half minutes.

I’m just realizing that Steve gives me these projects so I will stay out of his hair when he’s working on the bigger pieces. Like a child. It’s okay, it means I get to take arsty-fartsy pictures of screws. Short attention span over here, people.

I think this is probably the cutest thing ever. My husband quite literally sits like a kid when he is working on the floor, putting something together. You can imagine that in his hands he’s holding several Legos, on the brink of discovering how to build the coolest pirate ship EVER.

Don’t you want to grab each toe and go through the “this little piggy” poem? I do. Is that weird? He is just so adorable sometimes I can’t help myself.

As always, Olive oversaw the operation from a safe distance.

You know, because of the loud noises screwing those screws in, and all of those new, strange shadows that were cast on the walls. One can never be too safe.

Let me remind you of what our room looked like right after we moved in, up until we had it painted…

This next photo of the new bed isn’t from the exact same angle (I have to get better at that whole “before and after” thing) but here it is!

And excuse the bad light, the bed took a little longer to put together and the sun had started to wane, but here is a wide-angle shot:

I am in love with it. Just having a legitimate bed makes the room feel so much more together, and I’m obsessed how it matches the temple rubbing. They go together like peas and carrots, and like temple rubbings and beds.

This next picture is probably the truest in terms of color.

Luckily we had no problem putting it together. All the parts were there, as well as all of the screws and washers. We can only conclude the people leaving the reviews were “special” because it was quite simple to put together.

We still have miles to go in this room, but it’s finally starting to feel like a master bedroom.

I’m going garage-saleing this weekend and I’m hoping to score some awesome nightstands and/or a dresser. Anything we can find second-hand will make this room come together for less, which means we can spend that money elsewhere. (Dear Husband, your wife would like a new DSLR Canon. Love, Anonymous.) Oh dear! Who would write such a thing? You never can trust the internets anymore. With all of the hackers and such.

Olive cared thismuch about the new bed. She focused her attention outside. As always. You never know; there could be someone out to get us AT ALL TIMES. You must always stand guard. That’s her philosophy. Wind can be dangerous, you know.

Anyone have any fun plans for the long, holiday weekend? I hope you have a few days or a few hours set aside for yourself. You need that every once in a while. I most certainly do! I plan on reconnecting with my sewing machine in the next few days. It’s the cheapest therapy I’ve ever come across.

Have a splendid weekend, everyone!

Bribery!

Helloooooo! Did you think I had vanished to Abu Dhabi to never return? Abu Dhabi is always my go-to “middle of nowhere” place. I blame Garfield and Nermal.

We had a jam-packed weekend and I’m here on Thursday to share it with you. Yes, I know how pathetic that is. I don’t share too many personal pictures here, so to make up for my absence I thought I would reward you guys with a post chock-full of ‘em. Does that feel like a bribe? Probably. Does anyone really care? Hopefully not.

Our weekend started after the drive back to Columbus Friday night when our dearest friends Marci and Jonathan came to visit us at my parents house and brought their 5 month old daughter, Caroline. I don’t have any pictures. BAD BLOGGER. I know, I know. She is stinkin’ cute though, let me tell you. I got to see her smile for the first time which basically melted my heart into the sappiest puddle of love.

On Saturday, Steve and I woke up bright and early and headed to the Columbus Zoo — one of my favorite places on earth.

Here are a few of my favorite animals:

These guys stopped me in dead in my tracks.

(Sorry about the time stamp. We were using my parents camera and finally realized it was on there after 15 pictures or so.)

“Have you ever seen a bat? They‘re hideous! Lifeless, beady eyes; clawed feet; huge, grotesque wings, and fangs!!!!” — Ace Venture

Bats are pretty cool. Probably the one topic that Ace and I don’t agree on.

The best part of going to the zoo early, is you get front row seating to this:

That gal was really a beauty. I could’ve sat and watched her all day.

You can’t tell me that elephants aren’t the happiest animals that ever lived. Look at that grin!

And here’s a baby elephant for you, just to check off my cuteness quota for the day:

Ok, wait. I take that back. Sting rays are the happiest:

And koalas are The Most Stoned Looking:

He hit the bong a little too hard. We just missed his Funyun and Fritos binge.

Kangaroo! I love how she looks just Olive when she’s sleepy. One paw over the face as if to say: “It’s toooo early mom. GO AWAY.”

KangaSteve!

The orangutans always blow my mind. They are so human-like and incredibly intelligent. Watching her was like looking into a mirror. A hairy mirror, but still.

And same thing with the gorillas. This guy was hiding under a trash can that he dragged up onto this platform. He would peak out every so often to check out the situation.

After the afternoon at the zoo we were wiped out. But! We still had many fun things to do. So, after a nap and a shower we were off.

First stop: Northstar… my favorite restaurant in all the land. If you live near Columbus and have never tried it, you are in for a treat my friend.

It’s impossible for Steve to take a normal picture, FYI.

After dinner we met up with our friends Sam and Brett to hit up the AVETT BROTHERS CONCERT. And yes, I’m yelling that. Because that’s how excited I was. They are my favorite band. Ever. Hands down. And our friends are pretty cool, too. **loooove you guys!

Sam may or may not be flipping Brett the bird. I have a feeling it has something to do with his mustache.

This is right around the time that I died.

Every time I see them live it feels like a dream come true.

After the concert we met up with a few more friends at a bar, and as tired as I was it filled my heart up to see everyone again. We are the luckiest and have the best group of Columbus friends.

What. A. Day.

Phew. I’m tired just telling you about it.

But wait! We still have one more day left… and it’s the most important day. Do you know why? It was my dad’s 66th birthday! We spent the day at the Delaware Arts Festival (a blog post revealing our goodies to follow), and then stopped by one of my favorite places in Dublin: the O’Shaughnessy Dam.

It was such a special day. Gorgeous weather and just hanging out with my parents. I couldn’t have asked for more.

Aren’t they the best? Well too bad. You can’t have them — they’re mine.

My dad is serious about 3% of the time, and the rest he is just a big goof ball. The entire weekend he kept singing “Haaaaappy Biiirthday tooooo MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE” so we felt like this cake was fitting. He got a kick out of it.

It still makes me laugh. I can still hear him singing that damn song. The next morning he was still singing it but replaced “birthday” with “day-after-birthday.” Oh yes. It continued.

That was our weekend! It was delightful and I enjoyed reliving the whole thing by writing this post. I hope you guys liked all of the pictures and forgot how I haven’t posted in a few days.

I do have bedroom-related news to share! (Remove your head from the gutter immediately.) Our bed arrived and I’ll have pictures to share soon!

Until then, stay awesome. <3

Some Artist Love: Part III

I know cleared this up last time, but that should read “Part Three” not “Part Eye Eye Eye.” I know I probably don’t have to say that but you guys know that would bug me if I didn’t at least try to clear up any possible confusion.

Eye Eye Eye. I actually sorta like that better.

NEW ART! Ready? Because it’s going to be a challenge for me not to whip out my credit card and order some of this stuff. I ordered some feather prints from the last artist post after I wrote it, so we’ll see what happens after this one.

The next three posters are for my ALL TIME FAVORITE BAND: The Avett Brothers. There is a remarkable series of posters on gigposters.com and here are three of my favorites:

(Steve love skulls – so I have a feeling he’d be all for this one.)

So, a few things about the above poster: A.) It’s a tree – we all know how I feel about trees. B.) The date is my birthday. C.) The location is where I currently live. Would anyone argue with me if I felt as though this one was meant to be?

**TOTALLY RELATED SIDE-NOTE: We’re going to see them this weekend. I. Can. Hardly. Wait.

This next one just cracks me up.

It reads: “Oh great. Who invited the herbivore?” “I brought hummus.” Who doesn’t love a little vegetarian dinosaur humor? No one. That’s who.

I kind of want this rug, so having a print of it is just the next best thing:

I don’t know what it is, exactly, that I love so much about this next one. It’s so serene while being extremely vibrant.

I love how it looks folded. This is how that conversation would go with my husband:

Me: I love how it looks folded.
Him: You mean you love how it looks old.
Me: No, worn. Not old. It’s charming.
Him: You mean it’s old and used. Admit that you like buying things that are old and used.

Touché. I suppose when you boil it down he’s right. YES STEVE. I said you are right. Moving along now.

One can never go wrong with an ampersand print.

OH and those lines. They kill me.

And, last but not least, for a girl who thinks Twitter is obnoxious:

Hahaha I love it. Thanks for the update Todd Sparrow.

Welp. That’s it for now! I hope you enjoyed the latest installment of Some Artist Love. I hope you all are having the sunshine we’re having! Soak it up, people.

 

 

 

Teaser Tuesday

So I know I’ve been slacking with the pictures. I know I need to go on a big sweeping escapade and take many moons worth of pictures of the house. We had this big party over the weekend and I stillllll haven’t gotten around to cleaning everything.

What? What do you want me to say? I’m an old lady and it takes me a long time to recover from parties now. I kid you not — Steve and I took a FOUR HOUR NAP on Sunday. Four hours. Do you have any idea how not normal that is?

I do, however, have a picture of the credenza. It’s one measly picture of the one clean corner of my home, so that’s all you get. I will be taking more soon. Promise. Scouts honor. And all that junk.

Eh? Eh? Right? I mean. Doesn’t this just practically knock you over cartoon style, with teeth knocked out in slow motion? Because that’s what it does to me. It’s the bee’s knees, it’s the cherry on top of my sundae, it’s the cheese to my macaroni. I could go on for days, but I’ll go ahead and stop because it’s only Tuesday and I know you already need a break.

JUST WAIT until Steve gets that TV wall mounted. And I can put STUFF on top of it. Glorious decor and stuff. And, like I already said, there will be more pictures. After next weekend life slows down a bit. We have literally had one thing after another for almost two months, every. single. weekend. Which has been amazing, don’t get me wrong. But I’m just tired. And my house misses me. And so does my sewing machine, and my hot glue gun, and MY STAPLE GUN — OH HOW I’VE MISSED YOU.

On a completely unrelated side-note: We played dominoes last night and Olive and Steve had onehelluva staring contest. I’m not sure who blinked first.

But I’ll give you one guess who licked their nose first…

HAHA YOU LOSE OLIVE. Pssht. Such a rookie.

Happy Tuesday you terrific trolls. (Ope! See what happens when I try to alliterate?) Just kidding — love you all!

Fallen Comrade

It is with great sadness that I tell you all about the passing of a loved one: one of our enormous bradford pear trees was destroyed in a storm last week.

I know. Take all the time you need to soak it in and try to understand. I have already been through all five stages of grief and and only now am I okay to talk about it.

I was at work when the storm hit, and we were all bracing ourselves as it passed through our city. I arrived home about 30 minutes later to discover this as I opened my back door to let Olive out.

WARNING: Extremely graphic and gruesome picture below

Our neighbor came out as I got home and told me it was the scariest thing she’d ever seen. She couldn’t see more than 15 feet from her window because of the wind, and she promptly took cover in her safest interior room. My only way to understand the destruction is to assume it was some sort of freakishly quick and small tornado that ripped a path down our neighborhood. No tornadoes were reported, but I mean, how could wind alone have done this damage?

You can’t tell in the picture below how large our neighbor’s tree was. It was monstrous, and it was completely uprooted.

In all seriousness the street behind us looked like a war scene. We were going to drive down the street to see the damage but there were so many downed trees that the road was completely blocked. Most importantly everyone in our neighborhood is safe and no one was injured. I do believe everyone was quite rattled, though.

Our deck chairs were all over the place and a huge rod holding up our canopy was knocked down.

And if you understood that song reference and have it stuck in your head for the rest of the day: I’m so sorry.

That picture was taken after we reinstalled the canopy rod and set up the chairs again. The canopy had to stay like that until we could buy new bungees to attach it because they all sprung. DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW CRAZY THAT IS? They were all completely stretched and ruined. I have never seen anything like it.

Luckily we got the canopy all put together again, and with the help of our very awesome neighbors we were able to chainsaw and hack our way through the limbs. Now the tree is stacked in neat little piles of firewood. At least we didn’t have to just haul him away with the rest of his friends; he will live on to serve us in our fire pit. I’m sure he feels pretty good about that. I feel pretty good about that. And it saved us about $300 for a tree removal service. SUCKERS. Those guys are highway robbers! Whatever that means.

Anywho. We do have the porch put together again and I’m going to take some pictures this weekend at our cookout. Yes, that’s right, we’re hosting an all day / all night cookout on Saturday and have friends coming from all over the place. I’m so excited I can hardly stand it!

Also, I promise to show you guys pictures of the credenza next week. Have a fantastic Friday and an even better weekend, everyone!