Pinterest - My new obsession

Ok, so I might be a little late on the train, but I am pretty obsessed with this website, www.pinterest.com.  I had read about it on some of the blogs that I follow and I just wasn't sure if I could commit to another social website to drain my attention from the things I should be doing.  However, I was truly mistaken, because it is awesome.  I strongly suggest you check it out.  The main point is that it is a website where you can track ideas you find on the internet, categorize them, and come back to them when you have time.  It has revolutionized the way in which I can keep track of travel, recipe, and decorating ideas.

All that being said, I would love to share some of my latest and greatest arts and crafts of the summer.

Project #1 - Invitations

I have always loved invitations.  I refuse to even become a member of evite.  When I plan parties, I pick out and mail actual card invitations.  I love picking them out, and more than anything I love planning what the invitation is going to say.  There is a special art to coming up with a catchy way to say all the details for the given party and it not sounding too repetitive.  My Kappa friends and I are planning a shower for our friend Jenny, so I of course decided to do the invitations.  I found the cutest invitations at www.polkadotdesign.com.  We are doing a mexican theme, and here is the final product, which I am very happy with.  My friend Sarah helped me with the saying below, I really wanted to use the word pinata, and she helped me with the jingle....I think it turned out great!

Project #2 - Anytime Wreaths

So after I got onto Pinterest, I found the cutest design for an easy wreath to make for my front door.  Literally it only consisted of needing two products:  a styrofoam wreath and ribbon.  The original blog post is from thelongthread.com (see post here).  I decided my mom would probably like one too, so me and my friend Haylee went to Wylie yesterday and had an arts and crafts afternoon with Nance.  My mom hates projects, but loves the results (lucky me since my sister and I are always the ones to help her do everything).  However, since this was a very easy project I thought she could handle it.

We went to Hobby Lobby (gotta love that store) and spent the afternoon cutting and tying ribbon around the wreaths.  I chose yellow to match the colors in my apartment, Haylee chose pink to go with her brown door, and mom chose leopard because well.....why not?  She loves leopard and will find any excuse to have something in leopard.  While the project was easy, it did take us several hours and another trip to Hobby Lobby to get more ribbon.  Here are some highlights of our fun filled afternoon:

 Haylee working on her cute wreath.  We had our stuff spread all over the floor, Nance did a good job of keeping it together and not picking up until after the project was complete.

 My half started wreath.  All we had to do was cut the ribbon into 16 inch strips and then tie each one onto the wreath.  Easey, but very tedious.....

 Halfway there!  

And now time for the finished products:

 Haylee's pink with her brown door, very girly and cute.

 My yellow on my green door.  Kind of looks like a sunflower, very pleased.

 Mom's leopard on her black door.  I LOVED the way the leopard turned out!

All three wreaths together.  

I love taking time every now and then to make sure to keep my creative juices flowing.  While I am not proficient with a sewing machine and can't do super complicated projects, I really do enjoy simple, yet unique decorating projects since my day job has me looking at excel spreadsheets for up to 12 hours a day.

I hope you enjoy your week and do something to keep your creative juices flowing!  (The above would be a great and cheap present for a family member or friend.  I think I spent $20 on my yellow wreath and it took about 3 hours to make.  I am happy to make one for you if you live close by, especially since Sarah Cloer and my sister have already requested one from me).

And be looking out for my end of summer recap for my favorite movies of the summer!  It has been a great summer filled with some hilarious movies (I apologize I am not a Harry Potter person so my list will be slightly different than the millions of Hogwarts fans).  However, I feel like my list will still be pretty solid.

Until then, Ciao for now!

How To: Recover Chairs

So if you know me, you know that I enjoy a good project.  Thankfully my mom hates doing projects, so during their recent move she asked me to assist her in finding an antique table to use in her breakfast nook area.  So off we went on the lookout for something my mom would like.  I went to McKinney and got a great table at a barn sale hosted by Elaine from the House of Hargrove.  She has a great website that shows all of the antique pieces she has for sale in both McKinney and Frisco.  Love her stuff!  

So we found a great table and chairs, but the cushions were a little dirty and drab looking.  My mom almost didn't want to buy them because of this fact.  However, I convinced her that I could recover them and went about doing so.  Now, if you know my mother, she just wants to snap her fingers and have a project done.  I on the other hand appreciate the thrill of the hunt and the work that goes into making stuff look great, so I was fine with the task given me.

Here is a picture of a chair before the project (the burlap was already on the chairs; I decided to leave it as I thought it was pretty dang cute):

Step 1:  Unscrew the chair seat.  All you need is a screwdriver, but I am sure a drill would go faster.  Unfortunately I didn't have a drill, so we went the old fashion way.

 Step #2:  Lay the seat on top of the fabric you are using.  The fabric I picked out was a red paisley print that I thought would contrast with my mom's kitchen nicely.  You need to leave about an extra inch of fabric on each of the four sides of the cushion.  


(Small Disclaimer:  I did not remove the fabric that was on the cushion already because it was a light fabric.  However, if you were covering a previously dark cushion with a lighter fabric it might be necessary to remove the old fabric.  In this case, you can likely just rip it off or pull it out with a staple remover).

Step #3: Cut your fabric along all four sides of the chair seat.

Step 4:  Fold the cut fabric along the sides of the seat cushion.

Step 5:  Pull the fabric around the corners tightly.  In this case, it works best to fold the fabric like you are wrapping a present.

Step 6:  You need a staple gun for this part.  After you have pulled the fabric tight you just need to secure the fabric in several spots with the staple gun.  You can't have too many staples so just continue to staple until it feels secure on all sides.

A completed seat cushion.

Step 7:  Place completed seat cushion back on the chair (the chair should be flipped upside down).

Step 8:  Screw the seat back into the chair.

 Step 9:  Repeat the above steps for all the chairs you have to do (in this case for me it was five.  We had four chairs for the table and  one for the computer table). 

Finished Product (total time spent recovering:  approximately 2-3 hours).  

I would like to remind you guys that I am by no means a talented or super artistic person.  This was a relatively easy project that I think anyone would be able to do (remember, I am an accountant).  I would like to encourage you to enjoy the thrill of the hunt as much as me next time you see something special that just needs a little tweaking to look great in your home.


And one more thing I must say before I go....how about them Sooners!!  It was great to win a BCS bowl after several losses.  Bob (as well as my beloved Sooners) looked pretty dang good.  


I am going back to work tomorrow for the first time since Christmas.  I am also about to enter into our dreaded "busy" season in which I will see my coworkers more than my friends and family.  Finally, I am also beginning my marathon training tomorrow, so lots to keep up with during the next few months.  But no matter what, I am not going to miss Brad Womack Round 2 that begins tomorrow with the Bachelor premiere.  Until next time, Ciao for now!

Oh baby, it's Christmas time again!

Ok, unfortunately this post is going to be short.  I promise to catch you up on some really good year-end movie reviews (including the Town, the Social Network, and hopefully some other good Oscar contenders), as well as some other good things that have happened to me over the past month, but if I don't go to bed soon I won't be able to make it up for the run that I promised myself I would go on in the morning!


Man, I know that the Christmas time is a busy time of year for everyone, but this year is an extra special busy time for me and the people around me.  My parents have sold and bought a house and are supposed to move within the next week; my dad's high school football team that he coaches is in the state semi-finals on Saturday!!  whoo-hoo, nothing like high school football in December!  As my dad has said, "You really know you are playing a good season if you have to practice on Thanksgiving" ; I also have to travel for work next week, do all of my Christmas shopping, and somehow try to make it to 4 or 5 Christmas parties and still go to the gym somewhat regularly over the next three weeks.  Luckily I have taken 2 weeks off of work, but that doesn't start until December 21.  So until then when I have time to sit and actually write, I wanted to show you how Casey and I decorated for Christmas!  Enjoy, and feel free to share your Christmas decorations as well!

 Here is our tree.  Check out the cute bow.  My sweet sister Amy got a bow-maker (yes, I didn't know those existed either!).  It is the coolest thing ever; it has different templates and you pick your bow style and it then shows you how to fold your ribbon to make your bow.  Absolutely genius!  And I actually wrapped the presents under the tree myself....normally I just go for sacks, but this year I thought I would actually use boxes and wrapping paper; it turned out great besides the fact that I chose wrapping paper with glitter.  There is glitter all over the apartment and it has been at least a week....

Here is our wreath.  I made it in the same way that I made my Fall wreath.  Again all you do is pick out a few different swags, beads, greenery, and ribbon and put it all on a blank wreath.  Don't forget a command hook for the door either!

 Here are our stockings from Crate and Barrel.  I couldn't get the right stocking to stay straight for anything.  Now if only we actually used the fireplace...we don't have gas logs and we are both to lazy to go get real firewood and clean up ash.  We need to get a boy to come over and do it.

 These are some Christmas plates my mom bought me back in college.  I love them, so I always set them out during the holidays.

  Finally, our centerpiece for our coffee table.  I just got this mix of potpourri from Pier 1, it's a combination of greenery, pine cones, christmas ornaments, and some glittery branches.  Very festive!

And three more quick things to mention:  My friend Sarah and all of the girls in her family just returned from NYC!  I was so jealous, I am trying to get my mom to go next year.  Anyway they snapped this cute picture of the Rockefeller Chrirstmas tree.  They also saw Brad Pitt at their hotel bar!  Let's just say that I was soooo incredibly jealous.  I would have been jealous even if he still looked like a grizzly bear and wasn't clean shaven.  Thankfully though our fabulous Brad has turned back into a normal person as of late.  Sarah said he was really cute in person.  How I wish I could have snuck into her suitcase!

And here is a quick pic of my parents new house.  They are hoping to move within the next week or so.  It all depends on the football game this weekend, only in Texas does life revolve this much around football!!

 Finally, a little Boomer Sooner action!  My beloved Sooners just won the last Big 12 Championship there will ever be!  And I got to go to the game, and sit in a suite....it was fabulous.  I got to go with people from work and we had a great time.  I snapped a few pics of the jumbo screen at Cowboys stadium from our suite.

 Below are all of the players and Bob (oh how I love Bob!) after the victory!  Such a great night to be a Sooner!!!

I hope everyone has a great couple of weeks!  Make sure to spread some Christmas cheer to those around you:  do something nice for a stranger, smile at the lady in line with you at the mall, put an extra dollar in the offering plate, anything you can do to remember to treat people with kindness!  Until next time, Ciao for now!

Arts and Crafts and Premiere Week!!

Ok, so this past weekend was awesome.  Lacie's wedding was a blast, my arts and crafts project turned out great, the Sooners won (barely....whew!) and Blue Man Group was sooooo much fun.  


I only have time for a quick recap here, but no worries, a full one will come later.


Since I am really proud of my fall craft project I wanted to share it.  All I have to say is "Welcome Fall!!!!"  The first day of Fall is officially tomorrow, and I am super excited.  Cooler weather, football games (high school, college, and pro), pumpkins, and fall TV, what more could you ask for??  My wonderful sister helped me craft my new fall wreath below.  It was so easy to make; if you don't think you are crafty enough...think again... you are!  All you need is a bare wreath and about 10 different swags of fall leaves, pumpkins, beads, whatever you want to fill the circle of the wreath.  Just stick the stems of the swags directly into the wreath.  Finish it off with ribbon to hold everything in place, a bow up top, and you have a great fall decoration!  Love it!

  
I thought Casey wouldn't even notice the new addition to our apartment, but she really liked it!  I love it when she notices the little things....she isn't as into details as I am so I get real excited when she appreciates the same things I do.  She is just the best roommate ever.


On to my next favorite thing about fall.....Fall TV.  As I am writing this I am watching Gossip Girl that was taped from Monday.  Since it is premiere week I thought I would let you know what fall shows I intend on watching.  The following isn't mutually exclusive, but they are shows that I am pretty dang excited about.  I will go in order for each day of the week....thankfully I have DVR and can watch any of these items at my leisure....


Monday - How I Met Your Mother and Gossip Girl (I also will randomly watch Dancing With the Stars....now this is not something I am proud of....my mom LOVES the show as does my grandmother....Me....I personally watch it to see Maks without a shirt on at least one occasion every two weeks....other than that I am not that into it unless one of the celebrities sparks my eyes....seeing as how the man I was most excited about was Michael Bolton I figured this season was one I could sit out on).  But I am extremely excited for the return of Ted's adventure to finding his wife and if Chuck Bass will regain his memory and if Dan Humphries really is the father of the baby he is helping raise....love Gossip Girl...it keeps me young...haha...xoxo...


Tuesday - GLEE!!!!!  There is really nothing else to say....this cult phenomenon is a hilarious riot and I freaking love it.....love love love it!!!  I love Sue, Mr. Shuester, Puck, Quinn, Finn, and even Rachel Berry gets to me.  The music, the drama, the comedy, it is all good!  Can't wait for the Britney episode next week.  I also watch Biggest Loser....another reality TV program.  But, I am going to defend this one because it has great workout and eating tips and you get to see the struggles and achievements of the contestants.  Truly inspiring.  I also watched Parenthood for the first time ever and was pretty impressed.  If you like Lauren Graham you will love the show....and it also stars Dax Shephard and it is good to see him in a role where he isn't a complete idiot.


Wednesday - Modern Family!  The Emmy winning comedy is back and I cannot wait!  I love everything about this show there isn't even words to express (see previous posts about my favorites and the Emmys....I am obsessed with this show....)


Thursday - Sadly, I hate to admit that I am going to check out Greys Anatomy.  I had given up on the show, but the season finale last year was so good that I have to see if Derek lives or dies....I mean we know he will live, without McDreamy what do you have??  Part of the only thing that has kept the show going the past two years has been Patrick Dempsey's hair....it has been the best quality of the show since dead Denny started inhabiting the hospital.  Anyway, the finale from last season reminded me of something we would have seen in season 1 or season 2 when the writing was spectacular as were the ratings.  I will give it a two episode window to catch my fancy.  And then I am planning on checking out My Generation.  It is a show about people who graduated in 2000 and where and what they have been doing the past decade.  It has gotten awful reviews, but I am still going to check it out.  Again,  I think I will just give it a two episode window.  Finally, I will finish out the last season of the Office with Michael Scott.  Sadly the Office hasn't been as good the last year....but it is still the Office and it is still Michael Scott.  I will be faithful no matter what.


Friday and Saturday - this is the weekend, not going to be addicted to TV on these nights.


Sunday - Sunday is devoted to Brothers and Sisters.  Love this show and I am really not sure where they will take it this year.  But, I am a loyal fan and the writing is pretty dang good, so again I will still watch it for the upcoming season.  Oh and Mad Men can go here too, even though it has been on since the end of summer.  Love this show!  The costumes, the drama, the smoking in buildings in the middle of the day, it is depicts the 1960s so well. I say that as though I lived it or something....haha...sadly I didn't, but if I had....listen, the show is just that good....ok?!


And sadly the Bachelor will not return until January.  So no Chris Harrison until then (sigh)!  Oh well, looks like I have enough to keep me occupied.


Ok that's all I got for now....I promise to give a better recap of Lacie's wedding later.  Oh, and my dear friend Katie Travis is getting married this weekend.  I am flying out Thursday for that.  And then, I am off to Hawaii with my dear friend Holly....lots going on the next few days...but I will try to keep in touch.


Until then...Ciao for now!