-
A special craft
I don’t think I mentioned it, but my brother in law Patrick, was very big in the music scene. He played the guitar, managed a music store and was constantly going to festivals to help.
As we were cleaning his house, we started finding guitar picks laying around. I guess I didn’t really think about the fact that he probably had a ton of them until we had a little baggie full. As soon as I saw how many there were I knew what I wanted to do! I asked Jill and Steve if I could have them for a project I had in mind. Of course they said yes, so for the past 2 months they’ve been sitting in the closet waiting on me.
On Sunday Matt and I ran to Michael’s to find the items I needed. A glass back frame and some glue. I ended up buying 2 frames because I wasn’t sure what exactly I wanted to do. One idea involved some sheet music. The other just needed a frame. Plus they were different sizes, one was square and one was rectangular, and I wasn’t sure which size would work best. In the end I used the rectangular one.
So what did I do? I glued the guitar pics to the to glass. It wasn’t hard or too time consuming, though it did take a little while to figure out which ones I wanted where. I knew I wanted to use the memorial ones at the top and bottom and I just filled in from there.
-
Organized….
3rd time is the charm apparently when it comes to organizing my bathroom cabinet. The first two options didn’t work so I ran back to the Container Store Wednesday afternoon and picked up a metal rack with sliding baskets.
My first choice was too wide, and my second choice left me with the same mess I had before and less overall space. The wire basket turned out to be the best because it utilized the vertical space. I was able to get almost everything in one of the two baskets. I put my daily items in one of the small baskets I purchased from Bed Bath and Beyond and I also picked up a super small basket from the Container Store to hold things like my contact case, ring box, and floss. Overall I think I am pretty happy with the new arrangement. Everything has a place now.
Here are a few pics of before, during and after.
Before – I told you it was a disaster!
During with the BB&B option – As you can see there is stuff all over the floor because I don’t know what to do with it.
After
I know it’s still kind of cluttered but it stores the stuff I don’t use as often and gets it out of the way. The stuff I do use is in the front of the baskets or in one of the two separate baskets. This also ended up costing me a little more than I had anticipated. Total cost for my sink was about $40.00.~k
-
Finally!!!!!
Guess who finally got to go to a hockey game last night? THIS GIRL!!!! I’ve only wanted to go for the past 5 years. Matt and his coworker were offered tickets from a vendor and I got to tag along. 🙂
Best part? BOX SEATS!! Free food and beer plus great seats equals an awesome night.
~ k
-
Let’s take a trip
Currently Matt and I are trying to decide where we would like to go for our 2nd anniversary. Holy cow, it’s almost been TWO whole years! Watch out! 😉 Anyway, our/my first choice was Quebec City but after looking at flights prices are too high right now. Now our list consists of Chicago (which I think is the front runner), Boston, Maine (which Matt is not keen on), or maybe someplace beachy like Mexico.
The only real criteria for our trip is we would like someplace we haven’t been before, a relatively short and inexpensive flight, and somewhere that would be good for a long weekend with stuff to do. Clearly if we went Maine it would be more of a quiet nature type trip. If we went to Chicago or Boston, there would be tons of things to do and if we went tropical there would be the beach. Now we just have to decide where to go.
Last night we were watching The New Girl on Fox and they were talking about the various anniversary gifts. Matt and I decided last year that our trip to NYC was our gift so we didn’t get each other an actual gift, just cards. Honestly I kind of like this idea. I mean we can buy what we want when we want. We joked last year that the plane tickets were our paper gift. So this year I think we will have to get t-shirts from our destination. The second anniversary gift is cotton. 🙂 I told Matt I think it would be cool to do the “traditional” gifts without being traditional. I guess I’m also assuming we will try to take a trip around our anniversary every year. I mean it’s in the spring and what better time to go on a trip right?
~k
PS I’m still working on my bathroom. The stuff I got yesterday didn’t work so it was returned today. Now I have to run back to the Container Store and work it out.
-
A cluttered mess
Under my bathroom sink is and has been a disaster for a while. It’s not a huge space but it’s okay. Every time I clean it out and throw stuff away I think to myself, wow this looks much better, I’m going to keep it this way. Inevitably, a few weeks later it is a disaster again. Last week I decided I had had enough and I started looking for organizers. I found a really awesome one at the Container Store. It was on a slider and had a small stackable tub. Perfect!
Over the weekend Matt and I ran to the Container Store and bought my new storage bin. I even measured beforehand to make sure it would fit. Well wouldn’t you know I didn’t account for a stupid pipe in the back and the damn thing about was an inch too wide. 🙁 It fit under the kitchen sink so now it lives there. I ran back to the Container Store on Sunday in hopes I could find something similar only a little smaller. No such luck so I started scouring the internet. I finally found something stackable at Bed, Bath and Beyond so I braved the flood to purchase my items.
Tonight I plan on cleaning out my cabinet in hopes of finally getting it organized. I’ll even take before and after pics to post tomorrow. I’m going to just say I’m pretty embarrassed at how awful under my sink is.
~k
-
Define debacle
Back in January after a disastrous hair cut, I decided to call one of the more upscale salons in town. I may be cheap about certain things but my hair is not one of them. I will pay good money for a hair cut, within reason. So anyway the girl I saw in January did a good job and I decided I would go back to her. On Wednesday last week I emailed in to schedule an appt. By Thursday afternoon I realized I still hadn’t heard back so I called. The guy I spoke with made a comment about me calling the Raleigh location. (No shit Sherlock, that was the location I’d gone to before and the girls name was on their web page.) He booked my appt for 5:00 on Friday. I was pretty happy I was able to get in the next day.
Friday afternoon I leave work a little early and head to North Hills. When I arrive the receptionist is on the phone so I sit waiting for her to speak when she gets off. She never does. A few mins later another customer walks in and checks in. Since I’ve not been spoken to I walk to the counter to check in. The girl looks at the computer, looks at me and says who did you have an appt with? I repeat myself and she goes “oh she’s at the Cary location. I’m sure you could make it over there, she has some time after.” I’m like are you kidding me?!?! I just came from that area. There is NO way I am driving back over there on a Friday afternoon at 5:00 in the rain! I am completely livid that the guy who booked my appt failed to tell me she had moved locations. Realizing this is their fault, the receptionist is finally able to find a stylist that can squeeze me in at 6:00 if I’d like to wait.
I was determined to get my hair cut so I said I would wait. I ran across the street to JCPenny to kill some time and managed to find a cute top and a red necklace before heading back. The stylist I saw was nice and I thanked her for squeezing me in after she handed me a glass of wine.
I have to say I’ve been less than impressed with the office staff at Von Kekel since I scheduled my first appt last month. I really hope the Cary location staff is better because I will be headed over there for my next cut.
-
Reading, reading, reading
Over the past 3 weeks I have spent the majority of my time reading. To the point that I will be reading while listening to the tv. Every spare moment has my face buried in my kindle. It all started when I stumbled across some free books on Amazon. I downloaded a few that were free and a few more of the $1.99 – $2.99 books. I went nuts. 🙂
As I was browsing through the free books I ran across Chop Chop, written by Christian writer LN Cronk. It was about David and Laci and their journey through high school. This is not really my normal book selection but I was like what the hell so I downloaded it. Then one night I got sucked in. The last 20% of the book kept me in tears. When I was finally finished I knew I should stop but I couldn’t. After reading the description for Book 2 I decided to check it out. And before I knew it was I four books in. At this point there was no turning back (although at the end of each book I would think I should stop now) and then I was finishing book 6.
I was more than a little annoyed as i wrapped up book 6. I had more questions than answers and i knew this was the last book to be told by David. I’m not quite half way through book 7 which is told by a different character and I only feel okay about it. So far I haven’t learned much more and I’m basically trying to power through to get to book 8, which promises to answer my questions. This is told by yet another character and I think I will enjoy it more.
Anyway I don’t think I’ve ever read this much this fast. I must say the books are an easy read, I mean I blow through book 3 in a day, which is unheard of for me. So yeah, that’s what I’ve been doing lately.
~k
-
More baby gifts
A friend is pregnant and since I was literally the first to know I thought I would do something a little special for her shower gift. Of course I knew I wanted to make a blanket for baby k but there was also a sign I wanted to include. I knew baby k’s mom had been eyeing one on etsy that I knew I could recreate.
A few weeks ago I started working on my projects. I started looking for fabric and found a few online. I ran to Joann’s at lunch one day and happened to find some cute flannel that was also on sale. I grabbed that and some minky and I had what I needed for project 1.
My next hurdle was the sign. I needed wood, but it couldn’t be too heavy or shipping would kill me. Then I needed a starfish. Thankfully Matt’s mom was able to find the last 2 at a store near her. The last time they came up she brought the starfish. Neither were prefect but one had a little more personality. When turned the right way it looked its little leg was kicked up dancing.
I got my ass in gear and started working on my gifts. I mean baby k could be here any day. Thankfully the gifts arrived in tact today!
So here’s what I made.
I’ll do a walk through of the sign later in the week.
I am pretty happy with both projects and baby k’s mom seems to like them too. 😀
~k
-
Weekend recap
It was a pretty low key weekend. Matt and I woke up Saturday morning to big, fluffy snow flakes. It snowed like that till after lunch. Then it slowed down and the flakes got smaller. Everyone seemed to feel like we got a lot more snow than what was reflected on Sunday. I’m sure the fact that it was 65* on Friday didn’t help. Nonetheless, it was beautiful! I ran out Saturday at lunch so we could make chili and the drive to the grocery was amazing. The grocery store was a madhouse but whatever.
By Sunday most of the snow was gone but we still have a little ice in the front yard. It was nice to get another little snow in before spring. I mean I wouldn’t even mind if we got one more really good snow in 😉
~k
-
Houston, we have a bookcase!
One week later and our new bookcase is complete! I like it! I think I did well picking one that would fill the space. It’s stylish and modern yet has a ton of storage space. It’s not quite as study as I would like but Matt is going to brace it to the wall. Normally I wouldn’t care but Julio has already been climbing all over it so I feel like a brace is necessary.
I’m looking forward to all the decorating I can now do since I have more space. Woo hoo!
~k
