It's a Girl!

Well.... not in that context.

Just came home on my lunch break and look what is blooming at the townhouse


My second hydrangea is blooming!! Is it just me or do ya'll see pink too??

Brian and his mom bought this plant last year and it didn't bloom once, granted, it lived in the plastic potting container for a little while till we got off our lazy bottoms and planted it. We weren't even sure it was going to bloom this year.
This is the pic of my 2nd hydrangea bush just in case ya'll forgot
This one has much greener leaf's than the other one, but I don't care. I love them both equally.
Happy 3 day weekend!

Antique Glass Bottles

Another of the many many items I just emptied from a box from my Dad's house were these antique glass bottles that my grandmother held onto


I can't remember what my dad said they all were, but one is an old milk bottle, medicine bottle, cream bottle, water jug that used to be placed on the nightstand next to the guest bed (or so I'm told) and that's all I can remember.

I saw these antique bottles used in a TON of other blogs, so a little bit of water, bleach, and TLC and now they are my new favorite thing to place picked flowers in

One more thing that's not in a box taking up space but serving a new purpose!

Why didn't I think of this sooner?!?

I had mentioned in this previous post that I had finally found something to jump start Brian's motivation to get some projects done around here...

The Secret...

I bought him a more powerful power drill!

Look at all we have gotten done so far

The Before Veggie Garden:

After:


Remember this mirror in the corner - It is EXTREMELY heavy and needed a better tool to get the job done
Now it is where I want it

MC to the rescue again

- our hose was trampling all over my little hosteas


With the 3 day weekend coming up, who knows what we will be getting done! Why didn't I think of this sooner??
Happy Drilling!

Alas!!

Brian and I went to California this past weekend for my dad's wedding and look what happened while we were gone.

Before I left:

After:

Definitely worth the wait!! Now if the other hydrangea bush would catch on...

PB or Bust

This past weekend, I traded in some of Brian's Visa Reward Points and got a $100 gift card to PotteryBarn - woo hoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



What should I get??

Something from my registry??

Or put it towards a bigger purchase for something around the house? I've had my eye on this chandelier for a little while now

See how incomplete my dining room is without a chandelier?

If you had $100 to spend at PotteryBarn, what would YOU get??

Brian's Big DIY - The Garden

I am soooo glad Brian has a Green Thumb! Gardening comes naturally to him... I have to try really hard at it.

My mom was a HUGE gardener, that's probably the #1 thing people tell me they remember the most about my mother - and how much she loved it. As you can imagine, I would like to keep that memory alive in my own garden. We were able to take some plants and flowers from her flower beds at my dads house last summer, but since he moved in the middle of a big winter storm, we didn't get to take a lot. The priest who is marrying us thinks I should knock on the new owners door and ask them if they would mind if I dug up a few things, just not sure I have the guts to do that yet.

Anyway, last summer Brian really wanted to build a garden bed. He called me one day at work to tell me we had to switch cars at lunch (I have a Jeep Grand Cherokee - great for transporting things!)

We switched cars and I came home to a PILE OF ROCKS in the backyard. Brian is the King of Craigslist - it's his addiction - and he found someone on Craigslist who had a bunch of rocks they were giving away for free.

He bought a bag of cement and lined the rocks up the way he wanted them. He worked all day in the rain and....

Actually he got pneumonia from working outside in the rain. He missed one full week of work and it took him about 3 weeks to recover, the project didn't get done till late fall so we didn't plant anything. I didn't take a before picture of the backyard, but this is last fall. Sorry it's not a great picture, but you get the idea

We spent all day Easter garden shopping and here are some more recent pictures of the garden.
This is a better close up of Brian's fabulous rock bed

Along the back fence

My hydrangea's are soooooo close to blooming! No joke, I check every day on my lunch break to see if either of them have bloomed.

This is one plant we got from my mom's garden, when we got it last summer, they were just a few stems. They TOOK OFF the minute we planted them! We certainly didn't expect them to get that big!

This is the start of my vegetable garden behind the fence (the chairs are about to head to the Yard Sale pile). Fingers crossed we can get it done this weekend.

After my veggie garden gets put in, I... I mean we want to put in a little brick patio for the grill, we also need to do some more landscaping along this side. To the right, you can see the leftover rock that we still haven't shipped off. Free rocks anyone?
Happy Friday afternoon!

Dilemma

There is no where in Lexington where I can register for Ole Miss stuff - very uncool!

How can I have UK Tervis Tumblers and not Ole Miss ones??

Or what about all these super cute collegiate platters? I don't want to register for a UK chip and dip platter, what will I use while I watch Ole Miss football??

Might just have to order them for an early birthday present to myself ;)
OLE MISS 2010 FOOTBALL SCHEDULE

Mark your calendars!
Sept. 4
Jacksonville State
Oxford

Sept. 11
Tulane
New Orleans, La.

Sept. 18
Vanderbilt
Oxford

Sept. 25
Fresno State
Oxford

Oct. 2
Kentucky
Oxford

Oct. 9
Open

Oct. 16
Alabama
Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Oct. 23
Arkansas
Fayetteville, Ark.

Oct. 30
Auburn
Oxford

Nov. 6
Louisiana-Lafayette
Oxford

Nov. 13
Tennessee
Knoxville, Tenn.

Nov. 20
LSU
Baton Rouge, La.

Nov. 27
Mississippi State
Oxford

Dresser Makeover

One of the many things that was dumped on us... I mean given to us from my Dad's big move was this old dresser
Oh and the drawers

It was my mom's growing up and it was also mine growing up. It is pretty big so I think somewhere in high school I switched dressers with my little brother so I could have more room space. This dresser had definitely seen better days, I use to spill nail polish remover on it all the time, we would leave our ice cold beverages with no coasters, and look at this signature mark my brother carved in it when he was sent to his room: The words "I hate Dad".

The dresser was in the line up for the garage sale, but I decided to give it a makeover.

So I sanded: With sand paper we already had, unfortunately I managed to break every nail during this process.

I spray painted it baby blue (spray paint was $3.67 from Lowe's)

Painted and Sanded some more

Bought new handles from Home Depot that cost $24 for 3 knobs and 6 handles
I'm still waiting for Brian to drill holes for the rest of the handles but I have finally found something that has totally excited him to finish projects... I will post this next week.

When the rest of the handles are put on and we move the dresser upstairs, I will take a completed picture of the project.

This dresser is going to go in my Hobby Room so I have a place to store all my fabric, paints, accessories, etc...

I did have quite the audience in the garage during the production of this piece

Expenses:
Dresser - Free
Sand Paper - Already Had
Spray Paint - $3.67
Gallon of Paint - $22.50
Handles - $24

Total Cost: $50.17

Completed pictures will come as soon as I can motivate Brian to help me move it upstairs, any volunteers?

An Empty Drawer

I had this drawer

From this Desk That I used for Patterson's Private Den.

I was ready to throw the drawer away, when I read this blog that MC hooked me up with.

And made my very own ribbon holder for my soon-to-be hobby room:

Supplies:
-Empty Drawer (free)
-White can of spray paint ($3.67)
-3 wooden rods ($.59 each)
Total: $5.44

Michaels had this ribbon holder for almost $30 and doesn't hold nearly as many ribbons as mine does!

Brian definitely made the middle rod a little crooked, but that's ok, I think I am going to add 2 more rods to my holder. I also went to the Dollar Tree and bought some more ribbon to show case.

I can't wait to put this up in my Hobby Room!! Thanks to High on the Tide for the great idea!

Paint Help!!!

I love decorating... BUT I HATE PICKING OUT PAINT COLORS!!!! If I could hire someone to just pick out paint colors, I would, but unfortunately, it's not in the budget this year.

So I need YOUR help.

My front foyer needs some color. We have a black and white floor (the same in the kitchen) that I would LOVE to get rid of, but that's not in the budget either. One day I will put down a tile floor and it will be fabulous! But for right now, I have to work with the black and white squares. I really want a warm color to make it feel more inviting so I was thinking of a traditional red maybe?? I DON'T KNOW!!!
See what I have to work with:

I've already taken out the white shelf and put in a tall metal table along the wall hoping to help the room a little but I am completely stumped. If I had a traditional red color, maybe I could accent it with some gold frames and mirrors??
Any and all advice and paint colors will definitely be appreciated!!

National Etiquette Week

Yes, there really is such a thing called National Etiquette Week.

In honor of this week, we are going to eat dinner at the dining room table every night with our cloth napkins, I am going to sit down and get caught up on my thank you cards (and maybe order more stationary), and read from my Emily Post Etiquette Book (I'm hoping to learn 5 new things I didn't know before).

One of my absolute FAVORITE blogs is Etiquette with Miss Janice. The first day I found her blog (thanks to the Lilly blog) I read EVERY entry! She has all kinds of etiquette tips and great sources... my book list has grown so much from her suggestions.

In honor of Etiquette Week, she has a giveaway going on. Check it out here! And if you have some time, browse her blog, you won't regret it! Good Luck!

Deal of the weekend!

We live such exciting lives... after watching Derby coverage ALL day Saturday we headed to Target for some Saturday night entertainment.

We actually had a wedding present to get and that was the excuse I used to lure Brian to Target in the first place. FYI, I'm OBSESSED with Target. If we were to get a Super Target, I would be in DEEP trouble.

I saw this comforter in the West Elm catalog and loved it! I love white comforters.
It's hard to see the pleats on the internet but it looks fantastic in the catalog.
For a king comforter, it is $119 and 2 standard pillow shams are an additional $38.

So I was super excited when I found the same comforter at Target!
King Comforter, 2 King Pillow Shams, and bed skirt ON SALE for $59.99 (was $89.99).
How could we resist?

I would post a picture of the comforter on my bed, but I have some excess wrinkles to iron out first.

Target, I love you.