Shine On

 

A Girl Knows What She Wants

No....... I'm not picky or anything.

 

Caramel Brulee Frap, no whip cream, extra caramel in cup and on top with toffee sprinkles.  Thanks.

After the Holidays Howdy

Howdy All.  Coming back to the blog.  For sure.  Yes.  Going to.  Not just sayin' it this time.  Making an effort (insert cheesy smile).

This Christmas was an amazingly chill holiday- just Hubby D and me, celebrating it up on his birthday!  Batman had a pretty awesome message to bring him.......

Happy Birthday you sexy beast!

Rock it.

whaaaaaaat!!!

Hope you had a fab Christmas........ for us, it's always rockin' with Hubs birthday cake!  This year I made German chocolate cake completely from scratch, frosting and all.  I feel it's one of the best I've ever made (thank goodness for the amount of time it took)!  I'll share the recipe later this week.

Keepin' it Cool

Hi Peeps!

I've missed posting.  I've missed your blogs.  I've missed keeping in touch through comments.  The holidays are always busy, yet I hope to hop online to blog a bit (I know, same old shpeal) - but I'm gonna really try.

Looking forward to a little getaway soon and I'll have some fun things to share along with new products for the Etsy shop- stay tuned.

In the meantime, just finishing up some S&S orders before a quick vacay.  Working with a sweet, sweet Maui Bride Brigit.  Loving her style and colors, makes my job much easier when the client has a clear vision of what they want.

Hope everyone is well!

photo via

Chuggin' Along

photo via love creative blog

D had to remind me nicely that "Movember" is for dudes to grow out their staches, not for women to grow their leg hair. Oooooops.  Life's busy.... what can I say?

Dang, the holidays are creepin' big time!  Going out anywhere now in public is a huge "in your face" reminder of it.  Life continues to be so busy- I just realized that maybe I should get on the ball and prepare a bit more.  I haven't even ordered our Christmas cards yet (yes, the girl who coordinates handmade envelope liners and strategically chooses just the right envelopes and return address stamp ink).  What is my problem this year?  This time of year tends to put me in a more laid back mood, even though there are always just as many things to get done, if not more.

Time to get that extra drive kickin.

Happy Friday

Happy Friday!

May the wind take you somewhere pleasant this weekend......

 

passenger side. windows down. salty air.  love

Travel-Wear Inspiration

What vacations have you taken this year?

I'm SO ready for a vacation.  Besides taking a super quick few days out to Colorado this past Summer, D and I haven't taken a vacation this year.  I'm a huge believer in taking time away- to relax, rejuvenate, to find a balance, to regain faith, to splurge on yourself, to be grateful, and of course to drink coffee everyday after sleeping in and possibly have a few days with no set agenda.

Sadly we don't have a long vacation planned, yet we are looking forward to a long weekend in San Fran next month.  I can't wait to roam around the city, eat delicious carbs, bundle up in a pea coat and boots and sip hot drinks all day.  We've also got a 49ers game to attend which will be my very first live NFL game EVER!  Pretty.darn.excited.

I'm most definitely revving up for the City by the Bay and if money was no object, I'd have all these travel goodies and wardrobe items ( a girl can wish):

vintage suede travel bag via Etsy

 

 

 

 

 

winter coat via Emerson Fry

 

 

 

Lace and Fur ear muffs via Etsy

 

vintage boots via Etsy

 

 

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween peeps!  It was a fun run this weekend dressing up in our costumes, so tonight will be a chill evening for me and the Mr.

Catwoman was a success!  Thank you to my friend Debra for doing my awesome makeup (who was so patient to do both a trial and final application), to my Hubs and his friend for making my head cowl piece and belt, and to D for encouraging me to get into a comic character and go with it (totally admit it was a freakin rad time)!

We had our whole comic theme set:  I was Catwoman, D was Bane, friends were Batman and Peter Parker/Spiderman.  Fun times.

This was actually my makeup trial, testing out 'the look'

Mr. and Mrs.

(look at ms. cottontail behind me- saw plenty of that all night)!

cheesy.

the gang

love

the dudes

show 'em whatcha got

friendzies!

Hope everyone has an awesome Halloween!

What the Heck is Up?

I have weird motivation levels this week.  My workout routine has been amped leading up to a very tight fitting vinyl costume that will get worn this weekend, which has dipped into evening time.

I miss my sister and knowing that we're not going to travel to Colorado to visit this holiday season makes it worse.

Listing to Jimmy Eat World tunes has been such a nice 'throwback feeling' this past week.

Haven't given up on the Frappucinos yet......... don't know if I can cut all ties.

I have a list a mile long of things I would like to get done by Friday, not quite sure if they all will, but it's testing my will power.

I have so many clothes that are 'hand wash only', and I keep buying more.  Ugh!  I do not own one of those fabulous washers with a million wash settings therefore, I may be one of the only people left in the Continental U.S. who still hand washes garments with my own hands.  And I hate it.

I dusted off my old skateboard the other day and told my husband it's time to take it out for a spin.  Years ago I would have considered it an insult to let dust set on top of it, yet it's just another excuse I use for turning 30.  Can't let all the fun disappear though, time to take that baby out!

I have to go to Costco this evening to pick up a few things, and.....well.........who EVER looks forward to that?!

I'm counting down the days until this weekend, actually just Friday when I will stuff my face with pizza and absolutely not feel one ounce of guilt.  Then I'll just pray that my tight costume fits well on Saturday.  Yep.  That's life lately.

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday......... hope your weekend rides nicely!

photo via UglyBug

Oh Grey!

It's time to have our bedroom furniture re-painted and refinished.  It's well overdue.  We had our headboard and nightstands custom made a few years ago according to drawings and photos I provided to a carpenter we found through Craigslist.  Price was awesome, design was awesome, finish coat over the paint = not awesome.  It's always bothered us that we specifically requested a MATTE finish and each piece was completed with a clear coat of who knows what over them.  Bummers.  We just dealt with it because like any anxious/impatient couple, we wanted to get some dang furniture in the bedroom.  I can't stand how dust accumulates in the little crevasses about 2.5 seconds after it's dusted, and how everything sticks to the tops of our nightstands.  Lamer than lame.

We're on the hunt for the perfect shade of grey to repaint our furniture.  So far, neither D nor I have settled on the right shade of grey.  He would like to see a mid to darker shade, while I would be happy with a mid tone hue.  I must admit that it's true when Designer's say it's most difficult to make design decisions for themselves in their personal lives vs. client projects.  If this was for a client, I would have chosen the color within a few days.  Our project....... over 2 + months...... still looking at swatches and draw down sheets of grey.  Ugh.

At times I'm ready to throw in the towel and just purchase an upholstered headboard, but I do love our current furniture too much give up on it now.  And the search continues..............

DIY Doormat - Halloween Style

I decided over the weekend that a DIY doormat was a must have in order to spruce up our entry for Halloween.  D was also on board, although I know he had to tap into his 'good sport' side while I pulled him around town running errands to get materials.  I'm pretty sure the only thing sparking his excitement was that I offered to use a Batman symbol on the mat - just enough fun and nerd for our casa.

This project was SUPER easy, inexpensive, and rather quick time wise.

Materials:

Doormat  $7.99 @ Target

Your custom design , enlarge @ Kinkos $2.25

Exacto knife, already had one

Spray paint, already had it in garage

Before you head out for materials, choose your design and print it out using your home computer or save the photo on a flash drive and bring it to your local printers to enlarge.  In our case, I printed out the Batman symbol on 8.5" x 11" paper, then took it to Kinkos to enlarge is 225% (percentage will depend on your mat size) for our mat, I knew I wanted it to be just a little more than double the size of my original print.

We picked up a low cost utility mat at Target, I think it was around $7.99.  We chose one with a bit of black/grey color blend, although they did have all black available as well.  Cost was key here, didn't want to spend much.

Cut out your custom design using an Exacto knife, carefully navigating around curves with a continuous cut to ensure an even line.  For ours, I just wanted the bat symbol and not the border, so it was quite simple and quick.

Then place the design "stencil" on top of the mat, centered, and spray paint over it with an even coat throughout the design.  Sorry no photos of this process, as it was a bit windy and it took both sets of husband/wife hands to hold areas down and spray evenly.

Whaaaa Laaaa.  Done.  And we're digging it everyday.

Yes I'm wearing flip flops, it's still in the 90s here in SD.  A toasty Fall!