Sunday, April 28, 2013

The 5 Year Shelves ~

Hey babies! 

How are you all doing?? Having a good weekend, I hope!

I've taken a nice, long break from the DIY. 
Was pretty sick and got very burned out. 

But, I've got an exciting project to share with you today. 

A couple weeks ago, Drew accidentally broke the towel rod in our master bath. 
That was the prefect  opportunity to do some updating in there, don't you think?

Lots of ideas going around my mind, but this first one has driven me crazy since we moved in. 

We have this very strange nook between the shower and the main wall of the room:


The builders should have taken the shower all the way to the wall, right?!?!

So, anyway... when we moved in I got this little shelf from Ikea.  It's been like this for 5 years now. 
Just about every stinking day when I grab a towel I think 
"I REALLY want to build in some shelves there, it would be so easy!!"

One evening, earlier in the week I decided it was going to happen. 
I already had all the materials. 
Came home from work, cut my pieces of quarter round (attached to the wall and actually hold the shelf up) got my measuring tape, level and nail gun. 
Measured, leveled and attached the pieces. 
Then, I went down and cut my pieces of MDF for the shelves. 
Put them in place, and ended up with this:


Every shelf is leaning to the right. 
For the life of me, how did that happen??  I did everything right??
I turned off the light and walked out of the room beyond frustrated. 
I went to my Facebook peeps for help. 
Apparently, you should measure from the ceiling down.
I measured from the floor up.
Low and behold, the walls are crooked, therefore, so are my shelves. 

AH... 

I whined about this all week, I wasn't going to attempt to fix it myself. 
My sweetie promised to help me this weekend.  
He loves me. 

Yesterday, he disassembled all the shelves while I cut new pieces of quarter round. 
We also have this handy thing called a laser level. 
The fancy kind you stick to the wall to help make things level.
*Cough Cough*

Yeah...

Within an hour and a half we had them all up and LEVEL:

 
Sorry for the phone pics.  
I'm lucky I even remember to take these!

I hated that you could see all the yucky bits. 
So, I decided to add some pretty molding to the front to hide all that. 


 Almost there!!

Caulked the seams and painted them bright white.

And now... 5 years in the making:


Well... hello GORGEOUS!! 

*SWOON*

Finally, this space makes sense.


I've had the tree vinyl for awhile now, but always thought adding hooks so we could hang our bathrobes from the branches would be cute. 


Aw.  LOVE!!



Isn't it pretty now?!?


I'm going to go a little crazy now and show you some of the plans I have for the rest of the space.


Going to build a lovely bench with board & batten behind, with hooks for towels. 


Disregard the mess, please.
Going to build a couple shelves like I built in the kitchen to get the clutter off the counter.
Will be painting the cabinet as well.


Right now, the Ikea shelf is behind the door holding all my construction materials.
I'd like to build some storage there, too. 
I'm also going to build some shutters for this room like in the guest room/office.


Max wanted to be sure you all saw how magnificent he looks with his Summer 'do.
We're going to keep him shaved like this full time now. 

I've rearranged my shelves probably 4 times in 24 hours. 


Beyond loving my shelves {finally!!!}.


Everyone gave a great week!!

XOXO

Friday, April 26, 2013

Grown Up Blackberry Lemonade ~


Just in time for the weekend babies!!

Now, I know you're looking at this picture and thinking "Moonshine?!?!  Is she CRAZY!?!"
Well, yes... I am.
BUT...
I've recently discovered that I love moonshine.  
Yep, I'm a redneck at heart. 

Truth is...
I don't drink booze because I like how it tastes. I know, I know... more crazy talk.
I drink it because I like the buzz it gives me. 
But...
I'm kinda a heavyweight when it comes to booze. 
I usually have to drink twice as much as everyone else to get a buzz. 
That's not really fair, or fun. 

Drew brought home this Moonshine last weekend. 
I was thinking "Oh my God, what is he thinking!?!?"
I pictured in my mind those insane tequila nights of my 20's. 
I instantly felt queasy and my head started pounding.   
I was like... OH HELL NO!! 

Later that night, he brought me a shot and said "Let's try it together."
I figured, one shot wasn't going to REALLY hurt. 
We toasted and pounded it back. 
I expected it to be lethal. To burn like tequila. 
It didn't.
Hardly had any flavor but the buzz was almost instantaneous. 
WOOHOO!!

So tonight, we're celebrating the weekend with some 
Grown Up Blackberry Lemonades. 


I used:

  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • the juice of 9 lemons
  • cold water
  • blackberries (rinsed in cold water)
I filled a pitcher with cold water, added the sugar and stirred to dilute, then juiced the lemons into the pitcher.  Obviously, this is all a matter of taste.  Some like more sugar and more lemon.  Before I poured the lemonade into the jars, I added a shot of Moonshine, stirred them and added a few Blackberries, popped in a cute paper straw and we are rockin' the house.  Of course, the straw enables us to drink them faster and makes them taste even better than they already do!



*****DISCLAIMER*****
Moonshine is very strong stuff. 
Please drink responsibly.
DO NOT DRINK AND DRIVE

There we go...
Now, go forth and enjoy your weekend!!

XOXO

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Happiness List # 26 ~

Well, hey there babies. 

Long time no see. 

What's been going on? Where have I been?

Well, if you don't share in the mayhem on FB, let me fill you in. 


2 weeks ago today, I spent the day in the ER. 

What happened?


Yep, Meg has been dealing with kidney stones. 
Worst pain I have ever felt. 
And I've dealt with some gnarly pain in my day. But, nothing like this.
After a CT scan to check the size of the stone, to be sure it was able to pass, and LOTS of fluids and pain killers we were sent home with strict instructions to drink LOTS of fluids and pee through a strainer.  Yeah, SO not good times. 
Spent the week doped up, nauseous and weak. 

2 weeks later, and I'm feeling MUCH better even though I have to drink this amount of clear fluids every day from now on: 

 
They hear me sloshin'. They be hatin. 
#UGH

So, I've been taking a break to get back on my feet. 
Know what?

IT'S BEEN AWESOME!!  :-) 

Trying to keep things low key, but this sort of thing just reminds us how precious life is. 
My preciouses (in my best Gollum voice):



Caeleigh slept over, even though I was parked on the couch and slept most of the time. 


I love you too precious girl. 


Made Oreo Cheesecake. 
Y'all. This is the easiest stuff to make and it's BEYOND delicious. 
Drew told me that this is now his favorite flavor cheesecake. 
Maybe I should share the recipe with y'all. 
Maybe? 


Awesome Saturday nights that leave you lookin like this Sunday morning. 
AWESOME!


Which then requires you to run right out and get a haircut. 
Ah, yeah.  Nothing makes you feel better than a good haircut!

So, Meg is Obo Kaybe (Anyone remember Fat Albert??) and has to slosh off and drink more fluids. 

Gah. 


XOXO

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Remembering Inndia ~

Hi there babies. 

Today, I don't have any amazing projects or recipes to share. 
Today, I'm celebrating the life of my best friend, 
Inndia DeGraw Powell. 

Oof, I hate this pic of me. 

Today, would have been her 28th birthday. 
She, along with her 2 youngest sons, passed away on November 12, 2011 in a horrible rollover car accident. 

I met Inndia when Drew and I moved in next door to The Powell Family in May, 2008.
She was the first one to come over and welcome us to the neighborhood.
I'm sure she brought us a plate of delicious goodies, as she always did. 
I kept telling her to stop it because she was getting skinnier and I was getting fatter. 
I miss her goodies.  :-) 

I have SO many memories of her during the 3 1/2 years we were neighbors/BFF's. 

She was much younger than I was.  
She was the most amazing Mother and loved her kids more than anything. 

Anthony & Inndia

Inndia with baby Alex

Even though I am much older and didn't have children, we still had so much in common and spent so much time together, sometimes, just sitting and talking. 
Talking about everything. 
We read the same books, we went to see the 'Twilight' movies together like giggling teenagers (I still can't bring myself to see the last 2 without her), we went on drives, got lost, went to concerts, our families had BBQ's, celebrated holidays and birthdays. 
We laughed together, cried together, drove each other crazy, shared recipes and stories. 

Celebrating Alex's birthday. 

4th of July. 

She was so funny: 


She was so beautiful:


She loved running.  Sometimes, she'd run like 10 miles while pushing all of her kids in a stroller because she loved it so much. 

She loved sunflowers, lillies and poppies. 
She loved people.  She was one of the most generous people I knew. 
She'd give you her last meal if she knew you were in need. 

She didn't think I was insane for trying to treat our kitty, Nikita, for cancer. 
Many evenings she'd come over just to see how 'we' were doing. 
Well, if she did think I was crazy, she never made me feel like I was. 
She'd hug me when I cried because we were having a rough time. 

She was tall, she always had a perfect pedicure.  She lived in flip-flops. 
I'm haunted by the sound of flip-flops actually. 
I still hear her front door open, and I SWEAR I hear her flip-flops and I expect to hear her knocking on my front door. 
But, the knock doesn't come anymore, and I feel that awful sadness in the pit of my stomach. 


We could sit around in our pajamas, just talking for hours. 

NOBODY can make chocolate chip cookies like Inndia could. 
I even have her recipe, but I cannot duplicate the awesomeness she could produce. 



She wasn't just my neighbor, she was my best friend. 



Happy Birthday Inndia. 
I am forever blessed to have had you as my friend and neighbor. 
You are so very, very missed. 

XOXO

Monday, April 1, 2013

13 years ago today ~


I was fortunate enough to marry my best friend. 


My 'little' brother, Matt walked me down the isle. Our Dad had passed away 5 years prior.  The only time I cried this day was just before I walked down the isle, thinking that my Dad was missing this. 
We couldn't have sad tears, so when the music started and we started walking down the isle, I looked at the end and saw my best friend waiting there, the tears quickly turned to huge smiles:


The weather was really beautiful out.  On April 1st, you just never know what you're going to get. 
So, we were lucky enough to get a few pictures outside the chapel:



Hot stuffs!!!


Everyone thought it was so funny that I wore tennies.
That's how I roll y'all. 

Our first dance:




The song was written for us. We'd been searching for each other for 29 years. 
We did actually, meet over coffee... and this song still gives me chills. 

We've been through a lot together, and I don't think we could have done it without each other. 
Drew is the other half of my soul.  I can't imagine life without him. 
Every day since I met him, I've been the luckiest girl in the world. 

Drew, 

I love you more today, than I ever have.
And I will love you even more, tomorrow.
Unless, of course, you piss me off. :-P 

XOXO
Love you babe. 
Happy Anniversary.
Looking forward to many, many more. 
Newer Posts Older Posts Home