I'm Official, the Name Tag Says So

Well, 14 days shy of my one year mark working where I do, I am finally the proud owner of one of these bad boys.
Yep, I’m official and it couldn’t be any uglier. Hah! Is it bad that I want to take it home and spray paint it white and use a pretty glaze to fill the letters? I actually laughed after it was handed to me (after the deliverer departed). Is deliverer even a word?
I honestly didn’t know they still made them look like this. Boy, the state must really be on a tight budget, but hey I’m just happy to be here and I’ll gladly be displaying my throwback name plate. I might even bring back the wood paneling. Pretty soon everybody’s gonna want one!

It got me thinking what kinds of trendy name plates are out there and I couldn’t find hardly any that were desk-adorning worthy. Hmm…do I hear an Etsy shop for name plates?!

Oh and in other news, I saw this awesome car the other day. It made me laugh, I didn't know where to look!


And please check out this belt- size 66" or something in that range. Ya know, nothing else to do while you're waiting forreevverrr for your hubby to get measured at the tux shop...gotta entertain yourself somehow!

Weekend Wrap-Up

Friday evening we went out and about to do a little shopping. I needed to get some stuff to make a wreath, pick up a bridal shower gift, and some other odds and ends. My Mom was meeting up with us to get stuff too since she was also making a wreath. We all grabbed a bite to eat at the mall and did a little shopping there too. I finally got a new bathingsuit! VS was having a sale and I was able to get one even cheaper than the one I bought online (the one that never came?) and I am looking forward to wearing it this upcoming holiday weekend!

Friday my mom and I stayed up late working on our Lima Bean wreaths. What is that? Well I came across this wreath and just had to make it. I am going to spray paint it for all the different holidays/seasons so I’m prepared to get a lot of use out of those hours spent gluing on beans! Right now both of ours are FSU colored to kick off the season, but we already bought black spray paint and orange ribbon to re-do it come Halloween! I just love the way they turned out. Cute, easy, and to be used over and over again:)


Mom's is on the left, mine on the right.

My Mom seemed to get more glue on her fingers than the wreath, she is definitely a messy crafter;)


Saturday morning we were up bright and early and got right to work. I finished painting the bathroom & David finished his attic project. Although the weather this past weekend wasn’t sunny and beautiful, I enjoyed the hint of coolness in the air and the slight overcast. Especially since David was working in the attic and I was stuck inside…David did yard work while I piddled around the house and then we were off again. This time we went to Lowe’s, Home Depot, Wal Mart, Bed Bath & Beyond (again) and Target. Most all of these trips revolved around finding a patio table. At Lowe’s I got this cute little pumpkin and the black cat for Halloween decorations. I can’t wait to put them out. Only about a month to go until I can decorate:)

We found a patio set at Wal Mart that was pretty nice, and I tried to talk David into getting it but he still was a little sketchy on the price so we didn’t. Yesterday he found a great deal on a patio table on Craigslist, and we went and picked it up in Havana, then went to Lowe’s and bought 6 chairs to match. That oil rubbed bronze paint I bought for the chandelier is going to be used on the table trim so it’ll match the new chairs. I’ll get to the chandelier eventually:) Pics to come in a post or two!

We were also on the hunt for decorations to finish up the bathroom. Target didn’t have what we were looking for, hence another trip to BB&B. We found a great rug and some awesome Wallflowers! I have seen these on the YHL blog I read and I’ve allllways loved them. Well I found them and David can tell you, I was SOOO excited! They were in a corner of the store that I’ve never looked and I just had to have them when I found them. They were cheap too, especially with my 20% off coupon. At $19.99 regular price, I thought they were a steal! I couldn’t wait to get them up on the walls. I debated putting them above our bed because we’re still in need of something there, but there weren’t enough without it looking too sparce. So they went to their original intended place, the newly redone bathroom. They were super easy to put up although 25 flowers meant 25 tiny nails in the wall, but hey, it’s an easy fix with a little touch up paint and putty if I ever want to move them. I just love the way they turned out!




Oh and we also got these babies for the front sidewalk and lining the pergola.

Sunday afternoon I went to a bridal shower for a friend that is getting married this coming Saturday. David is in the wedding (first time as a groomsman) and I’m really looking forward to their upcoming nuptials! Does anyone say nuptials anymore? I dunno, but I just did.

Oh and here's Remi chilling in the driver's seat. Just where he likes to be!

Happy Monday!

The Great Debate

For as long as I can remember, I have had the Save the Dolphins license plate tag. I just love the colors, the dolphins & the cause it supports. Well when I go my new car a few months ago, and we had to pay $400!! for a silly tag transfer, that was just for the regular FL tag, no specialty plate. Pooey:( Yes we could have paid the extra $ on top of that to keep the dolphin tag, but the fact is we would have to renew it again come November and so we figured we’d just save the money and I could get a new one in November. Now I know this is pretty silly to most people, I mean it’s just a tag, right? Well I loved having it and I can’t wait to get one again come November. So now comes the great debate. Do I want to get the same Dolphin tag, or a different one? I’ve narrowed it down to two choices and I need your opinion. I am torn between sticking with my old tag design or getting the “Discover Florida’s Oceans” tag. I really like it too but don’t know if it’s too plain. I am really leaning towards that one at this point because it’s pretty and something different but I was curious to as to which one you guys would pick. I also really like the Shark, Marlin & Reef one but I’ve weeded those out for various reasons. Ahh which one do I want?!

Happy Hump Day!

Jumping all over in this post just to fore-warn you:)

As I said earlier, I am re-painting our guest bathroom. I got the priming done (which looks horrible by the way!) and I’m so ready to paint the real color! This is the current state of disarray that the bathroom is in. Hopefully I can get the khaki on there soon because I am not loving this lightish/blueish/whiteish color that’s going on.


While I worked on the bathroom, David was braving the heat cutting OSB board to go in the attic. We've still got a lot of misc boxes with stuff that needs to go into storage but there wasn't anything up there to set it on. Now there is!

Oh and we also bought some Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint and I am going to attempt to spray our dining room chandelier. It’s currently brushed nickel which is actually pretty nice, along with our kitchen knobs. But our new fan is ORB and so are our 3 main locks that we replaced. But the rest of the door knobs in the house are a lovely goldy brass. If the chandelier turns out good I hope to spray everything in the house to match! So we shall see…I’ve seen it done on several of the blogs I read and it would be sooo much more cost efficient to buy a few cans of spray paint instead of mountains of new hardware.
Got my Salt & Pepper signs hung too. The ones I got from Hobby Lobby. It took me a while to decide where to put them because I’m running out of kitchen wall space, but I think I’m pleased with where they ended up.

When we got our new bed at the end of last year, I got two big pillows for decorations that needed shams. Shouldn’t be hard to find, right? Well since it’s taken me over 6 months to find them, I’d say it is. Hardly NO-ONE carries white, simple, king shams. I’ve checked Sears, JCPenney, Macy’s, Target, Wal-Mart, Bed Bath & Beyond, Pottery Barn, The Company Store, EVERYWHERE! I couldn’t find any and if I did, they were easily $50 each or sold out. Dang! So it got to the point that every store we went into that sold bedding we were looking for shams. Well 8 months later we finally found some! On our trip to Kohl’s last weekend I found only TWO left and they were on sale, SCORE! I need to wash them before I put them on the bed but unfortunately the light load was already done so I have to wait til this wknd when laundry is done again. I can’t wait to see them all put together!

Happy 1st Birthday to Our Fur-Child!

One year ago today little did we know our fur-child was being born. We always knew we wanted a lab because that’s what we’d both grown up with. Black labs to be specific. David’s family has a 12 (ish) year old boy named Bear & my parents have a 10 yr old girl, Jade. Both dogs are just so sweet and getting chubby in their old ages, hah! So anyway after we got married and settled into our then apartment, we started tossing around the idea of getting a puppy. We browsed breeder websites and scoured the internet. Made lots of calls in search for our perfect pup. You may think a lab is a lab, but there are actually different kinds. Courtesy of dogbreedinfo.com, there’s the English Labrador and the American. English are shorter, stockier, and have a larger block head. Americans are tall & lanky. We were looking for an American that was AKC registered. I was browsing the AKC website and found a breeder in Atapulgas (aka Bainbridge), GA. Close enough! I called and she said there were 2 black females, 2 black males, and a choc. female (sold) that were still there. She sent me pictures and we were smitten.
I'm not sure but I think the pup trying to shove his head in the hole with his eye pulled back is Remi- go figure:)

We still weren’t 100% sure on whether we wanted male or female (I wanted female and David wanted male) so we told her we would be there that evening just to “look”- ya right!!

We arrived to a pen of the cutest little pups ever (if I do say so myself). We pretty much decided by then that we’d be coming home with a girl named Georgia (from her home state) OR a boy named Remington. We played with them and faced the decision of picking one. We wanted them all! We finally decided on a boy. Now it was down to which of the two boys. One was shy and kept to himself and was a little smaller than his brother. The other was playful, and jumping on his older (grown) brother from a previous litter and just exploring all over the place. David was leaning toward the little shy guy but the paws on the other one were so big I knew he’d be huge (therefore offering me much protection-hah!) and he was such a little ham with that playful personality! I finally persuaded David into the bigger of the two and so he was chosen and aptly named Remington Bowden James. The middle name was of course David’s idea but since I picked the first name I let him have the honor of choosing the middle. And then we became a little family unit of three. I’ll never forget that little tiny ball of fur sleeping in my lap on the way home. And since we hadn’t planned to bring one home that night (who were we kidding?) we didn’t have a crate or bowls or anything yet so Remi spent his first night in our tub snuggled in with blankies and a stuffed animal. And then he just got bigger and bigger and we fell even more in love!
His first night home:







Ahh, life is good!


Although he’s tried and tested us many times over his first year of life, we love him so much and couldn’t imagine not having him. He’s made us laugh & cry and brought us so much joy! Happy Birthday to our Pooch Remington:)

8.21.10

We had a wonderful day tubing today. The weather was perfect, the water was chilly, and the company was great! We ended up having about 30 people that went, quite the bunch! Extra tubes held coolers and snacks so we were good to go. It was about a 2 hour float and we stopped along the way to check out the springs and swing off the rope swings! (this isn't one of us but you get the idea) Soo much fun! I really wish I could have had my camera but ya know, water+camera=possible disaster:/ The trip finished off with a ride over the mini rapids and a big picnic lunch next to the river. Some of the group decided to go again but we were among the ones that decided to head home. It's fun but one run is enough for me! The water was pretty murky but was expected due to all the recent rain we've been having.

When we got home we got cleaned up and went out and about because we decided to go ahead and buy the paint to re-do the guest bath. I decided on the color "Khaki". Some might say it's a little boring, but I think it'll be good to not have every room a crazy color in our house. Althouh I like variety I don't want it to be like a circus. And I found this picture online that is just soothing and pretty and although ours won't look like this, I really like the look with white towels, which is what we have currently.
So I guess you know what I'll be doing tomorrow! Bye-Bye mistakenly picked out blue! Hello nice soothing khaki!

Friday Five =)

1) Anyone know of a good place to buy a patio table set? We are finally starting to shop around for one, and last night’s hunt for one was unsuccessful. We went to Lowes and Home Depot and they both had pretty poor selections for what we’re looking for. Inexpensive, rectangular (ish) & large enough to seat 6. Home Depot had a Martha Stewart collection one that I really liked but of course there were no prices on it and it looked like it cost more than we wanted to spend. Lowes had nothing but super duper high end stuff that was way to fancy. I’ve looked at Sears and on craigslist all to no avail. I’m thinking of trying Sam’s and Target next. Can anyone think of anywhere else?

2) Today Mom & I had lunch at CFA in the mall and some good friends sat down right beside us so that was a nice surprise! (Great to see ya’ll, KT, Erin, Mrs. Debra & Rossi:) ). This morning I got an email from Bath & Body Works for some Halloween soaps and I got SO excited!! I am so ready for fall weather and the little pumpkin soap dispenser made me realize it’s on its way! I told Mom and she said we had to go by there, but I was in a hurry to get back to work, so I swung in real quick and threw a few things into her basket haha! (with her permission of course). I got Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin & Twilight Woods (shoutout Kimbo!!) and I can’t wait to set them out when fall & Halloween get near! I just love B&B, not only are the bottles pretty and festive but they smell sooo yummy too! Thank you Mom for treating me to lunch & soap! Doesn’t get much better than that:)

3) Tonight we went out and about and I got a cute new throw that's brown zebra striped. Planning to put it on the foot of our bed to add a little spunk to the room. Oh and it's extra large so good for cuddling too.

4) Tomorrow we’re going tubing down the Chipola river with a big ‘ol gang. I’m hoping the weather’s nice and that the water is looking like this (Chipola picture I pulled from the web):

It’s a lot of fun and I’m looking forward to it, wish I had my new bathingsuit, which by the way, never came:( I got on the VS website last night to try to re-order and it says it wouldn’t be shipped til 11/20…so much for that!

5) I’m tossing around the idea of re-painting the guest bathroom. I am just not thrilled with the way the what I thought was “slate blue” turned out to look like ocean blue. I’d love to do something like this:


I hate that I may be painting again but paint is a pretty inexpensive way to make a big change so we’ll see. Any volunteers? Hah!

That’s all for now, hope you have a great weekend!

Mirror Face Lift

As I mentioned in a previous post, I planned to paint my foyer mirror frame white. Well I did, and I LOVE it! Here's some shots along the way:

And here’s the after:

I am just loving all things white these days. It brightens things up and I’m afraid that although I want my house to have a warm cozy feel, I think things were getting a little too dark so this was a subtle way to lighten things up a bit.

It was very easy and inexpensive to do. I bought Rust-o-leum Satin outdoor spray paint in white.

Oh and may I highly recommend one of these little beauties? This spray handle was 2 or 3 bucks at wal mart and was sooo worth it. It’s on the same aisle as the spray paint. You get no paint on your finger and no sore finger when you’re done. I’ll never spray paint without one again!

I covered the mirror part with paper & tape. This is where I messed up. For some reason I wasn’t thinking about the best way to cover it, and I tried to butt up the paper to the inside edges and put tape on the back. Dumb idea because the paper wasn’t completely flat and I still needed to paint the inside edge after I took the paper off. Had a non-light bulb moment for sure. If I was thinking straight I would have taped the inner edge and then papered the center of the mirror. So that’s what I did next & it worked MUCH better. Oh well, I’ll know for next time. The paint I did get on the mirror came off very easily with acetone which made for a quick clean up. I didn’t prime or sand the frame although each would have probably been fine to do & made it turn out even better. But my way was quick & easy and if you’re lazy and impatient like me, that’s the best route! I just spray painted a coat of white, let site for about 15 minutes, then did a second coat. I let it dry real good for a few days and then hung it.

"2 and BBQ"

This is the term that was deemed the outcome of the softball tournament this past weekend. Friday early morning, David & some teammates drove to Auburn, AL where I followed down 8 hours later due to not being able to get off work. Their team, Oak City Assembly of God, happened to draw a “bye” for Friday night’s game so their first was Saturday morning at 9:00. The rules were double elimination so 2 losses and you’re out of the entire tournament. David’s team is very good and in fact might have had too big of a head going into the tournament already planning to bring home the National Title. Not so much. They got humbled pretty fast after losing their first two games. Eeek. They did well though only losing by 1 run in the first game and 2 in the second. This isn’t bad at all seeing as other losing teams were slaughtered by ten run rule or lost by way more than 5 runs. But in the end none of that matters because they were out. Done. Finito.

David & Mr. Paul

Not David's legs, but cool picture!

See the ball mid-air?

This is some determination!

The girl's setup. It rained all morning and let off for the last game. So that left everyone with a decision-stay or go home. The rooms were already paid for (thanks Coach!) but it was noon on Saturday and still plenty of time to make the 3 hr 45 min drive home. About 80% of the team decided to stay, us included. So then it was off to find some lunch. Let me just tell you that there’s not much in Auburn besides restaurants and the college. People like to eat! The whole team drove around for an hour trying to find this one restaurant and eventually got lost from each other and we all ended up eating on our own. Our group ate at Chili’s.

Then it was back to the hotel for a little R&R. Later in the evening we all decided to go to “TigerTown”. This is a HUGE shopping complex with almost all of my favorite stores. Just to name a few there was a Target, Kirkland’s, Dick’s Sporting Goods (the boys spent their time here). Then I saw it, HOBBY LOBBY. In almost all of the DIY blogs I read someone is always buying something from Hobby Lobby so when I saw it I could hardly contain myself. Unfortunately we (the girls) didn’t get as much time as we’d have liked to shop in there because it was about 7:40 when we got there and it closed at 8:00:( Sad day! I did manage to find a ton of things in that short amount of time though and I was even more ecstatic when everything I got rang up 50% off. SCORE!! I got lots of cute house décor & I can’t wait to get everything put up on the walls!

After the store closed and the boys were done, it was time for dinner. We decided on Outback & I have to say it was probably my least favorite trip to Outback yet. I got a shrimp Caesar salad that came with 4 shrimp (rip off!) and the salad definitely tasted like it was the real deal and had a hint of anchovies. Yucky. And David had wings that were a weird breading and tasted like they were smoked. Not what he was expecting either. But the company was great and it other than the boys moaning & complaining about the losses, it was a lot of fun!