Oktoberfest

Hello friends!

October has been a very busy month around here, hence my absence from blogland. This is the first Saturday morning in weeks where I've been able to sleep in to my heart's content and have no major plans. I love it except my body went rogue on me and decided to wake up at 7:30am. Definitely NOT my idea of sleeping in. Sigh.

So here is a quick pictoral shake-down of what I've been up to:

I decided that I would not fall victim to the retails gods yet again, and decided I could craft my own fall wreath. I was happy enough with it to make one as a birthday gift for a friend! Don't ask me to do the cost breakdown to prove how much $$ I saved, because frankly, I'm a little afraid that the warehouse workers in China might just have bested me. I'd just rather not know.

Hubby got the FANTASTIC news of a great new job with an amazing company, so we went out for a little celebrating.

I don't mean to make it about me or anything, but I'm thinking I could seriously use a full time hairstylist! Sheesh.

We had a really fun girl's day for my very pregnant friend S, instead of a full-blown baby shower.

(It's her second baby and the etiquette police were breathing down our necks.)

This is the little Moses basket I gave her, stuffed with diapers, wipes, onsies and other cute little baby items. It was really fun to put together.

Here are my toes, post-pedicure. Much needed.

We visited a pumpkin patch, like all good Americans, and selected the best looking, high-dollar gourds we could find.

After a few pics, we promptly put them back and headed for Aldi, where I picked one up for $2.50!

Hubby started demo on the shower in our master bath... ugh, what to say about this. It still looks like this, after 2 1/2 weeks, how's that? I'm very thankful that he's been home to deal with the contractor, plumber, etc. All should be completed by next week and I can't wait!

I decided to get risky in the kitchen and attempted some stuffed peppers. The lesson here is to make sure you have all the ingredients called for before starting to cook. Also, making substitutions is best left to the professionals or at least those who cook more than once or twice a week.

Even this picture gives me away- the focus is on the store bought cheesy bread rather than the main course!

To hubby's credit, he ate one and a half of these baby's and said they were great.

Above mentioned friend S had the baby!! A healthy and perfect little boy. We were very excited to meet him.

My concern here is that she has now used 2 names on our favorites list... Grrr. :)

However, she had no idea at the time, since I never tell the baby names I like and her kids are just stinkin adorable so it's hard to be mad. Plus, she's one of my best friends in the world!

Is dibs-ing even allowed with baby names???

We went to a U2 concert! It was awesome. A little chilly but lots of fun.

The Black Eyed Peas opened for them and put on a great performance- very high energy.

My camera battery died, so I have no pictures of U2!!

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Okay! I think you're up-to-date!! I've also been working on a few projects here and there, but nothing completed to show you today.

Have a great weekend!!

Sunday Drive

This weekend we attended the wedding of some friends. Hubby went to college with the groom and was a groomsman, which meant I got to see him all dressed up and more handsome than usual, if that's possible. Wink, wink.

The wedding was a state away.. only a 3 hour drive or so, but boy was the ride fun! Our destination was nestled in the Ozark Mountains and it took me right back to childhood and all of our trips to Grandma and Grandpa's house on Table Rock Lake.

The three of us kids would pile into the back seat, making sure not to "cross the line" into someone else's personal space. Sitting in the middle was typically for losers and the unlucky, but as soon as we reached the Ozarks, it was the coveted spot.

Those curves and dips were better than a roller coaster and Dad knew just how to speed up at the right times. I was the only kid who never got car or motion sick, so this was perfect. I just loved looking out at all the gorgeous green trees and lush, covered hills.. I remember letting my eyes glaze over sometimes while staring out the window and seeing all the colors melt together, then switching to try and really focus in on the tree trunks and details, just sure I would see a deer or some wild cat hiding back there.

It was especially beautiful if it happened to be fall while we were traveling and all of the leaves were turning or already deep red and orange. If there was one thing I could change about where we live now, it would be that spring and fall lasted just a little longer.. especially fall. It's definitely my favorite season.

I loved snuggling down into my seat, leaning against the window and reading for hours. When I wasn't reading I was staring out the window, daydreaming. Some of my first memories of really just letting my mind wander and daydream were here.

I loved it.


After a few misturns and lots of gorgeous scenery, we made it to the hotel. It was an old, reportedly haunted place that I found a bit more on the creepy side than charming. Particularly the strange old lady with the black wig, who cornered us in the lobby and wanted to have a full out conversation about the owners of the hotel and their dead cat. She also made an unforgettable appearance during the couple's first dance, but I won't get into that right now..

The hotel sat very high up and did have some beautiful views.

It rained the whole day, but they didn't let that ruin their wedding. Luckily the bride is pretty easy-going and the planned outdoor ceremony was moved inside. It was small and quick and perfect. Just like our little trip.

(I cropped the creepy lady out of this pic!)

Multitasking

Do you multitask? I do... nearly to a fault, I'm starting to realize. I think all women do, and much more than men, in my experience. I'm sure I've read somewhere that women tend to multitask a lot, whereas men like to focus in on one thing.

You know, tunnel vision.

Not that I'm bagging on men- it is important to pay attention to what you are doing, but for me, I just feel better if I'm getting more than one thing done at a time. Does anyone else feel that way? The thought occurred to me this morning as I was brushing my teeth and doing my morning squats in front of the bathroom mirror...

But that's what leads me to my next point: focus. I have never really considered myself a clumsy person. In fact, I consider myself as graceful as a ballerina (harhar). No really, I have a "clumsy" friend or two and never thought I fell into that category. But in the course of getting ready this morning I dropped a can of hairspray, banged my shin on a cabinet drawer and knocked over a jar of Q-tips.

And that's not all that unusual for me.

Most of my life I've had a least one or two unaccounted for bruises on my extremities. I'm slowly realizing they're self-inflicted. I'm just too darn busy gettin 'er done to pay attention to the counter height or or that pesky leg of the table to move my body out of its path.

My husband will just stand there in the bathroom, brushing his teeth. Or get a text message and stop what he's doing and tap out a response. Or simply sit on the sofa, watching football.

And all in all, he is bruise free.

But I can't handle it. I've got to be making dinner while simultaneously cutting out coupons or paying some bills. If I'm watching tv I like to have a project to work on while I watch. If I'm catching up on emails, I open another tab and cruise craigslist while I'm waiting for the email page to load.

So is it better to focus in on the one thing you are doing or get a tons more done in less time?..

Obviously if you are driving, you should only be focused on that. I've had to drastically cut back on my mascara application and texting while I'm behind the wheel, and for good reason.

But seeing how those morning squats I get in while brushing my teeth are about the only regular exercise I do these days, I'm thinking I should keep it up.

Cause I've also been known to do double duty with just about anything while simultaneously stuffing my face.

Camelback Comeback

When Hubby and I first bought our house, nearly a year ago, I knew I needed some extra furniture to fill it up. This sounds like great fun in theory, but our "Superfluous Furniture/Home Decor" expense fund had mysteriously run dry.

I've yet to get to the bottom of it.

So I turned to Craigslist, my new bestie. We had an entire extra living space to furnish, and we found this old gal for a reasonable price.

(these were the only pics I could find of the old couch)

I liked the shape of it and we both liked the color (at the time), so with a quick sniff and a once-over, we hauled it to our new, empty home.

Fast forward a few months and I'm not so thrilled with my purchase. Oh, I like the couch okay, but our dog, who is NOT allowed on any other furniture, has seen fit to curl up for an afternoon nap on numerous occasions. His tiny white hairs are a dead giveaway. Stinker. I really didn't mind so much, since we hardly ever use this room and have only sat on the couch a handful of times.

Also, I've since decided that buying a second-hand, upholstered piece of furniture this large is walking a little too close to the edge for me.

We briefly discussed getting a new one, but didn't want to spend the money. And besides, Mrs. DIY (moi) was pretty sure she could make a slipcover or reupholster it herself!

Sounds easy enough, right?

RIGHT.

So here she is! Sadly, I have no in-progress photos to share. I wasn't entirely sure I wouldn't scrap the whole thing mid-way through, and I didn't want any physical evidence.

What do you think? Totally different, right??

You guessed it- I stapled and hand sewed that baby right on top of the old upholstery.

The fabric I chose is probably a mid-weight cotton, so the stiffness of the old chenille underneath helped give it good structure.

I like to wing it. I'm wild like that.

The arms here probably took the most time. I sewed them on BY HAND, people, BY HAND. Not gonna lie- I'm pretty proud of myself. I even put a little piping in the cushions! I thought it would be a nightmare, but it wasn't too bad.

Then I made these babies for a little something extra.

In case you're wondering (and I know you are), I made myself a pattern before I got started to know how much yardage to buy. I found this tip on some upholstery website and HIGHLY recommend this step if you're planning to try this. Basically you measure each piece of the couch and make a pattern to scale on a piece of grid paper, then cut them all out and lay them out in 54" width, to see how many yards you need. Make sense? :) It took me all day just for this step, but I would have seriously underestimated how much fabric I needed otherwise.

Hope you like it! Come over some time and have a seat!

Got Wood?

Sorry for the wildly inappropriate title. Please don't take offense and add my site to your list of banned internet pages.

I just couldn't help myself.

Hubby and I went dumpster diving the other day. We were on our way home and I saw a section of fence in a trash pile by the curb and yelled "back 'er up!"

Or something like that.


So we hopped out and with a quick look around to make sure no one was watching (we're fairly infamous in the neighborhood), we loaded it up and headed for home.


I have had a project idea in mind for some time now and wanted to use some reclaimed wood. And this was perfect in that it was cheapo-deapo.
You know, FREE.

Here she is all cut down to size.

We had to take it to a friends house to cut down and now a power saw of some type is squarely at the top of my Christmas list.

I haven't decided exactly what I'm going to do, but here's one of my inspiration pics:

Loving this Pottery Barn piece. Except for the horse, that is.
I'm digging the distressed wood and the peek-a-boo wood knots, but equine isn't really my thing. Hubby and I toyed with the idea of doing an outline of our dog... :)


I also like this PB piece that Susie at Bienvenue totally copied, which I am all about! I don't know about you, but $329 is just a little rich for my blood. Sister's gotta eat.

Check out Susie's version here. Just as cool if not better!

I am also in serious lust with these guys:

They're from Rockett St George across the pond. I like the idea of a saying or quote or scipture written out graphically like this. I toyed with the idea of using these lyrics, but I just can't get around the whole Beatles thing.
My dad might never forgive me. Let alone my own husband.


So what do you think?? Any ideas for me? I'm thinking about tackling it this weekend, so maybe I'll have some thing to show you next week.

No promises, though, a girl's gotta keep her options open.