Little Bit of This & That

Some Instagram repeat photo's some not so much!!!! But I wanted to have them documented here for the memories and further reference or whatever you have it. Fun stuff around the house, out and about with new friends!!! Life in Tennessee if you'll have it. 

Crappy cell pic. but I had some monogrammed decals made for our wine glasses and they go perfectly with my cutting board my EDS girls had made for me!!! It's true you can't have to many monograms. :)

 I finally submitted all of my paper work to have my CDA renewed and the turn around time was pretty quick once they processed my paper work. My first push for going back to school was accomplishing this back when we lived in Hawaii. I wish I would have gone through with it then but I didn't. However I have been given the opportunity to go back to school under a state government funded grant  through were I work. I will only have to pay a small fee for each class, which is a double bonus. I completed the first step this past week that is required to start classes. Certificate in Hand!!! 

I've been itching for some curtains on our back patio for a good bit now and we finally have them. Our neighbors on the left side have two side windows that peep right into our back patio and well sometimes we'd like a little privacy. We do not know them and have seen them outside maybe 3-4 times since we've lived here. We kept going back and forth on how we wanted to hang them up so I'd kinda given up. A few weeks ago when the In-Loves were in town I'd mention to my FIL about the curtains and when I was in class that night…..well some one was a little busy. I love the way they turned out, still a little tweaking to do but Happy. PS: loving my Mum hanging off the corner. (its filled in quite well since then.)

 One of my favorite meals I adopted from the South is Chicken Bog. If you've never had it you should really try it. Drizzled with a little bit of Franks Hot Sauce, talk about melt in your mouth yummy. I haven't made it since we've lived here in TN so it was long over due a few nights ago. I've also had a thing here lately for oven roasted corn. Its just so good, I can't get enough of it!!! 

 We had a moment, our marriage isn't perfect but it's perfect for us. And I'd never have it any other way!!! When I left work last week knowing I wouldn't see the hubbs till later that night because we had separate engagements I found this card in my car. He knows the way to my heart, he melts me in so many ways and I love this man to pieces!!!! 

To Be Continued…….

Lastest DIY Projects

In our new house (which I've still yet to share on here, soon soon) we will officially have a guest bedroom. We have always had a 2 bedroom house both in Hawaii and in the South. Perks of living on post I guess, or down fall really. So the 2nd room was the Hubbs gun room / office which shared a futon were our guest stayed when they came to visit. Our new home in TN has 3 bedrooms and so we finally are able to have a proper guest bedroom and the hubbs still has his gun room. 

I had been looking for a queen mattress and box springs for the room on line but didn't want to pay full price because I know its not going to be used all the time. The plan was to get rails and then I was going to use pictures as a headboard. I found someone selling a new set of mattresses on the Ft. Jackson Trash and Treasure's FB page and when I went to check them out she told me I could have the bed frame as well. Although it needed a bit of work I jumped on it because it looked great! 

The plan was to sand it completely down and repaint it. I've always wanted a white bed for some unknown reason but the hubbs doesn't like white furniture. This worked perfect, I got my white bed just in our guest room. What I didn't realize when we started this was how much work it was going to take. Getting in and out of every little square with the sander and then painting in each square. Talk about time consuming and tedious. But I love the way it turned out and I can't wait to see how it looks in the guest room. 

 Going along with the guest room I needed / wanted night stands. I've had these 2 old stools for a while now that I bought off the Ft. Jackson Trash and Treasures page for our down stairs desk before we bought our new kitchen table. My go to is pinterest, of course its everyone else's to. I found a similar idea to these using a stool converting it into a night stand but my sweet Spouse (Sarah) found this idea and she sent it to me. It will go along with the theme of the room great so I went for it. Painting the stools and tops were a piece of cake. The hubbs screwed on the tops and then I did the "shelves". That was time consuming and so messy but I love the way they turned out. Although I wish the table top would have covered the entire stool seat, I couldn't bring myself to pay $20 for the bigger one and to be honest I think it would have been to big. 

I can't wait to get settled in our new house and get everything decorated and set up. I started off wanting to get all new of everything and since then I've regrouped and changed that idea and have enjoyed redoing some projects and making things into my own. It saves money for sure and it gives me something to do, not to mention makes our home unique. 

That to This

For one reason or another the hubbs has to have a coffee table in the living room. Myself I could careless if we had one or not. I think it actually makes the room feel bigger with out one. But none the less I humor him and we have a coffee table. This one we purchased in Hawaii when he was home on R&R and it made the move with us back to the Mainland. Over the last 3 years its had it far share of wear and tear. How on earth it got so scratched up is beyond me but it did. With our up coming move I was determined that this piece was NOT coming with us. I was so tired of looking at it because it had gotten so ugly from being scratched up. A little part of me didn't want to toss it out because I knew we would just have to buy a new one when we got to our new home and that would cost more money. Something I'm trying really hard here to do is save money and work with what we have. Reminding myself that when we finally get our forever home once we get out of the army I can get all new and what ever I want because we won't be moving every couple years. 

I had a few ideas on what I could do to resurface the top of it and make it work but I just wasn't sold on a single idea yet. I was worried about trying something on it and it not turning to look good. That's when I was talking to My Spouse (Sarah) about it and she shared a "Pin" she had pinned on Pinterest a while back. It hit me, this was the perfect solution to up-cycle our coffee table. 

I'm so happy with the day it came out, we did have to make a few modifications from the original tutorial that was on line but it still came out the same and it looks great!!! The coloring we picked for the stain is pretty spot on and it looks great with the rest of our furniture. I'm so glad we decided to re-use it vs. throwing it out and getting a new one. This re-cycle DIY table cost us about $40.00 a lot less than it would have cost to buy a new coffee table. 

I've got a few other DIY project we are working on so stay tuned for those to come in the next week or so. I'm trying to get as much done before the movers come to pack up our stuff in a couple weeks. I started off with a laundry list of things I wanted to get for our new home and thanks to me being a bit more creative and refurbishing some old and current items that list is getting shorter and the cost has become a lot less that we've spent which is always a good thing. 

Finally putting some of those "pins" on pinterest to use.

Coffee Table make-over tutorial here!!!

Christmas Cards Galore

DAY 54

What do you do with yours???

I always remember my momma keeping all of our Christmas cards from every year and storing them with the Holiday decorations. I myself started doing the same since we've been married & have quite the collection now. I would display them through the Holidays season and then pack them away in a gift bag with the last years. This is how it was each year, I never wanted to throw them out but wasn't really sure what to do with them. That's when I stumbled upon a brilliant idea on Pinterest that I knew was a "Must Do." A great way to display your cards (for any occasion, I'm going to do our Wedding ones next) for others to see, also makes for a fun conversation piece when you look back through them. A plus is you are able to keep them all in one contained area with out a mess or being disorganized.

Its as easy a scooping ice cream into a bowl, simply punch a hole in the top corner of your choosing on each card and then string a piece of ribbon through each one and tie it together making a bow. The demonstration on Pinterest used a metal ring which you can use as well but I like the idea of the ribbon so you are able to add more as years go by & its much more festive don't ya think.

I have tons of ideas for the Holidays on decorating, organizing and baking thank goodness for winter break from work soon. It will give me plenty of time to put some of my DIY projects & recipes to the test.

** another pinterest idea put to the test & passed :)

Simply Perfect

DAY 27

Its amazing how much we've been through......

.....over the past four years, but I wouldn't change it for the world. Today we celebrate another year being married, another milestone in our relationship, another perfect day together, another year in the army (our anniversary date is also Gabes anniversary date in the army, today makes SIX years!!!!). It's my favorite day of the year, I love this day more than my birthday, Christmas, Halloween, thanksgiving even valentines day.

I can remember our wedding like it was yesterday it was the best day of my life and I know it was for Gabe as well, because he tell's me every day. Meeting him and falling in love with my best friend was & is the most amazing thing that I've ever been through. We've traveled roads over the last four years that many will never have to go down, nor do I wish it upon anyone. However I do believe that it has made us who we are today and has only built our relationship stronger then it could ever be. Looking back over the last four years it sometimes seems as if we have been married FOREVER and then sometimes it seems like just last month we were saying "I Do". Either way its a wonderful feeling I know that our love it strong, true, ever lasting, perfect......its simply a "one of a kind, kinda love".

I have never been so happy in my life, I never have to worry "what if", there's no fear of meeting that perfect guy because well I HAVE!!!!!!! We complete each other in every way possible and I love that. I love falling asleep next to my husband every night and waking up to him telling me he loves me at 4am in the morning. It's the best part of my day and the part I look forward to the most. I'm always telling Gabe that I got so lucky meeting him, it was by luck that we met and I will never forget that first night we talked. He tell's me that we both got lucky, awh what a way to my heart. I can't wait to see what is in store for us over the next year, the next four year, the next 20-30-50 years. I know it can only get better and better and I know we will only continue to fall more and more in love with each other.

I LOVE YOU BOO with all My HEART YOUR SIMPLY PERFECT FOR ME & I'LL ALWAYS BE YOUR GIRL!!!!!!! ALWAYS & FOREVER & THENSOME 11-09-07

ps: there will be a official 4 year wedding anniversary post to come soon, I promise......I have lots more to share.

pss: the photo above is a pinterest recreation that we BOTH worked on together, it was awesome to be able to do this with my love. It couldn't have come out more perfect, we used it for something else as well that I'll share at a later time. But its officially one of my newest favorite pieces in our home.