Front Porch Refresh

 I finally made some time yesterday to work on some projects, and it felt SO GOOD!!  My front porch was in need of much TLC, so I headed out early for Home Depot and Home Goods.  I knew I needed a can of white spray paint to start.  My friend gave me a red ikea table about a year ago, but I decided it needed to be white.  Then, for a year now, I have wanted to make a rug by painting stripes on a drop cloth canvas.  So, while I was getting my paint, I picked up a 5"x5" drop cloth as well.  

Lucky for me, Home Goods is in the same shopping center as my Home Depot.  I found two green and white cushions (the exact color I was looking for).  I couldn't buy them right away though - I had to run across the parking lot to Kohls and Target first to make sure I was covering all of my bases.  True to form, I ended up where I started and bought the cushions from Home Goods - does anyone else do that?  Find something at the first store you go to, run around to a million other places and then end up where you started?

Once I got home, I got to work on the table.  As soon as I started priming it, I realized I forgot to take a before photo.  This is what the table looked like before...

And here she is after... I love me some white furniture!

On a side note - I must have picked the hottest day of the year to decide to do all of this.  I was sweating my butt off!!

So next, I taped my stripes onto the canvas with painter's tape.

I used two different shades of green craft paint mixed with water. OK actually, it was not my intention to do this.  After I finished the first stripe I realized that I was only going to have enough paint for two of them.  So I skipped a stripe and then filled in the rest with another shade.

Here's what it looked like after I took the tape off...

And finally, my front porch is done.  Well, almost done.  I still want to make a wreath, and I have a planter project for next to the front door.

 

Can't wait to sit out there and enjoy!  The cushions are so cozy!!

XOXO

Linking Up To:

 

Say Cheese!

I am getting a jump on writing this morning so it doesn't come down to the wire again.  When my mom and sister came to visit a few weeks ago, my sis took a ton of pictures of the kids.  She is a great photographer (we keep telling her she should do it full time).  Well, she finally posted them to Facebook, so I was able to download them and share with you!

She took a TON while she was here, but I thought I would share some of my favorites.  I'll warn you, there are still a lot, but this by far is me editing WAY down.  LOL. 

Little Man

Morgan with his big cousin Brooklyn

Gone Fishin'

Caught a Fish - Just like Daddy!!

Sweet little face

Sweet little tootsies

Wrapped in Daddy's Camo

Love this shot of Addison and Brooklyn!

Addie and Brooklyn

Big Sister and her Baby Brother

Mimi with all of her Grands!

Addison is a whiz at the Monkey Bars!

Love this shot!

Me and my Niece

Kissing my Little Man's Sweet Face

Addie Hammin it up

We let Addison stay home from school for a few days while they were here.  She actually told her teacher that she had a "Photo Shoot" that day.  They thought she was modeling or something.  Too funny.

Thanks Nicole for taking such great shots!  We miss you guys so much!!

XOXO

Family Time

I'm catching this day by the skin of my teeth.  It's 11:46pm.  Been a busy day.  Addie had her last tennis lesson of the season - she has a pretty wicked swing for a 5 year old.  Then we spent half the day on the lake - some much needed family time.  It was Morgan's first boat ride and he loved it!  There is something about the motion and rocking of a boat that calms babies so much.  Addie still falls asleep every time we are underway.  She is a total lake rat now - it's adorable.  She was so excited to go out there today.  In fact, hubby and I were hemming and hawing over whether or not to go at all, and Addie was the one that pushed us to get out there.

Here's some pictures of Morgan from the lake (taken with my iphone) so not the best quality.

In the end - we had a wonderful day.  If the weather holds out, I think we may head back out the tomorrow!

XOXO

Sharing Happiness

I had every intention of writing yesterday.  In fact, this was supposed to be yesterday's post.  I finished up with work, made dinner, had a smidgen of family time, got the kids ready for bed, and then - fell asleep on the couch.  Out for the count.  Until I woke up at 2am to Morgan crying to eat.  So went that master plan.  This 30-Day Challenge is harder than I thought it would be.  But I will not give up, I'll keep trucking along. 

A few weeks ago I told you that I was working on a huge order for Coke.  They had a Coke Women's Conference in Dallas, and the first night of the conference was a meet and greet event.  I was asked to make 100 books that would be at each place setting.  The women would fill out the questions in the book, and then share it with the rest of the people at their table.  I was so excited to get this order - what a HUGE opportunity!  I knew it would be a big undertaking, but I was ready for the challenge. 

I did most of the printing and assembly work during my last weekend of maternity leave and the entire first week back at my regular job.  They all needed to be hand cut, scored, assembled and stitched. My original plan was to run them through the sewing machine to have a nice red seam down the side.  After 5 hours of jacking around with my sewing machine - I gave up.  I tried loosing the tension, tightening the tension, every combination I could think of.  Not happening.  I did test run after test run, and wasted probably 80 yards of thread before I determined that the cardstock was just too thick. This isn't even half of the mess - I threw most of it away.  Time for plan B.

I was up until almost 2am every night, in addition to Morgan's feeding schedule, and up at 6am every morning.  I was exhausted, but it was worth it.  After 28 hours of work, and believe it or not, injuries (from my Crop-o-dile), this is how they turned out!

They were a big hit at the conference.  Thank goodness!! 

XOXO

So Sleepy...

 It's 10:04pm.  My Nanny started yesterday and Morgan got way off schedule and slept all day.  I knew I shouldn't have let him sleep, but I did...I didn't want to step in...and he was so cute sleeping...and I paid for it.  After over a week of finally getting on schedule and only waking up once throughout the night, he was up every 2 hours last night.  I've been up since 4:30am this morning.  I'm tired.  I'm feeling uninspired, and I'm gonna be honest - I can't form a thought in my brain to write about.  He's in bed, and that's where I need to be.

Nighty night!!

XOXO