Paint!

The time has come to rip out our carpet. It’s disgusting, we have 3 dogs +1 since mom, Joe, and Memaw have been living with us for the past 3 months! I can’t tell you how excited I am to get the carpet gone! We teeter-tottered on wood or tile, and finally came up picking TILE. Jim’s good friend owns his own tile business and he ended up giving us a sweetheart of a deal! It took me months to choose the perfect piece. I finally chose Metallic Copper stone with silver accents. It’s beautiful in person and since we have higher ceilings we can get away with the dark look. They began next week!

TILE

Next, paint! We haven’t changed any paint except for the guest bathroom since we moved in. Most people love my kitchen color but I think it looks to barn looking for me. I want a Moroccan/modern feel and it’s just not cutting the cake. I have gone with the Tuscany theme and I’m over it! I want something fresh and new. I NEED YOUR HELP! Please comment and be honest on my paint selections! NOW, I have bought samples of these 3 colors colors, and it's a NO GO! Horrible looking when you get them all on the wall.

(This one looked like a school bus)

This one looked too YELLOW

This one was nice but doesn't fit my Moroccan flare I'm going for..

So I may be going with RED, but more of a modern feel..which one is your favorite? I’m throwing a lot of turquoise and orange pieces in, so try to imagine all these bright colors plus the WALL. Think MOROCCO!

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This picture was taken before we moved in, this is all the previous owners stuff-We also have changed the lighting, now there is drop down pendants, pictures are below.

These are my pendants that are scattered around the kitchen. I want you to have a visual of this stuff so you can help me choose the right color.

Next is my bathroom. I have never liked this color, it blends to much with the tile and it looks like a cardboard box. I'm choosing this aqua blue..do you like it?

Picture of our bathroom before we moved in..her style and my style are completely different.

My new color AQUA-We have hung a light fixture we got in Italy above the tub, it matches this paint perfectly! :)

Last, my guest bedroom. Look what has been on the wall for 2 years! He watches everyone sleep!!! So say good bye to frog man and say hello to Aquacade!

I'm doing the room FLORIDA style for my guest. Can't wait to get all of this stuff done!

Pictures of the before and afters will come in MAY! :)

Green Thumb...and I'm Not Done!

(Lemon Tree)

Coming May 1 we will be in our home for 2 years! The day we moved in we knew it needed some TLC in the lawn department. Finally two years later, we have started. It was Earth Day that lit my planting tree fire. Saturday I had planned on going to Kim’s Cabbage Patch to buy a lemon tree. Well Kim didn’t have one but she did have a beautiful feather fern I had to have (She has VERY good prices). I threw feather tree into the back of the truck and headed to Lowes in search of this lemon tree. When I got to Lowes they had plenty of lemons plus a new shipment of Palms that were beautiful. I wanted them so bad but pried myself away from them and just got my baby lemon tree.


After planting the tree’s Jim and I talked about maybe going back to Lowes and getting ONE of the palms. Well we did and came home with two. After seeing them in the yard we needed one more, odd numbers always look better than even. I searched 3 Lowes in a 20 mile radius of the house and found one more! So now we have 3. I must say digging a hole big enough for this palm to fit was quite the task! My back and leg muscles are still in pain. Now that it’s finished I’m so happy we did it. It makes the yard look so nice. This week and weekend I’m going back and getting plants to border around the base of the palms, and I’m in search of a cement water fountain. I’m planning on teaching myself to install it, it can’t be that difficult. I will take pictures of the final yard when it’s complete. VERY EXCITED TO GET IT ALL DONE!

One Tiny Project

I had an action packed weekend! I mosaiced some light switches, planted some trees, found a beautiful Italian table at the farmers market, and had the paint man come and give me an estimate, which I will need your help choosing the perfect colors. I have them narrowed down, now I must choose the shade. (Pictures of this will be posted this week).

I also found this table Saturday morning at our local thrift store. It was only $5 and I had to have it. I’m using it as a printer stand in my office. It’s amazing what a little paint can do. Here is the table below. If you’re needing to paint some furniture I will recommend you using Krylon spray paint, it’s amazing and you only need 1 or 2 coats. The cheap stuff you buy at Dollar General, or the $1 cans from Wal-Mart don’t work! TRUST ME I have learned from experience. Here is the kind you should get below.

Before

Make sure you sand your surface before you paint it!

FINISHED PRODUCT

I will post pictures of it in my office when I get mom's stuff out, she closes on her house tomorrow! :) CONGRATS MOTHER!

Craft+Wine Glass

I have had a couple of people ask me how I made the wine glasses for our girl’s weekend. Well I got the idea from a glass I had already had and it’s VERY EASY to do!

You will need

Glass paint-make sure it’s GLASS paint! I used paint that would dry on glass but the minute condensation began the letters fell off quickly! So you must go to your local craft store and get the opaque paint specifically made for glass. Make sure it says OPAQUE.

Paintbrushes- I used 4 sizes (any sizes like this below will work)

Nail Polish remover and a q-tip-This is for when you mess up, the nail polish remover takes it right off.

Any type of drinking glass: wine, tea, anything!

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It’s very simple; you just draw on the letters. I find it easier if you draw the letter normal then paint around it making it thicker.

For the zebra print, paint underneath (bottom) of the wine glass white, then on top of the glass you paint the black stripes.

THAT’S IT!

Christina drinking out of hers, little did we know minutes later the paint would slide RIGHT OFF :) That's why it's important to get the nice kind of glass paint!

TEXAS

Texas was great! I got to meet all of Allie’s family and friends, see her new home, and hang out with all 3 “Fat Chicks” at one time! It was grand! I arrived on a Thursday evening. After Allie picked me up we headed over to LOVE to pick up Mrs. Christina and then off we went to TACO BUENO!

MY favorite all time Mexican fast food restaurant! I swear I dream about this place! After devouring 2 bean burritos the party began, Lesli arrived. I can say we out did ourselves that night and Mrs. Christina knows how to mix a drink! I had been mixing drinks all wrong my whole life.

(Picture of Allie's BEAUTIFUL house!)

Friday morning we got up and headed to Sam Moon, the greatest jewelry warehouse I had ever seen! I MEAN thousands upon thousands of jewelry, bags, scarfs, etc…It was very overwhelming, but I got out of there in once piece. I found some good stuff and I will post what I got later. After my Sam Moon experience we headed to the grocery store. We all wanted to make something for the little get together Allie was throwing. We made grilled onion bacon turkey burgers out on Allie’s miniature grill, sausage and cheese croissants, shrimp toast, pizza squares, crab dip and heavenly fruit dip. It was all wonderful! Then walked in KFOO and Tara, this was the first time meeting all of Allie’s friends and the Moffatt family won me over by KFOO’s mouth watering salsa and guacamole. I knew I was going to be best friends with them J (Lesli and I had drank the whole HUGE jar by day 3.)! I then got to meet Sarah and Holly, they were the sweetest and brought Allie some very cool house warming gifts. She has so many great friends. Then last but not least Angie and Adam arrived with cakes in hand. Angie had made a Four Fat Chicks cake and a Happy Birthday cookie. Both were to DIE FOR and I think that’s the sweetest thing for her to take the time and makes those two cakes for us. I loved them! (I didn’t want to eat our four fat chicks cake because it was so beautiful! She is true talent and I can’t wait to come back to eat more. Check out all her cakes here! Thank you ANGIE!

Our Cake from BABY CAKES..AKA ANGIE

(Adam, Lesli, and Me holding our B-day cake)

The night was filled with laughs and great conversation, I hated for everyone to leave! (So glad I got to meet them Allie!)

Saturday we went to Candles by Carrol, or Carrols by Candle is the way I like to pronounce it…this is where I found Allies future husband. Allie doesn’t know it yet but in 5 years I think he will be matured and a great candle maker! We won’t talk much about it now but remember this post on their wedding day! I swear these candles are the best! After our candle adventure we went to Pha, one of Allie’s most favorite Vietnamese restaurants, it was great!! Only thing I thought I had transformed into a fire blazing dragon, the angry cock sauce got to me! Before we went home we made a pit stop at the Moffatt family house to see their daughter getting ready for prom. She looked beautiful and it brought back so many memories of when I was in high school. OH how those days are gone!

When we got back to the neighborhood (I swear everyone lives within 1 mile of each other) we went over to Angie and Adams and that’s when I met the cutest kids in the world. Landry showed us her beautiful pink room, she is the sweetest thing! And then the boys showed us their High School Musical dance, ANGIE, ADAM! I think your kids will be famous soon, never have I seen anyone know the lyrics and emotions to a song! I loved their performance! OH and by the way Angie, you don’t need Carols by Candle because your house smelled like heaven, fresh baked cakes! (If Allie marries Carols son maybe you could have a cake scent candle in honor of you!)

We then headed next door to Gays, Allie’s mom. I already loved her because Allie came from her. She gave all us girls Texas shaped chips (no joke), salsa and queso, which by the way is fabulous! (KFOO don’t get your feelings hurt). Her house was gorgeous; she has motivated me to decorate a room in black and white! And it was so nice to finally get to meet her. After touring Gay’s home we headed back to Allie’s house to throw the pork on the grill, little did I know I would burn the hell out of it, but it’s ok. Gay brought Aunt Dee over, I had heard so much about DEE and it was finally great to see her in person. She gave us little baskets full of tissues, finger nail polish, nail files, and bright color wash clothes, it was so nice of her and I’m wearing the polish on my toes! Thank you DEE! The rest of the night we talked and laughed…and Dee let us use her hot tub. AAAH oh I wish I were in that tub right now!

Everyone was so sweet in Rockwall, it was hard to leave! I could keep typing and typing but I know it’s gotten long and I must quit! Thank you to EVERYONE for making my trip wonderful! I LOVE YOU 3 FAT CHICKS!

P.S. GAY, I must have that CRAB ROLL recipe, I’m sorry I ate the whole thing but I couldn’t help myself!

P.S.S. I have more pictures but I would be here all night, I will post more in the days to come!

I'm Back

Texas was great! All of us "Fat Chicks" really enjoyed ourselves. I have so many things to post and pictures to upload and I just don't have the energy to do it. I'm sick, and I feel like there is a fire burning in my throat. I'm sure I will recover soon...fingers crossed. I'm popping Vitamin C like candy. For now I'm posting a picture from Allie of me and the scale, I know how cute right? We took this picture for our Four Fat Chicks blog!  Check our site out, we have exciting posts in the days to come!

P.S. I really enjoyed hanging out with Allie's family and friends. They were SUPER sweet and I can't wait to see all of them again! Thank you for everything ROCKWALL!

From Grapefruits to Salsa

( I made fresh grapefruit juice last weekend)

I'm leaving my grapefruits and headed to TEXAS! I can't tell you how excited I am!  All the 4 FAT CHICKS will finally get together!  We have great meals planned! Can't WAIT! My plane leaves tomorrow and I must get to packing!

Ry :)

Happy Easter!

I can’t believe how fast Easter came this year. It feels like we just rang in the new year and it’s already halfway through April! I hate how time fly’s by.

(Easter Decor at the house)

(Before church)

Easter was nice, we attended church and listened to a wonderful sermon. St. James Episcopal is beautiful little church located in the downtown of Leesburg. It’s been many years since I have had my family with me on Easter; it was nice to have them.

(Jim and I helping the church clear out all the beautiful flowers)

After the wonderful service we headed to Easter Brunch. I can’t tell you how many wonderful food morsels were surrounding me! I totally forgot to take pictures until the end, so I did capture a couple of desserts. The buffet had everything, raw oysters, shrimp, and king crab claws! I must say they lost money by having me there. It was wonderful.

Hope everyone enjoyed their holiday weekend.