Lamp love.

Jake and I just returned from a three day spiritual feeding at his annual LDS conference for husbands and wives. It was wonderful. My mom was so generous as to watch my two boys, spoil them, let them eat junk food to their hearts content...all that grandma stuff. She brought me a belated birthday gift that I couldn't be more excited about. I grew up with these lamps in her house...and now they're mine to hopefully work a little magic on.

Here are a few inspirational pictures of lamps I've found on the internet to get my creative juices flowing. Aaahhh...the possibilities.
Kate Spade

Penny Wincer

Thomas Paul

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What the heck is this?

For Father's Day we gave our daddy some pretty ties that he's been wanting (boring).

To jazz things up we also gave him one of these.

Jake's reaction: "What the heck is this?"

Me: "A Neti Pot."

Me: "You've been been complaining about your terrible allergies and I've found your cure!" (A wrapped up bottle of Sudafed just didn't seem to be as exciting.)

Jake: Furled eyebrow and blank stare.

Me: "I can see you love it!"

(Next year I'm going to give him an ear candle).

Here's a YouTube demo of how it works.

Warning: this is gonna seem weird!

I gave one of these to my dad last year who gets the worst allergy symptoms of anyone I know and he has almost completely gone off all his allergy medicine. Another friend uses her Neti Pot morning and night and no longer has any allergy symtoms at all.

Happy Father's Day Jake...we love you!

Would you ever try this...comments?

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Boys' room makeover.

I posted a couple months ago about my efforts to makover the boys' room. I'm finished. Both our boys have names that have to do with the wind and water so I picked pieces that had a nautical / ocean theme. Thanks again Tim for cutting these shelves down! Can't forget a place for the bouncy ball collection.
Found these rocks on the beach in San Diego.

I was trying to make these numbers look like the numbers printed on a big spinaker sail. 4 represents the the year my oldest was born. 7 the year my youngest was born.

This burlap potato sack has nothing to do with the water. It's the other side of the burlap I cut up and used for that fancy frame project I did. It had the right colors that coordinated with the rest of the room so I covered it with an old bulletin board.

I found this book/magazine shelf for $12.00 at an estate sale a few months ago and it was already fire engine red.

Can't forget about my DIY headboards!

My boys picked out things that were full of bright, bold color...something that I'm not very comfortable decorating with. But it's their space so bring on the color. The room is small but has a really nice feel. We're all happy!

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DIY Upholstered Headboards

Remember when I posted about my ambitious plans to makeover my boys' room? Well, I'm 99% done with the room. The most time consuming project ended up to be the DIY upholstered headboards (which could have been really simple had I not tried to attempt a Martha Stewart moment). Here's how it all went down...

I first bought a piece of 1/2-inch plywood. Home Depot cut it down to my specifications for free. (Next time I would choose a more organic and "green" wood. The glues used on the plywood have a bit of an odor). For the width I went an inch wider than the width of the bed.

I then bought a piece of 3/4-inch high density foam and cut it (electric knife works best) to the measurements of my board. I used a spray glue adhesive to secure it to the board.

Next, I covered the board and foam with a couple of layers of batting. I cut it a couple inches longer on each side, pulled it taut, and used a staple gun to secure it to the other side of the board.
You can see here that I attatched 1X4 legs to the back of my board so that it would stand tall against the wall. (I ended up taking the legs off because it stood too tall for my liking).
Here's where it got time consuming. I covered a piece of cord with burnt orange fabric and sewed it around the edges of my fabric. I thought, "It's all straight lines...how hard can it be?" I'd never done this before but the sweet lady at the fabric store assured me it was a piece of cake. Our definitions of "a piece of cake" were obviously different. It took me literally HOURS! Cut on the bias here, zipper foot there, 5th broken needle here... If I would have skipped the whole piping trim I would not have needed to sew at all and it really would have been a piece of cake DIY project. FYI.

Whether you decide to fancy it up or not, pull your fabric taut and staple it to the other side (just like you did with the batting).

Here's the finished result. What do you think? Complete room pics coming tomorrow.

(Fabric is Raulph Lauren found at Home Fabrics in Tucson).

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Purse saga over.

Introducing my new purse! I lugged around the other two purses and they just weren't cutting it. Everytime I'd reach in for something I couldn't find anything...too floppy. So back they went. I found this little number at Marshall's. I'm not quite out of the diaper bag stage yet so this will be a happy transition. Pockets galore!

This was the original price tag...GASP! I got it for about 80% off (plus another 10% because I pointed out a little scuff). SCORE!

-Jake's reaction: Eyebrows squish together, "It looks like an astrounaut bag."

-Me modeling it for him, "Does it squeak when you walk?"

-Later while out to dinner on the patio with the spray misters on,

"Hey look at that, it's waterproof too."

-Coming home when dark out, "And it even glows in the dark!"

Ahhh, Mr. prince charming!

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Reunited and it feels so good!

My man walked through the door at 5:04pm on Friday evening from his week long trip. AHHHhhhh...bliss. We hugged, kissed, had a de-briefing about the week then I grabbed the car keys and headed out the door. I took my birthday money and treated myself to spa pedi.

Long overdue, believe me.

(Please excuse my weathered, flip-flop tanned feet.

Even after a little work they're still not much to look at).

An hour at the nail salon was a very interesting experience. 40-something, Peter, from Vietnam worked magic on my feet. He was wearing leather loafers, a white Ralph Laren Polo, some khaki shorts and looked like he had just played a round of 18 holes on the golf course.

I'm not normally the kind to reveal much about myself to strangers but after an hour he knew my life story and all I knew about him was that he left Los Angeles a month ago because he was forced to. That's all he would say. Mysterious. Ah well. He still made me giggle when he took his long finger nails and cat scratched my ankles as a part of the "spa experience." Weird?

#1 (Orange Bag)

#2 (Yellow Bag)

Next stop, a new purse (or two). My current purse is black fabric and stained with Alfredo sauce. (That's what I get for taking my kids to Olive Garden). I couldn't decide so I bought them both. BTW, what's with the purses these days all looking like they were all resurrected from the 1980's?

A little help please. Which do you like best?

("Neither" is an acceptable answer too...that was Jake's vote).

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Dear Husband,

I miss you. Our boys miss you. I hope you are enjoying yourself on your business trip. I never fully appreciate the security of having a big strong man in the house until you are away. This week without out you has been lonely...nights have been the hardest. I almost forgoe'd my allergy to animals and asked Jim if I could borrow Spike for the week just to have a barking dog in the house to scare away the Boogy Man. But alas, I found that a metal bat under my pillow gives me suprising comfort. Don't mess with this momma and her nest!

It has been a long week without you. I decided that if things ever went sour between us I might just opt for a loveless relationship than choose to be a single parent...it really bites. I can't wait for Friday evening! Not only will this family once again be complete but I know that there will only be 358 more days until your next annual business trip.

Here's what has been going down since you've been away:

The boys have been missing their daily 5:00 Wrestle Mania session with you so they took matters in to their own hands.







You'll be happy to know that no one got hurt during Wrestle Mania.

However...

Rub-a-dub-dub look who slipped in the bath tub.


"T" learned that sliding his bowl accross the counter ends in disaster.


"N" took up permanent residence in your spot on the bed with a full blown cold. He wakes every hour screaming bloody murder and kicking me in the face. You'd think a king size bed is big enough for a 1-1/2 year old and me. No.
I bet you can't wait to get home!

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Enrichment Night.

I was asked to teach a quick segment on how to bring a little pizzazz to gift wrapping at our Enrichment Night this month. Here are just a FEW examples...

Here are a few tips:

DO:

1. DO invest in neutral, sold color wrapping papers. White and black are my favs...it goes with any gender, holiday, or occasion based on how you embellish it (or not).

2. DO embelish. Use anything that has an interesting shape, color or pattern. Tissue paper, scrapbook letters, flowers, toys, ribbons.

3. DO make your own ribbons. You can tie your own bow and customize it to any size.

4. DO find interesting boxes to wrap your gifts in. Asian take-out boxes, pink pastry boxes, clear berry containers, clear empty paint cans, etc.

DON'T:

1. DON'T use gift bags (unless you're totally pressed for time). They are too expensive, too impersonal and don't make a "I put a lot of thought in to this presentation" statement. If you have to use gift bags, by a solid color and personalize it yourself with embellishments.

2. DON'T by ready-made ribbons. They are too expensive.

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