Things I've Been Doing Other Than Blogging

I've been terrible about blogging! I just haven't been motivated and there's been a lot going on!

I just got back from 6 days off work - Andy and I went with his family on our annual Gatlinburg trip, which was really nice. When we got back, we headed out on different trips -- he had been planning a guys' trip to Florida for awhile and I figured I'd take the opportunity to go visit family and friends myself!

I drove up to Louisville and dropped Lucy off with my mom then headed to Indiana to see my friend Mandi and her family and then up even further north to visit my friend Dayna. I never realized South Bend was so far north and that we were basically on the Michigan border. We drove up and saw Lake Michigan and it was GORGEOUS. I love Michigan and I love water!


Our annual tradition is to visit Fannie Farkle's, an arcade on the Gatlinburg strip. A corn dog, a coke, and video games!

We're addicted to those games where you drop a quarter or token in and try to get it to push the other coins over the ledge to earn tickets.  Fannie Farkle's had an amazing, more digitized version that gave us soooo many tickets. We managed to earn almost 4,000 tickets and couldn't find a single thing to purchase with them, so we gave them to a little boy. I hope he picked out something awesome!


We all played Hillbilly Golf as a family and Ollie had fun putting, too. :) It's so fun to see him grow up! Isn't he adorable??

When I was outside of Indianapolis, Mandi took me to an apple orchard that had a petting zoo. Her adorable daughter Makenna had fun with all the animals!


I love goats so much!


And alpacas!


Then, I drove to South Bend and Dayna and I drove to St. Joseph, Michigan to see Lake Michigan and the beach!

It was crazy warm for October!


It was really strange to see a tree with fall leaves...planted in sand!


On the beach!


It was such a great trip! So good to see family and friends. It was hectic to drive all over the place (Nashville to Gatlinburg. Gatlinburg to Nashville. Nashville to Louisville. Louisville to Greenwood. Greenwood to South Bend. South Bend to Louisville. Louisville to Nashville!) but so worth it to see everyone!

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The Krylon Colormaster Challenge

This is so cool - my mom is heading to Cleveland to participate in the Krylon Colormaster Challenge. She will be working with Jeff Devlin from the DIY Network and a few other bloggers to complete 24 projects in 24 hours - and you get to watch it live!


They'll be working their tushes off 10am-10pm on Friday and Saturday and you can watch it right here! (You can even sign up to get a reminder in case you forget!)

I am so proud of my mom and so excited for her as she gets to go experience this challenge! Read more about it on her blog here!

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What a difference a year - make that 2 months - makes!

Last year, my mom brought me hens and chicks planted in a planter she made from reclaimed wood. The hens and chicks were from my great-aunt's garden in Michigan. After she passed away in November of 2011, her family dug up the hens and chicks from her yard before selling the house. I am so, so, so thankful they did that! The hens and chicks get to stay in the family which is very special since they originated from my great-grandmother's garden in Louisville.


We used hens and chicks from her yard in our wedding. She was too ill to make it down to Nashville for our wedding, so it was very special to me to have her there in spirit. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to keep ANY of the plants from our wedding alive...so when my mom brought me this new batch, I knew it was a second chance. I decided to let them live outside. I knew they could survive Michigan winters (my cousin Mary Beth even had to wait for snow to thaw in order to dig them up for us to use in the wedding!) so I figured they could make it through mild Nashville winters. And boy, oh boy, have they!!

Just 2 months ago, I took this photo:


(Note all the weeds above--hilariously, shamrocks keep growing in my hens & chicks planter--I have potted shamrocks sitting on the porch... so the bees are doing their job which makes my job of keeping the planter weeded more difficult!)

Fast forward 2 months...NOW...they are HUGE.


Can you believe they've grown so much in just 2 months?? They live outside next to our porch in the original planter that my mom made and I let the rain take care of them for the most part, but I water them when it's especially dry and/or hot.

The are gorgeous and they mean the WORLD to me. They have such a rich history in my family and they are so special to me. Now that they're almost outgrowing the planter, should I re-plant some of them? Should they go in the ground? Or other planters? Any green thumbs out there have some advice? Oh and one note- they're not succulents - I killed the first batch by treating them like succulents, unfortunately!

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Friday Fun: Vintage Family Photos - My Baby Nursery

Next Wednesday is my birthday, so I thought it'd be fun to take a look at my nursery from when I was a baby!

That's me!


I am not sure what this is!! Baby toys used to be kinda scary, am I right??


I am definitely right. Giant teddy bear with some GIANT EYES. But check out that Dumbo lamp! I bet someone made that for me in ceramics! :)


Sweet little crib.


Close up...I definitely remember that blanket from my childhood!


One more bear shot. :)

Maybe my mom will comment with some more details!! :)

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Old School Ceramics, Part 2

Last week I told you about my new hobby- ceramics! I went back on Saturday to keep working on my Santa and Mrs. Claus. When we arrived, they were sitting on a shelf with a few other pieces that Barbara has done. I grabbed them so I could put two coats of primer on them:


Primered up! I used a color called "whisper gray" for priming. You have to make sure ALL the white is covered up - the little crevices of the hair and his beard can be tricky. Barbara has some magnifying glasses that she inspects the pieces with to make sure you've covered everything.


While I was priming, Nanny worked on cleaning up a Christmas tree. She removed all the seams. I found out that Christmas tree molds normally come in 3 pieces, so they have 3 seams to clean. It's a lot of work but at least the ridginess of the tree is forgiving!

After I primed, it was time to antique. Antiquing helps give the piece definition. I covered them in black antiquing stain, then wiped the stain off. The antiquing medium stays behind in the little crevices and when I dry-brush them, it will show through and give the piece depth and definition.


They almost look like stone or concrete now!

This is a much longer process than I anticipated, but I'm so glad I'm learning this craft! This Saturday, I will start learning how to dry brush them! WOO!

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Old School Ceramics, Part 1

It's no secret that I'm obsessed with vintage ceramics. I LOVE LOVE LOVE them and buy them often at estate sales.


Last month, Andy's grandmother mentioned that she had recently started doing ceramics again and I was delighted to hear it. I told her I'd love to join her and we set a date. I was soooooo excited! I was about to do real, old-school ceramics!


Nanny does ceramics in her friend Barbara's basement. She has known Barbara for 50 years! Barbara used to own a ceramics shop but now she is a hobbyist...but don't be fooled, she is seriously legit.


Her entire basement is filled to the brim with supplies and she even has a kiln!


She has hundreds and hundreds of ceramics molds and has already poured hundreds of figurines ready for cleaning.


Once you pick what you want to do, you clean it, which means you scrape the seams off, sand them, and restore the definition that was taken out through that process. She will fire the piece, then you glaze or dry brush it.

I am so drawn to Christmas ceramics, so I decided to do a Santa and Mrs. Claus (even though it's April!). I cleaned them up and this Saturday, she will teach me how to paint them. SO EXCITING!


I am so happy to be learning ceramics from such a talented teacher - and someone who has been doing it for decades! It makes me feel a little closer to the generations that have gone before me and it's fun quality time with Nanny!

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Dress Week: Vintage Family Photos - Easter!

I'm posting the vintage family photos a day early this week - shaking things up! I haven't been home in daylight to be able to take photos of my eShakti dress, so I'll have to do that Friday on my day off. SOOO, the moment we've been waiting for: cheesy childhood photos! :)

Look at this cheese!











Action shot!! 

All my loot! 

Hope you have a wonderful Easter, if you celebrate it!!

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Friday Fun: Vintage Family Photos + Is it Spring yet?

My mom scanned alllll her old photos several years ago and gave them to me. I recently pulled out my external hard drive to take some walks down memory lane. Every Friday I will be posting some fun photos from my childhood! Hopefully this won't be boring. :) 

I loved looking at these bright, crisp photos from the playground. Looks like I went with my cousins and looks like we had a blast. Is it spring yet??? I'm looking forward to bright, crisp days!

(That's me in the pink hoodie! My cousins are in the dark hoodie wearing glasses and the redheaded boy in the letterman's looking jacket.)













Like I said, hopefully it will be a little fun to look back at old photos! :)

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Happy Birthday Mom! + Bowling Green Antiquing

Happy birthday to my amazing mom! We met her for lunch and antique mall-ing in Bowling Green yesterday. Here she is with her birthday ice cream and candle!


Andy found this dapper jacket at the antique mall...upon closer inspection, it's pretty special!


A 1984 Olympiad jacket!! Pretty cool!!

I only bought 2 things... I always buy scales when they're a good price, so I picked up this one:


And I will never pass up anything Mary Poppins. Obsessed. :)


It was a great day and fun to celebrate my mom!!

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