This is so fun - Whimseybox invited me to be their first featured user! I went pretty cheesy with my answers, but what can I say? I'm pretty cheesy!! :)

I hope you have an amazing weekend!

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Thirty Before 30 Update #4

With less than 3 weeks until my 30th birthday, I am checking in on my Thirty Before 30 list! Somehow, when I originally created this list, I mis-numbered items and therefore there are not actually 30 items - woops!

Also, lots of my priorities shifted over the year and it's interesting to see that! The items that are in red are the ones that are no longer an option or priority.

You'll also notice the theme of "I need to blog about it!" below. I guess I better start taking photos so I can blog about these projects before May 29!

House:

1. Buy a new couch - This has moved to a lower priority until Lucy is out of her puppy stage, although she has not tried to destroy our current couch yet, so maybe she would be okay with a new one... but, better safe than sorry.
2. Get the attic (craft space & guest room) organized - The attic gets organized, then gets trashed again, then gets organized. It is almost always "in progress" but it is fairly organized, I just need to put things away! And then I'll take photos and blog about it!
3. Change up dining room wall decor - I have done 2 of the 3 walls and I still don't know what to do where the mirror and sconces are. It's a little fancy for my current taste but the mirror was a gift so I don't want to get rid of it or anything... still figuring this out.
4. Redecorate above the couch - I did it! I just need to blog about it!
5. Get shelves for living room and redecorate the inside the door space - I did it! And it looks GOOD! I just need to blog about it!! :)
6. Hang the "Y"s I've been collecting - Added the yellow Y to the kitchen and the cream one to the dining room. Just need to blog about it! :)
7. Get (and keep alive) more plants - I love all my plants! I need to blog about them! :)
8. Go through my old CDs and figure out what to keep/import/sell/etc
9. Get a canvas print of the "Believe" sign at the church where we were married  
10. Organize garage - We still really need to do this!

Life:

1. Get our wedding photo booth photos printed for our guestbook  
2. Finish wedding thank you notes
3. Be more intentional in my friendships - this one is hard to quantify, so I'm leaving it up here as a reminder to initiate hanging out with friends!
4. (woops)
5. Get our wedding featured on a wedding blog - Thank you Ashley's Bride Guide!
6. Make a meal plan/menu with Andy - After talking about it, we're not really going to do this.
7. Learn how to arrange flowers properly - I am hoping to get over to the big flower shop to pick out some individual flowers and try my hand at arranging. I have read books and blogs on arranging, now I just need to put what I've learned into practice!
8. (woops)
9. Edit a video of our honeymoon roadtrip - sheesh, I need to do this!
10. Watch all the seasons of Mad Men - We finished the first 4 seasons finally! Now we just need to catch up on Season 5 so far!
11. Take a trip with Andy - Seattle!
12. See a play/musical - We saw our friend Jason in The Complete Works of Shakespeare, we saw Mary Poppins on stage, and we saw an adaptation of CS Lewis' The Screwtape Letters!
13. Ride our bikes this fall and next spring - we have been really really bad about this!

Business:

1. Put an item on consignment in a local vintage shop - not going to do this now that I have a booth
2. Succeed with booth at TN Antique Mall - The booth has gone really well and while April was a bad month, I think overall, my booth is doing well!
3. Go to an auction
4. Make postcards for my business to leave at the booth
5. Do a fabric bouquet tutorial on my blog 
6. Grow my blog to 75 followers and 75 subscribers - Oh my goodness, you guys. Thank you so much for subscribing! I have 170 GFC followers and 255 Feedburner subscribers!!
7. Do another flea market (maybe even organize one?) - This one is also not going to happen since I don't have the inventory to set up at a flea market AND have my booth.


All in all, it was really nice to have a list to work through and goals to attain. I'm not sure if I'll do a list of "31 before 31" because these were all pretty mundane items...and I can't really think of what I want to accomplish in the next year.

I have big goals and dreams but I don't want to place time constraints on them and I also want to keep myself open to spontaneity and honestly, God's plan for me. I think this list helped me be more intentional in what I do and I think I would just like to live more intentionally, rather than by a list.

Are you working through a list of goals? I would love to read about it- leave a comment with your link if you're blogging about it!

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Baking Powder Biscuits

As a southern lady and wife, I feel like sometime in my life I need to perfect the art of biscuits and gravy. I am a hopeless, hopeless failure when it comes to gravy - I have tried a few times and watched women in my family make it, and I just can't get it. One time, I tried to make breakfast for dinner and made biscuits and gravy. Andy took one bite and immediately went to pick some dinner up for us. Eek!

In any case, I decided to try to make biscuits from scratch for the first time (but NOT gravy - I couldn't handle it if BOTH items failed!) and it worked! It actually worked!

I have limited baking supplies at home, so I had to find a recipe that called for ingredients I had on hand. I went with this Baking Powder Biscuits recipe from AllRecipes.com.





All you need is:

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup shortening
1 egg
2/3 cup milk

*insert record screech here* Cream of tartar? What the heck is cream of tartar? I googled and discovered it activated baking powder in recipes... but this recipe didn't call for baking soda, it called for baking powder! Hmm. I googled some more and saw that it is basically an acidic ingredient and one can substitute vinegar or lemon juice for cream of tartar, so I pulled out my jug of vinegar and substituted away!

It was easy - you just mix the dry ingredients, cut in the shortening, then beat the milk and egg together and add it in. Roll it out, cut out your biscuits, then bake for 10-12 minutes at 450 degrees and voila! Homemade biscuits!

You'll notice that my biscuits are 2 different shades. I baked a 2nd batch while we ate the first batch and I forgot to set the timer so they turned out pretty dark - but I taste-tested one and it was actually pretty good! It kinda tasted like a cracker biscuit, if you can imagine that! I like crackers, so I thought it was ok, but you'll probably want to keep a better eye on your biscuits while they bake!

Enjoy!!

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Thrift Report: Estate Scores!

Rae texted me Thursday to let me know that there was an amazing estate sale happening a little bit outside of town. I wasn't sure if I would have time to go, but luckily, I was able to go - about an hour before the sale closed and amazingly, there was still a GREAT selection!

I picked up some fun potholders and a cute pink & white accordion pleated pillow that will all go to the booth. But, two of my favorite finds were a Viewmaster Projector and a white task lamp. The projector was the first item I discovered - apparently, there were a ton of viewmaster slides but a local news anchor bought them just a few hours before me! I'm so glad she didn't see the projector! I LOVE IT. It works and is so, so cute. And the white lamp is in great condition and it also works! I picked up a bag of little figurines that included 2 fawns and a little squirrel that will all go in terrariums or in potted plants. Love this stuff!

They also had a ton of vintage Christmas. I got a LOT - a box full of vintage ornaments and then 2 fun retro Santas.

I am so, so glad I stopped. I also bought some faux bois metal shelves that I'm not quite sure what I'll do with yet!

Funnily enough, I ran into Rae when I was leaving! She has stopped by everyday and said on the first day, it was unbelievable how much great stuff there was. I'm sad that I couldn't make it then, but very happy with my finds!!

What did YOU find this weekend???

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Worn out AKA Kitchen Updates

I hate to miss a Joey's Mom post today, but it's just been one of those weeks!

Actually, make that 2 weeks!

Last Sunday and Monday, we emptied out our kitchen in preparation for a few updates. We had some broken tiles that we needed replaced and the kitchen walls were textured plaster that was just so, so ugly and I was so, so over them. The kitchen is the one room in the house that I have never done anything to! I just put up with it because it was small and tricky and I thought I might just have to live with it.

Well, we don't want to stay in this house forever, so I figured I should start getting small projects done here and there so that it's not a huge ordeal when we put the house up someday.

The guy who is doing the work does it on the side, so we're at the mercy of his life and schedule... and therefore we're into week 2 of not having a proper kitchen and not being able to use the dining room and also having our microwave cart sit in front of our front door.

Not ideal, especially for someone who is an OCD cleaner. On Saturday, I felt so incredibly restless because I couldn't clean the kitchen and dining room!

Here are photos - BEWARE - what you see might shock you. :) (I'm so tired I didn't even edit them - I normally don't post anything without tweaking, but like I said, it's been one of those weeks!)

Our messy kitchen before:

Very, very messy... woops! You wouldn't know that I'm OCD about cleaning, would you??

Check out this texture:

The result of moving everything out of the kitchen:

Oh boy.

The window that I so foolishly decided to strip 60 years of paint accumulation off of... big project, big mistake.

The kitchen in progress:

It will hopefully be done tonight. Hopefully. We've heard that before, unfortunately. I'm trying to be positive but my patience is a little worn from the past few weeks of craziness!

I can't wait for it to be finished and to get our kitchen shiny and streamlined and THEN show you photos!! Stay tuned!!! 

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Why do we love buying vintage?

Why do we love buying vintage? Since last July, I have been interviewing fellow vintage-lovers about their favorite second hand score. There have been so many amazing responses - I have posted the most recent answers below, but you can see the entire Favorite Finds series here if you are new around Owl Really! Click the responder's name to visit their Favorite Finds post and learn more about them!

As always, if you'd like to contribute to Favorite Finds, please e-mail me!

Beth:

I love buying vintage/secondhand for various reasons. The first
reason is I love the thrill of the hunt! To find a vintage treasure
among 'junk' is such a thrill to me. The second reason is it's unique!
If your house is full of vintage or second hand items, there is always
a story attached to that item and most likely no one else will have
something like it. Lastly, it's affordable! I can go shopping much
more often if I purchase items at $5 rather than than $50 items.

Emily:

When it comes to decorating and design, I tend to lean towards a very
modern style. However, this style on its own can seem very cold and
uninviting (see: unhappyhipsters.com!).

Adding vintage pieces to a modern room adds warmth and interest, and
dispels the clinical feel that modern design can so easily slide into.
In addition, I think it is easier to establish your own unique
decorating sense by using vintage pieces, rather than having your style
dictated by the stores you shop in. And let's be honest... I love having
pieces in my home that are different from what everyone else has!

Emerald:

I love buying secondhand/vintage/thrifted clothing because it makes the
most sense. First of all, fashion is always recycled in some way, so
why spend ridiculous amounts of money. I like to buy what I want to
wear and not because a department store is telling me what to buy. You
also are way less likely to be seen wearing the exact same thing as
someone else!

Lindsay:

I love the idea that an item was previously loved. It has a story, it
has already lived another life before it even makes it to your home. I
prefer to be surrounded by things that have a history, there is a
certain romance to it.

Lisa:

Style, girl! It's all about the equal amounts swagger and elegance of
clothes from an earlier era. And quantity and quality over new-ness is
another interest. I could have one department store dress, that someone
else could well be wearing on the same night at the same event, for
$28, on sale, and it would be a "deal". Four sixties' dresses,
hand-hunted from the wilds of Goodwill, practically if not actually
one-of-a-kind, for the same amount, makes them a "steal". We love
steals! And it's not that I don't ever buy new, but the thrill of not
knowing what you're going to find at the thrift store or the flea
market has just about ruined me on actual retail stores. I can express
my taste and aesthetic without breaking my budget.

Lori:

I love the idea that the item has history and a story. I also feel like
most secondhand items are higher quality than modern day items - I love
solid wood furniture and that is hard to find at affordable prices if it
is new. Also I'm so lucky because my husband loves to restore
secondhand items so I have that luxury to get to buy things and he'll
make them new for us.

Kirsty:

I love buying vintage and secondhand (and also handmade) because it all
has a story, it's well built and you are helping the environment too.

Danavee:

I think it runs in my blood. I must have inherited that gene, as my
grandparents dealt in antiques when I was young. My parents decorated
with vintage and antique everything. I would go to my grandpa's shop or
basement and nose around in all his old stuff, and I caught the bug! I
was purchasing vintage lamps and trunks before I even moved out of my
parent's house! There's something about having a piece that no one
else has. The curiosity about where it came from. The history that
comes with it. And then there's the thrill of the hunt. I'll never
get tired of hunting for treasures!

So, what do you say? Why do YOU love buying vintage? Let us know in the comments!


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Parsimonia: Now and Then

I love following Beth's blog, Parsimonia {Secondhand with Style} and keeping up with all her amazing vintage finds. She has introduced a really fun new series on her blog called Now & Then in which she shows vintage and current-day packaging of household items. It's so fun to look at the old packaging and see how design has changed. Of course, I always prefer the vintage designs! :)

See an example below and click through to see her post about it!




Check it out and tell her I sent you!

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