A Trip to the Attic

I am so proud of my parents; they have finally decided to tackle the attic.  Let me first provide some background on my parents so you can understand how the attic got so out of hand.  My dad grew up in a military family so they moved every year or two.   When you move that often it is not efficient or practical to hold on to a lot of items.  They also grew up in a time when parents were a lot more hands off so he has a few sentimental items from his childhood but they could easily fit in one box.  My mom was an only child and her parents were more concerned with holding onto items from her childhood.  They kept a lot of her clothes, shoes, dolls, etc but almost everything was lost when their house caught on fire when they were living in West Virginia.  As a result my parents made a very conscious effort to hold onto items from my childhood.  They kept almost all of my toys, books, a lot of clothes, stuffed animals, etc.  That adds up to a lot of stuff very quickly.  If properly maintained and organized then it would have been possible given the large size of our attic to handle the volume of stuff.  The issue is that almost everything was added to garbage bags or plastic boxes and placed in any available space without labeling.  After living in their house for 24 years this become quite the mess.  They have been taking it one bag or box at a time but it has been really fun to discover some of the things they kept.  They have also been able to ask me as an adult about which items that they kept actually have sentimental value.  Some things they expected me to fawn over were items I barely remembered and some things they were about to toss were favorites of mine. 

My absolute favorite discovery was the 2 big boxes of dance costumes.  First let me say that most of my favorite childhood memories center on vacations, school, and dance.  Taking those costumes out and looking at them reminded me of so many wonderful memories, friends, stages of life, and all the performances.  It was such a wonderful reminder of how much my parents invested in me and how strongly they supported me along the way.  Here are a few pictures of some of the ones we laughed the most about, not surprisingly two of them are unitards.  Why did anyone ever think those were a good idea?
 

Wedding Craft Projects

Alyssa’s wedding is only 3 days away, time is flying by!  She wanted to take a picture with them holding a thank you sign to use as the image on their thank you note cards.  I love a good craft project so I asked her if I could make it.  I bought a wood sign on clearance at Burlington Coat Factory for $1.78.  Then I bought silver spray paint and chipboard letters from Hobby Lobby for about $9.  I used black spray paint to cover the original sign and to get the base color.  I thought black would help the silver letters really pop in the picture.  Then I spray painted the letters silver.  Once everything had dried then I used craft glue to adhere the letters.  Here is a picture of the final product. 

I also made her bow-quet for her rehearsal using the bows and gift toppers from her shower over the summer.  I am really proud of the outcome.  The other picture is of an adorable Merry Christmas sign that they used to take their Christmas card picture with.  I think she loved them; I’ll post pictures of them with the projects after they post their professional pictures.

My Best Friends Wedding!

I can finally officially welcome my best friend to the married club!  Her wedding took place this past weekend in North Carolina in the Highlands. 

She was an absolutely gorgeous and glowing bride.  We had such an amazing weekend and could truly feel all the love and support radiating from all their family and friends.  They got married up in Highlands, NC and the area is gorgeous.  It was a bit cold but other than that the weather was perfect.  After the ceremony we ate fantastic food and danced the night away to celebrate!  Here is a picture of Alyssa and Will as well as my toast to them as the Matron of Honor.



Congratulations!  My heart is overflowing with joy for you both.  It has been said that when two people find true love that it is like a stone skipping on the water.  The love that those two people share ripples into the lives of everyone around them.  Today we are all lucky enough to share in your joy and love for another! 

Alyssa, you are my best friend and I have had the joy and privilege of growing up with you.  We made it through the awkward high school years, the fun college years, and the adjusting to the workplace and the “real” world.  Along the way you have taught me so much about friendship and you have been such a huge blessing in my life.  I truly believe that there is nothing in this world that you cannot do if you set your heart and mind to it.

Will, I may have been hard on you in college but you have truly proven that your love for Alyssa is genuine and everlasting.  There aren’t many people that I could bear seeing my best friend moving to Texas for but you make her truly happy and she is exactly where she is meant to be . . . for now.

You have both built such a strong foundation for your relationship by focusing first on your friendship and then allowing your love to grow from there.  I know that you will bring true joy to one another because you understand the importance of love, mutual respect, and continuing to grow together as a couple.  Enjoy these wonderful moments with your friends and family on your wedding day and remember that the best is yet to come!  Everyone raise your glass to the bride and groom.

House Redesign - Part 2

I loved our dining room/entry redesign so much that I couldn’t wait to tackle the old office/second bedroom.  I have had a lot of extra expenditures lately so redesigning the space on a budget was key.  I wish I had a before picture but I hated the room so much before that I never took a single picture of it.  It was our catch all room.  If something didn’t fit nicely or look good in another room we put it in there even though it is the smallest room in our house.  I have been a little depressed by the housing market so I was thinking about my issues with our current setup.  The biggest problem besides the horrible market right now was that it lacked a true second bedroom.  As I have mentioned this is a pretty small space so I knew maximizing the limited space was key objective number 2.  

My goal was to use existing furniture and artwork but just cleverly reinvent the items.  I knew that our futon could be laid out flat and turned sideways to look like an actual bed frame and mattress.  In order for this to look polished I knew I needed new bedding.  So I headed down to IKEA and spent $65 on new bedding and throw pillows.  We had a large bulky desk before but it had two pieces, a bookshelf and an attached L shaped piece of wood that served as the desk/work space.  I disconnected the two items and we decided to turn the bookshelf with the cubes on it’s side to give it the look of a dresser.  The rest was simply organizing and shedding a lot of excess items. 

House Redesign

For those of you who know me well you know that I get bored easily so in an effort to stay in love with our living space we did an overhaul of the dining room and entry area.  We moved our china cabinet to the other wall and rotated our dining table.  Then we bought a console table that I absolutely adore to serve as our new desk.  Above the table is a Salvador Dali reprint that we had custom framed.  The custom framing was pricey, even with a 60% coupon, but I am in love with the finished product.  Next on the list is to revamp the office/second bedroom.

Stephanie’s Bachelorette

I was so excited for this night because Stephanie has been taking on so many things with her job and wedding planning as well as being a mom and a fiancé.  Brandi and I really wanted her to be able to have a great time and let loose.  We started with dinner at my house followed by a lingerie shower complete with a bachelorette themed cookie cake.  After the shower we headed off to polelateaz in Atlanta.  We had so much fun and I think it was exactly what she needed even if her stress level jumped right back up the next day, oh the joy of the last few weeks before the wedding.  Here are a few pictures from the first part of the evening; the others from the class will remain with those of who went and our husbands/fiancés.

I have not forgotten about my blog

So here is my sincere apology for being the worst blogger ever for the last month or so.  I have 6 entries almost ready to go and I’ll get those posted this week.  Once those are up I will get back to my normal schedule of posting a couple times a week.  Thanks for being patient with me and I love you guys!