Change

First of all! I got my anniversary present last night! My ring! I have been feeling so naked without it and I am sooo happy to have it back where it belongs. The thing about wearing a ring, is that I don't love it because it's beautiful and I love it more than any piece of jewlery I've ever owned... (okay I do, but there is more to it.) I wear it because when I look down at it, I get to think about J and how I belong to him and no one else. It makes me feel good and even though I know it anyway, I love to have the ring to remind me. I mean come on, look at it...He picked it out himself without any help from me!

And now onto a completely different topic.

I'm gearing up for a yard sale and a complete room remodel. That means that I have gotten into all the crap on the top shelf of my closet and torn it all down and it looks like this.

Don't judge me for my orange walls...it's my favorite color.

I have found a few little treasure though that I am really excited to use in my new and improved room.

I found this cool little mirror and these plastic shelf things that I'm sure I can put to use and this clothes pin apron that my great grandma embroidered.



And I'm sure that I am just scratching the surface of cool stuff I'm going to find burried in my room.

I have also found a lot of stuff that I want/have to sell in our yard sale. Yesterday, some friends we play music with had a yard sale at their house and my sister took some of her old clothes and toys over there to sell. She make $35+ Which is pretty good when you're selling most stuff for a quarter.

It's funny, though, how I'll find something and I'll want to keep it because it reminds me of something. Like when I was younger I had the planets hanging from my ceiling with a whole bunch of glow-in-the-dark stars. I found them in a bag that I put them all in when I redid my room in highschool. My grandma bought me the solar system kit from the planeterium when I was in fifth or sixth grade and I stuck constellastions (yes, I did actual constellations...I was a nerd) up on my ceiling and putting them in a bag to sell to someone else is a lot harder than I would have thought. All I can think about is how excited I was when I got it and the big hug I gave my grandma.  If I remember correctly it was expensive. And it has pluto in it. I hated pluto, so whatever., but still, it's cool because it's not a planet anymore.

Basically, I'm discovering that getting rid of my old crap will not be as cut-and-dry as I would hope...But oh well I guess, when you grow up, things just have to change.  And usually, it's going to be for the better.

I shoulda been a farmer...or at least a fence builder

So, my garden is complete. I have been working my butt off out there for days under the hot sun and it is now planted and I'm so excited to watch it grow...(hopefully!) 

My garden has been a figment of my imagination for quite some time now. At work the other day, I drew plans for about 79 different gardens I knew I would never have (however, I did discover that I have quite a knack for drawing 3D plans.) Ieally, I would have made three different raised beds and it would have been so adorable and it was going to yield beautiful fruits and vegetables that I would be very proud of. Currently, my garden is nothing that I planned, but I couldn't be happier.

I made cute little signs out of random wood and some old nails I knew no one would ever use and strung together a bunch of wire fence pieces that I found. I love that I can just take what I have and make it work. (case and point, hoe/machete...)

Today I drove two fence posts with a driver that weighs 20 lbs. Let me tell you, if you have some pent up anger or some type of issue in your life and you need a physical outlet, driving a fence post will make you feel real good.

I planted the herbs in the adorable washtubs. Don't they look pretty?

And of course, it's necessary to make a sign that says "Herbs" just in case you forget...

Here is my lovely finished product. Looks pretty good to me! Now lets say a little prayer that it doesn't get eaten by snails... 

A DI Kind of Day

Today, I took a trip to a couple of different Deseret Industries stores. Known to we Utahns as the DI. For those of you who don't know, the DI is basically a secondhand store that is run by the LDS (Mormon) Church. It is a non-profit store that takes any and all donations. They have tons of clothes, appliances, furniture, house wares and basically anything under the sun that you could thingk of. They have it.

I went with intentions to find things to decorate at my wedding with. It might sounds strange to shop at the secondhand store for something like this, but I think it's smart!  I found myself exactly what I was looking for. I didn't really intend to buy 22 Mason jars...but I did. Each jar was only $.50.  I couldn't help myself.  I gave myself some rules before I left to shop. (1) I wasn't allowed to spend more than $30.00 and (2)  If I couldn't fit it all in the box, I couldn't have it. Lucky for me, I'm really good at packing stuff into a box : D. I ended up with jars of different sizes that will look great filled with stuff and painted and all cute...I'm so excited about it!

Also, I found these wicker basket deals that you put your paper plates on so that they don't dump your food off of them. I got 10 of them for $5.00. I'd call that a good find!  I'm planning on putting the jars on the wicker plates with hot-glue after decorating the jars with different things inside and out and putting something cute on the plate. Then I'll have these adorable little hand made center pieces that won't cost me more the $30.00 to make!

I feel very accomplished with my outting and I also feel like this DIY wedding is going to be possible. I'm so excited to start making and buying more things that are going to make our wedding special.  Oh, thrifting, how I love you!

Thrifty

I, like most women these days, have an obsession with Pinterest (<-----That's my page)I'm allowed to be on it at work between calls and I pin like crazy!  Most of the time though, I don't actually do the stuff that I pin or use it. But I always think, One day, I'll be so glad I pinned this. And some times that is totally. Sometimes they're simply pipe dreams (I mean, come on, I'm never going to plan meals every sunday night and post a menu on the fridge...).


Today, my sister, my mom, and I took a stroll through The Quilted Bear (It's a store filled with home-made stuff that people sell i.e. home decor, jewelery, etc.) and there were so many cute things that I thought were so cute and I'm so sure that I could make with my brain tied behind my back. Seeing all this stuff made me think of all the crafty little things that I have seen on Pinterest and how I should be using the knowledge I've gained from it to actually do some of those things I pin and want to try sooo badly.

So, we went to Savers, The Desert Industries (The D.I.) and the overstock stores and looked around for things that we thought we could "up-cycle".  I decided on buying an old jelly roll pan that had been all burnt and used for one too many Totino's Pizzas that was completely perfect no bend or imperfections and I bought it.


J has some strange hate for fridge magnets. But I LOVE them. I think they're cute and I buy one pretty everywhere I visit. I have magnets from all over. He says that he want a stainless still fridge and NO MAGNETS. When I saw these little magnets boards I thought, Perfect! He never said anything about hating magnet board magnents! 


So I brought it home, found some fabric I had laying around (I opted for fabric because the pan was pretty beat up and I didn't think that spray painting would look as good or last as long) and I began working away. I just sorta winged it.

First, I fliped the pan over so that if I was cooking a pizza it would be all wrong and I started gluing with some fabric glue. Basically, I wrapped it like a present and I got glue EVERYWHERE. I've got some work to do on my crafting skills but this was a start and I'm so proud of my finished product!

I'm so excited to put  my own spin on other craft ideas I discover from other pinners. I'm so happy with how this turned out. :)