Make Way For Millie: 23 Weeks

Make Way For Millie: 23 Weeks: "Today is the last day of Millie's 23rd week...tomorrow starts week 24! My energy level has been good and I have no major complaints. My ..."

I'm now blogging at Make Way For Millie!

It's so Fluffy I'm Gonna Die!

Expansion!

We've been busy here at the bookstore in Warner Robins.  We are EXPANDING!  The salon that was next to us moved and so we're moving in!  Shane is busy building bookcases and I can't wait to have more room!

Lampshade in Progress

The Fabulous Fox

Shane surprised me Saturday night by taking me to the Fabulous Fox Theatre in Atlanta.  We saw The Sound of Music--my favorite!!!  The last time we went was in January 2005 to see Beauty and the Beast.  Shane had it all planned out so that I had NO idea where we were going (or even that we were going anywhere!)  Here is his smirky-smirk I-know-everything-and-you-know-nothing face.

Hope came to my store around 3:00 Saturday and told me to leave and follow some directions very carefully.  The directions were to go home, put on my prettiest dress, and pick up Shane at 6:00 at the Macon store where he was working.  I went home and tried on a white linen Ann Taylor dress I bought for my bridal showers FIVE years ago and it fit perfectly!  I was almost as excited about that as I was about going somewhere unknown!

I LOVE surprises but I'm not very good at waiting for them, so I was very curious.  Here's my best I'm-so-curious-I-don't-know-what-to-do-with-myself face.  I think I would maybe make this face if you were about to kill me, too.

The play was WONDERFUL and I enjoyed every second of it.  Thanks, Shane, for the wonderful early birthday surprise!!!

DIY Fern Prints

I found public-domain pictures of ferns I liked on Google images and turned them black-and-white on Picasa.  Then I printed them directly onto pages of an old dictionary I had around (the Random House Unabridged dictionary, it has about 2000 pages!).  The printer didn't like the paper too much and smudged the ink a little bit, but I think it kind of adds to the effect I was going for.

I'd thought about framing them in matching frames or hanging them up maybe with vintage clipboards, but I didn't have either so I went with clothespins instead.  I used some removable adhesive strips from 3M hooks to hang the clothespins on the wall.

Here are the pictures of the ferns I edited if you want to try this!  (Click a picture to enlarge)

Sharing with Transformation Thursday and Frugal Friday!

Inspired by...Winterberry Cottage

I love these prints that Winterberry Cottage sells on etsy...they are beautiful!  Come back tomorrow to see my version!

Lampshade Help

Through a link I found Tracy's ideas on how to improve a lampshade.  I just love what she did!

Looks like something that will be so quick and easy--perfect!  I'm going to try it tonight with my new (borrowed from my MIL) Cricut!

Old Bench Love

How does The Nester do it?  First with the lamps and now with my kitchen table.  Yesterday her post about tables and chairs was so perfect for me...I've been thinking about dragging this old bench inside our house for a couple months now and just hadn't gotten around to it.

 A short history of the bench: I first remember this bench at my grandma's house right outside her door.  It was in the perfect place for setting down her groceries while she fished her keys out of her purse.  It ended up at our house a few years ago, right outside our door, in the perfect place for setting down my groceries while I fished my keys out of my purse.

When we got our new kitchen table a few months ago (after we finished our kitchen makeover), I wondered how it would look inside.  And now, thanks to The Nester, I know.

I love it!  I may eventually sand it down and paint it to look more like the table (or at least to get rid of years-old paint drips), but for now it's practically perfect just as it is!

I also love that when we're not using it (and really, we hardly ever sit at the table to eat) I can scoot the bench under the table and have extra room to move around in the kitchen. 

If you're interested, we got the table at Pier One, it is the Carmichael Table and the chairs were given to us when we got married along with a kitchen table that I loved but was too big for our space.  We bought the cushions when we bought the table at Pier One. 

Check out other tables and chairs linked up at Nesting Place.

Birthday Coming Up!

Last night I worked on a couple parts of my brother's birthday present.  He will be 28 next week, on Wednesday.  Anyway, I made two related but different things for him.  Here's a hint

I also got him a "real" present so he doesn't feel totally gypped, although to be honest I think he'll like my homemade presents almost as much as his real gift.