Favorite Things Friday

I've noticed themes on certain days on other blogs and thought I'd join in the fun.  I've decided to feature some of my favorite things from around my house every Friday.  Now, I realize I'm messing this up already by doing the first one on Saturday, but I had jury duty yesterday so just give me a break, ok?

So here goes my first ever Favorite Things Friday.

My newest bookend.  I started this as a copy of a project I saw on another blog (and for the life of me can't figure out where--someone help me!).  On the blog she used a really thick book and folded each page so it was a full circle around instead of a half circle like mine.  She added embellishments to make it look like a jack-o-lantern and I forget what else. Anyway, after I saw that I went rummaging through a box in the back and found a book with no cover that someone obviously couldn't get trade credit for here but didn't want back, either.  I rescued it from the library bin and got to folding.  It actually didn't take as long as I thought it would and it was kinda fun.  I knew I had about 587 black bookends like the one I used hanging around, but all I could find were brown. So I spray painted it black and glued the book to it.  That's it.  Easy-peasy.  I just love it!  (I've found about 10 black bookends since, ha!)

Here it is in it's new home (yes, a fuzzy, poor quality picture again):

Another favorite and fairly new item is this little pitcher.  I found it at Goodwill or Salvation Army a couple weeks back.  It was $1.21 I think (which sounds more like a Goodwill price).  Adorable!

Last but not least a couple pictures of the same clock.  I like how you can see the details of the wood in the black and white picture.  This clock was my grandfather's.  He collected old clocks and made them work again.  Mine doesn't work, but it probably could with some tinkering.  I have this huge picture frame that's rather ornate that I'm thinking of hanging around the clock.  It just seems lonely.  I may put it up on a trial basis and see what you think. 

What are some of your favorite things at your house?

How I Almost Went Crazy Taking a Picture of a Wreath

 Originally posted in October, linked Nov. 24th to Red Writing:

I didn't know what to name by post today.  I could have also used "Why I Don't Judge What Books People Want Anymore."  Much better, huh? 

You see, when we first opened the bookstore, I was pretty critical of what books people wanted.  Especially when people wanted books on digital photography.  Oh sure, I could understand the reasoning behind wanting a book about old-fashioned photography, with all the settings you had to change and all.  But with a digital camera you just point and shoot, right?  Wrong.  I learned that last night. 

I took 36 (yes, I counted) pictures of my finished wreath trying to get a picture.  After about 20 shots I realized that I could change the settings on my camera from Auto Adjustment to Twilight or High Sensitivity.  Duh.  I never knew what all those different settings were for.  So without furthur ado, here are some pictures.  Don't judge.  I never said that after all the effort any of the pictures turned out good!

Here's some of what I started out with.  I got all my ornaments at the Dollar Tree (everything's $1) except for the tiny ornaments.  I got them at Hobby Lobby ($1.99/pack @ 50% off). The wreath was $6 or $7 at Michaels.

Here's the wreath almost completed. (I took this one at the bottom of the stairs from the den to the kitchen.  I think it's one of the better shots).

One of the pictures during the first series.  This is on auto adjustment.

Here's the same shot as above, taken looking down on my kitchen table, but on another setting.  I think this setting is called twilight.  (If you look closely you can see our light fixture in each of the shiny ornaments.  Reminds me of Disney's Cinderella when she's scrubbing the floor and wishing she could go to the ball and suddenly she has a chorus of Cinderellas who live in the bubbles singing with her.)

Here's another one I took at the top of our stairs on the high sensitivity setting.

The only thing I really need to do is get something to cover up the spots of naked styrofoam.  At least I spraypainted it red before I started.

Poor photo quality aside, I know the wreath is still not perfect.  It sure doesn't look like this one.  But as The Nester says, "It doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful." And Shane said it was great and to stop while it looked good.  I don't think he really realized what it even was, though, because he asked me when I was going to hang it up.

Ok, on to something else that doesn't involve a glue gun (see, in my rant about the camera I didn't even START on the glue gun.)

My Favorite Comic

I was going to report on my ornament wreath but I've decided to wait until it's completely done.  Maybe I'll get that done tonight.  Or maybe not.  Who knows?

Instead, here is my favorite comic ever.  I've loved this one since my senior year of high school (I remember that because I tried to use it in a project).  I've even memorized when it came out so I can look through the Baby Blues Archives and find it fast.  Weird, huh.  Anyway, here it is...enjoy.  (Click on it to make it larger!)

IKEA

I love Ikea.  I could spend a whole day in there.  Or a week.  But we don't have days and weeks to spare.  So I got an hour and fifteen minutes last night.  That's right--we drove longer one way to get up there than we had time to spend in the store.  But of course it was totally worth it. 

Shane wanted to look at shelving he'd seen online as a possibility for the new store in Macon (that is, POSSIBLE new store).  I wanted to look at pretty much everything else.  So we ended up loving the shelving (although we didn't get any since we don't know how much we need).  That was great.  Also great were a few finds.

This lantern for $6.99 (I got 2).

Six of these dvd cases.  Two for $4.99 because they're actually cardboard, although I think they look great and not very cardboardy at all.

I got some little square mirrors, too.  They are the exact same ones I bought about three years ago when Shane and I went up right after we got married.  I bought four the first time and always wished I'd gotten a few more so I could hang them along the staircase.  Four was just not enough.  So last night while we were there I saw they still had the exact same ones and got three more.  Perfect!

Jury Duty

So I had jury duty today.  Everything I knew about juries/trials I learned from John Grisham novels.  I believe Runaway Jury was the most educating (and also the first Grisham novel I ever read...actually, the grown-up first novel I ever read).  I'm grateful that I was in the first group questioned and didn't have to stay as long as everyone else.  I have to go back Friday for the actual trial.

In other news, I started my Christmas Ornament wreath.  It's not nearly as cute as the one pictured (Good Housekeeping) but we'll see how it looks in the end.  At least I found out that Dollar Tree has  ornaments that come in tubes--so I'm paying $0.10 an ornament or something.  So at least if it's super ugly not quite what I had in mind , I didn't spend much on it.  And in that case I'll use it as a gag gift or something.

I should have tackled the pine cone wreath first.

A Little Inspiration

Well, I did not get my haircut as planned yesterday--hopefully it will happen next week today (just called).  Sorry to let you down, Lilly from Cold Case.

I've been needing something to do with all the shelf/wall boxes (what are these called, anyway?) that I've collected over the years.  Some of them were hand-me-downs and some were given as wedding presents.  Some I have no idea where they came from.  Anyway, check out this pictures from Room to Inspire.

My shelves, etc. don't all match but maybe I can paint them or do something so that they look like they could.

Hair Cut

Dear Lilly from Cold Case,

You probably never read my first letter to you, back when I was interested in a hair swap, but I just wanted to let you know that I am getting my hair cut today after work.  You see, I work next door to a fancy-pants salon and the owner is going to cut my hair for free.  But don't worry, I am going to take two pictures of you with me.  I'm sure I will look JUST like you when I'm done.

Thanks for having inspiring hair.

Abbey

Currently Reading

The Widow of Larkspur Inn by Lawana Blackwell
Don't you just LOVE the cover?

(STILL reading) The Year of Living Biblically by AJ Jacobs 

And I think I"m going to start the audio book of Burning Bright by Tracy Chevalier

Looking Ahead

Shane and I drove up to Macon last night for an evening that was part date-night, part business meeting.  Oh--you want to know the truth?  Fine.  Shane asked me to go up to Macon with him to have a business look-around and chat and he knew the only way I would be willing to do that would be to take me out to eat.  There you go.  I am shallow.  I can be bought with a meal. 

Anyway, as we were talking about the future, far and near, we realized we were talking about things that should be impossible when you own your own business.  Actually making a little money and being able to take time off.  Not having to work every minute of every day.  Enjoying time together and looking forward to starting a family.  Talking about what's coming next in life.

As some point in the eveneing, Shane looked over at me and said, "And you know, we're both 25."

"Twenty-five?" I said, "I feel like we're in our 40s, at least.  How blessed are we to be able to talk about this stuff confidently at our age?"

It's truly amazing where God has taken us on this journey of opening our own business.  What's next?

Check out Tuesdays Unwrapped at Chatting at the Sky for more stories!

Bargain!

Sorry about the terrible background in this picture, but I do believe my photo quality is getting better, what do you think?

I got this beauty (the shelving unit with the scroll work--like I said, ignore the messy background) at Hobby Lobby.  Did I pay the retail $119.99?  No way.  Did I wait until their furniture was 30% off and pay $83.99?  NO WAY!  Did I get it way cheap because the middle two shelves are broken?  YES--I paid $24.95.  Yep...I know, you're so impressed!  I am so proud of myself I haven't even take off the price tag yet.  It'll be moving very soon to the downstairs entry whenever that gets done.  For now it's in the middle of our den.

I actually told you about this project a couple days ago.  The bamboo sticks (you can barely see them in the picture, but they're there) were $4.99 from Tuesday Morning, the wine box (aka the vase) was $4.99 at Pier One and the greenery was $8.50 at Hobby Lobby.  The welcome sign has been in our kitchen--I think my parents gave it to me, they probably got it for a quarter or less.  I'm not sure what to put on the top shelf.  I'm trying to be good and "shop my house" like all the pro bloggers are talking about doing for something to go up there.

In other news, here's the final picture of the key frames--Shane hung them up for me last night!  As soon as I took the picture I straightened the bows.

Bookcase Dilemma

I rearranged by bookcases by color...they look so dumb.  What can I do???  Sorry, again, for the poor picture quality. 

Pictures!

We Shane finally found the extension thing to the memory stick so I can put it straight into my computer.  I know all my loyal readers are I am so excited...

Sorry if some of these are blurry, I should mention that I'm not the best photographer.

Anyway, here are the pictures from my version of this on Centsational Girl's blog. 
I started out with gold keys and embroidered pictures:

So I took apart the frames:

Spray painted the frames and keys:

Added some scrapbook paper as a background and glued on the keys:

TADA!

Now I just have to add the ribbon to the top to hang them up!

Here's another picture--my fall decor (yes, it's just the one picture, how much fall decorating do you think I've done?).  Remember the little plate I got at the fair?

Speaking of getting up the nerve to paint Shane's grandmother hutch (weren't we?)...Centsational Girl is having a givaway for a $50 gift certificate to cabinetknob.com.  Winning would certainly give me the motivation to brave the hutch!

Pinecone Wreath

A couple years ago, the first Christmas Shane and I were married, I was obsessed with a pine cone wreath at Target.  To this day I regret not begging harder for buying it.  Well, that's not really fair to say--it was $40-$50 I think...a lot for a wreath, especially for newlyweds!

Anyway, when I saw this one I knew I had to try to make my own!  The one from Target had different kinds of pine cones, but this one is similar enough.  I'll see how this goes.

In other news, I did make the key frames last night and they are wonderful!  I took pictures of the before, during, and after...but I still can't get pictures onto the computer.  Hopefully tomorrow!

Key Art

I'm going to try to work on a couple quick projects tonight.  (I'm fooling everyone into thinking I'm crafty, but the truth is I just try things out that I read about--check out the blogs I'm reading on the right!)

One involves my version of this post.  I new when I saw the keys I wanted to try it somehow.  I found 3 big keys today at an antique store for $10 (for all 3).  We had a couple old keys at home already, but they actually go to some furniture so I didn't want to use them.

Another project involves a piece of furniture I found at Hobby Lobby today for $24.95 (clearanced because it was broken--down from $119.99), bamboo sticks from Tuesday Morning for $4.99 and a wine box (or whatever those things are called) on sale at Pier One for $4.99...can you tell I made the rounds this morning?

In other news, Angela and Irwin are taking their new baby home today!  Her mom will be spending the weekend helping her out.  I can't wait to hold baby Ari again, she is just so precious!

She's Here!!!

Beautiful Ariyel!

What's With the Boots?

Today I am praying for my dear friend Angela.  She is having her first baby. 

These sweet boots are available on Etsy and are too adorable!

I wonder if I'm creative enough to come up with a way to tie all my posts this week to boots.

Holiday + Rain + Fair = Slow Buinsess Day

Sooo...not much to report here.

We had a nice, restful Sunday yesterday.  Got a great nap in.  Today it's raining and a steady (but a bit slower) day at the store.

I finished Fire by Kristen Cashores.  It'll take me a couple days to digest and decide how I liked it.  I know I didn't devour it as quickly or completely as Graceling.  It was much more complex with it's larger cast of characters, but didn't have as many surprise elements.

Can I please have these pink polka-dot galoshes?

We Went, We Saw, We Ate

We went to the fair last night.  We didn't totally pig out do quite as well as two years ago (see yesterday's post), but we did have
a funnel cake (shared)
lemonade (shared)
a hamburger (each)
peach cobbler w/ice cream (me)
t-bone sandwich (Shane).

And it was all delicious.  I got a cute plate made out of pottery with a leaf stamped into it.  So cute for fall, but I'll probably keep it up all year.  I also got to hold a chick--who doesn't love little chicks?

Pictures SOON, I hope...it's about time the camera cord showed up, don't you think?

The Fair's in Town!

The Georgia National Fair is here!

We didn't get to go last year--I'm sure we were just to busy/tired to get over there until it was too late. I do remember going the first year we were married, though. We ate and ate and ate.

We had hardly any money but while we were in line for corndogs we found a $20 on the ground! We were SO excited. I even headed over to my old blog and tracked down the entry I made the next day about what we ate! So here it is...wonder if we'll be able to top it this year.

Food we ate at the fair:
1 corndog each
1 funnel cake, shared
1 snow cone, shared (acutally, it was more Slushie-like)
1 candy apple, Abbey
1 hamburger, Shane
1 bag boiled peanuts, shared
1 slice pizza, Shane
1 lemonade, Abbey

This was back in 2006. The only thing I remember eating in 2007 was some AMAZING peach cobbler with vanilla ice cream. I think Southside Baptist Church does that booth every year--I'll be on the lookout!

Pillow!

I did it! I made a pillow out of a place mat I got at Target for $1.29. Just like it shows here. I didn't even have to pay for the stuffing since I just took some out of an old pillow.

I also bought another one, a green one that matches the curtain in the kitchen for $1.49. I put my flowers from Shane and a little pumpkin on it along with a bowl of apples. It's very cute and about all the fall decor I could muster.

Pictures soon of both things, maybe...if I can EVER find my camera cord!

FIRE!

Just arrived:

Fire, the prequel to Graceling by Kristin Cashore.

I cannot wait to start it!!!

Home Improvement--Kitchen Makeover

I'm itching to do some home improving, especially in our den, kitchen, guest bedrooms, living room...ok, pretty much all the rooms. What I'm most excited about, though, (today, anyway) is the kitchen. I wish I could put up some pictures of our kitchen in it's current state, but I still can't find the cord to the camera to upload pictures to the computer. Anyway, Shane and I have gone over several options and are finally both happy with the idea of taking off the cabinet doors and painting the cabinets. So I'm wondering now what color to paint them.

I like the idea of doing all white like this picture (found on The Inspired Room by House Beautiful)

This could really work since we have white dishes. I'd love to get black chairs and paint our table (Shane would have a fit, since it's oak!), since our appliances are black it would be perfect!

Or do something fun like this (found this picture on a blog, but forgot where, oops!):

Even if we painted the cabinets white and added something fun to the back wall it would make an impression. This, of course, isn't in a kitchen, but isn't it a great picture?

Maybe I could even do a combination of the two and make the back of the cabinets a black and white pattern.

Hair Swap?

Dear Lilly from Cold Case,

I know you don't know me, but I watch your show every Sunday night after The Amazing Race. I was wondering if you would like to swap hair for a couple weeks. I love your bangs and would like to see how they would look on me. And please send your stylists over with the hair, otherwise I would have to fix it myself, and that would totally defeat the purpose.

Thanks!

Abbey

Currently Reading in the Car...

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

I'm listening to the audio version and it is terrific! I'm about 1/2way through.

Looking forward to a night with friends and homemade ice cream!

THE BEST HUSBAND!

Last night Shane got home just after I did--with flowers! Just-because flowers, which everyone knows are the best kind of all. They were pretty fall colors, too. PLUS, he'd gone to the grocery store and actually bought groceries! Milk, frozen pizza, sandwich meat, grapefruit juice, shredded and block cheese...the whole nine yards! Yes, the grapefruit juice is pretty random (as in, I don't think we've ever had it in our house before) but whatever--he could have brought home a live pig and I wouldn't have cared (I would have named that pig Snorkles, though). Anyway, what a sweet husband I have! I made him take a picture of me with my flowers last night but I still can't find my camera cord to upload pictures to the computer--missing for about 3 weeks now!