From Brassy to Classy

Out with the old:

In with the new:

Where We’ve Been

This past Saturday was Tony’s birthday. I’m usually trying to figure out what to get him for his birthday at the very last second, but this year I knew what I wanted to get.

Since he has the basement all to himself I thought I would get him something to fill up some of the wall space. He’s always wanted to get a big map and mark off the places we’ve traveled to, so when I saw a huge, magnetic, framed and personalized US map from Frontgate I placed my order.

I ordered extra early (9/14) because I wanted to be sure it would make it here before his birthday. A few weeks after ordering, I got the personalized plaque in the mail and thought that the map must be coming any day. When I still hadn’t received the map by 10/6, I started to get worried and decided to call their customer service. When they looked up my order, it showed that my package had already been delivered! I told them that I had never received the package and they told me the best they could do was to put a tracer on it to see exactly what had happened to it. I got pretty upset considering Tony’s birthday was only 3 days away and it was not a cheap present! I went ahead and emailed the company detailing my ordeal and less than 24 hours later they emailed me back saying that they were going to send me a new map with next day shipping so that I would have his gift by Friday! I was ecstatic!

I’m happy to say that on Friday afternoon the map was delivered and Tony’s birthday surprise was a success!

The map comes with little magnets that you can mark all the places you’ve visited in the United States. They also offer a World map for those lucky people who get to travel abroad. We’ve traveled out of country before, but I think we’ll travel more within the US than out…so, I went with this one.

Now we just need to make some travel plans…

Good Bye, Little Car that Could…

Last week we finally donated our old car. It’s funny how I think I’m not attached to anything, but I was a little sad when the tow truck started loading up that old car. It was the first new car I ever owned, and I picked it out and loved it…until I had Landon and discovered what a pain 2 door vehicles were with 2 kids!

Towards the end of the car’s life, it had some unique characteristics.

Like missing door handles:

Dents and rust:

Scratches and dings:

So, it may not have looked too nice, but it did get us safely from point A to point B…and everywhere in between. It had the miles to prove it:

Loading up:

And off she goes…

The End.

34

Today I celebrated my 34th birthday. I can hardly believe I am 34 years old! I certainly don’t feel 34, but my birth certificate confirms that it’s true.

My day started the same as any other day, but when I went downstairs Zoe had left me a homemade birthday card. It made my day that she remembered to make me a card and put it out for me to see first thing in the morning. She really is the best daughter!

Landon also made me a birthday card and it was way too cute! He was so proud of his card and I loved that he took so much time making it for me since I know it’s not his favorite thing to do.

My sister sent me a funny card. Something about saving the candle wax so that I can use it to wax my moustache later! :)

Tony texted me this morning and told me that I would find a surprise on my Kindle. He bought me The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, a book I’ve had on my wish list. When he came home he brought me a sweet card and a basket full of little goodies. There were 2 dozen beautiful red roses, an I-tunes gift card, and a  V for our V wall (details on this sometime soon!).

I had a wonderful birthday and I really appreciated all the love my family and friends showed me.

Altered Curtains

While I worked on my tray, my mom worked on my curtains. I wish I had taken some before photo’s of the curtains that she altered. It was an amazing transformation.

The best I can do is show you this photo:

See those black and cream things behind that atrocious light? Here’s a close-up:

Mom and I weren’t too fond of the weird ties at the top of the curtains and swag. (I really hated the swag things. So much so that I ended up cutting them down a long time ago!) We called the ties “corn stalks” because they just kinda looked like wannabe corn stalks to us. U-G-L-Y.

The curtains themselves aren’t too terrible. The color is a bit blah, but they are lined and pretty expensive. So instead of tossing them we decided to fix them. We bought a couple yards of gorgeous fabric which mom then attached grommets to.

Then she sewed the new fabric onto the old curtains.

Voila!

Much more my style! Isn’t that fabric beautiful? Using grommets was such a great idea (thanks, Mom!) as it makes opening and closing the curtains easy.  We may even end up adding some kind of trim where the two fabrics meet, but that will be another project for another time.

I am so excited to get this room done. I still have a long way to go, but my goal is to have a gorgeous room in time for Thanksgiving dinner.

Stenciled Tray

We had so many little projects going on this weekend, it was crazy! I told my mom I wished I could spend every weekend doing little house projects, but of course there are always a thousand other things going on. I did enjoy myself while it lasted though!

Remember this? Well, I’m still trying to fill in the gaps. I think it looks too plain with only the few pieces of pottery up there. My mom had a couple trays she wasn’t using so she brought them up for me to use up there.

One of the trays was a plain black tray that we decided needed a little dressing up. This past weekend while at Michaels my mom picked up some stencils and gold leaf. When we got home and opened the package of gold leaf we realized that it was all dried out and couldn’t be used. So, I thought I’d see what I had in my craft stash and I found an old tri color stamp pad I hadn’t used in ages AND the colors were silver, gold and bronze! Perfect!

 

I couldn’t decide which color to use, so I ended up using the silver and gold. I am thrilled with how nicely it came out! I’m thinking of spray painting the other tray black just so I can stencil another tray! I think the wine bottles on the other tray just look a little out of place now…it was such a fun and easy project and I am really happy with the results.

Here’s an updated picture of my shelf (still a work in progress, but I’m getting there!):

Player of the Week

 

It was pretty chilly out this past weekend for Landon’s game and it is always at least 10 degrees cooler (or warmer) out on the soccer field. I was also waiting on my mom to get here for the weekend so I didn’t end up going to Landon’s game…so, it would only be fitting that he would get player of the week!

He came running in the house to show me his trophy the minute he got home; he was just so proud! I’m thinking that it has been a really good thing for him to be on the recreational league instead of the county league this year…his confidence level is high and he really seems to be enjoying himself.

Lil’ Pumpkin

I found this adorable little outfit at Babies R Us and of course I had to get it! I mean, lets face it people, there is a very small window of time that you get to pick out ridiculously adorable outfits for your child before they know the difference!

Now if I could just get Zoe and Landon to wear something similar I’d have a cute little pumpkin patch going on! :)

Soccer and Baby Dolls

We had the most beautiful weather this weekend. It seemed extra great considering all it did the entire week before was rain. We made sure to get outside and enjoy the weather, and there was a lot of soccer going on:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And while the boys played soccer, us girls played with a baby doll:

Mums the Word

A couple weeks ago Tony’s Aunt Martha, cousin Liz and cousin’s wife Staci stopped by to see the house and meet Harper. They brought this mum with them and I just had to get a picture of it because it is so gorgeous! Mums are just another reason why I love autumn! 

Slow Progression

Well, the mirror project is at a standstill right now. They are all down, and the walls are patched, but I am waiting on Mr. Handyman to come back to finish sanding and to replace the piece of chair rail they removed. I’m hoping that it will be any day now, but I guess if they don’t call today I guess I’ll have to call them.

This is how the walls look right now:

Awful, isn’t it? The funny thing is, I think the walls look better this way than they did with all the mirrors up! :)