Stroll Down Memory Lane- Rafters

Let’s take another stroll down memory lane and check out where we were on our house building process 3 years ago…

3 Years Ago This Week: We had a roof over our heads…sort of…it was kind of like a really big sky light…and look at that yard…beautiful…















We also installed our electric box. We still didn’t have any electric at this point but the box was installed. 






There you have it.  Our house 3 years ago this week!

And now..the important stuff.  Should Nate and I go see Bridesmaids or Hangover 2 this week-end?  Or skip them both and get through our DVR?  What are your week-end plans?  Do share!

Linking up to: Remodelaholic

Photo Booth- Iowa Style

My childhood best friend, Melissa, got married this past week-end.  The wedding took place in our home town.  I love a good home town Iowa wedding.  Seriously.  Nothing better.

As any good matron-of-honor would do…I overwhelmed the bride with some wonderful ideas beforehand. Because I’m awesomely helpful.

One idea I loved was setting up a photo booth at the reception (I act like it was my wedding). I first saw the idea here (some of you may recognize that this blog was the prequel to Our Little Beehive.  Felicity always has such classy ideas). I like the idea of the photo booth because it allows you to capture photos of your guests..which you probably wouldn’t get otherwise.

The bride’s dad whipped up a nice backdrop and Nate was forced willingly took all of the photographs.  I was surprised at how willing the guests were to have their photo snapped.  I think the free beer fun accessories may have helped.  Even Grandma got in on the fun!!

Here’s a sampling of the photo booth success…

Once we are done editing the photos, we are going to make a photo booth guest book for the bride and groom as part of their wedding gift.  We might get it to them by their 5 year anniversary…seriously…

Speaking of editing…oh, the things you can do in Photoshop Elements.  Below is the before and after using Elements.  We’re still debating if black is the right answer but we liked the classic look and how it makes the “subjects” stand out.  What are your thoughts?

I should learn how to fix my greasy face…

There you have it.  A photo booth at an Iowa wedding.  If only I had saved you some of that tasty wedding cake…

Seen anything unique and fun at any weddings you’ve attended this summer?

Remember Teddy, our winner of the PetSmart Gift Card Giveaway?  Check out his loot here.  Isn’t he cute?

Monkey Business

Who’s ready for another really healthy recipe from Decor and the Dog???

Right after millisecond muffins, monkey bread is one of my top favorite yummy breakfast recipes. 

The recipe we like for monkey bread is from Pillsbury. I love that little dough boy…

What are you going to need?

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 cans (16.3 oz each) Pillsbury® Grands!® Homestyle refrigerated buttermilk biscuits
• 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 3/4 cup butter or margarine, melted

How do you make it?

• Heat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease 12-cup fluted tube pan (or a pretty bundt pan found at the Salvation Army…brand new) with shortening or cooking spray.  In large -storage plastic food bag (or a covered container if you want to go green, like us), mix granulated sugar and cinnamon.

• Separate dough into 16 biscuits; rip the dough (much easier than cutting) into quarters. Shake in bag (or covered container) to coat. Arrange in pan.
• In small bowl, mix brown sugar and butter; pour over biscuit pieces.

• Bake 28 to 32 minutes or until golden brown and no longer doughy in center. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Turn upside down onto serving plate; pull apart to serve. Serve warm.

Feed to hungry frat boy brother…who actually reads this blog…so I can no longer ask if anyone is interested in dating him without getting into trouble…oh wait, yes I can. :)

We were all so hungry we forgot to photograph the “turn upside onto serving plate” step.  Bad bloggers.

What’s your favorite breakfast recipe?  Do share! 

Ferris Wheel of Love

June 11th marked the 6th year anniversary of the day Nate asked me to marry him. Awwww, or barf…I get it.

I decided to get crafty for the occasion.  I haven’t done anything crafty for about a month now because we. are. never. home.

To understand my craft…you should probably know how Nate proposed.  (If you hate girly wedding stuff, scroll down to the pictures…)

Nate got me tickets to see the Lion King in Chicago for my 23rd birthday (which was in March…the Lion King wasn’t until June…I thought I was getting hosed.)  We decided to spend the week-end in Chicago and explore the town and end the trip on Sunday with the Lion King.

Little did I know that he had also packed a pretty diamond ring. 

Saturday night we headed to Navy Pier.  We hopped on the Ferris Wheel and he popped the question.  I was VERY surprised.  One because I had no idea he had a ring and two because he proposed in a very public place.  And I cried..like a girl…I hate when that happens…

I’m usually not a pack rat.  Actually, I usually end up throwing away things that I shouldn’t…but I did keep our tickets for this Ferris wheel ride.  I had them in a shadow box…but I was over the shadow box and wanted an update. 

I purchased this frame from Target…

I used a piece of scrapbook paper as a background and stuck on a black and white photo of the Ferris wheel along with the two tickets to create a frame of happy memories….

As you can see, it found it’s home on our dresser in our master bedroom.  It needs some friends.  I’m slowly starting to get a vision for this space…slowly.  I’m open to suggestions as well. I REALLY want to purchase this Ferris Wheel…

but I can’t get over the price tag…come on sale…

There you have it…a super easy and inexpensive piece of art that is full of memories.  This could easily be adapted for vacations, weddings, etc.

How’d your significant other propose? Not engaged?  What’s your dream proposal?  Or better yet…what’s the worst proposal story you’ve heard?

Linking up to: At the Picket Fence

Savannah- Part Dos

While I catch up on sleep after spending the week-end celebrating my best friend’s wedding, let’s continue the torture of looking at our vacation pictures.  I swear this is the last vacation post. (Read the first forms of punishment here and here!)

We spent our last day of vacation on a walking tour (self-guided) through Savannah.  We had to be out of our condo on Tybee Island by 11:00AM and didn’t have to catch our flight in Savannah until 5:00PM…which left us the perfect amount of time for sightseeing. 

We busted out this map and started walking…

We started near Columbia Square.  We toured the inside of the Davenport house…

The Davenport house was built in 1820 and was one of the first houses saved by the historic commission in Savannah. This house has some awesome wallpaper and the most amazing staircase.  Unfortunately, they didn’t allow us to take pictures.  Major bummer. Their website does have 1 picture of the staircase…

The 3 flights of stairs are self supported.  Every 13th baluster is made of steel to help support the structure.  Pretty impressive work, Mr. Davenport.

This was the only building we toured.  The rest of the time we just wandered around town looking at the beautiful architecture and details…

I told my dad that I liked that door.  He asked what color I would paint it…because it’s wood.  Does he know me?  He didn’t understand that this wood door was perfect and didn’t need to be painted.

I want a lion door knocker…

I loved the font of the house number.  And the red door, of course.

Impressive iron work…

Can I move in?

LOVE that light blue ceiling!

That ends our vacation!  I’m ready to go back!  Isn’t life always better when you’re on vacation?…especially on a Monday morning….

Stroll Down Memory Lane-2nd Floor

Let’s take another stroll down memory lane and check out where we were on our house building process 3 years ago…

3 Years Ago Last Week: We had the start of a 2nd floor

Last week we left off with the start of the walkway to our master bedroom…



For those of you new to the blog, this is what the walkway currently looks like…



It was framed 3 years ago this week….









As you can tell in the above photo, our two story living room wall was installed.  Our builder built the wall and installed the windows on the ground.  He then lifted the wall with a crane and then secured it in place.  I really wish I could have watched this step…pesky job that pays for said house.



Our master bedroom was also framed…









As you can tell in the above picture, our master closet has a large window in it.  Slight design flaw.  The exterior of the house would not look balanced without it.  It takes up precious closet space and is, obviously, not great for privacy.  The closet is very bright though!  We also joked that we could watch the town fireworks from our closet window.  We tried last year…it would work if we cut down one of the neighbors trees…

And now for the exterior…




There you have it!  3 stories of framing complete!

Happy Week-end!  Any big plans?  My best friend is getting married…better work on the matron-of-honor speech….doh!

Vote Today!

Nate’s sister needs your help! As a fellow DIYer, she is going to paint her front door this week-end.  She is struggling on the color and she wants your help!

Here’s her house…(She would also like you to ignore the stairs.  They are on the to-do list!  The little girl in the window is the lucky owner of this nightstand.)…



I worked my lack of Photoshop Elements skills to “paint” her front door for a better visual.  Learning new things is hard when you are old.

Option #1: Paint the door the same color as the house…



Option #2:  Valspar’s Grenadine



Option #3: Valspar’s Bangkok Rust



Option #4:  Match the brick on the house



Option #5: Match the shutters



Option #6:  Dark red found in Photoshop



Option #7:  Navy



Option #8:  Reader’s choice.  Let us know if you have another color in mind!
So, what’s your vote??  There are no wrong answers here.  I have a favorite but I won’t share until the votes are in!!

If you read this, we want to hear from you!!!



What's the color of your front door? Gotta a photo on-line? Share the link with us and we'll check it out!

Twinkie Cupcakes

I’ll start by first saying that I don’t really like Twinkies.  I will eat almost anything that has sugar in it but Twinkies I will pass. 

I also do not usually like things with filling in them…but Twinkie cupcakes are an exception.



How do you make these delicious cupcakes? Easy!
Buy a Yellow Cake mix.  Betty Crocker Super Moist.  The only way to make a cupcake.
Bake cupcakes according to the instructions on the box.  (That's the hard part.)
You may have noticed the balloon liners.  We bought them around Christmas.  I told Nate they were “Happy Birthday baby Jesus” liners.  I believe he told me to stop talking after that.  Sadly, the “Happy Birthday baby Jesus” liners are now all gone.

Let cool.

Now it’s time to make the filling:

• Boil 5 rounded Tbsp flour and 1 cup water until  thick, stirring one minute. 
• Cool to room temp (or at least until it’s comfortable to touch).  This step is very important.  Leave it and check out a few blogs…or clean your kitchen.  Your choice.
• Add:  1/4 tsp salt
  1 cup sugar
  1/2 cup solid crisco
  1/2 cup butter or margarine
  2 tsp vanilla
• Use mixer and beat until fluffy. 
• Use a nifty a cupcake filler tip (got mine in a Wilton cupcake kit) and piping bag.  Squeeze filling into the cupcake just until you can tell that the cupcake top will start to tear.
• Sprinkle with powdered sugar.
• Enjoy and keep any left-overs (ha!) refrigerated.

You can also make this a cake.  Just bake the cake in a 9x13 pan and then slice it in half and put the filling in between the two halves.

I took these to work and came home empty handed.  I love and hate when that happens…

What’s your favorite kind of cupcake?

Linking up to: Little Brick Ranch

Pretty in Pink

Remember this nightstand I purchased for $0.50 at a local garage sale?

It’s now looking pretty…in pink…

Nate’s sister had me on the look out for an inexpensive nightstand that didn’t have a drawer.  She wanted it for my niece (who just turned 2).  She’s moving into her big girl room soon and needed a “new” piece of furniture.  She’s growing up so fast.  I’m excited to see her big girl room because her nursery cute is pretty cute! (The stripe looks a little brighter in this photo but it’s the same color as the nightstand.)

I have two “pros” on my “pros and cons” list regarding having children. One is decorating a nursery and the other is dressing the child in cute clothes….which probably explains why my only child is covered in fur!

This was a super inexpensive make-over for me.  I had all of the supplies I needed (you can read about my furniture painting process here).  Nate’s sister supplied me with the pink paint.  It also only took me about 1 1/2 hours to complete.  Not too bad.

Have you painted any furniture recently?  Feel free to post a link in the comments so I can check out your work!

Linking up to: A Bowl Full of Lemons, Primitive and Proper, Domestically Speaking, Thrifty Decor Chick, Sugar and Dots, Savy Southern Style, DIY by Design, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Good-bye City Hello Suburbs, HOH, SCC, Alchemy Fine Living

Dirt, Mulch, and Paint

Yesterday I spent the day covered in dirt, mulch, and paint.  Pretty.

Which would explain why you don’t see many posts like this on the ol’ blog.

We did some major clean-up in our yard.  It needed a good weeding, new annuals, and fresh mulch.

I planted red geraniums in pots from Crate and Barrel (2 seasons ago)….

Petunias line the walk-way to the front door.  We love petunias because as long as we water them, they grow.  Easy enough.  I’ve learned to plant them sparingly because they quickly take over.

 

All of the flower beds/island received a fresh coat of mulch…

Now we’re all set for summer…

We still need to purchase some plants for the back side of the house.  The area is morning sun/shade and we do have deer in our back yard that think our plants are a good midnight snack.  We get very indecisive every time we step into Lowe’s and end up walking away empty handed.

Does anyone have any favorite shade plants?  Suggest away!! 

What’s your favorite annual? Perennial? Petunias and hydrangeas are at the top of my list!!

As for the paint, I’ll hopefully share that with you tomorrow!

Linking up to: HOUSEography