Birthdays and Such

Hey friends!

I have quite a picture filled post for you today! Last Saturday was Ryan's 25th birthday! He's such an old man now. ;) We went to Cincinnati with our friends Mallory and Camden to celebrate by going to Ikea and Pappadeaux. It was our first time in an Ikea and man, was it awesome. I want everything in that store! We've needed another bookshelf for some time because of all the books Ryan has gotten for seminary, so we were determined to get one on this trip. Our only hiccup was that we drive a Civic. Not exactly the best vehicle for hauling furniture. We ended up getting one though and got it home by taking it out of the box and placing the boards in car with part of the back seat folded down while Mal and Cam sat next to each other on the rest of the backseat. I'm so thankful for friends who love us enough to ride uncomfortably in the car! We got it all put together and it is wonderful!

After Ikea we went to Pappadeaux, Ryan's favorite restaurant. It was soooo yummy and we even got a free dessert since it was his birthday! Here we are after our meal!

Me and my hot husband-in-flannel

I also made a birthday cake for Ryan. This year was not my best work, but at least it was yummy!

Note: Royal icing and pudding frosting do not mix.

Finally, I wanted to show off my Christmas decor like I promised in my last post!

Our baby tree on the table

Christmas cookies!

Presents for the fam

The Nativity Set that I got for Christmas last year

Close up of our stockings

Front Door Wreath

Close up

Living room window

All lit up!

I love our decor this year! I'd really love to do more, but seeing as the only people who see it are me and Ryan, I thought I'd keep it low key. If we ever get a house, you better believe I'm drenching that place in Christmas!

I doubt I'll update in the next couple weeks because we'll be so busy seeing friends and family, so until then: 

Merry Christmas!!!

Loves,

Amy

Thanksgiving Goodness

Hi Friends!

Sorry it's been a couple weeks since I posted! Not a lot has happened, just a lot of little stuff preventing me from getting to the computer. Not to mention the Hubby has been studying for finals, so I have minimal laptop exposure. Anyway...Thanksgiving happened and that was good. We had a small crew but it was so much fun. Crockett and Kara came over with their sweet baby girl, Tessa as well as our friend Garrett. We had enough food for 20 people but in true Thanksgiving fashion, we engorged ourselves with goodies. Here are a few pics from the day taken by Kara.

The table before the food



The table all loaded down!

 I don't know about you, but every time I cook a turkey or whole chicken, I imagine that scene from Christmas Vacation where Clark cuts open the turkey. There is half a second where I think, "Please don't explode with steam!" Thankfully our turkey did not do that. Yay for Reynolds oven bags!

Pumpkin pie and minis

Kara did not take the previous picture. That one was snapped with my iPhone the night before. I've never made pumpkin pie before, but it turned out great! The mini pumpkin pies were so addicting! I found the recipe on Bakerella's site. They will definitely be made again!


The cooks!



The boys!

My love. :)

Kara, Tessa, and Crockett

I would like to take a second and say how awesome Kara is! She made awesome biscuits and dressing and allergen free pie for Crockett and took pictures and took care of a baby! Super-woman! Kara, I'm so thankful for your friendship and also for you getting a light scoop for your camera so I didn't look sweaty in all these pictures. (I'm sure that's why you got it, right?;) haha!)

We had to work on Black Friday which really wasn't that much of a bummer. I've never gone out deal shopping on Black Friday and I don't think I ever will. After reading all the horror stories of people getting pepper sprayed, beaten, and shot over cheap merch, I think staying home and/or going to work are my best options. We DID, however, go on an impromtu 6 hour shopping excursion on Saturday night and got 90% of our family's Christmas presents. It feels good to have it almost done. I even got them all wrapped and they are now sitting in front of our t.v. Be on the lookout for my next post...it will be full of Christmas decor and cookie goodness!

Loves,

Amy

DIY Magnets

Tutorial time! I've been wanting to post this for a while but just haven't gotten around to it. Today I want to show you how to make your own decorative magnets. I don't know about you, but I have never had "cute" magnets on my fridge. They were either pizza place magnets or magnetic chip clips. Ugly. So I decided to make my own. I can't take credit for the initial idea but I'm not linking to anyone else's blog because there are so many different ways to take them! I just wanted to show you how I did it!

1: Assemble your materials. What I used for this project were:

-pen/pencil

-scissors

-scrapbooking paper

-plain magnets

-E6000 glue

-glass marble/fake gem vase fillers

I got the magnets and scrapbooking paper at Michael's, but you could easily find them at Hobby Lobby or any craft store. I got the the glass vase fillers at the Dollar Tree. It was a little hard to find the large ones. They are about 1 1/2" in diameter. Everything else I had on hand. 

2. Find a design on the scrapbooking paper that you like. 

3. Trace around the glass gem. 

4. Apply glue to the flat side of the glass gem.

Here is what it looks like when the paper is attached to the back of the gem. You may want to slide the paper around the back of the gem to ensure that the glue spreads to the edges. You can't see it in the picture, but you will know what I'm talking about when you do it yourself. 

5. After the paper dries (who am I kidding? I didn't let the paper dry!) apply glue to the magnet.

6. Attach the magnet to the back of the paper-covered-gem

7. Admire your work! I made 4 out of the scrapbook paper and the other 4 that I made were just clip art that I printed off on regular white paper. So technically you don't even need scrapbooking paper to do this project!

I had a lot of fun making these and they didn't take long at all! They would make a great last minute gift  for any occasion. I had to stop myself from making more so that our fridge wasn't covered in beautiful magnets. I may have to make some Christmas ones and switch them out to "festive=ize" the kitchen! I hope you enjoyed the tutorial! I'll try to post another tutorial soon!

Loves,

Amy

Recently

Hey friends!

The last two weeks of October went by in such a blur! I wanted to update everyone on our recent happenings. On October 22,  I went to Arkansas to surprise my grandpa for his 90th birthday. I had a lot of fun seeing my family and celebrating such a momentous birthday! Here are a few pics of the shindig!

Grandpa's cake and some pictures of him over the years

Some of the guests

The family!

I can't wait to be able to spend more time with them over Christmas vacay!

Last Sunday, we had trunk or treat at Sojourn and had so much fun! Ryan and I dressed up like pirates and decorated our car like a pirate ship. Here are some pics of the event courtesy of our friend Kara!

Arrrg!!

Our pirate trunk complete with a treasure chest full of candy

Great friends

There was a great turnout and we saw some really great trunks! I'm already looking forward to next year. We had several kids think we were real pirates and I'm pretty sure one little boy thought I was going to take him with me to work on our pirate ship.

I'm hoping that I will be able to post a couple tutorials of crafts that I've done. I've already taken the pictures, I just need to sit down and write it out! I think I'll do a series of DIY gifts since Christmas is right around the corner! Crazy!

Hope you are all doing well!

Loves,
Amy

Happy Fall Y'all!

October is probably my favorite month of the year. The temperature is cool but not too cold, the colors on the trees are really vibrant, and pumpkins are EVERYWHERE. I also love fall decor. A couple weekends ago, I made a fall wreath out of some foam piping insulation from home depot. I thought this would be the greatest idea because it was cheap and easy. My friend, Kara, made one as well. I have yet to see her finished project, but I sure hope it turned out better than mine did. Here's my front door with the first wreath:

I evidently loaded it down with too much stuff on it so it kind of became egg-shaped after a day. I took that puppy down and went to Michael's to find a replacement. Michael's had 18" grapevine wreaths for $5 so I snagged one up and put all my "stuff" on it and this is the result!

A zillion times better. Apologies for the crappy photo. I took all the felt flowers and pom poms off the old wreath and added them to the new one along with some extras. Here's a close up of the wreath:

I love it 65435136576435 times more than the other one! The next step in prettyfying our entry way is to get a new pot for the mum. Mums smell so gross, but I love how they look! I also love that it was only $3.47 at home depot. The pumpkins by the door are fake from Michael's. Super cheap as well becuase they were 50% off. I went with fake pumpkins so I could re-use them and so I wouldn't have a rotting pumpkin by my front door. My next BIG projects in the apartment will be to paint a wall in each of the bedrooms and maybe in the kitchen as well. I'm really looking for ward to it!!! I'll definitely keep you all posted!

How do you decorate for the seasons?

Loves,
Amy

Decor Update

2 posts in 2 days?! I must be crazy! I've been wanting to show everyone my updated living/dining room for a while and FINALLY took a picture this morning as I was on my way out of the house. Remember what my accent wall looked like when I finished it? If not here is a reminder:

I adore the wall color, but I wasn't loving the picture that I put up and I did not like the olive green table cloth. I've been seeing all kinds of cute gallery walls on Pinterest and decided to do one of my own. Here is the new area!



I love how it turned out! It takes up so much more space than the other picture and it lets me showcase many of my photos without it looking so sporadic. It was pretty easy to do. I just laid them on the ground and arranged them until I liked what I saw and then nailed those puppies up! I used toothpaste on the photo hangers to mark where I should put the nail. That saved me a lot of headaches and extras holes in the wall. I did have a whole bunch of photos of just me and Ryan and I thought I was a little too much, so I replaced some with a couple family pictures and a bird print. I also replaced that green tablecloth with a new gray one. I love it so much more. And get this I got that baby for $3.47 at Meijer! I love a good deal! It was a little long so I tied up the corners with some brown satin ribbon. I also put up a fall table arrangement. I'll post a more up close photo a little later when I've finished all my fall decorating. I'll also try to include better pictures because the iPhone pics are kind of sad.

What kind of projects have you worked on lately?


Loves,
Amy

Now you know my ABCs!

I don't usually like to do random questionnaire things, but I thought that this would be a good filler til I have time to post a real post. So for your stalking pleasure here are my ABCs!


A. Age: 24
B. Bed size: Queen. Wishing for that King size! (one day...)
C. Chore that you hate: All of them? but I guess if I had to pick one it would be folding the laundry. Just ask the hubs.
D. Dogs: none for now. maybe when we have kids and a house.
E. Essential start to your day: wash my face and brush my teeth!
F. Favorite color: anything in the mint/seafoam/turquoise family of colors
G. Gold or Silver: Silver
H. Height: 5' 11 3/4" but we'll round up and say 6'0".
I. Instruments you play: none. lame. I played the clarinet in 6th grade though!
J. Job title: Team Leader. Sounds macho, huh?
K. Kids: none for now but we want a bunch.
L. Live: Louisville, KY
M. Mother’s name: Remy
N. Nicknames: Ames, Amy Lou, Monkey (from my dad), Minnie (from Ryan), and whole bunch of other goofy nicknames from Ryan that I'd rather not say. :)
O. Overnight hospital stays: None thankfully!
P. Pet peeves: Stupid/mean comments on blogs/articles/youtube videos. If you can't be civil, please don't type it.
Q. Quote from a movie: "You have bewitched me, body and soul, and I love, I love, I love you. I never wish to be parted from you from this day on." -Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice. I seriously cry everytime I watch that part. Love it.
R. Right or left handed: Right-o!
S. Siblings: 1 older brother Julius and 1 younger brother Alex
U. Underwear: I used to wear VS underoos, but now I'm cheap so I get the 6 pack of Hanes hipsters. Super comf though.
V. Vegetable you hate: peppers. I hate the texture of the peppers.
W. What makes you run late: When I try to do my hair all cute and then it doesn't work out so then I end up having to straighten it or put it in a pony tail. I hardly ever do my hair for this reason. I'm usually very punctual.
X. X-Rays you’ve had: Teeth and left arm and MRI of my knees.
Y. Yummy food that you make: my hubs loves my egg rolls and fried rice. My favorite thing I've made is chess pie and/or the pumpkin spice bundt cake I made last week.
Z. Zoo animal: baby pandas, baby lions, baby cheetahs, basically any baby mammal.

This was exhilarating I know. Hopefully I'll have some good stuff for you next week!

Loves,
Amy

3 day weekend!

Hey friends!

Man oh man do I love a 3 day weekend. It came at just the right time too! We've been so busy the last 3 weeks that we just needed time to stop! I got caught up on most of the household chores (still haven't completely unpacked our clothes. oops.) and got to do a couple projects I've been wanting to do since we moved in! Saturday, Ryan had to spend all day working on an assignment so my friend, Kara, came over and helped me paint an accent wall in my apartment. I've been wanting to paint for-ever. I was so tired of the bland white walls. We needed color badly! Here is the before. It's not the best pic, I had already moved the table when I remembered that I wanted to take a picture.

boring white wall.

Here is my inspiration. Thank you Pinterest!

Here is the actual paint sample from the Home Depot Site:


Martha Stewart Sea Glass

 I've been a little obesessed with this color lately. It's just so darn pretty! Here is the after that I know you're dying to see. ;)

It made a HUGE difference in the room! I already know I'm going to have to get a different picture to hang there. That one is just too small. I also know I need to get a different tablecloth. That olive green is not working for me. It's a little darker than the paint sample, which I kind of expected, but I love it! Ryan really likes it too. This whole little project cost me just over $30 ($31.11 to be exact). This was for everything as in paint, paint tray, rollers, brushes, drop cloth, edger, yeah, all of that stuff. I was very pleased that it didn't cost more. If you already have the accessories than this project would be even cheaper! I just bought a quart of paint since I was doing the one wall and it was just the right amount. The paint itself only cost $10! ($9 and some change) I'm really considering painting an accent wall in our bedroom now that I have all the painting stuff. We'll see!

This weekend I also painted a few canvases to go in this room. I'm sure they'll show up in a future post. I also baked a Chess Pie for the first time and it came out perfectly. This is seriously my favorite pie ever. I used this recipe here and made my own pie crust with this recipe here. Yummy in the tummy. All in all, this was a wonderful weekend! I got to craft, bake, spend much needed alone time with the hubby watching office re-runs, and enjoy 68 degree weather! All of my favorite things!

Happy Fall everyone!

Surprise! {not}

Hey Friends!

Last Saturday we threw a "surprise" party for my sweet friend, Kara. I put surprise in quotes because she knew about it the whole time. She's a smart one, that Kara. Her hubby had no chance when she interrogated him. We had a blast nonetheless and I wanted to share some pics from the event that were taken by another wonderful friend, Lindsay (who is expecting a baby girl any day now)! Enjoy!

Brooke, Me, Lucas, and Nikki before Kara arrived.

Since Kara knew about the surprise, we had to think of a way to throw her off. We invited them over to play Settlers of Catan and had it set up on the table. We had all of our friends hide in our bedroom so it looked like no one was there.  

Some of the men waiting for instructions. ;)

Brooke, Lindsay, Mallory, and Lauren in our bedroom waiting for Kara.



The boys were ready to come out and yell, "Surprise!"

 When it was time to come out, Ryan would text Camden to have them all run down the hall.



Camden waiting for the go ahead from Ryan.



Surprise!!! Tessa did not enjoy that part.





cake fail

Me, Brooke, Lauren, Kara holding Tessa, Lindsay (with baby girl), Bethany (with baby boy) and Mallory

We had such a fun time! Kara knew it was coming but she loved it anyway! I made a funfetti cake with cream cheese frosting and used this technique to decorate it. It was my first time to decorate a cake in any way other than just slathering on a layer of frosting! It was a pain because  my apartment was so hot. I ended up having to put the cake in freezer after every 3 rows of ruffles to keep them from melting off! At the end of the night the cake just did not want to stand up any longer and took a little nap on the table. Ryan was just glad nothing happend to the Settlers board.

Thanks to our wonderful friends for making such a sweet memory!


Loves,
Amy