Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Pinspiration Monday (err... Tuesday): Busy days but pinning dreams

Hey gang, welcome to another Pinspiration Monday (well, Tuesday. I got so behind with real-life stuff, didn't have time to post my Monday pinspirations!)


Anyways, here are 5 of my favorites. I'm still in spring mode, though it is almost May, and that means Summer will be here before we know it. ee! I hope these inspire you, as they sure inspire me to get out and create, or just make you go "Awh!"!

1. Anya's My Creative Corners' Yellow Butterfly Card
Source: http://anyalstudio.blogspot.fr/2013/04/scrapbooking-on-budget.html

2. I Heart Eating's Salted Caramel Apple Chimis
Source: http://www.ihearteating.com/2013/04/19/salted-caramel-apple-cheesecake-chimis/

3. Francois Legault's Spoon Flower Lights
Source: http://mocoloco.com/archives/001533.php

4. Adventures in Dressmaking's Mod Dress
Source: http://www.adventuresindressmaking.com/2010/05/made-my-own-mod-cloth-dress.html#.UX_iPKKcc1M

5. Attack of the Cute's Adorable Yoga Cat
Source: http://attackofthecute.com/on/?i=9840

Follow my Pinterests board, or my Pinspriations board itself!



Anyways, have a great day! Back to the daily grind of work, work, work!
Thanks for stopping by, sorry I'm a day late to post them, but I hope these inspired something in you too!

-M

Friday, April 26, 2013

Favorites Friday #9: Being comfortable and Unique, all at once

Welcome to another Favorites Friday. I am all about things that are comfortable and unique this week.
These are my favorites of the week!



1. Old Navy Jersey-Tank Maxi Dress in Crushed Grapes color: I picked this dress up on sale a few weeks ago and I LOVE it. I wore it yesterday with a black belt and a black sweater to an awards dinner- it was the most comfortable dress I've worn to date. I love it!
2. Cacique Intimates Smooth T-shirt Bra by Lane Bryant: I have a green bra from here, and it my FAVORITE. It's always so difficult when you are a weird bra size, like 36DDD (like I am). It's so difficult being big chested, but not big around the ribcage. This is one of the best bras I've found that look good under t-shirts.
3. Netflix's Hemlock Grove: My hubs and I have started to watch this Netflix original series, and so far found it enjoyable. It's an odd toss up of a show that is along the monster horror and mystery line. So far, I do enjoy it, I just hope that they answer a few questions I have when it gets to the end of the series. The casting is amazing though- however every scene with Bill Skarsgård all I can think of how freaking tall he is, and that he's the younger brother to True Blood's Alexander Skarsgård.
4. Weight Watchers Chicken Tenders Pre-portioned: I love that these are already portioned out for you, with the point values already figure out. Perfect for fellow Weight Watchers people!
5. Mary Kay NouriShine Lip Gloss: I have always been a Mary Kay kind of girl. I have always loved the Pink Diamonds lip gloss (and still have some left over and love it). They have since re-done the lip glosses, so the Pink Parfait (non-shimmer) or Pink Luster (shimmer) lip glosses are really close to the same thing. I love Mary Kay lip gloss!

Thanks for stopping by! 

Have a wonderful Friday!
-M

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Pinable Travel and Family Wall Maps

Hey gang. Sorry it took me a while to get this post together- been busy doing some freelance design work besides my actual full-time day job.
Anyways, the hubs and I finally finished our living room wall maps, which we can add pins to show where we live, where our family lives and where we have traveled since we got married.



I got the two maps at Michael's with a coupon. We got the boards from Home Depot, and the hubs cut them to size. I like how the USA map turned out better than the world map- partially because the world map was a little big for the board.
(Hubs attaching the boards to the wall, and we attached the maps to the board with heavy-duty adhesive)

I found these little colored flag stickies at the dollar store, which I attached to stick pins to pin to where our family and ourselves live on the maps. We also screwed a little wire cup to the wall to hold the flags and pins, for easy additions.



Now we can show where we've visited- though right now we haven't really traveled much since we got married. Hopefully though we can travel more in the future!
Anyways, have a great day all!
-M

Monday, April 22, 2013

Friday, April 19, 2013

Favorite's Friday: It's all about the green...

Welcome to another edition of Favorites Friday! Here are five of my favorite things of the week.
This week, it's all about the Green! I am loving many things that are green- health-wise and in color.
Check out my favs!



1. Zumba: One of my good friends recently was certified as a Zumba instructor and I attended one of her classes Tuesday night. It kicked my butt!- but in a good way. lol. It was fun AND exercise!
2. The Laughing Cow Light Queso Fresco & Chipotle Spreadable Cheese Wedges: I picked these up by chance, since my normal Weight Watchers wedges were not at the store, and I love these now! Only 35 calories a wedge- perfect with Wheat Thins.
3. Maurices Mini Sequin Tank: I have a pink and a red one of these, and they are some of my favorites to wear alone or under a button-down. They are just the right amount of sparkle.
4. Smirnoff Green Apple Vodka: My hubs picked a bottle of this up for our "James Bond Date Night" that we have planned for tomorrow, but we couldn't resist wondering how it tasted. I put a splash of it with my Diet Grapefruit SodaStream drink, and it was fabulous!
5. Avocado Roll Sushi: So I know this isn't "true" sushi, but I've found it to be my go-to roll now, since it is less Weight Watchers points than the Philadelphia Roll and roughly around the same points as a tuna roll (maybe a hair less). I ordered it by accident once, wanting a cucumber roll and was pleasantly surprised! Yay avocado!

Thanks for stopping by! 

Have a great Friday!
-M

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Outdoor Patio Seating Benches complete and brightly colored!

So now that it is sunny and Spring, I am happy to show off our newly covered and outdoor-ready patio benches.



(Note: After I wrote this post, I decided I liked things better setup like this:)




Until we get a chance to making our fire pit, the benches fit nicely on our patio. It's funny, when we bought the house, I didn't realize how big the patio really was. I kept imagining that we could only fit our patio table with its chairs, and that's it. I didn't realize I could fit that table set, PLUS 3 benches with their seats!

(Our patio table set, on the other side of the patio)

I think part of it is that we purchased our house in October, and moved in the day before Hurricane Sandy, so there was no opportunity to test out the outdoor furniture on the patio.
Basically we got 4 benches (3 large and 1 small) from my husband's work- they were originally indoor seating for their hallway area of a senior apartment complex. Our goal was to make the wood outdoor friendly and recover the seats to also be outdoor friendly.


We painted the wood with an outdoor polyurethane, so it all is outdoor friendly. Didn't really have to use much to cover them. We still have most of the can left!



I got the cloth (or tablecloths) from Family Dollar- the solid colored ones, and the striped blue I got from The Christmas Tree store. Total cost of fabric to recover 3 benches' seats (6 seats)- $22! I got 4 striped pillows from the Salvation Army, so all in all- full project was a great deal!  I got the tip to cover the seats with thick tablecloths (cheaper than outdoor fabric) somewhere on Pinterest, and overall I'm glad- it isn't perfect, but I dig it and it was perfect for our budget.



I was so happy how these cuties turned out. Right now we don't have them screwed down, until we figure out the best layout for them on the patio (benches and seat colors). The original setup started out like this:


But after some debate, I swapped it to this (with the green on the single seats with table in the middle on the opposite side of the deck:


Which setup do you like better?

There is one mini bench (only has one seat and one table part) but there was no room on the patio for it and we also weren't sure if we wanted to use it in the firepit setup either. If we decided to use it, that seat will be salmon pink, since we could only find one pink cloth (which I still am sad about- I wanted all the benches to be a solid pattern, but you deal with what you can find).
What a great spot to sit and have a beverage and relax. I spent the day that we finished them, sitting outside circle knitting with a hard cider. lol!


Later that day (this past weekend) we cleaned out our shed and found this cool yard game left by the previous owners (among other things they left). I played it a while ago at a friend's house, so we had purchased ourselves the inflatable version (because I thought it was a fun game), but didn't open it yet- since it wasn't summer when we purchased it. I'm so happy that we have the real game now!


We had so much junk that we trashed out of the stuffed shed (because we didn't have time to sort through it in the wake of a hurricane). I'm sure our poor trash guys hated us on trash day.


Overall, it was a beautiful weekend and I look forward to more beautiful days to enjoy our patio. Can't wait to get a real grill to do some barbecuing! Poor Wendy was jealous. We brought her out on the kitty leash, but she was too scared outside that she hid under one of the benches the whole time. She would meow at me through the door most of the time. awh...


Anyways, I'm happy they turned out cute. Which color seats are your favorite?






Have a great day all!
-M

Monday, April 15, 2013

Pinspiration Monday #8: Ready to rock outside!

Welcome to another edition of Pinspiration Monday! It's time to see some of my favorite pins of the week.


Follow me on Pinterest here. You can follow (and the easily re-pin) all the Pinspirations here.

So without further ado, Happy Pinspiration Monday!

1. Hollywood Candy Girls' Rock Candy Topiary
source: http://www.etsy.com/listing/104949937/green-blue-rock-candy-centerpiece
2. Damn Delicious' Chicken Pesto Sandwich
Source: http://damndelicious.tumblr.com/post/34089799316/chicken-pesto-sandwich
3. Dawn McVey U Light Up My Life card
Source: http://www.studiocalico.com/galleries/84642-you-light-up-my-life
4. The Kurtz Corner's T-Shirt Dress How-to
Source: http://www.thekurtzcorner.com/2013/03/diy-t-shirt-dress.html

5. Martha Stewart's Outdoor Garden Party Lighting
Source: http://www.marthastewart.com/309519/community-garden-potluck-party/%40center/276985/outdoor-living#307529
The last one I especially love because it is from a Philadelphia Garden Party- Yay for local content!

Thanks for stopping by this Monday. Boy am I looking forward to showing you all some projects the hubs and I got done this weekend. :) So fun!


Have an inspiring day gang!
-M