::Weekend Bloggy Reading::

Happy Friday, y'all! With any luck, I am enjoying some Texas sun, a bridal luncheon, and a few cocktails this weekend.

I thought you might enjoy reading a few of my favorite posts from Blogland this week:

~Beth shared a compilation of mouth-watering picnic recipes. Get your recipe cards ready!

~Shower Curtain Pillows? Yes, please! Holly used her noggin to find a way around making buttonholes.

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~Stacey shared 10 Quick and Easy Ideas for a Tidy Home.

~Do have young children? Take Kimmie's Advice.

~Melissa's Summer Chore Cards must be tried out!

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~Lovin' Britt's Button Wall Art!

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And please don't forget to come back and link up to my Dishing It! party next Wednesday. I'll post the topic of the month on Sunday. I am really enjoying this small blog party that allows me to get to know some of my fellow bloggers!

{What do you have planned for this weekend?}

Get Crafty with Fingerprints on the Fridge

Hellooo, Thursday! 

Most of you know I'm flying out West today for my cousin's big fat Texas wedding. I'll be sure to fill you in when I get back! For today, I asked my friend Rachelle to take over and share a fun crafty project. Take it away, girl!

Hi, lovelies! I'm Rachelle

from the blog


Amanda graciously let me come over and wreck up her blog. Isn't that sweet!? Okay, it's true. I begged.

If you're not familiar with me, let me introduce myself:

I'm a Mom and Wife with an obsession with decorating, crafting, style and these girls:

Sure, they look sweet and innocent, but usually they're running around crazy lookin' like this.

When we aren't rockin' out, I can be found somewhere around the house simply fluffing things like:

mistreatments

spray painting broken pitchers

Transforming cheap bar stools

and goodwill tables

Framing keys

Making my Family Rules

And using plates as chic frames.

Sayin' "forget you" to $400.00 giant cork boards and making my own.

Sometimes I'm adventurous and want to dive into something a little tougher than fluffing. Just this year the Husband and I recently gutted our kitchen and dining room.

Quite a change, eh?
You can see it in the Summer edition of Kitchen and Bath Makeovers!

Then there's my most recent mudroom transformation I took on!

If you've been around my blog recently you might have read the special we had on Disney Week.


I'm a big fan of Disney.

Big.Big.Fan. 

So when my vinyl friend Dawn sent me some Disney family stick figures, I wanted to do something super cute with them that didn't include putting them on my car. An idea my husband quickly vetoed. Boo! 

That's when the Disney shadow box came about! Super simple and easy to change out for each vacation you go on!

I purchased a distressed black shadow box from Michaels on clearance for $6.99. Very good steal, if you ask me! Then some scrapbook paper that coordinates well. You could go a step further and do Mickey themed paper but the green polka dots tugged at my heart. Love them! And, even if I do love Disney I don't exactly want Mickey sitting in my living room everyday. Something a little more grown up, but still playful.

Cut it to size tuck it in there. No need to glue or tape since the back of the box is soft, you can tuck it in and change that out too if you want!

Then add your vinyl and poof! 

 

It came with push pins so I can easily change it out when I finally develop my prints from this year's trip. I should get on that, huh? We might add a couple more souvineers that will fit in the box just for fun. Something to help us remember our fun trip!

Not a Disney fan? You could have a princess vinyl for your little girls room. A cowboy or sport themed one for your little boy. A baby one for in your little one's nursery to hold the hospital bracelettes, first shoes and such... the possibilities are endless! 

Thanks so much, Amanda, for letting me crash at your place! So much fun! You're the best! 

I'd love for you to come over and say hello sometime! Or, come over and Feature Yourself on Fridays for my newest Linky party! Can't wait to meet some new faces!

Thanks, Rachelle! Hope you will swing by her blog and do some looking around. She is so much fun! 


I have some great Weekend Bloggy Reading for you tomorrow, and I'll be back to return comments and do some blog visiting when I return from the Lone Star State. Have a wonderful day!

The Frizz

If you read my post yesterday, you know I didn't have the best weekend. My face is still a bit swollen and the AC people can't come until this afternoon, so we slept downstairs again last night. The girls are very much enjoying having slumber parties in the living room and would probably be happy if we never get the AC back.

I am hoping and praying that this weekend will look up, but there is slightly more cause for concern.

I'm leaving on Thursday afternoon for a big fat Texas wedding in Houston.

My favorite cousin Blair, who I introduced you to last year, is getting married this weekend.

I still call his fianceé "Texas Barbie" because she is so perfect looking. Girls as pretty as Lauren aren't always nice, but she is just a doll. I can't wait to be insanely jealous see how gorgeous she is in her wedding gown.

I knew when the wedding invitation, which was roughly the size of a refrigerator and weighed as much as my youngest child, arrived that my standard summer uniform (flip flops and short yoga pants) would be a no-go.

This wedding will be, how you say, Fancy.

No problem. I shopped my closet and a little bit of Charming Charlie until I found something that A) fit and B) looked suitably cute.

My dilemma? My hair.

Texas and my hair don't get along well. Really, any place with lots of heat and humidity makes my hair go a little wild.

Okay, this photo (before the hairdresser was done with me) is good compared to what Texas is going to do to me.

Remember the Friends episode where they all went to Barbados and Monica's hair went wild with the weather? Yep, me too.

My mane is next to impossible to tame in the summer. No amount of blow-drying or flat-ironing can tame the waves or the frizz. I'm at a loss because I don't want to show up at the bridal luncheon with Lauren and her perfectly coiffed size 0 bridesmaids looking like Weird Al Yankovic. Or Cousin It.

They say "Don't Mess with Texas," and I guess they're right. If you do, they give you hair like mine.

Do any of my readers have wavy hair that frizzes in the heat? Can anyone help me? Should I call it a day and go with seashell beaded dreadlocks like Monica did?

No matter what I do, I promise to share pictures of everything from the bridal luncheon to the reception! If you come back tomorrow I have a super-fun super-cute crafty guest poster stopping by.

Why I Don't Have Book Club

How was your Memorial Day weekend?

I won't mince words.

Mine pretty much sucked with the notable exception of a pleasant bbq at my brother and sis-in-law's.

I woke up on Sunday and looked in the mirror to find that my face had been transformed into some sort of circus freak show. I looked like a cross between a blow fish and a zombie. Right eye swollen almost shut, no cheekbones, nose swollen.

Cold compresses didn't help, and Benadryl turned me into a real zombie. I passed out in T's chair while the girls systematically tore the Addition to pieces.

My doctor at Medic-1 appeared to be between the ages of 16-20. Very nice shoes. Clearly had no idea what is wrong with me, but gave me a prescription for an anti-histamine that she doesn't "think will make me fall asleep."

Then, to top the cake, our upstairs air conditioning quit. We slept with the windows open and all the fans blowing on Sunday night, but with the upstairs at 87 degrees on Monday, we all agreed to camp out downstairs in the cool.

I wish I could tell you that things went well with Natalie and Michaela Byrd sharing the Living room, but it's really Monday night as I type this up and I can hear them talking in there right now.

You might be wondering what in the world this has to do with Book Club, and the answer is "nothing."

I figured that if you couldn't get a laugh out of my misery, you might get one out of this hilarious Bud Light commercial. Seriously every woman's worst Book Club nightmare.



Maybe I'll feel better if I go read Little Women again....at least my sister never stole my boyfriend.

Tribute

"The finest tribute we can pay

Unto our dead hero[es] today

Is not of speech or roses red, 

But living, throbbing hearts instead,

That shall renew the pledge they sealed

With death upon the battlefield:

That freedom's flag shall bear no stain

And free men wear no tyrant's chain."

-Edgar A. Guest

I am thankful today for the brave soldiers who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our great nation.

May we honor their sacrifice by treasuring the freedom they fought and died for.

::Weekend Bloggy Reading::

Happy Friday!

Thanks to each of you who linked up to my Decorating Dilemmas Party and spent some time visiting the other participants. It was a blast! The winner of the copy of Celebrate Summer is Ashley from The Buchanans.

Now, on to the good stuff....

~In LOVE with Lynette's Faux Jewelry T-shirts. My girls would flip for these!

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~Do you spend more time whining about chores instead of doing them? I'd get a lot more laundry put away if I followed Meredith's lead.

~Kate makes doing laundry look like fun with her "Centsational" Laundry room Redo.

~Jen has me (maybe) hoping that Michaela Byrd gets tired of her crib soon. Check out her fab Crib to Bench Makeover.

~Stacey shared a precious Organizing/Gift Idea. Perfect for those of us who are ritual magazine rippers.

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~Lindsey took her readers on a tour of her studio. I wish I had a studio. Sniff...

~Darling Ric Rac Half Apron. Love!

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~This is a Summer To-Do List I'd love to copy. I guess I'll have to work on my own, though, huh?

~J'adore this New Linky Party. There's an actual theme going on! Mucho fun.

T always. works. Memorial Day weekend, so it will be same old, same old around here. The girls don't know that the pool opens on Monday...I might keep them in the dark until later on in the week. The water is still too cold! I still have some shopping to do this afternoon for that frou frou sheshe wedding in Texas. Need a statement necklace! Would love to hit a yard sale or two on Saturday and find a plant stand, some pots, and an outdoor storage box for our backyard, but I would also love to see if the girls might sleep past 8. Is that wishful thinking?

{What do you have going on this weekend?}

Schoooool's Out for Summer!

Yesterday was the last day of preschool before summer vacation....Excuse me while I go medicate myself.

The Young 4s Class celebrated (or maybe it was just the teachers who celebrated while the moms wept quietly in the parking lot) with a picnic lunch, decorated visors, popsicles, and chasing bubbles on the school lawn.

Here's Natalie and one of her besties, B. I am certain this pair made sure their teachers were on their toes this year.

Luckily, siblings were invited, and Michaela Byrd and R (B's little brother) made themselves right at home.

My friend Christy (from I {Heart} New York}) is B and R's mama, and she thinks he may be trying to woo her.

But she only had eyes for the popsicles.

Until it fell on the ground and she got dirt stuck to her hands and feet. R seemed indifferent.

I'll let you know if it works out for them.

I am really going to miss these two ladies this summer:

Two days a week, from 9:00 am to 12:15 pm, these wonderful, patient, kind preschool teachers manage to corral a handful of four year olds and actually impart knowledge upon them. It's amazing.

It also gave me a chance to go to Target with only one kid, which is about as close to heaven as I can get these days.

So, besides going to Target, I do have a few things up my sleeve for ways to keep my girlies busy this summer. One of these days, I'll repost/edit something I did last year with thrifty summer activities for kids.

So for now, I'll ask you...what do you like to do to stay active but still have fun during the summer?

*If you linked up to my Decorating Dilemmas Party this week, please be sure you have visited some of the links and/or returned visits paid to your blog. I don't want to be a harpie, but this party doesn't work unless everyone participates. Thanks!*