weekend projects

This weekend has consisted of projects, projects, and more projects! Just before Christmas the hubs and I started refinishing an old table for our kitchen nook to replace the finger-print hoarding glass top one that we currently use. Needless to say, the project is still not quite done. It's much closer, though! I put two more coats of a darker stain on it yesterday and began the process of putting polyurethane on it today. I also sanded the chairs, primed them, and painted them high-gloss black. I'm excited to get the project done, as it has taken far longer than anticipated. Here are a few progress pictures. Yes. We resorted to completing the project in the middle of our tiny living room. We were desperate and tired of waiting on the weather to cooperate. 

I also undertook another sewing project this weekend! This one was quite a bit more complex than last weekend's pillows. This sucker required a lot of manual-reading and internet-searching. I used this pseudo-tutorial  as well as countless other tutorials, several from this fun blog. The main addition/change I made to the pattern was to add interfacing. I actually made the entire bag the first time and then decided it was too floppy. 

I went back and ripped out all my seams, failed attempted to add piping, sewed back together, slid a piece of interfacing in before sewing together the bottom seam, and viola! 

The green is a different color in real life. A little less kelly green-ish. Oh iPhone pictures. 

I was determined to finish this project before heading to the beach later this week... More about our trip to come. Hope everyone's weekend was wonderful! 

local love

For those of you living in the Nashville area, don't forget it's restaurant week! From now until Sunday all of the Nashville Originals are offering great specials... In the past few years the hubs and I have really taken advantage of this and made reservations at multiple restaurants throughout the week. This year is no different. We have reservations at Watermark tomorrow night and still need to flip a coin between B'oundry (one of my favorites) and Jimmy Kelly's (the hubs favorite).  

Speaking of local love... The hubs and I officially have a new neighborhood favorite on our list. Edly's Bar-B-Que recently opened in 12th South and it is delicious! They also have a wonderfully good bourbon tea. Yum! 

Nashville is certainly not short on delicious restaurants. So, if you haven't made your reservations for this week, check out the deals and take advantage. 

towel trial

The poor hubs... I'm not sure he knew what he was getting himself into by purchasing me a sewing machine. Day number two of sewing = new kitchen towels! 

I played around with an old set I had, as I would have hated to buy a new pair and ruin them. A little ribbon, a little ruffle, and viola! "New" kitchen towels. 

I worried that the ruffle was too much, but I love it! I definitely need to read a few more "how to attach a ruffle" tutorials. And I should have used a dark thread color, as more of the fabric was dark than light. I can't wait to buy some cheap towels and try this again over the weekend. 

P.S. The pictures were taken in the bathroom as I was too lazy to walk downstairs and try them out in the kitchen tonight. 

I realllllly need to start taking pictures with my real life camera. The iPhone pictures really aren't cutting it! 

sunday sewing II

I officially love my little sewing machine. And officially feel like I am learning how to use it! I completed my first project today, and am actually pleased with the outcome: 

 (pillow on the right was purchased at TJ Maxx; I recently saw the exact same fabric it was made from for more per yard than I paid for one pillow!)

I haven't quite figured out how I am going to arrange them... But I will definitely be making a few more  for the love seat. 

 LIke I said, for my first real sewing project, I am really pleased. And I really enjoyed the process. Each pillow took about 35-45 minutes, including cutting out the pattern. Not too bad! I found a tutorial here. 

After a morning of sewing the hubs and I took Paisley pup to the dog park and then explored the farmer's market. Since it was almost 4:00 on Sunday afternoon, most vendors were closed. We are planning to go back next Saturday to do a little produce shopping. 

We ended the evening with a late lunch/early dinner at a new neighborhood restaurant, 

Edley's Bar-B-Que. So delicious! We ended our meal with a Bushwacker.... Yum! 

After dinner I decided to complete one last weekend project, a ribbon headband.... So easy! 

Enjoy the last few hours of the weekend! 

Whoa!

Oh. My. Goodness. I had great intentions to start the year off on a good blogging foot. And have certainly not done so well thus far. I have excuses for miles... Work has been crazy and often consisted of 10-11 hour days and I have had little time to myself. That being said, life has been boring and un-blog worthy.

CSB and I are still enjoying life as newlyweds and adjusting to "real life" post-holidays and crazy travel schedules. We have very little planned from a travel perspective over the next few months and I am completely alright with it. A little weekend beach escape at the end of the month and a trip to Kentucky in February.

I am really hoping to get some projects accomplished this weekend. I have added about 100 projects to pinterest I would like to complete and completed only 1 1/2 (yep, a half) of them.

I started this project and still need to go back and make some repairs, and part of it fell apart immediately after finishing it...

via

I also made homemade sugar scrub this week for myself and all of my sweet work friends. It smells so good and leaves your hands feeling really moisturized! I can't wait to try it on my feet and legs this weekend. Definitely an easy project to try!

via

Here are the projects I hope to complete this weekend, in addition to new pillows for the living room: 

via 

via

I also can't wait to attend a baby shower this afternoon for a sweet grad school friend and her husband, who are welcoming their first baby into the world in the next few weeks! 

Off to the fabric store I go! Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

NYE 2011

New Year's Eve is one of my least favorite holidays, second only to Halloween. Yea, bah humbug, I know... I don't dislike the actual holiday, or celebrating it, I'm just not one to really like going out with large crowds, eat at restaurants that are and hour or more behind on reservations, or to be out on the roads later in the evening. I am all for celebrating, just not going out to do it. I would much rather be at home with a group of friends watching the countdown in NY than anywhere else... Now that I officially sound like a crotchety old woman, I will proceed to share our evening. 

{I'm sad this is the only picture we have from the evening}

This NYE was basically the opposite of everything I just described as not liking {it was still great, we will just do things a little different next year}. We went back and forth on what we wanted to do, finally deciding to get tickets to a NYE party at the Peabody Hotel. A crowd of 10 or so other friends also planned to get tickets for the same party... Needless to say, 9:00 p.m. NYE rolled around and only 4 of us had actually purchased tickets, leaving the other part of the group finding out the party was sold out. We again went back and forth and decided to still go to the party while the rest of our friends settled in for drinks in the Peabody lobby. We went in, waited in line for 15-ish minutes, and eventually made it upstairs to the ballroom in which the party was being held. The was a large crowd gathered in the middle of the room, extending to the perimeter, and a somewhat smaller crowd gathered in front of the band. At closer look we realized the large crowd was merely the bar lines... There were probably 75-100 people in each line. And said people were probably barely of drinking age {if even}, making our crew feel a little, um, old. With the rate the lines were moving, there was no chance we would be toasting in the new year with a little champagne. After an approximate 30 second discussion, we made our way to the door and back outside. We sold out wristbands to some poor people dying to get into the party and met up with the rest of our friends. Needless to say the Peabody was packed, too. However, we made the best of it, enjoyed a drink, and rang in the new year with friends before calling it a night. 

I guarantee we were in bed by 12:30. I told, you, exciting!

All in all, it was a great weekend, so I truly cannot complain about the evening. It was fun to get dressed up and great to catch up with friends and talk about our resolutions at midnight. 

I was also really proud of my hair-fixing skills for the evening! I originally planned to wear it down and curled, however, my stubborn locks refused to be curled after being straightened early in the day, no matter how much hairspray I used. So up they went.  So easy, too!

Excuse the awkward mirror picture... I cannot seem to make normal faces when taking them. 

Again, Happy 2012! 

a bowl game and blister band-aids

After a week chock-full of traveling for Christmas, the hubs and I took a 2 day hiatus {to do fun, relaxing things like cleaning the house, doing 11 loads of laundry, and running errands} before heading on our last trip of 2011 to Memphis. CSB attended Vanderbilt for undergrad and jumped on the chance to watch them play in a bowl game, only their fifth appearance ever. I somewhat reluctantly agreed initially but got more excited about the trip as it got closer. We packed up the car with tailgate necessities and hit the road on Friday after lunch. Needless to say it took us 4 1/2 hours to get there from Nashville due to wrecks, pit stops, and errands on the way. Once there we checked into our hotel and headed to dinner with two of our good friends. After dinner we decided to explore a little bit and headed to Beal Street. Umm, not quite what I expected! We stood in line for several minutes and then had to be patted down/scanned with a metal detector. Our trip didn't last long, and we decided to head to the Peabody for drinks and called it a night. 

Beale Street (early in the night, even!). Call me old, but not quite my idea of fun. 

Of course my camera is currently on the disabled list and awaiting me to take it to Best Buy for repairs. There was no way I was going to venture to Best Buy the day before Christmas or immediately after, however, so the only pictures I have from the weekend are from my iPhone. 

On Saturday morning we headed out bright and early to set up our tailgate. We catered Corky's barbecue {delicious!} and I baked a few things the day before. The weather was absolutely perfect and we had a great time visiting with friends. We had incredible seats at the game, thanks to a good friend of CSB's and cheered on the Dores until we were hoarse. Unfortunately, they didn't pull off a victory. It was a hard loss, but it was such a fun weekend and experience nonetheless! I'm already planning tailgates for next season... 

More tomorrow on our super exciting very laid back new year's eve... Happy 2012! 

P.S. Blister band-aids are the best. invention. ever. If you've never used them, I definitely recommend trying them, especially for blisters on your heel. I will save you the details I forced upon CSB and our other two friends on Friday night but trust me!