Tuesday, December 25, 2012

A Homemade Christmas

Merry Christmas from our home to yours!

We enjoyed a nice lil' Christmas Eve dinner of spiral ham, roasted carrots, gourmet cheeses & crackers from Whole Foods, olives, and red wine.  It was perfect!


Here are a few things I've made this Christmas....

This was painted at a Wine & Palette I attended at the beginning of December.  I just love these events!  This painting is called "The First Day of Christmas."

These trees were made at an RPSA event.  They were inspired by Pinterest!  

This year I added wreaths to our dining room windows.  I love the cozy country/homemade feel they bring. They're cheap wreaths from HL and I cut strips of burlap and tied the bows myself.  I just used a safety pin to attach them because I didn't want anything permanent.  These could be changed year after year if I desired to change them. 

I made this banner for our mantle.  It's pretty adorable!  
I used burlap and a canvas.  I cut each triangle free-handed and then used my stencils and painted on the letters.  My attempt to sew the triangles to the twine didn't go so well, so I pulled out my trusty glue gun and glued away.  It worked out wonderfully!  

I'm not sure where my idea for this came from, but I wanted a fun wreath I could keep up year round.  I also made an "OSU" wreath for my work dirty santa.  It was fought for!!!  Love it! 

My dear friend, Christi, liked my banner so I made her one too.  Hers is "OU" inspired.  

She'll have an "OU" wreath to go along with this very soon.  

My friend, Christi, made this for me while I was making her banner.  We obviously had a very fun craft day.  She things this tree is sad, but I think it's adorable!  

I didn't make these, but I wanted to share my lovely collection of Starbucks ornaments in case you're wondering how much I love coffee.  Hehee....  I have added 2 ornaments from this years collection since this photo was taken.  

This J-O-Y hangs in the dining room.  I used cheap wooden letters from Hobby Lobby and spray painted them gold.  They are connected by a pretty paisley fabric that I stapled to the back of the letters. 

We needed a stocking upgrade.  The stockings we used for several years were a navy felt and I hated them.  Our beautiful mantle called for some pretty homemade stockings.  

Dave's stocking, my stocking, and Ethan's stocking.  I want Ethan to have a matching stocking, but I want it in a different color so I'll have to wait until HL opens again.  I also plan to paint on a stenciled monogram initial of the first letter of each of our names. 

This photo shows the banner, stockings, trees both on the mantle and next to the fireplace, and the gold "M" were all homemade. I've had so much fun putting some personality and hand crafting decor myself.  

I made many gifts this year.  It was a blast!  In this photo, I was adding a fun ribbon to a very plain kitchen towel.  How cute is this donut ribbon?!?!!!!  

 
 I recently attended a wedding with a super fun photo booth.  I was absolutely miserable with  sinus infection, but managed to still have a smile on my face. 

The bride asked me to make the wedding cake, decorated sugar cookies, and cake balls for the wedding.  I had to decline on the cake since I'm already so busy with things, but I made the cookies and cake balls for her.  They were delicious!   


Well, that's all for now.  We're about to head over to my in-laws to continue our Christmas celebrations.  


MERRY CHRISTMAS!  


Sunday, October 28, 2012

50 MILES: Personal Reflection

1.  I'm currently sore and tired. 
2.  I can't seen to get warm.  
3.  I'm afraid to take off my shoes and socks because of what my feet feel like at this very moment. 
4.  It feels good to sit, but stiff when I stand and try to get moving again.  
5.  The pain is beginning to set in and I should probably take a pain reliever. 
6.  Trying to grasp my accomplishment brings tears to my eyes.  
7.  It's been a long, difficult journey, but was worth it all.  It has been my journey and has been PRICELESS.


I ran 50 miles this weekend.  I am a 2 time Ultra Marathoner!


Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Checker Border Chalkboard Pantry Door

I am in LOVE with the new look of my pantry door.  Oh, don't you worry.... this is the INSIDE.  It's a little hidden gem that I will love and appreciate very much.  

I completely forgot to take a before pic, but here's the inside of the linen closet that's right next to the pantry.  It's exactly the same except for the door handle.  These doors were painted in Ralph Lauren's Architectural Cream.  When I look really close, I can see brush strokes from the last paint job and notice that they were once painted gray.  Who knows how many layers of paint are on these old 1926 doors?  

My original thought was to just paint a chalkboard on the inside of the door.  It's meant to be used for grocery lists, meal planning, doodling, etc.  I may even leave my husband little love notes.   ; )

It seemed a little plain, so I decided I needed to add a checker border to be the "frame" of the chalkboard.  I'm super happy with the results.  However, I may still add a thin black line on the inside of the checker pattern to help define the frame.

All but the bottom portion of the door was 5 inches.  The actual width of the door was 28 inches.  I kept a 1-inch white boarder around the chalkboard, making all but the bottom portion 4 inches.  This allowed me to do 2x2 squares.  I used my clear 6" Fiskars fabric ruler to measure off the door and pencil in my checker pattern.  I then painted each square black with a sponge brush.  No tape was used for this project.  It's not perfect, but that's what I love about it.  It's so VINTAGE!!!


Double Digit (MILES) Fall Training

We survived our first double digit training run for the 2012 fall marathon training season.  
10 miles CONQUERED on July 21 at Lake Hefner!!!  

Rowing & Running

I rowed in an 8-person boat on Tuesday, July 17.  It was a blast and I look forward to doing it again soon.  I don't have any photos of me rowing because our phones stay safe in our cars.  We don't plan on tipping the boat, but that would just be my luck.  : )  I bought a fun orange t-shirt so a pic of the design on is was the best I could do.  In the photo, they're sculling.  I took the sculling course (2 oars), but did sweeping (1 oar) with my friends.    

Enjoyed a HOT 5-mile run/walk that same evening.  

Running: Pros & Cons in Photos

PRO:  My running buddies are AWESOME!
Me, Lisa, Sheila, Gena, and Karl

CON:  My blistered feet are not-so-awesome.
Yep, this one is on the ball of my foot and it's double layered.  GROSS!

Color Me Rad

Me and my running buddy, Lisa.
Ready to be COLORED!!!

 Me, Lisa, Channing, and Rendon

 We finished another COLORful event together!

My colorful gear!

 We cleaned up real nice for a post-run no-so-healthy lunch at S&B's off 9th St.

 See what I mean? This BBQ Bloody Mary was delish!   

The Elvis slider.  I didn't eat most of the bun or the onions. 

 After lunch, we treated ourselves to a pedicure.  Sheila came too!

Aww.... Feeling refreshed!

Runner Girls Night In

DrH had his first 30 hour shift on Friday, July 13.  Did I spend that Friday night at home by myself?  NO WAY!!!!  I hosted a wonderfully fun Girls Night In!!!  Attendance was great and we had a blast hanging out without all the running shoes and sweat.  
We run so we can eat!  Check out our feast!

 What a spread!!! 

 Mozzarelle Caprese Pinwheels

 Gourmet cheeses

 Gotta love brie!

 Sara Sara Cupcakes... MY FAV!

 Vino!

 Homemade dairy-free vegan pizza

 Homemade Margherita Pizza made with fresh tomatoes and basil from my own backyard garden. I picked them just minutes before baking this pizza. 

 Homemade Pepperoni Pizza

 Vegan apple strudel muffins

 Yes, I'm the photographer.  lol!  

 Runner Gals!

Random Summer Stuff

More running at the river with friends

Our cantaloupe vine is doing rather well.  

Here's another preview of one of my summer projects.  
I still need to finish my window.


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