Summer Projects

With a lack of cash and a lot of time on my hands, I was able to accomplish a few of the projects on my Pinterest boards during my summer vacation.

First things first, I bought a new latte maker (you know how I love my lattes). And since, have learned how to make a mean white chocolate mocha using this recipe for white chocolate syrup! It pairs well with some honey almond toast topped with cinnamon.

Speaking of food, I also learned how to make French Macarons, which is something I've been wanting to try for quite some time. I must say that I am pretty proud to have mastered such a difficult recipe and am slightly addicted to these little cream-filled creations. I will post the recipe/method later!

As far as DIY projects go, these are my top 2 favorite ones that I complete this summer.

Anthro inspired floral chain necklace

The lyrics to I'll Look After You, which is the song I walked down the aisle to at my wedding. I struggled with finding a place for this new piece of art. I ended up using it to spice up my fireplace.

Here is an update I did to my hallway earlier this summer. It just needed to be brightened up a bit...

Summering

Lately I've been wishing that our society spent summers like those in the past. Remember Dirty Dancing, where the family takes off to a resort for the summer? Unfortunately these days it would probably be less expensive to buy a car than to take your family on vacation for a month. Unfortunately my summer is quickly coming to an end, and I attended no such vacation. It's safe to say my summer was more of a "Staycation". I start back to work a week from today, and I'm reminded of my high school days when summer vacation was ending. Don't get me wrong, I do love my job. However, I'm not sure if I'm completely ready for the hustle and bustle of the fall, not to mention the early mornings. Weeks fly by during this busy time, coffee is consumed by the gallon, the work day stretches longer and longer to accommodate my ever-growing to-do list, and before I know it, it will be Christmas and snow will be falling (ugh!). With that being said, I am determined to enjoy my last week of summer freedom. So far I have filled my week with plans to do lunch with friends, crafts, a girls night, a garage sale, a sleepover with my nieces, and possibly a trip to King's Island with  my sisters.

Since my summer is coming to an end I feel it is appropriate to highlight some of my favorite memories that were created during this summer break.

I started my summer by road-tripping to Pittsburgh, PA to help my sister prepare for her wedding. As with any good road trip, it began with a lot of over-packing. You can never be too prepared, especially when it comes to clothing! 4 1/2 hours and a 17ft U-haul later, we arrived in Pittsburgh!

The week started off with a bang, but we still found time for this nice picnic in Abbie's backyard under the pergola. My poor mom was exhausted but still beautiful as ever! Abbie was glowing all week! 

We met up with my mom's sister, Kathy, who I haven't seen since my wedding 3 years ago. Aren't they practically identical? Driving Miss Daisies....

We also got to see this little southern charmer! This is my 4 year old cousin, Chandler, who I haven't seen since he was 1! He calls us "His girls". How cute is he?

Although the week was hectic, we still managed to have lots of fun together amidst the stress!

Here are a few of my favorite candids from the wedding...

Travis got my Great Aunt Betty on the dance floor :)

They danced to "My Little Girl" by Tim McGraw

My beautiful sister :)

Also this summer, I found a used bookstore called 2nd & Charles that had a book I've been looking for, The Perfectly Imperfect Home by Deborah Needleman. Anthropologie sells it for around $25, and I paid less than $10. Great find :) We had a bonfire for Carrie's birthday. Abbie made Shish-kabobs! My dad loved his Father's Day gift bag! We watched fireworks for the 4th at Riverscape. Travis and I met up with some friends for our friend, Kevin's, going away party. I laid out, laid around, and even went putt-putting! It was a pretty successful/ semi-uneventful summer. 

Thanks for taking a peak into my summer. I'll be posting some of the DIY projects I completed soon! 

Monday Night

How I spent my Monday night... How do you get through the Monday Blues?

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A few glasses of Rodeo Red Wine

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Burgers on the grill

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A new coral rosette necklace from Groopdealz! 

= Great Night!

Garden Savvy

This dash of warm Ohio weather has sent me into a gardening frenzy. I can't wait for that first week of May to be able to plant and get everything up and running. Since that is still a few weeks away I have begun the planning phase. I was able to create a virtual diagram of my teensy backyard via Smallblueprinter.com

Ive decided to tackle this tiny blah backyard and make it functional for entertaining/ gardening. Let me explain my blueprint a little more. The dark gray is symbolic of the garage. The silver circle in the bottom center is our AC unit. There are already small flower beds along the house (bottom of the picture). The wooden chairs are symbolic of a pallet couch. The square in front of them is our fire pit. The 2 garden beds in front of the garage will be raised cinder block gardens. I plan to add poles on all 3 points of the pallet corner couch in order to accommodate string lights that will be strung behind the couch on both sides. 

Here are a few of my inspirations via Pinterest:

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Cinder block garden. I plan to spray paint the cinderblocks so they are not so plain/modern:

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Cinder block strawberries:

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Some of the things I am planning to plant are:

I can't wait to get started! Come on warm weather!

Coral Obsession

Sometimes you just get hooked on a certain color that just seems to make everything look a little brighter Lately that is how I'm feeling about coral. Here are a few of my coral inspirations...I'm currently loving coral + navy, coral + gold, coral + gray, and coral + mint! 

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This Hi-Lo reminds me of the one Leslie recently wore on The Bachelor! Hate those boots though!

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Currently love coral lipstick <3 

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Aren't those branch hooks adorable?

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I just bought this L'Oreal Colour Riche Caresse Lipstick in Fiery Veil ($7.99) at Target tonight. I'm still deciding how I feel about it on my skin tone. My hair might need to go a bit darker to pull this off... we shall see. 

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I love this entire ensemble!

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Have I got you hooked yet? Check out my Pinterest Fashion Faves board for more fashion inspirations!