Old Friends & Antiques

Last Sunday, I headed to the southeastern coast of North Carolina to visit my friend Lindsay at her parents home in Southport (it's about 40 minutes from Wilmington...it's also near the hometown of the one and only Jenelle from Teen Mom 2, no sightings though...probably because she's in jail! However, Lindsay did show me the Wal-Mart where her crazy mother works.).

Lindsay's parents moved down here from Richmond after we graduated from high school, and they live really close to the beach. For years, Lindsay has been trying to get us to come visit for a beach weekend, and this year it finally worked out. Our other friend Jeanne came from Richmond and we had three lovely days at the beach. It may have rained 2 out of our 3 days, but we still had fun catching up, eating out, shopping, and watching the RHONY reunion! I also helped Lindsay start her own blog!


On Monday, we drove into Wilmington since the weather was bad and we did a little shopping at this amazing antique/consignment store in town called The Ivy Cottage.


This place was actually 3 buildings plus a warehouse full of beautiful old furniture and knick knacks. Some of the furniture was in its original state, some had been refinished, but it I wanted almost everything I saw.


I tried not to be obnoxious with my big camera, so I mostly relied on my phone. I felt a little like Young House Love while photographing our adventure at this place! One can pretend to be that cool, right?

They had about a dozen different chandeliers in one of the shops.
I would love to put any of these to use in my house!

Jeanne bought this for her bathroom to hang towels on...

And Lindsay debated for awhile about getting these candle holders shaped like anchors. How fun would these be spray painted in a fun color on a dining room table?

They had a lot of their glassware arranged by color in the stores. I don't know what it is about color arrangements, but if I see a window or shelf full of something that's all one color or in ROYGBIV order, I want it all. Same goes for the way clothing is laid out in stores.

I loved this old card catalog set of drawers.

Here's some of the other furniture. This is just small fraction of all the beautiful pieces we saw. I'd really love to redo my hutch in a fun color like these, but I'm so nervous to take that leap. Seeing these in person may have just put me over the edge. We'll see if I'm bold enough.

I did make a purchase at The Ivy Cottage. Here's a sneak peek...I'll share more when we have it up in the house!

Pinnable Me: DOGS

I am linking up with Stefanie's blog today for another edition of Pinnable Me Friday! Today's theme is one of my all time favorites...DOGS! I could pin pictures of puppies all day long. Here are a few of my favorites!

We'll start with bull terriers, my all time favorite breed of dog! If my heart wasn't so big for rescue dogs, we'd be bully owners. There goofy round heads are so funny. For the longest time, I said I was going to buy one when I graduated college and name her Ramona. That never happened since I went with Layla the pound puppy instead, but maybe one day! Love them!

Source: loveyourchaos.tumblr.com via Rachel on Pinterest

Source: flickr.com via Rachel on Pinterest

Source: None via Rachel on Pinterest

Source: coreena.tumblr.com via Rachel on Pinterest

I really want to have a photo shoot with my Layla or Rosie doing this. I'm pretty sure they'd love it.

Source: browndresswithwhitedots.tumblr.com via Rachel on Pinterest

And another part of me wants to adopt a little orange puppy, just so I can do this...

Source: flickr.com via Rachel on Pinterest

Back to my Layla...she is definitely a mutt, but we believe that she is mostly plott hound. Look at this one. She resembles Layla so much! That brindle coat and those eyes...definitely a Layla look-a-like.

Source: picasaweb.google.com via Rachel on Pinterest

As mentioned above, my heart really belongs to rescue dogs. And there's no sweeter rescue dog than a pit bull. They get such bad raps, but they are such sweet babies. Look at these faces!

Source: leesiateh.com via Rachel on Pinterest

Source: flickr.com via Rachel on Pinterest

I'm just a little dog crazy. Especially for big dogs. Can you tell?

Source: patinastores.com via Rachel on Pinterest

Chalk Board Jars

Thanks to Pinterest, my arts and crafts wish list is about a mile long. I have so many little projects I want to work on. Some just for fun, some are super functional for the home. I really should delay finding a new job so I can just paint and play with glitter all day. Oh right. I teach elementary school and get to do that already! (I kid....my job is so much more than some crafts!) I'm so excited to share my craftiness with you guys that I even made a button in Photo Shop Elements. 1 -because buttons are always fun and pretty and 2 - because I have too much time and I need to teach myself how to better use PSE.


So fun! Right? Maybe there will be more arts and crafts posts and I can use this button again!

Like I was saying...Pinterest has got my creative juices flowing and I have a craft to share with you all today!

Here was my "pinspiration"

Source: thebridesdiary-diy.blogspot.com via Rachel on Pinterest

I liked the idea of having some functional jars in our kitchen to help us organize some everyday items, like coffee, flour, tea...you get the idea. During our big trip to Ikea a few weeks ago, we picked up there jars.


We got a few sizes, big and little, the most expensive one being $4.99. Not bad! After a trip to Home Depot for some chalk board paint and a foam brush, I was set (we already had painter's tape).



Using a ruler and some paper to help me make nice right angles, I made rectangle on my jars with the painter's tape...


Why I put our ingredients in the jar before taking on this craft, is beyond me. I guess I was just so excited I wasn't thinking straight. ANYHOW....once the rectangle looked just right, I painted the the rectangle with my chalkboard paint.


A few of them had some "drippage" when I pulled off my tape, but it was nothing that a razor blade couldn't handle. I just carefully picked off the paint that wasn't supposed to be on the jar.

Once all my jars were done and dry, it was time to label them with chalk! And I'll have you know I looked really hard for my chalk. With the new use of dry erase boards in classrooms everywhere, chalk is kind of hard to come by these days. Even in the back to school aisles. After trips to two different Targets, I finally found myself a box chalk so I could label my jars. And once I had my jars labeled, I was tickled with the outcome. How cute are these?


So there you have it! My first "pinspired" craft! I hope there are many more to come. Any Charlotte girls up for a monthly craft club? It's always more fun with friends (and maybe some wine, too!).

pictures of us + a recipe + e-readers

Last year on our second anniversary, I thought it would be fun to start taking a picture each year of us on our anniversary. On our first year anniversary before I had this grand idea, we were in Princeton, NJ and Saratoga Springs, NY, and this was the only picture I got of the two of us on that day. Not that great, but at least I got one!


My idea for yearly pictures came last year, so with the help of our tripod, we took a bunch on our front steps. This one was my favorite...


And then yesterday to celebrate year three, we invited the pups to join us in our yearly photo in the backyard. Took a few tries, but we eventually got a good one!


My husband is a good sport for letting me use my self timer to get a "family" shot! Speaking of my wonderful husband, he treated me to a delicious dinner last night. Recipe courtesy of of our favorite, The Pioneer Woman. He made us Short Ribs in Tomato Sauce, served over Linguine. HOLY SMOKES. This meal was insanely good. The beef practically melted away in your mouth it was so tender.

According to him, this meal wasn't too difficult. Definitely a crowd pleaser, though!

Before dinner he surprised me with the new Nook!

He is the owner of a Nook Color, but I hadn't joined the world of e-readers! Now I feel like I'm a part of the 21st century! I can't wait to start purchasing books for it. I love that it's so small and light. Also love that I can even check out some books from our library on the Nook! And can I mention how he also managed to tie this in with the traditional 3rd year gift of leather? He got me a red, leather cover to go with it. Love it!

three

Three years ago today I was doing this...

We were making sure we had our rings...


There was some of this going on...


Later on there was a kiss...


and some pretty big smiles...


Some of us enjoyed some hammocking...


There was dancing...


...and dancing...


...and a little more dancing...


There were speeches and toasting...


And a really beautiful cake that also happened to be quite tasty!


There may have been some Cupid Shuffle...


And a pretty intense battle for the bouquet...


There was one last dance...


And then a quick getaway + bubbles...


Followed by a beautiful week on the Oregon Coast...


Happy 3rd Anniversary to my best friend and husband.
I love you. A lot!

"No amount of coffee, no amount of crying
No amount of whiskey, no amount of wine
No, no, no, no, no,
nothing else will do
I've gotta have you"
The Weepies