Black Friday 2013

Well, with that being said how was your Black Friday!?!?

I've done Black Friday a few years in a row and yes I will admit there have been some Thursday shopping as well. However, lets be clear it was never planned, we were all sitting around and figured what the heck! I've never gone out for any of the huge electronic deals. My nerves could never handle that much crazy in one place.

After going through this years ads there was no I HAVE TO HAVE THIS!!! Which was just fine by me, really I would rather sleep in anyways. After looking at the ads again and a bit of pleading to Zach that he really needed to buy me a kayak for my birthday/Christmas we decided we would get up on Friday to go to Fleet Farm since the deal on kayaks was actually pretty good.

And then the alarm went off at about 5am and I rolled over and said Nope, not happening. They are online we will figure it out later. We both slept in, had breakfast and watched a movie. So I go looking online- Zach said he would buy me the Kayaks and we can order them online, Deal! Get all set to check out.... the shipping is outrageous!!!! Well dang... its now about 945 am. Alright lets get dressed and run up to Fleet Farm and if they have them great if not we lost out. Well....we lucked out! We got the last 2 of 3 that were in the building!! Win!! Fleet Farm was a bit busier then I expected, ok maybe a whole lot busier but Zach managed to keep his happy face on and help out a lil old lady! Everyone wins!!

Here are my new babies!!

 (Please excuse the mess which is 99.9% of my life in storage currently)

XO,

Erin

Happy Holidays!

We'll I think we can officially say that Rachel and I are horrible at blogging all the things we have made and done. We can go months without blogging at all. So in an effort to change that I'm going to turn this little blog of ours into more of a lifestyle blog then just a DIY. Not that anyone is actually reading any of these posts but oh well it's for us not any one else.

So with that being said I'm going to attempt to blog everyday of December. My plan for sure is a favorite quote or holiday song since it is that time of year!!  And maybe if your lucky you will get an update on Sylvester the Elf that lives at my cousins house. And boy oh boy does Sylvester need to show up soon for little Miss P! Being almost 4 and Christmas season make for a hard life!!

So with that being said here is my quote for the day:

At Christmas play and make good cheer, for Christmas comes but once a year. 
-- Thomas Tusser 

XO,

Erin

And I took the plunge....

The countdown is seriously on, the wedding is in like 6 1/2 months or 201 days to be exact. I found out that the YMCA was doing their $1 Enrollment and no fees due until January.

I did it, I went in and signed up.... Let's be real. I don't like to have to think about exercise. When I was dancing umpteen years ago (lets not actually count) it wasn't exercise to me. It was fun, I lived at the studio. If I wasn't dancing I was working on choreography with another teacher or working the front desk. I lived there. Then college and life happened. I love hot yoga but seriously who can afford to pay that much every month? I would love to try Barre because it brings me back to what I love and dearly miss, but again $$$$$. Not happening... remember we have a wedding to pay for in 6 months!!! And we all know working out at home isn't going to happen, lets get real.

I have to admit they made it super easy to sign up. I paid my $1 in change ( 3 quarters, 2 dimes and nickle to be exact) because I never seem to have cash when I need it. Really I didn't have $1.  Kinda sad but oh well. I paid my money filled out a quick form, took my hideous picture (oh well I'll always look like a train wreck when I'm there right?!!?) and out the door I went about 10 minutes later.

Now here is the real task, the accountability. My plan: Always have my workout bag with clothes in my car. I have to pass the Y on my way home so I need to go at least 3 times a week. I can handle that right??? I've got my choices of many different classes or I can just suck it up and go run for an hour. I CAN DO THIS!!!

How do you keep accountable?

xo,

Erin

Wedding Pillows

Did someone say Pinterst?!? Wedding planning..... Pinterest is your best friend and your biggest enemy all at the same time. Did someone say DIY projects galore!!!???

Between my MOH, bridesmaids and friends I think we have found enough projects to keep us busy until 10 years past my wedding. Not to say that I don't LOVE every single thing they send me, because truly I do and they know me to a T. But really who has the time, patience or money to make all of the said projects?!?!?

However, while scouring the Internet for engagement photo ideas I came across a great idea of pillows that have your wedding date on them.

So needless to say I of course ran out to HomeGoods to find a burlap pillows. My first thought was to make 3 pillows like the bottom right picture.  Of course I couldn't find the perfect pillows even after scouring many different stores. So change of plans and more Pinterest I found the middle picture and the perfect pillow at good ol' HomeGoods. A girl's best friend! So off to the craft store I went. 2 craft stores later I still haven't found the perfect sized numbers. REALLY?!?! You are a craft store how do you not carry different sized numbers and in different fonts. Moving on... I'll go home and get out my Cricut and print out my own. And problem 2,510 has now been shoved in my face... my Cricut that is less then a year old won't work!!!!! Crisis mode is now in full effect.  Really this project wasn't supposed to take days. (And the Cricut is still sitting on the shelf waiting to be plugged in and hopefully fixed a few months after said pictures were taken. Oops)

So back to problem solving mode. Later that night while out on a "date" to Fleet Farm... really when did dates to Fleet Farm, Home Depot, Gander Mountain and Cabela's become my new normal!??! Need to fix this stat... Ok off that rant! So the boy is off looking at some thing or another for hunting and I am off trying to find what I can come up with in the numbers department... Then it hit me!! Plastic house numbers! They are the perfect size and with a bit of flare! 

So here is said pillow front and back. I then took the insert out and placed a few ads on the inside so the paint wouldn't bleed through.  Grabbed a pencil, my house numbers, a few paint brushes and my black acrylic paint and I got to work. 

The first pictures is really hard to tell but it has the numbers traced on by pencil, the second is after painting and the third is the finished product! 

And for your viewing pleasure here are a few of our engagement pictures!! (A huge shout out to our friend Kimmie who took our pictures)

XO,

Erin

Gel Manicure Extender

I recently ran into a situation I feel like many people do these days. What do you when your gel mani needs a fill and your appt isn't for another week? Do you cave and go early and get a polish change? Maybe. This time around not going to work. My brother gets married this weekend and my appt is on Friday.

So like any girl I hop on Pinterst to see what my options are.  There are plenty of options on how to do an at home gel mani... not what I'm looking for. Then I came across the holy grail! Glitter nail polish.

So here is the before:

So I ran to my local Walgreens and after looking around I choose Essie " Set in Stones"

So here is the after. For a quick fix I think it looks fine. Because of how thick the glitter is I used 2 layers of top coat so my nails were more even and smooth. After looking around some more I came across a glitter polish I want to try next time. It was Sally Hanson Gem Crush which has plenty of glitter but its smaller.

So here is to the next time!

xo,

Erin

Hill Billy Wine Glass.

Post by Rachel

Why did we leave Fergus Falls?

Oh yeah, I remember now... Dan was miserable.

I loved my house, my job and the people I worked with, Sean was making so many friends and the area had wide open spaces. This was the view from the back patio this past January.

Now I am unemployed (which is extremely boring.) All I do is sit around and watch TV and read books all day. Which really was fun, for about a week.

Also, we are living with Dan's college friend. So it feels like a bachelor pad and I am the maid. So I have succumbed to this:

Drinking wine out of a mason jar because all of my shit is packed in boxes and in a storage facility. How is it that the BEST glass I could find to drink wine out of is a MASON JAR?! ugh... men just don't get it. 

Tooth Fairy Door

Post by Rachel:

So Sean will be 6 years old on June 23rd and he hasn't lost his first tooth yet. I am guessing it will happen soon even though he has no loose ones. I saw great ideas on Pinterest including a Tooth Fairy Door. Naturally I went ape shit about it and pinned about 50 examples. So with an idea in mind of what I want I have started.

Supplies (All purchased from Hobby Lobby)
Doll House Door: $8.99
Knob, Key plate & Key: $2.99
Hinges: $4.99 (I don't know if I will use these yet.)
Wood Plaque: $2.33
Sandpaper
Glue
Drill
Router
And a torch if things go poorly...

So here is what I started with.

You can buy fancy doors too, however I have a boy and I am sure he wouldn't like that. In the picture you can see that I already drilled a hole out where the keyhole will be. I used an 1/8 in drill bit because it is okay if it's slightly bigger than the key hole because the key plate will cover it. Also, I have no idea how I am going to keep track of these microscopic keys. Can you even see them in the picture?

Next up, the wood plaque!

I didn't take a picture prior to Dan cutting a hole in it... OOPS! Oh well. Anyway as you can see I left a little more room at the bottom of the plaque the reason for which I will show you later. 

So this is what the door looks like in the plaque. Unlike a lot of the pictures I saw on Pinterest I wanted my door to be functional. I don't know where or how I am going to hang this, but I wanted to be sure to not limit myself for later. Underneath the door is going to be a step, which is why I left the extra room. 

That's it for tonight. I will finish the post when I finish the project. Now I have to clean up before bed so there isn't any suspicious questions in the morning.