Where Am I?

Wanna know where I've been lately and why my blog posts are so few and far between.

This is where I've been....

On my porch!!

Reclining in my outdoor Lazy Boy recliners (purchased at KMart)!

Planting new flowers, like my pink Lillies, in my border and moving others around, like my Day Lillies and my now dormant Daffodil.

Threading a bazillion straight pins in my little Better Homes and Gardens flag from Walmart. 

Yes, that's what I said, no need to reread.  LOL  Someone thought it was cute to steal my spring flag.  So, I thought grabbing my flag at night, full of straight pins would be fun too!  Yes I am crazy like that.  LOL  Don't steal from me and no one gets hurt. ;) 

Basically, I've been busy taking my home from looking like this when I bought it 2 years ago...

To this last summer....

To this so far this spring....

Basicallly...I've been busy people. :)

I've been taking this border which would never stay in place....

And have been putting in a paver border instead.

So, that's where I've been.

I hope you understand.

After a long, hot day, working in the sun...my porch calls to me to come sit and relax. :)

Pretty much, this sleeping face says it all. :)

Until next time,
Erin

Gallery Wall

Sorry, if you got a VERY abbreviated version of this post.  I have no idea what happened, but as I was typing it posted on its own. LOL  Don't you hate when that happens. :)

Gallery walls....do you love them?  Hate them?  Don't think about them?

Personally, I love them!!

As us bloggers know...gallery walls are the "it" thing going on right now.  This is one of the trends I just HAD to do. :)

My tiny hallway seemed like the perfect spot.  You can see this wall from the front door, so it's important that it flows with the look of the living room.  And I think the vintage look is perfect for the new changes in my living room.

Most of the frames I already owned.

Like this picture of Doodle when she was a baby...the picture has always been in this frame.

Or this picture of my mom when she was a little girl which used to hang in my spare room.

With the matching framed picture of my dad when he was young.

As well as this picture of my grandparents.

I took new pictures and antiqued them by turning them into sepia tones with Picnik.

I did purchase the smaller frames.  I got them at Hobby Lobby at half price.  So, they each cost around $4.

I took this picture that I LOVE of Doodle and I, and I scanned it on my scanner and again used Picnik to sepia tone it.  Then I just printed it on my printer.  I also did this with my close friends family picture.

Technically this isn't legal since it was taken professionally...but it was so long ago I have no idea where it was even taken.  So, sue me. LOL

The metal "V" monogram (which is our last name initial), I purchased a loonnngggg time ago at the Habitat ReStore for $1.  It was white and I just spray painted it black with paint I already had on hand.

The little plate was in with my mom's old pictures and belongings.   My mom died when I was 10 years old from breast cancer.  So, I don't know the story behind this little plate, but I thought it was adorable.

Now, for the problem...you know I always seem to have one. LOL

Let's back out.

Boob light.  Need I say more? LOL

AND, it feels like I need to take it furter down the wall.

This is foreign territory for me!  How far down do I go?  Where do I stop? 

There is absolutely NO room in this hallway for a piece of furniture to go there, so it all has to be on the wall.

HELP!!! :)

Lamp Shade Redo

Oh goodness my friends!!  I know I haven't been around much lately.  The weather has been so nice I've been taking advantage of it and working in the yard.

I have mentioned before that I love gardening!  I'm new to it, but I really do love it!  So, I've been cleaning up the mess winter left behind, planting new things, moving old things, pulling weeds and just enjoying the sunshine. :)

I would like to apologize for leaving you all high and dry with no postings, but my soul needed the time outside.

So.....here is project I've been meaning to show you for a couple weeks now!

I'm so thrilled with it! :)

Let's take a look back, shall we?

Do you remember how this table lamp on the left felt out of place with it's bright white drum shade?

Well, at first I figured I would buy a new shade because I was scared to mess this one up. 

But the more I thought about it, the more I realized it would cost me much less to change up this shade than to buy a new one and then be stuck with a bright white shade I didn't need.

So, I mustered up some nerve and got some inspiration from all the fabulous lamps they sell at Hobby Lobby and headed to JoAnn's (with a coupon) for fabric and trim with all my new inspiration.

First, I cut the fabric.  Which is just a 1 yard piece of muslin.

Then I used spray adhesive to attach the fabric to the shade.

I trimmed up the fabric at this point and just hot glued on pre-bought trim to cover the rough edges.

Isn't that little velvet strip down the center fantastic?

My new lampshade fits in so much better with my darker overall look!! :)

AND...while I don't remember my exact price (isn't that so unlike me?)...the entire redo was under $10.

I think I would eventually like to change out the base too, to something 'chunkier', but we'll see what I can come up with on the cheap.

My living room is coming along.  This is how the room is currently looking.

Still working on the balancing out that shelf, those sconces and I can't wait to do redo that coffee table.  I think I may actually own a rug already that will work for this room (won't that be nice....FREE - one of my favorite words).  I'll be putting it down tomorrow to see if it works or not. :)

Lasik - Follow Up

Well, it's done.

And....

I CAN SEE!!!!

If you are a glasses wearer I'm sure you'll understand.  It's quite surreal!!

I mean, I just woke up this morning...and I can see.

No searching for my glasses. 

No squinting to see across the room.

I even looked out the windows and could see my neighbors homes!!!

************

If you are considering it...here's my take.

It wasn't the most pleasant experience in the world, that's for sure.  They gave me a Valium so I could be calm...I don't think it actually kicked in until AFTER the surgery.  LOL

It's goes really quick.  I was in the chair I'd say less than 15 minutes.  The actual laser was nothing...the suction cup before the laser I was not that fond of.

I could actually see as they pulled the layers of my eye back.....weird.

You have to wear the most awful, geeky looking "goggles", aka, eye protection, the first day and then every night for a week so that you don't accidentally rub your eyes.....which you cannot do for 2 weeks!  I asked them if they had an option for old people who still think they're young and cool. LOL  Which they didn't. ;)

You also cannot wear eye makeup for 2 weeks....which stinks since we are going out of town next weekend.

I will admit, which no one has ever admitted to me....I was really sore last night.  My eyes were very tender and blurry all night.  It wasn't a miraculous, "I got out of the chair and could see" that everyone's always told me.  I was extremely blurry and needed some guiding to get to the car and then just wanted to close my eyes. 

It got clearer each hour.  A few hours after I could see alot more, but was still somewhat blurry.

But this morning....I did wake up and miraculously I could SEE!!

I have a slight glow on my right side.  I have a follow up appointment this afternoon.  I'll ask about it, but the paperwork said it might take a couple weeks for some of these type things to work themselves out.

Overall though, I'd say the few minutes of uncomfortable were worth it!! :)

I hope everyone has a great weekend!!!  I'm going to enjoy my new eyes and will be back next week!! :)

Wish Me Luck!

This is SOOO not blog related....but I had to share with you, my dear friends! :)

Today at 3:00.....I am having LASIK surgery!!!

No more glasses!

I hate glasses!  They are like seeing the world through a dirty window. LOL

I am nervous...but excited too!!! :)

Wish me luck! 

Anyone else had this done??  Please share! :)

Latest Living Room Changes

I have been excitedly working on the living room!  :)

After I posted about the MANY problems with this try (sometimes it takes several tries and many tweaks to get the room you want).....

I started tweaking almost immediately.

I took everything down, patched the swiss cheese holes, and touched up the paint.

Then using only stuff I already had on hand, which means FREE people, I got to this, which I'm totally LOVING!!!

I know it looks very beige in this picture, but there really is color...plus I'll be adding more color as this room continues to evolve.  It's been so gloomy, rainy and gray here in Indy it's next to impossible to get really good pictures. :(

Anywho, here's a close up of the wall above the couch.

See?  There really is color! :)

What's really important to me is that some of the pieces incorporated here have alot of meaning and history to me.

The purple inlaid floral in the center, I purchased when I lived in Italy.  I purchased it during one of my many trips to Sorrento, Italy....my absolute, most favorite place in the entire world!!! 

The blue star candle holders were purchased in Germany.  My ex-husband purchased those on our last vacation the month before I transferred to Hawaii. 

The red shelf is my "independence shelf".  That was my first purchase after I left my husband (the first time, LOL).  It was something he would have never went for...so I bought it.  I have always loved that shelf but hadn't displayed it yet in this home...my first house.  Isn't that strange?  Maybe that's what's been missing all along. :)

Now, let me point out this area is not done. 

I need to create balance by adding something on the wall to the left of the shelf.  I'm working on that.  It won't necessarily be plates or even round, but we'll see what I find.

I still have to work out the lighting over the couch as these sconces are way to modern for this look. 

Plus, I need to paint or stain or a combo of both (which is what I'm leaning towards) the coffee table, add a rug, and I'd really like to replace my modern looking glass/wood Ikea nesting tables with something more worn and all wood (I hate glass tables!  They are impossible to clean!).  Although I'd still really like nesting tables, they are convenient in a small space. 

So, I'll be on the looking out for cheap nesting tables I can paint.

Some of the other elements I used on the shelf are Dollar Tree redo's (that I already had), like the bird, the little box the plant is sitting on, and even the finial which was a pale tan before I painted it will some ORB paint! :)

The little "Blessed" sign on the wall was a half priced Hob Lob item ($2.50) and the planter was a Marshall's find one day ($5.99), and who knows where the fake plant came from.

The plates were all picked up at various times (for cheap) and displayed in my house at random times.

And the mirror was a flea market score for $10!!!  

You've seen it in staged pictures before....it was white.  White was too crisp for my living room, so I took it out and gave it a couple coats of black spray paint and then distressed it a little.

Can I make a confession?  I hope you don't think I'm strange for this. 

Do you want to know how I remember how much I paid for all this stuff, even though some of it I've had for many years? 

I leave the price tags on the backs!!  On purpose!

Seriously!  I love a deal so much, that I leave the prices on the backs so everytime I move something I can relive how awesome of a deal I got!  Am I crazy?  Does anyone else do that??

Anywho.....out of nutty-land that is me and back to my living room. :)

Let me be the first to point out the pet bed in the room.  At any time there could be either cat or the big fat pug on the bed cushion.  Did you notice it?

Quite frustrating! 

It's a good thing they are all so darned cute! :)

Well, I think that's about it for now.  So, what do you think of the newest changes so far (it's not done)?  Is this a better stylistic flow?

Craft Show Update

The craft show was a big...fat....BUST!!!! 

Waste of time. 

Waste of a beautiful Saturday for the first time in forever...that I could have been working on the nightmare fence instead.

Waste of resources.

Waste of money.

Hmmm.....did I mention it was a waste?

I guess I shouldn't say that.  I met some AWESOME women!!!  Made some great connections!  Seriously, if we'd had some glasses of wine it would have made for a great ladies day....that's about it. 

I spent the entire 6 hours just talking with other vendors.  If we had 20 outside people walk through, that would be shocking.  It should have been a great location, but they only put out a couple of fairly small signs (totally ignored my suggestion of balloons!).  No signs at the major intersections that were near!  Everyone was pretty upset about that.

The only things I sold were to other vendors.  I did get a couple custom orders out of it that I'll be working on this week!  I am excited about that! :)

My stuff though, I got alot of great feedback and alot of positive comments from the few people that did walk through.

This was the big hit of the day, with two more custom ones ordered and a custom clipboard.

 I got the idea for these from the Shanty 2 Chic girls!

Well, I just wanted to give you the update. 

Tomorrow I will go back to discussing my living room!  Much more exciting news coming from there! :)