Just a reminder...

 That my Dollar Tree Giftcard Giveaway is ending June 20th! All you have to do to be entered is be my GFC follower! If you are, ENTER! If you're NOT, FOLLOW and enter! 

 You can enter over HERE!

Happy "Hump" Day! 

What a nice birthday!

Thank you for all the birthday wishes, friends! I had a delightful birthday, and got some really cool gifts!

 I got the TOMs I had been wanting from my "baby" sister! 

 I also got this FABULOUS new diaper bag, which was much needed since I still have TWO babies in diapers!

 I opened a few more gifts, we had an amazing dinner, and carrot cake for dessert! Such a great day.

 I'm still putting the finishing touches on the girls room, along with 3784667845 other projects I got going on. Here's a sneak peek of one of the walls in the room-

Can't wait to show you the rest!

Happy Birthday To Meeeee!

Today, I'm 29 years old. I can't even believe it. I used to think it was so cliche when people would say,"Time flies by so fast!" But dangit, it's true!

 It seems like just yesterday, I was 23 and enjoying it.........

 Oh well! This day's about me! And I like that :)

Saturday, my parents took our family to my FAVORITE restaurant, Claim Jumper. And I had my FAVORITE dessert, the Lemon Brulee! NOM NOM NOM. We had such a good time!

Today, we worked our buns off in the girls room and it is thisclose to being finished! THISCLOSE! I can not WAIT until I can share the finished room here! 

So keep an eye out, you won't want to miss the amazing transformation!

 I'm also thinking of starting a weekly linky party soon, I came up with the COOLEST name for it EVER! 

So stay tuned for that too!

HAPPY MONDAY FRIENDS!

Dyed kicks

 I got this MARVELOUS idea from Sweet Verbena, who does an AMAZING tutorial along with the idea! However, I like to play so I thought I'd give it a whirl even though I think my version is kinda crappy. Oh well! It happens right?!

 So I bought these sweet little things at Target, because dumb ole Walmart had my size, but they were all dirty and GROSS! So $9.00 later, I had these plain Janes.

I bought RIT from Walmart for $1.66

 And Prepared it.

 Wet my shoes, threw them in...and then left them in TOO long! 

They were a deep yellow color. And not cute. So after some trial and error with a spray bottle filled with bleach, I ended up with This!

(only pics I could get by myself, hah!)

  I like them. I obviously don't know how to use fabric dye, and I'm annoyed by it. But it's done, and they're cute shoes to throw on and run out of the house with! 

You win some, you lose some. Whaddaya gonna do? 

Oh yeah, and THREE more days until my birthday! *does dance*

Places I Party

SYTYCD

 Friends! Don't be disappointed with this entry; I know that I haven't been showing recent projects lately, but that's because I've had stuff to say! In the meantime, my projects are stacking up so I'll have lots to share soon! :)

 But onto another topic near and dear to my heart....

It's no secret that I'm a  So You Think You Can Dance NUT! I even went to a taping for Season 2 (has it been that long?!), here's proof-

 Please ignore my face, it was the only still I could get and I look kinda WEIRD! 
Wow, this was in 2006! Time flies when you keep having kids!

 But yep, there I am. It was such a blast. See, that's the neat thing about living in California-you're an arm's length from the entertainment industry! You can see show tapings, catch a glimpse of celebrities here and there, and you can even go to a lot of famous spots that you see on TV! 

 ANYwhoo. Back to the point here.

 These are my THREE  favorite dances EVER from So You Think You Can Dance.
(click play to view videos)

All time Favorite

Second Favorite

Third Favorite

I'm so excited that a new season started! I still can't believe it's Season 8, but I'll go with it! My favorite Choreographer is Wade Robson, who teaches at Millennium Dance Complex which is in, YOU GUESSED IT, Southern California!

So! Do YOU like "So You Think You Can Dance"?

Amazing Song

Chris Tomlin-I Lift My Hands

Be still, there is a healer
His love is deeper than the sea
His mercy, it is unfailing
His arms are a fortress for the weak

Let faith arise
Let faith arise

I lift my hands to believe again
You are my refuge, You are my strength
As I pour out my heart, these things I remember
You are faithful, God, forever

Be still, there is a river
That flows from Calvary's tree
A fountain for the thirsty
Pure grace that washes over me

So let faith arise
Let faith arise
Open my eyes
Open my eyes

I lift my hands to believe again
You are my refuge, You are my strength
As I pour out my heart, these things I remember
You are faithful, God
You are faithful, God, forever

--------------------------------------------------------------------

This song has moved me to tears. God is so amazing, and I haven't been giving Him the Glory and Honor that He deserves with my life! 

 Make me to know your ways, Oh Lord; teach me your paths!

Psalm 25:4  

Dollar Tree Gift Card Giveaway!

 Hey folks! Hope you're all having a blessed Memorial Day! We're going to barbecue later, and just enjoy eachother's company.

  Let's start the week off with a giveaway!

 I'll be giving away a $10.00 Gift Card to Dollar Tree! Who doesn't LOVE the Dollar Tree?!

Think of the things you can get at the Dollar Tree....TEN things, to be exact!

 + You can get some Inspirational totes! +

 + Or maybe some sunglasses! +

 + If you have kids, you could TOTALLY stock up on some pencils for the school year! +

 + You could also purchase some plates as decor, and put a monogram on them! +

 + Or you could pick up a beach tote and some things to go in it! +

 + AND you could always stock up on paint supplies to paint the never-ending projects going on! +

The possibilities are ENDLESS!

 So here's how to enter:

Mandatory -Become a Google Friend Connect Follower(or already are one!) and let me know!

2nd Entry - "LIKE" me on facebook and let me know!

("LIKE" button is on the right ----->)

3rd entry -Post about this specific giveaway on your blog and let me know!
4th entry -Post my button (you can find it on the right) ANYWHERE on your blog and let me know!

 That's it! Giveaway will end June 20th @ 11:59pm. Good luck!

Personalized Letter Blocks

 Today, I want to share with you personalized wood letters that I made for some new friends of mine. 

 This was a 1x4x6 which was $1.92 cut down into blocks varying from 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 inches.

 I used $0.59 scrapbooking paper from Michael's cut down to the blocks size and modge podged them on.

 I then used my PRECIOUS (yannow, I think that is now officially my Cricut's new name-My PRECIOUS! *insert mental image of Gollum here*) to cut out the letters and popped them on, leaving me with these sweet little personalized blocks!

I even packaged them all pretty and cute before delivering them! How thoughtful of me ;-)

 I was also able to make two more names out of the 1x4 and didn't even use all my paper, so I can confidently say this project was less than a buck! Can you believe it?!

BVCP

 Hey friends! 

 Recently, when mentioning a condition my daughter has, Bilateral Vocal Cord Paralysis, I was asked if she could talk; and I realized that it's such a rare condition that most people have no idea what it is! 

 So I decided to write about it, and you'll find my daughter's story in the button to the right, titled "My Daughter Has Bilateral Vocal Cord Paralysis".

 What IS Bilateral Vocal Cord Paralysis? Well click to the right to find out!

 Happy Tuesday!

Breaking News

We interrupt your programming for this special report:

 I am in a FOUL mood.

 I went to wash my hair and style it today....and it is NOT cooperating. 

 It went from THIS:

To THIS!

And I'm hotter than a hornet about it!

I'm so used to throwing it up in a ponytail and going about my day. But it's looking like this style's gonna take work. 

 I won't lie, I'm kind of regretting it today. But in all honesty, it HAD to be done. After my recent relaxer and coloring, it started breaking and was extremely damaged. So off it came. 

 Oh goodness, I hope I become a master stylist, SOON.

Cute House Numbers

Well now that it's over, I can officially share that we had a SURPRISE 20th Birthday Party for my sister! It was so awesome! All the hard work leading up to Saturday paid off, and she was absolutely surprised.

 I must admit, I am SO glad that it's over and we can REST now. LOL!

I realized after I posted pics of my haircut how rushed I was and the pictures REALLY showed that, but I just had to share! I'll try to get better pics this week :)

Here's a little something I whipped together this past week! I got the idea from the LOVELY Michell over at Girl In Air, and I loved it so much, that I knew I just HAD to do it! My numbers were the dull silver ones from walmart that they threw up there before trying to sell the house, and you could barely see them.

So I picked up two scrap pieces of MDF from Home Depot for $1.02...

Cut one of the pieces into squares 

Painted them white
Spray painted my old numbers

Picked up some stars from Michael's and painted them...

 And here's the results!

 Love them now! So cheap, so simple and so cute!

Busy Busy!

Sorry I've been quiet all week...I've been preparing for something BIG that's happening at our house today!

 BUT I want to share something with you all before we're back to our regular programming....I cut ALL my hair off!

 I'll go into detail later, but I'll leave you with this...

Before 

(only before pic with my hair down I could find right now!)

After!

Hope you all have an AWESOME weekend!

Dining Room Table

So today, I want to share with you my dining room table! The transformation makes me so happy, I could scream. 

As you can see, my dining room table was the cream of the crop in 1978 (like my calendar falling off the wall? That's how we roll). It was given to us by our old neighbors, and they gave me all matching 8 chairs! The table was a huge blessing because at the time we had a 4 person table with one of the chairs only bearing three legs, and we had our youth group coming over once to twice a week so we needed something desperately!

But it's 2011, not 1978. It had burn marks from a hot casserole dish burning through the tablecloth, scratches, cheerios, cup rings...it had definitely seen better days.

So after vigorous sanding, Kilz oil based primer, latex satin black paint on the table and Rustoleum's semi-gloss spray paint on the chairs, and a few coats of Minwax Polycrylic gloss, it was as good as new!

Please excuse the missing chair, she was painted later and was having the 3 day cure I did on the table and chairs.

I love it now! I've been contemplating bringing in different dining room chairs to spice it up a bit, but that costs money and a deep hunt on craigslist. So I'm okay with my extremely low cost renovation to my dining room table for now! 

Isn't she lovely? 

*tries hard not to break into stevie wonder song...*

Quick Shout Out!

 Hey friends! Hope you're all having a FABULOUS weekend!

 Just want to give a quick shout out about all my bloggers who guest posted this past week! What fun it was! There was such awesome ideas from such beautiful ladies :)

 If you haven't already started following these awesome bloggers, PLEASE do!

Here is their blogs-

Natalia @ Ma Nouvelle Mode

Jenny @ An Apple For The Crafter

Layne @ Laynes Lovely Life

Maridith @ Strictly Homemade

Jayna Rae @ Rock N Regalia

 I'm so glad I've gotten to know these ladies! 

 Tomorrow I'm gonna share my dining room table, so make sure to come back and see! 

Cheapest EVER Kinda Sorta Roman Shade

How fun was that blog swap party?! LOVED IT!

Well! Now that blogger's come back to life, I want to share something I whipped together last night while watching Private Practice! I think it literally would have taken 10 minutes had I not been running to the window every commercial break. It is SO easy, ANYONE can do it!

 One of the things we really loved about this house is the fact that it not only had a sliding glass door into the back yard, but it had ANOTHER door to the back yard in the kitchen! With a screen door attached, so I can leave the door open while cooking and get a wonderful breeze in the kitchen! Awesome. 

  However! We live in the desert, and the afternoon desert sun is SOOOO stinkin' hot, especially in the summer! So while the door is an awesome perk to our kitchen, the afternoon sun blaring into the kitchen and dining room is NOT. This had to be fixed, and FAST!

 So I went to Joann's, where the blackout fabric was 50% off (SCORE!) and got 2 feet. I hemmed the top and bottom, and stuck it on the $0.99 store cafe rod I purchased a few days ago (double SCORE!).

 I measured where I wanted my ribbons to sit, and in this case it was 6 inches out.

 (See that? Let's just pretend that's not there)

Then, I took my ribbon and glued the center of the ribbon on the top of the curtain, so they evenly hang on each side of the curtain.

 Next, I glued the velcro dots onto my ribbon so that it would easily attach once the curtain was gathered.

I gathered the curtain, and then glued my beautifully tied bows where I thought they would looked best, and VOILA!

 

(ignore the gross looking window, that weirdness is INSIDE the pane because it's a double pane window.This house was TRASHED when we got it...just need to replace the door entirely!)

 A faux roman shade that looks magnificent when not in use!!! So super cute!!


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