Renovation Nation

Lately I have been completely consumed looking at a lot of design blogs. There were a couple in particular that I found the other day and it really inspired me to get to renovating items I already had. There are a few pieces of furniture and a bunch of random decorations that I dont like so much anymore, but I thought they could be updated and maybe I would like them. I cant afford to go buy new stuff, so I thought taking the old and giving a fun new look would suffice, but really, I LOVE IT! It doesnt just suffice, its perfect! It's making me want to redo everything in the house. I may need to calm myself down a bit...

First I wanted to redo our living room tables. Two end tables and a coffee table. NONE of the furniture in our living room matches. As I have mentioned, we are currently living in my grandmother's old house. She "updated" her living space in the 70's with some wood paneling.

very light paneling+a dark brown desk+a brown tv stand+black bookshelves+blonde tables=madness!

I figured if nothing matched, at least the tables could be FUN!

Here is what I used. That is Step 1 Step 2 and Step 3, in a nutshell. yes, that is just spraypaint.

Before

Primed

Painted

Glazed

DONE!

While I was out in the garage looking for something, I saw this frame sitting on a shelf. It was a gift from our wedding and had a piece of paper in it with some quote. We have NEVER hung it up in any of our homes. It was a gold-ish color. But after some primer and hot pink paint, voila! It looks so cute in K's room!

If you have things around your house or shoved in a closet or under a bed somewhere bc you dont like it anymore, try reinventing it! You just may like it more than going and buying something new! Or...look on craigslist. I have no room in my house for anything new, but I was looking on craigslist out of curiosity. There is some cool furniture on there for CHEAP. All it needs is a change of color. 

Disney On Ice

Saturday was a rainy day. We stayed inside all day and by the time 3 rolled around, I thought I may lose my mind. Im just gonna go ahead and tell you something about myself, I like to be entertained. Im not one to stay at home all day and do nothing or have no moments of interacting with society. I need to get out just about every day. Maybe when I have more children, I wont feel this way. I'll be too busy or there will be so much going on around the house I wont think about getting out, but for now, I like to go places =) Well a friend of mine had on her facebook something about Disney on Ice, and I thought, well that would be fun! So I talked to Justin about it and he was all like, "ehhh, I dont really want to go" and I was all like, "well its more for me and Kennedy so we will just go without you." I called my mom and she wanted to go with us too! So then my dad wanted to go, and then Justin didnt want to be the only one not going, so we all went. It was a boring evening ahead, turned into a fun filled family night...on ice! Kennedy, if you can remember back to previous posts, HATES things like Santa, and the Easter bunny, etc. so I was a little nervous. She did get tense when the Genie and the Beast were skating, but other than that, she enjoyed it. I think I had the most fun. I just kept thinking I had the wrong Manny with me bc Afton or Sara would have LOVED seeing all the princesses there! I just love Disney!

yummy cotton candy

the cotton candy came with a Nemo hat that Kennedy enjoyed =)

waving at the Zamboni

watching the show

my cute mom and dad

the Disney Princes and Princesses

waving "bye bye"

Mickey and Minnie. I think she was waiting for them to sing the "Hot Dog" song

she really did love that hat

Such a fun night! Thanks for being spontaneous with us Mom and Dad. We had fun with you two!

fun, fun, and more fun!

This past week was jam packed with fun stuff to do including lunch dates, play dates, the beach, and a spur of the moment decision to go to Disney on Ice!

Monday, my friend Merry Beth and her hubby Jim, were in town for a couple days and wanted to go to the beach. Our friend Charity came too. These guys are such great people that I am so lucky to call friends. It was SO great to get to see them again and talk about life and ministry. They loved Kennedy and she loved them. Especially Jim bc he got in the water with her. IT WAS FREEZING. Of course the northerner could handle it...

my bathing beauty =)

Thursday we met my friend Audrey for lunch at Chik fil A. I have known Audge since high school, and we lived together in college. She recently got engaged and I have been DYING to see her and talk about the boy. It was so great to see her again after all this time and here about the wedding!

That afternoon we had a play date with Lyla, or as Kennedy calls her, Wywa. Kennedy is NOT a good sharer nor does she like it when Lyla has something and I wont let her take it from her...it was a bit ridiculous and she threw a fit once or twice. I have a toddler on my hands for sure...

Friday night we had Lyla and her parents over for pizza, popcorn, and Avatar. I think Rhett, Heather and I are the last people on the planet to see it...at least in America...

Well, I wanted to tell you all about Disney on Ice, but I have too many pictures, and I dont want to sit here and upload them. More tomorrow! I hope you all had a fantastic weekend! 

Dad's Party Details

The theme of Dad's party was like The Beach Boys meets Tommy Bahama. I like the Caribbean blue color so I used that and then added some green, and deep orange. I found this shirt actually, on the Tommy Bahama website, and went from there with all the details.

Funfetti Cupcakes for the kids. I made the starfish and sand dollars with some candy molds I found on Amazon. The peanut butter candy melts are SINFULLY good.

Cake table. I later moved the big "70" to another table, of which I did not really take a good photo of

see, not a good photo. this was after the party was over and we had pretty much cleared everything off the tables. 

on the entry table we had a bunch of pictures of dad through the years. So fun to look back at some of these old photos.

These were the flower arrangements I made. The twigs I found in my yard and spray painted them white. The flowers I got SO cheap from a florist here in town that used to be in Dad's sunday school class. SHE HOOKED ME UP. The tins the flowers were in are from Target dollar bins. The lanterns are from Joann's. They are now on my dining room table and I love them so much I just may leave them there for a while...

my friend Jo suggested this recipe and they were amazing. It's from the Pioneer woman

the cake was AMAZINGLY delicious. A girl I found through my friend Christy made it. Her cakes are adorable and she was so great to work with on this one. You can visit her website here.

this is my sisters Beth's recipe. I am going to have to get it from her and share it bc it is so good. we had a TON of good food there.

I was at my parents one night and saw this surfboard lying in the grass. Dad had it hanging on the privacy fence with some other beach stuff but it was getting gross and so he took it down. Mom said they werent planning on doing anything with it, so I confiscated it. Justin sanded it down, filled in the bad looking areas with wood putty, and then painted it. Everyone at the party signed it, and then we sprayed it with a sealant to keep it looking nice for a long time. Great parting gift for dad!

I love a good party!

Dad's 70th Birthday!

I cannot begin to tell you how much I love my dad. He means the world to me and I respect him so very much. It was so great to be here this year and have the chance to throw him a big bash for his birthday! My sisters and I wanted to throw him a great party with his closest friends and our family to surround him and love on him and wish him a happy 70th year. It was a great evening and dad definitely had a good time! Success!

It's crazy to say that my dad is 70! He doesnt seem 70 or act 70. He has yet to "settle down" in his retirement, but continues to work hard, and impact the world as much as he can. I couldnt help but think about him this Sunday in church. The preacher was reading from James 1:27

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

The preacher went on to talk about how the orphans and widows were the defenseless ones, and how we were charged to look after them. Not just send money to them, or pray for them from afar, but to LOOK AFTER them. I see my dad look after people all the time. He is what ya call a "people person." He is definitely gifted with eyes that see those in need, and he doesnt always wait for them to come to him and make the first move. He gets his hands dirty, talks with those that others avoid, and loves on those who others find unlovable. He definitely has a compassionate heart.

So, I thought about him in church that morning, and then afterwards that same night we had dinner with my parents. My mom said that when he was driving down the road that day, a man stopped him and made the "roll your window down" motion. He said that he might not remember him, but he remembered his truck and his University of Tennessee sticker. A few years back he helped him and now his life is on track and he thought he would never see dad again bc he had moved but he was in town for a bit and just happened to run into him. Seems like Jesus put them right next to one another to say, "Dennis, keep doing what you're doing, its making a difference." Restoration people! Jesus is in the restoration business!

Ok, so enough about my pops and how super cool he is...party pictures!

More party details in tomorrow's blog.

more Atlanta

The weekend had just begun when we arrived there for the party on Friday. Saturday we went and cleaned up the church bc the room Jamey proposed in was still covered in rose petals and candles and its the youth room and needed to be functional for the next day since it was Sunday. (that was quite the run-on sentence. dont email Jo and tell me, I already know...)

I think Justin enjoyed vacuuming bc it reminded him of one of his favorite childhood movies...Who ya gonna call?

After cleaning up, we went and met all the Dickens at a taco place called Verde. Kennedy finally met her cousin in law, Ally Grace. She liked giving her kisses. I think after a while Ally Grace wanted that toddler out of her personal bubble though. Kennedy can be invasive to other babies, but she just LOVES little babies. After lunch, all the girls went to a ghetto fabulous interesting dress shop called Miz Scarlett's so Sara could get a start on an idea of what she wanted for her wedding dress. I think it was all a little overwhelming. It was fun seeing her in the gowns though. She is going to be one insanely gorgeous bride.

We got back from the dress shop and Sara and I took the babies for a walk. I loved walking in that area bc it was hilly and it actually made you work a bit. It was also nice hearing the bride to be's thoughts about everything and just being outside. It was perfect weather the whole time we were there thankfully and I definitely enjoyed it.

Since it was so nice out, Jamey and Sara took us to a fun little restaurant at a private airport. You could sit out on the deck and watch all the planes taking off or coming in. Kennedy of course enjoyed that and waved at every plane that went by. I liked it too, bc while I HATE flying, I do enjoy watching planes fly. Weird, I know.

Well, I need to go lay out and read a book get some stuff done around the house while Kennedy sleeps, but before I go, in case you didnt know, which I dont know why you would, she is the big one eight today. No not 18 years, 18 months. Although Im sure Ill turn around and she will be 18 years. AH! anyway, we went and ran errands this morning and then met Justin at the park for lunch and I took some cute pictures of my two favorite peeps and will have to post them later. She is getting so big! 6 more months and she'll be TWO! Craziness I tell ya.

Adios!