7-7

Well, Lordy be… today is a magical day and a day that will forever bring a smile to my face.  One year ago this very morning. The sweet lil’ Baby B FINALLY made his way into the world.  It was a tough process to say the least and he was two weeks done and 40ish hours in labor PLUS an emergency C-Section but it is all so worth it every time he giggles, smiles or shows us one of his adorable tricks.  Today, the culmination of my hard work to make his first birthday ever so special will come to be and I’ll be sure to blog it your way soon!  Cheers to the 7-7… the best day ever and a very most perfect happy birthday to my sweet Baby B!  I love you more than I ever thought possible and more than the stars, moon and sun combined. 

Here’s to being kind, doing your best, serving God and loving others…the rest just works out.  These are the most important lessons I can ever teach you. 

Love you with everything possible.

Xoxo

Mom

The Missing Link

This necklace was a gift from Zsa Zsa.  I love it.  It's beads are wooden and hand carved.  She paid a prime price at an auction for this gem and I'm pleased to call it my own.  Except ... well, if I'm honest it's just a tad too tight around the neck for my liking.  And thus I invented my own little tippy tricky thing that is so organization Real Simple, pinterest worthy awesome idea!  I thought my eyes might pop out the other day at work and thus I took matters into my own hands and took my hair elastic and did a quick slip knot and thus my trick was born!  Voila!  A hair tie extender for my prized necklace! 

Try this tip whenever you must.  It work!

Sure, it's shameless and a little tacky ...  but desperate times and good necklace mean desperate measures!

xoxo ~ charmed, b
 

Golden Look

It all started with a hankering to overhaul the mirror in the main floor bathroom.  I didn't hate, nor did I love this room ... overall, it just felt in need of a redo.  That mirror has been my personal Everest for years now.  I've tried just about everything.  You see ... when we built the house, the builder was insistent on putting those mirrors up and claimed building city code required it. What.ever.  Gasp, I know.

For a time now, I had a cool mirror on mirror solution for my flat drab situation.  I liked it, but didn't love the cluttered look it gave.  So, my initial plan for a redo here was to simply to trick out the existing horrid flat wall mount mirror with a cute frame.   When Dear Hubs was less than supportive of my plan, I waiting until he left the area for a short while and I swooped into action! Yes, I realize that sounds super sneaky ... and it totally was!

The trouble was, first, I wasn't sure exactly what to do, where to start and how on earth I would craft this dity.  After snooping for ideas high and low and even considering one of those dreadfully expensive Mirror Mate solutions, I opted for a creative but functional solution from my very have Home Depot. Here's the trick ... I had to learn to operate a saw to pull this off. Yes.  True story.  And I did. Bam! This diva knows how to saw and I'm proudly adding that to my resume!

With a plan in progress, the creative juices were flowing.  I identified the must have paint for the frame and just kept going like wild!  Miss Martha Stewart saved the day.  Darn her time.  Her style crisp and classic.  Her decor divine.  Her paint ... well, her paint is tops and gets two thumbs up after this delicious redo!

Once I finished the mirror and coated it in Martha's lovely metallic in a neutral, gold tone it is picture perfect and totally fitting with the already loved bath curtain treatment. 

From here, I just couldn't stop.  That paint was going on a wall... hell or high water.  After the purchase of an oversized stencil on Amazon, I was in business.  I stenciled the accent wall as you walk in and I'm just pleased as punch with the result.

To round out the look, I gathered the pair of neutral paisley curtains (made by yours truly a while ago) that previously surrounded the bath like panel curtains and instead brushed them onto one side.  Next, I created a pull back from burlap ribbon.  My house is a lovely perplexed confusion of burlap and fancy touches and so this is just perfect for moi!  The mirror frame was hung (details later) and I just L-O-V-E the result.  The framed series of oil paintings over the toilet are a grouping I actually commissioned, designed and painted a few years ago.  They are simple, elegant and I really like them.  Plus, they look fancy and no one knows I actually made them!

Couldn't be happier with the finished product!  xoxo

The Years

Well, if another birthday just didn't sneak up on me... I don't know what did.  It's a shame to look this good at 29 (again) ... (cough, cough). 

One day this will all be published in an epic best seller ... just you wait :).  Until then, each year, I pause for a moment on my big day and reflect on the lesson I have learned from this year in life. What's shocking, something ALWAYS stands out as the big life lesson I was intended to learn. 

So. as I partake in my 5th anniversary of my 29th anniversary ... join me for a look back:


33 - there are only 168 hours in a week. Sleep is optional.
Commentary at 34:  Baby B on the scene, small side business, demanding full time job and a boatload of pent up crafty decorating mojo ... yep ... never enough hours.  I'm hoping cloning is on deck for 34. 

32 - patience is indeed a virtue and a skill worth mastering, or at least trying
Commentary at 34:  Yep... still working on this.  Wow, I actually show progress here! 

31- it takes 10,000 hrs to be good at something
Commentary at 34:  There is no such thing as a free lunch.  Success happens at the intersection of luck, hard work and GRIT. 

30-make a decision and don't look back
Commentary at 34:  I wish I knew this forever ago.  Baby B will get this lesson right away if I have anything to do with it!  A decision gets you most of the way there.  Right or wrong.

29 - life is much more complex than a self help book could tell you
Commentary at 34:  damn if that aint true.  If we could all be textbooks life would be full of masters.

28 - life is too short to be unhappy
Commentary at 34:  Amen.


27 - there's something to learn from everyone, some are things you want to emulate for personal development...others teach us things we never want to be or do
Commentary at 34:  see above.

26 - don't settle or accept no if you ae capable and believe
Commentary at 34:  I was so genius at 26.  Never settle.

25 - age is all relative
Commentary at 34:  I agree.  29 and feelin' fine!

Here's to the 5th anniversary of my 29th fete! May the years be kind and the laughter be plentiful!

xoxo

VBS

I have such fond memories as a child of attending summer Vacation Bible School at the churchs' of my youth.  It was a fun time to learn stories of the Bible, participate in fun games, sing Christian songs and have a good ole' time.  Of course, Zsa Zsa was in the throws of it all coordinating carnival style games, themes and everything imaginable on a shoe string church budget. 

Well, have times changed.  The gals of my Sunday School class signed me up to help out at our recent VBS and boy was I in for a rude awakening!  Instead of popsicles ... these kids had a snow cone truck TWICE.  Instead of a sprinkler or water balloons ... these kids had a GIANT inflatable water slide.  Yep, my my how times change. 

Each night the sweet girls behind all this madness would give out treats to those of us doing hard time with the littles.  The theme this year was the camping and outdoors related and so this little treat was a great snack to tide over the hungry appetites that can only come from wrangling the wild ones after snow cones!

From the front ... a simple granola bar.... a fitting snack for our wilderness excursion....

On the flip side, a sweet note that fits with the theme.  Too cute! 

These girls made managing this many littles look like a breeze.  Loved every minute of our fantastic, service filled week!

M.I.A.

Hey y'all!  It's me ... your long lost diva.  I know, I know ... I've been MIA.  That's not intended to be the abbreviation for Miami's Airport (for which is one of what feels like only a few cities I haven't been in the past few weeks!) but rather I realize I've been missing in action and y'all I just must sincerely apologize. 

Over the past few weeks I've spent waaaaaayyyyyy too much time on pinterest planning for the babe's upcoming birthday fete and as a result I've found waaaaaayyyyyyy too many projects to start and not yet complete.  (heavy sigh).  Luckily, I've been snapping as I go and have a few recipes, projects and tips to keep us chockful of fun for the days to come! 

Here we go.....

Gone Fishin

Mid last week, Dear Hubs set off on his deep sea fishing excursion with some of the fellas around these parts.  They had a great time and caught enough fish for us to have more than a few fish fry events this summer! 

Well, while the boys were away, bestie P and I rounded up the littles and headed to the club for the annual crab boil.  Y'all... I anxiously wait for this meal each and every year.  The club rolls out the brown craft paper across what feels like miles of tables and spreads tasty crab legs, shrimp, crawfish, sausage, potatoes and corn for all of us to feverishly chow down on!  Let's face it, there's nothing dainty about eating crab legs!  But gosh, those crustaceans are just tops! 

We sat outside, listened to a fab little band and ate... and ate ... and ate.  When we finished eating more than our eyes and tummies could handle, the littles ran around and played on the lawn while bestie P and I sipped a nice glass of wine! 

Our drive home in the golf cart consisted of "bunny hunting" where we play a game of looking for all the little bunnies along the path and seeing how many jump away swiftly as we approach.  After a quick change into swim trunks for the older littles, it was off to the pool for "Dive in Movie" night.  While Baby B wasn't having it and was ready for bed, I understand it was a fab event filled with dj music, snow cones, popcorm and the Smurf movie.  Maybe next time, Baby B!

After our Friday staycation drew to a close, Dear Hub's notified us that due to horrible storms along the coast, he would be heading home Saturday.  His arrival home was met with "gone fishin" cupcakes.  We had so many that we shared a few with some of the littles down the street as a nice treat. 

To assemble the fishing rods, I used barber pole straws and tied a little baker's twine to make a rod and string.  Multi-color gummy fish were tied around the tail to make a cute catch!  Peach rings made the perfect life preservers and extra fish jumped around the waves of blue frosting on other cupcakes.  These were a smash with the littles that received them and Dear Hubs was impressed that we missed him enough to whip these up for his arrival.  Of course, we missed him! 

So, as the storms moved north on Sunday and the rain came down around these parts ... at least we had fishin cupcakes to keep us occupied and thinking of beachy times!