friday, crafts & guests.

whoa. lots of things to post today.

first, it's finally finished friday and here are the things i've finally finished this past week.

finally, i finished finding flowers for the shelf on our wall of frames.

{i felt so accomplished when i got this up on the shelf. but then i realized something, this is only one of the four shelves in my living room that needing something to be put on them... now i still have three shelves to decorate, but with what? i don't think i need a vase of flowers on each shelf. but i have no idea what to put on the shelves!}

finally, i finished the moss topiary i wanted to make.

i started with the white planter from austin and some foam.

and then i began constructing. at this point, it looks like a person's head with hair, so i just thought it was funny.

and the finished product!

what do you think?

and lastly, finally i finished making a kilt.

you might be wondering why i would make a kilt. you also might be wondering why i would make such a tiny kilt.

that brings us to the "guests" part of this post. austin and i had a visitor last night.

this little guy!

i introduce to you paxton jude.

he's a little over a month old and he's pretty darn cute. {and p.s. he's joee's baby, we didn't steal him or anything.}

joe had this little guy to himself last night, so austin and i got to spend a little bit of time with him as well. and, of course, the tiny kilt is for paxton!

now you might be wondering why i would make a tiny kilt for a tiny baby. austin's fraternity, phi delta theta, has a tradition of wearing kilts on the day they get new members {at least their chapter does} and that day was today, so of course paxton needed his own kilt to fit in with all the guys. and his little shirt says "my daddy is a phi." adorable.

even though austin is at work, i took a trip down to campus to give the phi delt guys my support. here's all the guys that were there today in their kilts with the sweethearts, me and kailan. oh and paxton's in there, too!

so that's that. finished things, crafting, and our houseguest!

and lastly, just because someone has been absent from the blog for a while, here's julie-boo!

p.s.

p.s.- new fonts. you like?

ayudame, por favor.

{that means "help me, please"}.

i just love austin. i do. recently, i've been looking for milkglass vases to put up on the shelves in our living room and i plan to put faux flowers of some sort in them, i just haven't decided what flowers, yet.

anyway, so when a patient's family brought in one of those fancy fruit edible arrangements things and the container was a cute little white planter type thing, he brought it home to me because he thought it would coordinate with my milkglass. so thoughtful, that one. :)

so the little container looks like the one here.

and it's pretty sturdy, got some cute details to it and it's definitely reusable. so i'm going to get crafty.

i'm thinking moss!

i think i want to make a moss topiary to sit on the bookshelf right inside the front door. but i need help deciding what kind of topiary to make. i've searched around a few blogs online and i see three basic kinds of moss topiary i like.

at first i thought i would just cover a styrofoam ball with moss and set it in the planter like this:

{found this one at the inspired room}

but then i thought i might like to make one up on a stick, like this:

{courtesy of get your martha on}

and of course, i could get really crazy and make one with two moss covered styrofoam balls up on a stick, like this:

{found this one at it's greener over here}

and then i don't know whether to use just one type/shade of moss, or mix a few together for a multi-green look. too many options. i don't like to make decisions, i need help. anyone?

{and of course now i'm just craving some chocolate covered strawberries. i wonder if edible arrangements will overnight....}

framed and hooked.

this finally finished friday, i'm happy to report, i have a few more finally finished things! {i'm really on a roll here lately, aren't i?}

finally, i finished framing the photographs my mom took when she was in college. i've used these pictures in every place i've lived for about the past 7 years, but i've just used them without frames because i didn't think they were regular frame sized. but i'm an idiot. and it turns out that 11x14 frames are actually relatively easy to find. so i bought them. and i framed the pictures. and they continue to look awesome on the shelves in our living room.

finally, i finished our coat hook corner. since we've been in this house, our coats have had to rest on the back of the couch, or on the end table, or even the floor. but not anymore! austin's mom gave us another floating shelf similar to the ones we have throughout our living room, so i painted it black and had austin hang it up high and we then put hooks in the wall below it to hang our coats on. and i put another of mom's pictures on the shelf.

{don't worry about that hole in the wall above the circuit box, you just have to pretend it's not there}

so that's what i've finished this week. now i just need to find a few things to put on the shelves along with the pictures. i feel like they just look a little lonely up there. but i have no idea what kind of things to put on the shelves. suggestions welcomed.

hold me accountable?

ok. so. for the past few years my "new year's resolution" has been to run a half marathon, or perhaps even a marathon {dream big, right?}.

it's ok to laugh. really.

i really almost did it last year. no, really! i was working in downtown roanoke and i went to the gym every day after work to run. i was really getting up there in distance and was feeling great. and then, i went to register for the blue ridge marathon and i realized it was over $100 to run their really hard course. needless to say, i was not paying $100 dollars {that i didn't even have} to kill myself in the mountains.

so i continued to run and work out, just with no marathon to work for. then i moved to chattanooga and took a little break from running... planning our wedding kind of took over my life. then i started running again, around the neighborhood some and at the gym with sarah. then i got a job which ruined our workout schedule so i put a pause on gym time. then, when i lost that job, to be honest i had a pity party for myself and didn't feel like doing anything.

and now, i just really miss running, because, unlike most people, i love to run. to just get out there and see how far i can go {which sometimes is not far at all}.

so here's what i need from you: hold me accountable for this. i want to run the run at the mill half marathon in april. i'm not going to shoot for a full marathon, because i think the half will be tough enough. and i don't care about a time, i just want to do it. that's it. do it.

my good friend katie has run a half marathon before in nashville and it looks like she's planning to do it yet again. so, katie, i'll most likely be looking to you for encouragement/motivation when i try to give up on this goal again. :)

i guess it's time to bust out these bad boys, yet again.

hello, old friends...

one of us.

copper has been learning lots of new things since he and joee have been staying with us.

since he seems to think he's a lap dog, i guess he thinks he's just as small as a lap dog and sitting on top of the couch like the small dog does must be ok.

this was too cute.

he looks like he's trying so so hard to be comfortable up there, but it just doesn't seem to work...

he's also learned to peek out the window to see what's going on out side like schrodinger does.

i guess copper is becoming one of us now. :)

framed and finished.

this finally finished friday, i'm happy to report i have finished more things around the house!

finally, i finished a picture to put in the frame over our bed. for the past six plus months, there has been an empty frame hanging over our bed. now, it has a pretty picture of austin and me on our wedding day, right next to some artwork from my cousin morgan and the red hearts austin bought me in jamaica.

i matted the picture with the same paper we used on our cupcake stand for the reception. so now it has even just the slightest bit more meaning tied to it.

finally, i finished framing our marriage certificate, too!

above the certificate, i put a fun picture of austin and my bridesmaids.

i used the same cupcake stand paper for the certificate.

and below the certificate, a fun picture of me and the groomsmen.

so those are the two things i've finally finished this week. hopefully i can get some stuff done in the upcoming seven days to have more for next finally finished friday.

it snowed. again.

they were right. the weatherpeople said it was going to snow. and imagine that, it did.

the view we woke up to this morning {i wasn't ready to bundle up to get a picture without a window in the way}.

i'm kinda annoyed with it, though. i mean, snow is great if you get out of school or even work. and if staying home means you get to play in the snow and go sledding.

i'm not in school. didn't have work today. so now i'm just stuck. i got a little bit excited because i thought maybe austin would get to stay home and we could play in the snow, but his work actually sent someone to come pick him up at our house to transport him to work.

i did get a few pictures of us and the puppies in the snow this morning, as we all went out to clear a space for juliet to, well, take care of business...

we measured the snow on top of our patio table. looks like five and a half inches...

julie is not so much a fan of the snow {so austin threw her in it, of course}.

where she quickly hopped to me so she could get out of the snow.

copper, however, looooves the snow.

he ran.

and ran some more.

and then hid from austin who was throwing snowballs and hit both copper and me a few times.

we could hardly get him to come inside. i told him we'll go play in the snow again later.

i just wish austin could have stayed home all day.

and p.s. it's 1:30 p.m. and the roads haven't been touched by tdot. where's my timmy on the tractor when i need him?

i may have lied.

i fail at finally finished friday.

not fifteen minutes ago did i claim to have finally put away all of the christmas decorations and now i've realized i'm a liar.

i found these stinkers hanging on the curtain rods, left behind and forgotten. shoot. but for now, i'll just place them in this little corner to await austin's arrival so that he can put them in the attic with the rest of the christmas decor.

{to be honest, i'm just too lazy to climb up there again}

it's that time again.

finally finished friday is here again. and i actually have a few finished things {hence the post, or else i would have pretended not to notice it was friday}.

finally, i finished putting away the christmas decorations. i think mom always had us take them down on or near the first of january, but joee told me i wasn't allowed. apparently, the 7th of january is the approximate day that the wise men would have arrived at the manger to visit baby Jesus. he says in his culture {he's mexican, p.s.} they celebrate this by leaving their shoes out on the night of the 6th and they get a present in their shoes on the morning of the 7th. therefore, i couldn't take down our decorations until then.

{ i had no presents in my shoes this morning}

finally, i finished burning all of the pictures i had from 2010 to cd's for safekeeping. i try to do this every six months or so, especially since my computer is ancient and who knows what might happen to all my memories.  not to mention the great hard drive debacle of 2007 in which i lost every picture i'd every taken...

finally, i finished putting pictures in the empty frames hanging on the living room wall. i absolutely had to do this today, because once i took down the christmas decorations, including the wrapping paper over the frames, i couldn't stand to look at empty frames...

so that's that. pictures and christmas.

by the by, i start work tomorrow. well, staff meeting and training. but work nonetheless. and yes, it's on saturday {ugh} and yes, i have to drive all the way to cleveland {double ugh}. but hopefully all will go well.

and i mean cleveland, tennessee, of course. not cleveland, ohio.

she's crafty.

not much has been happening here lately. i've pretty much just been cleaning the house, running errands, and hanging out with the pups {and joee, on occasion}.

however, the other night, austin and joee decided they wanted to cook some ribs {they were on sale, of course} so we had ben over too for a big dinner. the boys had ribs and we all had mashed potatoes, broccoli casserole, baked beans and rolls. and i decided i wanted to make a cake from scratch for us to have for dessert. i made a hershey's chocolate cake, which is the only chocolate cake i've ever found i like.

i had quite a few problems with the stupid cake. turns out, our oven isn't level, so the batter started to pour out of the pans once the cake started to rise. ugh. and then i had quite a bit of trouble getting the dumb things out of the cake pans {at this point, i was throwing things}. whatever. i just used icing to glue the pieces back together and fill in the not level places.

it ain't pretty. but it sure tastes good.

i sent a piece to work with austin one day and he shared it with some coworkers. the next day, i had to send the entire rest of the cake with him at his coworkers' requests. it's a good thing, though, otherwise i would have eaten it all by myself, possibly resulting in diabetic coma.

yesterday, i busted out the sewing machine to make a onesie for a friend of ours who recently had a baby.

here's the final product.

and here's a closeup of the cute little dinosaur i made from fabric and sewed on. i didn't realize how difficult it would be to sew these tiny little shapes on the tiny little onesie. but it worked out and i think it is adorable. besides, it's for an infant. what does he care if it isn't perfect?

and today, i got inspired by another blog i was reading that linked to a person selling morse code jewelry. for those of you who don't know, i have a tattoo on my wrist in morse code that has the letter "c" and the letter "q."

when doing morse code, "cq" is like a call sign to get another's attention. if you say it out loud "cq" sounds like "seek you." when i was little, i remember my mom's father and grandfather teaching us this call.

"dah dit dah dit dah dah dit dah."
-.-. --.-

anyway, so i saw this morse code jewelry and i knew i had to make some. so here's my version of a morse code necklace.

i love it. and currently wearing it. jealous? it's ok.

i guess that's about all i've been up to lately. it's not exciting, but it's my life. :)

happy new year!

so for the past couple of years, austin and i have spent new year's eve with lindsy and rj.

nye 2008 {turning 2009} we went to a masquerade themed party at jj's bohemia.

nye 2009, we went to our friends justin and arleen's house. there was a virginia tech vs. tennessee game on that night, so nobody wanted to go out {tech won, p.s.}

the four of us started to make plans to spend this new year's eve together, as well, but lindsy and rj ended up being in memphis, so austin and i went to our friend chris' apartment, where quite a few of our other friends were spending the evening, too.

austin didn't get off work on time, so by the time we ate dinner {and grabbed a veggie tray for the party} we were pretty late getting to chris'.

our friend hunter was in town for the weekend. it was great to see him, we haven't seen him since our wedding.

here's chris, hunter and austin {all giggling like little kids about who knows what...}

arleen and me. arleen is married to justin, who is one of austin's fraternity brothers, but i also cheered with arleen at utc.

and here's jenifer and me. jenifer is married to graf, another of austin's fraternity brothers.

so that was our new year's eve. not very eventful, but fun nonetheless. new year's day, austin, me and our friend ben made the trek up the mountain to steve and gloria's house for our usual new year's meal. this southern new year's menu included:

• black eyed peas, which i think is for good luck or maybe coins
• greens, which symbolize money 
• pork, which apparently symbolizes progress {pigs root forward?} or to keep you grounded/humble {because pigs can't fly?}
• cornbread, which is just delicious
• mashed potatoes, also just plain good

before and after the meal, all the boys were glued to the tv playing taylor's new hunting game. i generally dislike hunting, but virtual hunting is ok, i suppose.

the whole time they were playing, i was cuddling on the floor with ozzy, who wouldn't lay beside me, but had to smush me and lay on me...

pretty little juliet wants to wish you all a happy new year!