The Versatile Blogger!

Yay!  My first blog award!! A big thank you to Meghan at Shine On for selecting me!  Check out her blog, it's great!

rule #1: thank the person who gave you the award and link back to them -

rule #2: share seven things about yourself.

• I'm listening to this song right now
• I love all shades of green and blue
• I'm very allergic to dogs
• I always notice when the clock says "8:13" because that's my birthday (and it's 8:13 right now!)
• Half of my family comes from the South (the Carolina's specifically) and the other half comes from California.  How we ended up in Washington, who knows!  But I love it here
• I love the ocean, and lakes, and rivers...and all bodies of water ;)
• I love making slideshows, even though they're super dorky!  This one is my favorite:

rule #3: pass the award onto some newly discovered blogs:

Most of my newly discovered blogs have already been awarded this blog, so I'm also going to give it to a few people who need to blog more!

Katie at Take Two

Mary at ZAMO

Kelli at Gray Skies Make Silver Linings

Chalk!!!!

During a craft night recently, I had some fun with chalk paint!  

 I've been dying to try this stuff out for awhile now, and I finally had the chance to this weekend!  I had two projects in mind, both ones that I found over on Pinterest:

Painted inner cabinet chalk board and painted spice jars:

I recently bought a bunch of matching spice jars from Ikea, and needed to label them.

 So I took some blue painters tape and taped a little label area onto the jars.  I didn't follow any template; I just sort of free handed it on each jar.

 Then I applied two coats of chalkboard paint, waiting in between each coat for it to dry.

 Then, voila!  Pretty little labels on each jar, ready to be written on!  The best part about painting on glass is that I can just chip away any blurred lines and mistakes.

The other project I did was also kitchen related- I painted the inside of one of our cabinet doors to make a grocery list area.  It was super simple; I didn't even need to tape edges (I paint a lot though, so if you don't, I would recommend a boarder of tape unless you have a steady hand).

Two coats later, we had a dramatic new chalkboard!

We love it!  We're contemplating painting the rest of the cabinets to match.  I mean, who can have too many places to write lists??!?!  Not me!

I still have almost the whole can of paint left, so don't be surprised if you see a lot more chalkboard posts in the future. In fact, I've already been eye-ing another little project from Pinterest:

I have identical jars in my kitchen who's contents rotate frequently, so this might be the perfect idea for us!

Has anyone else used chalk board paint before?  It's pretty nifty!

15 Day Challenge Link-Up: Day 15

Today's the last day of the 15 Day Challenge Link-Up!
Day 15: What were your highs and lows of this past month?


Highs:
NPS exploration:  I got to visit Crater Lake, the Olympic National Park, and Mt. Rainier this month!

Learning about my new camera: Tim bought me a Nikon D3000 for my birthday last month, and I took a photography class with my mom this month, learning a few tricks to a DSLR.  Let the learning begin!

Granny!  I was so excited to see her and loved our visit!

Blog records!  I've had a record number of people visiting my blog this month, mostly thanks to Sar at [life of love], and to me finally posting my blog on Facebook (I was too shy to post it before!)!  Thanks to Sar's link-up, I've found a few new blogs to read and a few new followers!  Welcome!

...and the great response I had when Tim and I wrote the story of how we met!  Those two posts had the most visits ever, and i received so many nice notes from people who read them!  My favorite was from a co-worker who wrote "I hope to someday write a story like that"  Aww!

Soccer!  Tim's soccer team started up again, and I got to visit with some friends that we haven't had the chance to see much of lately!

 

Bubbles, chalk, pillows, and more!  This sounds like the start to a Dorthy of Craftland movie, but it's just more hints to upcoming project's I'll be blogging about soon! 

Visiting a friend who has Maltese puppies and finally confirming that I'm not allergic to them.  Plllllleeeeeeeaaaaasssssseeeee Tim????

And lastly, professional advancement!  We had a department meeting yesterday where I was recognized for enthusiastic performance, and given a little token of appreciation.  But more importantly, I've officially decided to go back to school, and I start next quarter!  I'm excited, but nervous at how this change is going to affect our lives.  Thank goodness I have the world's most supportive and encouraging husband ever! 

Lows:


The biggest let down of the month was when I damaged our hard drive and we lost all our photos, videos, music, and movies.  I'm big on memories and am super disappointed.  It's our fault for not having another back up system, but we've definitively learned our lesson!

Another low? Well to be honest I can't think of any other low's- I did get honked at embarrassingly bad when I was driving home the other day...I was pretty embarrassed and already upset anyways!

Here's to a month of high's in October!

15 Day Challenge Link-Up: Day 14

Almost done with the 15 Day Challenge!  It was nice to link of with some new friends in the Blogosphere during these last two weeks!

Day 14: What did you want to be when you grew up? What are you now? 

When I was growing up, I really wanted to be an architect.  However, I didn't realize that what I actually wanted to do was interior design/landscaping.  I used to spend hours pouring through all of my dad's home improvement construction books, drawing house plans for my future home, and designing gorgeous decks and yards that I would someday own.  I even nerded out on actual architect plans that my uncle would bring me to "play" with.

Well, I completely lost sight of this obsession until I began to decorate my first apartment, and continued to become re-obsessed with design, decor, and more recently, actual home improvements to the condo that Tim and I now own.  

I actually forgot how much I used to long to be an architect until I sat to write this post.  Funny how true passions never fade, isn't it?

Now, I'm a Content Data Analyst at an information company that researches government bid opportunities.  It's nowhere near what I wanted to be when I grew up, but I do actually use a lot of the skills I learned in my college tech writing classes.  It makes it so I can do all of my hobbies and passions in my off time, so I'm grateful for that.  It don't think that I would enjoy being in a business where I was constantly worrying about insurance and where my next check was coming from, so I've always been hesitant to pursue any creative led roles.

What did you want to be when you grew up?

Yummy Drinks!

I've made a plethora of adult beverages over the last two weeks, and as always, I took pictures every step of the way!  I figured all my blog readers might want to learn some new drink ideas!


First, Lindsey and I made some delicious Strawberry Champagne Smoothies (which I made again later with my granny)


We took a whole pint of strawberries and hulled them, then tossed them in the blender until nice and smooth

Then, add half a bottle of champagne and freeze into ice cubes.

Here is where we didn't think this thing through, because we wanted these drinks now!  So we poured ourselves a little bit while we waiting for the mixture to freeze.

...And we didn't wait very long!  We only managed to make it until they were slushie-fied!  After adding a little more champagne and blending it, we had a thicker smoothie like drink, but it was still more liquidy than expected.  

But who cares, because they were delicious!  Add a squeeze of lime and cheers!

Even the grandmas love this one!

Then, Drew and I made some PomPaigns, a creation we made up our selves.


Take some Pomegranate Pear juice...

Grab some champagne....

Mix it up...

YuM!!!!!


I also made strawberry and lemon Jell-O shots with whipped creme vodka because I had a nearly full bottle that I never drank because I don't really like it...whipped creme vodka can be good sometimes, and it does taste great in strawberry Jell-O, but man it burns after!  My mom and I only had one bite!