Another Day, Another Project

Projects always rear their heads when you have the least amount of time for them. Summer brings outdoor projects like gardening, painting, home repairs and lawn maintenance just to name a few.

A few postings back when I was talking about my closet, I mentioned that I wanted a piece to “float” in my closet with extra shelving for shoes or gym clothes. A piece I could put my glass jewelry display shelf on.

I was out Saturday checking out yard sales and stopped by my favorite second hand shop and found this little cupboard that I thought may work. It was only $30 so if it didn’t work for me, I could sell it.

It had a cute shape along the bottom and these charming queen anne legs.

It had a dark stain and a few coats of oil based poly on top. Oil base can be tricky because the general rule is to cover oil with oil. There are a couple times that rule doesn’t apply. With chalk paint or milk paint. Or you could strip it and start over, but who has time for that, when you plan on painting it anyway?

Since I don’t have any milk or chalk paint in the house right now, I put a coat of oil base paint on top. Here is one coat done.

24 hours later and another coat of paint…

Then I sanded the edges and random spots for a worn look. I concentrated around the handle especially.

My original thought was to throw out and replace the original knob. But after looking closer at it and realizing it has a latch that keeps the door shut and a very nice patina, I decided to keep it.

It looks striking against fresh white paint.

I just need to find a tassel to hang from it!

The only way to truly see if a piece will work in a space is to put it there and live with it for a few days.

So far, so good. The size feels right and I’m not banging into it in the morning. I need to get some baskets for the inside and decoupage the inside of the door with some fun paper.

Another project for another day…

Leave me a comment and let me know what projects you are working on…

My Early Morning Run and a Healthy (?) Self Image

I was up late last Saturday night finishing my husband’s Father’s Day gift. (More about that later.) I saw a commercial for Jillian Micheal’s website. I don’t have anything against Jillian Micheal’s. In fact, I think she is one bad trainer, and not bad as in…”eww, she’s bad” but bad as in..”whoa, she’s baaaaad.” She’s beautiful and tough and probably doesn’t have an ounce of body fat. In the commercial, there was an invitation to a free body and fitness test to see if you need to lose weight. (Like you can’t tell.) For some reason, the sleeping part of my brain decided it would be a good idea to do this test. I was told by Jillian Micheal’s that, “Dude, you are overweight.” She also went on to tell me that I need to consume only 1000 calories a day to lose wight.

The problem with these sites and tests are that they only ask for your weight and height, not taking into account muscle mass. I wear between a size 6 and 8 pant, depending on brand. I run, strength train and recently took up crossfit. I am by no means overweight. Does that mean I couldn’t stand to tone up some and lose a little off my waist and thighs? Heavens, no! I could stand to lose an inch or two off my waist and thighs, but overall, I am pretty happy with how it’s all shaping up.

So how does this apply to my early morning run? I guess mostly because it was on my mind this morning as I ran. In my post “The Best 5K So Far” I talked about why I like to run and why so early in the morning. I like the quiet, I like the dark and I don’t like being hot so I run in the wee early morning hours.

Did you check out the time I left the house this morning? That’s 4:50 AM to those of you who are night owls. I am a morning person and usually in bed by 10pm or 11 if I am feeling spicy.

Here’s the street by my house I started on.

To prove how quiet it really is, I stood in the middle of a usually VERY busy street to take this picture. Can’t you just FEEL the quiet?

I take different routes different days so I don’t get bored and today I started uphill. For the locals, it’s Brackett Street Hill. It’s a steep hill.

I made it!! (Cue theme song from “Rocky.”)

The good thing about starting uphill is that the rest seems so much easier.

And what goes up must come down. That includes JUSTINE!

Running down State Street Hill is not only pretty but also refreshing, because I’m almost home and closer to a water bottle and a shower!

My dog, Hazel is my loyal running companion. She gets so excited when she sees me reaching for my ball cap. She knows that means RUNNING! When we start out I swear I can hear her excitement, she actually bounds the first few steps.

Okay, that second picture is kind of blurry but that goofy look on her face made me giggle and I couldn’t resist putting it on here. She’s a great dog and a great running companion.

3 and ½ miles. Check!

p.s. There is one week left to read and comment on the post “Coco, Custom Fit Slipcovers and Cuuute Skirts” to win a gift certificate!

CoCo, Custom Fit Slipcovers and Cuuuute Skirts!

I met my friend Colleen over 10 years ago when I had my shop and she started coming in to bring me sewing projects. I have done slipcovers, pillows, tablecloths, curtains, cushions and some custom painting for her for years. She quickly grew on me and I really, really like her. She’s funny, open, ambitious, energetic, kind and giving. She’s also really pretty. She’s a spunky petite blond with beautiful green (or blue?) eyes and she will tell it like it is!

The story goes that when she was a little girl she would only wear skirts and as she grew up, her love affair with skirts grew into a skirt selling business called “Skirt the Possibilities.”

She spends a lot of time searching for cute, unique, comfortable and great fitting skirts. Every time I go to her house to work on a project for her, I come home with a new skirt or 2, leggings or a scarf.

Her loveseat slipcover…

(oops! sorry it’s sideways…)

My new skirt….

Her chair slipcover..

My new leggings..

In fact, all these skirts (minus 2 or 3) are from CoCo…

This is one of my favorites, a stretchy orange maxi skirt. It’s soooo comfortable!

Another favorite. (because of the sparkles and leopard, how can you beat that combination?)

I call this one “pockets” because of the pockets. (duh.)

This one looks very “Chanel” to me and looks super cute with leggings, boots and a jean jacket.

She has dedicated 2 rooms in her gorgeous home to her skirts. One room has racks of skirts…

The other is a dressing room for you to try on skirts. There is plenty of room in the comfortable dressing room for you and a couple girlfriends to try on all the skirts, leggings and scarves CoCo has available. She hosts parties and gives you yummy snacks and drinks, or you can shop her website Skirtthepossibilites.com or find her on facebook at Skirt the Possibilites.

If you are the indecisive type and just can’t choose from all the skirts, she is a “skirt whisperer” and has an uncanny ability to look at you and then pull a skirt that is perfect!!! She just did that to me the other day! Check out my skirt she pulled for me. It looks good casual with flip flops or dressed up with heels.

What girl couldn’t use a new skirt handpicked by the “skirt whisperer?” Go “like” her on facebook now at Skirt the Possibilities.” Your foxy new self in your new skirt will thank me!

Leave a comment to win a gift certificate at Skirt the Possibilities!

Happy skirt wearing!

Lampshades Want Love, Too.

Does this picture make your heart go all a-flutter?

No?

Why not? Is it the presentation? The lighting? (no pun intended…) Is it the shape? Is it the lack of color or pattern?

Lampshades often get overlooked when rooms are put together. Why should a lamp blend quietly in the background while pillows and accessories get all the attention? Lamps need love, too.

If you’re not up to the task of sewing and stretching, lampshades can also be decoupaged with great paper.

Fabric stores have a large variety of fringes and trims that can be added to existing lampshades to jazz them up.

I just picked up this beautiful glass lamp with double shades that need to be covered and am taking a step back to ponder what kind of fabric to put on. Floral? Toille? Vintage bark cloth? Polka dots?

There is so much you can do with lampshades, don’t be afraid to experiment and have fun with them.

Stay tuned for an upcoming tutorial on how to recover a lampshade…(when I figure out how to do a tutorial. Is there a tutorial on how to do tutorials?)

Leave a comment!

The Urge to MOO!

I have worked with youth groups through my church for years. In different capacities but always with teenagers and I LOVE it! Teenagers are so awesome! They are energetic, open to learning and funny. I find them to be open with me, helpful and can be agreeable if bribed with candy. When I am at church functions, I actually prefer to hang out with the kids more than the adults. I’m not a weirdo or anything, I just find them to be more genuine than most adults. What you see is what you get.  They generally don’t act phony.

Currently, I am the leader over a group of girls age 12-13. (I just finished an almost 7 year stint teaching an early morning class to high school age kids.) We usually do activities on Wednesday nights but this week we met on Friday night to go a horse farm to learn about care of horses, ride the horses and roast hot dogs over a fire.

We got a little lost getting there. We were on county roads passing farms and fields and rolling hills. To make the best of it, we blasted the radio, sang really loud and “mooed” at all the cows we passed. There were a lot of cows. (We were in the country in Wisconsin after all!)

No worries, we got there.

The girls got to groom the horses, ride the horses, chase the geese and chickens, eat hot dogs, giggle and toast marshmallows. The farm was beautiful and the owner of the farm was so gracious and patient with all the girls.

On the way home we played “truth”. It’s “truth or dare” but without the dares. Nothing off limits and nothing leaving the car. Here’s what I know and learned about these beautiful, sweet and sometimes vulnerable girls…

They just want someone to listen to and hear them. They want to feel pretty and loved. They have fears and care very deeply for their loved ones. What they are feeling at this point in their lives is very real and matters to them. They can be hurt deeply but want to forgive and move on. They dream about their futures with very little limits. They want to be understood. They can eat a lot. They really do think about boys 95% of the time. They make me laugh and they make my heart ache.

“Mooing” at the cows made me forget how tired the week made me, and it made me forget about all the things I had to do at home. It just made me feel silly and happy and totally in the moment.

I’ve really liked cows lately. I find looking at them peaceful. I really want a cow painting by the artist Cindy Austin. I already have the wall space picked out! Check out her website; cindyaustinpaintings.com and look at the cows, “Moonalisa”, “Clairebelle” and my favorite “Ealalie”. The blue sky behind her is heavenly!

Someday, Ealalie, you will be mine!

When is the last time you “mooed” at the cows?

My Closet, Chandeliers and Decoupage…

Years ago when Mother’s Day was approaching, my husband asked what I would like for Mother’s Day. I like to name off outlandish and bizarre things to freak him out. “A trip to France! A vintage ’68 Mustang! Wax lips!” Sometimes I’ll tell him a new drill or teeth whitening strips, whatever springs into mind at the moment. I’m just messing with him. (Except about the drill, at the time I really wanted a new one with lots of guts!)

One spring, I decided I wanted a closet. A real closet. Like the kind you see in magazines. As I have previously mentioned, I have a very old (131 years old) house with 2 closets in the entire house. One is downstairs in the entryway and one is in the middle bedroom upstairs. And we had the perfect space in our bedroom for one. It was called a “nursery” originally, just a tiny open room off our bedroom measuring 7×9.

So when the hunny asked me what I wanted for Mother’s Day that year, I had a bullet in the chamber. “A closet! For real this time, I want a closet.”

Something about my hunny, he is not a handy man. His talents lie in other areas and building things is not one of them, but he did it! He made me a closet!

I could finally see all my clothes and shoes and organize everything. It was fabulous! I am slightly OCD about a few little things and organizing my clothes is one of them. I like to hang them by color so when I feel like wearing pink, I can go to my “pink section” and choose what I’m in the mood for.

I have a dress form I love with a few bags and race medals hanging on her.

I have all my shoes organized by heels or flats, boots are in boxes because I need more shoe shelves.

My jeans and pants are folded and I can see what I have, which makes pulling a pair to wear easier and my leggings are all in one place so I can see what I have.

What I need and am on the hunt for is a small piece of furniture or bookshelf to make into an island to float in the closet to put my jewelry case on with shelves for baskets for my gym clothes or shoes.

I bought this jewelry case at an antique store, decoupaged the bottom shelf (which originally had some ratty fabric lining the bottom) with a copy of a French document I purchased in Paris at the flea market.

I added a tassel for a handle, and put my favorite jewelry pieces inside, both to display and to make it easier for me to remember what I had. Almost every piece that is my favorite my friend Susan Jacoby made. She makes the most fabulous jewelry from broken vintage pieces and found objects. (I will make her the focus of an upcoming blog, so stay tuned.)

And what closet would be complete without a chandelier? (I like to call the tiny ones “chandies” pronounced “shandy”) Here’s my chandie…

Funny thing, I am outgrowing my closet and secretly dream about moving my hunny’s clothes out so I can expand my dresses and skirts and shoes and cardigans and blazers and did I say skirts?

Sigh….I love my closet.

The Best 5K So Far…

I have a friend who said she doesn’t get why anyone would choose to run. She would only run if something was chasing her, like a bear or a creepy clown. (Like there’s any other kind!) This is not the first time I’ve heard this. So here’s why I run…I run to sleep, I run to live longer, I run because I like food and I run because sometimes it’s the only peace and quiet I get. I’m not good at it, I just like to do it. I like to go running in the morning before the world wakes up. I’ve even been known to be out at 3:30 am when it’s really quiet and dark and cool and I can have the streets to myself. I prefer the cold to the heat and I don’t even mind the rain.

My friend Qhua and I have run together and she’s probably one of the only people I’d run with. It’s usually a solitary sport for me. We wanted to do a “Color Run” this summer but signed up too late so she sent me a link to an “Electric Run” in Minneapolis last Friday. It’s a 5k (3.1 miles) starting at 9pm at the State Fairgrounds there. The idea is that you run in the dark with glow in the dark makeup and crazy outfits on a course with glow in the dark displays and blasting music. Sounded fun, so we signed up.

I made us tutus to wear and we stocked up on glow sticks that we could make into bracelets, necklaces, put in our hair, on our shoes and wherever else we could think of.

The sun set and so many people signed up, (over 8,000!) we didn’t actually make it onto the course until almost 10pm. We were in full “glow” mode. I didn’t bring my phone with me on the course and wish I had pictures to describe everything we saw. The event planners did such an amazing job with the course! There was a glowing tunnel we ran through, glowing umbrellas hanging from trees, a psychedelic run through with blasting music. Everything glowed or lit up, everyone was pumped! It was awesome! I was grinning like a Cheshire cat the whole time, I probably looked crazy.

It was over before we knew it and we were kind of bummed. “Awww, it’s over? That didn’t feel like 3 miles…let’s do it again!”

(That’s another friend in the middle that came to cheer us on.)

At the finish there was a huge after race party with a DJ mixing up the tunes, lights and glow sticks. We danced for another hour and a half.

I finally got home at 1:30am; tired, my knee hurt and a little stiff, but so happy I went! It was hands down, the most fun I ever had running a 5K! Check them out on facebook @ Electric Run for more pictures….

We’re already thinking battery packs and glow in the dark snakes for next year…

What’s the most fun you’ve had lately?