Getting Laid

Our new andesite path that is!!!
A few months back, we asked my mom, who used to be a landscape designer, to draw up a plan for our super boring front yard. This is what she came up with!

Our lot is quite narrow at the street and really wide in the back, its perfect! We have a huge backyard and tiny-ish front area. No complaints here! We love the plan Mom came up with, so we (James) started with the install of the path.

VERY first! Call 811 before you dig and have your utility companies come mark where they are. Save yourself the hassle of hitting a water or gas line. Its worth it! 
First we measured and flagged it out so we could run a cord along the edge, which I painted over to mark our edges. Then James went through with our edger tool and cut the sod into chunks small enough for him to lift. Grass is heavy! He then rolled it out and tossed it into the back of our truck. We took it to our local recycling center for disposal, it was only $5 to dump!


Next, we got a yard and a 1/4 of 3/4inch sand and raked that in as our base. The stones we used are 2", so we needed to build up a firm base to rest them on and bring them to level with our driveway.

Then came install! Our stones were delivered from Instant Landscaping for the low cost of $40, and off we went! Hubs has a time lapse of this process, I will see if I can upload it here.

Here is the path with the stones in, but no fill dirt. Up until this point, I'd been acting as forewoman of the project. Lots of directing, not too much heavy lifting. Hey. I'm pregnant ya'll!

The final step was my time to shine though. I purchased ten creeping thyme plants and planted them in some of the cracks, then filled in with top soil! Here is the final project!

I know its a little blown out, good ol' midday photo for ya! But we are super pleased with the final outcome! Its so nice to have the massive expanse of lawn broken up now, and a more organic path leading from the sidewalk to the front door. Next we are tackling the blank are in front of the windows. James expanded the bed size last night, so we are ready for top soil and plants!!

What do you think of our new path? Any landscaping tips for us? Leave your thoughts in the comments!

5 Uncommon Uses for Beer

Let us begin today's post with a little wisdom from our old school buddy, Benjamin Franklin. I was going to use the quote, "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy," but upon further investigation, I found that is wasn't actually our boy BF that said that! I don't want to tarnish this blog's sterling reputation, so here is our inspiring quote of the day.
It is wonderful, and quite applicable to today's topic, Uncommon Household Uses for Beer. At this point, I might be losing you, or maybe you are intrigued! I'd advise sticking around for these nuggets of information I'm about to feed you! At the very least, you will  have some fun conversation starters!

1. Pour it on your compost!
Beer is a wonderful beverage for all (of legal drinking age) to enjoy, even the microorganisms that live in your compost bin and make the magic happen! These wonderful little bugs live on sugar and adding flat beer to your pile can really jumpstart the process. Next time you're cleaning up after a bbq, pour the dregs onto your compost for a little boost.

2. Cure brown spots in your lawn!
Beer is an acidic beverage compared to water {Chemistry interlude: Pure water is 7.0 pH, anything lower is considered acidic, higher is alkaline. Malts - especially darker malts - in beer have phosphates in them that react with the calcium and magnesium ions in alkaline water freeing up H+ ions that make the mixture acidic, thus lowering the pH of beer. Here is an interesting article on the topic if you care to learn more.}and that acid will kill the bugs are are harming your lawn, while the yeast and residual sugar in beer will nourish the grass and encourage new growth!

3. Supplement the garden!
Relating back to what we just touched on, flat beer can nourish your plants as well. Think of your leftover beer as food for all your plants. FLAT is the keyword here, the delicious bubbles in beer are CO2 aka Carbon Dioxide, which is naturally produced by yeast during fermentation. It is acidic, which may be harmful when applied directly to plants, so flat (all CO2 escaped) is better. 

4. Take a bubble bath! 

Just as some use beer for a cure for a rough day, a bath in beer can be used as a cure for rough skin! Sound strange? Give it a try! Brewers yeast is added to many beauty products, as it claims to help skin maintain a healthy pH balance. Hops (the bittering agent in beer) help exfoliate dead skin cells, and the yeast will reactivate in warm water, creating wonderful frothy bubbles! Most shocking of all, after you rinse off, you won't smell like a bar after game night. I am happy to report after my beer bath, my hubby commented I smelled like fresh bread and vanilla! I'll take it! I also found this recipe for a DIY beer face mask on SheKnows.com. 

Combine 1 tbsp. of your favorite beer with 1 tsp. plain yogurt, 1 tsp. olive oil, 1 egg white, 1 tsp. lemon extract and 1 tsp. almond extract.

1. Mix until all of the ingredients are incorporated.
2. Lightly wet the face with warm water and apply the mask.
3. Allow the mask to dry for 15 minutes and then rinse with warm water.
4. Complete the experience with a cold water splash, and step back and admire your beer-kissed skin.

 I am definitely trying this tonight! 

5. Marinate your meal before grilling! 

I touched on this a couple weeks ago when we talked about Chainbreaker Coriander Chicken Skewers. 

Many studies have shown the reduction of cancer-causing carcinogens on grilled items from marinating in beer! We love to grill, and any way we can make it better for us is good news! I recommend using a beer that has like flavors to what you are cooking, that way you have a logical pairing when it comes time to eat! For example, a dark roasty stout to marinate those baby back ribs with BBQ Sauce. A lemony weiss or Hefeweizen for your salmon. An herbal, grassy pale ale mixed into your burger patties. The options are endless and if it sounds good to you, chances are it will taste great! And remember, when cooking with any type of alcohol, the alcohol content (what makes you drunk), cooks off over heat so it is safe for those who don't drink, such as children or pregnant women! 

Beer is more than just a refreshing beverage! What other uses do you have for it, besides enjoying a cold one and catching up with friends?! Share in the comments! 

  

{Special Party} Flower girl Bucket

Hey lovely lover friends!!

Hope you are having a glorious day! Spring seems to have finally sprung here in Central Oregon, and I am loving it!! We don't really have seasons here, just winter and summer with blips of fall and spring, but this year we are getting a real treat!

Today I present to you, another wedding DIY, a bucket for my little sister/flower girl Sophie! This is sooo easy to do folks, and the result is do effing adorable I want to keep it for myself! Or at least make a matching headband...

First we need some supplies. How bout a metal pail from the Target Dollar section, a length of coordinating ribbon (purple for our wedding of course), some fake flowers (hydrangeas from the Dollar Tree), beads of your size and choice, and a needle and thread!

note: I spraypainted my bucket Oil Rubbed Bronze, I like that color better than galvanized metal.

Begin by removing the flowers from your stem. No need to worry about centers we will sew them on using beads, which are much prettier.

Layer flowers to your liking, and sew onto ribbon, adding a bead to the center of the flower on each pass.

Oooh pretty!!

Continue the process until you have a desired look. I added seven flowers clustered together, and a leaf and flower bundle where the seam lined up on the bucket.

Attach ribbon very carefully using a hot glue gun and you are done!

Simple, sweet and coordinating! And dirt cheap! This project was under five dollars (I already had the spray paint and I have about 200 beads left over...), so definitely budget friendly and one of a kind.

I can't wait to see my sister walking down the aisle tossing petals for me... Less than five months till the big day!!

Have a beautiful day!

DIY Save the Date Postcards

Hey hey lovecats!!

From today, our wedding is exactly six months away. Holy moly, where does the time go? It seems like just yesterday this happened...

 

And now we are halfway there already. Crikey. 

I didn't plan it this way, but we mailed out our Save the Date postcards a couple days ago, and they will be arriving exactly 6 months ahead of our wedding. What natural timing I have. I'm not sure what proper etiquette calls for in terms of getting save the date cards out, but since we are having a destination wedding, I think giving guests an early heads up is helpful. 

Anyhow, back when we first got engaged, I set up a bare bones budget. After a few brief chats with my parents and James, we set our budget, which is in the neighborhood of 13k, about half as much as the national average for a wedding.   So far, so good, but when it came to planning wedding paper products, I realized how easy it would be to blow the budget here. 

After playing around on Microsoft Publisher for a couple weeks, we were able to design our own Save the Date postcards, and get them printed locally for $55! Thats whats up! Here's how we did it... 

Pinterest browsing led me to create a paper products 'board', which all of my early inspiration landed on. I discovered an awesome website called The Wedding Chicks, which has free templates to create entire wedding invitation suites! Amazing right? So we played around with that for a while, and eventually circled back to our early wedding inspiration... 

The Aspen tree we carved our initials into back in 2008. So I googled Aspen tree clip art, and found a lovely image that reminds us of a drawing.
Here is how the front turned out...

So many Save the Dates are the same. A photo of the couple, which doesn't necessarily reflect what the wedding will be like. James and I really wanted our guests to get a little sneak peek of what our wedding day will look like, and we feel that this shows it.

Without further ado, here is the back.

We did make a wedding website, which is that lovely blur on the bottom right. Sorry stalkers. Love you all.

My suggestions here are play around with layout and format until you find the right look. Under Page Setup on Microsoft Publisher, you can set margins and custom layouts. This is also where you flip between Portrait (long page) or Landscape (wide page). I also suggest having a glass of wine or two, it makes the successes sweeter and the failures (you KNOW I have lots of those) easier to handle.
Overall, just do what makes YOU and your fiance' happy.
Lately, I've been struggling with too many hands in the wedding basket. I am an approval seeker, and am also surrounded by people who mean well, but offer too many opinions. After a couple minor meltdowns, I have decided to stop asking for so much input, and just do what makes me happy. And it is making wedding planning sooo much easier.

So that's where we stand folks! Coming right along. Have a wonderful weekend, and lets pray for some spring-like weather!!

Witamy (Welcome) to our home

I've been tossing this idea around in the ol' noggin for quite some time, and finally did something about it!

James and I both have strong Polish heritage, mine coming from my mother's father, who was born in Poland. My grandfather, Charles is one helluva man. He is well known in his community for his continual service to others, as well as just being a fantastic man. My cousin Steve once referred to him as a god among mortals. He is one of a kind, for sure.
My other 'grandpa', Joe,  isn't actually related to me, but he was very close when I was a child. He has since passed on, but his legacy lives on. I have a wooden bench that Grandpa Joe built years ago that has moved around with me since collage and was due for a makeover.

You may have spotted it living on our porch back when I did  my Upcycled Candle Stand...
There was nothing wrong with the bench in its current state, besides the honey oak color. In honor of Grandpa Joe, I decided to give her a little update!
Centsational Girl is one of my favorite blogs, and also the motivation behind this update. A few months ago, she did a fabulous white wash treatment on a coffee table for her cabana, and I was hooked! Wood! White! Together as one! LOVE!!!!!!!!!

So I sanded down my old bench and got to prepping!

 

A few trips around with the orbital sander and my bench was ready for her makeover! I had originally planned on using watered down primer for my whitewash, but stumbled across this fun product at our local Ace. 

That says 'Pickling White' if your bionic eyes can't read it. Hehe. I was sold at Grain Enhancing. So it jumped into our basket and came on home. I used a foam craft brush to apply it, and the first coat went on super nice!

Most instructions said to wipe the stain off after it started to set up, but I wanted serious white here, so I did a second coat after the first was dry, and didn't wipe either off!
Daredevil, I know.

She was looking hella fresh after coat two, and ready for the next step.
To honor Grandpa Charlie, I wanted to stencil the word, 'Welcome' in polish, on the top of the bench. A quick internet search told me that 'Witamy' is the word I was after. There are several other ways to write the word in Polish, but this version is the more informal one, which is definitely what I'm after.

I measured (correctly this time!)  the center of the bench and used black craft paint to stencil on the word.

my only mess-up!!

It was a longer process that anticipated since the stencils overlapped slightly and I had to literally watch paint dry, but about 40 minutes later we were D-U-N Done!

 

I'm in love. Two coats of outdoor poly and one light sand later and she was ready for her front porch debut!

I love it!!!! She lightens up the stoop so much, and pays homage to two very important men in my life.

 

Even Yago the cat approves. 

I decided it was time to bring out the first Fall decor as well, and my leaf wreath was pulled out of storage. 

 

I made this bad boy last fall, after being inspired by Thrifty Decor Chicks Square Leaf Wreath. Mine isn't nearly as cool, but I do love it. 

The stoop is much more inviting now, even Sammy wants to hang out on it. 

 

In hindsight, I wish would have added a black frame around the top of the bench... but I can always add it later. 

Anyone else busting out the fall decor? We had our hottest day of the year in September, I'm predicting an Indian Summer!!! Hows life in your neck of the woods?

Sharing this post at Thrifty Decor Chick's Before and After Party!

A snowball in July

Not really hehehe, but I got your attention didn't I??!!!

Hub (he has stated I can call him by his real name, so hub is hereafter referred to as James) , James is a handy feller who doesn't always show it. When he does, I so appreciate it. Thanks booboo ; )

Our deck has had several weak boards since we purchased our home in March of 2010. The problem has been amplified due to heavy traffic from us, and the doggers.

Top of step, left side next to the railing was the danger zone. And a cute booty ; )

Dreaming in Color

This post actually has nothing to do with nighttime dreams. Although I do dream in color while I sleep. Do some people actually dream in black and white? Hmm...

The color I've been dreaming about is that of our soon to be painted exterior.
This is what our exterior currently looks like...

Not too bad right? Except the green reminds me of the inside of a retirement home. The color Doctors offices are painted to calm people down before they are told they're dying. And to make matters worse, the entire inside of the house was painted the EXACT same color when we purchased it. Obviously we remedied that ASAP.