Ruler of the Elves

Gas station rip off. Slumber party. Dinner with family. Girl time. Baby belly. Homework. Laughter. Late nights. Photo Shoot! Chit chat. Long drives. Bonding. 6th Anniversary. Love. Anniversary dinner. Studying. Playdough figures. Sleep.

So, if you haven’t already noticed, I’m slightly obsessed with decorating and renovating our home. The wheels in my head are constantly turning as I daydream (in between studying and parenting) about the things I can change to create functional, yet fun spaces that we enjoy spending time in. So far, we have completely overhauled 2 bathrooms and we are working on our living spaces. One area, in particular, that I’m very interested in sprucing up soon is our fenced patio area. Several weeks ago, I posted that we had been working on some projects, one of them which was “new” patio chairs. What you may not know is that I’m very strict about sticking to a budget. (Duh, we are college students!) Actually, we just took the outdoor chairs we already owned and thanks to some tips from This Young House, we completely revamped them with a couple of cans of black paint.

(Please excuse the rain droplets. It seems that April showers have run over into May.)

Sadly, I neglected to take a before shot, so just imagine the seat of these puppies being a bland khaki color with some distracting rust stains along the edges. Not very appealing. But with only a few dollars, we transformed their look so that they better integrate into our space.

Trip to Ikea. Car problems. Time with friends. Eating out. Time with family. Stuck in the house. Cleaning. Studying. Design work for a wedding. Tennis ball throwing. Lots of driving. Marble games. Dining in. Mother’s Day. Swinging. Playing with kittens. Movie watching. Flowers and a gift card. Shelf painting. More studying. Sleep.

Last night, I received a great email from my sister Emily/Auntie Em, aka ATM, detailing a fun part of Pinky’s adventures with her in New York last month…

12 simple steps to making pizza the “Pinky” way

Step 1: Dump flour, water, and yeast in bowl.
Step 2: Stick head in bowl and blow to create a tornado of white powder that takes over the kitchen.
Step 3: When nobody is looking, stick hand in dough until it is really sticky.
Step 4: Wipe hand on clean dinning room chair.
Step 5: Instead of kneading the dough… poke holes in it.
Step 6: Cover dough and watch 2 episodes of Spongebob.
Step 7: Throw dough in the air (be sure it doesn’t land on the ground too many times.)
Step 8: Spread sauce on dough, table, hands and shirt.
Step 9: Grate the cheese, eat the cheese, grate the cheese, eat the cheese.
Step 10: One pepperoni for the pizza, One pepperoni for me…
Step 11: Is it done yet? Is it done yet? Is it done yet? Is it done yet?
Step 12: Serve pizza and blow on it until cool enough to eat.

Seriously, I’m cracking up after reading this. So typical, yet so comical. Thanks ATM!

Ever since we bought our new furniture last fall, I have been scouring stores, shops and the internet for the perfect throw pillows. It’s not that there isn’t anything out there that I’m interested in, but honestly, I don’t really feel like dropping 50 clams on a stinkin’ pillow. Now many people may be thinking “seriously, you are worried about throw pillows?” But coming up with just the perfect combination has been quite a task and I’ve certainly not had the best of luck, that is until last week. While surfing the net, I found this great indoor/outdoor pattern, which I fell in love with, so I went ahead and bought the material, on sale. Luckily for me, I have a pretty good seamstress in the family who was willing to sit down with me and show me the ropes of a sewing machine. (Many thanks to my stepmom, Beth!)

In just a short time, I had an awesome pillow cover which was swiftly stuffed with this great bamboo fill pillow form. We even made a flap on the back for easy removal in case of spills, which happen around here quite often, thanks to a certain 27 4 year old I know.

So for a little under $30 I have exactly what I want. Eventually, this beauty will end up in the playroom as part of a whole room makeover, but until then, I will be continuing the throw pillow search to find this guy some good looking friends.