Happy anniversary!

One year really flew by fast! Happy anniversary to my husband, Eric!

To celebrate, we had a garage sale this weekend. :) Well....not really. We did have a sale (which was great - sold tons of stuff and made some cash too), but we also celebrated by going to Rock Bottom for drinks and apps and then going to see Wicked at the Orpheum. I have wanted to see that show for years, so I was really excited to go, and Eric had never seen a Broadway show before. I really liked it, although it was very different than the book (at least the second act was). I think Eric liked it too (for a musical, anyway). He said the songs are too catchy, though, so don't be surprised if you walk past our house and hear him humming show tunes now.

For another fun anniversary date, we are heading to the Twin's game tonight with Ang and Pat. I'm excited to see Target Field - it'll be our first game there!

Want to see what I put together for a gift to Eric (and for me too, I suppose)?

Well.....here's a picture:

 So, I saw some artwork like this at The Afternoon (a cute shop in the MOA) -- only they spelled out words like "create" and "inspire," etc. So I thought, "I can do that myself for way less than $75." So I did. And it's better. You know why? Cause each letter was taken from a place that has some significance to Eric and me. Here are the letter sources:
S = St. Clair Broiler - a malt shop 2 blocks from our house
T = Scott's Liquor Store - also about 2 blocks from our house and we know the worker by name (it's not Scott, it's Eric)
O = Carmelo's - Italian restaurant that I love! I may or may not have had a tad bit of wine on my bday a couple years ago and filled out a comment card stating that "that was the best meal I've ever had!"
N = floor at the Conservatory, where we went to dinner the night we got engaged
E = RF Moeller jewelers - where we got our rings

Want to see the price breakdown? C'mon...you know I love a good deal.

Okay, here you go:
Time spent taking pictures - about 2 hours
Developing the pictures - $1.35
Frame - $0 cause I already owned it and it was sitting in our guest room unused for 2 years
Total cost - $1.35

I love you THAT much, Eric! That much that I save money on gifts and then we make some moola at our garage sale so we can go do fun things together, like fly to New Mexico to visit my dad this fall.

Before & After: Shelf

According to my husband, our summer kitchen that we've been using as a multi-purpose room (for cutting wood, brewing beer, sewing, painting, etc.) is beginning to look more and more like a girlie craft room and less and less like a workshop. I think there is still room for both, but my side of the room with my refinished desk is starting to look super cute and will hopefully inspire me to spend more time being creative in there.

Are you ready to see what I did with this shelf I bought at ValuThrift a couple months ago for like $1.59?

Here are a couple "before" (somewhat in progress) pics. The shelf had this lovely country feel to it with navy paint and dark stain. Not really my style...

 

 

So, I slapped on one coat of oil-based primer and then two coats of latex Antique White paint, and voila!

 

 

Then, I added two Story People prints (Her Laughter was a gift from my friend Laura back in college, and I just got Ordinary Life using a gift card from our wedding - love them), a jar filled with spools of thread and a couple ribbons wrapped around the little hooks/knobs on the bottom part of the shelf (I'm hoping to use those for more ribbon or other hang-able objects later on):

 

So, now this is my side of the room with my matching desk and shelf. I'm inspired.

Before & After: Desk

Remember that desk I got on Freecycle? Well, I am proud to say that it is has a whole new look. After some sanding, wood filler, one coat of oil primer, two coats of Antique White latex paint and some new brushed bronze hardware, the desk looks great! And I paid way less than I would have on a brand new desk - about $35 total! Love it.

Without further ado...

BEFORE

AFTER

 

I still have a few touch-ups to do, and I'm thinking of getting some glass or plexi-glass to go on top, but overall I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. What do you think?

Up next: paint a little shelf I got at Valu Thrift (for about $1) to match and hang it on the wall. Sadly, I must do some school work first. This project might have to wait a bit...

*Thanks to the bloggers at Young House Love for the great tutorials and examples about painting furniture!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Where have I been? Well, we had a lovely, quiet Thanksgiving here at our house with my mom and brother. We brined a turkey and made stuffing and pumpkin cheesecake. Mmmm..... It all turned out pretty great, especially the cheesecake.

Then last weekend, we started decorating our house for Christmas a bit. We had a ton of icicle lights left over from our wedding reception, so we decided to get out the ladder and put them up on our house. Neither of us had ever hung lights before, but we were eager to make our house look good. Look at this guy - he's ready:

Action shot:

And the final product:

What do you think?