Summer Catch-up Post

Wow. Hi there. It's been a while.

As I mentioned in my last post I just moved out! So needless to say this summer has been an even busier one than usual for me. Things are finally starting to wind down from June/July craziness, and I'm just going to do that lame thing I tend to do bloggers do when they recap entire chunks of their lives because they've been too busy/tired/lazy to write regularly. Here goes, my summer thus far in photos and choppy sentences. GO.

Emily got married! The ceremony was perfect, the day was a dream, colors were vibrant and the party was outrageously fun.



Mr. & Mrs. Harrison



P.S. Emily glowed all day :)



Brilliant colors.



Amber turned two! I can't believe it's been that long since this little fireball entered the world. She has added so much color and happiness to our lives and I can't wait to continue to watch her learn and grow.

Andrew turned 8! He was away for his actually birthday this year, so we celebrated early with a carnival party for him and a bunch of his friends. His eyes will break hearts some day--and by that I mean more than just his aunty's. He continues to make me laugh daily and his energy-without-end never ceases to remind me how exciting life is.



I cried this year. Again. Just like last year.



Ok, so Amber loving cake is not a new development. But I had to share this one from Andrew's party too. We tell her to show us her teeth to get her to smile. Oh, and she calls Andrew Doo-Doo... which makes my heart happy.

Our third annual Luau celebrated Laura's graduation this year! The day was fun, but the weather left much to be desired.

Shout out to Papa D for our awesome Tiki bar that's survived from the first Luau!

My Uncle Scott (super-hero from move in week) turns 40 in the fall, so to throw him off we had a summer surprise party!

My sister and I crafted a man bouquet for him ;)

Block of styrofoam in a glass vase, liquor bottles, cigars and lotto tickets taped to wooden kabob sticks and stuck into the styrofoam!

In other news, Ashley keeps getting prettier....

Seriously. She's 6 going on supermodel.

I got to see Dave Matthews Band this summer at an outdoor venue in Pittsburgh with a bestie Bryn and her family. We had a blast and a perfect day for music, tailgating and sunshine.



Thanks Dodi for the ticket, the ride and such a fun trip!!



We celebrated the final birthday for the year of one of us gals--Kayla.
AKA Kankfest 2012.

We created a scavenger hunt for her that I'll post more about another time, but for now I'll tell you that family reunion crashing, pirates, pony rides, alcohol and surprises were involved.

A birthday surprise perfect for Kayla <3

Then this happened.

My family spent another year supporting and fundraising for the Relay for Life. This year our team raised over $5,000! Click here to donate to my family's fundraising efforts!

Amber gets her cheesing from me apparently.

I attended the 4th Annual Studer Invitational Beer Olympics with the rest of the Gals and my sister Laura who was finally of legal age to participate this year. My two year reigning champs team--Team Potter--were finally dethrowned this year....by none other than my little sister's team. Ugh.

Second place ain't too shabby, but I'll miss team Potter next year...

Slip n Sliding may or may not have been involved.



At least we shared the Smack Talk award at the end of the day...



I FINALLY put up the gallery wall in my apartment, and so far, I'm loving it.

A shelf below yet, and maybe some sort of wrought iron scroll above and it will be perfect.

I fell down the stairs in my apartment yesterday. Like head first down the whole thing.

I'm left today with a sore tailbone and achy back and shoulders, two bruised kneecaps, bruises on my shin, thigh, foot and elbow and a shattered ego.

But the night ended at an amazing concert- The Outlaw Roadshow featuring the Counting Crows. The music was so good and it was the perfect night to be at an outside concert. Our spots on the lawn weren't bad either.

Stage AE in Pittsburgh--love, love, LOVE this venue.

We sparkle in the sun.

So that's my summer so far.

Spending today recovering and trying not to fall asleep.

Here's to hoping the rest of it is just as fun, and
doesn't involve anymore falls.

Big Changes--Big Love

So I am making a HUGE change in my life right now.

As in, moving out of my parents house.

As in to a new town.

As in alone.

Ok, so it's really only 15 minutes from my house, and in an area I've been familiar with for most of my life, but still this is a big deal for me people! I signed the lease on Monday of this week (when my mom and I spent the entire evening scrubbing the place down) and have spent the rest of my week hauling carloads to and from work.

Last night the best family a gal could ask for helped her move-in her few larger belongings. This sounds simple enough, except for the following points: A) I seriously picked the hottest day of the year so far (hello 90s), B) to move to a third floor apartment, C) with a narrow--I'm talking suck in your gut or you won't get through narrow--staircase, D) and not one bit of air-conditioning. (heh sorry guys!)

A loveseat took approximately an hour (and the removal of three banisters with mile long screws) to get up my tiny staircase. And who would have thought? Box springs don't bend! That baby had to come in through my living room window after being hoisted onto the roof next door, and walked up the wobbly staircase serving as my fire escape.

Yuck... now do you understand why they are the best? Because they are. And because they love me enough to help and sweat and work really, really hard with only beer and popsicles as payment.

I've been an emotional-stressed out-nervous wreck this week, and just thinking about all of their help is choking me up right now... You sometimes forget how loved you really are by the people around you, and I could not have been blessed with a better support system and loving family.

Thank yous:

Jill- For never being afraid to get your hands dirty and for all your support <3

Jon- For letting me load my junk into your truck and all the heavy lifting

Daddy- For being my fix-it superman and for moving me in... with a HERNIA.

Uncle Jerry- For letting me use your truck and for finding the humor in the situation

Uncle Scott- This man get's the MVM (most valuable mover) Award. He single handedly carried my box springs over his head up a set of shaky wooden stairs and through my window. He also got on the wrong end of the loveseat dilemna--as in he headed up before it and got stuck doing all the pulling and banister manipulation himself.

Mommy- For feeding my moving crew, for keeping Jill & Jon's kiddos so they could come help, for cleaning the majority of my apartment, for coming on countless shopping trips and hearing me ramble about all of my great (and some not so great) ideas for how I want to decorate, and for hugging me last night when I came home and cried at the sight of my empty bedroom.

I love you all.

Here are a few pics of the empty apartment, pre-move-in! I can't wait to decorate it, fill it up, and make it my own little home :)



Extra counter/dinette space in my kitchen



The entryway into my living room from the kitchen.

Living room with big new windows :)

Bedroom with small old windows...

Emily's Bridal Shower!

Have you ever had the perfect party in your brain?

Along the way details get changed, there's too much to be done, wrenches get thrown into your plans, and a little thing called poverty conscious budgeting creeps up on you; It all leaves you wondering if the picture in your head will ever become a reality.

In a recent post about a Bridal Shower Gift, I mentioned that I'd been busy planning
a bridal shower for my friend Emily along with a very crafty-resourceful-fun-ambitious group of ladies: Jena (MOH), Carissa (Bridesmaid/photographer extraordinaire),
& Debbie (mother of the bride). And what a beautiful picture we had in our heads for the way we wanted Emily's shower to be! Her wedding colors are coral pink and espresso brown and Emily picked out brightly-colored vibrant flowers to really liven things up!

Here's how the shower turned out along with some tips along the way! Everything we did is incredibly DIY-able and for the most part budget-friendly; We couldn't be more thrilled with the way it turned out! (All photos courtesy of FABULOUS Carissa McClellan Photography! Visit her website here, and check her out on facebook here)

We went wit simple white table clothes (the paper ones with the decorative edges & plastic lining) and plain brown table runners (ALSO paper table clothes cut into four strips lengthwise! These runners were super simple, streamlined our decor and got a lot of compliments..). White flower and coral heart confetti broke up the plain brown runner, and we centered a large and small, ribboned mason jar of flowers on each table.

Side Note: Flowers are crazy expensive. We may or may not have used premade bouquets of pastel and neon daisies from Walmart (thanks Aunt Belva for scouting that out!). We also may or may not have torn said bouquets apart and picked our favorite colors. Additionally.... someone may have picked up some filler sprigs and already-opened roses (for a fraction the cost of a rosebud stem) on her way to the shower that morning. The same person may have also cut fresh peonies from a neighbor's yard while a certain maid of honor raided her mother's flowerbed.

Only one thing can be said for sure--YES that was me picking those purple flowers on the side of the road on my way to the church hall...

For favors, we bridesmaids spent many-a-night guzzling wine handcrafting these homemade bath fizzes. A pin paved the way to this helpful tutorial, and Martha Stewart showed us how to wrap it all up. The tags read:

 From My Shower to Yours

Homemade Bath Fizz

Emily and Mike

2012

Em's not a huge gamer so we made many of the games optional, and included other things to do like bringing along a recipe card and writing a piece of advice or special message to the bride-to-be.

Each of us girls made up a basket to give away as a door prize... Lottery, Herb Garden, Italian Cooking, Home & Bath.

A lovely shower for a lovely bride. And the best part is that the party turned out exactly the way we wanted it to! And we managed to keep it all (well...most of it) a surprise from Emily.

Mike put in an appearance to help lug the shower loot home...

Bridal Envy.

Emily and Her Mama

2/3 of the Maids

Bridal Party! (minus the tiniest, who was not open to being photographed at the moment)

"Bundle of Joy" Baby Shower Gift!

Creative shower gifting seems to be quite the craze these days...

Diaper Bikes, Diaper cakes, Diaper wreaths, etc.

Here's the gift I gave at my most recent baby shower, to my cousin Missy!

(insprired by this pin)

It's as easy as a bag of diapers, a blanket and some creative tagging.

I free handed the stork onto 2 layers of cardstock glued together, traced in sharpie & colored with colored penil; Cut concentric circles with scallop scissors and used script-y sticker letters. Tie with a coordinating ribbon, and voila!

As an additional note, it's a good idea to use some kind kind of framework inside the

blanket bundle; I cut the front off of a cardboard box, and cut along the box's edges to help it not look so stiff, and to make it easier to gather the blanket on top.

Anyone do anything else a bit different with diapers for a shower gift?

Happy Bundling ;)

Bridal Shower Gifting!

May has been absolute craziness for me... and June is looking even crazier!

I've been very busy lately planning a bridal shower for my friend Emily, in cohoots with two other amazing girls Jena(MOH) & Carissa (check out her amazing photography skills on facebook here, or on her blog here!), and the wonderful mother of the bride Debbie.

With all of the final details falling in to place, we were all getting very excited for the shower on Saturday, and even more so because all the details besides the time and place were unknown to the bride. That's right, somehow we've managed to plan everything in absolute secrecy! I wont say too much about the shower because there will definitely be a post full of pictures yet to come!

I would, however, like to share the gifts I gave to the bride, because I'm happy with how they turned out! Emily was registered at a few places, but I decided to do my shopping at Bed Bath & Beyond. I got a few small items on her registry and created this!

A bouquet fit for a bride! And here's a closer look...

The colors for the wedding are coral and brown, so I found two coral colored daisies at Michaels, and used brown ribbon I had from another project. Everything else in the gift I got at Bed Bath & Beyond:

1- Yolk colored dish towel

1-Yolk colored dish cloth

1-pair of Caphalon tongs

1-Caphalon ladle

1-Wooden Spoon

1-Slotted Wooden Spoon

The tricky part was not being able to take all of the tags off of everything, in case the bride needs to make some returns. I was able to leave the tags on everything (some of which you can see on the wooden spoons) but the Caphalon utensils, but neatly took them off of their packaging and will give the tags to the bride on the side.

First, arrange your utensils and flowers so that they are fanning outwards a bit. Starting with the tagged side of the dishtowel, wrap/cone the towel around the base of the utensils so that the other end comes around and overlaps the tag, hiding it from view. Place the dish cloth flat, and tag side down, over the loose ends in the back and secure the entire thing with a rubber band!

Wrap with a pretty ribbon and it's as easy as that! Bouquets like this could be made as large and extravagant as you wanted--or as small and sweet like mine :)

If you've got lots of utensils to give, even consider

using a vase!

As the other part of the brides gift--per her request-- I made a photo collage of all things "Emily & Mike's wedding." Including her adorable shower invites (Thanks Carissa!), the wedding invite, the program cover for the ceremony, an engagement picture, and last but not least the date... I'll update with a pic as soon as I get one from the bride!

One of my favorite things...? LISTS!

I love love love making lists.

When I am stressing over lots to do, I make a list.

When I am packing and worried I'll forget last minute items before I leave? I make a list.

When I'm travelling and have certain things I NEED to see? I make a list.

You get it. Lists are helpful in being organized, in destressing myself, and they're also fun to make about not so stressful and organized things. I've been thinking about this post for a while now and after fatefully finding a new site on Stumble Upon, Lists of Note (where I found a hysterical list written by Albert Einstein--demands he was making to his wife in order to stay with her versus getting a divorce) I was further inspired to reveal the list that's been forming in my brain.

I was thinking about the simple things in life that make me the happiest and how we as people experience each of these things. It all boils down to the simplest ways that we experience any given part of life instinctually--our senses! So we'll call this list 5 on 5: My five favorite things to experience through each of my five senses (in no particular order-except for the honorable mentions who just didn't make the actual cut). Ready? GO.

Five-on-Five

Smell

1. Woodfires

2. Laundry in the Dryer

3. Halloween (in otherwords that perfect crisp smell on a perfectly crisp fall evening)

4. Ham baking

5. Coffee

*Honorable mentions = Chocolate

Sounds

1. The giggles of my sister's kids

2. Hippie music

3. White noise (for sleeping of course)

4. The ocean

5. Crickets and the sound of night (outside of a big city of course)

Tastes (aka hardest category to limit ever...)

1. Chocolate

2. Chicken Noodle Soup

3. Baked potatos cooked on a campfire

4. Gravy

5. Rey Azteca (a local Mexican restaurant)

* Honrable mentions= peanut butter, wine & pizza

Sights (real life views I've experienced)

1. Watching happy reunions

2. Mountaintop views

3. The smiles of my sister's kids

4. The first glimpse of home after a long trip 

5. Sicilian countryside

Touch

1. New born baby-soft skin

2. Sunshine on your skin

3. Holding hands

4. Toes in the sand

5. Hot bubble bath

*Honorable mention= massage (duh)

I'm feeling pretty positive about this list... I think it covers  my senses most favorite things. What are some of yours??

Old is the New NEW!

She almost got the boot.

She’s been cracked for years, she’s almost 30 years old, and she ain’t the prettiest thing to look at, but I needed her.

When I moved off to my first little place on my own I had a nice big closest, but no dresser.  Now being that I was going to start paying rent, and bills, and all the other expenses that come a long with being an adult, I wasn’t the least bit interested in buying a bedroom suit.  Thankfully, my parents offered to give me this little gem (because the alternative was leaving her for the garbage men).  I had a walk in closet that I could hid her in at my new place, so it worked out perfectly. 

My parents bought this dresser before my older sister was born, it was just the right size to put all of their new baby things in before my sister arrived.  But over the years this dresser has held sweaters, bathing suits, holiday decorations, and even made a nice little hiding spot for the family cat (sup muchka).  It served its purpose a million times over for me in my new apartment – out of sight out of mind – yet my gutchies, socks, and camis all had a space of their own (I LOVE how many drawers this dresser has!)

Just a couple of months ago, I hauled everything up to move again, in with my boyfriend.  The truck was barely big enough to hold all of my belongings, and both my dad and boyfriend tried to convince me to leave the beat up dresser by the dumpster to leave room for things that I actually needed… like my bed.  I couldn’t bring myself to let go!  This dresser has worked out so well for me, and all of my garments had their own space, and it was just too difficult to say goodbye.  I promised them that I was going to paint it and make it beautiful and worth the effort of squeezing it into the moving van. 

Its been 3 months since I’ve been moved in, but finally this past weekend, my dresser got the makeover that I had promised.

I purchased all of the knobs from anthropology and Joann’s fabrics ( on sale, wahoo!) & the paint was from Lowes.  It only took me about 3 hours to prime and paint (and about 2 seconds to put the new knobs on) and now I’m pretty sure I’m in love with her all over again.

  

The drawers may still be cracked, but I think it adds to her charm <3