{Pretty Lady}

Isn't she pretty!

She is going to look great in our flea market booth!

{Moving Sucks....}

....especially when it isn't even your stuff!! Ugh!! Now, please don't get me wrong, I am always and have always been willing to help out my family, especially my mom, but for the following reasons, after helping my mom move all day, I feel all kinds of annoyed and tuckered out....

1) The woman (I mean the mother that I love) has EIGHTY-BAGILLION freaken' things. By things I mean sets of dishes, baking supplies, bed linens, pottery, Christmas ornaments/decorations, books (oh my goodness, the books!!), silverware sets, cake stands, boxes marked "bedroom - miscellaneous", etc etc. etc.!!!

2) To move her into a 2 bedroom apartment, we spent ALL day filling and unloading a 26 ft u-haul (the biggest one I have ever seen) as well as 4 large SUV's with stuff.......AND........we still have to go back to the old place tomorrow to get MORE stuff....AND clean!!!!!!!!!!

3) Due to hap-hazardly packing some very heavy decorative items (mm-hmmm...sister, you know who you are - LOL), when I "stopped-short" at a yellow light that was about to turn red, one of the previously mentioned heavy decorative items decided to shoot forward, slamming into my windshield and CRACKING IT!!!


Ugh.

I
HATE
MOVING!

{DIY Bedside Art - Burlap & Nail-head Trim, Oh My!}

I have always liked decorating with monograms and initials. Ever since I had my very first "big-girl" apartment back in college, if I would stumble across my initial ("L") in any form (metal, wood, painted, unfinished, etc.) I would buy it. Back then, I had no idea what to do with the letters I had collected, so I always ended up leaning them on a shelf or setting them against a wall or on my dresser. Not too creative. Today, I have no idea where all of my fantastic initials went, but I have a ton of ideas of what I could do with them! Typical!! Anyway, a while back when Josh and I first moved in together, I was on the hunt for some stylish way to designate "our side" of the bed, but I just needed an idea to hit me! A-ha!! Initials!! While out shopping with my sister, she came across a large white wooden "L", but they did not have the matching "J". Bummer! I decided to buy the "L" anyway, in hopes of finding something similar (if not the same) to use for Josh's side. Low and behold, several weeks later, my sister found the matching "J"! I was so excited!! (I know, it's kind of silly to be excited about a wooden letter, but I totally was!!).

My style/taste was evolving, and I had my heart set on a tufted wingback bed (I'll go deeper into that in another post), and I had become obsessed with two things....burlap & nickel-finish nail-head trim. My wheels started turning, and soon enough I knew exactly what I wanted to do! Because the letters were white, and so was my bedroom wall, I knew I needed to get creative. I could have painted them, but I had another idea in mind. I bought two large art canvases at Micheal's (11x14? 16x20 maybe? can't remember the exact size, but they were pretty big), I ordered nickel nailhead trim from Beacon fabrics & notions (I just googled "Nickel Nail-head Trim and stumbled upon them), and I bought a few yards of natural burlap from Walmart. I used my staple-gun to staple the burlap around the canvases (I just stapled it into the wood frame of the canvas), and then used E-6000 to adhere the large wooden letters to the center of each of the canvases (I wasn't blogging then, so I of course failed to take pictures of the beginning stages of the process - Duh!).

Here they are semi early on in the process - the letters were glued to the burlap-wrapped canvases....
(*tip: I didn't do this, but if I made these again, I would secure the burlap to the canvas with glue (or something) prior to staple-gunning it on. Once I attached the letter, it was so heavy that it sort of made the the canvas itself wobbly. It was glued on tightly, so it wasn't really a problem, just something to note.)
Then I began to add the nail-head trim. Nail-head trim is SO easy!! It comes on a roll, and only every fifth nail needs to be nailed in.
(*tip: I used a rubber mallet instead of a real hammer so as not to damage the pretty nail-heads)

And here they are all finished!! I was so pleased with myself and so happy with how they turned out. I was sort of new to crafting at the time, so I was sure that something would go awry, but my project was a success and I was thrilled!!
Once they were done, they sat in my crafting-area for a while. My room hadn't quite come together yet (my dream bed was in the works, and my dream nightstands were too), and I didn't want to just put them up all willy-nilly, so I waited. And waited. And....waited! Until finally, when the room was pretty much set, they found their home....

My side....

And Josh's side.....

Can't you tell which side is mine ;)

Now they are "leaned up against the wall", but in a current and stylish way! I am still so in love with them!

Keep your eyes peeled for your own initials!! They are a ton of fun to decorate with!!

:)

-lisa

{Thrify finds}

If you've ever read my sisters blog (which I am sure all of you have), she and I (and a few of our closest friends) are constantly on the hunt for great deals on awesome vintage/collectible goods. Ali and I along with our friend Kristin of WESTon Cole (**If you haven't already, you should check out her blog! She is one of the most stylish people I know!!!!) are working on getting a booth at our local Irvine Antiques and Collectibles show sometime in the next few months (perhaps July), so we have all had our eagle eyes open, looking for steals of deals! So far, we each have some pretty awesome pieces to sell. We want our booth to be an eclectic mix of furniture (vintage, refurbished, shabby chic, mid-century modern, etc.) and home decor. We will be selling a lot of "new" treasures that we have found lately while out and about at thrift stores and estate sales, but we will also incorporate some things that we have loved for years but are ready to pass on to the next lucky shoppers!

Here are some of the "new" items that I have recently "popped" on......

**A high-back winged toile chair in MINT condition ($75)

{A little spendy, I know, but worth every penny!! It is SUPER comfortable!}

**A beautiful cheese dome ($4)

**A pretty milk-glass hobnail vase ($4)

**A beautiful wood/silver {jewelry?} box ($5)

**A Queen Anne occasional chair ($12)
{which I am planning to paint and reupholster}

**And these adorable hot air balloon art prints ($6 for the pair)

I have a ton of other things that I plan to sell that I am currently working on (a coffee table, french-style nightstands, a desk chair, etc.) so I am glad that we have a little more time to get ready! Our booth will be filled with some awesome things!! We are getting so excited for what is to come and have been loving shopping for the thrifty finds in the meantime!

Happy weekend!
-lisa

{Sewing-is-tough!}

My new toy.....

My husband is the BEST. He impulsively bought me a sewing machine the other day. Wasn't that so sweet!! He sooooo gets me and supports my desires to try new things. Whether I am good at those things is totally up to me, and . . . . . . well . . . . I wish I could say that I was good at this. When it comes to sewing....so far....I'm not so good! LOL. I know, I know, patience is a virtue and practice makes perfect, I know!! But, in general, it was a tough go.

We got her all threaded (after 20+ minutes) and then Ali read the instructions before she gave it a whirl...

Then I decided to give it a try......(I'm very focused - haha)
We didn't have a plan for making anything, we just wanted to get a feel for the machine and practice a little. Even Josh got in on the fun (and sewed much straighter lines than Ali and I did, that's for sure)
Ali tried making ruffles, and then she tried to sew a bunting.....none of it was too successful, so at the end of the sewing practice run, we managed to make a . . . . . . . . .
P I L L O W !
A totally intentional t i n y pillow......

...and sadie totally loves it!

LOL!

We are not giving up, don't worry! We will try again soon & I will keep you posted on our progress!

I hope you had a great Tuesday!

:)
-lisa

{A little Background - Part 3}

My bridal shower......

It

was

amazing!!

(***Beautiful photos taken by Kelly of Bubba Loo Photography)

{A little background - Part 2}

I wanted to also share some of our professional engagement photos. These are some of my fav's (taken by Kym of Kym Vitar {Photography})

{A little background}

So, I figured it couldn't hurt to give you a little background on how my happy lucky life got started.....
I grew up in Laguna Beach, a very small know-everyone kind of town. I went to preschool, elementary school, high-school (etc.) with all of the same people, and even worked at the same places as a lot of my friends (summer festivals, local surf shops, etc.). After growing up, going to college, and starting my own independent grown up life, I found myself living down in San Diego in a long-term relationship with someone (for 4.5 years) that ultimately ended with us going our separate ways. During those 4.5 years, people often said to me "When you know, you know", but in my opinion (and in his) 4.5 years is far too long to try to figure out if you "know"....you know!? (haha). So after that relationship came to an end, I was heartbroken (to say the least) and a little bit gun shy. I remember thinking "Where do I go from here?"....."Why do I have to start over now!!!??!". At this point, I was 30 yrs old and nowhere close to where I wanted to be - or so I thought!!
Needless to say, I was not looking forward to dating again AT ALL, but knew that I would have to get back on the horse sometime. Shortly after the break-up, the holiday season began. I went to a holiday girls dinner at my sisters house, and a friend of mine posted a picture on Facebook of all of us girls in front of the tree. That same evening, I got a FB email from a long lost friend. His name is Josh and he happened to be a FB friend of the girl that posted the picture. He said that he instantly recognized me and that he couldn't help but say hello! It had been 15 years since he and I had been in touch, so to say that I was surprised to hear from him would be an understatement. He was older than me so we never went to school together, but we worked together for several summers at The sawdust Festival. I worked at the kids arts and crafts booth and he was Grounds Security. I was happy to hear from him, so I responded to his email briefly filling him in on what was going on, but was still feeling pretty down overall, so I said that we should keep in touch and that I'd probably feel more social after the holidays were over. He said that he of course understood, and was looking forward to catching up. After Christmas, he emailed again, checking in on me to see how I was holding up (which I thought was very sweet). We emailed back and forth a few times getting each other up to speed on what we each had been up to, and he emailed me a Happy New Year email on Jan 1st. At that time, I thought to myself "Ok, shake it off!! It's a new year! It's time to move forward".
On January 2nd (a Saturday) a friend of mine came down to San Diego to hang out and we went to dinner. She and I were both single and were trying to be supportive and encouraging to one another. "This is our year" we both said!! Repeatedly!!! When dinner was over and my friend headed home, I logged on to FB, and almost immediately, an IM popped up from Josh. Long story short, he and I "chatted" from 11:00 pm until almost 4 in the morning. We both were enjoying getting to know each other again. When we finally came to our senses and started to wrap up our conversation, Josh suggested that we get together sometime soon, and I said "Sure, when?" and he said "How about tonight". I was slightly confused being that it was 4 am, and I knew he wasn't going to get in his car to come hang out right then. To me it was still "tonight", but I soon realized that he meant Sunday night, and I said "Sure!!". I was actually very excited for the first time in a while.
He came down and took me to dinner and a movie. We had a great time, and agreed to do it again soon. We both immediately felt a very strong connection. We knew the same people and the same places. It just felt......easy! He called me the next day and asked me to come up to his house on Wednesday so he could cook me dinner. I went, and from that point forward, it was him and me!! Together!! Some people thought that we may have jumped in to things too quickly, but he and I felt differently. It just felt right!

First date: January 3rd, 2010

Moved in together: February 16th, 2010

Engaged: March 22nd, 2010 (1 day before I turned 31)






Married: August 22nd, 2010 :) (pictures to come)

When you know, you know!!

:)
-lisa

{Hello again.....}

So, I am finally updating the blog. I know, I know, it took me a while, but here I am, finally ready to officially move forward!! I decided that I wanted this blog to encompass more than just what is going on with the starting-a-family adventure. That is interesting and all (sort of!? ha!), but I have been getting in to so much more lately! I have been doing a lot of home decorating, furniture refinishing, and craft projects with my sis, so I wanted to find a way to make this blog an outlet for all of the things that make up my happy, lucky life. Looking back over the last couple of years, I realize that so many tables in my life have turned. I now have an adorable husband, live in a beautiful home (its a rental, but so what, we LOVE it!), and we are working on starting a family (fingers crossed), so with all of that goodness going on, I have given my blog a new name - "Turning Tables"- and I am very excited to start sharing my adventures in designing our everyday life! Please stick with me, as I promise to update regularly with what has been going on in my day to day!

Yay for blogging (finally)!

:)
-lisa