MTV VMAs or Proof it's Time For Me to Grow Up

So, since I've finished my series of mini DIY craft projects, I've been feeling LAZY. Like don't-you-even-dare-ask-me-to-unload-the-dishwasher lazy. Like you're-out-of-black-dress-socks?-sounds-like-a-personal-problem-to-me kind of lazy. The hubby has been traveling so much for work; he was home for about 36 hours over the weekend and all I wanted to do was hang out and relax. Therefore we accomplished nothing. But after he left on Sunday, things got really exciting.

After I got home from dinner with a friend on Sunday night and since I was going-solo with the hubs on business, I was feeling quite bored. No great T.V. on Sundays (especially in this awkward, between-seasons time right now) until I came across this little walk-down-memory-lane from my teenage years.

I know I'm a little late on this recap of sorts, but here are some thoughts/takeaways coming from a 26-year-old watching the VMAs:

• Lady Gaga, you are creepy as shiz. Don't you know Jim Carrey already did the alter-ego thing at the 1999 MTV Movie Awards? You should.

• Is it just me or does Justin Beiber look like Elton John?

• Announcer: "Coming up, the world premiere sneak peek of Hunger Games" Me: Eeeeeeee! Eeeeeee! (trailer consists of nothing but the main character running through a forest) Me: Oh. Huh.

• Beyonce made the announcement she's preggers and I was squealing with excitement (like we're BFF and she's going to ask me to be the godmother). When I have a baby, if I could get a stage, a mike and some back-up dancers, I would love to reveal my pregnancy the same way she did.

• If I was 14 (or didn't have a husband around to specifically forbid things like this), I would definitely have a poster of Bruno Mars in my closet. Swoon! (His hair is a little odd, but I'll let it go.)

• Someone should have really told Lil Wayne that his performance had so many naughty words, about 80% of was muted. Also, his panties were showing. So there was basically a rapper on my TV running around in silence with visible panties. Not the way I had envisioned the show ending.

Bottom line: In more ways than I care to acknowledge, I am indeed a 14-year-old teeny bopper caught in a 26-year-old's body.

Did anyone else catch the show? Any key points I've missed?

Lucky for me, the hubs is back from his travels tomorrow night. Which means I will have someone to keep me company, as opposed to watching VMA re-runs.

Crafting. With Wine.

I think I've hit my productivity and craftiness limit this month. I'm now going to go collapse in a pile until probably Halloween. But before I do... :-) I have just one more little crafty-craft project to share. No, it's not curtains again. I was thinking... I should probably never do another curtains post. I think you get it. I can make curtains. Get it over, Benson.

For this craft, I was once again inspired by my other lover, Pinterest. Here was what originally inspired me:

I was thinking I could make it as a centerpiece for... somewhere in my house.

So, what I needed was a pack of some kind of bottled drink. I chose wine, obviously. Stores are starting to sell little mini four-packs of wine, which is perfect for me because I generally only have 1-2 glasses and then the rest of the bottle goes bad. And you KNOW I don't waste that shiz (said while snapping my fingers in a Z-formation).

Craft project. Right.

So, I started out by drinking this little gal. Not all in one night and definitely not while trying to manhandle a spray paint can.

Then, I removed the labels from the mini wine bottles with this Goo Gone I found underneath the kitchen cabinet. Ummm, Greg? Goo Gone? Any idea where this little gem came from?

Then, I simply primed the bottles and and container with spray primer, then spray painted the bottles white and the case green.

A few thin coats, but the primer was really key. Add some cute flowers I picked up from the HobLob and that was really it. All is cost me was about $4 for the flowers (already had the spray paint/primer and I'm not counting the wine because that was for pleasure).

I even found the perfect place for it (on a side table in my living room where I post up watching terrible reality TV while I wait for my hubby to get home).

Happy Wednesday!

Burger Love

So, unless you've been living under a rock you probably know that DFW (ahem, Frisco to be exact) got the first In-N-Out Burger in Texas. Since then, several others have opened. I guess it's a big deal if you're from California. Me? I don't care so much, although I'm always looking for the next bandwagon...

To be quite honest, I've been avoiding this restaurant like the plague. When I drove by it on my way to work on its opening day (about 4 months ago), there were hundreds of people out there along with two news trucks. At 8:20 in the morning, mind you. Really? I love a burger as much as the next person, but come on Dallas...

So, this past weekend, my curiosity got the best of me and the hubby and I made a trip to In-N-Out. We went during what we felt like was an "off-peak" time (2:30 p.m. on a Sunday) because big crowds make me anxious.

But apparently this establishment knows no "off-peak." We ordered quickly and I headed to the seating area to try to find a seat (None to be found). So, I sort of hung out and looked around waiting for someone to get up. I gave the hubby a quick glance from across the room and when I turned around, what do you know, someone got up and someone had already grabbed their table. Now, rinse and repeat two more times. Even the outside tables in the 105 degree temps were taken. I was like the person that keeps driving around a parking lot and having spots stolen from her. So, we ate in the car. (Klassy, right?)

We both thought it was really good for the price ($11 for the both of us), although the fries were mediocre.

But let me tell you what really gets my burger motor running. (Weird wording? Maybe.)

To be honest, I'm really not sure how good it is. I think it's just a childhood thing and the fact that there are no Checkers in the area.

In fact, anytime I'm anywhere near a Checkers, I make a point to make a trip. I've been to Florida twice in the past two years and don't think I left that state without a Checkers trip.

Case in point: I made all six of my girlfriends, who I was in Tampa with, go to Checkers on the last day. And then take a photo of me in front of it. Cool, right?

And again: When on vacay in Fort Lauderdale, we took a $30 cab drive for a $14 lunch?

And suddenly I'm no better than the In-N-Out fans.

Securing the Home: DIY Edition

One thing we've established is that I'm a bit neurotic paranoid of a scaredy-cat. And ever since we moved into this house, I've one little issue that keeps bothering me.

This:

In our living room, I have my little place that I sit at every night enjoying my usual DVR of deliciousness (SYTYCD, Teen Mom, Bachelor Pad, mmmm... keepin' in klassy). Yet, I'm always scared that somebody's peeking in through the side windows at me! Nothing scares the shiz out of me more than when someone rings the doorbell and as I'm going to answer it, they suddenly pop their face into the window. Yes, I'm talkin' about you, next-door neighbor. No, not that one.

So I decided I would get some curtains for them - easy enough, right? Um, is it ever?

The first issue is that each side of the window is only 7 inches wide, so we really had to figure out how we would actually hang them.

My first thought was a tension rod. (Note to self: do not Google "7 inch rod" - like, EVER.) That was a big fail for more reasons than one, but mostly because I couldn't find a small enough tension rod.

So, Greg and I (and the sales associate at Lowe's) had to get a little creative. We decided we would buy hooks to screw in the top of the window area and then we cut a dowel rod to place in the hooks and voila!

When it came to the curtains, that was another story. I wanted to do something super-neutral and, uh, cheap. Thinking I'd just pick up cheapo curtains, I headed - where else? - Ikea! I couldn't really find anything I liked until I wandered into the fabric area and came across this awesome linen-esque, neutral fabric.

Side note: I came across this super-cute frame for $30 at Ikea. I think it would be so cute spray-painted (maybe in a nursery) or even just the way it is, but I have no place for it right now so left sans "Ung Drill."

So, I was back to making my own curtains, AGAIN. Read some not super descriptive directions on how to do that here.

Then, I just slid the curtains through the towel rod and placed it back on the hooks. Worked like a charm. While they're super-neutral, they're really more functional more than anything (no peeking into our household)! The damage? About $24.

Making Old Into New

With all the weekend traveling we've been doing this summer, we've barely had any time to work on our home. But since we finally have a few weekends off this month, I was excited to work on some DIY projects I had pinned on Pinterest. (Time to stop pinning and start doing!)

My first project revolved around this random art nook in our entry way. Honestly, I've been trying to figure out what to place here since we moved in... which is why it's still empty.

The only piece of artwork I had that would fit was this little diddy I picked up from HobLob 1/2 off a few years ago. It just screams HobLob, if you ask me... And I'm just really not that crazy about it anymore, so was pinspired to repurpose it.

Before:

So, first I primed the artwork. Then, I stuck on these adhesive stickers I picked up in the HobLob scrapbooking aisle and spelled out one of my favorite quotes. (In the interest of full disclosure, this took quite a while.) And I've scrutinized and scrutinized this and I know it's not perfect, but I think it gives it charm. :-)

Then, I simply spray-painted the whole thing (just a couple of light coats) white and voila!

In addition, we added a couple of sconces we already had, but had yet to hang (from Pier One).

I'm still thinking about possibly re-doing the sign and painting it a different color - maybe green? But for now, we like it and it's definitely a nice little addition to our entryway and very cost-effective - I just paid $3 for the letters and $5 for the spray paint (since I already had the artwork and primer)!

I tackled a few other crafty projects this weekend, too, which I'll share soon!

The 90s are All That

While I consider myself a child of the 80s, I spent much of my childhood in the 90s, which I'm pretty convinced is the BEST time to have been a child. I could list a hundred reasons why - fru-fru bangs, Ace of Base, the walk-man, jellies, neon colors - I could go on, really I could. But I would say one of the best things is this:

And let me tell you, fellow children of the 80s/90s, IT. IS. BACK.

NickTeen (yes, that's a channel and if you have digital cable, you probably have it) is now bringing back some of the best 90s TV programming. Fantastic, right? OK, so it's between 12-4 a.m., but I'm pretty sure the DVR was invented because they knew this exact situation would one day happen.

They are currently playing a few favorites. Um, Clarissa, anyone? When the hubby and I first turned this on, it took every ounce of energy to not hop up and do the intro "spelling." Nah, nah, nah-nah-nah.

Other shows they plan on playing include Legends of the Hidden Temple, Salute Your Shorts (Awful Waffle, anyone?), Weinerville (does anyone else remember this creepy-ass show?) and probably what you've been waiting to hear [submitted for approval of the midnight society...] Are You Afraid of the Dark?.

This actually took the hubby and I back to the simpler times. Once we heard the "90s Are All That" news, pretty sure we stayed up late (I know, aren't we naughty?) watching old 90s show intros on YouTube, which then led to an entire performance of the Elephant Show's theme song (with motions, of course) and a fairly in-depth conversation about how effing creepy Bram was. I mean, really?

Anyways, for those as nolstagic as I.... enjoy!

Summer Tour Continues

Well, we're still in the middle of our summer tour de weddings/babies/fun. We spent this past weekend in Tulsa with friends. The trip was really two-fold:

1. We finally got the chance to meet this cutie, who is the daughter of some of our dear friends, Taylor and Kacey.

I don't know how I didn't snap a pic of Greg holding her "football" style (supporting the head, of course), as he calls it.

2. We got to spend time with friends and stayed with one of my oldest and dearest friends and her hubby.

But don't you worry - while we were there, I did a mini-house crashing (And when I say "house-crashing," I mean I creepily took pics of cute items in the guest bedroom we stayed in). Take it as a compliment. Really.

First, I spotted this cute lamp. She took a normal lamp, covered it in cute fabric and even made a few rosettes to attach (and we all know how much I love a good rosette). I'm totally going to cover an old lamp and add some rosettes. Maybe for the guest bedroom?

And I really liked this pillow. I know, rosettes again. But I loved how she used printed material in the rosette (and did you notice it's the same fabric from the lamp?)

All in all, it was a lovely weekend of laying out with friends, visiting, eating, baby cuddling and all other good things in life. In fact, as we were driving home, I'd say we were on a bit of a baby high. OK, the baby high was just me.

But then we got home, walked out on our front porch and realized...

We can't even keep flowers alive.

We then proceeded to lay around and be lazy the rest of the day, and word on the street is, you can't do that with children. So all is right in the world. :-)

Our summer tour continues later this week (Thursday to be exact) when we'll be traveling to Charlotte, NC for a wedding. Let the fun continue...