No Sew Curtains Under $15!

I recently got a box of goodies from my parents and memom and in that box was yards upon yards of the most beautiful lace. Memom had cleaned out some of her old scraps and kindly decided to ship it to me!!! I was like a fat kid in a candy shop opening that box, ogling over all the beautiful material and thinking about what I could do with it. As you can see it was put to good use on a cost effective/much needed window treatment. I spend a good amount of time in the kitchen and I was getting tired of looking out this drab window that made me feel like I was in an institution. Don't get me wrong I'm thankful for this heavy duty beast of a window considering we've had two earth quakes since I've been here and we're currently in typhoon season, but it definitely needed a feminine touch.

I didn't want to spend much on this window treatment. We move at least every 3 years and who knows what size windows my next dwelling place will have? So I found some long curtain sheer panels on sale for $7 at our local Base Exchange and also picked up a tension rod for a whopping $5. I measured out the panels and divided them into 3 sections. The measurements were 18'', 14'' and 10''. 

I then used Stitch Witchery (love this stuff) to secure each layer. The 10'' is obviously in front, then the I attached the 14'' to the back of it and the 18'' was last. It was a bit tedious but easier than sewing  it (I'm not an expert sewer) considering the material likes to slide all over the place. 

Then I measured out my lace and used Stitch Witchery to attach it to each of the three layers. I also left a little excess at the each end and folded it behind each section and secured it to the back of the curtain sheer for a clean line.

Then all that was left was to put up my new, cost effective window treatment and watch as it brought some life and warmth to a drab place. Enjoy!

Pretty Toes!

One of the many great things about Okinawa is the elaborate pedicures! They're amazing and last about 90 minutes. You drink some of the best iced tea I've ever had (if you're from Kaufman, it ranks up there with the Tea Room's lemonade tea). It's so relaxing and as you can see the nail art is out of this world! I always try my best not to move or laugh when they start with the detailed painting...you should see the amount of paint they have! I'm so looking forward to friends and family coming to visit and getting pedicures! Enjoy :D

What's for dinner?

With Robert's arrival less than a month away, I've been thinking about several things that are going to change when he gets home. I'll have to stop watching movies on my laptop in bed every night,  I'll also have to start sleeping on my side of the bed, and a big one is the cooking. I definitely cook less and smaller portions when he's not around. I've never been great at planning out meals for the week, but this is my crafty attempt at making it more fun!

I'm recently obsessed with making picture frames into dry erase boards...so this fit perfectly into my current need. I designed this simple background and printed it out on my little Canon computer printer. Then framed it up! Now I'm all ready to start planning out my daily meals.

If you would like to create one of these it's really simple. The picture frame is an 8x10. I will actually email you the design I created and you can print out your own! It prints out as 8.5x11 and you just have to trim it down. All I ask is that you follow my blog and shoot me a quick email or facebook message and I'll get a high resolution file of the What's For Dinner Planner to you! Enjoy...

Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy!

No this post has nothing to do with peas or lemons or squeezing really, but I saw that phrase on another blog this week and it's been stuck in my head! This post does involve the word easy. Above is my desk area in our office/extra guest room/craft room. I love this area of our house, which I guess is a good thing since I spend a great deal of time here. I think it's important to have a cozy area like this especially when you work from home! The newest addition to this wall is my to do list.

I found this super cheap picture frame that was once a hideous color and spray painted it this amazing orange!!! 

Yes, I put notebook paper as my background...I like straight lines when writing and if I don't have them my words always drift upward.

I wanted a little extra punch of color so I added this cut out from some amazing scrapbook paper I got from my sister-in-law...thanks Jamie...I love it!

Also some other fun facts about my desk: Starting on the left, that's a picture my three best friends from my wedding day, given to me by one of them. The framed flower is a watercolor painting that Robert picked up for me while we were engaged in all his worldly travels. The orange wire folder holder is from my great grandparent's old grocery store...thanks memom! Last but not least is my Starbuck's city mug from Pattaya...thanks amazing hubby! By the way I collect these mugs :D (cough, cough)

So there you go...easy peasy lemon squeezy. Enjoy...

Sweet Gifts

A few days before Robert arrived home for his little visit, I received the most beautiful gift in the mail from his Grandmommy! She's a potter and had made us these fabulous mugs. The back of them say Okinawa 2010. I'll have to post some close ups later. Robert used to have a mug similar to the one in the picture but it broke in the move to Okinawa. Thank you Grandmommy for your sweet gift, it made my day! 

As you can see, I convinced my husband to snap a few photos before he left. He had a little time after he went in to work that morning and before he had to head back to the ship. Thanks baby for always being so great to me! We had a wonderful time while he was home. Every time we're separated for a significant amount of time, no matter how long or how far, it just confirms that I definitely married my best friend!!

To My Dad

As Father's Day is coming to an end in Okinawa and just beginning back in the States, I've had a lot of time to think about my dad today. I'm so very thankful for his influence in my life for so many reasons.

Thank you Dad for:

• Loving me
• Tucking me in at night
• Checking for monsters under the bed
• Waking up in the middle of the night when I thought the monsters came back
• Piggy back rides to the breakfast table
• Never being too busy
• Making Jay put back the covers that he had stolen off of me during nap time :D
• Taking us to pep rallies on Friday
• Apologizing when you made a mistake (ie: the pencil incident) 
• Curling my hair even though I'm pretty sure you ended up w/2nd degree burns
• Putting my hair in a perfectly slicked back ponytail
• Being my third base coach in softball
• Buying me and all my friends ice cream when you came to have lunch w/me in elementary school
• Always encouraging me in my endeavors
• Leaving meetings at work early to make my volleyball games
• Constantly telling me you were proud of me
• Meeting me for coffee at the local Starbucks in college
• Lunch dates at Angelo's
• Always listening
• Taking my phone calls during staff meeting
• Having a great sense of humor 

The list could go on and on, but thank you most of all for the Godly example you set for Jay and I. You have taught me so me things, but of all of them I think that's the most important. You were always the same person at home as your were in pulpit on Sunday mornings and I think that's a rare thing. Thank you for making life choices that I don't think many people would have made and trusting God to become the incredible father that you are. I love you very much and am so proud to call you Dad! I'm proud of you...you're doing good stuff. :D

Happy Father's Day from Oki!

Finishing Touches Are For the Birds!

I'm approaching the 4 month mark of living in Okinawa! I was teasing Robert the other day that by the time he got back I would have been here longer without him than with him...haha! I think that's the story of many wives here on the island (or any base), except their time encompasses much more than mine. In those four months, I have been quite busy making our house apartment a home. If you know me pretty well, you know that I constantly add or rearrange things until I'm satisfied. There's no such thing as finishing touches in my book, but I think I'm getting close!

I finally have our bedroom exactly almost how I want it. It took awhile and I still have a few things left...like that open wall to the right of bed, I'm thinking a collage of random frames filled with photos and random art...I let you know how it turns out. I still have a full length mirror that looks very blah and needs to be hung somewhere, I keep putting it off....oops. After all the work on the bedroom one of my favorite things about it are the birds.

In reality I hate birds. I have extremely bad luck when it comes to them. Seriously, three stories come to mind...

Exhibit A: I have been pooped on three times...all of those instances it got in my hair. One of the times I was actually running...that's efficient aim if you ask me!

Exhibit B: I've also been attacked...seriously. When I was in college working on campus over the summer, a bird swooped down at my head and it must have had some depth perception problem or it was extremely vindictive because its little claw got caught all in my hair. I was in an outdoor stairwell screaming my head off and throwing all the files I had in my hand everywhere. I don't know who was more freaked out me or the bird or the person walking up the stairs...probably the latter of the three.

Exhibit C: I also ran into a peacock in Hawaii, literally turned around ran right into it. I said I was sorry and made my way to the bathroom. When I opened my stall to go wash my hands it was standing right in front on my stall. Even though I insisted it, "shoo! shooo!" it didn't budge. So I settled for instant hand sanitizer and ran out of that bathroom. Poor Robert had no clue why I was so freaked out. When I explained the peacock followed me into the bathroom and was taunting me, he probably thought I'd been out in the sun too long that day.

As you can see, birds and I have never quite figured out how to coexist in peace on this very large earth. Even though in reality we have a mutual hate for each other, I just love the way their silhouettes look on my walls. I am quite proud of how they turned out!

They were very easy to make. I sketched the outline of the bird on scrapbook paper and then cut it out with an exacto knife (once again...my solution for everything these days). Then I framed them in some super cheap frames I picked up at the store and painted white. The background is actually some old wrapping paper that I had on hand with a subtle texture. Just goes to show you can make fun creations for under $10! Enjoy and watch out for birds (Hitchcock was one to something, I think we're kindred spirits).