Words to brighten your day

Happiest of Happy New Years!

Wishing you a fabulous New Year!!

When you hit up all the discount racks tomorrow, don't forget to stock up on half priced clear ornaments.  You'll need them for fabulous little DIY projects like this one I found Jillianastasia...one of my new favorite blogs to peruse.  Hope your Christmas eve is full of glitter and magic.

Golden Christmas Dinner

It's the little things

I don't get home to visit nearly as much as I used to, or as much as I'd like. But when I do, these fun memories in my head becomes magical when I finally see them after years away. Something as boring and mundane as the D.C. metro because an exciting adventure, and the terminal a gorgeous piece of architecture. I was in awe of it once again, while my older brother groaned at the 40 minute ride ahead of us.
What favorite childhood memories do you wish to revisit? Are there any that you've recently re-expereinced?

 

Exterior Lighting DIY

This is by far one of my favorite spray paint projects with the most dramatic results.  It was done years ago,  (I just pulled these photos out of the vault) so please forgive the lack of step-by-step photographs,  but I'll give you an idea of the process. 

I mean look at this sad soul...

Seriously, have you ever seen a more beat up fixture?  I think it may have been brass-ish at one time, but that ship had clearly sailed into lime scaled waters.

  At the time I started this project,  we were thinking of listing our house on the market, so I wasn't in the mood to invest in new exterior lanterns.  Time to get creative.  With no time, and no budget, I cut quite a few corners.  I dismantled each fixture, very very lightly sanded each component (seriously, I maybe sanded for 3 minutes), then rinsed them off and let them dry.  Because the fixture was already in HORRIBLE shape, there wasn't much brass peeking through that had to be sanded away. 

 Enter my FAVORITE chrome spray paint...

Trust me, I've tested a TON of silver paints, and the Rustoleum always gets the job done.  After three light coats of paint, drying 15 minutes in between each coat, I let the pieces dry overnight, and here's the finished product:)  

SO much better right??  Do you have a favorite chrome spray paint??

My 1st Haircut at the Magic Kingdom

One of the highlights of our extremely long car trip to Florida, was an improptu jaunt to the Magic

Kingdom on our way home.  As you know, Butters just turned 1, so we thought he might actually find it somewhat amusing.  We were only a couple hours away from O-town, so quite frankly, we couldn't resist. Feeling completely unprepared for gallivanting around Magic Kingdom with a child (as opposed to drunken college co-eds that were with me on previous visits..kind of the same?) While searching the web for "how to do Disney with a 1 year old," I came across this little gem where I learned the following: A. The barber shop on Main Street USA is not fake like the front of the Golden Girl's house and B. They have super duper special "My First Haircuts," for toddlers.  Since the poor Butter bear had been referred to as a "she," dozens of times in public (are you kidding me, he's wearing a navy blue outfit with dinosaurs on it), and multiple relatives had inquired as to just "how long" were we going to let it grow, so this seemed to be a happy solution to something I had been dreading.

We had ridiculously low expectations about this experience.  Butters is a squirmy worm, and not a fan of being restrained.  This could end quite poorly actually.  Boy were we wrong.  His stylist Judy was a pro.  He was enamored with her from the get go.  She immediately covered him in stickers, which he thought was pretty much the coolest thing on earth.  Then spent a few minutes chatting with him, and playing with a spinning Minnie.  She then made a seamless transition to the haircut, to which the  boy was oblivious.

Then the icing on the cake.  At the end, he was presented with his very own "My 1st Haircut" ears to take home, and was shown the cut and style in the mirror so he could give it his seal of approval.  Judy then neatly folded a handful of curls into some tissue paper, and tucked it into a bag full of pixie dust for his baby memorabilia box, along with a royal certificate.  I might have gotten a bit misty when she handed it to me....I'm such a sap.  Hands down coolest 1st haircut ever.  I might even recommend planning a Disney vacation around a 1st haircut... maybe..  

Have any of you visited the Harmony Barber Shop on Mainstreet??