Well, the weekend wedding is over and I’m still trying to recover!  I didn’t write for a few days because literally I haven’t even had time to breathe normally.  The wedding was gorgeous, the couple amazing, and of course I thought the flowers and decor were stunning….other people did too.  Yeah…that’s a pat on my back…blatant.

I am slightly mortified with myself though because I didn’t take a SINGLE picture of anything.  It wasn’t that I didn’t want to, but I honestly didn’t have time to even grab my camera and snap a few shots.  This is not an exaggeration.  Every spare second was used up, and since I knew that my amazing photographer friend, Kim Deloach, was shooting the wedding, I didn’t stress over it.  My flowers and decorating efforts will be chronicled much more fabulously than I could ever even attempt to do.  Once she has had a chance to edit the pics, I’ll beg her for a few to show you.  She will make my floral efforts look like a real professional! 🙂

I love a good wedding….and this one was great.  Our friend has been waiting for his “one” for longer than most of us, and when he finally found her, he slipped a ring on that finger and set a date fast!  She is amazing and it has been such fun getting to know her the past few months as well!  We look forward to years of fun all together!

But I have to be honest and say that I’m sure glad the wedding part is done now!  It was a blast doing the flowers and decor, but I’m glad that it’s off my plate too!  I have to tell you though, every second of hard work was completely worth it when the bride told me “You saw my vision and made it even better than I’d imagined.”  Yeah….about the best compliment I could have received!  I have to give a massive shout out here too to our friend KC who busted her tail coordinating the wedding and helping me set up.  There is NO WAY I’d have finished styling it all had I been by myself!  Didn’t hurt either that the venue was our friends’ amazing old farmhouse which is a stunner in itself.  I’ll have to round up some pictures and post them soon to share with you…because while I’m sure I could come up with 1000 more words to describe it all….1 picture is worth all of that!  I’ll see what I can find!

Oh…and the secret for this great illusionist this weekend was dirty hair!  I arranged wildflowers all afternoon on Friday and had to bust it to get to the rehearsal dinner in time.  My biggest fear the whole night was having some critter crawl out of my hair!  There were SO MANY BUGS on those flowers when I was arranging them….I thought I was going to show up with itchy, bumpy, red arms from all the bites…and since I was so rushed I didn’t have time to wash my hair!  I was SO sure something had made it all the way north and was hibernating til just the right moment.  I hate bugs!

Then Saturday, I was rushing around all day and again…dirty hair at the end of it….no time for anything greater than an updo!  They say dirty hair is easier to style great anyhow…so while it was a filthy head weekend for me…it was a great hair styling one!

I don’t know about you all, but sometimes there are certain rooms in my house that completely elude me when it comes to how to decorate them.  Bathrooms are generally harder for me than other rooms..mostly because there are the same certain elements that you have to deal with and unless you’re overhauling and re-doing tile and cabinetry, you’re kinda working with what you’ve got.

I love wallpaper in a bathroom but it’s more money than I generally want to spend.  Painting designs is a great idea too, but typically I don’t want to spend that much time.  Thank heavens for fabric you can put on a window treatment and shower curtain, but still, you have to be careful that you don’t divide the room even more with a heavy looking shower curtain.  All to say…I think they get tricky.

My boys’ bathroom has been on my list of “make it so I like it” things for awhile now.  It’s painted a nice yellow (which, though yellow is a pretty color it is not my favorite) and has a super cute Curious George swinging on a vine that I painted on the wall.  I started painting a bird on a sign near the toilet about a year ago and never have finished it.  

I just can’t get into the whole cartoon character themed room thing.  I’ve never done it…I’m just not a fan.  Tid Bit said he wanted that… and ONLY because Curious George is old and super cute did I agree.  No offense intended if your kid’s room is all tricked out with Dora or Diego or Backyardigans or something…it’s just not my thing.  Even George was a serious stretch for me….which is pretty much why the room has never been finished.

As of late, I’ve been really thinking about what I could do to make the room feel more “us.”  I’ve thought about some stylized camo, military looking something or another, but haven’t settled there because if we ever have a girl that’s just not the direction that I’d want to go.  Finally the idea hit me when I saw a really cool print at a gift shop when we were in Glacier National Park in Montana.

Throughout the rest of the trip I found a few other great prints and some vintage looking postcards as well, and now I’m super excited.  There are these awesome red car-style buses that tour visitors around and we saw them all over.  They are sort of iconic…called the Red Jammers, and I just adore them.  I think that’ll be a fun way to get some bursts of color into the room.  I’m thinking the walls may go sort of taupe and I’m considering painting the base cabinets a nice bluish gray color. I’ll load the walls with all of my great finds as well as some family photographs from this trip. 

I don’t know exactly if and how I’ll use each thing in the room til I get a chance to mess around with it all, but for now, I’m super inspired and very excited to get going on it! Stay tuned for this project to come!  You know how I get excited about a new idea and can’t wait to get started.  At least this time I have “Before” pictures!

Since I’m out here in the Wild West doing things like hiking, trekking, wild animal sighting, building fires, and roasting marshmallows, I thought I’d share this super cute craft that I came across a couple of weeks ago from crafts.kaboose.com to do with my kids.  It’s a fun way to show a little love to the great outdoors in case you’re maybe not one who really wants to build an actual fire.  Or…if you are a pyromaniac, then this is probably still right up your alley because it looks like fire.

What you’ll need:

How to make it:

1. Cover CD with glue  and use a paintbrush or your finger to spread the glue out for an even coat. 
2. Cover glue area with dirt or sand and tap off excess. 
3. Use your finger to push back a little of the dirt from the edges, all the way around the CD, to make room for the rocks.
4. Squeeze out a generous amount of white glue onto the cleared edge of the CD. Press a rock into the glue. Repeat until entire rim of the CD is covered in rocks.
5. If necessary, break sticks into approximately 4 inch pieces. Using white craft clue, build a “fire” with the sticks by laying them down in a teepee formation, gluing as you go. Let everything dry for 2 hours (will not be completely dry, but won’t slide around).
6. Tear tissue paper into small pieces, approximately 1″ or 2″ squares.
7. Place tip of toothpick into the center (don’t poke through) of a piece of red tissue paper. Wrap the tissue paper around the toothpick.
8. Dab some glue on the tip and dip it into the sticks, removing the toothpick once inserted. Repeat around the top of the sticks with several red pieces, and then add a few orange toward the middle, and lastly one or two yellow pieces at the top of the stick mound.
9. Let project dry completely overnight.

I think it’d be a cute way to do an invitation for an outdoor party or campout as well.  Way more fun to open this than just your standard card invitation. 

Or, just make it for fun…because it’s cute and your kids will appreciate you doing a craft with them.  OR…I just had an even better idea!  Make these this week and invite Dad to a family backyard firepit party for Father’s Day.  Men like fire…Dad would appreciate the gesture, and to really make the gift awesome why don’t you make a special package with the following other items….


S’mores Kit




Leatherman Tool

What Dad wouldn’t love a Leatherman tool, a campfire, and s’mores?!  Or at least be able to appreciate the gesture of it?  Oh yeah, and fix meat and potatoes for dinner.  Try out this recipe for Flank Steak and Roasted Potatoes.  I just made Father’s Day easy for you…and in case you didn’t realize, it’s this coming Sunday the 19th!