Weekend in Instagram

Wow, what a great weekend!  The weather was gorgeous and it was just one of those weekends were you feel like you haven't stopped moving yet there's a huge smile on your face.  Love those kinds of weekends!  Friday I was feeling a little worn down, so we took it easy and stayed in (the only time we weren't busy doing something).  Lately anytime we at home relaxing on the sofa that means it's ball-time for the Cheese.  Either he's begging for us to throw it, he's just sitting there chewing it, or he's sleeping next to it...and it's all adorable!

Oh Cheesy!

Saturday we woke up bright and early and headed over to French Park for a walk through the woods with Cheese.  The park was pretty quiet and we didn't encounter anyone else on the trail.  The weather was heavenly, sunny with a fall nip in the air!

 Cheese was tired and apparently thirsty after our walk through the woods, so on the way back to the car he took advantage of the dew on the grass and started licking the ground nonstop.  At one point Antoine was running with him and he was still licking the ground!  Silly dog.

After showers we headed to Skip's Deli in Mason for a late breakfast.  I got my favorite, a blueberry bagel with this amazing blueberry cream cheese.

Then we headed further north to Lebanon to go apple picking at Iron Fruits Farm.  It had been three years since we last went apple picking there, so we were really looking forward to it.

 The apples kind of sucked and they have really let the fields get overgrown, but we still had a great time, despite the fact that I nearly hit Antoine in the head several times with the apple picker stick thing.  Oops!  

 While the fields were a little treacherous (i.e. poison ivy, burrs, and lots of vines to trip on), their little store is quite nice.  And inside they have all kinds of fresh produce, jams, and cider.  And strangely enough, the apples inside looked amazing (compared to the pick-your-own apples).  My theory is the pick-your-own fields/trees they've just let run wild and the other fields (which we saw on our way out), they carefully maintain and pick themselves to sell inside, at a higher price.  Oh well, we still managed to pick a 1/2 bushel of apples after some searching, and also walked away with some fresh peaches, green beans and apple cider.

We had plans to grill out at my sister and brother-in-law's house that evening, so we ran to the store to get some essentials so I could whip something up for dessert.

 I ended up making a blueberry peach crumble with the fresh peaches we got at Iron Fruits and the blueberries we picked earlier in the year and froze.  I stuck to the recipe for the most part, except I added nutmeg and cardamom to the fruit base.  I also added some cornstarch (about a 1/2 tablespoon) since I was using frozen blueberries.  I also used margarine instead of butter since Christian is lactose intolerant.

We headed over to Michelle and Christians and ate grilled pork and steak, fresh corn on the cob, green beans and pesto pasta salad.  Michelle and I had apple cider cocktails (hers with rum, mine with bourbon).  And then we had some crumble with vanilla (lactose free) ice cream for dessert...

 Mighty tasty, if I do say so myself!

Then we played Cards Against Humanity by candlelight on the back patio, it was raunchy and delightful.  We went home tipsy and happy.

Sunday was a busy day in the kitchen for me. 

I started off by making an apple crisp for Antoine to take into work to share with his coworkers (again, I added fresh nutmeg and cardamom to the base, and decreased the water to 1/4 cup).  I haven't heard yet how it turned out. Then I made and canned a batch of marmalade and a batch of apple jam (and I didn't even make a dent in the apples we picked).  By the end of the day I was exhausted yet content and I relaxed the rest of the evening.

So, how was your weekend?  Did you get out to enjoy the gorgeous weather!?  I'm bummed that it's going to start getting warm again, I'm so ready for Fall.

Super Simple Mirror Update

Okay, so confession, this mirror update is so simple that it's probably not worth posting...but oh well, I'm going to anyway.  I love how easy it was and I wanted to share some helpful links and whatnot.  Plus, it's Saturday, so there!

Again, this wasn't my original intention with this mirror, but like with the desk I had to adjust my plan a little bit and I'm happy with how it turned out...

Way back in April I had hopes of disassembling the mirror (like I did), painting it some dreamy pastel color (maybe a light turquoise or a very light grey), and mounting it on the wall.  In the end, silver paint won out because the walls were pastel enough for me and when I got the thing apart I realized that the mirror was so heavy that hanging it on the wall, with our old crumbly walls, just wasn't going to happen.  Thus, the silver leaning floor mirror was born.

Here's what the mirror looked like before it got its little update, well, after I disassembled it.  It was a craigslist find that we picked up for like $15 a year or two ago.  The base was a little rickety, hence why I wanted to take it apart and spray paint it.

On the sides were little brackets where it had been screwed into place on the base.  Antoine easily popped these off for me with a pair of joint pliers, then I patched up the holes with some wall spackle we had lying around, and sanded it smooth once it was dry.

When it came to spray painting the mirror, I used Valspar spray paint and Design Sponge's "before and after basics: spray paint" for guidance.  I love their "before and after basics" series and highly recommend them to anyone!  With the guest bedroom the sanding 101 and the polyurethane 101 tutorials have been extremely helpful.  With this mirror I was actually able to unscrew the back and take the mirror out of the frame, so I didn't have to deal with taping it up. 

After probably five or six light coats of spray paint the mirror was done!  Super easy.  And I found a nice little spot for it inbetween the door and the night stand.  In the end I think I like it better there than where I was originally envisioning it on the wall.  Note my photographer's assistants, Cheese and Guillermo. They like to keep me company and make sure I'm doing a good job.  And you can kind of make out the nose smudges on the bottom of the mirror where Cheese was admiring my work checking out his handsome reflection!  Oh, those creatures...I love them!

Sunburst Granny Square Afghan

One of the main reasons the guest bedroom took so long, besides for fact that Antoine and I kept saying we were going to paint the room "next weekend" and then didn't, was ultimately due to my gift for procrastination.  Seriously, it's a gift.  I'm so good at it that it's scary.

I started working on this sunburst granny square afghan about 4 months ago, then I ignored it for about a month and a half, and I finally finished it about 5 weeks ago.  Voila! Granny square awesomeness...

I think it's probably one of the best things I've crocheted in a long time.  I'm totally in love with it!   

I used this pattern (such great instructions!) and it was pretty easy.  I actually made all the round parts first and then created the squares at the end (and I used this method to connect the squares).  I'm really digging the colors I chose; I used the Simple Soft yarn except for the off-white portion (because the Simply Soft off-white was too yellowy).

Happy Friday everyone!  Any great weekend plans in the works?  We are hoping to go apple picking, since it's been years and years since we went and it was so much fun!

Abstract Geometric Desk

About six or seven years ago I snagged up a desk that my parents were getting rid of because I didn't have a desk and I was a broke college student, so why not!  It was a desk that my parents had had for years, potentially handed down from another relative, that my dad had tried to refinish.  Here's the thing about my dad, he fancies himself a handy-man, but he's not so good with the details.  I love him to death, but his staining and polyurethane-ing skills leave something to be desired.

Anyway, so we had this desk that really wasn't our style and needed a facelift.  I had hopes to do an abstract geometric pattern on the top in various stain colors and then refinish the rest of the desk, changing the hardware, and painting the base in a neutral off-white.  That was the plan, but as you can see that's not what happened...

Instead we now have a wild, crazy-bright desk with a abstract geometric pattern and new hardware (and an unchanged base).  It's certainly vibrant and took a little getting used to, but in the end I think it offers a nice pop of color(s) to the space.  And I have to admit, I'm kind of impressed with my taping and painting skills on this one!

So, what led to the change in plan?  This...

Once I actually took the pile of Rob Jones poster off the desk and looked at it more closely I realized that there was no way I was going to be able to stain this desk.  It had been sanded all the way through to the particle board in a couple spots and the whole top was so uneven that it was in need of some extensive sanding that would only make it more visually unappealing.  So painting the top became the only option.  I flipped my idea around and decided on a painted geometric top with a stained base.  But then Antoine brought me back to reality and told me I should probably just leave the base alone since I was already looking at a ton of work on the top.  He's so wise! 

We picked out a couple of Pantone Universe colors at Lowe's, they were having a buy one, buy one sale on sample paints so they were super cheap!

I sanded the top down and evened it out as best I could.  The sanding took a while, this photo was taken about half way through the sanding process.

Then I created an abstract geometric pattern using a yard stick and a pencil and went to masking off the triangles and painting.

Almost done with the first half of the table...I pulled a couple of late-nights (we're talking 1am and 2am), many of which were nights that I had to go to work the next morning.  Sometimes I'm not so smart!

As far as hardware went, it took me forever to decide what I liked best, mainly because the options were so horrible because of the irregular size of the hardware.  In the end, it was mostly the price of these handles that won me over...but I liked the look of them too!

I still need to put a couple layers of matte poly on top, but here's the nearly-finished desk.  In the end I'm so glad that I followed Antoine's advice and left the base part alone.  That would have been a nightmare to sand off the old poly and re-stain it!  It's a little bright and wild, and it messes with your eyes a little bit, but I like it!  It's definitely more exciting and fits out style better than it originally did!