When I win the Lottery...

If I had 540 million dollars......(cue song)

So, the lottery is huge right now and it's all anyone can talk about.  I even know a guy who started an online pool today where you could pay for tickets using Paypal---what the!?!?  Anyway, everyone who knows me knows that I have always been destine to win the lottery (or at least that is what I believe and tell everyone), so I thought I'd dedicate this post to my future (as in tomorrow) winnings.  If I had 540 million dollars I would....

Start here and follow summer around the world...

Next

Probably rest from my travels here

Or at Clay's Montana lodge

either way, we'll get there in a flash with 

And these guys will never be too far away...meet my

personal Stylist (R) Chef (C) & Trainer (R)

Guess I had better start packing ;)

*Update*  Here's the winning ticket wrapped around my lucky world ball!  

'May the odds be ever in our favor'

Landscaping our Wedding

Today I decided to lay the smack down on our front yard.  Last year, as a wedding gift to Clay and I, my mom landscaped our front yard while we were on our honeymoon.  For an entire week in 103 degree weather she slaved away at our untouched/weedy yard.  Her work deserved the mother of the year award for sure!  When we got home, everything was done except for a small section on the side which is what I (almost) completed today.  Now, I know absolutely nothing about landscaping, but my mother, on the other hand, could go semi pro.  I have personally always felt it was her calling in life.  Joanna (who commented on my blog yesterday) once said that she thought my moms yard was the prettiest in the whole neighborhood.  Thank you Joanna, I think it was Colleen who told me that, but it was once of the nicest things I've ever heard and your compliment has always stuck with me.  I know my mom was really happy when I told her too.
So anyway, here is my almost completed project.  This took me ALL day and moving rock is so incredibly hard.  I can't wait to show you the backyard that I *think* I'm going to tackle this summer.  Bahahahah

B/c everything I do I try to do with a budget in mind...the grasses are split from my grandma's house (free), bricks & pavers are relocated from our backyard.  The only thing I paid for was the rock and small tree.

In addition to our savings here, I wanted to share what we did to cut costs landscaping our wedding.  You read that right :).  Let me explain.  When we were planning our wedding last year I was trying to come up with ways to do it economically and pretty.  This meant your typical floral centerpieces were out b/c they cost a ton of money.  I just couldn't rationalize spending that much money on flowers that would just get thrown away the following day.  The other part of this thrifty dilemma was that we desperately needed to landscape our front yard which would mean more money.  Solution to our problem:   I used every plant that we were going to landscape with as a centerpiece at our wedding reception.

Now, like everything I do this was slightly complicated.  Our wedding was in July, so to make this work we had to do several things.

• 1. The first thing needed was to ensure the survival of the plants.  How were we going to keep the plants alive until July?  Answer:  we asked the owner of our favorite nursery for a huge favor - to hold our plants until a few days before the wedding- to our surprise, he said yes!  This was huge b/c there was NO WAY we were going to keep the plants looking good in the dead of summer without his help.  We picked all of the plants out in May and the nursery held them for us until July.  Amazing!
• 2.  How to make them pretty enough for centerpieces?  We chose to wrap the bases in burlap = economic, earthy, and pretty.  I love burlap!  We put a layer of wax paper under the burlap to keep them from leaking or dirt falling onto the reception tables.  Perfect!
• The table number holders are bamboo shoots which my florist provided for free b/c she had them leftover from another event (score) and the table numbers I made DIY style.  
• The plants needed to be small enough for tables, but with the yard in mind.  We ended up buying hostas, a variety of grasses, corabells, and a variety of small bushes.
• The BEST part--2 needs for the price of one and a daily reminder of our special day right outside of front door!

Here are a few pictures that helped inspire me for this centerpiece project.

Afterwards I had a little photoshoot with the babes.  I've been begging my husband for a family photoshoot while these beautiful trees are still in bloom, but so far that has not happened.  Maybe this weekend we'll get gussied up and I'll get my pictures.  Here's hoping!

I could only get him to stop playing with his frisbee long enough to take one picture and to be honest, I love it the most.  That's my boy...always happy and playing.

Basement Remodel

It only took us four years but my husbands "man cave" is on it's way.  Here are few pictures of our progress thus far.

Inspiration Photos

Before Shots 

View from the stairs. 

Another view.  Door to the garage.

Other side.  Door to the backyard.

First part of demolition- remove this wall.

And on the other side of that room= ugly fireplace

Backside of the wall to be removed.

PHASE 1 : Walls

Build wall at bottom of stairs- check!

Remove wall- check!  Say hello to my master carpenter aka father-in-law.  

He's sitting at what will become the bar.

PHASE 2 : Brick

The brick has arrived!

Ready to build the wall!

Wall is done!

Brick for bar base.

Bar done!

PHASE 3 : Stone

Before 

After

We used granite stones that we already had, leftover brick, 

and spray painted the existing fireplace screen.  

This fireplace only cost us the price of a few bags of mortar.  Nice!

PHASE 4 : Ceiling

Rough cut wood straight from the sawmill.  

Awesome way to have a wood ceiling at a fraction of the price!

PHASE 5 :  Bar Ceiling & Lights

We used corrugated tin sheeting to create the industrial look 

we were wanting and it also helped to break up the wood ceiling.  

We built cross beams and larger beams to frame in above the bar area.  

Lights were purchased online.

Still to come
Bar countertop & shelving (countertop arrives tomorrow!)
Paint & Trim (which is actually done I just haven't taken pics yet)
Fireplace shelving
Flooring
And, of course, decor!

Stay tuned.....

p.s.  I'm sorry my pictures are terrible.
I deserperately need a nice camera-
it also doesn't help that I take most of these pictures with my phone :(

Thrifting

Sorry for the mini hiatus.  I've been working in a Kindergarten class all week and my nights have been filled with "honey-do" items and P90X.  Don't fret, however, I have quite a few things to blog once I get an opportunity to sit down and write them.  For now though, all I have time to do is show you my purchase from GW yesterday.

2 more brand new Target throws = 2.00 Total. <------
Yep, they weren't tagged and the lady behind the counter was ultra cool.
What a steal!
Sorry for the terrible pic....my phone just doesn't do their cuteness justice.

Thrifting

 In my last post I mentioned that you can find lots of brand new Target items at Goodwill.  Well, I wanted to show you what all I found at Goodwill yesterday so as to prove that I'm not pulling anyone's chain on this.  Here are a few brand new items I picked up yesterday from the lovely Goodwill...

Queen air matress (NIB) = $10
This is a little random, but ours popped and
I love a good bargain.

Curtain Rod (NIB) $6.00

Target blue throw pillows (NEW)= $5.00  
Still need a few other throws.  
Look @ August posing for the picture.  
He's so darn cute!
 

You'll love this- these are the exact same pillows I paid full price
 for a few months ago.  What!?!?

 Sprig of Hydrangeas = .10

H&M top = .85

Target dress & Hat =  $4.50
(I don't normally shop for clothes, but every once in a while
 something will catch my eye.  Like these. 
 Hat is new, dress is not, but I'm totally ok with that)

In addition to Goodwill, I really love thrifting in general- garage sales, craigslist....you name it.  There are some things you don't buy used (undergarments, pillows (remember, the ones I bought were new) and anything icky poo poo, but there is PLENTY that you can and spray paint works wonders.  I don't know what I'm going to do when my thrifting pal, Tooter (aka Grandma), isn't around to go with anymore.  It makes me sad to even think about, but I feel slightly better knowing that we'll always have this pastime together.

Oh and p.s.
The Goodwill Outlet was a trip!  If you've ever been to one then you know it's cut throat.  Not sure if that kind of thrifting is my cup of tea.