Love and Spraypaint

So my job has this one little perk that after you work the weekend, you get 2 days off the next week.  I was off Monday and Tuesday and had a to-do list (self-imposed) about a mile long. The projects I am about to share are part of that to-do list.

So let me tell you about these two little (not so) lovelies. The one on the left has been with us for quite a while. It was an orphaned a yard sale leftover back when we lived at our last place. We just happened to be walking by a house on the way back from the store and saw it. It was just raw wood when we picked it up and I added the dark red paint you see in the picture. After about 4 years of that paint, I was growing sick of the table all together. Thankfully, hubby talked some sense in to me and I agreed to paint it instead.  The table on the right ... well more like little stool... was given to me recently by a friend preparing to move and sorting fun (old) treasures in her basement. Same friend who gave me the blue jars seen in my Summer Centerpiece  post. Anyway, I was totally happy with the beat up/well loved paint/stain combo this stool had going on. Husband didn't share my love. Once again, we compromised and I went with painting it. Thanks to an Ace rewards $5 off card, I got all the spraypaint for this project for about $5.

Anyway... So I sprayed both with the basecoats of gray to start and let them dry (which wasn't long at all!!). For the taller table I eye-balled and and finger measured my chevron pattern onto the table. Once I made sure it was pretty well attached, I painted it with this Burnt Red (awesome) color. 

I didn't get any pictures of the other stool with the tape on. It was really n big deal, any idiot can put tape on in kind of straight lines and at varied distances apart. Also, I was getting frustrated with the paint because I had to make 2 additional trips back thanks to paint that wouldn't mix up and as a result was to thick to spray.

Either way, I couldn't be happier with the result of this project. You know it's good when you can stop smiling makes your heart sing.

It makes me smile to walk in my front door and see my little chevron table. Amazing what a little love and spraypaint will do for two sad little pieces. 

Whats your favorite small item do-over that you have done?

Inspiration Thursday

I think it has been a while.. but trying to get back into the routine of posting a few times per week :) Slowly but surely working on getting back into some projects too. Hope these inspire and find you well.

via *I really need to listen to this. I tend to want to do so much and I wear myself out… anyone else?*

via *sometimes you really do have to remember not to regret what you did/went through- just experiences that make you who you are J*

via *how true? There is always a payoff, balance, something that just makes it more about how you see things than what they really are*

via *this is truly one of my most favorite.. really speaks to the mind*

Cool gadget!

If you follow me on facebook, you know I haven't been blessed with too much time to craft. While I miss it and hope I get back at it soon.. I have been busy living life and having fun. After all, isn't that what summer is about?

This is partially what helped us decide it was finally time to give up something we have had for a really long time and something I have wanted to get rid of for quite a while due to rising costs. After lots of talking with hubby, calling around and realizing it was going to be silly to keep it.. we got rid of CABLE!!!

You see, we have had Verizon FIOS for the past two years since we moved to our current rental townhouse. It was the best deal at the time and we had issues with Comcast at our old place (mostly we were having cable quality issues that they were unable to resolved) and had switched to DirectTv but I was never totally satisfied with their service either. We had debated keeping them and maintaining our Verizon DSL when we moved here, but were told that wasn't an option that only Fios was.

Since then, we have grown tired of the expense of all the home services and decided it was just eating too much of our budget and even as current customers, just interest would cost us $80 per month.. and to keep phone, tv and internet was going to run us the same amount we pay now. Read: current/potentially loyal customers get screwed. EVERY. TIME.

Anyway... onto the COOL part. During the research process and kind of trying to really sell hubby on ditching cable I researched the heck out of streaming media devices. We knew if we were going to be happy getting rid of cable we would still need some kind of (easy/cheap) entertainment to replace it. After all, we do have TVs and still wanted to put them t use. My cousin had put a bug in hubby's ear about AppleTV.

via

It seemed really cool but I wasn't ok with just looking at one thing and wanted to see what else was out there. This led me to quite a variety of streamers... but here is the one that caught my eye.

via

I am not going to sit here and compare.. but I will tell you that this guy, the #Roku3 definitely seemed to fit our needs best. It has cool available apps and can stream #Huluplus and #netflix. An added bonus for me was the remote with a headphone jack. Hubby tends to want to watch TV long after I am ready for dreamland so this is a life saver!! He just plugs any headphones right in and boom (it does come with headphones included too..) he is ready to go. He was a little skeptical at first but, like me, has found some series we never knew of on Hulu so far. I am already plotting about getting an additional unit for our downstairs TV. They do have 3 other models that have various feature differences and although I love this model, we do not need the headphone jack downstairs, so I would probably go with a less expensive one. 

So anyway, that is one of the adventures we have begun this summer. Not your typical "adventure" per say, but one we are enjoying for sure and for WAY less than cable. We are now paying $30/mo for internet and about $13 for our subscriptions to huluplus and netflix. I'd say we win! :)

Does anyone else have a media streaming device instead of cable? Tell me about your experience. 

*disclaimer: I was not compensated in anyway for this post. It was our choice to make changes and through my own research and the reviews of others that we purchased the Roku at a big box retailer.*

(edit: I may do a post down the road on more specifics of the player but honestly havent had too much time to explore outside of Hulu and Netflix... but there is so much more!)

Summertime adventure

On Saturday, after I ran and got cleaned up, hubby and I set out for our long ride on the motorcycle that we never quite made it to on July 4th.

We set off to Fort Indiantown Gap, PA because it is a great ride to get there (all back roads) and then it also  gives us a decent length ride. Little did we know, we would find a great little treasure hidden back past the Gap that we never knew about!!

I saw signs for Memorial Lake State Park and suggested we turn in and explore. The first road, we hit the jackpot.

I was TOTALLY in love with this view. They rent out pedal boats, canoes, and kayaks for a decent price so it was awesome to see families out with their kids. 

It's so hard to take pictures with a stupid camera phone- I am so spoiled. But this is hubby and I enjoying the time together and the gorgeous scenery (and my awkward sunglasses that are actually hubby's lol)

Just me :)

Upon further, exploration there are hiking trails, a high road, middle road and low road, and just so many breath-taking views. We didn't do the hiking trails for two reasons: I had already run a 10k and it was SO HOT!! Seriously about 95 plus humidity. Hiking, I think not. We did decide we will come back when it is cooler and explore some more. We had a lot of fun spending the entire afternoon and early evening out together on the bike. I know lots of people are afraid of motorcycles (and I get it) but the high gas mileage we get allows us to take rides like we used to enjoy but without breaking the bank. 

I am sure I will share more adventures over the summer/fall of adventures we take on the bike. 

A little garden

My weekend started on a high note when I came home from work and discovered THIS growing in my garden.

Yep, CILANTRO! I actually forgot I planted it because I didn't really expect them to grow into real cilantro. After all, my little mini "greenhouse" got too moist and molded. Apparently I have better luck just throwing seeds into the ground and literally FORGETTING about them all together. 

I did also plant tomatoes (which 3 or 4 plants have survived) but are not big enough to produce yet. Probably in another week or so though since we get rain almost every day lately. The mystery seeds given to me by my sister did begin to grow some foliage... but I am pretty sure the rabbits and squirels got to them. I told hubby it is time to do some damage control (don't show this to the kids). I do love animals,just not the ones that eat my food bearing plants. 

Clearly, they don't know my relationship with food- especially my healthy delish foods. 

We did also actually find a really sweet spot to hang out Saturday after I ran my Spontaneous 10k (you can read about it at my other blog) but I will share about that tomorrow. I may not have had too much time to get crafty, but I don't like NOT sharing anything around here.. makes me sad. Been focused more on running and tryinng to declutter and simpify around here (more on this toward the end of the week too)

I hope you all had a great holiday weekend and are staying COOL. Phew, its been hot as ever around here. 

take care :)