Photography 101

For Christmas I got this fancy new camera which I was super excited about...problem was, I didn't know how to use it AT ALL. So I was so happy when Megan decided to do a photography class. I took it about a month ago and learned soooo much (which in reality is only a tiny, tiny bit of what there really is to know about photography!) I learned big words like ISO and Aperture, and Shutter Speed and White Balance among other things. (Am I impressing anyone with my photography vocab?? Totally kidding.) I also learned how to brave taking pictures in Av mode and how to get a good picture inside or outside WITHOUT using a flash. Now that's a big deal because a flash is one of the most unflattering forms of light in case you were wondering:) But in all seriousness, it has been SOOOO fun to mess around with the kids and try to get some good pictures. I think I am getting better, although I still take hundreds of pictures and only get a few good ones sometimes. Here are some of my recent pictures....Maia is an easier subject to take pictures of because she will actually sit still for two seconds and give me a cute smile!!



Oh, and if you haven't already noticed...Maia got BANGS!! She looks so super cute with them and so much older too. It has been the best thing that has happened to her hair in a long time. Thanks Rachel!! Maia loves the fact that her hair isn't in her face anymore. In fact the day after we got it cut, she kept singing, "My hair's not in my face, my hair's not in my face!"It was really cute. I LOVE this picture of her below...she is such a little sweetheart.

The Chairs

Oh happy day!! Last week my fabric arrived for my chairs and I got David right on duty to re-cover them. I LOVE how they turned out. And I have to share what the best part is....shortly after Christmas, I was complaining to Megan about how much I couldn't stand our kitchen chairs and my ideas for wanting to repaint them. But I always get stuck on fabric. I absolutely HATE fabric kitchen chairs. I mean, come on, when you have toddlers in the house, you know how clean those things stay right?? Like they are filthy and gross ALL the time and it's embarrassing when you have people over (even though I always try to scrub out stains, etc.) Anyway, Megan told me about this wonderful thing called LaMInAtEd COtToN. It's still your cute fabric, but it has a vinyl laminate over the top so it is nice and protected but still looks classy. I don't really know how else to explain it but it's wonderful. It's heavenly. It's the best thing every invented for fabric kitchen chairs. Allow me to show you the BEFORE and AFTER of my dear chairs.....
BEFORE...definitely in need of a serious make-over...
See all those stains and grossness?
And here they are AFTER....once again, the pictures just don't do it justice, but I painted them a deep eggplant purple and then recovered them in a Avocado Damask laminated cotton fabric. Really, if you have fabric chairs that you just don't know what to do with, you need to search out laminated cotton. I got mine from this website HERE. They really look quite stunning.
And the best part is, they wipe clean like nobody's business. LOVE it! (sorry about the blurriness in the pictures...I'm still learning about all the settings on my new camera and often make silly mistakes...:)

Valentine's Party

Our second year here, David and I started the tradition of hosting an annual couples Valentine's party. It has been such a fun thing to look forward to and do every year. We always have such a great time and laugh soooo much. I don't think I have laughed harder than I did this time though! Enjoy the pictures, thanks to our photographer, Megan:)....video to come from Steph I think....
Here is all of the delicious food. We did Cafe Rio style this year and it turned out great!
More super delish food...
The first game we played was Minute to Win it....definitely had some good laughs there! This one is called Holiday Hustle...each person had a yard stick tied to their waist. One partner had about 4 yards of ribbon wrapped around his/her stick and the point of the game was to get it wrapped around the opposite partner's yard stick without using your hands.
I was so impressed with Kristie's skills with the cookie game!! You have to get the cookie in your mouth using only your face muscles. Everyone did surprising well. I can't do this for the life of me!
We ended with Junk in the Trunk...there is a kleenex box of 6 ping pong balls tied around your waist and using only your body (no hands or arms obviously) you have to try and get all the balls out of the small opening. Once again, good laughs there!
Then we played the Newlywed game for a bit which is always fun. Jacob and Katie seem to do the best every year (they should! They really are the most newlywed of the bunch;) Then we played a fun game to exchange some saucy, exciting gifts! So a really fun night!!
And lastly, the party favor....I had the idea that I wanted to do a "couples" conversation jar type thing and so Megan suggested I use these really cool, old jars that I got a garage sale one time. Yes! Perfect. So I spent hours typing up questions, cutting them out, folding them up, and assembling the jars...there were times I was wondering why I was doing this, but it was worth it in the end! They turned out really cute. Megan designed the cute tag that went along with them. Hope everyone is using them....LOTS!!
So thanks everyone who came!! We will miss this so much next year! And I have high hopes for someone to take over the tradition...any takers??

Oldies but Goodies

I meant to post these pictures a long time ago...this past summer I found a few amazing treasures that just needed a little make-up. So even though I know better (I have re-painted WAY too many things in my life!!) I took on the task of re-painting these beauties to make them stunning. I never remember to take before pictures, so I was impressed with myself that I at least remembered a little ways into it (I had stripped the old finish off already but you still get the idea of what they looked like before).
So first up is this buffet table I scored at the thrift store for $35!!! It was originally $70 but one of the side doors was stuck so it was half-price...we brought it home and David put a little WD40 on it and it worked like a charm!
I spent HOURS stripping, sanding, priming, painting, antiquing, and sealing it. FINALLY it was done and we brought it in the house and put it below our living room window. The pictures don't do it justice (and these pictures make it look really yellow. It is an antiqued mustard-yellow, not as yellow as it looks). Anyway, I LOVED how it turned out!
Next up is a coffee table and two end tables that I got a garage sale for $20 for all three of them. The coffee table was missing the glass panels on the sides but I didn't care because really, with two crazy kids, who wants glass in the center of their living room right? Here is the before when I had already stripped it...
I went back and forth on different ideas about what to do in place of the side panels and then decided to go with thin stenciled wood panels. I really liked how it turned out!
I decided I forget too easily how much work it is to re-finish furniture because I always find myself with more projects on my hands....for instance, we have these kitchen chairs that I painted pretty soon after we got married. Anyway, they have been driving me crazy for some time, but I have talked myself out of doing anything with them...until now that is...so the past couple weeks I have been re-painting those and cursing myself for ever having started the task! But I finally finished them and am now just waiting for my fabric to arrive so I can reupholster them. Stay tuned for those pictures!