For Nester's Lampapalooza linky party, I decided to compile my lamp pics and add some new ones. I love chandaliers, but living in an apartment limits that love of mine...
I love dressing up my lamps. They need love and I need to give it, so we make a great team. As my readers may know, I decorate on a sheer whim. So, due to my lack of planning I do not like to do things that cannot be easily undone. So, for my projects, they are just simple little alterations that can be taken down and reused again later.
My fabric covered lampshade (complete with Nester tassel), tutorial HERE:
For this, I used to have an adorable star paper lantern here (shown below), the kind you can buy with the hanging bulb. But over the years, it got destroyed (so sad) and so I had to do a quick redo. I found a Goodwill shade for $2. Cleaned it up, jimmied it to the hanging cord, pinned a red and white polka dotted ribbon around it and added a silver plastic Sherriff's Star. I think my son will love it when he gets home from his playdate with Daddy. (pics of the boys room redo will be coming soon)
The weather was absolutely perfect last week, a Texas rarity. We met with friends to take the little train ride along the Trinity River. (I love how sort of great my hair looks before the train ride, and at the end of the day... it turns into a flat, yucky, sweaty ponytail!)
We saw turtles sunbathing under the city overpasses.
City Nature
Cement Waterfall
Homelessness
Functional Art
Robotic Graffiti (background of train, it was quite cute, actually, click on pic to zoom)
Later in the day, we met up with the hubs for a trip to Fort Worth Water Gardens. I loved this place as a kid. Then, about 5 years ago next month, a little girl fell in. Her father, brother and friend all died trying to rescue her. Since then, there has been a solemn feeling when you walk that watery grave. A small memorial has been added for the 4 who died and the water depth and pressure and suction have been greatly reduced to prevent further tragedy that would make rescue impossible.
In the past week, I have been thrifting and painting like you wouldn't believe. I also got in tons of new goodies for jewelry for my shop, JeweledAmbrosia, so stay tuned...
Tonight, while snacking on copius amounts of [lightly] salted pretzels (following a strawberry and chocolate sundae, naturally), we watched The Visitor. It was really an incredible movie, funny, sweet, sad, touching, frustrating, a good mix of it all.
And, while I love the blockbusters like Star Trek (please don't tell me I am the only one who really liked Spock more than Kirk... and seriously, Kirk and his daddy looked almost identical!) a good indie film is almost more gratifying. So, go and Netflix it!
Also, A Print a Day released her online mag, Parasol a week or so ago, so if you haven't checked it out, go and download it HERE! It is free and inspiring. In her next mag Parasol Review, I even have a little short story in there, but it isn't out just yet.
Design wise, what is on my mind this week? Area rugs. I'm thinking jute, shag, black and white, buttercream, flokati, pale yellow and creme stripes... oh the decisions, esp when on a budget (and 2 toddlers and a dog narrows it down even more). But that is for another post.
Sunday, I gave a talk in church about Forgiveness. It went really well and I was grateful for the opportunity to speak. It is always uplifting to have to teach something that you know you need to hear. If you would like a copy of my talk (well, the jist of it anyways) you can see it HERE. It was largely inspired by the talks “I Will Remember Your Sins No More” by President Boyd K Packer in May 2006 and “Remember Lot’s Wife" by Jeffrey R. Holland in Jan 2009 (or read only version). Great talks, you should check them out (esp the last one if you are married, it's EXCELLENT!)
After about a year of looking for the perfect desk for me, I found it on Craigslist 2 weeks ago! It was a bargain, for it is all real wood, no veneer here. It rained every time we tried to arrange a time to pick it up, and it was an hours drive, but hey, I have it now and am oh so happy!
I love that there is a nice hutch that I can place little treasures and change the theme throughout the year as I am known to do.
Of course, it will need a paint job one day, but that can wait for a while.
Our old desk was so bad, that it literally fell to pieces when we pulled it away from the wall! I took the nasty, ugly drawer, took off the roller caster slide things, sanded it down and painted it red! Now, it serves as a little storage box thing on top of my desk! Like it?
So, for my Craigslist perusing friends, I found excellent tips on Small Notebook that will help you! Are you tired of clicking on post after post only to see that same Aztec print couch and brassy art deco marble top dresser? Well, with Craig's Toolbox function, the photos automatically pop up so you just keep browsing (only if you have Firefox as your browser). Seriously, this shaves hours off of your hunting.
Here is my little Goodwill chalkboard/corkboard shelf I painted and hung. It's my little inspiration board for now.
I found The Lettered Cottage blog today and it's great! It is a husband/wife design consulting team and they also make handmade decor as well. Today, they are offering a giveaway of a Hudson Goods pillow. If I were to choose which one I would want, it would be the red stars one. It was a toss up between that and the blue star one though! Which is your favorite pillow?
I'm really glad to have found the blog of true designers and Hudson Goods has some interesting "behind the scenes" posts as well on their blog. Go and take a peek.
And oh, I LOVE this room, found on flickr from Domino mag. Totally my inspiration at the moment!
I love my beautiful Mother's Day bouquet. My honey works for a major shipping co and one stop on his route is a flower shop. Well, they always give him flowers on special occasions for *free* to bring home to me! This bouquet is absolutely beautiful! I even split it up to give some blooms for my sweet mom for Mother's Day as well!
For Mother's Day, we had a lovely lesson at church on words/actions that hurt others, and how we as women may not always know when we can be hurting others. We talked ways we can show love and support to others, and try to see more clearly our own weaknesses and gifts. It was a lovely and uplifting lesson, and we followed it with a yummy Mother's Day brunch of fruits, cheese and crackers and croissant sandwiches.
We then visited my Husband's family (his dad is recovering from heart surgery) and we then came home and made Sheppard's Pie (my fav) with my mom and watched Outsourced. A cute little indie romantic comedy (yes, we did skip any love scene we encountered (there were 2).
Also, I got my Mom and Mother-in-law cup cozies. They both are always carrying around a drink of some sort wrapped in napkins, so I thought these would be perfect! Unfortunately, they got thrown in a pile somewhere, so I haven't given them the cozies yet, but they will be loved, I know it!
A quick word on Mother's Day. Not every woman is a mother. Whether it is by personal choice, or the opportunity just hasn't come yet, whether a woman is no longer a "hands-on" mother who has lost her child through death, spirit or distance, if you no longer have your mother on Earth or really despise the one you have... every woman can celebrate Mother's Day.
It is my belief that woman have divine nurturing tendencies to be mothers. You can be a mother in a sense in your community, in your home, in your prescence or career. Through love, educating ourselves, perservering and honing a sincere desire to help others are ways you can also be a mother. By using our motherlike qualities, we have the power to influence the world for good, one small child, adult, politician at a time.
Here are some free printables and ideas for next Mother's Day for you! Here is a great site for vintage cards, Vintage Holiday Crafts and second post HERE.
You need: one jar with a tight fitting screw on lid, a pinch of salt, 2 marbles and heavy whipping cream filled about 1/2 way. Put all inside jar, screw on lid and let your kid shake it up till it's creamy butter.
I hope your enjoyed your Mother's Day! Remember, next year, keep it simple, fun and easy :)
What do you do, to keep your child busy, entertained and educated all at the same time? Here are some blogs with lots of great ideas: Chasing Cheerios, Zach Aboard (they actually live on a boat!) do you know of any other sites? Do share!
Today, we did this and had so much fun. Freeze trinkets in a little plastic container. Dump the frozen block out into a pan. Explain how archeologists dig for historical finds, like dinosaur bones and such. Watch as your little one gets excited over dinosaur bones being buried in the ground! Then, tell him or her that HE/SHE can be an archeologist too!
Present platter of frozen finds, an object for picking at the ice, a pipette for squirting water, tweezers fir removing small objects. You can get the kit at Ainsley and Oswald.
I was AMAZED at how much fun he had! We will have to do this more often.
The other day (pre swine flu before activities got canceled), my child went to a safety fair. He got to see a motorcycle puppet cop, a race car, a helicopter and an ambulance! He had fun, and though he was hesitant to pet the horses, he did!
"Come Shake McGruff's paw"
These things were remote controlled and drove and spoke through speakers! Freaked my son out, they did.
"Onward, ho!"
Hoping to never need to be this close to an ambulance again.
The highlight of the safety fair.
We also took him rollerskating for the first time. Roller World use to be so fun when I was little! But now, it is a total middle and high school skank fest... what happened?! He was a bit terrified at first, but he caught on and loooved it!
What do you do to help your kids get out of the mundane, boring cycle? Esp. indoors, once Texas summer hits, I plan on hibernating, lest I will surely melt.
Now, one last thing. Zachary is a two year old little boy who was born with multiple disabilities and is developmentally delayed. He suffers from muscular weakness and cannot swallow. As a result, he has a tracheotomy and a feeding tube. Zachary is under constant medical care and needs occupational, physical and swallow therapies. He has been hospitalized several times, is coming up on his seventh surgery on his hip dysplasia that may help him walk and will need more surgeries in the near future. Zachary is continuing his developmental progress at home with around the clock care of nurses, and his mother. However, despite the devotion of family and friends, the Nemeth family has been financially burdened with countless medical and daily living expenses. They need our help. So Please Open up your hearts and Help Zach stay on Track.
Visit the Caring Bridge website to see how you can help. I know that times are really rough for a lot of us right now. If you can't spare some change, then leave a positive message for the parents to read on their guestbook, or pass the word along. Fast for lunch and don't buy that $6 Taco Bell or Starbucks. $6 may not seem like a lot to us, but it may mean everything to a struggling family who will put it to better use to save their son.
