black tag diaries

Friday, March 18, 2011

awarded

This week I received 2 super cool awards... both of which made me feel super cool.

Ashley over at Oh Me! passed on the 7 Facts Blog Award. Ashley is way, way cute and grew up in the state of Kentucky (maybe she can teach me a bit about my new home state?). You should definitely check out her adorable blog... we share a love of fun shoes, she has her own 30 before 30 list, and she has the sweetest 2nd chance love story. Told you... way, way cute.

Then Lauren over at First Comes Love passed on the Versatile Blogger Award. Lauren is super cute and pretty much my kindred spirit. She renovates and redecorates, is super crafty, and takes pictures... not to mention that her husband and my husband grew up together. We won't get into the fact that my husband was actually teaching high school when Lauren was still in high school... absolutely beside the point.

Both of these awards require that you come up with 7 intriguing facts about yourself... hmmm...

1) I love musicals. Like really love them. My favorite is RENT... but I'm dying to see Les Miserables.

2) We almost moved to the other side of the world. As in, sold our house and started the application process for Almaty, Kazakhstan... but it turned out the Lord had different plans... so now we are at seminary.

3) I despise throwing up. I realize most people don't enjoy this... but I mean, I like really, really hate it. Unlike my friend Lauren, I don't go into full-blown panic attacks about it... but I can count on one hand how many times I have thrown up in my adult life... and I am almost 30.

4) I was in my high school's Show Choir. We called it Pop Choir... think Glee, just not nearly as cool. (if only there was a Puckerman at my school...) But we sang and danced... went to sectionals and all that stuff.

5) I go to sleep with socks on... but never wake up with socks on. I'm not really sure what happens, but at some point in the middle of the night, I rip them off and throw them on the floor.

6) I used to have my nose pierced. And would do it again in a heartbeat.

7) I worked in the Wal-mart deli one summer. Yes, as in slicing up turkey and ham while wearing a hair net. I spent a summer in Panama City Beach, FL with a group from our college ministry, and we were all required to get summer jobs... it was quite humorous.

So now, I am supposed to pass these awards on to some of my favorite bloggers...

The 7 Facts Blog Award goes to....

Jessamie @ Bird & Branch Redesign

Amber @ Cross My Heart Designs

Jenna (my super cool sister) @ Order & Pestle

Shaelyne @ Meadows Art & Photography

Marie @ Pouty Pink Princess

And the Versatile Blogger Award goes to...

Molly @ The Rigolosos

Danielle @ A Day in the Life

Rachel @ Falling From Trees

Alaina @ Misc.alain.eous

Jamie @ The CP

Thursday, March 17, 2011

thankful thursday

This Thursday I am thankful for:

1) Sisterly visits. My sister and her fiance are visiting this weekend!! I am SOOOO excited! Sisterly visits usually include (but are not limited to) pedicures... cupcakes... shopping... girl talk... closet swaps... and a trip to the Zappos warehouse... jealous? :)

2) Wedding invitations. One of the main things I will be doing this weekend with my sister is helping her put her wedding invitations together. I love doing stuff like this. Especially with my sister. We will be making crucial decisions such as, "ribbon or no ribbon?"

3) Schlotzsky's. "Funny name. Serious sandwich." I love this place. I have for as long as I can remember. I know exactly what I order... {turkey original. on sourdough. no lettuce. no onions.} I'm eating it today for lunch, and I can't wait.

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So... here's how Thankful Thursday works...

:: Write up a little post about what you are thankful for. I always pick 3 things... (but that's just me, and how I started TT on the very first post). You can pick how ever many you want. I mean, I'm not the Thankful Nazi or anything.

:: Remember the simple things. This Thankful Thursday is yours... and you can be thankful for whatever you want... but what I love about doing this every week is that it forces me to really think about the simple pleasures in life... both big and small.

:: Add your awesomeness to the Thankful Thursday linky list below. Please be sure to add your actual Thankful Thursday post... not just a link to your blog home page.

:: Tell your friends. Link back to this blog and invite your other bloggy friends to join in Thankful Thursday. If this works out and you guys want to do this again and again... I will work on getting some type of Thankful Thursday button... promise.

:: Be sure to visit some of the other blogs on the list. Share the love. It's always to encouraging to read what everyone else is thankful for.

:: Be thankful.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

bedding on a budget {and a pillow tragedy}

Recently, Lance and I have been discussing purchasing a new comforter for our bed. I love the one we have... but let's be honest... after 7 years, it can get old. So, for the past few months, I have been keeping my eyes open for something that would fit our style... and our budget. Well, the style part I found... no problem. The budget part on the other hand... notsomuch.

Soooo... enter Bedding on a Budget.

When I decided we could take it no more, I set out to TJ Maxx (probably my favorite store of all time, ask anyone that knows me) in search of the perfect bedding. After discovering that all of the comforters and "bed in a bag" sets were out of our price range... I changed game plans (and departments).

I headed towards the decorative pillow section, and saw this...

From that moment... all of my brilliant ideas of a new comforter swiftly went out the door. I needed those pillows. My mind was set. There were 2 left on the shelves... and you know how TJ Maxx is... you snooze, you lose. I checked out and purchased my beautiful pillows (and a $30 mirror, but more on this later). I reveled in the compliments the woman at the register was giving me on my selection... "I know, they're amazing, aren't they?" I could not wait to bring my pillows home. So I threw these bad boys in the cart and made my way to the car...

Actually, let me rephrase... I threw one pillow in the cart... and I placed the other underneath the cart, you know... on that bottom shelf. {Anyone with a low tolerance of pain to pillows should stop reading now... what you are about to read is heartbreaking.} I was blissfully pushing my shopping cart through the parking lot, holding the $30 mirror to balance it in my cart, all while daydreaming about how stunning my bed would look with my new pillows. Then a woman rolled down her window to tell me something. I thought surely she was going to tell me how gorgeous my pillows were or ask me where I found such breathtaking treasures... but no. "Umm, ma'am... one of your pillows has fallen and is under your shopping cart."

I told you. Horrid. I tried to maintain my composure, thinking maybe the pillow had just fallen and didn't really get dirty. Wrong. I had been dragging my beautiful pillow along the nasty TJ Maxx parking lot the entire time. It took everything I had to not burst into tears right there in the parking lot.

Because, this is what I was dealing with...

Before I even left the parking lot, I started searching "how to clean your decorative pillows" on my phone. Anything. But I was pretty skeptical. Then, I remembered I had this cleaning cloth a good friend gave me once... a Cajun Clean All. It's this little green micro-fiber cloth, that according to their website is "guaranteed" to work on anything. Oh, we'll see about that.

It did. It worked. The website didn't lie. Every home in America should have one of these little green micro-fiber cloths. If you look close, you might be able to tell, but I bet if I did another round of Cajun Clean All, it would be pretty close to perfect. I can't complain.

So, now that you know the pillows lived happily ever after and survived the dreadful pillow tragedy... let's get back to Bedding on a Budget. You may remember our bed from the house tour {part II}, but just in case... here is what our bedding looked like...

Not too shabby. I actually really liked everything... just time for a change. So... with a simple switch of the coverlet (we went from blue to cream) and replacing a few pillows... we have this...

I LOVE IT. The new purple pillows are obviously the game-changers here... but a few other key switches were crucial to the final look...

1) Monogramed pillows added. We received the beautiful monogramed shams as a wedding gift almost 7 years ago. I need to add bigger/fuller pillows, but you get the idea.

2) Bedside table quick change. I simply removed the blue patterned fabric I had on the bedside table to reveal the brown tablecloth underneath.

3) Flowers on the bedside table. These were a last minute TJ find. I think they were $5/each and matched the pillows perfectly. I couldn't resist.

4) Lampshade switch-a-roo. These lampshades were in the living room (see below), but I LOVE them in the bedroom now. I think this little change made one of the biggest differences... (after the pillows, of course).

Overall... I feel like Bedding on a Budget was a huge success! With the simple purchase of a couple of pillows (and a horrible pillow tragedy) and a few switches from things around my house, I was able to change the entire look of our room.

Have you tried Bedding on a Budget? Let me know if you have... I'd love to see your results!

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

butterfly craft project

I have recently been going through some serious craft withdraws... I knew it was imperative to my health and well-being to do something crafty this past weekend... anything with scissors and adhesive would do.

Soooo... I thought about this project. And how I mentioned something about trying this same craft with butterflies for spring. Perfect. Crafting withdraws gone.

This craft project is SO easy... definitely one you can start and finish all in one sitting (which I'm a huge fan of).

All you need is some fun scrap paper, a roll of adhesive, a frame (glass optional), a mat to fit your frame, some 3D dots (optional), and a butterfly paper punch, of course. I found my butterfly punch on sale at Target. I snatched the last one up, lest any other crazy butterfly crafters beat me to it.

First... punch out dozens of little butterflies. Just punch, punch, punch to your hearts content. I used scraps from 3 different colors of paper. I mapped out where my butterflies would go before I started gluing them down. (And let me just say, it took everything inside of my OCD body to NOT put the butterflies in a pattern... seriously... everything.) Once I had a general idea of where my butterflies would go, I just started adhering them down, one by one.

Then I decided that I wanted to add a little text to my project this time. I used pencil first, then went over it in pen (don't worry, I eventually went back and erased my pencil markings). My text reads, "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation." This is a favorite verse of mine from 2 Corinthians 5:17... and always comes to mind when I think about butterflies and their beautiful transformation.

Here's the final look. I knew I wanted to have one butterfly be a little different (like I did with the hearts the last time I did this project). I used a colorful polka-dot patterned paper for this little guy. I gently folded it in half to give it that 3D look. I adhered the folded butterfly on top of a solid butterfly, then used a 3D dot to adhere the whole thing to my paper.

I love how this turned out. It's simple and understated... and looks fabulous on my craft wall... but more on this another day.

Linking this project up to:

Paper Issues

Iron Violet Designs

Running With Glitter

top 2 tuesday

It's been a while since I've joined in with Taylor and friends for a Top 2 Tuesday... This week is "Top 2 Random Facts About You"...

1) I have an obsession with books. Reading them... notsomuch. Really just buying them. I could spend hours and hours in a cozy bookstore. Don't get me wrong... I do read occassionally... just not nearly fast enough to keep up with my overflowing bookshelf.

2) I drink tomato juice on airplanes. Practically every flight. I'm not really sure why... I hardly ever drink it otherwise. But on plane, it's a staple... tomato juice, hold the ice. I think it's rather odd that they even offer tomato juice... but they do. Always an option. Right there along with coke and sprite. Strange, no?

What about you? What are your Top 2 Random Facts? Head on over to the Undomestic Momma and link up!

Monday, March 14, 2011

three... and sweet as can be...

My adorable-cute-as-a-button-just-want-to-pinch-their-cheeks-off twin nieces turned three yesterday... THREE.

Don't you just want to kiss those sweet-sticky-faces?!? Love them.

Happy Birthday Jocelyn & Gabbie!

Love... Aunt Juwa

happy monday {texture}

It's been a few weeks since I've participated in Allie's Happy Monday. This week's theme is texture... I thought this photo was perfect...

I mean, who can resist baby toes, right? I love how the soft texture of the blanket meets the smoothness of those little wrinkly baby toes.

Head on over here to check out the other Happy Monday photo contestants.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

thirty-five blissful years

Thirty-five years is a big deal. It is. I am so grateful for my parent's beautiful example of love and marriage. I look up to them in so many ways.

They compliment each other so well. They are college sweethearts... they are co-workers... they are best friends. They are awesome.

We are looking forward to celebrating with them on our Alaskan cruise this summer!!

Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad! I love you.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

masterpiece 2011 recap...

I mean... where to even start?

I spent last weekend with about 300 other women in College Station, TX for Masterpiece 2011... and it did not disappoint. I felt completely honored to be behind the camera lens for this event... it was such a beautiful weekend.

What exactly did we do at Masterpiece, you might ask? Well... I'll tell you...