My Very Own...

China Cabinet!

Its from Ikea for only $365 (and our parents split it as a gift for us)

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10176268/

I'd been wanting this cabinet for quite a while now (for about a year actually). Since our wedding one year ago we lost kitchen space due to the new china set. We had a bit of space near our kitchen table and I complained to hubby that I never get anything that I want because I always feel guilty spending money on myself. I think someday in the future when we have money we'll redo our living room to match as we really like the Ikea Hemnes set in black-brown. This will probably be years down the road, but its nice to dream. 

I really wanted something with glass doors to properly display our goods. After it was completely put together hubby just stuffed all our china in it (picture above). The next morning while he was still sleeping I reorganized it to look like this...

Now it actually displays our china like you see in the magazines! The key to doing this yourself is using the plates against the back of he cabinet and centering your best pieces so they are visible through the glass. I know I could make the display look even better but it's not the biggest china cabinet in the world so it still has to do primary duty as storage. I love love love it though and the piece itself is just gorgeous. You'd be surprised that its by Ikea (it's even solid wood!). They also make one with all shelves, no drawers but we wanted the drawer space for napkins and table cloths and random stuff.

Grout Master

In my next life I am sure to be a tile instillation expert considering that grout and I have officially become friends.

OK! You caught me... I'm really not that great at working with grout, but I do have to say my mosaic project is almost done and is turning out pretty well.

I starting by smashing up about four or five medium size plates. As I wrote in a previous post that we had ordered more china to be able to serve 12 instead of 8 but some plates arrived broken. I decided to do a mosaic mirror that will be put in our future formal dining room and conveniently match our china.

While breaking up the already chipped and broken plates I discovered a few things:

-Its not easy to smash them in to small and even pieces.
-Vacuum up the area you are working when you are done as the shards can fly anywhere!
-I needed to go buy a tile cutter in order to get them into certain shapes and sizes.
-The broken pieces consisting of the curved part of the plate was pretty much useless because they will not lie flat on a surface
-Those pieces were more likely to have our beautiful china pattern on them
-I should have painted the mirror first
-I should have taken out the mirror before that

After much deliberation, I decided to just start in one corner and put the "puzzle" together, rather than being picky about shapes and design. It wasn't terribly hard. I quickly decided that I'd just glue the pieces down right away instead of waiting till I had it all figured out.  *note using adhesive is necessary, there is no way you'll be able to grout the pieces with out them staying in one spot!

Even so, here is the mirror after I adhered the pieces onto to it...

Then hubby suggested I take the mirror out so that it stops getting dirty. Although I wasn't too worried because the grout and paint are water soluble and wipe right off.

Then I added the grout, wiped it off the tile surfaces and smoothed the grout in between each tile to make it look uniform and not lumpy. I also added grout around the edges because I didn't want any jagged pieces. So the edges are yet to be smoothed out. The edged where the wood was showing I painted white, although it still needs another layer.
*Note here that just wiping the grout off the tile surface and smoothing down in between the tiles is not enough. I had to literally chip away (I used my fingernails and Popsicle sticks) the grout from the tile surfaces in many parts or else it would still be covering some of the tile surface.

So far I've probably put in 5-10 hours on this. Tomorrow, since I have the day off I might be able to take the time to finish it. More to come! 

Who Says Dogs Can't Smile?

This is my baby boy. He's the literally hands down the best dog in the world. Whenever anyone else has ever said that about their dog, its not true. In fact, even though I work with literally hundreds of dogs in a yearly basis, Scout is the only dog that I have never considered a dog. He is truly my son, my baby, a loved family member. Before I met my husband, he was the first boy to completely steal my heart, the first boy I ever fell madly in love with. He (and hubby) is the absolutely center of my universe, my life would not be complete with out him. I love him to the end of the world and back and I would give my life for him if I had to.

Imagine how I will be when we have children. lol!

Scouti and I are going to watch the runners in Boston marathon with my parents tomorrow (or later today I mean.. I got to get to bed!) since I have off from work. Then hubby is meeting up with us to watch the parade in my hometown, historical Lexington. Happy Patriots Day!

Lush Love

Last month I went into Lush for the first time with my aunt. Lush is a store that sells handmade all-fresh all-natural soaps and lotions. 

They tried their hand soaps or whatever it is on me. I asked about some facial cleansers and they gave me free samples. Since then I didn't really use them. In terms of my face I like products where I see immediate results because I'm not very patient. 

I've just been so annoyed lately with my "lack of clear skin". I want to feel/look like I'm 23 and not feel/look like I am 15 (as I mentioned in my birthday post). I work hard at my job and want to be taken seriously and with possibly starting my own business this year I think that's even more important. 

Yesterday I went back to Lush and decided to just completely "go natural"! I got a body soap, shampoo, conditioner, and 3 facial cleanser products (which will basically be a 3 step facial cleansing system for me). I even took away all my old products (Pantene pro-v and SoftSoap) So everything I use now will be completely natural. 

Not sure how good it will work yet, but I can tell you...

I smell really nice!

Little Blue Dress

unaltered...

I picked it up last night! Luckily, I still love it. Although admittedly a teensy bit less than when I tried it on with the wedding party. I need to get it altered obviously, but I thought the gathering in the midsection looks a little off when I tried it on last night. Get this... Davids Bridal alterations quoted me $110. Which is pretty much the same as what it cost ($140 with a discount.. I think it was either $20 off or 20% can't remember lol). My mother in law gave me a the number of the tailor she uses so I'll get a quote for them and maybe a few other places too depending on what kind of quotes I'm getting. I would go to Davids Bridal because they did a good job on my wedding dress last year but A wedding dress is different. You know you are going to pay as much as  the dress for the alterations and its worth it. I wouldn't trust just any tailor on the street to do a wedding dress as I've heard horror stories. But, a bridesmaid dress is different I feel like any Tailor can do a nice little hem and take it in a bit. I just hope that when its done I look as smoking hot sexy as this...

Which I know I posted on before but now that I compare the two pictures.. I want to look like that girl!!! And I totally know that I'm already thin enough to pull it off, I just need the dress to confirm it!

Anywho... I'm super excited for the wedding and to get started on the DIY card box and aisle runner for my friend! 

First a bride, then a bridesmaid

I also want to announce that a little over a month ago my best friend from college asked me to be a bridesmaid in her wedding! While I do have quite a few friends that are engaged and/planning a wedding,she is the first to ask me to be in the Wedding party. I was so completely shocked and honored. I knew that she was my best friend from college but never knew if she felt the same way. I'm the only person from college she asked (that I know of - but it does sound like she planned on asking me).

Anyway we tried on bridesmaid dresses yesterday at Davids Bridal. We decided on the same material and color but different styles.
This is mine:

Whew and I going to look sexy or what? :-)

The color is actually darker in person. I'll post a pic when I try it on when it comes in. I do have to get it hemmed because I'm too short and possibly taken in a bit and/or cups sewn in. The girls were a bit floppy in there. 

We are going with silver shoes. Luckily I have a pair already that will mostly likely work. I sent the girls a picture to confirm its what we want. 

Here they are:

Plus, I offered to do an aisle runner, gift box or guest book as a gift for my friend. She wants an aisle runner and the gift box. The wedding is on the beach in Rhode Island so she's going with a beachy theme. Thus the blue dress too. So I'll post updates of those DIY projects too!

Mosaics!

I'm excited to announce I have a new craft project!

Russ and I are hosting our first Passover Seder this year. Its a huge undertaking as it is a very important holiday and there are so many traditional foods to make. We will have at least 9 people, including ourselves. Nevertheless, for our wedding we had a registry for china which our friends purchased. We only bought service for 8. My dear husband impulsively decided to buy more so that our Seder could match. Anyways, a few arrived broken and we got even more sent for free! And yet again a few arrived broken. Luckily we have service for 12 now and a few extras of some sizes.

I decided instead of throwing all the broken plates out that I would make a mosaic with the pieces. I searched for all of Michael's to find the perfect piece to do it on. I finally came home with a square wood mirror. If it all works our the way I want it to we will have a beautiful mirror that will match our china and therefore be hung in a future dining room and perfectly match! What a bright idea huh?