lampshade slipcover

i found these really cool lamps at Home Goods, but i really don't like the shades at all. they are cheapo faux silk, and the shiny pearly color doesn't do much for me, either.

so, i remembered reading about how Chris over at Just Beachy had made a slipcover for a lampshade, and decided to try it out!

i used the burlap from Erin's trek bag. it was the perfect color and texture.

i love the contrast between the rough burlap and the mercury glass lamp.

it brings some of the darker wood tone from the piano into that side of the room. (burlap is very stretchy and ravelly, by the way, i think next time i might use linen.)

Disaster strikes . . .

I took some pictures of my very clean house a few months ago when I thought we might be moving. I am using these pictures now as a reference so you can see what my office once looked like.

The perfect craft room solution - shallow drawers and cute cabinets on top, with cute IKEA fabric in the windows to hide the messy shelves. It only took me over a year to find these.

My "office" made out of a closet. Originally I was planning to "paper" the inside of this closet with the IKEA fabric featured above.

My desk/worktable. I love it pushed up against the window so that I can see outside while I'm working.

This is what my office looks like now. I went to put away a few things left out from my week's projects, and I found that a gallon jug of distilled water (for ironing) had sprung a leak and soaked everything on that shelf and below. (This is not the first time distilled water has leaked in my house - last year I found a jug that had seeped on a shelf in my pantry, only that one wasn't discovered for months.)

Books, magazines, etc. from the shelf above.

Around here, you have to dry stuff out really well, or it will grow mold. The water seeped into the bottom shelf where it had puddled. I hope I can dry it out so it doesn't warp.

I save my fave magazine articles with pictures of pretty houses. These were not put away the last time I looked through them, or they would have been in the other cabinet and been fine. They are spread out all over the room drying separately so they don't stick together.

I'm trying to salvage the fabric that was inside on the back of the cabinet. I didn't see it when I was at IKEA today, which makes me think they don't sell it anymore, and I really like it.

This isn't really what I wanted to do with my evening, I was going to finish up some projects for the girls' rooms (pictures coming soon!) and clean the house before my sweetie gets home. Oh well, I'm just glad I found it today instead of in a few weeks.

easy project

i found these great pinboards at the Pottery Barn Outlet (they're from West Elm) for only about $15 each and turned them into ......

.....THESE!

amy butler fabric, but of course

the plan is to get them hung and the girls' rooms picture perfect before they get home from camp tomorrow.

regency prep shout out

corey lived here for a few months with my friend Karma, and her baby was always dressed so cute! i found out that she made his clothes herself, and so i had her make something for my bff Tiff's new baby, Cruz. she made it and mailed it right out, it was the easiest baby gift shopping i've ever done! and Tiff loves the clothes! completely unique and so hip!

if you need a unique baby gift, check out Regency Prep! thanks a ton, Corey, you rock!

look at that stylish packaging!

she even named this original design Cruz, after the baby!

and talk about going above and beyond, she threw in some SO cute burp cloths and binky strap!

spontaneous vacation

eric has been flying to san diego for work for a few months now (just part time, he still has to do his job here) and so we went out for two weeks over 4th of july because we miss him so. it was super fun, but also exhausting, and it is so great to be home.

legoland was kind of cool, at least the amazing things that they build out of legos, but i think we were all a little too old for the rides. the most exciting thing to calvin and jack was the gift shop.

jack, erin, annie, clayton

del mar beach was great, the water was warm, and this was probably the nicest day we had while we were in socal. (that little guy was a neighbor who only had big teenage brothers and was excited to have some younger kids to play with. his family comes out and stays in a condo for six weeks every summer, talk about fun!)

at the wild animal park, this baby bird was trying to learn how to fly, but got tired and landed right in the middle of the sidewalk. his mommy kept bringing him food, but we were afraid he would get stepped on if we left him, so we babysat him until the security guard came.

getting to see the animals in a more natural setting was fun. i especially loved the baby elephants, there were at least three tiny guys (relatively speaking)

sea world was amazing! i wouldn't let the kids sit in the soak zone, though, because the temp was only in the low sixties. there was a lot of cool educational stuff too, besides the shows.

jack

we did the beach again, because i was too tired to go back to another park. so we missed the zoo, but we have a great zoo here, so we didn't feel too bad.

calvin, jack r., jack e.

on the way up to norcal, we stopped off in valencia and saw Eric's Uncle Bob and Aunt Anne, their son John and his wife Ginger, and their two boys, Jack and Justin. our Jack and their Jack are only a few months apart in age, so they have a lot of fun together.

annette, moi

in Hollister, we stayed at our good friends the Anderson's who were out in Utah (thanks again, Caroline!) it was so nice to have a home base and to be able to do laundry! it was also great because they live right next door to the Dickson's, who are also awesome!

kayla, erin, corey

Annette and Loren fed us and let our kids sleep over every night! Erin had so much fun catching up with Kayla, and Calvin and Jack couldn't get enough of playing with Corey and Bradley!

calvin, erin, tyler, caleb, jack, sam, annie

on saturday we drove up to Eric's parent's place to spend as much time as possible with Grandpa. Dean's family came down from seattle, so we got to hang out with some cousins!

annie, mercedes, reef

we went back down to hollister for more fun with more friends, here we are at the beach in santa cruz with the Sowards! the kids were a little shocked to find the water a bit colder than in san diego county, though!

calvin, beau, jack

tuesday night is family night at the santa cruz boardwalk, which means all rides are $1, so we went and hung out there, it was a lot of fun, i can't believe we never went there when we lived there. well, yes i can, we had 4 tiny kids, so that would have been torture. we stayed way longer than we should have (i got a parking ticket) but it's just so hard to say goodbye. i'm sad that i didn't get any pictures of Brandon and Tiff's new little guy Cruz, he's adorable.

we miss you guys a ton! it was so fun to see you all!

a reason to smile...

someone i know is excited for football season to start....

happy VERY belated father's day!

i wrote this post a few weeks before father's day, but got caught up in summer and forgot all about it!

thanks, dad, for everything.

thanks for teaching me how to drive a stick shift. guys were impressed.

thanks for taking me camping and hiking.

thanks for letting me have a pet.

thanks for reaching over and squeezing my knee, even though i said i hated it.

thanks for coming to watch my kids at karate and getting so excited for them.

thanks for working so hard for our family so that we never wanted for anything.

thanks for calling me every couple of days just to see how we're doing.

thanks for teaching me the gospel and for setting a good example of what a righteous priesthood holder should be.

thanks for not letting me date some of the guys that i thought i wanted to date.

thanks for always treating my mother with love and respect. by doing that, you showed me that i should expect the same thing from my husband.

thanks for always making time to listen and hang out with me.

thanks for understanding me when i didn't understand myself, and remembering what it was like to be a kid.

thanks for giving me so many opportunities - music lessons, dance class, band, soccer, gymnastics, piano, track, volleyball, horseback riding - so that i could find out what makes me tick.

thanks for recognizing the potential in me, and then telling me about it.