Wordless Wednesday - Goodbye Summer

First Craft Show

Well, Kaylan and I had our first craft show that we were only half ready for a couple weekends ago.  I don't really think you can call it a craft show.  We accidentally were placed with more of the business's promoting their companies instead of being a few blocks away by all the crafts.  It was a bit of a doozie, but an experience to say the least. 

Here is our setup. 

 Alphabet bean bags, menu boards, perpetual calendars.

 Hooded towels.

 Burp cloths, business card holders, crinkle toys, kleenex holder, baby blankets.

We didn't sell much at this one, but we confident our next one will be MUCH better!  Come see us November 3rd in Ankeny at Prairie Ridge Middle School! You pay one fee and get to shop at three different middle schools!  It's pure craziness, but a great place to fine unique Christmas gifts! :)

Kaylan's Birthday

This year was Kaylan's 30th Birthday!  I saw a link on Pinterest where a man's family did this for him for his 60th birthday.  That would be a whole lot more than what we did for Kaylan.  However, I think people get more nostalgic the older they get. 

I don't have the pictures from when she was opening all of these, but it sure was fun for her to get all the memories.  There were tons of laughs and maybe a few tears too.  Thanks again to everyone who participated and got me memories of Kaylan! 

DIY Wedding Deets

Here are a few things Derrick and I did for our wedding!

I made a sign for Miles to carry down the aisle before me that said "Here Comes the Bride."  Here is a little bit of my process.  Derrick cut me a piece of wood.  I painted it grey.  I cut out a design on the silhouette, and painted that. 

 Then I also cut letters on the silhouette.  They were fine, but the glossy paint I used was horrific!!  When I tried to peel the vinyl off, it pulled up part of the paint.  Note to self:  Never use glossy paint!  it seriously is the worst invention ever!

 So that was disappointing!!  I had to start all the way over.  Worst thing ever.  Ask Derrick.  I cried.  Literally.  I had to paint over what I had done, and I used the other side to do the new one.  Same process: grey, white vinyl design, letters (which I changed), and thankfully it turned out.  Derrick drilled a couple holes in the top, and we strung it with tulle from Quinn's tutu for him to hold. It was the most adorable thing, but unfortunately our photographer didn't snap a picture of it.  We kept telling Miles that he had a really important job.  He was to take the sign all the way down the aisle and give it to Uncle Derrick.  He did such a good job! 

Also in this picture, we made our own programs.  Here is a picture of our programs before we had tied the ribbon on the top.  I saw the idea on Pinterest, and I think they turned our great!

 Here is Quinn's tutu that I made for her. 

She looked adorable!  And I think she had fun walking/playing down the aisle too!  I don't think she'll have a problem with stage fright! :)

For the groomsmen & usher gifts, we bought them mugs, and I etched their name and a picture on them.   It's hard to tell what's on them in these pictures.

 Here is Derrick's.  I etched a Vikings' head on his and his name.

We also decided to have cupcakes instead of a giant cake for our wedding.  So Derrick and I got busy makeing a cupcake stand.  Let's say we made it work, but it definitely wasn't our best work!  And it certainly wasn't a fun project...ask Derrick!  We bought a sheet of 1/2" wood, cut it ourselves, cut the PVC pipe, painted it, and put it all together.  This project definitely took us a few months to complete.



 But in the end, I think it looked nice at our wedding! :)

I think that concludes this post of our DIY wedding details.  I would love to see your DIY projects too!

Ant Infestation

This is disgusting, so I apologize in advance. We had a little bit of an ant infestation in my office over the summer. Apparently our windows aren't sealed very well, and they were hiding in the walls by the window. Yuck! I have no idea how long it had been there either because where they were hiding out is behind two of my stoarage containers by my desk.

This is what I noticed first, just a few (20) ants crawling around on the part of the windowsill that I could see.

Then I look behind my storage container to find a rotting wall with a zillion ants.  Ewwww!! It still gives me the heebie jeebies!   

I didn't take a picture of it, but there were ants coming out of the actual sill too and going down our wall to the floor.  And after I moved my storage container, this is what I saw.  I mean do you even want to guess how many ants that is?!??!  Yes, a spider happened to join this crew too. 

I got out our wonderful home bug killer spray and sprayed the s*&! out of those ants!  Then cleaning them up was the fun part...NOT!  I literally cleaned ants for two hours while Derrick was at work.  After I thought I was done cleaning/vacuuming them up, more were running out of the wall and windowsill.  I mean it seriously was like a horror movie around here.  So I sad with my vacuum hose and sucked them out of the wall and sill for another 30 minutes.  And after that, I hotglued those ants in the wall! :)  At least until the exterminator could come. 

That concludes my horrific ant story.  I have never had hate towards ants, but this may have just sealed the deal.  Disgusting.

Household Tip

We added this to our laundry room door a while ago, and we love it.  It's so much easier to find what we need than digging below the kitchen sink!  And we now have more cupboard room under the kitchen sink! :)  It's just a hanging shoe container.  The only bad thing about it is that it slams against the door every time you close this door unless you're really slow.  It's a small price to pay, though, so we don't mind.

NetiPot

So when I was 18, I found out I had allergies.  I went through a few spurts where I did daily inhalers, which always helped but not enough for me for justify forking out the money they cost!  For a while I wasn't doing anything and had crazy symptoms.  Then I started taking just a daily pill like Zyrtec, but the offbrand one.  Which, on a side note, if anyone else takes that stuff, you should get it at Sam's Club.  I was paying $15 for 30 tablets at CVS and at Wal-Mart I think it was $11.  At Sam's Club I got 450 tablets for the same price!

Anyways, the tablets really helped better than anything else, but I was still having some symptoms, and my allergies were still driving me crazy!  Insert NetiPot here...

I had heard of the NetiPot years ago but thought it was crazy to pour it up your nose.  Once I saw Dr. Oz say how it could really help with allergies, I was sold.  Derrick and I went out and bought one right away, and I love it!  I do it 2-3 times a week or when I'm feeling stuffy in the shower and all my allergy symptoms have mostly gone away.  They flair up every once in a while, but it's WAY better than before. 

Caution:  I use distilled water when I do it and just heat it up for 20 seconds before mixing it with the solution and using it.  Apparently two people died from using it because they used tap water, and the tap water contained a brain-eating bacteria. 

Don't let that or the whole pouring it up your nose thing discourage you :)  It's amazing!

Oh, and I really thing it helps keep me from getting sick!  Let me know if you decide to try it!

Embarrassing!

It is rather embarrassing how long it has been since I've posted on here.  A lot has changed around here since June.  I mean, I have a new last name and everything! I have a ton to post, so bear with me as it will be painfully out of order.  Here is a nice little list I have been keeping since June of things to blog about.  At least you'll know what's coming :) 

Some of the highlights since June:  Derrick and I got married!  That's the best news since then :)  We have attended two friends' weddings too.  I did my second triathlon.  We took a trip to Chicago with the McCords.  I am a NetiPot user and think it's the best thing ever.  Kaylan and I are doing lots of crafting for some craft shows.  I passed my National RPR test.  We had an ant infestation. I have pictures of our DIY wedding decorations.  Derrick got a new job.

Whew! I hope you're ready to get caught up! And hopefully you're at least interested in a few of those topics so you'll keep checking back! :) I'll leave you today with this fun picture from the zoo! :)

Wordless Wednesday

Indianapolis 500 Parade and Race

I'm so behind!  It's a few weeks late, but here are all the pictures from our experience with the Indianapolis 500!

Olivia Newton-John

Wade Cunningham in the middle (We were able to get in the media room

because Roger was in touch with Wade!) 

Guy Fieri 

Keith Colburn, Wizard Captain from Deadliest Catch

Gladys Knight 

Ashley Judd and Dario Franchitti, Winner of 2012 Indianapolis 500 

Derrick and I at our first Indy 500 with awesome seats! 

Everyone pitting

One Year Anniversary...

...of my dreaded thumb accident!  I can't believe it's been a year already.  Trust me, I can remember it like it was yesterday!  Is it bad that barely cutting off a chunk of my thumb is the worse accident I've ever had?!  No broken bones, nothing.  I won't gross you out with reminising over the pictures again. :) But as a one-year follow-up, my thumb looks pretty normal.  You would have to look really hard to know that it's not exactly round, and my feeling is almost normal.  It's still a little tender to the touch, but I only really notice if I hit it will something directly on that little spot.  And my nail even grew back pretty normal! :)

For anyone that didn't experience my thumb trauma with me or would just like to rehash the good ol' details, feel free to check out this post.  Be warned that it's disgusting! :) 

Here's to no more crafting accidents! (Knock on wood!)

First Triathalon!

Kaylan and I did our first sprint triathalon this last Saturday.  I'm very proud to say that I completed it, and it was a great experience. 



Getting ready to start!

Still smiling after finishing :)

Unofficially my time was about 1 hour and 33 minutes.  Kaylan was ahead of me by about 10 minutes.  Her road bike sure made a world of difference!  I was working my tail off on my mountain bike, and she was flying by me barely working!  I lost her at about mile 5 of the bike and didn't see her again until half way through the run. 

There is another one here in August.  I will be signing up and hopefully cut a few minutes off my time! :)  I might become a triathalon junkie!

Wordless Wednesday

Fishy Fish!

A few weeks ago, Derrick and I added to our little family!  We got a fish tank and four little fishies. 

Isn't it pretty?! 

Meet Ozzy, Viktor, Pinky, & Fred! :) 

Well, actually Fred died after about a week, and our tank was getting dirty pretty fast, so we got a sucker fish instead.  No pictures of him, but his name is Sucka.  Get it?! ;)

Lime Ricki Giveaway!

Go on over and check out the Lime Ricki giveaway at Cakies blog!

Enter for a chance to win, but I sure hope you don't and I do!! ;)

Wordless Wednesday

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

How many balls can he hold at once?

3??

More than that!

4!!!

Next we're going to work on 5 :)

Here's a video that shows Miles on his "wild" side :)

Mushroom Hunting

'Tis the season for mushrooms, and Derrick and I really seem to be striking out!  This week we went out to a co-worker's house to look for some mushrooms, and all I found was this little guy.

I think the next time we go, we'll try to hit up Eagle Creek Park or something.  There's got to be some out here! 

More Miles Time

Kaylan brought Miles over while she went to spinning on Wednesday, so we were able to get more playing time in. And I did remember to take pictures and a couple of cute videos :)

Here's a little Sesame Street dance for you!

And here's him showing off his puzzle skills :)

And for the grand finale...Here's what he likes to do to Uncle Derrick right before he jumps on him! :)

Sleepover with Miles

This last weekend we had a sleepover with Miles.  Kaylan and T.J. brought him over after his nap, and we spent the evening doing lots of playing!  When Derrick got home from work, we took him outside to this large grass field by our apartments and did lots of running/ball throwing.  We saw a few airplanes too, and the babe sure does love airplanes! 

On our way home, we took him by a couple of small ponds by our apartment, one with a fountain.  We were lucky to see a family of ducks, and Miles loved looking at them.  We ended the night with a bath and some ice cream! :) 

Derrick had to work super early the next morning, so Miles and I got up and had a yummy breakfast and watched a little Sesame Street before daddy came to get him.  I was a bad auntie and didn't take any pictures or videos from that weekend. 

On a side note, after T.J. picked up Miles, I went and donated blood here at our apartment complex, and I won a $50 gift card to Kohl's!  Whoohoo!  :)

Wordless Wednesday - Puppets

Out on the Town

A couple weeks ago, we had ourselves a little night on the town.  Derrick and I went and tried a new restaurant at Metropolis, Teddy's Burger Joint.  You go in, order your food, find a place to sit, and they bring your food out.  They happened to be having a album-release party for a band, so there was some good, live entertainment too.  It was delicious.  We'll definitely be going back.

After dinner, we went downtown to meet up with some girls I work with.  We ended up at Kilroy's for drinks and chatting. 

 Regina, Christine, Nancy, and Me

 We didn't know when we got there that we had a sugar daddy all lined up. 

We didn't know this guy, but he was buying us drinks all night.  We're not talking cheap beers either.  He bought the girls their flavored long island iced teas in the pitchers before we got there and each of us a Vegas bomb later in the night, even Derrick. :) 

We had a good time and can't wait to do it again soon!