...And Coming in at Number Three!!!!

The air has been clear and crisp in Atlanta the last few days.

A change from our humid, Summer days

 (which I love and I'm not ready for Summer to go)

but everyone else  is excited for Pumpkins Spice lattes and

 Pinterest is one big Pumpkinfest!!

This blog post about this stack of pumpkins from a few years ago

 is my third most popular post of all time!!

If this seems a bit too large or involved then

 you can always make these - a much smaller scale!

But if you are into bigger and better than I "mustache" you to make this guy!!

or you can keep it simple and squishy fun

and just make these with the kiddos!!

Linking up:
at Zevy Joy's Fall Inspiration!
and  White Spray Paint Blog!



BIG Fun!

Those are verrrry big dice.

I was walking by a store called Five Below a couple of weeks ago 

and they had a bin of these out front.

I immediately thought "Giant Yahtzee!!"

Have you ever played Classic Yahtzee?

My family played it when I was growing up. 

We bought one years ago to play with Mollie to help her with multiplication and math skills.

 A fun way to work on Math when you are struggling. 
She didn't even realize we were doing Math!!

During the Summer we ran across it in a cabinet and Mollie and I played one night.
It's fun!!
It can be BIG fun!

I bought 5 of the giant dice. Die? Dice? You can look it up. I did. 

I also bought a square laundry basket at Five Below ( It's like a dollar store on steroids.)

I enlarged the score sheet from our box game 
because giant Yahtzee needs giant score sheets!!

Just shake the dice up in the basket, roll them out on the grass or on your family room floor - anywhere- they are foam. And let the games begin.

So far I have used it at a party on our porch and with the youth group at church and it's a BIG hit!!

Big Bird

I painted our downstairs powder room months ago.
Remember that whole discussion about being a 95%er 80%er?

I went with stripes again.

I had tone on tone stripes in there before - they were SW Rainwater and Rainwater at 50%.

This time I went with a white base and a color off of my go-to Sherwin Williams paint strip which runs from Shoji White to Urbane Bronze.
This has been my go-to strip for years!!!

It's brighter and crisper than the soft tone on tone I had before.

I like both looks.

I painted because I found the bamboo mirror at Goodwill and could not resist.

I painted it SW Ryegrass. A fabulous green.

I mentioned this print in my One Room Challenge  post

about inspirations and possible accessories and art for the room.

It did not make the ORC cut.

 I feel bad because I love it and I've had it for years - literally.

I just never found the right spot.

On the flipside I just couldn't seem to nail down the right combination of art and accessories

 in the newly painted powder room.

 What to do??

But now the Big Pink Bird has landed.

The Big Pink Bird has landed in the downstairs Powder Room 
which is impossible to photograph.

I was always happy that this Powder Room was a decent size compared to some that are stuck under stairs, etc. But now, it's pretty tight when you start trying to take photos AND stay out of the mirror reflection (pre-shower photo sesh.)

How the color reads in there is like day and night - literally.
It looks more gray in the daytime and warmer, more khaki at night with lights on.
It is my favorite "greige"- Intellectual Gray by Sherwin Williams.

And our dog ate the little white covers that go on those ugly screws on the toilet.
Twice.
We haven't tried again.

I freshened up the old vanity cabinet with a coat of Porpoise SW7042. 
And I just realized I never changed out the knobs. OY!

Folding vintage bamboo shelf was a Craigslist score!
Not to mention that I got to peek inside a perfectly restored and decorated cottage in Morningside in Atlanta. Bonus!

The blockprint is from a Charleston SC artist that I picked up at Candlefish, just off King Street.

The painting over the towel bar is called Ghost Crab. 
I love him!

This swirly turtle was carefully carried home from Honduras.

This little bath is full - painted walls, cabinets, mirror, thrifted blue and white, acrylic lamp, art, a tray, a basket, a big jar, ikat at the windows and more, but we love it and I think, maybe, it's 100% finished!!!

** Sherwin Williams does not sponsor these posts.
They just gave me a fandeck full of fabulous colors to play with 
and the rest, as they say, is history!!

Business in the front...

... party in the back!!!

That's the story around here. 

We had a Low Country Boil a couple of weeks ago when College Girl graduated.
It was all about the school colors - red and blue! Go West!!

 

( Excuse me while I post one more Proud Parent photo!!)

If you follow along on Instagram - my fave!, 

then you know we have been in Bridal Shower prep mode since then.

The Bride-to-be's colors are coral-y blush and pinks, gold and white. 

That's all I needed to know. 

I went to town spray painting frames, papier mache letters and signs in those colors!

That's a serious spread right there!!

Someone said they felt like they were in a Southern Living photo shoot - so cute!

(On a side note the sign above is not quite finished... I still have to paint flowers in those fab pinks and corals at the top before the wedding!! But we used it at the shower anyway!)

There is a blush and gold polka dot runner down the middle of the table under all that yummy food.
It's hidden but I did my old gift wrap runner trick!
And I made the tassels from plastic tablecloths late one night using directions from a Youtube video. It's addicting. I couldn't stop making them!

I had a lot of help with the food. 
The MOB made these adorable little carnation looking, bite-sized cupcakes for dessert. 
They're small so having 6 is like 1 serving of a regular sized cupcake, right? Right?

The bride loved the idea of a Mimosa Bar and who wouldn't??

A family friend offered to take care of that!! 

But who has 35 champagne flutes...

The Mother-of-the-Bride cleverly started picking them up at Goodwill and thrift stores
and they were lovely - some were quite nice and old.
 We each took a couple afterwards to use and remember the special day when we sip champagne!

( I used a gold Sharpie to create all of the signs!! That's right - Sharpie!!)

 All the little gold frames sprinkled around have Bridal Etiquette Tips 
from Emily Post's 1922 articles.
The times they are a changin'!!

The Bride-To-Be is a cutie!!

We filled the swinging bed with gifts.

And then we oohed and aahed and laughed while the BTB opened and opened her gifts.

( And there is a reason we have a huge pink crustacean hanging on the wall of our porch behind everyone - don't you? #itsagoodstory)

And by the time we ate all the delicious brunch treats, sipped mimosas, and admired all the gifts we were tuckered out...

It's not a party until someone falls asleep :)


And then we cleaned up all of our Bridal Brunch paraphernalia 
and set up for a party at 7 p.m. ... 
Another day, Another post - 2 big parties in one day!!

Summer, continued...

 

or discontinued???

 

Tomorrow the kiddos in my county go back to school.

Yep, it's just August 3rd and hotter than you can imagine.

Especially on a school bus.

 

 

So everyone around here is thinking about

 

 

and I'm still thinking about things like this

 

 

from India Hicks blog

 

 

 

or places like this

 



 

and here

 

 

and the Big Island always works for me

 

 

and I may just move here altogether

 

 

but this works for me, too

( The whole fam is dying to return to Normandy).

 

And I'm not just daydreaming...

I've worked out the transportation issues, too!!

 

 

I would want to get off on every stop.

 

You prefer boats?

Okay!

 

 

 

A newer model, perhaps?

 

 

 

 

Got it!

 

And if you are not crazy to be beside the water like I am then we could just go here.

 

 

or someplace with elephants!!!!!!!

 

 

Where do you want to go?

 

All images and sources are on my Pinterest 'Take me There" board.