The Color Run!

This weekend, I ran/walked my first 5k. I was expecting to be so outta shape that I would walk almost the whole time, but my friends and I ran more than we expected and one of my friends won!

Here is a before shot:

For those of you who have never heard of the Color Run; you run/walk a 5k, (mine was) and there are stations throughout where volunteers throw color at you. There was a blue, orange, yellow, and pink station and then green and purple water was shot at us. Here is the yellow station, and my friend and I :) I knew running with a backpack sucked… I did it anyway :/ (or I thought the half off the shoulder look was cute?!? Who knows :p) and a little video…

We finished in around 35-40 minutes. We didn’t time ourselves, but that sounds right. And the after race shot:We really got covered in the end when everyone threw up the colored chalk.

Much messier!

I highly recommend going if one comes through a town close to you. There are so many similar runs that it shouldn’t be hard.

What other 5k’s do you recommend?!?! We are looking to do a few more this summer.

Simple Herringbone Stencil

Guys, I finally was able to finish stenciling the top of my tv-stand!!
I started with my hand-made stencil right in the middle of the dresser and taped it down using painter’s tape.

I was very lucky and the stencil fits perfectly right next to each other and covers the whole top.

I used a foam brush for the first coat, then took off the stencil and used a paintbrush for the second coat. I thought the brush would have a better finish, but I will have to go back and fix a few spots because of it. Next time I will use the foam brush for the whole thing, or a larger paint brush. Opinions?!

To speed things up I had a paint stir stick up against the open side of the stencil instead of tape.

Now I just am working on little touch-ups! I love the way it turned out and love the fact that it was FREE!

Let me know if you want a more detailed post for making a stencil :)

Is there something you have been dying to stencil?

Paint Paint Paint

We left off in the last tv-stand post at this point… I love painting furniture, such a fun change!! I lightly sanded the primer, so it was smooth. Here you can see the pull holes covered, as well. Gonna add the knobs today :) PAINTTTTT- It is exactly the color I wanted. I have this room designed in my head for the tv-stand and I cannot wait to get it all together! I just need the house to put it in…. one day.And here is one coat each. I will be doing two coats and lightly sanding in between! I wanna stencil NOW! Can’t wait to show you all :)

Vacation Mason Jars

Now that you have seen pictures from my trip, I thought I would show you what I made to keep some of those memories with me. I decided after each trip I take with Bobby, regardless of how far, I wanted to fill a Mason Jar with souvenirs from that location. Then when we get a place together, I will put them on a nice shelf somewhere and we can look at them and it’ll be cute.. at least it is in my head.

For the Grand Cayman Jar, I brought back sand, money, an umbrella from my drink at Margaritaville, wristbands from a few places, seashells, and my plane ticket. Bring a baggy with you!

I filled it up and made it as cute as I could without being able to fit my hand in there too well..

I do plan on putting a picture of us from the trip on the lid and wrapping it with some kind of rope?! I am not too sure, but I do love it and it was so easy to do!

I am just imagining a bunch in a row and thinking about our future trips and it just makes me so excited. Hint Hint… Bobby :)

I also love that this can be used for anything you want to remember… like for those with kiddos, one for each year of school with that year’s school picture and the achievements for that year.

Mason jars have endless possibilities. My cousin just made lanterns… they are adorable!

Our Family Vacation- Grand Cayman 2013

This will be a LONG post, full of pictures! I am already in need of another vacation! :) Looking at this pictures does not help :P I cannot thank my parents enough for this experience! It was so fun and I loved every minute of it…

Besides spending the night in the Charlotte airport (way outside our original plan), I wouldn’t change anything about the trip.  We missed our connecting flight in Houston due to weather and had to be put on stand-by for two flights.  There was lots of waiting and hungry, grumpy people :) We landed in Charlotte around 10 PM.. at this point we should have been on the beach, watching a sunset.  We left Saturday morning and made it to Grand Cayman around 1 PM.

 We spent the first day lounging around our hotel, and playing in the water.  The water was so warm! It was perfect.

The next day we saw birds, dolphins, turtles and ate at the coolest place.

That last picture was the view from the restaraunt.  A few days later we went back and snorkeled there.  It was awesome!!! SO clear, blue, and lots of cool fishies! Here is Bobby snorkeling there…

Here I am about to snorkel for the first time in the ocean.. Snorkeling made me sick EVERY SINGLE TIME! 

We also stopped at this really cool place along the South coastline

Bobby was trying to take a picture and got soaked by one :)

The next day a whole lot of this happened…

And some environmental workers who check out turtle nests came by and let us check out some eggs.  The nest was 20 feet in front of our hotel..

My dad went on a few dives with a tour. While we were looking at eggs, he saw this….The next day we went to 7 Mile Beach on the West side of the Island to do some shopping and we ate at Margaritaville .  On the drive, we stopped at another cute spot along the southern coast. <3 Lover’s Wall

Attempted to go parasailing… They were closed because there was no cruise ship that day :( but the beach was awesome…

Ended the day with a nice sunset…

The next day we went to Starfish Point after much searching… I expected to find more, but we saw maybe 5-6

And our final real day we did what I thought was the highlight of the trip… It was scary and fun. Stingrays, wild stingrays. We went out on a tour to a sandbar where these guys come everyday to be fed by hundreds of tourists.  We went out early and left right when the huge boats full of people arrived.  We had these guys all to ourselves.  I would say there were about 20 total… The spot was awesome. Then we did some snorkeling after at a ship wreck.

Once we got back to the hotel, Bobby broke open a few coconuts, like boys will do haha

 I wouldn’t of minded staying a few more days… but it was nice to be back home too

 Can’t wait for the next trip :)

Dresser turned Tv-Stand update

So, I am loving summer here in Colorado. The weather is amazing, and I just feel so happy and blessed with everything in my life right now!

I am able to work on my projects, see friends, and not worry about school (that last one might be the best) sorry everyone :p

Anyway, I have been able to do a few things to the dresser

• decided on a pattern for the top and made the stencil
• decided on my colors
• stripped and/or sanded the whole thing
• filled the original pull handle holes and bought new knobs
• fixed a few imperfections
• primed it
• bought paint :) and will be painting soon :)

Sorry for the bad IPhone picture… I drew the pattern on a piece of paper, and then cut it out on a transparency.

They look more orange here than they are in person. Imagine more on the coral/pink side of things

I found the peachyish colors I wanted and I decided bright green knobs would be a good addition?!?! Still deciding on that one. It was just a fun little touch.

I fixed this big crack where the top was coming off. I used wood glue and clamped it down. All fixed

One can of Primer covered the whole thing

Right now I have a primed dresser all over my garage. I was planning on painting the base today, but I planted flowers instead. It was a great day :)

Hope everyone else enjoyed their weekend!

Paleo Blueberry Lemon Muffins

Another super easy recipe and they were just what I wanted.  They are the perfect amount of lemony goodness and fresh, yummy blueberries!

Recipe:

• ⅔ cup coconut flour
• 5 eggs
• ⅓ cup almond milk (or coconut milk)
• ¼ cup raw honey
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• juice of 3/4-1 lemon (add more if you LOVE lemon)
• Zest from one lemon
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• pinch of salt
• ½ cup fresh blueberries (I used more than this though, I wanted lots)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine flour, eggs, almond milk, by hand or with a mixer until smooth
3. Then add the honey, vanilla extract, lemon juice, lemon zest, baking soda, and a pinch of salt. Mix well to combine.
4. Then fold in your clean blueberries carefully. (if you use frozen blueberries, make sure they are thawed and ready)
5. Pour mixture into muffin holders or pour into greased pans (if you prefer)
6. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until slightly brown on the top and cooked through in the middle. Do the toothpick test to check.
7. Makes 12

Enjoy :)