Family weekend: Day 1

Hello from Alabama! Yes, that is correct. I managed not only to get out of Knoxville, but all the way out of the state! First time in over a year. Crazy! What am I doing in Alabama you ask? Well, everyone's birthday was coming up (I'm only barely kidding, but we'll get to that in a second), so we drove down for a visit. And if I'm taking a road trip, I'm not taking my car so...

Enter the rental car! I get to pretend I own a 2013 Toyota Corolla for the weekend. It's a nice little car, and way nicer than mine, but I don't think I'd buy one for reals. Fun for this trip though!

It's about a three four hour drive from my house to Mimi's house. I normally make the trip in a straight shot, only stopping for gas, but we were trying to take our time since Mimi had a hair/nail appointment booked for today [insert jealousy], so we planned a rest area picnic to break it up.

I will admit it was nice to get out and walk around for a minute. My back was a little sore today, so it was probably good for me to get out and stretch a bit.

After lunch, we got back in the car and made the rest of the trip without incident. I used to drive down here so much I could probably find it with my eyes closed. It has been 4 years since the last time I was here, so I got a little foggy once I got to Mimi's county. Tony's taken the trip almost twice as much as I have, so any time couldn't quite remember where I was supposed to turn, he'd pipe up with exact directions including landmarks. He's learned well.

 When we arrived, the dogs were happy to see us. And by the dogs, I mean Bubber (pronounced Bubba), the Poodle/Maltese mix.

He would bring each of us the ball and wait for us the throw it. Except that about 75% of the time he'd grab it as you would pick it up and wouldn't let go. If you let go of the ball, he'd tap you with it. Basically, he couldn't decide if he wanted to play fetch or tug of war. I wish I could have gotten video of it because it was pretty funny. Maybe tomorrow. Molly on the other hand is the total opposite. 

She sat right there for most of the day. When someone can to sit down, she'd crawl onto the couch part so they could pet her. Other than that I would have forgotten she was here.

My oldest niece, Brittany, arrived about an hour after we did. Thank goodness, because Tony practically had his nose pressed to the door waiting for her to arrive. As much as I love my brother, John, Tony loves his Brittany... and I just realized I didn't get a picture of any people. Ha! Tomorrow.

Anyway, after visiting for a few minutes, Bee (everyone has a nickname) said she couldn't wait any longer and handed me a gift bag. She said it was just because we hadn't seen each other in a long time (which is quite sad and quite true). Can I just tell you that my genius of a niece nailed me in 3 presents?

Owls, a watch, and the Wizard of Oz? Yeah, that's pretty much me in a bag. Then she gave Tony a few things (some glow sticks, an awesome light-up travel cup, and food). At that point we decided that everybody would get presents!

 

Mom and Mimi share a birthday on October 6, and Brittany's birthday is October 16. In addition, I have friends/family with birthdays on the 1, 2, 5, 10, 12, 19, 21, and 28 of this month. I told you everyone's birthday was coming up. 

After our mini-Christmas, we had dinner. Later my aunt Sara came over with a birthday cake for my mom. 

She said she put representative candles on there (my mom will be 60 on Sunday), which my mom got appreciated. She said she didn't know if she had the lungs for all of her candles. The cake was a mandarin orange and pineapple cake and it was delicious! I'll have to see if I can get Aunt Sara to give me the recipe. 

Finally, it was time for me to got to bed in my cupboard in the bathroom.

Still bigger than in NYC

For the record, that closet is huge! I'm not quite sure how the tradition got started, but I have always slept in the bathroom closet when I visit my grandmother in Alabama. Yes. That's the closet inside the guest bathroom. Yeah, let that sink in. Anyway, it's nice and cozy. Now, I'm going to get some sleep! 

Fun with Shrinky Dinks

I told you I was going to get craft-tastic for Amy's birthday! This one involved an old school with some Shrinky Dinks. I had this idea about 30 hours before I was supposed to meet her for her birthday dinner... What is it about last minute inspiration? Oh well.

First a back story. Amy's stepson once said that she and I were Mental Twins. I'm not entire positive what he meant by that, but we decided it was true. More often than not we will be thinking the same thing or similar things, even if we're not in the same place and haven't spoken in a few days. For example: Several weeks ago I was shopping with Greg and saw this:

Discovered at JCP

Since Amy has a little mini-obsession going with octopuses lately, I took a pic meaning to text it to her. For some reason I didn't, but I saw it in my phone the other morning and decided to send it to her... at the same time that she was hanging up a giant poster she painted of an octopus. Mental twin powers activate!

Which is what led to this project.

This was a total Pin-spired project. I got the original idea from something I pinned a few months ago. I found the background here and played around with it in Paint until I liked the color combo. Then the font was found here (I used Badaboom). I messed around in PowerPoint until I got that looking right. Then it was time to print...

A) You need to print it kind of faded so it will look right after it bakes. B) I made the colors inverted because I was going to make one for her and one for me, but then I couldn't decide which to give her and which to keep, so I just to put both on each of them. If I can't make a decision, I don't. :-)

Next I trimmed them and put the hole at the top. FYI, a single hole-punch is the perfect size for a jump ring. Then I baked them in my pre-heated toaster (yes, I felt like I was using an Easy Bake Oven). When they were done I let them cool and painted them with diamond glaze to protect it. I had read that the colors can bleed if they get wet, plus it added a little extra shine. Once the glaze was dry to the touch I added the jump ring.

It was fun. Other people may see something similar for Chrismas. :-)

Let your light shine

I don't know if y'all realize exactly how much I love birthdays. While I like to have fun on my own birthday, I love celebrating my friends and family even more. I'm pretty sure I've mentioned how much I love the feeling of finding a gift that screams someone's name at me. Sometimes it's a ready made gift on the shelf; sometimes it's just a piece of a gift and I have to figure out where to go with it. That's what happened with Amy's gift this year.

I was at Hobby Lobby looking at something she had pointed out when we were there before, but I couldn't decide what to do with it. I was staring off into space, trying to figure out what to do with the transfers when I saw this:

Black? Silver? Chandelier? Amy written all over it!  And within 30 seconds I decided what to do with it. Enter gray damask scrapbook paper and black glitter tape from Hobby Lobby, a silver picture frame from Dollar Tree, and the computer/printer.

The hardest part was deciding which Bible verse to use. I found a font on Pinterest. Can I just take minute to say how much I love browsing fonts on there? So many options! I found the font in this post, and I chose Grand Hotel. Making that choice made the whole thing have a vintage luxury hotel feel with the wallpaper and chandelier... maybe it's just me. Anyway! I set the paper margins to 5" x 7" and put my text towards the bottom of the page. I printed it and cut it to fit in the frame (it was an 8.5" x 11" sheet of scrapbook paper), then I glued on the chandelier. While it dried, I covered the matte board (originally an off-white) with the black glitter tape. Then I put it all together. Ta-da!

"You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let you light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven."

Matthew 5:14-16, NIV

I'm really impressed with the way it turned out! I think the black glitter really helps set it off. The frame I found is more like a shadow box; there is a good 1/4-inch of space between the glass and the paper. That isn't why I got it (I got it because it was the only frame I saw at Dollar Tree that wasn't some shade of brown), but it is an added bonus since the chandelier is not totally flat.

It's classy! And totally Amy.