Groupdealz & a Giveaway - Two of my favorite things!

Groupdealz is one of my favorite little shops to order fun things. I've ordered earrings, necklaces, chalkboard decals, vinyl initial decals, table runners....You name it, I've ordered it. In fact, I'm waiting on my most recent purchase of 2 pair of fun painted earrings right now!

I was totally thrilled today to see that they are giving away a Nikon D3100 Camera. Here's the link for your chance (or chances) to enter! http://www.groopdealz.com/index/giveaways

Kitchen Redecorating - Backsplash or Part 2

This post is definitely not timely. In fact, we ordered our tile at the end of December and probably finished installing it by the end of January or early February. Touche'.

Anyway, after buying a bunch of samples from The Home Depot and Lowe's we really did not find anything that we felt was just right. We found ourselves at The Tile Shop in late December with a fantastic '20% off' offer. Plus, I asked if he could add in the Young House Love (YHL) 10% discount. He came back with 5%, giving us 25% off everything. I'll take it! It was a difficult decision but I think part of it was because the one that we liked the best was $23.99 per sheet (a far cry from the most expensive 10.99/sheet from the big box stores). Then we rationalized that the tile was to be the "bling" of our kitchen, what we look at every day and here for a very long time. So we put the cheap aside and ordered 4 boxes and all the proper materials and grout. Our tile is called Black Shimmer Magic.

I will forgo giving a step-by-step tutorial on installing a tile back splash because it has been done a million times. We followed the steps on YHL to gain the confidence needed to start and just dove in. I will of course give a run down of what we did do that turned out to be very helpful and what we would do differently if we "could turn back time." [Now Cher is blaring in my head....]

• Lay tile out on counter as if it were going on the wall - a 2 person job. One person holding a piece in place on the wall and the other getting beside and placing next piece and making the proper cuts as you go.

•  Mix only a small amount of your thinset so it does not set up before you finish placing your tile.
• Do not put too much thinset on your wall or it will ooze between your tiles.
• When you think you're done with the wall, go back after a while and check it to make sure none of your sheets of tile have slipped and that everything is still lined up. 
• Grout. This is a 2 person process. One person applying and the second person washing down the tile before the grout dries to a cloudy miss. Once relatively clean, go back and clean more detailed, but getting the grout off before it completely dries is the key to your sanity. 

•  SEAL. Definitely invest in the sealer and apply it after the allotted amount of time. We waited a week or so to make sure the grout was fully cured. The sealer is good for all types of stone so we also did the concrete countertops while we were at it.



I see these happy little owls from Guten Tag
Fiber and Clay on Etsy everyday at the sink!



I finally found the size table we wanted from Walmart and made
 pillows or bought them from Little Peeps and Wild Blossoms Designs on Etsy.
Need to make or buy 2 more in orange.

 So, what's left on this project that is taking way longer than I thought? You can see Part 1 here for the overall list and the paint.

• Make Roman Shades in a charcoal fabric using a couple tutorials. I am afraid of starting this and messing up such expensive fabric. I have the fabric, backing and blinds and am frozen from fear to start!! HELP!
• Add a couple more orange pillows in one of the patterns already on the bench.
• Touch up the small messes I made when doing the stencil.

Spring Has Sprung in Virginia

We just got back from a wonderful week in Breckenridge, Colorado with friends on a snowboard vacation. We got home late Sunday night and when I went to work on Monday I had to wash the windshield and back window to see out of the car!

Last night I took a few shots of what's blooming in our garden beds right now. Remember all those bulbs I planted in the Fall? Here are those same spots now (with some side by side comparisons).

The larger pictures above are what's filling in now: the Tulips and Irises I planted along with a lot of hostas popping up. The smaller pictures are what this bed looked like after cleaning it up and planting.



Before planting





Check them out now, closer up





Before cleaning out & planting



After and look how much bigger the pansies are



There were also some pleasant surprises from the previous owners. The bed below is one that is at the end of the driveway. Sadly, the tree trunk you can see if that of a dead dogwood. I wouldn't let the Mister cut it down until I made sure it didn't come back in the Spring. It was brown in July, but I was hoping that it was just in drought shock. Sadly, we'll have to cut it down. I will probably put another one in there or a Japanese Maple. 



Other things you can spot in this picture: There may be lilies, the fact that I need to weed (just put mulch in the Thursday before vacation!), the white blooming azaleas at the other end of the yard AND the grass we planted in late October.



Remember when I started my herb garden (the only edible garden I got to have last summer since we moved in mid-June)? Here's a shot of how that's progressing. I have planted Dill and Cilantro in there for the Spring. This year I'll actually remove the remainder of the sand, add more soil and fill the whole thing with herbs.



Things are a little bigger, and the basil obviously doesn't make it thru winter around here



Behold The Weekend

We have been out of town the last two weekends. I'm so happy to stay home this weekend and get my regular morning routine on. It's nothing special, consisting of 2 cups of coffee and catching up on the week's shows via DVR while the hubs sleeps in, but it's my routine and it makes my Saturday and Sunday.

On Saturday though, I am headed out with a few friends to have a little of this.

Yes, an all you can eat and drink Oyster Roast. Plenty of beer and loads of oysters. LOVE.

On Sunday, I plan on getting back out in the yard and doing some mulching in these flower beds that I planted tons of bulbs in and cleaning up an area that we have planned for use as a big vegetable garden. I did not get any vegetables last year as we moved in June, leaving no time to plant tomatoes.

I was thrilled to see that the people that owned the house before us did have a little love for Spring flowers. We have daffodils blooming right now and crocus. I've also seen little tulips popping up in a few places that I actually did not plant any. Very Exciting.

Happy Weekend!!