Happy Birthday to Me!

Hello Fellow Pinners!

I celebrated my 28th birthday at the end of May!  I was able to have my mom and grandma here to celebrate with me.  It was such a great weekend, minus Lane and Justin both getting pink eye! Poor guys!  When I went home in July, my sister gave me this wonderful wonderful edition to our front porch!  I cannot wait to decorate our porch with wreaths and signs.  She used a dark walnut stain!!

It came from Shanty-2-Chic…I know that is no surprise at all.  Here is my original pin from our Front Porch Fun board!

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/284571270182053596/

I found the chalkboard sign at our local At Home store! They had yellow and coral, it was a tough decision!!

Keep on Pinning!
~Emily

Chicago!

Hello Fellow Pinners!

I hope you had an awesome week! I spent my week in one of my favorite cities! Some of you know, I am a teacher! I recently switched jobs and the school I will be at next year is going to be one of the first New Tech Network schools in Iowa!

This past week our staff went to Chicago for NTAC 2015, their national conference! I am so excited for the school year to start! It was an amazing conference and I feel so rejuvenated! This week has been inspiring! I have included some pictures in the blog of my trip!

Also, a huge shout out to my husband for always being so supportive as I change jobs! It is so wonderful to have him in my corner and cheering me on in whatever I choose to do! I missed him and Lane so much! This was the first time I had spent time away from Lane in two years! It was a bit difficult, but I was able to Face Time, call, and SnapChat with them while I was gone! 

The blog will be filled with posts now that we are back home and working on our many projects! 

Keep on Pinning!

~Emily

  
   
   
   
     
   
 
  

A Little Sentimental…

Hello Fellow Pinners,

We have one son and he is now two!  He is all boy and he brings us so much joy (with a little frustration at times too).  Lane is the funniest kid with an amazing memory and little moments of attitude.  He looks just like his daddy and is stubborn like his mommy.  Anyway, I am going to be a little sentimental with this post.

On Justin’s way home from the hospital after we had Lane, the first song he heard on the radio was Kip Moore’s “Hey Pretty Girl.”  This has got to be one of my favorite songs.  The first time he played it for me, I was teary (just had a baby and all).  If you haven’t heard the song, click the link and let it play!  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7gjwS13smI

I found this pin on Pinterest and got it as a gift this winter!  The pin was linked to an Etsy shop called Audrey Heath Designs.  She has great signs for your home and a huge variety to choose from.  I received the larger of the two Hey Pretty Girl signs that she has for sale.  It has to be one of my favorite pieces in our basement.  Every time I see it reminds me of how truly blessed I am to be married to my best friend and be the mom of a little boy who has to be one of the coolest kids around.

Keep on Pinning!
~Emily

Basement Sofa Table

Hello Fellow Pinners!

Projects are in full swing at our house!  Justin has been busy painting the basement, working on four or five of my Pinterest project, and teaching me how to build, paint, and stain our projects.  We are finishing our house with tons of Pinterest projects.  As I was going through my boards, I couldn’t believe all of the projects we have completed for our home!  It has been such an amazing experience and I am so grateful that my handy husband takes time to look at ALL of my ideas.  I truly love being able to say “My husband made that.” when people come over and compliment our projects!

My dad and husband built this beautiful cedar and wrought iron table on my parents farm a few years back.  The cedar log came from a very special place in my hometown of Belle Plaine, Kansas.  It is from the Bartlett Arboretum.  Belle Plaine is the tiniest of places and you would never expect to find something so beautiful in a town that size.  I have so many memories there that I will always cherish.  This place is majestic and captivating.  It is nature and beauty in the purest of forms.  If you are ever in the vicinity, it is worth a detour!

https://www.facebook.com/BartlettArboretum

http://www.bartlettarboretum.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CNErin2s90

The table had a perfect spot in our apartment, but when we moved to our new house, I couldn’t decide where to put it.  I wanted it to be in a place that we spend most of our time.  So naturally I went to Pinterest and looked for sofa table ideas.  This was my favorite!

Coming from an apartment, we had a really nice sectional from Nebraska Furniture Mart, but not many other options for seating.  So when we purchased our new counter height kitchen table, we bought the three additional chairs to go downstairs, instead of seating eight at our dining table all the time.  The chairs also came from Nebraska Furniture Mart, but can also be found at Homemakers.  I love this Pinterest Win!

Here are just a few of my favorite recent memories at the arboretum.  We took our first family pictures there after our son was born, my sister’s bridal shower, and her gorgeous wedding photographs!

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Keep on Pinning!
~Emily

Geek Moment

Hello Fellow Pinners!

If you have checked out our boards on Pinterest, you will see that they are loaded with projects from Shanty 2 Chic! They have so many amazing projects on their blog! The projects are affordable and have easy to follow directions! We have finished quite a few Shanty2Chic projects in our new house! 

We are currently working on a table for our deck! I posted a photo to our Instagram account of a very lengthy trip to Home Dept!  Look at what happened next!   

 To say I was excited might have been the understatement of the day!

If you have not checked out their amazing blog, head over there and find a great DIY project! 

www.shanty-2-chic.com

Keep on Pinning!

Emily

Happy Fourth, Ya’ll!

Happy Fourth of July a day early from our family to yours! We hope you have a safe and wonderful holiday weekend! The blog will be back in full swing on Sunday!

We are taking in some beautiful Kansas lake life this weekend on Milford Lake! 

   
Keep on Pinning!

~Emily 

New lights & Fresh paint = A Huge difference

Hello Fellow Pinners!

This project has taken a good deal of time since our summer began.  We have began working on our basement.  Our stairway to our basement had one sconce and no railing.  The hallway needed a lot of work fixing dings, dents, and really bad patch jobs!  Justin spent hours filling holes, sanding, and retexturing.  We painted our ceilings white and picked a lighter color for the walls.  We found three really neat light pendants at Menards for under $30 each and a really pretty sconce at Lowe’s for about $30.  I love the Edison bulbs and the somewhat “farmhouse/rustic” feel they give the hallway.  We painted our handrail to match the accent color wall in our basement.  I absolutely love how it turned out.

This project was a huge amount of work for my husband and father-in-law!  They did all of the electric work over a long weekend.  I am so excited to host our first gathering with this project done.  I wish I had remembered to take before pictures.

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I found the inspiration for our lighting styles on my “Our First Home” Pinterest Board.

Keep on Pinning!
~Emily

Anniversary Gifts & Scrabble Tiles…Great Combination

Hello Fellow Pinners!

Let the flood of blog posts begin!  This week has been full of organizing the pictures of our projects and finding/taking screenshots of all the projects to link them in the blog for readers to easily access!

My parents are amazing!  They are a perfect example of what it means to marry your best friend.  They are high school sweethearts and survived raising my sister and I, which is no easy feat!  🙂  They are so giving, loving, and have always been there for us.  In the past five years, our family has grown with the addition of two son-in-laws and their first grandson!  Things have changed so much since their first dance in high school.  My parents celebrated their 32nd wedding anniversary last February and I wanted to do something that showed how our family has changed over those 32 years.

After looking at Pinterest, I found these two pins.  I put my own personal spin on them.

Click on photos to visit the original pin on our “Our First Home” board.

We tried originally hot gluing the letters onto the glass of the frame with the burlap behind it.  With the heat and humidity of southern Kansas, they slowly began to pop off!  So my mom glued the tiles directly onto the burlap and we had SUCCESS!!

Keep on Pinning!
~Emily