The Birthday I Plan for Myself

...shall include a stay here--the Bear Valley Inn B&B, along the Point Reyes National Seashore. Here's your link, Bubba. :)

I can't wait to get back to Point Reyes. Top thing on the To Do list? Eat. A lot. I'm thinking about starting a fast now, just so I can really appreciate it once I'm there. But who am I kidding, the food here doesn't require fasting to earn appreciation. I feel like Point Reyes is the mecca of Slow Food. It's Slow Food without trying. And it's oh-so-good!

I'm just bummed we're missing Farmer's Market by one weekend. I keep reading about the best grilled cheese sandwich ever made (sold by a Farmer's vendor) and I'm already salivating. Guess it'll have to wait til next summer.

Kitchen Table

L-O-V-I-N-G this idea from November's Martha. Just because it's in this woman's basement doesn't mean it can't work in my dining room!

I really want Dad to build us a kitchen table, but first I have to find a design I like, then I have to convince him he can do it, then I have to wait for him to make one for himself first. Oy!

A painted picnic table sounds like a pretty amazing (cheap), temporary (like 3 years) fix to me. Sold!

Welcoming Riley

I'm seriously amazed at how far behind I am about reporting on the great news of good friends. For instance, my dear friend Kelli (from work) gave birth to her son, Riley, 4 months ago!!

Abby, Gina and I got to meet Riley when he was just a few weeks old. He's so crazy adorable! He's got to be the longest and skinniest baby ever born--he was like a little velociraptor at that time--so fun! He's starting to grow into his length now--though, like his parents, there's still not an ounce of pudge on him.

Notice how happy I make babies:

Abby doing way better. (It's so Abby to color-coordinate with the baby, btw!)

Ah, that's more like it!

Riley & Mama

Riley & Dad--on my blanket! YAY!

Me Wii'd

(Yay! I finally get to re-post this, now that the happy couple is married, and I'm no longer ruining surprises!)

Evidently this is what I would look like if I were a Wii character. LOL! At least I have long eye lashes and get to wear yellow!

If you've seen Ashley and Leo's Save the Date, this would make more sense. They're Wii fanatics, so they not only turned themselves into characters, but the full bridal party too! Good times. I think we should have all been wearing our bridesmaid gowns tho!

Light Reno Project

Remember these pendant lights? While the boys have been hard at work installing our (amazing) new floors, I worked on my own little side project this weekend--giving a new look to the industrial pendant lamps hanging in the family room.

Raf is not such a fan and has been dying to get rid of them, but I can't imagine what we'd replace them with. The only pendants I've seen that have caught my attention are at Ikea. They're a cooler shape, but other than that, the only difference is that they're a metallic color, rather than white--and I'm really not stoked on the idea of shelling out money on new lights that are almost the same darn thing.

So, I proposed that I simply add a new coat of paint. Raf was skeptical (read: totally pessimistic and mean), but I decided it was worth a Sunday to give it a shot.

Here's what I was working with:
I disassembled all the little pieces, cleaned them up, then it was off to Lowe's to find a cool spray paint color.

Here's my fancy workspace. This was the one and only time I've appreciated all the crap in our driveway. Here I'm using a box on top of the dead dryer to work at the perfect height.

My resourceful setup for painting the cords:
Here they are drying between coats--fun, eh?!

I came home with 3 metallic color options--one was vetoed immediately, the other 2 I tested side-by-side. The winner: Valspar Lacquer Hi-Gloss in Aluminum. The darker color I ended up using on the cords, so they weren't the same color as the lights: Valspar Metal Premium Enamel in Graphite.

I put a good 3 coats inside and out, and this is what I came up with. What do you think? The best news: Raf ate his words--he actually likes them!
This was my first time using spray paint. It's a bit challenging to get the hang of, but by the end of the project, I was sold. I want to spray paint everything now!

Two lessons learned:

1. Take note of how you disassemble things. Chances are you won't remember how it was put together in the first place--which makes for way more stress than necessary when you want to get stuff put back together. (We are SO bad at this!)
2. Primer, Primer, Primer! The spray instructions said I would only need primer for raw metal. The lights were painted, so I figured I was safe. Nope. They were all kinds of scratched up by the time they were finished being hung. In the future, I'll always primer. Always.

Now I just need to get some dimmable lights in these puppies. The constant flickering is going to give me a seizure one of these days.

Our Wedding, Featured on Snippet & Ink!

Somebody pinch me, please--I MUST be dreaming! Yesterday, our wedding was featured on Snippet & Ink, the most wonderful wedding blog in all the land!

If you're a regular reader here, you're well aware of my obsession with S&I. Throughout the planning process, I posted about ideas found there often. It was my one reliable source of playful, timeless, creative, budget-friendly, hand-crafted ideas. It was my primary source of inspiration.

And now our wedding has been featured there! I still can't believe it!!

We were so fortunate to have had such an incredible wedding photographer, Ken Kienow. Without his amazing work, none of our hard work and craftiness would have come out looking so beautiful. Ken actually submitted our wedding to S&I without knowing what a fan I was...you should have seen me the night he told me it would be featured--I was running around the house screaming for hours!

I feel so flattered that Kathryn from S&I enjoyed our wedding enough to create a Real Weddings post of it. I'm absolutely thrilled that our day can help inspire future brides, the way so many previous brides inspired us.

Best day ever! This was the icing on top of an already perfect cake for me.