The DIY Chair

Remember my recycle bin project the other day? I was staring at the bin thinking that the top looked great and the bottom was still so blah. So, I bought some Walnut Brown spray paint and painted the bottom of the bin. I LOVE them now!

Before & After

I've been wearing these flip flops all summer and took them off the other day to see...tan lines! 

Not....I think it's spray paint residue. hahaha

In other DIY news, remember this chair?

I finished it and LOVE it!

I took the cushion off and spray painted the chair gray. I pulled off the old fabric on the seat and re-covered it. Put the chair back together and Voila! So cute. 

Both projects are done with spray paint which of course, STINKS. I do my spraying in spurts, outside, so that we don't get "high as a Georgia Pie", as Erik says. 

The other day, Erik sent me this photo saying this was going to be me soon if I kept it up with the spray paint. 

Hahaha. This guy was jailed for sniffing spray paint. Who LIKES the smell of that stuff?! Too Funny. 

Sunday Craft Day

Today, Evie and I were up and about all day. We made TWO trips to Joann Fabrics and did TWO crafts. She was worn out from having no Sunday nap!

Passed out while I did the bin tops

Passed out again before our 2nd trip to Joann's

We went to Joann's in the AM, did the Top craft, and then started on my chair project. I finished the Tops and wanted to start my chair project but needed two things for that. Once Erik came home from surfing, we went to Joann's a second time. 

Driving Miss Evie

On our 2nd trip, I picked up a strip of magnet for my Craft #2. Cork magnets! This is a super easy craft. We keep our corks and I'm always wondering what to do with all of them. I chose four corks to make magnets.

Simply use a knife to cut the corks in half. Cut the magnet to fit, pull sticker backing off, and apply to the cork. Done. 

So easy & cute! You can see I didn't cut some of them perfectly but oh well!

For dinner, we had chicken and corn on the grill. We are using our grill non-stop! Check out that blackboard cheese tray serving a dual purpose of carrying the food into the house. 

Oh and look who is once again peering onto the table to see what's for dinner....

We had a fun weekend grilling and crafting!

DIY - Recycle Bin Covers

Today, I embarked on another DIY craft. We have these two recycle bins in our kitchen because of how we have to separate our trash for the city. The tops of the bins are getting dirty and pretty ugly. I thought it would be cool if we covered them so that we don't see the dingy white tops. 

My thoughts before going to fabric store were a)cover with a vinyl fabric or b)cover with fabric and secure with velcro for easy wash. Well, I got the best of both worlds because I ended up buying fabric and clear vinyl for the top! Now, we have cute tops and the vinyl will allow us to wipe down when necessary. 

Super easy to make these tops. I cut the fabric and secured with some binder clips. I made my way around the top with hot glue. 

Once the fabric was on, I went repeated with the vinyl. 

That was it! I watched Drop Dead Diva while I worked and finished these in no time. 

Super cute. The fabric is little pennant flags that will go well with a canvas print we are putting in the kitchen and new drawer knobs I'm getting. 

Before & After

Love it! We might spray paint the bottom of the bin so that it's not white and matches the top. 

Grilled Pizza and New Favorites

On Friday, we tried our hand at making pizza on the grill. We made the pizza like usual on our pizza stone and placed the entire pizza on the stone into the grill. 

Um, it came out AMAZING!!! The crust tasted like brick oven pizza that we loooooove. 

On Saturday, Erik brewed beer with his hops that he has been growing. Check him out picking from his hop farm. Can I just say for the 100th time how much we love having our own outdoor space!?

He picked the hops and brewed the beer with them which is a pretty cool thing to do!

On Saturday, I also made that banana pudding again and we went to visit our friends for dinner so the pudding was one of the desserts!

Here are some of my New Favorites...

Now that we don't have cable and Netflix tells me shows I might like, I found a new series that I LOVE! Drop Dead Diva

This show is so cute. The premise is that skinny, shallow Deb gets in a car accident and dies. Full figured lawyer, Jane gets shot in a wrong-place-wrong-time situation. Deb comes back to life in Jane's body to get a second chance at life. "Jane" has to go back to living her life and learn how to do so with Deb inside. 

It's a cute but smart show. Great characters and story lines. I love it!! 

This body wash--smells SO good!!

Creamy Coconut....yum!

Oh My. This Tide with Febreze Spring & Renewal Flavor (aka the purple cap) smells sooooo good. I smell my laundry during the day and I am like, Man, my clothes smell GOOD!

Tired Evie and a Hiatus

I fell off the blogging wagon last week but thankfully nothing earth shattering happened that my few readers weren't aware of. :-)

Well, one big thing happened. Erik and I deactived our Facebook accounts. We need a break and finally just deactived. It's actually hard to delete your account but to deactivate, you just press a button and you can come back whenever you want.


So, WHY did we go on FB hiatus?? It's just too much noise. It's too much info about people we don't need to know about, too much bragging, competing, and the list goes on and on. We've both always been more about the quality of friends than quantity and quite frankly we don't need FB to keep up with anyone. If we want to talk to our true friends, we will pick up the phone just like the good old days before FB. To get my news, I actually go on NY Times app and read it. Did you know that there was a huge gas attack in Syria last week and 1,000 innocent people died?

Anyway....without cable and Facebook, we feel great. A lot calmer, I'd say. No more Housewives screaming at each other on the TV and no more noise on FB.

So, this was Evie on Monday AM after our busy weekend. Utter exhaustion. 

Check out our veggies from the garden this week. Cucumber, squash, and tomatoes....so good!

I worked from home one day last week and Evie hopped on the couch to stare at me while I sat at the dining table. Then, she got bored and laid down in this weird way. She was clearly telling me, "I'm so bored. Play with me."

Summer BBQ

On Sunday, we had a summer BBQ at our house. We had good friends and good food so it was a great time!

This is my finished cheese tray. If you remember, I picked up this tray on the street a few weeks ago. I stained it and sprayed the tray with blackboard paint. We arranged the food on the tray and used a chalk pen to write on the blackboard. So Cute!

Here was our little set up outside. I LOVE that we have outdoor space now. I also love this table cloth that I got on super sale at Kohl's. Doesn't it look like 1960's Lilly Pulitzer? 

Sarah brought her husband, Steve, to the BBQ but Evie had never met him. Of course, I was on high alert because we know how she can be with new people, especially men. Well, let me just tell you that she loved him!! She didn't mind him when he came in, sat near him, took a treat from him, and then brought him her toy. Giving someone her toy is the ultimate peace offering. 

Oh look at Evie just hanging out with Steve. 

Playing with the toy - officially friends. I was so proud of her!!

And, look at her here. She was so comfortable with everyone that she was basically                                    falling asleep under the table! 

For dinner, we had:

Cheese Plate

Avocado White Bean Dip

Homemade Pico de Gallo(with tomatoes from the garden)

Kabobs

Chicken Teriyaki with red pepper and pineapple

Marinated chicken with peppers and onions

Beef with peppers, onions, and mushrooms

Dessert was Peach Pie and Banana Pudding

This banana pudding is OUT OF THIS WORLD. Kimmy made the peach pie and it was sooooo good, too!

Such a good time! Check out Evie looking to see what she could get for dinner, too...

After dinner, we brought Kimmy to the airport. It was a great weekend with her!!

The Parent Trap and Triple Rock

On Saturday, we started the day by going to the Farmer's Market to get strawberries for breakfast. 

After breakfast, we did a bunch of errands for our BBQ we were having on Sunday. After the errands, we needed some lunch at home and a rest. Evie also passed out after driving around with us and going for a walk. 

We watched an OLD favorite, too. The original Parent Trap!

After lounging and watching, we went to our fave spot in Berkeley - Triple Rock Brewery. 

Another FUN day together!!