DIY White Ceramic

I recently inherited a ceramic rooster from the elderly mother of my mom's close friend.  My mom has always had a ceramic rooster in her kitchen, so I took this little guy home to add to mine.  However, there was one problem...

Foghorn had some mad angry eyebrows.  I decided to spray paint him white.  We have several white glazed pots, plus, I just recently bought a white ceramic pumpkin for an autumnal decoration.  Naturally, a white rooster is what we needed next.  I did however want to capture the little Japan stamp on his butt.

I've probably ruined something that would score me mad bucks on Antiques Roadshow.

Foghorn is not going down without a fight.  I sprayed as much as possible until I started to see drips.  He'll probably need another coat or two before he christens the kitchen.

Speaking of the kitchen, we've pretty much decided that is our next project! Tyler bought me some awesome interior design software (sounds sweet, but he really was trying to distract me from the 3 video games he bought), and we are going to start planning it out!  Inspiration pictures to come!

Our Favorite Wedding Gifts

I started this post WAY BACK right after we got married!...shows you how busy we are!  I had a thought that maybe readers would be interested in our favorite wedding gifts - we had some pretty unique gifts!

Art
We received 4 pieces of art (two single pieces and a set) from three friends who are artists -- and we love them!  Knowing that our friends picked pieces that they thought would fit our personalities is something that we personally cherish.  (Also, one of our friends made our "Just Married" sign for our car -- we didn't end up using it because of a timing issue, but one day I would like to have it framed!)

First-Morning-as-a-Married-Couple Breakfast
This is an idea that we will always hold onto -- and maybe change for different occasions (new babies, anniversaries, etc.)  Our neighbor/friends bought us cinnamon rolls, fruit, orange juice, and champagne (mimosas!)

and delivered them to us in a cooler so that we didn't have to make breakfast the next day!  (we actually ate the cinnamon rolls that night because neither of us got any wedding cake and we were starving!)  We thought this was so sweet and it really did let us relax our first morning as man and wife!

Cuss Words in Wedding Cards
I'm not going to lie, after reading "Congratulations!" and "May God Bless Your Marriage" about 50 times, and then opening up a card that just says "F*ck Yeah!!!" made us fall out.  I can tell you that the more unique things you write, the more a couple is going to remember it for years to come!  (which leads me to my next point...)

Heartfelt Cards
One of Tyler's childhood friends couldn't come to our wedding and he and his wife wrote us a really heartfelt card.  It is so sweet that, once we get to framing things, we are going to frame it so we can always read it (yes, it is that good!)

An "Inside" Gift
My very close family friends bought us the most adorable wedding-themed Christmas ornament set.  Now, that might seem weird, but if you only knew that Christmas is not Christmas without going over to our friend's house and helping her decorate - then you would get why I LOVE them!  Now I have a little token of our friendship that I can display each year!

Gifts that Scream "Tyler and Kate"
Honestly, the best present award goes to Tyler's brother and sister-in-law.  They got us: super hero glasses (which include BATMAN, Tyler's favorite), a spice rack, and a hand-held blender .  Tyler acts like a five year old drinks only from the Batman glass, and I use the spices every night while cooking, and use the blender at least three times a week, if not more.

What was a favorite wedding gift you received or gave to a couple?

Happy BIRTH Day

My sister-in-law had a baby at the end of August.  A while ago, I saw this idea for a Happy BIRTH Day gift - a comfort kit for new moms in the hospital.  With a little help from my other sister-in-law, I put together a comfort kit full of things she likes, plus other items to make her time in the hospital a little more pleasurable.  I also asked my friend Jillian to create some custom cards for future comfort kits (currently, we have three other pregnant friends, and I'm sure there are more to come!)

Happy BIRTH Day Cards by Jillian Devereux Designs

Bobby pins, hair ties, dry shampoo, gum, iTunes card, Reeses and facial cleansing wipes

Root Beer (with bottle opener), chapstick, hand sanitizer, and mints

Plus, I embroidered a onesie for my new nephew (his mom loves all things French!)

Je m'appelle Julian hand-embroidered onesie

What else would you add to a new mom comfort kit?

The Knot is Tied!

Sorry for the radio silence - we were busy GETTING MARRIED!

Better pictures to come soon, but for now, a quick preview.

Bye bye, Air Conditioners!

Most recent window installation

Look how fabulous our duplex is looking!  This time around, we had the basement windows and the first floor windows replaced. Since this picture was taken, Tyler has already taken down the pipe that housed the electrical wires for the air conditioners. He is pretty pumped to have this side of the duplex looking better (the other part of the duplex, besides the front, that can be seen from the street).

20 windows down, and even more to go!!

Trials and Tribulations

Today we decided we would fix our leaking kitchen faucet. Tyler and I saw in a magazine a style we liked and set out to find a similar one. We found one on sale at Lowe's and headed home to replace it - and pretty excited to do so, I might add!

Well, to put it nicely whoever did the plumbing to that sink was a complete idiot. There wasn't even a shut off valve on the cold water pipe?!? After 2 more trips to Lowe's and then a trip to True Value, we have our new faucet working with no leaks! And the extra bonus: I now have a sprayer! (such a big deal to someone that doesn't have a dishwasher!)

New faucet

However, we later discovered that when water was spraying all over our kitchen - it was creating a horrible mess on our first floor renter's ceiling. As Tyler said "Such is life, love, such is life"...but don't let him fool you because he also said "My patience is gone for this poop*" (*trying to keep the blog PG here, use your imagination :)

First floor renter's ceiling :(

So yeah, we feel a mixture of accomplishment and irritation, but that will teach us to:

• plan
• plan for the worst, and of course:
• give ourselves ample time to accomplish our projects!!

Happy Birthday!

Happiest birthday yet to the love of my life, Tyler!

In honor of his birthday, I made this Blackberry Red Wine Chocolate Cake - yummy!!