DIY Fall Wreath

Quick Update on what you've missed since I've been lazy:

Brian and I celebrated our first anniversary last Sunday.  {You can read about our first date here.}
It was such a sweet day, I can't wait to share it with all of you, but that's for another day.

My Maid of Honor came to town this weekend and we, {along with my mom and my sister and another bridesmaid,} went wedding dress shopping!

AND...I found my dress!

It was seriously so much better than I ever could have thought it would be.

More fun, more emotional & more productive.  But that's also for another day.

I don't know about y'all, but Fall is in full swing...in my heart.

Damn, Florida, it's HOT!

There are rumors about some cool weather coming, but I couldn't wait.

This Sunday, after everybody went back home and Brian and I had some down time, we decided we wanted to go and pick out our pumpkin.

As we ventured out, though...the fact that we were both in shorts and t-shirts and still sweating...we just couldn't do it.  So we put a pin in the pumpkin hunt and headed to our craft store to pick up some supplies to help set the mood...here's what happened next:

Love it!

I've been wanting to make a wreath for so long.  

I had fun with this one, instead of scouring Pinterest for ideas, etc. I just browsed the craft store a bit, {all Autumn things @ Michael's are 50% off this week!} and just threw this together.

It definitely got me in the mood for Fall, even if we had to crank up the A/C to achieve the affect.  

Just kidding.  Brian would never let me do that.  

But rumor has it it will be in the 60's tomorrow, so keep your fingers crossed!

Until then, Atticus is ready for Fall, too.

Happy Birthday, Atticus!

Atticus is 4 years old now.

We're not really sure when her birthday is, but the vet guessed when she was found that she was 3 months old.  That was in November of 2008.

I feel like this needs some sort of disclaimer...I don't throw my dog a birthday party every year.

But I feel like that would just surprise you.

Doesn't it surprise you that this is the first time that I've done this?

It surprises me.

But Atticus has had a rough couple of months.  And she's finally feeling better and seems more like herself...so, I felt like celebrating.

Plus, while Brian & I were in the emergency animal hospital at 3 in the morning with her, we read on a chart that Atticus is about 27 in dog years.  I'm about 27 in human years.

Back in November of 2008, I had just spent a weekend away with my cousin, Grove, and her husband, Adam, at their home over on the Gulf Coast.  I was actively looking for a puppy to adopt, having just settled into my first apartment on my own.

Grove and I looked around while I was there, checked with a few animal shelters...but didn't find anything.

The night that I got back home, I received a text from Grove.  It was a picture of Atticus.

"I think I found your dog," she said.

A friend of Grove's had found her on a rural road.  I told her that I wanted her, and the next morning my mom and I drove halfway to Grove's to meet them.  To meet Atticus.

This was the first time that I saw her.

Obviously, it was love at first sight.

I was on my own for the first time in my life.  But then I had Atticus with me.

She's been with me ever since.

Christmas 2008

                                        

So, you get it.  I love my dog.  

And now she's Brian's dog, too. 

And now she's 4 years old.  Or 27.  

And I felt like celebrating.

So, because Atticus has been having her health issues, I have been very interested in finding some healthy homemade treat recipes.  

By the way, we no longer think she could have epilepsy because she has improved so much since we started giving her a daily antihistamine.  In fact, she hasn't gotten sick in a few weeks now, {knock on wood} so we definitely think that the issue is allergy related.

I found the recipe for these treats on Dog Nutrition Naturally.

Sandra, the site's author, has done excellent research on the topic and her site is full of great information.  

Basically, the idea behind these treats is that dogs are carnivores.  And I am no expert, but she explains that dogs do not need carbohydrates in the same way that we do...and carbohydrates make up the bulk of most popular dog food brands out there today.  

So, Atticus' food now is grain-free, but it is chicken based.  In doing my own research on the episodes that Atticus was having, I read that it is fairly common for dogs to be allergic to poultry.  So, I wanted to find a recipe without chicken, too.

Here is the recipe that I found on Sandra's site:

1 large sweet potato, diced and then boiled for about 10 minutes.

And then mashed...I ended up taking the skin out.

1 large egg

1 lb of your choice of ground meat, {not vegan}
I used ground beef, $4.

Also mix in 5 Tbsp of rolled oats and a 1/4 teaspoon
of garlic powder.

Spread it out onto a lightly greased baking sheet
& bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees.

"that smells good.  is that for me?"

Not sure why this happened...
but at this point you should take the pan
out of the oven and cut the mixture or
use your cookie cutter.

Like this.  And then put it back into the oven at 250 degrees
for another hour.

So, this is how they turned out.

Not how I thought they'd look, but Atticus was very pleased.  

I'm keeping them in an air tight container in the refrigerator.

The recipe for the cupcakes came from DogTreatKitchen.com. 

This recipe calls for whole wheat flour...3 cups, in fact, which seemed like a lot to me.  And I actually ended up reducing the amount because the mixture was so dry.

But I used brown rice flour, to keep the cupcakes gluten free.

2 cups of shredded carrots

mix together with 3 large eggs {oye, that's a lot}
and 1/2 cup of unsweetened applesauce.

In a separate bowl, mix together 3 cups of gluten free flour,
2 tsp of cinnamon, and 1/2 cup of rolled oats.

Then, slowly, mix the wet and dry ingredients.
Like I said, this was super dry, I did not add all of the flour
and I added some extra applesauce.

It's helpful to wet your fingers and press the dough
into the cupcake liners.

The cupcakes won't rise, so fill them on up.

I made the frosting using reduced fat
cream cheese and applesauce.

I forgot to buy a candle...but this ended up being a lot better, I think.

Plus, putting a yummy cupcake in front of a dog with a lit candle stuck in it probably isn't an awesome idea.

Sweet Atticus, these pictures crack me up.  I am definitely going to frame some.  

I think they would be really cute as a series, maybe with some colorful mattes.  Maybe hanging in the kitchen?

I don't know, but I love them.  And I love her.  

She seems a little sluggish tonight...I'll probably let her have more of the cupcakes, but probably not a whole one at once.  They are very dense, but she loved them!

So, Atticus and I are the same age now.  And all I can think about is how from now on she will be growing older much faster than I am.

It doesn't matter, Atticus is going to live forever.  Until then, I hope you love your life as much as I do.

Vanity to Desk Makeover

So, I've been teasing y'all with this project for months now, but that's how long I have been waiting to get it done!  It ended up being way easier than I thought it was going to be.

This is the vanity that I started with.

It belonged to my godmother, Stephanie.

Stephanie was the ultimate Southern lady.  She didn't write the book on etiquette, but she could have.  She certainly knew it by heart.  

The woman who had everything, from jewelry to a set of china for every season, she was every little girl's dream.  A true fairy godmother.  

Because of Stephanie, I have beautiful pearls, Christmas china & {also thanks to my other dear godmother, Sally} a beautiful set of fine silverware. 

But, more than this, I was blessed by her amazing spirit...she was never without a smile on her face or a kind word to say.  

Stephanie passed away this year after a short battle with cancer.  I miss her every day.  

She gave me this vanity along with a beautiful antique dresser.  I don't have room for the dresser right now, but I love the vanity.  

But I decided one day that it would get a lot more use as a desk than as a vanity.  

And after considering just removing the mirror altogether, I decided that this would be more creative and much more useful!

First, I very carefully removed the backing from the mirror which was just tacked on with small finishing nails.  

I put the mirror aside, I'm not sure yet if I will hang on to it or not.

Next, I purchased a small roll of cork board from the craft store for $10.

Using the mirror as a guide, I cut a piece of cork board out and glued it to the inside of the backing.

I then stapled batting around the backing and then...the peacock fabric!

That's right, my favorite Thanksgiving in Summer themed fabric that I showed you here!

And...

Voila!

my new desk!

I love, love, love it!

And now I have a cute cork board right there for notes, ideas, pictures, etc.

These are my sweet fabric pinwheel push pins from Anthropologie that I love.

See how nice and organized it looks?

It's not.  Those drawers are full of junk.  Each one of them.  

It will definitely be an Organizational Wednesday project.

But isn't it pretty?

I just love it!

So, I love my little corner of our office.

I obviously still have a lot of work to do in there before I give you a full tour, but again, we're getting closer!

Until then, here's to you, Steph.  I hope you like it.

What can Metallic Spray Paint do for You?

I got into another upholstery project this week.

I wasn't planning to, it started while I was playing with some metallic spray paint.  {I have plans to spray paint an old chandelier that my future mother-in-law gave us.}

So, I wanted to test out some spray paint to see how it works.

I have an old Vodka bottle that I have held on to for years.  My dad bought a bottle Rain Organics Vodka for me a few years ago...and, my apologies to the Rain Organics people, but it tasted terrible.

I loved the bottle, though.

So, I've seriously held onto this bottle for years.  Never really knowing what I was going to do with it.

{The sort of behavior that my sister & my fiancé would discourage...the behavior of hoarders.}

But something told me that I would find a good use for this fun bottle.

I also wanted to test out the spray paint on some hooks for a coat rack.  You saw the coat rack here in my old apartment.

I'm not sure what possessed me to spray paint the whole darn thing off-white.  

But I sure did.

So, I took the hooks off a few weeks ago, {and stored them with their screws in a labeled plastic bag...smart.} to wait for the metallic spray paint.  

Here we go.

So I used the screws to stick the hooks into the cardboard which made it really easy to spray them from all sides.  Also, this only took one coat of paints...very impressive to someone like me.  I loved using this spray paint.

I had been planning on painting the piece of wood for the coat rack.  I wasn't really planning on completing this project that afternoon, but then an idea struck me & I couldn't be stopped.

I had the idea that scrapbook paper would be cute instead of just a solid coat of paint. 

Then I thought, "I wish it would be easier to fold scrapbook paper around the edges neatly...like fabric."

{GASP}

"FABRIC!"

I had batting leftover from my chair upholstery project AND I had a yard of gorgeous fabric that I bought for another project, {more on that later,} but I knew that I had enough for both.

So here it is:

Right?!

"Are we going for a walk, or what?"

Don't you love that fabric?  I do.

Side-story:

Brian and I were at Joann buying this fabric & I don't know if y'all's craft stores are anything like ours are, but I am pretty sure it is a pre-requisite that you have to be at least 70 years old to work there.

The woman cutting the fabric for us said, "oh, this is nice, sort of a Thanksgiving in summer theme."

Brian and I looked at each other in confusion but agreed politely with her.  It didn't occur to me until we were walking out of the store that she thought the peacocks were turkeys.

But a Thanksgiving in summer theme would be nice.

So, I am really excited about my coat rack.  I love that it is the first thing you see when you walk in.

It's gotten me excited about getting more done in our foyer.

Oh, I almost forgot!

Check out the vodka bottle:

See what would happen if I wasn't a hoarder?

We LOVE our new vase!

So, seriously, I love metallic spray paint.  It's my new favorite thing.  The wheels in my head are spinning trying to come up with something else I can paint.

Tomorrow morning I will be spray painting that chandelier I told you about, not this silver color, but a rubbed oil bronze.  Then I will be trying to figure out what to do about shades for it, too!

Until then, if you have to work on a Tuesday night, here's hoping it looks something like this.