guest room mirror

Hey hey! I hope you are going well and you are enjoying the summer. I have been busy the past two weeks with some home projects and I have been eager to share this one with you. Our guest bedroom needed to get uncluttered and have a space where our visitors could get ready. I knew I wanted a mirror with a unique design and finally found a piece I love.

I found this mirror for $50 I loved the shape and the price when I learned it was marked down to $23 since there was a small scratch on the frame. I have learned that a lot of retailers will take futher discounts on floor models or scratched items to try and move them out of the store. I didn't mind because I knew I would be painting it a high gloss white for the guest bedroom. So I took my time taping off the mirrior and protecting the glass before priming.

After it has been primed I put a couple of coats of spray paint on it. The key when applying spray paint is to do it in layers when the piece is dry so that you do not get any of the drip marks. Even coats can help you get the shiny clean look you are looking for.

I am really pleased with the end results. I decided to go with black and white pieces and minimized the amount of clutter I had on the dresser. The room has random pops of blue and there are even some blue books under the horse figurine.

I know this is our guest room, but it happens to be one of my most favorite rooms in the house. The pops of white and light linens just make this room look so peaceful. I hope it makes our guests feel welcome and want to curl up on this comfy bed with a book and relax.

The Boy Who Lived...

Can I please tell you that I am so soooooo excited (and sad) to see the final Harry Potter?!?! I grew up taking my little brothers to see all the movies when it use to come out around Thanksgiving time. Every year when we were done eating the family would load up the car and head over to the theaters. It brings back such great memories.

After reading all the books myself and watching the movie trailers I was thrilled when my friend Jessica (at Empress Stationery) decided to host a Potter Party! Of course, all my friend's creative juices came to life to pull together an array of goodies!

I miss working with these girls, but luckily they still tell me when all the events are and I am glad to partake!

The evening came full of Bertie Bots Every Flavor Beans, Acid Pops (Blow Pops rolled in honey, rolled in Pop Rocks) Chocolate Spiders (haystacks), Chocolate Frogs, Butter Beer Cupcakes (from Malinda at Baked in Birmingham), Licorice Wands, Quidditch Players Pie (shepards pie) and of course, Butter Beer.

We had so much fun and I cannot wait to see the movie tomorrow! Have a wonderful weekend and bottoms up!

Lake Livin'

Greetings from this lake-dipping, no-makeup-wearing, sunscreen-applying, full-tummy, relaxed blogger! Hubby dearest and I have spent the last few weekends at the lake and boy did we have a great time. A group of our friends gather a various houses on Lake Wedowee. If you don't know where that is, you are asking the wrong person to explain. I am merely a food planner and passenger when we head out of the "big city" to Randolph County Alabama. I do know it's two hours away from Birmingham and to me, it's the perfect couple of hours for me to unwind and prepare for lake livin' with good friends.

This weekend we also celebrated our friend's Lesley and John son's first birthday. They had a "Blue Dog" theme, which was absolutely precious. And while I wish I had some pictures of my own to share I offered to capture the festivities on Lesley's camera so she did not have to worry about missing a thing! After barbeque, visiting with family, and learning what a "smash cake" was we all headed to the water.

It was awesome getting to visit with a group of our friends from Atlanta. Most of them used to live near us until recently and we miss them immensely. I am sure each of you can relate to us when you have close friends move. I can easily say this is why we are so eager to do anything and always seem to be gone on the weekends to see them or meet somewhere in the middle.

Above is mom (Lesley) with birthday boy Jeb. Out of the group that stayed at the lake we had all little boys ages 3, 1, and 10 months. It was hysterical watching them play and even more hilarious watching the parents put on these super bulky life vests and coating them in sunscreen. My husband, whose nickname is "Prince" with all his friends magically became a "Mr. Prince" over the weekend.

The past couple of weekends have been different though. Years ago we would all stay up until the wee hours of the morning. Now 10 pm rolls around and the party goers start dropping like flies. Our mornings would start at 9 am with bloody marys, laughing at who passed out where, and recapping events from the night before. This time it begins at 6 am (if you are lucky) with black coffee, poptarts, and Backyardigans playing in the background. My favorite quote for the weekend was, "the volume of life does not stop when you have a hangover." So true.

While all this is different it's a new kind of content for me. I love that our friends have kids and I love even more that they want us to be a part of it all. It means a lot that during these moments their children are learning and developing they want Mr Price and Aunt Katie there. One day I can't wait to share my children with them and hope they grow up together and be an extension of our family.

Lastly, I could not help but share pictures of the boys getting into the American Spirit. Jonathan stopped and picked up "real American" tshirts from the dollar store. The boys spiffed them up a bit and grabbed a few props for the picture. Their creativity is in full force and all within the first few minutes of our arrival.

Lastly, I held the air gun while the boys got situated. I look like a regular ol' Annie Oakley, but I am sure she did not look as intimidated as I did here. At least it was proof that I was there this weekend as I am usually the one behind the lense.

Hope you had a wonderful weekend!

Independence Day Greetings

Happy Fourth of July sweet bloggers and hope you had a sweet weekend!

I think I got Board

You heard me right and I didn't spell it wrong either. I decided to make another headboard. For me, I get on random kicks where I will spend a little time working in a room. I know you are technically suppose to move onto one room after finishing another, but I like small projects here and there.

Remember the guest room before?

I rearranged some items and decided I needed something over the bed...

I had some extra fabric that matched the creamy gold hues that are shown through out the room. I decided it would work perfectly as a faux headboard.

Additionallly, I had an extra picture frame that was sitting in a corner of the basement. This worked great as a base frame to my fabric. A few staples and making sure I didn't put a million nails in the wall and voila!

Something on the wall and helps pull this little guest room together. Not a Pottery Barn headboard, but this quick little fix was free! (Thank you PB and I'll take free any day of the week!)

Holy Oats!

What am I talking about? With the "new Katie" on board I have been itching to try some new things. Let me rephrase, new healthy things, to make in the kitchen. It's hard to find a good recipe that will still taste delicious when you make substitutions. In this case I have altered an amazing granola recipe. This bad boy is awesome in yogurt, trail mix, or perfect on it's own. I say that, because I catch Hubby Dearest sneaking some all the time. Who said healthy food can't be good?

You will need:
2.5 cups old fashioned oats
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt (I use light salt)
3 tbs light vegetable oil
1/4 cup honey (sugar free is perfect)
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar (splenda brown sugar works beautifully)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup chopped pecan (or almonds)
Optional add your favorite dried fruit at the end

Preheat oven to 325 and line jelly roll pan with parchment paper. In one bowl mix your oats, cinnamon, and salt then move to the side. In a second bowl mix oil, sugar, honey, and vanilla. Mix as best as you can until it's fairly consistent. Drizzle mixture over oats. I use my hands to "smush" together. To me smush means covering all the dried oats with mixture and also making big pieces so you can have fat granola later. Add pecans.

Pour into lined pan and spread out... it does not have to be even. Bake in oven for five minutes then remove. Turn the granola over and place back in oven for another 5 minutes. Repeat this three times (total of four times). Once done, place out for 15 minutes to cool. Then add your dried fruit and break up granola to place in an airtight container. Sooooo good and lasts a week... if you don't eat it all first!

Until next time!

Making things happen

I am going to be upfront with you during this post... I am so proud of me. There, I said it. That must have sounded horrible to you, but I can't tell you the last time I said I was going to lose weight and finally have done it. I have lost 15 pounds since December!!! Take a look at the before...

(Those colors washed me out too) but the after is sooo much better...

It's not terribly drastic, but I feel good in my clothes again. I am not sure if that makes sense, but when you put on some weight and you don't feel good in your clothes it really can start taking a hit on your self-esteem. I finally made a concious decision that I wanted to feel good again. I am not talking about super-skinny workout fanatic, but to have a better quality of life and truly consider what I was sticking in my mouth. Note to self, just because it tastes good doesn't mean it's good for you. (Trying saying that to me when I was sampling everything I made during the holidays!)

 During this "back to healthy" time I was still training for my half marathon which I ran in Nashville, TN. I am pleased to say I have completed my sixth one and loved every minute of it. The hubs did not train, but was there to carry all of our stuff. He was an excellent cheerleader too. When asked if he would run with me next time his exact words were, "I don't run unless someone is chasing me."

We had a great time in Nashville when I finished my race. More importantly it meant I was finally back to being healthy and accomplishing something again. It was not easy to do, but now that I am here I don't want to go back to where I was... just feeling low. Funny how all that can come from a few extra pounds... it totally went to my head!