Christmas Time is...Not That Near.

I like Christmas.

I like traditions.

I like the fact that every single person invited to a Christmas party feels compelled to bring homemade fudge.

I don't like what that fudge does to my waistline. Stupid sugar and butter. Darn you.

I like Zebra Cakes dolled up to look like Christmas trees. I'm a 10 on the classy scale.

I can't eat those anymore due to a tragic allergy to wheat I seem to have developed, but they weren't great for my waistline either.

I like handmade ornaments and the way Dean Martin croons Silent Night.

I even thoroughly enjoy the process of botching up our yearly gingerbread house endeavors.

On that note... remember Leah? One year, all six of us kids worked for hours on a gingerbread mansion - pretty much any kind of candy you can think of was painstakingly plastered to the walls and roof of that house. The whole creation was a gorgeous mass of swooping swirling sugar and Christmas.

And that kid ate it.

I kid you not. Our gingerbread house slowly disappeared over the course of a week, one bite at a time.

At first it was a mystery, but finally we caught the little munchkin at it. She waited until everyone had gone to bed and then toddled into the kitchen and to the top of a stool to load up on peppermints, icing and twizzlers.  I can't prove anything but I'm pretty sure she stockpiled whatever part of her harvest couldn't stomach at the time in a forgotten diaper bag. Again, I can't prove it...it's a gut instinct. I'm also fairly certain Olivia was a behind the scenes accomplice.

I mean...look at those two. Guilty is written all over their faces. 

Anyway, I digress. There have already been conversations in my family, not many, but the beginnings of bubbling discussions regarding Christmas gatherings, who is claiming what date for parties, who is heading up gift exchanges, you know the drill, and it's August. I want so badly to just enjoy the impending holidays, from the crisp in the air and the celebratory buzz that begins in October to the cozy internal warmth December ushers in.

But that's where I start to lose focus.

I inevitably get so caught up in planning how to have a good time in three months, that I forget to enjoy right now. That tendency to forget to be thankful for today? That is the number one way I create regrets. I forfeit the blessing I've been given in having today by focusing on things far away.

So here are the facts...

It's the 21st of August. The mornings are cool, the evenings are cool, the afternoons are hot. Today the sky was the most gorgeous shade of deep summer blue I've seen in a long, long time. It is the perfect weather for grabbing a quilt, a book and if possible an inviting field.

If you figure out how to literally grab a field, please let me know how that goes.

I'm making conscious efforts to seize the day, and by that I mean enjoy where I am. Soak up today and appreciate it for what it is. Let the planners plan, I'm sure I'll get sucked in and become a key participant at some point, but for now I am enjoying August.

Trust me, I'll get my Christmas on when the time is right.

My poor husband. 

I'm out,

Rae 

  

Sisters

This is my sister.

For the sake of being fair...

here she is again.

 I have to be honest though... the first picture is a better representation of my ding-bat, sweet lovely sister Sarah. 

Guess what? 

I got more. This, too - is my sister. 

We have a tradition that involves birthdays and very odd hats. More on that on a later date. Maybe. 

Again, it's necessary to be diplomatic...

This is Olivia. She's on the right. 

She also answers to Sweetums, Peanut and, like most of us - Ding-bat. We all answer to that one. 

Hey, want to know something cool? 

I'm not done. 

There's more....

Get a load of that eyebrow. 

Here she is again...

This is Leah. Leah is a doll-baby. 

I can't tell you enough how thankful I am for my sweet, crazy, loving sisters. 

They are precious. 

They're my friends and my comrades.

They take silly to a whole new level, reference the above images...

I would say they're graceful but Sarah is recovering from a torn ACL because she decided to try ball like the Harlem Globetrotters, Olivia somehow coerced a folding chair into collapsing onto her finger which put her and her mangled hand in the hospital and I'm pretty sure if all of the members of my family got a nickel for every time Leah stepped on our feet we would be sittin' pretty within a 36 hour span. 

 Loving? Yes. Graceful? Not a quality we can claim. 

The only black eye I've ever had was self-inflicted. I walked into a pile of concrete reinforcement bars. 

My sisters giggle with me and cry with me. 

 I'm thankful for my sisters.

Random fact, I changed the diapers of the last two. Thankfully I've been spared the experience of changing my older sisters diaper.

So far. 

 She may get old and senile and require some attention one day, but I'm counting on being too far gone to be of any use.  Lord willing. 

There are two brothers smooshed between all this estrogen, they'll get some attention later, but for now - can I get an amen for the blessing of sisters? 

- Rae 

The Skinny

It's Saturday night, this week has been insane. I've been in and out of town, I started a new business, I lost $50.00 and then figured out that doing business sometimes doesn't couple well with ethical practices. That made me sad. 

On a happier note...this was a fun, fun day. Reason #1...today was the 30 day mark of my whole campaign against Rae becoming a chunky-butt which means I had $30.00 in my motivational jar <awkward wave> yes, in case you missed that post, I have a motivational jar. This naturally led to a thrift store run and today I got to go with my darling sister-in-law, Bethany. Let me tell you some things about Bethany...

1. She is cute, seriously cute. She wears a ballerina bun like a boss.

2. She is brave, she lets me cut her bangs.

3. She is the mommy to a sweet little boy (he's seriously cute too)  

4. She has another little munchkin on the way. Yes. This is Bethany's blog 

This meant that some maternity clothes shopping was in order, to anyone following me on Pinterest -  this explains the plethora of maternity pins. Pregnant ladies can pull off some cute stuff.

Anyway, we had a blast finding a fall wardrobe conducive to the ever expanding bun in Bethany's oven. Since it might be bordering on creepy to share photos of someone else's clothes on my blog I decided to stick with my own...suffice to say that Bethany got some ridiculously cute things.

Note: These images are painfully blurry, it's sad.   

INC long sleeved shirt $3.95 >>> retail $35.99 

Sonoma Cardigan $4.00 >>> retail $36.00 

Forever 21 Ruffle Tank $2.92 >>> retail $19.00

Forever 21 Red Cardigan $4.95 >>> retail $22.80

Gap Jeans $4.95

(Got really excited about these...jeans are never long enough for me and I typically have that awkward ankle peep show thing going when I take a seat, I actually had to hem these. Amen.) 

>>> Retail $69.95

White House Black Market Skinny Jeans $4.50 >>> Retail $69.95

These didn't get a full length picture because they're awfully long. More on these farther down.... 

Total Savings....$228.42

Moment of silence. 

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I promised a DIY last post, hopefully one a bit easier to follow than the last installment of the wing-back chair redo. I have a few things cooking but the easiest one is what I'll be sharing tonight...

I have been looking for maroon or red skinny jeans literally for months and months and months. Remember that time I wrote that if you hold off buying and settling for something what you want will eventually turn up? Yeah. Sometimes that doesn't happen. I cannot find these things, so I resorted to tweaking what I have.

I started off with a pair of normal boot cut medium wash jeans, and proceeded to bleach the living tar out of them. This is after one round of bleach...

I used a one to one ratio of gallons of water to cups of bleach. Clear as mud?

I left the jeans in for hours on end...and after each round I washed the jeans with some detergent and then put 'em back in for another go.

Submerged jeans chilling in a large Rubbermaid tub. I'm wondering if the paint stains on the sides of the tub had anything to do with uneven bleaching? Maybe that's a stretch.

This is what I got after about 16 hours of bleaching

It's sort of a yellowed white, I was happy with it and since I planned to dye it dark I wasn't worried.
Next step, dye the suckers. I also happened to dye the palms of my hands a lovely scarlet color,  gloves would be a good idea.

This stuff is actually not the color I used, I'm using this dye on another pair of jeans. The dye color I used was Wine and it ended up giving me more of a dark pink jean. I wasn't thrilled since I really really wanted a deep maroon, but since it was round one I'll go with it. The dye also didn't take in a few spots as evenly as I wanted it to. Life is a learning process, I'm cool with it. I considered following the instructions on the bottle but ended up leaving the jeans to soak in the dye overnight since I wanted to color to be very  dark. 

So in this picture you can sort of see the color I ended up with, what i'd like for you to lock onto though - is the fact that these jeans have been sewn into skinnies. WOOT! The black jeans from White House Black Market went through the same process.

The only thing you have to do to accomplish this, is to lay your favorite pair of skinnies on top of the larger jeans and stencil and sew your way to pegged legs, easy peasy. 

In this picture, you can see the way the jeans didn't take the dye evenly (even with a lot of stirring and babysitting).

Up at the top you can see the uneven dye job, but y'know what? I don't mind it, it adds character. Can you tell I'm a glass half-full kinda girl? Yes. Sometimes. 

The black skinny jeans I mentioned were gray when I bought them, and even though I liked them I was really looking for some black pants. For some reason I had never considered the fact that I'm allowed to dye my clothes, it struck me as something that was probably against the rules. Not so! The black dye worked out great and the process started me thinking about all of my faded jeans that could use a little freshening up, pretty sure the blue dye would do the trick. 

I have one more thing to add...

This is my grandfather, also known as Papa Jack. He was a band director and obviously had quite a fashion sense. I come by it honestly. Would you please get a load of those pants? You're welcome.

xoxo, 

Rachael 

Wing-Back Chair Abridged Part 2

I am a full week behind schedule. I have no pictures for this post because I realized that every picture I had taken during the process of phase two...got deleted. I weep. 

Anyway, we'll keep it simple. 

Refresher: you should have removed all piping and painted your chair frame - leave the stuffing and fabric in place. 

So, what you need now is either a small nail or staple gun with an air compressor, fabric and scissors. What worked best for me was the start on the backside of my chair at the top and work out from there being sure to pull my fabric tight and secure it with staples as I went along.

Here's the link to Jenny's tutorial - much more involved  but it has some pictures of good starting points. 

Ta-da! 

It also worked just fine to cut a piece of fabric large enough to be trimmed to fit after stapling. This causes a bit more waste than I'd prefer, but it allowed me to have some wiggle room if I made a mistake in my measurements. A tip - the fabric you use needs to be pretty heavy duty or it will be torn by the staples since you aren't tucking it and securing it the way you would if you were a legitimate upholstery guru. 

I actually used a $5.00 sheet from a department store and it's held up fine but it required folding the edge multiple times to prevent tearing in the thin fabric.

At this point you just go to town covering up that original fabric on your chair and stapling the new fabric securely - avoid wrinkly loose fabric. 

Once you've covered your chair   we'll start on the piping... which I think I may have pictures for - I'm holding off on that portion because the finished product depends a lot on placing the piping correctly. Out of the whole project the piping is the most precise portion - say that 5 times fast. 

Be back in a jiffy with another tutorial! 

Hot Yoga

Don't run away. 

I can't say my first impression of the phrase left me feeling entirely comfortable either. 

My aunt called me the other day and asked if I was up for a spur of the moment hot yoga class. Once she explained that what I was signing up for was yoga in a sauna, I was in.  

Because what better place is there to do vinyasas for an hour and fifteen minutes? 

So off I went to practice wrapping my legs around my neck while maintaining a relaxed disposition. 

Here are the things I learned at yoga class:

1. My routine sleeping position happens to double as a position in yoga. Therefore, I do yoga for hours on end. Obviously that means I'm super fit. 

2. Yoga works better with either a buzz cut or a ponytail. This short hair + sauna + downward facing dog does not equal yoga-chic. It equals hot mess. 

3.  A continuation of point #2...full length mirrors in a yoga classroom? Seeing my hair was enough to throw off my "stillness within" and that coupled with how red my face was made balance postures difficult. 

In light of my yoga experience, I decided to share a slightly embarrassing motivation I've started to use for exercising and clean eating. 

I get a dollar for every day I eat clean and stick to my exercise regime, I'm basically like one of Pavlov's dogs.

I'd be lying though, if I said that slowly filling up that mason jar with a dollar a day didn't fuel my desire to stick with what I started - and isn't that one of the hardest things to maintain? 

The initial get-up and go isn't what is so difficult for me, it's the stick to it  aspect that gets me every single time. 

So, yes. I plop down into my yoga-esque sleeping position and stick a $1.00 in the tip jar that lives on my nightstand every single night except for once a week when I have a cheat meal, and then I think about all the groovy crafts and pieces of furniture and art projects and Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, and chocolate milkshakes, and super-size french fries those dollars will buy. 

Just kidding. 

I actually start thinking about skinny jeans which reminds me of those pajama jeans they were selling on TV last year which then makes me think of elastic waist bands which promptly puts me to sleep.  

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Shift of focus...

I have a surprise. It's my new favorite toy. 

It still works without a hitch and it cost me under $10.00

Here's a peek...

It's a vintage radio cabinet and it is absolutely awesome. It also weighs half a ton which makes me wonder if I may be smuggling around stolen bricks for someone instead of two massive speakers built into a cabinet.

More to come on that later... 

Lastly - I'm tying up the loose ends on my wing-back chair redo part two and will have it up and running early next week. 

xoxo,

Rachael 

  

Weekend Photos

I was so excited when Ally over at Fever Thrift* asked if I'd be willing to do a guest post! Check out her blog...

Fever Thrift*

<The weekend in pictures>

Happy guy...for real. 

Weekend work project...

I love...Anthropologie

Sweet wishes on this Monday... 

xoxo

Still

Sometimes it's good to be still.

I'm reminded of that in this heat, lift a finger and you'll be drenched. Still, equals dry. Still, equals cool...ish. If you want to stay clean and avoid the constant sensation of sweat dripping down your back, off your nose, and puddling at your feet, it is necessary to live in a swimming pool.

Oh wait...those are warm too.

You could maybe try hanging out in a hospital waiting room since those always seem to be verging on sub-zero temperatures.

In more ways than avoiding needless perspiration, being still is good.

I move a lot, I get caught up in doing and lose track of the value of being still.

Sometimes it's good to be reminded.  

When I'm still, I think. When I'm still, I connect with people instead of just checking necessary interactions off my list. When I'm still, I can create, and I love to create.

This week has been slow. Hot. Still.

It has involved a lot of this...

Some apple picking with my Mom and sisters...

I broke my sunglasses, damaged by ego and banged up my already scarred legs trying to shake apples out of a craggy old tree,  it was an adventure.

 We got lucky and found two loaded pear trees as well... 

I chose not to venture into those branches after my apple tree experience. 

I hope you have a still, chill weekend,

 have a smoothie for me.  

Rae