The 12th of July

...or, if I had posted this when I intended, the 4th of July!  I thought I'd share our Independence Day decorations in case you're looking for future inspiration.  I actually plan to keep these up for most of the summer since I'm enjoying them so much.  The only money I spent on any of this decor was $2.50 for the little flags (which we intended to take to our local fireworks but forgot at home!).  Other than that, I didn't spend a dime on this project.  I just walked around the house collecting anything that fit the look I was going for.  In this case:  red, white, and blue.

First up, our cookout table setting.  We had a few folks over to eat brats (totally un-American, I know), corn on the cob, and apple pie (definitely American), among other tasty things. 

Summer Pinterest Challenge: $5 DIY Vintage Sign

It's that time again!  The fearless ladies (and fellas) behind Young House Love, Bower Power, Centsational Girl, and Ten June announced this summer's Pinterest Challenge last week. I made some window art last summer, framed paint chip art last fall, and the always fabulous redneck Mason jar chandelier this winter, when Sherry and Katie were nice enough to ask me to host!  So I was definitely on board with a challenge this go 'round!

Another Guest Bathroom...

...but I'm not paying for it this time!  One of my good friends has challenged me to make over her guest bathroom, given a $60 budget.  I'm always up for spending someone else's money decorating someone else's house!  :-)

My friend E is in a rental house, and this bathroom used to be her roommate's.  Now she's got the house to herself, and she's excited about changing things up.

This is Why I'm Hot

No, actually, this is why I'm hot.  In case you don't click through to the link, the title of the article is, "Heat wave:  1,000+ records fall in US in a week."  Just like the rest of the country, we've had record-breaking temperatures in Georgia the past week.  I'm usually one of those people that says, "You live in Georgia.  It's the summer.  Get over it."  But it has been hot as Hades the last week. 

As hot as it's been, we've been enjoying the summer from inside in the beautiful air conditioning (although that went away shortly this weekend when our power went out for a few hours).  One of the things we've enjoyed the most are some beautiful summer veggies.

Sadly, the only thing in this picture that's ours are the zucchini.  The yellow squash and Vidalia onion hail from Farm Publix, but the jalapenos and eggplants came from a local farm (my former boss who now has goats and donkeys and a huge farm!).  We whipped up some stuffed eggplants, squash/onion skillet (olive oil, onions, squash and zucchini, with a little fresh basil on top), and pan-fried jalapenos.  Trust me on the jalapenos.  The spice cooks out of them so they turn out to be crunchy goodness.  Olive oil, thinly sliced jalapenos (seeds removed), and if you get a spicy one, someone else in the group has to buy you a beer.  Sounds like a great deal to me.

What are your plans for the 4th tomorrow?  Any fireworks, fresh veggies, air conditioning or otherwise?

You're an Organizer, Baby

Post title to be sung to Britney's "Womanizer" as: Organizer, organ organizer you're a organizer oh organizer oh you're an organizer, baby (you, you are). Hehe. 

Kate over at Centsational Girl posted her results from a BHG organizing quiz this week, and it inspired me to take the quiz myself.  I never put too much stock in these quizzes; they're just something fun to do, and always interesting to see how well they work.  But this one hit the nail on the head.  (You can take it here.)

I'm pretty sure from the moment I entered the world, I was making lists.  I kept a spiral-bound notebook from elementary school (think second or third grade), and it's funny to flip through it every now and again to look at the things I thought were worthy of a list.  Even my choices of the boys in the third grade were ranked.  Serious business.

Image (and onesie) here

Guest Bathroom: The Numbers

Admittedly, it's a lot more fun to look at after pictures of the bathroom than it is to talk about the money we spent to make it happen.  But in case anyone else is in our position (and for my reference in the future), I figured I'd outline what we tugged out of our wallets for this project.

After adding everything up, I have to laugh at our initial $150 budget, which certainly limited us.  But with a 20% mark-up for incidentals, we were still only looking at spending $180.  Well, that didn't take into account the $160 we spent on drywall, new trim, plumbing, and other random stuff that it took to get the room from moldy to ready for paint. 

Guest Bathroom: The After!!

I have another post I'm getting ready for next week with some meat (i.e., numbers) in it.  For this post, though, let's just admire the finished product.