Awesome Find!!

I have been riding around with clothes for goodwill in my car for a VERY. LONG. TIME. Friday afternoon, I decided to drop them off, but when I pulled up I decided to take a gander inside. I guess I have been inspired by my blogging idols about goodwill finds so I went on in. I dont know what it is about thrift stores, but they make me itch. I'm pretty sure that this is completely mental, but either way I was already scratching when I walked through the doors.

As I browsed the furniture section, I saw it.... a BEAUTY! A gorgeous chair in perfect condition. It had been faux painted by the previous owner, but I was more attracted to its structure. It had great lines and awesome legs! I gave it a quick look and got excited, but continued to browse the store just incase I found something else. The rest was complete junk and I immediately went back to my little treasure and lugged it to the front of the store.

At 19.91 it was a little pricey for Goodwill in my opinion, but still completely worth it! I have seen such chairs in Ballard Designs and Horchow for much more. I got it home and took a few good photos of it outside for before shots. (You didnt honestly think I was going to leave it alone, did you??) Once it made its temporary home in my garage, I armed myself with cans of lysol and baby wipes. I went to town cleaning it and de-germing it (all while clawing at my itching arms).

Horchow chair $459.00!!

In the closed off garage I started to notice the smell. This chair was the possession of a smoker (ICK), but not just any smoker... a smoker for MANY MANY years, probably more years than I have been alive. The smell reminded me of visiting my great grand mother in the nursing home in the 80's, before smoking was banned in such places. (double ick, GAG!) I IMMEDIATELY began ripping off the fabric and sanitizing everything.

I had visions of a glossy black chair, and so it got its first bath in black paint that night. I also picked out a great cream and black houndstooth fabric for the upholstery. I can not wait to post the finished project.

I Heart Faces: Week 12

This week at I Heart Faces, the photography challenge is Children: Pouting and Pets: Anything Goes. Here are my two entries!

Children Pouting- My niece throwing a little hissy

Pets: My dog John wearing a tutu. He's such a happy dog!

Head on over to I Heart Faces and check out the other entries!

Rain Rain Go AWAY!

It has been raining cats and dogs the past few days! I'm contemplating building an ark, you know... just in case! Lola isn't liking the rain much either. This is her sitting by the door at work wanting to go outside. Yes, Lola gets to come to work with me, she's a working dog!
At least it is finally Friday! This weekend we have no big plans. Tonight I plan on staying home and doing some cleaning and crafting. Gosh, I sound like an old lady! Tomorrow night I have dinner plans, and that is about it for the weekend. Hopefully the rain will stop. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that someone, ANYONE wants to come view our house!

Oh yeah! I almost forgot! Mrs Southern Belle has a button now! I'm not really sure if I'm cool enough to have a button, but I decided to give it a shot! Y'all have a great weekend!

Photo Contest

My friend Becca at TheStanleyClan just introduced me to a blog called IHeartFaces. I am probably WAY behind on this, seeing that I just became one of their 800 something followers. But better late than never! They have weekly photo contests with two categories. One is always kids, and the other is adult or other misc. themes. Next week is kids pouting and pets. I have gone through my many many picture folders and come up with these. I like #2 and #4. Which are your favorites?

#1

#2

#3

#4

Fab Friends

Once upon a time, there were a group of girls. The majority of the girls met in the early years of Cheerleading. In the midst of being "bow-heads" (aka cheerleaders), braces, boys, and being carted around by our minivan moms, something special emerged. Slowly this group started to grow. Insert a softball player and a new girl from Illinois and alas, the "Elite Eight" was formed. (side note: We dont use the term Elite because we are snotty... we use the term Elite because our friendship has long lasted the walls of our high school. More about that later)

This group of 8 girls, turned into 8 amazing women. Each of which I will share about now. Far left is myself, Mrs. B, Ms. P, Stella, Mrs S, Kris, Jeel, and Doobs at the bottom.

• Mrs. B is an Opera singer... seriously she's amazing! She sang at my wedding and gave everyone chills. You haven't heard Ave Maria until you hear her sing it! She and I met in the 7th grade when we gave the dance team a whirl, which we quickly bailed on and tried out for cheerleading the next year. She became the first of our group to get married, when she married her high school sweetheart in 2006.
  
• Ms. P I have known the longest, since 4th grade cheerleading, but we weren't ever great friends until 9th grade. She is now a globe trotting business woman with a great sense of style. I am sometimes jealous of her big-girl job and her amazing wardrobe! I dont know what I would have done all of these years without our long talks about boys, and solving the worlds problems one little scheme at a time! We are also fellow Georgia Bulldogs!
  
• Stella is our Illinois girl that we saved from eating a lonely lunch on her first day of school. Okay maybe that isnt completely true... but I tease her and tell the story that way! Stella has personality like no other! The only word in her shoe vocab... HEELS, the only word in her handbag vocab LOUIS. The girl can shop! She's also an awesome friend, that will do anything for you at the drop of a hat.
• Mrs S is one of a kind. She and I share a unique sense of humor, and find things funny that others... well... dont find humorous! We take joy in rooster statues and the small things in life! We have been through a lot together, and havent found much that a gallon of ice cream cant fix. She has been there to laugh and cry and always helps pick up the broken pieces. Mrs S is married to a wonderful Brit!
• Kris is our softball girl of the group, whom we could never convert to cheer! Way to hold out Kris! She always has a way of making a joke about a dramatic situation. Which honestly, in our group does happen a good bit! She also always has the revenge pictures that you dont want anyone to ever see, ESPECIALLY all of your facebook friends! We became engaged very close together and shared the excitement of our weddings together. She also married a country boy like me.
• Jeel and I used to get mistaken for twins...I dont think we looked very much alike, I think it had more to do with our obsession of putting lemon juice and chamomile tea in our hair during the summer. Which turned our hair the exact same lovely shade of honey blonde. Many years and hair colors later, we are still friends! We also shared an awesome Sweet 16 party together... long before "My Super Sweet 16!" Jeel is the brains behind this operation, she is very smart. An amazingly humble and caring person.
• And that brings me to Doobs. Doobs obviously isnt her real name, but it is what we all lovingly call her =) Doobs and I first met in 9th grade. My first memory of her is riding in her mom's "space van" to practice one day. Since that day we have had many great memories. One of my favorite times with her is driving said "space van" to pick up her little brother and embarass him! She's also one of the only people I have ever heard of, that attempted to walk her cat on a leash! She is a kindergarten teacher that is married to a hunky southern lawyer.
  

So now you know about the Elite Eight. Like I said before, we dont use the term Elite in a condesending way. Its more like a "wow we are still friends after all of these years" way. Its also the only cool word that starts with an E. I honestly dont know where the term began. I have known most of these ladies for over half of my life, and I know I would not be the woman I am today without each and every one of them.

Here are a couple of photos for your viewing pleasure.

My sexy mom and me are the second pair to the left!

Us with our mom's at Mrs B's wedding. (It's a little scary how much everyone looks like their mom!)

(Me, Stella, Kris, Doobs, Jeel, Mrs. B)

All of us at Mrs. S's rehearsal dinner

At Mrs. S's wedding reception in Charleston

(Doobs, Mrs. S, Ms P, Stella and myself)
At Doob's bachelorette party

(Ms P, Mrs S, Me, Mrs B, Stella, Jeel)
At the wedding shower they threw me

(Kris, Ms P, Mrs S, Doobs, Mrs B, Me, Stella in front)
Our Annual Christmas get together

My lovely bridesmaids

Spring is in the air!

Since it is officially Spring, I thought I would include a list of things about spring that excite me.
1. Easter: Most importantly it is the day in history that saved me from a fiery eternity. Thank you Jesus!
2. Chocolate eggs, rabbits, chicks, ducks... it doesn't matter as long as its chocolate! I have a serious weakness for holiday themed candy
3. Flowers: My front yard looks so pretty! I love when my gardening work from the previous year starts showing its color again. Now if only they would help my house sell!
4. WHITE WHITE WHITE: I'm from the old school southern teaching that you never wear white before Easter. Although it isn't fair because Easter is later this year, I cant wait to break out my white attire! Here's to hoping that I can still fit in my cute white pledge dress!
5. Warm weather: I am not a cold weather girl
6. Lola's birthday: She will be 4 this April! We will have a birthday cupcake for her
7. Spring means I am a little bit closer to more of my favorite things: the lake, the beach, my birthday, 4th of July, sunhats, cookouts... the list goes on and on!

Thank you to Martha Stewart for the following images.

AND THE WINNER IS!!!!!!

After putting all entries into a mason jar and drawing... the winner is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Prep E Girl!

Please email me at MrsSouthernBelle@gmail.com and let me know the name, date and shipping info for the sign.

Thank you so much to everyone who entered, commented, blogged, and became a follower! I really appreciate it! Stay tuned for future give aways!!

It's Monday Again!

Why do weekends fly by so quickly?? We had a busy but nice weekend. On Friday I had dinner with my parents while my husband was policing. I decided to join the Passport beer club at Taco Mac and enjoyed a beer called "Ron Burgandy." I love Will Ferrel so of course I had to try it!

Saturday I did some sign painting and played around with a few photo transfers and some of my favorite photos. I will post pics of those later. Later that night I hung out with my friend Missy in Pink and watching episodes of one of our favorite shows One Tree Hill.

Sunday was my niece's 3rd birthday party. I have never seen such an extravagant birthday for a kid... made my childhood self feel a little deprived! Just kidding Mom! =) The theme was Madagascar and they had a Madagascar bounce, a HUGE snake obstacle course/bounce that took up the entire yard, and a train. All of the kids were in pure heaven! Lola even liked going in the bounce and obstacle course, she's such a crazy dog!
Reece on the snake

Of all of the amazing toys and gifts she got, she liked the $1 windmill that I used as a bow on her gift the best!

Sampling the icing before everyone else!

Riding the train with my dad

STAY TUNED..... GIVE AWAY WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED TODAY!

My First Give Away!!!!

Hey Yall! I have decided to host a GIVE AWAY! For anyone that has been paying attention (I hope I'm not just talking to myself!), I paint custom signs. I would LOVE to give away a hand painted sign to one lucky lady!

The sign will be black with cream lettering and painted to your specifications.

*Details*
1- entry for becoming a follower
1- entry for comments
5- entries for blogging about it and linking over
(If you post about the give away, please email me at MrsSouthernBelle@gmail.com to inform me)

**Winner will be announced Monday 3.23.09**

Blog Award!

My morning started out just like any other... I got up, got dressed (and look cute might I add) and headed out the door. All in plenty of time, no need to rush, I was going to be on time today! Sidenote: For those who may not know, I am constantly late and it KILLS my boss AKA: my dad!

I drive a Tahoe, a beautiful black Tahoe, that I love! Problem is, it hardly fits into my garage. Well, while backing out this morning, I hit the mirror on the garage poles and definitely destroyed it. Oops! I figure "how much can a mirror cost??" Apparently MUCH more than I thought! So that was that, and then I got to work and poor Lola felt a little queasy and threw up all over the floor.

Needless to say, that when I saw I was tagged for the Kreativ Blogger award, I was really excited! Thank you to my dear friend Missy in Pink for tagging me and brightening my day!


Here are the award rules: list 7 things you love, and then pass on to 7 bloggers that you love. Be sure to tag them to let them know that they won!

1. I love my wonderful sweet husband... who doesn't get mad when I back my car into things such as the house and other large stationary objects. =)
2. I love my silly family who I love hanging out with
3. I love my quirky dog Lola who is always doing something to crack me up
4. I love warm spring flip flop weather!
5. I love anything crafty... I keep a craft to do list so that I always have something to keep me occupied!
6. I love Red wine... or white wine... I basically love wine
7. I love outdoor concerts and festivals. It makes me feel like I live in a much smaller town than I really do.

*I tag*
Vintage Victuals - She makes the most delicious food!!
Green Magsterpie - Adorable
The Stanley Clan - I love her honest witty approach to family life
A Fraction of Love - Love her DIY wedding stuff!
Project Prom Queen - A friend that is starting a prom dress drive! Help her out!

Slow Day... give away?

Recap: Yesterday was a gorgeous St. Patty's Day here in Georgia. We went to a festival that had live music and Irish food. Here are a few photos!

The green fountain

The Hubbs and Me

Me, My Sister in Law and Morgan

FYI: I may be announcing a give away tomorrow.... STAY TUNED!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

I LOVE St. Patty's Day! I am very Irish and it only seems natural to celebrate my heritage! When I got married, I was really happy that my husband is also Irish and I got to trade one Irish name for another. I wouldn't fit in as a Mrs. Johnson or a Mrs. Smith... I just love being Irish!

I hope everyone has a lucky day! CHEERS!

Etsy Updates!

For those who have so graciously asked about the custom signs, they are now in my Etsy shop! You will find the link on the right side of my blog. Thanks Y'all!!

Weekend Recap

Despite the rainy weather we had all weekend long, this weekend was pretty nice. Friday night I went out with girl friends for sushi. Saturday morning I had the Ikea Experience. The only word I can think of is WOW to describe that place. My sister in law was giving me instructions on how to go through the store because if you have never been, there is a process you have to go through to shop. Its almost like touring an art museum except you can check your kids off at the door. (Which I thought was pretty great!)

You start by riding an escalator to the top floor where you tour different room set ups. It gives you a good idea of how they use different things in rooms. Next you move on to different departments where you can either shop as you go, or take notes and get the big stuff at the end. My favorite section was the kitchen and frame dept. The kitchen stuff is so modern, it made me want to revamp mine. Since I am trying to sell my house, I figured I would wait on that!

I bought two great big black frames that I cant wait to fill with our favorite wedding photos.

On Sunday I was really productive and crafty! I have been aching for a pretty spring time wreath for our front door. I found one at Joann's for 24.99 and I thought that was entirely too expensive. (I'm Cheap!) So I decided to make an identical one instead. I paid $3.99 for the wreath and $6.80 for the flowers. I saved about 14 bucks!

It looks pretty on our door!

Next, I decided to finish a dress that I was making for my niece. This dress was supposed to be a "simple" pattern that I was to be able to wrap up in 1 hour. Needless to say it took about 2 weeks start to finish! Here is the little cutie modeling it for me in her rock star blue jeans.

After being camera shy, I had to bribe her with chocolate... then she was being her typical sassy self

It isn't the most complex dress... but I was proud that I actually followed a pattern successfully!

After all of that business, I organized my craft room and cleaned our house for prospective buyers today. We're hoping that one of these days we will have an offer! Tonight all of my favorite shows return from a long stint of reruns, I'm really excited!

Finally Friday!

I am so glad this work week has come to an end. I really need to catch up on my sleep! Spring has finally sprung in my yard. For some reason all of my neighbors flowers have already bloomed but mine are just now showing their colors. Hopefully my tulips and daffodils will help our house sell! I am really having fun painting signs. Here is my latest one! I have a feeling some of my fellow Georgia fans will love it!!
Tonight I am going out for amazing sushi at a place downtown and tomorrow I am making my first trip to Ikea. I cant wait to explore!

A new craft!

When I was young I remember countless weekends spent with my mom at craft shows. She always had a booth and I would always sit on the floor with my sister and play. Twenty years later, I am joining my mom with a booth at a local spring festival. We are selling a variety of things such as college themed stationary, jewelry (specifically the bangle bracelets I posted before), and personalized home decor.

I have been working on the home decor portion of my items and I decided to add hand painted plaques to the collection. This is the first one I have done, but I plan on trying out lots of different fonts. What do you think??

I'm thinking of maybe doing a give away of one of them!

I. Need. Coffee!

This weekend was gorgeous and I spent it at the Atlanta Nascar Race and I am tuckered out! We had a great time. Here is a photo of my favorite adorable driver Carl Edwards. He was so close to winning! I was sad because I've never gotten to see his infamous backflip in person after winning a race.

We had great seats, I just didnt have my zoom lense to get a good photo!

On to business...

At the end of last summer, I was browsing through the Ballard Home Design magazine and saw an ottoman that I wanted for my house (below). I was in love, except that it cost $547!! There was no way that I was going to pay that! So I made my best cute convincing face and asked my dad if he would help me make one. Of course he couldnt say no! =) With planning a wedding, and then all of the holidays... we finally finished it last week! It looks great in our house. My dad had it built in no time, but it took me forever to decide on a fabric to use.

He made a box out of plywood with a hinged top so that it could be used for storage.

I covered it in batting and padding to make it cushioned. We also ordered wood furniture feet on ebay and painted them black. I had some help from my mom and her friend Karen with the upholstry. ( I told them I would give them credit in the blog!) We stapled all of the fabric to the top of the box, and then did each side individually in panels. I loved the way that it turned out and it saved so much money! Now I dont have clutter in my living room because it is all inside of the ottoman! What do you think?