Follower Features Friday

We've been fightin' a bout of laziness 'round these parts.  And when I say we, I mean me.  And when I say laziness, I mean I've done nothing this week except go to work.  Here's a visual for you, courtesy of some Instagram photos from my phone...

The table is full of junk.  The laundry is piling up.  The dishes are taking over the kitchen.  I blame the oppressive humidity we've been experiencing in NJ over the past week (I lived in Florida for 4 years--capital of 1000% humidity, and let me tell you...this last week was just gross...I'm going to go ahead and declare it THE. WORST.)  Why do I blame the humidity, you ask?  Well a storm rolled in around 4:00 yesterday afternoon and cleared out the humidity and when I got home from work I had a sudden burst of energy and started doing the laundry.

Anyway, let's get on with it already.  It's time to see what my next five followers have been up to...

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Jennifer from Blissfully Ever After is a DIY Queen!  If you were just looking at the pictures on her blog you'd think she lived in a Pottery Barn or Restoration Hardware catalog photo shoot (everything is SO lovely)...

photos from Blissfully Ever After

but you would be wrong.  She made all those beautiful items in the pictures herself!  And she's nice enough to give all of us directions on how to make them!  And she has a ton of other projects, organizing tips, budget friendly decorating tips, eco-friendly cleaning tips (you should see the before & after of her oven)...the list is endless.

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Jill doesn't have a blog (that I know of), but since she's one of my rellies (I just heard an Australian man use that term for relative and I will use it now) I can tell you that she's probably busy with work, school, and keepin' Lil' E entertained...

photos from Jill and Cousin E

Awwwwwwwww.

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Oh my...I heart Canada!  Can you believe I've never been there?  Me neither.  Katie from Little Katie on the Prairie lives in Canada...Saskatchewan, to be exact.  She has the cuuuuuuutest projects. 

photos from Little Katie on the Prairie

And they're all so EASY!  Ok...fine...that last picture isn't one of her projects, it's the beach that goes along with her family's cottage in Ontario.  Everytime I click on over to her blog, I suddenly have the urge to whip up a cute little copy cat project and then take off on a lil' jaunt to the Great White North...perhaps I will one of these days...we'll see.

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Lauren at West Furniture Revival has the greatest before and afters...

photos from West Furniture Revival

See??  Those are just two of her MANY projects.  She finds items that a lot of people would pass on (too old, too dirty, too broken, too weird...) and turns them into the most lovely pieces.  SO creative!

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Lauren from Our Big Fat Farm Wedding: Crazy Ever After is my long lost neighbor.  Ok...fine...she isn't really, but she totally could be.  She grew up in Dodge County, MN, and I grew up in Steele County, MN...and guess what?  Those are neighboring counties...so in my mind that makes us neighbors.  Well, anyway, she and her sweetheart Jesse recently had a Big Fat Farm Wedding...

photos from OBFFW:CEA

and her stories CRACK.ME.UP.  She blogs about anything and everything...like her "Farts and Crafts" projects, her kick ball team named "We Got the Runs," and her Fur-children Apple and Bobo.  I may or may not just go read a random post of hers every now and then for a good chuckle!

And that's it for today...I'm off to keep up the fight against laziness.

Follower Features Friday!

So, I kinda, sorta have this feeling that I shall soon run out of things to blog about.  I probably won't, but to be on the safe side, I'm going to do a post every now and then (probably every Friday) about what other people are up to.  Fun...right?  Well...I think it's fun. 

Anyway...I can't believe that I have 14 followers...my SWEETIE doesn't even follow me (ok...fine...he doesn't follow anyone) and I'm super appreciative...so, today will be Follower Features Friday!  (I tried to find blogs or websites for all of my followers, but there are a few that I couldn't--perhaps you don't have one??  I feel like you should so I can feature you...) 

Ok...let's begin.

Y'all remember My Pal Al from Three Buns...no?  The one with the triplets.  I think she's probably been busy with the kids (since she doesn't respond to the super amazing texts I send her about nothing) and Exploring Minnesota...

Jesse, Al, & the Trips at Walker Art Center
photo from Three Buns

Axel at the MOA
photo from Three Buns

They've been all over the North Star State...Duluth to see Thomas the Train, the State Fair, Paul Bunyan Land, the Mall of America, the Walker Art Center, and the list goes on.  I feel like they should get an RV...so I can use it (and since I'm throwing out ideas...I would like you to put a Lazy River around your house so that I can lounge in when I visit next summer...thanks).

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Next, we have Dorothy at Make Mine Chic Boutique...

photos from Make Mine Chic Boutique

She painted and distressed this antique storage bench...isn't it lovely?  She has a ton more pictures of the gorgeous pieces in her boutique over on her blog.

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Jenna over at SAS Interiors has been busy...

photo from SAS Interiors

she repurposed those FREE shutters into that sweet photo/momento display...I heart it!  And her blog/design business just had it's first anniversary...Congrats Jenna!

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Renee at Rustic Crafts is one crafty lady...


photo from Rustic Crafts

look at that sweater pumpkin!  For cute!  She has pretty much every craft you could think of over at Rustic Crafts and she offers a little behind the scenes look over at Renee's Chirpings.

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Oh man...I love a good staging.  I don't know what it is, but I am borderline obsessed with seeing homes for sale staged (I may or may not go on real estate web sites just to see the staged pictures).  Anyway, Johanne at Project Guru does staging and design...

photos from Project Guru

What. A. Difference.  There are a ton more before and afters in the Project Guru portfolio.

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I think I will stop at five...five is a nice number.  Plus, it starts with F.  Tune in next Friday for my next five Follower Features!

Before & After -- Bathroom Edition (finally)

It only took me FOREVER, but I finally made the bathroom a little less gross.  Oh, that floor is still about the WORST. THING. EVER., but I don't wish I was in an outhouse every time I'm in the bathroom anymore.  What did you do, you ask?  Well...

Let's RE-Re-MacGyver That Drum Shade

So, I had great plans to create a brand new West Elm inspired drum shade...but then my laziness took over and I just started re-working what I already had done.  So this is probably going to be a How and How Not To type of post.

Let's start at the beginning...
(**as I re-read this, it's kinda, sorta wordy...so I added a bare bones bullet point instruction list for you super-smarties at the end of the post**)

Me Against the Music--

Just kiddin'...I have a slight affinity for Britney Spears so I swiped the title of one of her songs for my post, BUUUUT, it was actually more like Me Against the Universe this past week.  You might be thinking that I'm being overdramatic again, but you would be wrong.

What's with the thumbs up picture, you ask?  Well, I'll tell you...it's not really a thumbs up picture.  It's a picture (I took it with Instagram so it wouldn't be so ugly) of the small hole I TRIED TO DRILL THROUGH MY THUMB.  Yeah, I'm awesome like that.  It's very similar to the time I took a hammer to the face, in that I have no idea how it happend, but it sure did.  It wasn't serious or anything, but it bled like a mother and swelled up to wazoo and there were A LOT of extra swear words flying around, but it's fine.

Oh, but that's not all...

I'm Easily Distracted...

So, I wanted to have a great fantastic amazing post about the gross bathroom improvements today...buuuuuuut, I'm easily distracted.  And I kinda, sorta change my mind A LOT.  I decided to scrap my original plans and start over.  Here's an example:

Now I'm Just Being Lazy

My back is feeling better...buuuuut now I have a case of L.A.Z.Y.  I kinda, sorta did some work on my projects last night.  Here's another sneak peek for you...

I SHOULD get everything done this weekend...unless I'm too busy being nervous about the credible terror threat to NYC.  Usually I just ignore those threats, but this one makes me nervous (I think I'm getting caught up in all the Sept. 11 stories that have been on the news this week).  Anyway, I'll leave you with a couple of phone pictures I took a few years ago while touring around in NYC...

Wall Street

South Street Sea Port

Brooklyn Bridge

Bayonne Golf Club

Have a happy and safe weekend everyone!

Let's Get Together --at the Great MN Get Together!

E & his first bratwurst of the day

Remember how I have THE.WORST.SPINE.IN.THE.HISTORY.OF.HUMANS.?  No?  Well, that's probably because I'm being a bit overdramatic...it's not that bad.  But according to the MRI I had 2 years ago, I have the spine of a 60 year-old.  Also, I am not 60.  For awesome.  Anyway, it's being a huge jerk right now and it's slow going on finishing the projects I started up over the weekend. 

Let's Re-MacGyver that Drum Shade

You may remember from this post that I whipped up a drum shade after I broke the BRAND NEW one I bought.  Oh you don't?  Well, it looked like this:

It was...fine.  It worked and it didn't make me want to stab myself in the eye with a fork everytime I walked by it, buuuuuut...it just wasn't doin' it for me.  You see...

Happy Labor Day!

barn across the road from my old church--Litomysl, MN

Here's hoping everyone is having a fun and safe Labor Day Weekend!

In other news...

Burlap- It's the Fabric of My Life

Sorry cotton.  I like you, but it seems like, whenever I feel like makin' something, it usually involves burlap in one way or another. 

Anyway, a while back I got sick of seeing this hot mess...

and I cleaned, organized, and spruced it up a bit...

ahhhh...I can relax now.

I feel like maybe you're saying to yourself out loud, "Get to the point, Kelly."  Ok...fine...the point is, one of the reasons that desk area seems to get so junked up is becuase we just dump stuff there.  Like the mail, our keys, change in our pockets, sunglasses, chapstick, phones, earbuds, blah, blah, blah.  We needed some sort of Central Command Center like this one Jenna at SAS Interiors created.  I thought about just buying a couple of mail sorters/entry organizers.  I am currently coveting the Pottery Barn Daily System, buuuuuut it's kinda, sorta spendy and I want every single component of it and I DO NOT have the space for all that in our lil' apartment.  So, I lurked around the apartment (again), and what did I spy with my little eye?

Where have you been K.Si?

Turns out Irene decided to leave New York City alone (for the most part) and attack everywhere around it instead.  It started raining Saturday afternoon, and me & E decided at the VERY. LAST. SECOND. (for real, if we would have waited a second longer, we probably would not have been able to leave...lots of roads flooded out in NJ) to head west to our homeland.

We popped over to the Great Minnesota Get Together.  Then pretty much drove right back.  For real, we were home for about five minutes (I apologize to everyone I didn't tell I was back and didn't happen to see...).  We got back this morning at 5 AM and soon I shall be heading off to work.

I, of course, didn't have any posts written ahead of time.  Plus, I'm outsmarted by my Too Smart Phone and haven't gotten the hang of phone blogging (I'm going to go ahead and declare that I probably never will)...so I've been MIA for a few days.  But I did think of some fun projects while I was "On the Road Again..."

P.S.  I have not seen The Situation since we've been back in NJ (for Sammy G and Fitt Dogg).