Thursday, April 17, 2014

Wedding Veil Wreath DIY for Bridal Shower

Over the weekend we helped host my cousin's bridal shower.
My Mom and I were in charge of decorations, I am the more creative one between the two of us so Mom met me at Hobby Lobby and I started throwing together all my ideas.
I had seen these really cute bridal wreaths on Pinterest and knew I wanted to make one too!
It was so easy to make so I want to share with you how we did it!
All you need is a wreath form, some artificial flowers, an initial for the Bride-To-Be's married name, some veil material, lace and a hot glue gun.
Mom ended up painting the N light blue while I cut out some tulle and just hot glued it to a bobby pin. While the letter was drying I glued the flowers on, slid the bobby pin with the attached veil onto some of the sticks and finally added the N once it was dry. 
I went the bobby pinned veil route so that it could be removed after all the wedding festivities and be used.

 We added a dry erase wedding countdown, some fresh flowers from Trader Joes and I made a cute personalized picture banner with some engagement pictures of Lydia & Ryan.
I had so much fun putting all this together for Lydia and cannot wait for their big day! 
Lydia is going to make a beautiful bride and I am so glad that she is getting married.

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Spring Shopping

I mentioned on Monday that I have been doing a little more than usual retail therapy. 
All these cute spring styles that are coming out and add in the sales this girl just cannot resist.
I always love sharing deals and steals I get with my friends so they can take advantage too...

Cropped Pants from JC Penny's. I originally bought these teal pants about two months ago but they have been hanging in my closet waiting for warmer weather. I finally got a chance to wear them last week to work and Sarah and Courtney that I work with wanted to run there during our lunch break to grab a pair too. I paid full price for them but when we got there they had them already marked down to $17 plus an extra 10% off if you used a different form of payment (ie. your bank card or other credit card other than your Penny's card) so that dropped them down to $15, 50% less than what I paid for the teal ones. I ended up snagging a black, khaki and pink pair too! At that price you might as well have one in every color right?! Online they also have red, peach and white and I am seriously considering getting a pair of the red ones for Ohio State game days at the office!

+ Dresses. Kohls has had some really good sales going on too. I was in there looking for a dress to wear to my cousin's wedding and Anthony's graduation. I first bought this dress a couple months ago but decided it was not as dressy and I was looking for so I decided to wear it for her shower and most likely Easter Sunday Mass. Then when I was in there last weekend I found a 40% off sale that was going on and I bought two dresses, one for Lydia & Ryan's Wedding and the other for Anthony's Graduation Ceremony. The girl at the register ended up giving me another 20% off coupon so that was awesome too!!!

+ Lauren Conrad. Her line is the first thing I always go to when shopping at Kohls. I think it is because everything is just so classy and elegant. I have a couple of her tops and recently I found out she has a jewelry line and shoes too! I bought these flats there when I bought the dresses and I cannot take them off. I love a good pair of flats and these have a little more support than most do. They also have them in a bone color and brown that I am thinking about getting. They say if the shoe fits buy it in every color!!!


Monday, April 14, 2014

Life Lately

I promise I am getting back into a blogging routine.
We really just hadn't that much going on and I was having such a hard time adjusting to my new work schedule, but I am finally getting back into it and Spring is finally here we are going to be getting into more fun stuff and this weekend it all kicked off!
So here is some stuff that we have been getting into as of lately...

+Walking at the trail. I would prefer to be running but my lower back and knees have really been aching plus one of my new friends from work has been joining me and she isn't really up for running either. Last week we got in 2-3 miles each day and it was so nice to get outside and enjoy the nice weather Ohio has been gracing us with instead of being cooped up in the house. This winter has been entirely way too long and I am so anxious to for nicer weather to be here for good!
+New gym tour. The hospital here in Zanesville teamed up with the community college here and for the last 3 years they have been in the process of putting together the funding and building a brand new gym here. Zanesville has a couple little gyms but nothing compared to what they have just built. Rumor was that there was even going to be a swimming pool and the rumor was true!!! Last week during one of our walks at the trail Sarah and I went inside the newly opened Muskingum Recreation Center (MRC) and requested a tour. As soon as we stepped in the doors I no longer felt like I was in small town Zanesville and felt like I was in something more like one of the rec centers in Dublin where my Uncle and Aunt live. The locker rooms look like your is some fancy spa and there is a sauna and steam room, there are two pools (one for lap swimming and one for aerobics classes), there are multiple classrooms for yoga, spinning and dance classes, plus the whole upstairs with brand new cardio equipment and weights and machines. After the tour I decided I would talk to Anthony about getting a membership here and cancelling my other one that I never use at Nautilus. He agreed that I would get much more use out of this new gym instead and tonight I actually joined when I got off work and swam some laps. Talk about being out of shape!!!

+Bridal Showers. This summer is going to be full of showers that I am helping host and decorate for. Saturday was the first one, my cousin Lydia is getting married in two weeks and her Mom, my Mom and myself threw her a nice little shower for our side of the family. It was at her mom, Terry's house, in Clintonville. Terry did all the food and Mom and I were in charge of decorations. Mom and I made this really cute wreath that was Pinterest inspired and I put together a really cute picture banner and bought some flowers from Trader Joe's. We don't have a Trader Joe's close to Zanesville but there are a couple in Columbus so since that was on the way I had Mom stop so I could pick some up. I love the fact that they always have fresh and very reasonable flowers!!

 +Double Cut & Neal McCoy Concert. My cousin and his band were the opening act for Neal McCoy on Saturday at Secrest Auditorium here in Zanesville. our friends Jesie, Kris, Julie and Clay went with us and our surprised my Mom and Dad with tickets for their 25th Wedding Anniversary. We had great seats in the fourth row and the show was great. Neal McCoy is definitely a great entertainer. Multiple times he was down off the stage high fiving everyone and having us all sing along with him. If you ever get a chance to see him perform do not pass it up!!!




+Retail Therapy. With Spring finally coming I have been doing a little (okay maybe a little too much) shopping but everything is so cute! Plus with my new job and I get to dress up Monday-Thursday and there are so many cute dresses, tops and sandals for Spring and Summer. I will be sharing some of awesome steals I have gotten later this week!
+Vacation Planning. We already have a beach trip planned to go to Charleston, SC in July but we also enjoy spending time outside going camping, hiking and kayaking so we started throwing together a couple weekend trips for this summer. One is particular that I am looking forward to is on our Anniversary weekend in June to go camping at Daniel Boone National Forest in Kentucky. We plan on taking the kayaks and doing some hiking around the Cumberland Falls area. Some other trips we are considering are to Ohio Pyle, PA for and Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. Some in State trips are also in the makings for Seneca Lake and maybe even Mohican. It is so much fun to add these little trips into our Summer so we have some time to get away and enjoy the outdoors.
+Graduation Party Planning. Anthony graduates May 10th and I am planning a graduation party at our house after the ceremony. It is going to be in our front yard so I am looking forward to getting some mulch put down in the flower beds and some flowers planted along with doing some thorough spring cleaning. Aside from a small handful of family members that have been to our house this will be the first big party we are having and obviously more of my in-laws side will be coming. I will definitely be posting more about the party planning and some of my ideas for it.

As you can tell there is a lot of planning going on so hopefully everything comes off without a hitch and the parties turn out great. I will definitely be posting about all of it and I cannot wait to share more.
This week we are watching Mom and Dad's dog, Tank, while they are on their cruise to the Bahamas for their 25th Wedding Anniversary. They boarded the boat today so we will not be hearing from them until Saturday. I know they are going to have a blast but I hope their trip doesn't fly by just like every other vacation always does.
I also hope you all have a wonderful week!

Six on Sunday Feature

Hey Ladies, yesterday I was featured over at The Diary of a Real Housewife for her Six on Sunday series.
Make sure you check it out every Sunday to meet new bloggers!

Thanks again Jennie for hosting me yesterday!!!

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Favorite Things

Beauty and the Greek

Hello Ladies!!! Once again I am back for this month's favorite things which is hosted by the fabulous Emily of Beauty and the Greek ... every month I look forward to seeing what everyone else is loving and getting sharing some of my favorite things with all of you. I truly think the best way to get recommendations on new products is from other bloggers and people that actually use the product compared to seeing a commercial or ad in a magazine. So here are my favorites...

I scored these cute little owl salt and pepper shakers last week when I went to lunch at Cracker Barrel with some of the ladies I work with. After we ate lunch we were walking around the store and I found these little cuties for just .99 a piece. I couldn't walk away from that deal so they went home with me.

I found these awesome tea cloths at TJ Maxx and just knew I had to get them!!!
They also had these other towels that were His and Hers with a beer mug and a wine glass but I opted for these ones instead. 

 The same shopping trip that I bought the wine towels I scooped up these beautiful place mats.
Place mats add so much to a table and as soon as I find a light green or yellow table cloth and some fresh flowers to put on the table I will have a cute table set perfectly for Easter and well into spring. I also love how vintage classy these look.

A couple weekends ago I went shopping with my friend Shelby and we went to this store called Real Deals that had all kinds of awesome household decorations. I was seriously swooning over everything in the store and am already planning my next trip there. I couldn't leave with this cute little chalkboard pig. Since Anthony and I met in the hog barn at the County Fair pigs are sorta our thing (: Plus who doesn't love a cute little pig or some bacon with those eggs on your breakfast plate!!!?!



 I also got this beverage tub from TJMaxx (I promise I am not getting paid by TJs for this post! However they should pay me to shop in their store because I find myself there way too often) it is made by Cynthia Rowley. Summer cannot get here soon enough so we can actually have some parties and use this.
 The little details are awesome and Anthony has already been using the bottle opener.
Gotta break it in!
 Next month I am throwing a graduation party for Anthony, then this summer I will be throwing a couple bridal showers together for a wedding that I am in plus my friend Courtney is expecting so I will be helping her Sister and SIL throw her a baby shower. I will definitely be incorporating this into all of those parties.

Last but not least is our new awesome camera that my hubby bought me!!!
I love it so much and it takes amazing pictures.
An investment in a good camera is one of the best ones you can make.
After plenty of research we ended up getting a Canon 70D

Thanks for visiting and I am looking forward to reading everyone else's monthly favorites!!!
I hope your all having a wonderful week.