the beach (via my phone)

We spent last week in the Outer Banks with my family, recuperating from Sarah and Drew's wedding on the 20th. (I wish I had pictures from the wedding to share, but no pockets in my dress = no phone to take pics!) The wedding was gorgeous, sweet and solemn, and overall very fitting to Sarah and Drew. After the reception, out-of-town family came to the house to spend more time together and although I was beyond tired after waking up at 5am, I had such a great night with family I don't see often enough. I wish we could have brought the entire family to the beach with us, but at least we got to see them for the weekend.

I did bring my regular camera to the beach but it stayed put in my bag for most of the week. Pictures to come once I unpack and actually find my camera. But for now, a recap of the week via my phone (most of which you've probably seen on Instagram, sorry for the repeats!).

Best part of the week? Spending an entire five straight days with Isaac and Cana. I think that was pretty high up on everyone's list, though.

 1// happy 29 to Deric! 2// Grandma & Isaac at the beach (not pictured: G'ma teaching Isaac to run through the surf and get soaking wet) 3// pirate putt-putt 4// Cana loves her Grandad 5// the view from the living room never got old 6// Isaac cheesin' it up

1// Cana girl 2// cute restaurant on Ocracoke Island 3// Pea Island at dusk 4// best meal at the beach 5// Isaac needed Deric's full attention 6// best way to weather a hurricane: grab a beer and jump in the hot tub

Color Me Rad

Deric and I ran the Color Me Rad 5K this Saturday with a group of friends from church, and it was a blast! Its much more fun to run when you're being pelted with clouds of cornstarch along the way. Although this was the first 5K Deric and I have run together, we technically didn't run together-- he ran up ahead with our faster friends and I hung back with Melanie and Janine, taking it easy and talking the entire time. Such a fun morning.

The best part of the run was seeing what everyone looked like after all the color. I think purple was the last color we ran through, and then everyone was given packets of pink color after the race, so we all had a good dose of purple + pink to show off. I wish there were more fun races like this-- running just to run won't be so exciting anymore.

I was curious to see how well the color would rinse off when we got home, and it came off surprisingly easy. A few minutes longer in the shower and there were no traces left, which was quite the accomplishment considering Deric's very blue arms. As for our shirts, we rinsed them in vinegar to preserve the color (as directed by the race's website) but unfortunately, not much of the color remained. At least our shoes are nice and bright!

Hopefully Color Me Rad will come back to Knoxville next year and we can do it all over again!

Celebrating the Bride-to-Be

A few weekends ago, I made the eight-hour trek home to celebrate Sarah's upcoming wedding (17 days!) and throw a bridal shower for her. Courtney and I planned it together but unfortunately she couldn't make the trip due to the new baby. Sarah's wedding colors are plum, ivory and gold so we made sure to incorporate a lot of purple, as you can see...

The morning of the shower, Sarah and I headed to the Lumia's house to prepare food and get everything together. I don't know if we jinxed ourselves by having the guest of honor help with preparations or what, but just about everything went wrong that morning! What should have been very easy chocolate-covered popcorn resulted in one batch of chocolate curdling on the stove and one batch burning and smoking in the microwave so we had to nix it. And the fruit dip--which consisted of just two ingredients--turned into watery yet chunky nastiness. We salvaged our plans with the help of KP, who went to Walmart and got us store-bought fruit dip and new bags of chocolate (that was before we had to nix the idea). Thankfully the rest of the afternoon went very smoothly and the shower was a lot of fun.

Its always neat to see the outpouring of gifts from women turn into a new family's home. Even two years later, the kitchen appliances, bathroom rugs and towels, bedding and decorations that I received at my shower remind me of the families who gave us those gifts and I'm sure it'll be the same way for Sarah and Drew.

The remainder of the weekend was so relaxing and enjoyable. Dinner every night with friends and family made me so ready for the wedding and subsequent vacation, when we'll be able to spend a whole week at the beach with family!

Inching Along

After a trip up to Indiana and all the busyness that comes with a new school year, I'm finally getting around to showing you the project I was working on this summer. (Deric's project is up next!)

In--I don't know, June?-- Deric and I were out on a Saturday running errands. In between stops I was browsing Craigslist on my phone and noticed a 6' dresser advertised at a garage sale in a neighborhood about ten minutes away. Clicked through to the ad and saw it was listed for $25-- what?! Deric needed no convincing and we swung by the garage sale to check it out in person. Once we saw it, I was ready to back out. I knew I'd be painting it and I noticed all those itty bitty squares lining the top of the dresser and thought "No way-- that'll literally take forever to paint." But Deric thought it'd be perfect for our dining room to serve as a buffet and storage, and thankfully he convinced me to bring it home.

Then it sat in our garage for a few months while we headed to CIY and camp, etc.

After some time, we figured out a game plan for the center of the dresser. We don't need fifteen or so drawers in this dresser but some shelving would be helpful. Deric took out one of the three drawer base-slider things (?) and installed basically a box from plywood. Now we have shelves and more space to stack dishes, games, or whatever we need.

Fast forward another month or two (seriously, why does it take us so long?) and we got around to sanding the dresser with a belt sander we bought off our neighbor for $20. Sanding took no time at all, but priming, painting, and poly-ing took quite a few nights. That's what we were doing every night after the Olympics were over and our lives felt incomplete. ;) We went with Inchworm by Valspar and we love the color. We hauled the dresser in one day, I outfitted it with knobs from Hobby Lobby and filled some of the drawers with games, cards, and extra table linens.

And then finally, I added the doors. Only took a few weeks to finish up what I thought might be a personal record for finishing a project. I should really get to know myself better. :) Its funny but the addition of this "buffet" makes the dining room my favorite room in the house. Its colorful and makes the room feel much less barren than it did before. Since painting this dresser, I've been eyeballing various other pieces of furniture around the house and envisioning them in different colors. But I'm not gonna get ahead of myself-- I've got various other projects I've started that I just need to finish!

As I type, I'm sitting in my paint clothes getting ready to tackle our wood-paneled, ugly-as-sin mudroom and freshen it up with a coat of paint. Four solid walls of paneling should only take what--six months to paint??

Out on the Lake

Yesterday we went boating with the youth group. The trip was originally scheduled for August but rain cancelled our plans and bumped it a few weekends later. We weren't sure how the weather would do for this weekend either but ir turned out to be perfect for a day spent on the lake. It was cool all morning (and so was the water) but the afternoon warmed up just enough to give us all some sunburnt cheeks without making us sweat to death like a typical summer day. The chilly weather combined with grilling for lunch, football and corn hole made me so ready for our annual camping trip coming up in October!