Friday, August 27, 2010

Bar Cart!

Well of course I got busy last night so my post did not go as planned. But here is my reveal. I took that ugly gold and brown cart, spray painted it black, and we now have a fabulous bar cart for out apartment!!

Before I started I gave the whole cart a good wash and then used some steal wool to smooth everything out and get the dirt away. I used Krylon black gloss spray paint and then finished with some Rustoleum protective gloss coat in black.

The mirrored tray on the top shelf is from Target, and its my favorite part of the cart!

I found these one day when I was out shopping at Michaels and I really loved the idea of having peacock feathers somewhere. They have found a home here for now, and I really like them there. The blues really brighten it up, and I think they look beautiful!

I got most of these bottles from Goodwill. I have been meaning to paint some labels with chalkboard paint and tie then with some pretty ribbon so that we can label what is in the bottles. The pink bottles are from Homegoods.

These glasses are mostly from Goodwill too. I really like the silver ones, I was so glad that I could get six of them.

So this was a fairly easy DIY, and it was so much fun to fill. We haven't gotten much use out of it yet, but as they say, its 5 o'clock somewhere. So come join me for a drink!!

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Preview for Tonight

I started stopping at Goodwill about once a week this summer looking for some good DIY projects or any other old houseware items I could find, and on some days, I really hit the jackpot. While I was out shopping one day, I came across a little something that made me nearly jump with excitement.


Although super ugly, this cart was in perfect shape-even the wheels rolled evenly! At $4.99, I was extremely excited, and had the perfect vision of what I would turn this bad boy into. Its now one of the favorite pieces in my new apartment. Stay tuned...the after pictures will be posted tonight! For now, I am off to watch a 40 minute video on examining the infant, and am then heading out for dinner downtown!

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

School & the Party

Two days of school done...and I seriously feel like I never left. Its been exhausting already. Tomorrow is my first day of clinicals, I'm on a psychiatric unit for the next 7 weeks, and I'm very nervous. I don't know what to expect at all, be ready for some stories tomorrow!

Anywho...I finally got around to uploading the pictures from the surprise party, and wanted to share them! I loved the way everything turned out. Let me give you a little recap first. I started planning this party literally in the end of April. My mom is one of the nosiest people ever, so I knew how secretive I would have to be. I hand-made all the invitations (see here) and had them sent out weeks ago. The party date was August 21st. On top of planning for the party, I was moving to a new apartment in Chicago, so I have spent every weekend downtown since August 1st moving. Everything is going as planned until the day before the party, when my mom decides she does not want to leave the house on Saturday! She is going on vacation on Friday with a friend for her birthday, and so she wanted to get her hair done and start packing/getting organized. I literally had a breakdown and started bawling in the car Friday night as I was driving to pick up the cake thinking that the whole party was ruined. As luck would have it, she changed her mind last minute and decided to go to Lake Geneva with her boyfriend that day, which was the original plan. So when she got back...complete surprise! Total success on my part!

Here were the napkins. I made the poms poms out of tissue paper that everyone has seen thousands of times before, and just wrapped the remaining wire around the napkins. Originally, I had these laid out real pretty on the table, but we ended up having way more food than I thought, so they had to move.

The table! I absolutely loved the way everything turned out! We had two platters of Jimmy John's sandwiches ordered, but the rest was prepared by my aunt and I. We ended up having to move a lot of the food onto the island in the kitchen due to the other food that people brought, but it turned out better than I ever hoped!

The antipasto tray we put together (which was one of my favorite things). We had salami, provolone cheese cubes, mortadella, homemade roasted red peppers, assorted olives, marinated artichoke hears, pepperoncinis, pickled picante peppers stuffed with goat cheese, fresh mozzarella balls, and grape tomatoes.

The pickled picante peppers were purchased from Costco, and seriously, everyone loved them! They were gone within an hour. If you ever need something like this, I highly recommend them. They come premade, and although I didn't get a chance to try one because they were already gone, people were asking about them all night. The mozzarella balls were also from Costco, in a marinade, and they were also delish!


The cake and dessert table. I ordered a big cake from Costco that was at the center of the table, and then had a cute cake in the shape of a cupcake up on the cake pedestal. I also handmade that pink sign in the background.

And last but not least...the bar area. I made the pink sign, and I wish I had a better picture of it. I bought a canvas, cut out letters on cardstock with my Cricut machine, rubber cemented them down and painted over everything. I used rubber cement so the cardstock would peel off after I was done, and I just love how they turned out!

Of course I forgot to take pictures of all the tables in the backyard set up, but you get the picture. Almost all the food and all the booze was gone by morning, so I'd say it was a pretty successful night :)

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Program...

So...school starts tomorrow. WHAT?! I'm in serious serious denial. Normally I am all planned out, have my folders ready with my syllabuses printed and highlighted, my planners marked with everything, lunch made...set to go. Fast forward to this year...and nothing. My syllabuses are printed, literally that is it. Not even stapled together or anything. Yikes. I don't even know my whole schedule tomorrow. Class at 830 and I think I'm done at 3. Ouch.

But being back in school essentially needs being completely back in the blogging world. It gives me a great excuse to procrastinate everything, and since my computer is literally on and by my side all the time, its much easier. In my posts early I was talking about all the big changes and events that were coming up, so here are my quick recaps.

1. Moving. ALL MOVED IN! Well, almost. I still have a small piece of furniture to bring down and the last bit of unpacking and setting up, but we are essentially all moved. All my DIY projects from over the summer and completed and set up, so I will have lots of exciting posts this week!
2. 21st birthday! How exciting this was for me. I had a wonderful birthday night at Carnivale in downtown Chicago with my family (and plenty of drinks were had by all) and a get-together in the new apartment the next night with friends. Feels great to finally be legal.
3. Mom's surprise party...it was just last night, and it went FANTASTIC! I could not be more thrilled with how everything turned out, and I cannot wait to share my pictures and everything. She was completely surprised and honestly today was still in shock, she just could not believe it. And I'm so relieved that it is all over.

So now I'm off to maybe staple some syllabuses together, make a lunch, and hopefully hit the hay. I have to be up at 630 tomorrow which is going to be a major shock to this girls system, so wish me luck! Lots of exciting posts to be shared, hopefully starting tomorrow if I survive the day!