july review

It's been a doozy of a month.

In with a bang, out with a bang, you know?

Unable to comprehend how July is gone already and our lovely summer

is on it's last leg, I've compiled a list of what I've done this month in an attempt to

feel like it was a lot...and maybe it was.

{the 4th}

oh, how I love this holiday.  Good old fashioned fun.

{Art Camp}

Since my Art Camp partner has been on a three week vacation, we've been taking a break too.  But she's back this week and we're planning on doing some more fun projects in August.  Our yards and gardens are adorned with beautiful projects.

{Blended Coffee}

I drank way too many on these this month...and don't plan on stopping :)

{Cold Treats}

In the form of Popsicles and snow cones, we've downed some good cold treats.

Nothing better than Popsicle's dripping down your arm.

{Patio Project}

I love how this turned out! Our patio has become a regular mealtime spot.

{Swim...and swim and swim and swim}

...and swim

{Blog Bday}

I celebrated TWO whole years of blogging.

Time flies when you're having fun, right!?!

{Mantle Makeover}

I gave my little mantle a makeover...just a little one. The non intrusive kind.

{Art}

Sis and I made sticky art with corn syrup...and we're still waiting for it to dry :)

{Little Breakdown}

Legos nearly killed me in July, but we cleaned the Lego room from top to bottom, got rid of some and now I'm feeling much better.

Breathe in...breathe out....

{Kid Car Wash}

We did a family project and have been enjoying it ever since.

Super easy project, super fun.

{Rummage}

I did my third (and final) rummage sale...and I lived to tell about it.

I tell you, they are a TON of work!  But my house and I are feeling much better now...

ahhhh, to be purged :)

So that was July in a post-sized nutshell.

I'm anticipating August to be full of things like carnivals, Brandi Carlile, Great Lakes, and the home stretch of pool days.

Here's to the end of July, y'all.

xo,

{alicia}

in case you're wondering if I survived...

I made it.
I survived.

I survived my third rummage sale...third one in about 8 years.

Not only was I bringing out my entrepreneurial skills, but by kids did too.

It was hot.

We moved a lot of junk very nice items and made a little cash.

Not saying I want to do it again next year, but it wasn't as bad as I'd anticipated.

My business partner. Aka: mom.

This little guy was a trooper.

He sat there forever, never faltering.

He brought the cash box inside with him for potty breaks, just like I told him and marched right back out...ready to make more people refreshed.

They made $28.

And no thanks to the little sister. She drank all the product...

she kept stealing from our cash box to buy more lemonade.

It's fun (and funny) watching people rummage.  I've forgotten how much fun people watching is.  One man's junk is another man's treasure...that is for sure!

Some of my girlfriends showed up and bought up all my furniture and pretty things.

I love that they'll have some of my stuff.

Don't know why, just do.  They'll change it and make it theirs.

One sweet friend bought a wicker sofa...can't wait to see what she does with it.

The only bad part of the day was last night when we realized Grubby Pup was gone.

Grubby is Jack's dog. Stuffed dog and is his very favorite. He sleeps with Grubby every night.

He was playing with him outside (which was a very bad idea, I know, but I was super busy and overlooked this minor detail), and disappeared.

Please pray for Grubby Pup to find his way home :(

There were a few bids on this one, no serious buyers though.

And here we are, end of day one...tired, exhausted, beat...all of those things.

Doing this alone would have been a total drag, doing it with fun people made it fun!

I'm a wee bit richer.

My house is completely purged.

Mission complete.

All is well that ends well.

The end...

Happy Sunday :)

xo,

{alicia}

sophie's room updo (from like, 2 months ago.)

So, I've been meaning to post this for a realllly long time...

as in, I did it back in May.  So ya, I did it a while ago.

But, anyway...Sophia needed something to house her growing book collection,

so I thought I'd help her out.

Also, I have a bit of an issue with letting things be the same too long.

Change is good, change is fun.

I had bible study at my house last night and one of my girlies said,

"your living room is different every time I come over...it's so...exciting!"

Loved that compliment.  And it is exciting...and nothing makes a creative crafter more happy than moving something from one place to another, getting entirely different results.

Yes, exciting!

You might remember Sophie's room from a couple months ago when I did my little house tour....(full tour link is on my sidebar).

Notice the lack of bookshelf?

I did a little switcheroo with a cabinet (?) I was using for a whole lotta nothing at the front door.  Doesn't it just look like it wants to be white and pink?
Doesn't she look like it's hurting her to smile?

Ok...moving on...

So, with S's help (of course), we have this little guy a makeover...

S. painted with her own brush on the very important BACK of the piece.

She was very helpful.

And this is what we came up with...

The inside is a super pale pink, outside is off-white then heavily distressed with my hand sander.

Easy little updo and now her books have  a home :)

Now I'm off to go price all my junk...wish me luck!
I really dislike having rummage sales...I kinda have knots in my stomach over it.

Ugh! Is it 12pm on Saturday yet?!!? 

:)

xo,

{alicia}

LInking up with Allison @ Stuff and Nonsense

Courtney @ French Country Cottage

Jen @ Tatertots and Jello

parties, pinning, and prizes

Am I too late for coffee? If not, great, cause I've got lots to say today...

First off, this is my girl in the bike seat ready to ride to the library.

It was thundering...very exciting. She looks like this everywhere we go...

purse, bag, shades, jewelry...yesterday she even wore an apron.

That's just how she rolls.  Oh, and what's in that bag you ask??

Well...little bit of everything: a little tin mail box, Star Wars action figure, markers, lip gloss.  All the essentials.

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I'm working on a project.

Really excited about this project.

Can't tell you any more till it's done.

Here's a little clue.

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Jack's birthday is coming up quick. We're going with an Old Fashioned Carnival theme.

Come one, come all!

If I get everything done, it's going to be preeeeety cool.

As far as "done" goes, here's how far I've gotten.

Ya, I might have a little work to do.

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I've been purging and organizing like a crazy woman!!
Everyone is like, "what's going on with you??! can i still buy you a birthday gift? you're throwing away everything!!"

Well, yes. I am. But you can still buy me a bday gift :)

If you're local come over! 

My house

Friday 2-6

Saturday 8-12

Nothing's coming back in this house...nothin!

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I know I'm waaaay behind on this whole Pinterest thing, but

I finally created an account.
I don't fully get it yet, but I've got some boards and some stuff pinned to it.

So you can follow me if you want...I've only got like 2 followers.

It's sad.

(click my little picture to go to my page or whatever you call it.)

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Winner!!!
The winner of my 2-year blogging anniversary giveaway is....

HEATHER!!

Yeah!! Heather, email me with your address and I'll send that out to you right away :)

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Ok, and I'll leave with this...a little girl was just bitten by a shark in North Carolina

right where we just happened to be in June.

GULP!

We didn't go to the exact beach where she was bitten, but still...

NOT telling my kids about this, or they may never go back!!

Watch the video HERE.

Aren't you glad you came to coffee? :)

If you haven't had enough, head over to Amy's and see what those peeps are talking about.

let's try this again...

After forgetting to draw a name last Wednesday for my anniversary giveaway,

and then drawing and not hearing back from the winner...

I've decided let's try this thing again!

If you missed my 2-year blog birthday post last week, go HERE and sign up.

I'll draw again for the winner tomorrow afternoon.

Oh, and I'll give ya till then to take 30% off everything in my SHOP: LAFAM2.

Ok...bye now!

the weekend review.

After Friday, I knew I had to rebuild my reputation around here somehow, so we spent the weekend doing super fun things, checking things off our summer list...and I even got a little sewing done.

Here's what we made....well, it isn't quite complete here:

So ya, it's a kid car wash. I saw the idea in Family Fun and worse yet, my kids saw it in there too. Of course they wanted to do it, so I covered my eyes and wrote it on the official summer list, thinking for sure this would be something we'd skip.

We didn't skip it.

Naturally, the day unfolded into a s'more night.

Another check on the ol' summer list.

I like these kind of lists. :)

Kid washing was still happening with s'more eating. It actually came in very handy!

Happy Monday, my friends :)

xo,

{alicia}