Lately…

 

Its been a while since my last post so I have a month in instagram photos to share. Oh boy do I love instagram.

We went hunting. Our first hunting trip together actually. We saw 4 red birds.

This is Lucy perched in her favorite spot on the couch. The girl is so sassy.

How I spend much of my time these days. Curled up on the couch with a textbook and a highlighter.

 

Death by chocolate. So freakin’ good! One of many recipes I will soon share.

My Anna Banana (we’ve been BFF’s since Kindergarten, and we both love baking and WILL open up a cupcakery one day)  whipping up some chocolate cake. She had a big cake order and I went to help her. She bails me out when I’m elbow deep in icing. I was happy to return the favor.

Cold season is upon us and I happened to be a victim. I heard my doorbell ring on Tuesday night and when I opened the door this is what I found. A warm brownie sundae and “Get well soon” crown from by sweet boyfriend who was hiding around the corner.  I think I’ll keep him.

My beloved KitchenAid mixing a batch of chocolate icing for some chocolate cupcakes I made. Another recipe I have  to share. Seriously the best chocolate cupcakes, especially when they were warm out of the oven with a glass of milk. To. Die. For.

 

There were a few undocumented events of January:

My Grandmommy turned 69 on the 21st. We went to the new river house to celebrate with family, food and the ugliest Italian cream cake ever. I made it, it was good, but it was ugly.

Allen’s Mimi had a birthday on the 22nd. I missed her birthday lunch because I was studying for a test (surprise surprise) but I bought her a tulip plant.

I had my 1st test of the semester. Shoot me. I passed but wasn’t pleased with my score.

I had my first night clinicals, and they were on the Mother/Baby floor. So I saw newborns galore (and happy new Mamas and Daddies) and swaddled them and held them and loved them. I want to work there when I graduate, end of story.

A Fresh Coat of Paint

 

Remember those frames and the wicker hamper I was telling you about? Well I am here with the after's! My frame wall is well underway and my hamper had been put to work.

Here is a look at the frame wall I finished a few days ago (and a first time peek at my office).

I keep walking into the office to look at it, and I make sure that the door is always open so I can peek at it when I walk by. I’m rather smitten.

Here’s a shot of the right side of the frame wall. Sorry I flashed you up there (hehe).

On the top row (left to right) I framed some coffee cup art that I am kind of obsessed with, I found it on Pinterest (I’ll be back soon with credits). The second picture is another print from Pinterest, a few inspirational words to surround my study station, the bottom line which you cant see because of my flash reads “I knew I could”. Next is a feather that I found in our front yard, it’s not all black as it appears; the bottom of the feather is a deep charcoal color and a little more than halfway up is a black “v” shape and the tip of the feather is a lighter grey.

On the second row, is another print that I found on Pinterest, it reads “everything will be alright”. In the middle frame is an “S” made from black buttons that I scored at Michaels for $1.50 I just hot glued them onto a piece of burlap I had laying around and voila, cheap art at its best. The last one is special, it was a gift from one of my best friends, Anna. She framed a piece of scrapbook paper and attached a dry erase marker to the frame with velcro for my very own dry erase” to do list”. Being the very listy person I am, I love it.

Moving on over to the right part of the frame wall, is a picture of Allen and I taken by his sweet Mom at our friends wedding this past June. He was the Best Man all dressed up in his penguin suit and we were standing in front of a rather large house, we were all up in their front yard posing like the owned the place (we wish). I have a crush on the next one, it’s a sea horse print I found on none other than Pinterest, I think he looks rather handsome. On the bottom row I framed the movie ticket from our very first date, Allen took me to see Happy Feet on December 16, 2006, it’s a sweet reminder of how “we” started. The last picture just makes me smile and I love it, it’s a rib cage hugging a set of lungs which are hugging a little red heart, and beneath them his a liver hugging a stomach, oh yea and all of the ribs have little hands, the bottom of the picture reads "Hugs Keep Us Alive” isn’t it sweet? Found it on Pinterest.

Now you know all the details on my frame wall, I’m proud and mesmerized.

And last but not least, my black beauty is revealed.

Isn’t she glamorous?! Please kindly ignore my hanging jumble of necklaces. I love the way she turned out, and it keeps things looking tidy, much better than the topless hampers than get a little busty and overflow with clothes (pun intended).

 

Have given anything a makeover with spray paint as of late, or even started a frame wall? Have you traipsed into someone else's front yard to naturally pose in front of their mansion? I wanna’ know (and see the pictures).

Back to it

 

Today’s the day that I have been seriously dreading since first semester ended. I start my second semester of nursing school today. I just have to keep thinking, Shelby this time next year you will be going into your fourth semester which means you’re practically a nurse. I have talked to a few of my classmates over the break and they are bored and excited to go back. What?! Is there something wrong with me? I have been busy and there is so much more that I want to do, but that’s okay those things will just have to take the back burner until the summer.

Buh-bye worry free, de-stressed, non-caffeine dependent me!

This semester I am taking Family Nursing, and Mental Health. This should be interesting.

To everyone starting Spring semester, I feel ya’, and I wish you the best. 2 1/2 months until Spring Break. I’m thinking a cruise maybe?

The Cash Family Christmas Recap

 

Christmas was kind of weird this year, it came outta’ no where and was gone before I knew it. It was hot, 77 to be exact. But it was good. We put our giant tree up the on Thanksgiving weekend, hung the outside lights and hit a few Black Friday sales and everything kind of stalled after that until like the 2nd week in December when we hit full on panic mode. I had tests and finals the first and second weeks in December and had no shopping done as of the 16th.

Allen’s present is always my top priority because it’s gotta’ be good. I went all out this year. He was surprised.

I actually made his gift. It was a U.S. map with all of the Division I football teams on it, I printed out a logo for each Division I team and stuck their logo in their town on the map (i.e.: there is Seminole logo in Tallahassee,FL, an Auburn logo in Auburn, AL). Picture me cutting out 121 teeny tiny logos with scissors, can you say early arthritis. When it came time to put the logo on the map I would squint my eyes really tiny to look for the town, like that was going to help me find it much better. I have a picture of the done deal on my phone but am having an issue sending it to myself so I’ll post it when I figure out what going on.

Allen got me an ipad. I’m in love and he got major brownie points.

I shopped until I was sick of shopping, and this girl loves to shop, that says something. But, I got it done and everyone was happy.

Here’s our Christmas tree and the ridiculous amount of gifts surrounding it. Right after this picture was taken we loaded up every bag and box and hauled them to my Grandparent’s house for opening.

It was great. Sad it’s over, I always mourn for days after its over. I love the Holidays sooo much. I have a Pinterest board dedicated to Christmas, there are so many little things I want to do but this year I just couldn’t find the time, thank you nursing school, you’re the best.

Next year Christmas preparation is starting in October. No joke. Oh yea, and I am going to start Christmas shopping now, never again will I be wandering around the mall delirious shopping until 10pm on Christmas eve eve. Not happening!

I did however find time to make a few batches of Christmas cookies and a tasty Italian Cream Cake. I’ll share the recipe soon, it was seriously delish!

That’s me and my sweet Momma.

And here we have me and my little brother.

Saving the best for last, this is my sweet Lucy in her Christmas-y best!

I hope you and yours had a wonderful Christmas!

My Spray Painting Extravaganza

 

Below is a picture of the frames in all of their glory before I opened up a can on them hehe (I’m corny, you’ll learn).

Now for the after!

It’s bright, I ‘m sorry. One of my New Years resolutions is to get better at photography and editing!

Here is my wicker friend before a coat of black!

I know it’s hard to see the original color it was very deep. But she is black and beautiful now I will share the after as soon as I do laundry!

Wanted to share these as promised in yesterdays post.Oh, almost forgot one more thing, a spray painters weapon of choice. A spray gun (may not be the real name but that is what I call it, got it at ACE Hardware)  it’s an attachment that latches onto the top of the can of spray paint and when you pull its trigger it presses on the spray nozzle therefore saving your finger from spraypaintitis. It also helps with consistent pressure and even coats. It’s pretty much the bomb.com.

      

That’s all for now! Be back soon to fill you in on the Christmas happenings in the Cash family. I am so depressed that the holidays are over.

Introducing my BFF!

Spray paint is my best friend and saves me lots of money! Over the break I broke out my spray gun for some quick transformations. I was supposed to start a frame wall in my home office in August, well it's January and it just got started, I never said I was not a procrastinator. Anyway, I have had my eye out for the perfect frames for a while now and the only ones that suited me were $10 a pop; aint' happenin'! So while I was at Wal-Mart this week I came across a rack of wooden frames that were lightly stained, and cheap, so I
grabbed two 11x14's, two 8x10's and two 4x6's (What size is missing? 5x7 duh! I didn't realize this until later). Then I picked up a can of Krylon white spray paint in satin finish (and a black can too, more on that later).
Needless to say, I got my spray on! The not so cute grainy wooden frames are now satin white, and perfect! I popped some prints in them today and started working on my well awaited frame wall. Pictures to come when it's more glamorous and I get the spacing figured out which is the worst part of hanging frames by far, I have to do math? Whaaat?

My next victim was a wicker hamper that I  got for Christmas. It was deep mahogany and beautiful, but it clashed with my color scheme, so she got spray tanned painted black for more sleek look. It turned out fabulous and I am one happy girl. Did I mention that this hamper has a lid attached to it, I am hoping that this little feature will prevent the whole "over flowing laundry basket" look that is frequently on display at my house. Total cost $4.49 for the spray paint

Both little spray paint projects turned out awesome! I saved money by buying cheap wood frames and spraying them white for a total of $34, and I saved lots of time and store to store looking by painting an already perfect clothes hamper black. Apparently its not so easy to find a black wicker clothes hamper with an attached top.

This my friends, is the reason  that I love spray paint! Have you tackled a few spray painted projects over the Christmas break?

On a sad note, school starst back Thursday, YUCK! Pray for me!