Color Run - Louisville, KY

This weekend I was able to check something off of my bucket list. I completed my first 5K. I had seen pictures of The Color Run and thought it looked like sooooo much fun so I gathered Megan, a friend from work and made the 5 hour drive from Huntsville, AL to Louisville, KY to join a team with Jessi, an old college friend.

Let me start by saying I am NOT a runner. I don't think I could run around the block, much less 3.2 miles. My husband and I take our two dogs on walk around the neighborhood a few times a week and that's about it. It was definitely tough, and there were times where I seriously contemplated just switching lanes and cheating, but I'm glad I didn't. If you've never done a 5K, this is definitely one to start with. It's very family friendly, there were people pulling kids in wagons. (Wish someone would have pulled me in a wagon) And as the website says, this is the "Happiest 5K on the planet"

Here is our team, The Pigment Princesses" before:

All pretty and clean, right? Not for long!




Every half mile or so there was a different "color station" where volunteers would throw colored corn starch at you. This is why my husband did not particapte. He said he wasn't paying to run and have people throw stuff at him haha.


This is what it looks like inside the color storm. That's me in the hat. One suggtion, close your mouth. The first time I was all smiley and excited...I think I still taste cornstarch.

The blue was my favorite. This pic was taken by another girl on our team but I just loved Jessi's expression.

And finally, the finish line! I made it!

And here is my after picture. It really was a lot of fun. I would definitely recommend it for those intimidated by 5Ks. Another perk is they always donate proceedes to LOCAL chairities. Can't beat that! (And you get a pretty cool t-shirt)

Have you run the Color Run? I'd love to hear your stories!!

Coffee Table Redo DIY

I have hated our coffee table since the day we got it. As I mentioned in my last post, we bought our house furnished. We sold most of the stuff but we didn't have coffee tables so we kept the ones that came in the house. .

 It's not that it is a particularly bad coffee table, but it has a glass top. With two dogs in the house (and a husband ;) ), the glass is ALWAYS dirty. I could Windex that thing two or three times a week and still not keep up.
I found a few DIY coffee tables on Pintrest that I absolutely LOVED and the design of all of them were pretty much the same; white bottom with a dark wooden top. Since I don't really have the tools to make a coffee table at my house (I could REALLY use a small saw, *hint*hint* if my hubby reads this ;) ) So I decided to see what I could come up with using my existing table.

I measured the glass to find that it was 4'x2' so off to Lowes I went. I bought two 8 ft. 1"x6" boards and had them cut them in half. I also bought two 2ft boards in the craft wood section to use as the support underneath. When I got home, I lined the boards up across the table frame and used Gorilla Wood Glue to glue the planks together. Then, I put the glass on the top of all of it and let it sit over night. The next morning, I added the 2ft boards across the ends for stability. (I really think I could have done with out this, and will skip it when I do the side tables.)

 I let it all dry and started to screw the planks to the support piece but my screws ended up being too long. After a trip back to Lowes for more screws, we came back and the new ones were STILL too long. (I knew; we needed 1" but someone wouldn't listen :) ) I ended up just using wood putty to fill in the hole and left it with just the glue. If you've never used Gorilla Glue, I highly recommend it for any DIY project involving wood. It's pretty much miracle paste.

Finally I stained the top (Minwax Jacobean) and spray painted the base with a good spray paint with a primer built in. I let the stain sit a little longer than I should. It is a little too dark but it's still WAY better than the glass. I also put a layer of Semi- Gloss Poly on top.

One day I will make a complete new one, but for $30 and an afternoon, this one will do for a while! Also, I think it looks great with my red couch and yellow walls.

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Now I have to find something to decorate it with. My black candle holders that I kept on the glass won't show up anymore. Off to search the web for ideas! I'll post an update when  I find something.

 See that side table on the left? It's next!

PS. I bought those wonderful pillows the other day at Marshall's for $20 for the set. I love that place.

Thanks for reading!

Amanda 

Shared on: Making the World Cuter , Skip to My Lou, Tater Tots and Jello

Desk Lamp Redo

Moving into a new office on campus has meant decorating a new office. With my new job here, I am actually IN my office all day so I wanted to make it look nice and inviting. We are in one of the oldest, outdated buildings on campus so it has been a task to try to make this place presentable. This week I did a redo on an old lamp I had lying around the house. When we bought hour house back in August, it came furnished. This lamp was left so it was $0 to me. I bought spray paint ($4) and some ruffle trim ($7 for 2 yards at Hobby Lobby) and went to work.

This is the lamp before: Just a regular ole' silver lamp with a white shade.

I found several tutorials on pintrest but none that were super detailed so I kind of  "winged" it. First, I spray-painted the base blue (our school colors are blue and white) and then I took the ruffle trim and began wrapping and hot gluing it around the base. You can do this by either slightly overlapping it and wrapping it with one big strand, or cutting a different piece for each layer. Since I was worried about keeping the layers straight, and I needed to be conservative with my ruffle trim since I wasn't sure I would have enough, I chose to do it in pieces.

I started with the very top piece. No matter how spaced out the ruffles had to be, the top had to line up. Then I did the bottom piece. This gave me a guideline of how far apart I needed to put my layers so that the whole thing was covered. I continued layering from bottom to top with each new layer slightly covering the one beneath it. When I got to the top layer, I just tucked it under my top layer and glued it all the way around. I ended up having exactly enough trim. (I'm sorry I didn't take pics, I didn't think about it until it was too late.)
Here is what I ended up with.

And here it is in it's new home on my desk!

Much better than that plain old silver lamp, don't you think?

Very Berry Brownies - 4th of July

This may be the best semi-homemade concoction I have ever made! I made these for Fathers Day a few weeks ago and decided I HAD to share with all of you. I will be making it again for 4th of July since it looks so patriotic. They are so simple and got great reviews!

1 package of brownie mix
1 block cream cheese
1 can of sweet and condensed milk
1 cup confectioners sugar
Berries

First, I made brownies in a glass casserole pan. Yep, just follow the instructions and let them cool. (If you don't let them cool, your topping will melt.)

Next, mix together 1 block of cream cheese (I used fat free) and 1 can of sweet and condensed milk (I used fat free here too, have to help out where  I can!) Once it is blended well, gradually add in powdered sugar. I don't really measure, I just add to taste. If I had to estimate, I would say I probably

use about a cup, maybe a cup and a half. Mix until smooth.

Spread the topping over your brownies. Sprinkle berries over the top. (I used blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries)

Let sit in the refrigerator for about an hour. This will firm up the topping. It will still be a little runny but it's oh so good!!

Let me know if you try it!

Shirley Temple Cupcakes

This is a easy, great cupcake recipe that is just perfect for summer. I made these a few weeks ago for Memorial Day but I'm just now getting a chance to share them.

For our Memorial Day celebration, I decided to go with a coctail cupcake theme. I made both Shirley Temple and Rum and Coke cupcakes. I got the Rum and Coke recipe from iheartcuppycakes. I didn't change a thing and it was AMAZING! One thing I will warn you about.... she is NOT joking when she warns about the icing looking curdled for a while. Even though I read it, I still freaked out a little because it took longer than I thought for it to smooth out.

For my Shirley Temple cupcakes I doctored up a yellow cake mix by substituting the water and oil with Cherry 7-up. This also makes it a little lighter, a little trick I learned from my failed attempt at Weight Watchers. You can also leave out the egg if you do this but I kept the egg. I would also suggest adding a little splash of grenedine for an extra kick. After all, this is a coctail (vergin as it may be) cupcake. For the icing, I used a recipe from "It's the Little Things in Life" and added some grenedine. It was phenomenal! She also gives what is probably a better recipe for the cakes so if you have a bit of time, I would encourage you to try hers instead of taking my easy way out :)

Here's a pic of the process and the end results!

Monogrammed Mug Winner!

First of a I would like to give a HUGE thanks to everyone for entering my give-away. This post blew away records on my blog with almost 500 views and 126 comments and gained almost 100 folowers in about 2 weeks.  I never imagined it would get this large!! How exciting!! I'm super pumped that you all like my mugs :)

Now for what you really want to read....

The winner is.....

Comment number 50! Cynthia Richardson from Arizona!

  Congratulations! 

Easy DIY Chair Recover

This may be the easiest DIY project I've ever done. I seriously don't know why I put it off for so long! I have this dining set that I purchased in college. It was the first piece of furniture that I bought for myself so I just haven't been able to get rid of it yet. I am currently using the table in my craft room for my workspace and I have saved a chair for a desk chair. The chair has definitely seen better days as far as the fabric goes, but it is still sturdy. The fabric was very blah...the standard cream ribbed fabric that you see on most sets. While this was ok for my college apartment, I wanted a little more flair for my craft room. I truely had no idea how easy this would be!

I started out by taking the cushion off the frame by simply unscrewing it from the bottom.

Then I tore the backing off of the cushion to expose the staples. I sat for a while contemplating whether or not to rip off the old fabric..NAH, that would involve a little more work than I was planning.

Next, I cut a piece of fabric to go over the seat.

 TIP: If you are going to leave the existing fabric on, be sure to invest in a heavy fabric to recover with.
Then I simply centered the fabric and started stapleing the fabric around the seat. Be sure to pull tightly as you go to make sure your cushion is nice and smooth. No one likes a saggy seat cushion!

As you can see from the photo, I used a standard office stapler. My seat was soft enough to do this, if you have a thicker seat (ie you spent more than the  $100 I did on my set) then you may need to use an actual staple gun.

Then, just staple the batting back on and put the chair back together.

Now isn't that better than the boring dirty beige? 

Thanks for coming by!!