Sooo.... I changed my mind and Weekend Recap

Hi there! I hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend! I was off work for 6 days and it was heavenly, I loved every minute of it! It was HOT and STEAMY here in the South, it was in the high 90's for the most part so I layed out by the pool a little, but then I got too hot and went inside.  That's when I got in trouble...

E says I'm no longer allowed to take off work unless he is home too.  It was hot, too hot to be outside, so I took it upon myself to re-do the master bath.  I decided to paint the cabinets and wall color, AND... sew my very own shower curtain.


Now on the the changing my mind part...Surprising? It really shouldn't be.  Changing my mind falls into the "usual" category for me.  Remember my post HERE where I talked about my new decor for my master bath? Yeah, well, I never got around to doing anything with it. Surprising? Again, it shouldn't be, I'm a lazy bum somtimes! And remember my other post HERE where I did a face-lift on the guest bath? Well I decided that I really don't like it all that much anymore...

So what is a girl to do?? This girl is going to re-do her guest bath again.  I am putting the ruffle shower curtain in the guest bath along with a few other changes.  Here are some hints...

Okay that's all the hints you get for the guest bathroom.

As for the master bathroom.... well, I'm doing quite the opposite of the guest bath.  Here are some hints...

I'm sure you can image what the outcome might look like...but I'm a little nervous to paint my cabinets black! What do y'all think? Have y'all painted your cabinets black or a less than normal color? Love it, hate it, regret it? I need some input please!

Yay! I love getting blog awards! Yall are really so sweet to think of me and it always makes my day when I receive one! Sami at Savannah Steel Magnolia left me this award

The Rules:

1. Copy and paste the award image onto your blog or website.

2. Answer the question "In your opinion, what makes a person a true southerner?"

3. Bestow the award upon a favorite southern blog!

I have two favorite Southern Quotes:

A true southerner is someone who understands the simplicities of life. They love their family, friends and their small towns! They put sugar in their tea and love it when someone makes homemade biscuits. They love their football and will fight until the end for their team!

Growing up Southern is a privilege, really. It's more than where you're born - it's an idea, a state of mind that seems imparted at birth. It's more than loving fried chicken, sweet tea, high school football, beer, country music, and acoustic guitars. It's being hospitable, being devoted to front porches, magnolias, the good Lord, and each other. We don't become Southern - we're born that way.

I am passing this along to:

Southern Cinderella

A Southern Belle {trying not to rust}

Starting From Nothing And Learning As I Go

 Reynie at God, do you hear this Southern Girl Rambling? tagged me for this fun award! Thanks girl!

The rules:

1. Copy and paste the above image onto your blog/website.

2. Answer the questions below.

3. Pass onto bloggers that you LOVE and let them know they've been given this award.

Welcome to the Preppy Mafia! Now for a few questions, you cannot refuse.

1. Who is your style icon(s)?

Well of course there's Jackie Kennedy Onassis... isn't she everybody's fav? She's so classic

I also love Carrie Underwood...the girl is just Fab dressed up or dressed down...

And I almost always love what Ali Larter is wearing... post Varsity Blues

2. What is your favorite Socialite lit book?

I love all kinds of Chick Lit... I especially loved the two part series from Linda Howard.. "To Die For" and "Drop Dead Gorgeous" You must go and buy them now!

3. Favorite party theme?

I feeling the Red, White, and Blue theme lately since it's SUMMERTIME and that means Memorial Day and 4th of July

4. Go to Halloween costume?

I'm a little past the stage of dressing up all skanky like (not judging, I did it in college) If I do anything now, I will maybe put on a witch hat to pass out candy

5. Extravagance you cannot live without?

Shopping.  I tried to give it up in lieu of saving more money.  But then I decided that my saving account and investments are fine and I work so that I can shop! =)

6. Living person you admire?

My Momma! She's such a good woman for so many reasons.

7. Greatest fear?

Something happening to my family, and (when we finally have kids) not raising them to become responsible and respectful people. It kind of seems overwhelming to me to raise another person to be a positive addition to society! Kids are just so weird now-a-days!

8. Trait you deplore in yourself?

I'm such a control freak and I wish I could stop.  I'm getting better at just giving it to God and not worrying about the things/people I cannot change, but I still have a long way to go!

9. Which talent would you most like to have?

I wish I could still play the piano.  I haven't played in years and probably couldn't even if I tried now!

10. Greatest Achievement?

I am very proud of the fact that I was one of the first in my family to graduate college, and that I have been happily married for almost two years! I know that doesn't sound like such a great achievement, but when 25% of people divorce in their first year of marriage, I think it's a great accomplishment!

Now, The Preppy Mafia award goes to:

(and I'm totally copying Reynie on this)

And before I start, I have to say, I know some folks just don't like to play along with these sort of things and if you don't, no worries. I totally get that. But, in case you have nothing to blog about for a day, you might find it fun. And if you've already received it from someone else, no worries.

I'm leaving the award to a few new blogs I just very recently found and already adore:

Brittany @ Daily Musings of a Small Towner Turned Dallasite

April @ My So Called Fairytale

Sami @ Savannah Steel Magnolia
In my Shoes 

I also received this award from Southern Loves Thanks girl! I played along with this award Here.

Memorial Day Madness!

I just love love love Memorial Day.  It could quite possibly be one of my favorite holidays because it signals the start of the summer season.  I don't know about y'all, but a Memorial Day in Oklahoma wouldn't be completed without a cook-out with family and friends.  I actually have three to attend over the course of the weekend and I couldn't be more excited!  I am taking off work Wednesday - Friday, and then I have Monday off anyway due to the Holiday so I have a six day weekend! Woo Hoo!

For the First cook-out I am making baked Sweet Potato Wedges from Paula Deen:

 Ingredients:

1/2 cup, plus 2 tablespoons butter

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

4 sweet potatoes, scrubbed and cut lengthwise into wedges

2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

In a large saucepan over medium-high heat, melt the butter. Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the cinnamon. Add the potato wedges to the butter and toss to combine. Season the potatoes with the salt and pepper.

Spread the potatoes in an even layer on a baking sheet. Roast the potatoes, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from the oven to a serving dish and serve. 

For the second cook-out I am making homemade ice cream! Yum!

And for the Third cook-out I will probably make some kind of festive beverage or dessert!

But let's not forget the real reason for Memorial Day...

My total front porch makeover

Okay y'all I am really super excited about this! Front porches are one of my most favorite things in the world and I finally have mine done!  In January of 2009 we decided that we would do a little add-on to our home, a little face-lift you could say...  One of the things I really really wanted was a front porch.  At that time we currently had a little 5' by 7' stoop that I would not call a porch.  It was simply a place for visitors to stand while waiting for me to answer the door.

Here is the before picture.  I wish I had more to show you how non-front porch it actually was, but honestly, this one pic shows it...

Sorry about the Christmas decor, but it was the only before picture I have! Can you see the "porch" If you look really hard... you can see a little stoop in front of the front door.

Before I show you all of the after pics, I want to show a little face-lift I did on my front porch swing.  This just shows how a little paint can make a big difference.  It started off natural wood like this:

I tried to paint it with spray paint...

But I seriously underestimated how much it would take.  So it got thrown in the back of E's truck and taken to my parents house where our power spray gun was....

And this is the new swing:

Anyway..back to the main point... something had to be done about the non-front porch...  We had a 17' by 7' concrete slab poured all along part of the front, added shutters, a porch swing, patio furniture, plants and flowers, columns along the front, and painted the front door.  Here are the after pics:

We were going to do rock columns all the way up, but I thought it would look better to add another element in, so we make a column on the top of the rock and painted it 'Homestead Resort" by Valpsar

 Click here to see the transformation of these Craigslist chairs

I found this "table" at a junk store for $6 I think.  It is very very heavy because it is very thick wood.  It was actually supposed to be a planter box, but it didn't have holes in the bottom for water flow and honestly, I didn't really want to mess with it, so I just sprayed it white and flipped it over and made into a table.

 I made these shutters and it was super easy and like $5! I had leftover fence post which I cut down and made one shorter than the other.  I'm not sure the lengths, I just cut until it looked good... and then cut a piece to fit across the width and bolted it together.  These are also painted"Homestead Resort" by Valspar, the same color as the pillars.

 New light fixture

Newly painted front door...

That's all! I hope you enjoyed looking through these pics as much as I enjoy my porch.  I have lots more transformation to show you from our add-on so stay tuned!

I am sharing this with Between Naps on the Porch Met Monday, The DIY Showoff, Domestically Speaking's Power of Paint Party, and Jessica's A Few of My Favorite Things Party and Anything Related at All Thingz Related