You whooooo

Hmmm. I've noticed here lately that I've been itching to start blogging again! I've never been real faithful to it before, but since summer is here, and I have more time on my hands...maybe this is the first little toe dip back into the pool! I consider myself Type A and am very comfortable with schedules and procedures. Now that school's out for summer, and I have absolutely no schedule, I am beginning to find myself growing more anxious with each passing day. I attribute a wee bit of this anxiety to the fact that I'm due with our second baby girl in about 16 days or less!! Yikes!!! LOL I guess then I will have a little more of a schedule (at least for feedings and nap time) but I also think it's the mere sitting Herr and waiting on her arrival that is driving me bonkers! LOL Anywhooie-I guess this will be my first post back in blog land. I so look forward to catching up on my favorite blogs through the week, seeing how other people my age are living their lives, and now I think I'm ready to continue sharing mine. I think. ;)

All things VINTAGE!!

I have recently become obsessed with ALL things vintage! Very late, I know. I've always been interested in "older" things, but now I'm CONSTANTLY on the lookout for the next piece to add to my collection. I LOVE vintage handbags, jewelry, and kitchen wares like Pyrex and cotton tablecloths.



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As a mentioned in my last post, my mom and I had a recent girls day out with Little Miss. After a fabulous lunch, I introduced Mom to one of my favorite antique stores, Feather Your Nest, located on Leestown Rd in Lexington. It has TONS of cute things, including many booths with vintage wares.

*If you look closely, you can see Ava passed out on Mom's shoulder at this point! <3! *

Loved this adorable table...if I remember correctly it was only priced at $75.00!

I fell in LOVE w/ this light pink wrought iron patio set...It was gorgeous!

This little beauty would be great for showcasing your favorite baubles and charms...alas, it was marked NFS. (Not for sale! :( )

They yellow frame really makes this vintage painting POP! I think this would look adorable in a little girls room!

This booth had tons of great vintage jewelery and odds & ends. I love these kinds of booths!

I saved the best for last! This is my all-time favorite BOOTH! It's Miss Molly Vintage, and she always has the best vintage fashion and accessories! :) I really almost came home with that yellow dress! I could seriously spend HOURS in the two Miss Molly Vintage booths. AH-MAZING!

Miss Molly Vintage is stocked by this lovely gal. She hasn't posted recently, but if you love anything vintage, you will fall in love with her home renovation! Wow! Check it out! Also find Miss Molly Vintage on Facebook!

Well, that's all for now! :) Where are some of your favorite vintage/flea market sources? :) I love making new discoveries!

So by now, through Facebook/Twitter/etc and word of mouth, I'm sure everyone has seen the verdict heard 'round the world: Casey Anthony was found "not guilty" of killing her two year old daughter Caylee. I was SO upset when watching Headline News live. I just couldn't understand. The only thing that brings me comfort is knowing little Caylee is in a much better place now, and WHOEVER did kill her will one day face the ultimate Judgement, as I and every other person on Earth will. (This is my blog, my faith. If you take offense, maybe you should read elsewhere.) Anyway, just had to get that off my chest.

On a much lighter note, I've been meaning to post about our recent adventures but have been busy and distracted. However, here it is! My mother and I recently went to Lexington for a little girl's day out. We started the day with a fantastic lunch at this place: Flag Fork Herb Farm & Garden. For those of you familiar with, I'm sure you will agree that this place is de-freakin-licious and absolultely adorable at the same time. It's one of my favorite places to eat. They offer farm fresh high quality food, including quiche, chicken salad, sandwhiches, soup, and more.

Here are some highlights:

(I apologize for iPhone quality pics! LOL I really need a point-n-shoot camera!)

Flag Fork is located at 900 N. Broadway. Reservations are recommended (for a good reason!) and they can be made by calling 859-252-6837.

This is the front entrance:

They have gifts scattered through out this 1790's house, including the upstairs rooms. Here are a few things that caught my eye:

Vintage handbags, seen in the upstairs gallery-

Original artwork:

Adorable little girl accessories!

Teasets, stationary, and much more!

Mom & Little Miss exploring the gardens located in the back of the restaurant and gift shop-

She's got her shades on and ready to go to the next stop!

We had a great day...I have an adorable necklace to show for it too...I'll have to remember to get a pic of it to show you lovelies!

Our next stops included two awesome shops...Feather Your Nest and Street Scene. Post and pics from those to come soon! :)

Chi's and Coupons

So girls, this past weekend I experienced a life-changing moment. Now, I'm not pregnant (although I was recently asked, ugh), we're not moving, and I'm still jobless. Ha. In all of my 26 years here on this wide green Earth, I have never been the proud owner of a Chi flat iron. Until now!


Whoo-hoo! I purchased this beauty on sale at JCPenney, and can't believe I'm just now entering the Chi world. Wow!Their sale flyer even had a coupon, so I got it for way less than the original retail price. I was pumped to say the least. I have the thickest hair known to man, and it used to seriously take me over an hour to straighten my hair to get it looking even halfway decent. This baby slashes the time at least in half! I couldn't be more happy with my latest beauty purchase! :)

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On another note, I recently attended my first COUPONING CLASS! (It was a weekend of firsts for me, ok?) I know surely you have heard of this little show:

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I've been trying to dabble in couponing for a while now, and I guess with this little show it's caught my attention just like the rest of America. Major box stores such as a Kroger and Wal-Mart have even changed their store coupon policies as a result of this show. Anywho, this class was hosted by my cousin's sister in law, and they went over the basics and showed some of the deals they had recently gotten and how much they paid vs how much they saved. Who doesn't want to save some money in this day and age!? Huh? Hello, is anyone there? Now, I love a good deal and clipping coupons, but you will NEVER see me clear a store's shelf just because something is cheap or *free.* I can't tell you how many times I've checked a favorite coupon website to see a good deal, gone to said store, and the product mentioned be COMPLETELY OUT OF STOCK. It's so aggravating! This was a Christian-based couponing class, and they stressed thinking "of your neighbor"and only taking what you NEED. If you've ever seen the TLC show you see the stockpiles that some of these crazy people have. Who honestly needs 500 rolls of toilet paper, or 30 bottles of mustard? Let's get real here people! I thought I'd list a few of my favorite couponing websites for those of you who are interested in saving some money and finding the deals! :) (You'll thank me later!)

Trust me, after you get that first good deal by using the sales and a coupon, you'll be hooked!

Mrs. Bees' Favorite Coupon Websites:

www.stockpilingmoms.com

www.krazycouponlady.com (recently featured on"Extreme Couponing")

www.southernsavers.com

www.couponmom.com

www.hotcouponworld.com

Just a hint: These websites do all the leg work for you, they scope out the deals for various products, tell you the price, where to find a coupon, and the final price you will pay. Now, coupons are very regional, so these that I have listed work well for Central Kentucky and the surrounding areas. If you live elsewhere, I would search for other websites that may be more beneficial for you!

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Also, I recently found a super cute blog that pulled at my bargain-finding heartstrings:

Miss Lindsey, over at The Bargain Blonde, has all kinds of sweet stuff on finding beauty bargains! She recently wrote a review on ELF $1 False Eyelashes, and I have to say, I am in LOVE with the ELF line of cosmetics! I had tried some of their stuff a looooong time ago, maybe in high school, and had forgotten about it until recently reading several of my favorite bloggies boasting about how great this stuff is. So, what did I do? Of course I ran to Target and grabbed up 5 new items to test out. ELF's line of makeup is mostly $1, $3, and $5 price points.

Hello, Awesomeness~!

I'll let you know what I think in an upcoming post! I'm still playing with all my new ELF goodness!

XOXOXO

PS-I jazzed up the blog a little with new buttons and a new background, lemme know what you think :)

A little DIY Action

So I've always been told "Courtney, you're so crafty!" by friends and family, especially through high school and college. I will admit I love a good craft or three, and I'm a paper & pen junkie, but I'm really just beginning to dip my toes into the whole DIY world. Mr. Bee is pretty darn good at getting his hands dirty and producing wonderful results. Just within the past two weeks, he has constructed a storage building in our backyard for our lawnmower and tools he doesn't frequently use. {*More on that later, this is about MY project!* :)}

Some time ago we were out perusing flea markets and yard sales, and my eyes spied a lovely little footstool. (Yes, we sometimes feel like Grandma and Gramps, looking at flea markets! Mos of the time, we are the younges LOL) My wallet smiled too, because if memory serves correctly, I believe I only shelled out about $5.00-$7.00 for the thing. It's been so long ago that I don't have or just can't find a picture of how she originally looked in all her circa 1992 glory. I will say she had a dark cherry stain and country blue cushion.

Here's a picture of the cushion, a' la Home Interior 1992:

In other words, "it ain't my style!"

So what's a DIY girlie to do? I grabbed a can of spray paint and a yard of much cuter fabric and got to work!

Step 1: PAINT-

My weapon of choice: Krylon Indoor/Outdoor White Gloss. Simple as that. I will say that I had previously painted the legs with a different type of spraypaint, and it was an ugly flat color. So I guess it sort of served as my primer, ha! So really this was my second go-round with getting this footstool back into action!

Step 2: FABRIC-
Next, I began to cover the cushion with my new fabric while I waited on the paint to dry. I completed this project on my front porch while my daughter played nearby. The sky was overcas, so the pics are a little blueish. I basically layed the cushion over my lap and wrapped the fabric around it. I then used Mr. Bee's staple gun to staple the fabric to the bottom of the cushion.

Stapled around the corners:

The newly re-covered cushion with my handy staple gun:

~Voila!~

The finished project:

(So proud I actually started and finished a project, even a small one like this, ha!)

I have the perfect spot for this little jewel...our home office/treadmill room :)

Have a great Wednesday! :)