Little light table

I bought this little light table from our local catholic school thrift store a while back for 4 bucks. My girlfriend at the time thought I was crazy.
I could see it...in a nursery...all done up...in pistachio!
What do you think?

Before

After
Oh look at that cute green goodness! I love this little guy and really don't want to give it up.

I recovered a cream covered lamp shade to this beautiful blue, green, yellow and white plaid. I added the wood like buttons as an extra touch.



Can't you just see reading to your little one a sweet night time story? I'm really digging working the paint to look old and chippy. I don't know if I can give this one up, but I really don't have anything that matches it, nor a little one anymore. No, wait...he'll ALWAYS be my little one. : )

~nic

Beach, Strawberries and a burger

Hi all! I'm back with no more black outs! Oh no, not me, my computer! The screen kept fading in and out, so our good friend Delos hooked me up with a new laptop screen. All I had to do in return was make him a batch of chocolate chip cookies. Thank you!

I've been wanting to share a few pics from one of our end of summer weekend trips. We spent the day at Pescadero Beach with some friends of ours. We found lots of beach glass and some cool shells and even ran across some handmade drift wood forts.
Yup, you read that right.
Drift wood forts.
Really cool.

I took so many picture that day it was hard to figure out which ones to put up. The drive through Half Moon Bay on the way to the beach is always beautiful. I couldn't believe I actually captured some of it with our janky little camera while sitting in the passenger seat doing about 45.



Our friends up ahead in the mini van. Hi guys!


The ever famous cemetery leading into Half Moon Bay. Maybe it's just famous to me and my childhood memories. Half Moon Bay hosts the Pumpkin Festival and when I was little there always seemed to be a group of "haunters" dressed and roaming the cemetery when we made the annual trip.


After we played around at the beach, we headed down the coast to a little "Honor System" farm to pick our own strawberries. Super fun! We were the only ones to actually pick some out of our group, but our little family had a great time doing it. Justin was really in awe once he saw the rows and rows of strawberry plants. The farm itself, was super clean and super cute with delicious looking items!




After all that fun, we all headed into the Santa Cruz area to find a place to grab a burger. We found the perfect joint, named Burger. They had the most unusual burgers I had seen. My hubby had one called the Phatty. The buns...were two grilled cheese sandwiches! Some of the burgers, had buns made from glazed donuts. Um...I don't know about that one. Mine was good though, the Dude and little man had the Kobe Burger sliders.

It was a great way to end our summer!

We are back in full swing now, school, gymnastics and soccer. I've got some projects going on and John has been offered a position with DataLink that he has decided to take. We are very excited about it but a little sad that he had to set aside his business. It just makes more sense for us financially, right now. He didn't close shop, just won't be pursuing any outside contracts. His official start date was September first. I love you honey!

It's also my fathers 74th birthday. My parents spent the day in Pismo beach and just returned about a half an hour ago (8:30 pm). I can't wait to hear how much fun they had and what they found! Happy Birthday Daddy, I love you very much!

~nic

A little beachy

I picked up this cute child's rocking chair at my local Savers a few months back. I have one from my childhood, actually I believe it was my mother's from her childhood. (Mom, can you confirm?) I had been wanting to re-do a little rocker but really didn't want to do mine. So when I ran across this one, I grabbed it up quick.
I had one vision for it: beachy and unisex.
I think I achieved it, what do you think?

I made the little cushion reversible so if you didn't want the flowery motif any more, just flip it over and have a nice solid cream ribbed motif.

I added grommets to the ends of the tabs on the cushion, then just flipped the chair over, marked where the grommets landed, added some little screws for the grommets to fit over, and voila!
Reversible cushion. : )

So, if you are in the market for a darling little beachy rocker, let me know!
I've got one I can sell you. : )

Update: I sold this cutie at my garage sale to a sweet elderly couple for their great granddaughter! Yeah!

~nic

I've linked up to:

Pool Party!

Pictures from Justin's 10th Birthday party.

The little crew of 4 J's and an M had a blast goofing around in the pool. We played a few games, one being a big hit. We marked 20 each of 5 different colored poker chips with a "J" on one side and then added in a HUGE bunch of blank poker chips and threw them all in the pool. Boy, the pool was quite for at least 45 minutes while the boys searched for those marked chips. Easy, cheap, and fun game!

We also did an art project, but got so wrapped up in it I forgot to take still pictures of it, just video. We bought blank canvases, put a 12 inch initial with contact paper in the middle of the canvas, bought 6 different colored paints and loaded up spray bottles and condiment squeeze bottles and let them go at it. We also had torn up sponges and those water foam ball things, I don't know what to call them, but they worked great for soaking up paint and then splattering on the canvas. After drying, we pulled off the contact paper and ended up with some very unique initial art work. We liked it so much, we did it at the family party that night as well.

We just got home from taking little man to see Step Up 3D for one of his Birthday presents. GREAT movie! We all loved it! Next up on his Birthday list (yes, his presents tend to span over a few weeks) are the tickets to see his all time favorite DJ, Bassnecter. He is beside himself in anticipation! He's got two more weeks to wait but will have it fresh in his mind for when school starts. What a weekend that will be, Bassnecter on Saturday, he'll be DJ'ing in the park on Sunday, and then starts school on Monday as "Seniors" of the school. Okay, he'll only be in 5th grade, but they are the "Upper" class of school.

I feel like I've been rambling, maybe I should throw up some pictures.

(face/arm painting from company picnic)

(In the backyard working on his flips...could never catch the awesome mid-air action shot)

(In the trees at the S.F. Renegade Craft Fair)

I love you Justin!

~mom

For you Jamison!

My good friend Ashley is pregnant with her second son, Jamison, and had this adorable Pottery Barn style baby bassinet. However, it was a little on the dingy white side and she was looking more for the beautiful espresso side.
So, that's what I did for her.
What do you think?

(Before)

(After)

I threw the white table cloth in between because it will eventually have a white with blue trim bed set and matching crib skirt. I wanted to show Ashley (and Lia..Hi Lia! haha!) an idea of what it was going to look like. She and her hubby love it and have already picked it up and moved it into place at home. I hope you enjoy your new home when you arrive Jamison! I had fun cleaning it up for you! : )

~nic

P.S. I will have Birthday pictures posted soon. I'm hoping to do it tonight, but you know how real life works out. The boys had a blast and the party was a big success! Thanks Nanny and Poppy for hosting and letting us, yet again, use our beloved family pool! : )

Last day of being a single

It's true.
My little guy is turning 10 tomorrow.
This was his "last day of being a single" as he puts it.
That is, a single digit.
I was able to sneak in a few pictures before heading off to nanny and poppy's for the day.








I hope you enjoyed your last day of being single my sweet one! I love you so much and can't wait to see what your "double digits" bring!
~mom

Little Ribbon Bar

I do love me some ribbon...and trim...and yarn.
I have lots of it.
I had been storing it in random containers in my craft room.
Then I ran across a lovely individual on CL giving away for free their child's royal blue semi-broken toy holder.
After some white paint, some awesome wrapping paper from PaperSource and some new wheels, I turned it into this:


Then I filled it with all of this:


Okay, it didn't ALL fit, so some still have to be stored in their containers on top. But they still look lovely!


After I started pulling it all out, I realized that I REALLY like cream and white trim, lace, ribbon and pearls. I decided it should all go in one of the cubes.
I love to just "paw" through all that creamy dreamy goodness!


My yarn took over the two bottom cubes. I LOVE that it is on rollers and can be wheeled to wherever I want in my room. I'm thinking I'm going to be putting wheels on a lot of my units, they are just so functional!

Now...to just use some of this and create something fabulous!

~nic