Zoo Trip

I know...this post is like a bajillion months late. Okay maybe not. But still. We took a little trip to the Natural Bridge Safari Park back in July when my mother-in-law visited. I am just now getting around to uploading all of the pictures and wanted to share some of them with you guys! The premise is this: you buy a bucket of food and drive through a terrain filled with exotic animals, which poke their heads into your car and eat the food. It really is fun...and a little traumatizing! ie, the llama eating from our bucket. (The oststrich was the scariest!!!)

 I thought this little shaggy cow was so cute! I just wanted to squeeeeeze him!

 This one was a little scary...you will see why...

 Yep. His horns were almost as big as a minivan. That's pretty intense!

 Little camel with one hump. :)

 I really loved the zebras. I wish we could have gotten closer to them. They were so pretty!

And this tiny wildebeast was supah cute! Made me think of Lion king.

These little guys were pretty brave. They came right up to the car to eat out of your hand.

...And they bickered with each other too.

She's smiling!

There was the two-humped camel. There was a long line to feed them so we didn't get close to them either. Apparently they spit!

This guy was probably my favorite. He was very brave! He licked our bucket clean. (by the way, its not a cow. Its a Yak!)

And he made silly faces. I really think this could be on a birthday card or something. Hilarious!

I just loved her little mouth! It made me want to squeeeeeze her!

I'm not sure if these guys were just normal deer. I think they kept those spots (like fawns have) for their whole lives. But I could be wrong...

Another llama in the window. They are so friendly!

And the last part of the park (on our way out) had teeny baby piglets! I usually don't like pigs but these...ohmygosh...they were so small and precious!

Well, at this point you are either thoroughly entertained or bored to tears. But I wanted you all to see! If you are ever in the Natural Bridge, VA area, you should totally do this. Especially if you have kids. They have an entire zoo at the end that you can walk through with really exotic animals. They have tigers and cheetahs and monkeys. Its really cool!

LOVE you guys!

Little Rosette Lampshade

You may or may not remember when I revealed the girl room that I stuck a little lampshade on the ceiling but was not sure that it was going to stay there. Here it is in case you forgot.

 Well, truth is...I don't see it getting replaced any time soon. So I got a wild hair to make it cuter at least. So I plucked it down from the ceiling and began thinking about what I could do to spruce it up that would still look cute if I wanted to use it on an actual lamp someday.

 I decided to take some strips of remnant fabric and make a rosette. I happened to have a few vintage buttons floating around too, so I hot glued them all to the lamp shade.

 It was super cute! But one was not enough. So I made a couple of other little ones out of black and white fabric and a little green one. I love the way that they look on here!

And it will still look adorable right side up! This little project took a total of 10 minutes, and really spruced up the shade!

 I like it! Its a little weird looking at night (but still better than it was)

 But during the day it looks amazing!!

And this project, also, was fa-ree! I love free projects! Have you done anything that totally transforms without spending any more lately?

I've been featured!

Not one...but TWO lovely ladies featured me this week! Go and check out their posts! (And link up some projects too!)

 

I have been a busy girl this week! I just took on a new part time job as a cake decorator at a local bakery. AND I have done some FALL decorating! I can't wait to get it on here! :)

File Cabinet (maybe?)

So at the urging of myself and several of you all on here, as well as my husband, I mustered up all my strength and lugged the stupid file cabinet from its home in the dark dingy workshop with multiple colors of artificial light. I moved it to a much happier place. The bright sunshiney corner of my girl cave. And I have to admit, I am actually pretty happy with the paint color now. Guess I shouldn't knock it til I try it!

 Please ignore the unfinished chair and boxes! I will be putting my cute little renovated damask chair there..I was just trying to get a feel for the layout of the room.

Overall, I think I am liking it. I am going to sleep on it a few more days and if I still love it, I will go ahead and finish the paint and clean it up a bit. What do you think? Better in the room? Still ugly? Maybe with some work? I think I like it. But I don't know!

New Stairs for the Carport!

I wish I had taken a picture of these while they were still attached to the house. You can call them stairs...or you may call them a death trap waiting to happen. Whatever you call them, the previous owner of our house incorrectly installed a very steep set of stairs that were dangerous and annoying to climb up and down. You had to focus. I don't like to focus when I am carrying bowls of food to the deck or really anything! The bottom step is removed here (I took this after the fact) but as you can see, they were skinny and steep and it overall bad shape.

 Dad measured and cut new risers and then my hubby and my dad worked the other day to create these babies. Yep. Nice wide treads. Normal heights. No more worrying about falling! Or mountain climbing to get back up!

Before:

After:

SO much better. Thanks Dad and Michael! I am a happy girl! :) Now we can safely have our fall cookouts! Did I mention that I am SO ready for fall and football and decorating for fall and apple cider...yeah. I love fall! :)

VERY FIRST Fabulous Friday! : Chalkboarded: Oval Frame

I am SO EXCITED to announce that I am starting a weekly linky party called Fabulous Friday! I will be creating a unique button for it...but I wanted to get it ready for you guys anyway! Today will be the very first one, so link as many projects as you like. And please grab my button! (at the bottom of this post, right before the links)!

On to my project :)

I got this little frame for a buck fifty at Goodwill a long time ago and had kind of forgotten about it for a while. The other night, while thinking about projects that I had all that I needed for, I remember this little guy! I love the shape and really didn't even mind the gold. We just have nothing else gold so it was sorely out of place.

So I popped out the glass and chalkboarded the backing which was a conveniently smooth piece of particle board.

Then, I spray painted the frame itself with a black satin paint. I put it together and this is what I got!

So I took it upstairs and found the perfect spot for it!

 It was the perfect addition to our living room wall grouping! It is just the right shape to contrast all of the squareness that we had going in there.

I really love the way that it turned out and...the best part! I did not spend a penny (other than the initial $1.50). I may change what it says in it from time to time, but our name just fit it for now :)

PLEASE grab my button if you are linking up! :)

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Meal planning and budget grocery shopping

(I totally want to make this!)

Friends, I am here to tell you that whileilovetodoit you do not have to be a crazy coupon clipper to save a lot of money grocery shopping. The key is to plan out, buy what you can in bulk quanities, buy what is on sale and...this is the most important...stick to your list!

I tried couponing for a bit. And I love to see what I can get and save. But I found that when I was couponing, I was...on average...spending $50 more a week!! How is this possible?! Well, I discovered that I was buying more expensive brands because I had a coupon, rather than buying the brand we usually use, the generic brand, or what is on sale.

Don't get me wrong...there is money to be saved if you coupon right. But I tested my theory a little last night. I sat down and planned out our dinners for the next two weeks. Then, I made a pretty extensive grocery list of things I needed for those meals. I added in lunch food and other necessities and then budgeted $100/week for the groceries.

Off I went to Kroger with a plan to keep it under $200. I went through and first got everything that was on my list. Then I went back through and added a few things that would be nice...some fresh fruit, new makeup, etc. I got to the register and...without any coupons...I only spent $137. And that was well over two weeks worth and a few extras! By just planning what we needed, avoiding things we really didn't need (snacks and sweets) and buying what was on sale and Kroger brand! And usually I like the Kroger brand just as well anyway. 

Moral of the story..I am going ot start planning a menu every paycheck and shopping this way. Less on groceries and less on eating out! You should all do the same!