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July 30, 2013

Pretty in Pink (DIY Nursery Picture Frames)

As you all know, my brother and sister-in-law are having their first baby in a couple of weeks. This little girl is the first baby on my side of the family in 15 years! My unnamed child being the only other grandchild.

So needless to say we are all excited about getting our baby fix filled.

The only problem is that I will be out of town for four days at the end of this week to go to Haven (a blogging conference), so this baby is absolutely not allowed to arrive until Auntie Shanna is back in Wichita! Even though I know her mama is at that point where she is ready to get her out.

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July 29, 2013

The British Are Coming!!! (My Union Jack Table)

Happy Monday everyone!!! I hope you all had a good weekend.

Friday night, we went out to dinner at Bonefish Grill (one of my favorite places), and then the unnamed child and I watched Life as a House which wasn’t bad, and Sleepy Hollow which was horrible.

It was beautiful here on Saturday, sunny and warm (but not hot). We had four teenage girls come over for a little pool time, a cook-out, and to stay the night — and as you can image, Topher and I got very little sleep as they screamed through their horror movies.

Sunday it rained all day, so I painted and finally finished a piece for my very own house!

If you’ve been following the blog for a while, you will know that since I’m always working on furniture pieces for clients, I never have time for pieces for my own home.

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July 24, 2013

8 Best Dressed Dressers!!!

Out of all of the types of furniture pieces that I do, dressers are always my favorite.

Not only are they my fastest selling pieces, but they are usually the ones with the most character. Some of my favorite pieces are my red, green and aqua dressers.

This week, I have broken out of my box and tackled a black one too.

Whether you are looking for classic colors, or bright and bold are more your style, the dressers below (from some of my blogger friends) are sure to impress!

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July 23, 2013

Black Antique Dresser

I am working in overdrive this week my friends. Next week I am off to Atlanta for a blogging conference, and I have about a million things to do before I go:

I have a few furniture projects I hope to reveal later this week and next;
I have my two “contributor posts” to finish (I have an opportunity to participate, once a month, in writing for a couple of amazing blogs);
I have several custom pieces with looming deadlines;
I need to create something called a media kit (a packet of All Things Restoration Redoux to hand potential sponsors I might get to speak with at next week’s conference);
and most importantly, I have to figure out what I am going to wear while I’m in Atlanta.

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July 17, 2013

Pink Striped Antique Dresser (and how I might die)

Yesterday I told you about dragging-out my totally 90’s workout videos and how they were so much harder than I remembered. Granted, I was 18 the last time I did them — but still.

Thanks to all of you who have emailed me today checking to make sure I was still alive after yesterday’s workout.

Just so you know, my fingers are about the only part of my body that doesn’t hurt.

I rolled over in bed this morning, and blasts of white hot pain shot through my abs, butt, and shoulders. Holy cow that hurt! So I just laid there for a long time, wondering what the total damage on the ol’ bod was going to be once I stood up.

Let me tell you … it was not pretty my friends. I literally yelped as I went from a seated to standing position. I swear I hurt in places I have never hurt before.

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July 16, 2013

Moss Letter Tutorial and How I Felt the Burn

Today, I overestimated myself.

Back when I was in high school, and even college, I would come home every day and do an exercise video — and I do mean video, as in cassette VHS with the blurry image and the OMG-THIS-IS-TAKING-SO-LONG wait while the tape had to actually rewind or fast-forward — and yes, I completely understand how old that makes me sound.

These were (are) challenging workouts, but it’s how I kept myself in shape in a small, gymless town seeing how my diet consisted of nothing but grilled cheese sandwiches, frozen pizzas, and Pepsi that coursed through my veins like a syrup transfusion.

Today when I was cleaning out some boxes, I came across a few of these videos. Through a wave of nostalgia, and since I needed to go to the gym anyway, I decided to kick it old school and do one of these babies (minus the Olivia Newton-John headband and leg warmers — at least on me, the “hostess” of this classic is forever memorialized in her Totally 80’s garb).

About 7 minutes into the video, I couldn’t help but notice how much harder this seemed than the last time I did it.

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