Vermont Tourist

So Aaron and I played Vermont tourist yesterday morning before jumping feet first into the pre-wedding shenanigans.  They couldn't have picked a better weekend for a Vermont wedding.  The foliage is really going off this weekend.  Here's Aaron at a scenic overlook, with a classic Vermont background.  

A lovely farm just down the road from the photo of Aaron.  

Our first stop The Cabot Creamery.  We love love love cheese, and it was about time I got to see where one of my favorite cheeses is made.  I love Cabot's vintage cheeses, and at the end of the $2 tour we got to sample a plethora of amazing cheeses, spreads, and even a lovely honey mustard dip.  Of course we had to buy a few small blocks of cheese, and we both loved the honey mustard so we bought a jar of that as well.   Wish the sky had been blue, not the greatest photo.  

Our next stop Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream!  I love how the pink sign I'm standing next to matches the bush next to it.  Or at least it matches for today, until the leaves change color again.  

Orange is my favorite color in the fall.  Doesn't Aaron look cute posing on the stairs for me?  

Sad day for someone and their ice cream cone.  At least it wasn't mine! :)  

As you can see from this photo it got a bit stormy, and I stopped taking photos.  So glad I got these fall foliage photos before we got to our tourist locations, or else I wouldn't have been able to take any.  Looks like it might be rainy the rest of the weekend.  Hope it clears up for the wedding today!

Have a lovely weekend, and happy DIYing, chris!

Fun Friday Fascinations #24

#1.  The Plumed Nest has a great DIY for a simple make-over for boring switch plate covers.  You know how much I love simple DIYs and pattern, so this tutorial has my name written all over it. 

#2.  I know I haven't made any whisky cocktails yet for my Thirsty Thursday, but whisky really is my drink of choice.  After seeing 52 Weeks Project I know just what my whisky has been missing, a lovely glass (faux) etched decanter.  

#3. I've been looking for an inspiring tattoo artist that is local for me, and I found Tina Marabito.  I've never had a desire to get a Day of the Dead skull, but this tattoo totally makes me rethink that.   For me that's a sign of a great tattoo artist.  If you can make me want to get something permanently inked into my skin that I might not have thought of on my own, you must be pretty darn amazing.  

#4.  I'm digging all the ombre hair I've been seeing around, but this lady's long blue ombre locks has me wanting to find a job where colorful hair would be acceptable.  This hair is fantastic.  

#5.  Twisted Sifter is one of my fave websites to check out on a daily basis, and a few days ago they shared Ulric Collette's series Genetic Portraits.  In this series he 'shop's together two photos of relatives.  This photo is a combo of twins.  Positively mesmerizing.  

I hope ya'll have a great Friday, and happy DIYing, chris!

Orange Julius

Before Aaron and I left for our road trip I made an Orange Julius for my Thirsty Thursday.  Since it was so early in the morning, and we had nine hours of being stuck in the car ahead of us this recipe is alcohol free.  Thus fun for the whole family! 

I pulled out my blender and dropped in some frozen strawberries, banana, mango, and pineapple pieces.  Probably about seven bite sized chunks.  Then I poured in some pineapple juice, about 1/4 cup, and the same amount of milk.  Next I spooned in about a half can of frozen orange juice concentrate.  

After blending all the ingredients together, I decided the mixture was really tart.   So I added some Cool Whip to the top, and blended that in, which added the perfect amount of sweet creaminess to balance out the tart flavor.  

This was extra easy, and a great early morning treat.  I might need to make this more regularly.  It would be a good on-the-go breakfast for work days too.  

Hope ya'll have a great thirsty thursday, and happy DIYing, chris

Long Weekend Packing

Aaron and I are going on a long weekend trip up to Vermont for a wedding.  Aaron is the best man in his best man's wedding this weekend.  It's an eight hour trip to the location so we are leaving tomorrow.  By the time I got home from work, showered, and ate dinner it was a bit past seven.  I set to packing right away, which left no time for working on my gravestones or a new DIY.  So I decided to share some outfit ideas I'm packing.  I love thinking out what I'm going to wear and pairing everything up.   

My first two outfits are my travel outfits, for tomorrow and Sunday.  I like to wear pants and easy to layer tops.  I tend to get chilly during long car rides, and I rarely sit with my feet on the floor, when riding passenger.  It's important to me to be as comfortable as possible while riding around in the car for extended periods.  

This is my outfit for Friday.  I hope I don't need the jacket, because the sleeves are adorable on this top, but it's good to be prepared.  This jacket has a ton of cute details too, so it will be nice to wear it if need be though.  I love this pencil skirt, it makes me feel so womanly.  I'm in need of some new stockings, and I didn't have any great choices to go with this outfit, but I thought the hot pink might be fun.  

Then I'm wearing this outfit again to this wedding.  It's just so darn cute, I couldn't pass up another opportunity to wear it.  Ha!  Maybe I'll take some outfit pictures of me in a completely different location. 

Hope ya'll have a lovely end to your week, and happy DIYing, chris!

Tombstone DIY Part 2

I worked more on my Tombstone DIY when I got home from work today.  I searched the internet for some good headstone epitaphs.  Then I found some decent gravestone type faces, and worked on the font sizes that would make for the best design.  Finally I printed them out on some card stock paper, and set to town xacto knifing the letters out.  

After an hour and a half I broke the tip off my blade, and only made it through four and a half of the seven words, on one of the tombstones.    I pressed the knife to hard into the plastic I was leaning on, and that's why it broke.  I have back up blades, but I didn't feel like digging them out.  Plus it's getting late, and I have another early work day tomorrow. 

This is the longest epitaph I found.  I hope I find the time to cut it out, because it would look great spray painted on there.  

Have a great night, and happy DIYing, chris

Arctic Ants On A Log

Today's Nom Nom Monday recipe is another simple snack, Arctic Ants On A Log.  Now I know celery sticks with peanut butter and raisins are tasty, but I often crave a more salty snack than a sweet snack, and that's how I came up with this idea.  Celery sticks with cream cheese, and kalamata olives and/or peanuts.  For these five sticks I used one and a half celery stalks, and about a tablespoon of cream cheese, three olives, and three peanuts.  Which was the perfect amount to hold me off until dinner, but I didn't eat too much of the unhealthy stuff to make it a terrible thing to munch on.

I love to snack, and I'm of the belief that snacking isn't a bad thing.  Sure we have a tendency to munch on a truck ton of unhealthy snacks, instead of a sensible portion of healthy food.  However if we think of what we have in the house, and what we could whip together before we get hungry, it can be a helpful trick to curb your appetite between larger meals.  That way when it does come to dinner time we aren't eating three times our portion size, and making poor choices when planning a healthy meal, because we're starving.   Real Simple had a great article A Guide to Healthy Snacking in August's edition.  There are definitely some great tips in there, and I highly recommend giving it a peek.

Thanks for visiting, and hope you had a lovely Monday, and happy DIYing, chris  

Tombstone DIY Halloween Decorations

With fall in the air, I'm ready for Halloween.  So while working on the house today we took a little break and did a fun project.  We made foe tombstones for outdoor decorations out of some leftover OSB.  We started off by sketching out a cross shape on the wood.  Then Aaron used a circular saw to cut the cross out.  

Next we used Valspar's Stone spray paint and sprayed the pieced of cut out wood.  This stuff does a fantastic job covering the wood.  We only needed one coat to get this nice thick grey color.  

Now we have to let the spray paint dry, and I'm going to work on what I would like to stencil on to the front with some black acrylic paint.  I'll have to share the final outcome whenever I'm able to finish them.  This week is going to be busy though, because we are going on a long trip up to the tippy top of Vermont for our good friends' wedding.  We will be leaving on Thursday, and I know I'll be extra busy with work from Monday to Wednesday.  I hope ya'll had a great weekend, and happy DIYing, chris!