Ogden Marathon & Sasha's Bridal Shower

Before I get to Sasha's shower lets first talk about the life changing experience I had Saturday morning. A little thing called the Ogden Marathon. Okay it's not so little since there were 2,402 people that ran it!! And that's not including the 5k or the half marathon. So it's safe to say that yeah, the Ogden Marathon... kind of a big deal! But I did it. I survived. And I have to say that I am really really really proud of myself. I would have never ever in a million years thought that I would run a marathon! It really was a life changing experience for me. Of course during it I kept thinking to myself that this was the worst thing I have ever done but once I got to the end and saw my family cheering me on at the finish line and seeing how proud they were of me, it made it all worth it. I ran it in 4 hours and 4 minutes which I am totally fine with for my first time! Now that I am fully recovered and can walk again, what next?? The good old Morgan Marathon! Yep, going to my hometown for this one! I am so excited for it and am ready to start training! :)


As for Sasha's Bridal shower lets just say, I did my best. You see, her shower was the SAME day as the marathon so I was beat! It still turned out cute! We stuck with her wedding colors--- bright pink, lime green, and caribbean blue. The table was bright and summery. We kept the food simple with pasta salad, veggies, rolls, and yummy key lime bars. The fun little candy bar in the back made for some good snacking during the shower (my favorite are the cute chevron bags for the candy!) 

Lately...

Do you ever feel like you have no life and then you stop and think about everything going on in your life and all the things you have to do and soon realize you are one very busy, always on the go person??! Well that is how I have felt as of late. My motto is enjoy the simple things and I believe following that makes for one happy life. I love keeping myself busy with projects whether it's for me or someone else. So here are a few things I have been working on lately. 


First thing: I made another message board! These are fabulous gifts and are sooo easy to make. I made this one for my cousin for her b-day and I love how it turned out! 

I love the fabric!

Second thing: I have been helping my mom plan a wedding shower for my beautiful cousin Sasha. I am so excited for it! We have some really cute ideas! Here are the invites I made for it.

Third thing: Running. I have been running... a lot! Me and my cousin are running the Ogden Marathon. Yikes! I can't believe it's almost here! I am very very nervous for it. I am also so excited I can hardly handle it!!! We have been training so hard and I know it will all be worth it once we cross that finish line! 

Birthdays, Birthdays, Birthdays

It feels like there has been a wave of birthdays lately! I'm not complaining cause I love me a good birthday party. Right now I have the opportunity to make invitations for little miss Kambree. She is turning 4 and is having a party most little girls only dream of... Barbie! So with that inspiration I knew these invites needed to be as girly as possible and I think I accomplished that and hopefully Kambree approves! :)

It's Me, Mario!

Super Mario Birthday party was a super success! The kids had so much fun and everything turned out perfect. Well, almost perfect. The only set back was the massive wind storm that decided to roll through that day. So we set up the party inside and it ended up looking great in the end. We were still able to enjoy some of the sunny day by playing a few games outside like a Super Mario coin hunt and the Mario pinata. We played Mario Bingo and of course a Mario party wouldn't be complete without mustaches! 


We also had treats galore! Yummy chocolate and vanilla cupcakes adorned with yellow stars were a hit! Chex Funfetti cake batter buddies were perfect party favors for the kiddos to take home. The kids were so good and had a blast! Ian was so happy to share his big day with some of his best friends!

Painted Vases

I love love love Martha Stewart. Always have and always will. How many 12 year old girls do you know that would sit and watch the Martha Stewart Show? I did! I think I even said at one point in my life that I want to be the next Martha Stewart! Well I still watch her show and I still go to her website daily and get inspired. But one of my most favorite things is the Martha Stewart aisle at Michaels craft store. I find myself looking through every little fun/cute/clever thing that has her name on it and try to think of a reason of why I need to buy it... Well the other day I found a reason to use her all surface acrylic paints. I wanted to spruce up these vases that I had lying around and this was a very very easy way to do that!

These are what the vases looked like before. I washed them with soap and water and  dried them.

These are the 2 colors i chose. I liked the idea of having the blue color in a high gloss finish and the grey one not so glossy. I would also recommend using foam brushes to apply the paint so you don't get any fibers or lint from a regular paint brush on the vases.

And here is how they turned out! This was such an easy way to add a little more interest to some plain old glass vases!

Now they just need some fresh cut flowers in them :)

Birthday Parties: Super Mario Theme

My little cousin turns 6 next month (he is growing up too fast!) and he loves him some Super Mario Bros. Who wouldn't want a Super Mario themed birthday party?? I think Mario was part of everyone's childhood and continues to be a part of everyone's lives today! So it's only right that we throw him an awesome b-day party with everything Mario! I'm really excited about this because me and his mom have come up with some awesome idea's and my cousin is just as excited about it as we are. So first up, the invitations. Here are some pretty simple and fun invitations that I made. I think they turned out cute! I especially love that I was able to find the Super Mario font on one of my favorite sites, dafont. Next we are concentrating on some yummy food and goodies for the kids. I will be in the kitchen very soon testing some fun recipes! Stay tuned! :)

Things I Love: Nail Polish

I have an obsession with painting my nails. I paint my nails a different color every week, sometimes twice a week... I find it very therapeutic...I know...weird huh? But it's mostly because I love color and my favorite nail polish brand OPI comes out with new colors every other day it seems like. At the moment I am LOVING the latest colors from the Nicki Minaj collection. These are my kind of colors! So if you want a fun pop of color and a little bit of sparkle to get you through the rest of this chilly winter, pick yourself up some of this polish (preferably from the fantastic Public Beauty Supply & Salon)!! :)

Things I Love: Ikat

I am OBSESSED with ikat (pronounced ee-kaht, not eye-cat like most of us in my textiles class back at USU thought!) Ikat is a method of printing woven fabric by tie-dyeing the warp yarns, the weft yarns, or both before weaving. And let me tell you... the outcome is beautiful! I will probably find a way to incorporate ikat patterns in every room when I have my own house!

Yes, I do own these shoes! :)

Monster Room

I am so excited that I have the opportunity to help my brother create an awesome living space for himself! I have some really great ideas for his house and can't wait to get started. My brother has been open to my vision and is open to some really cool design concepts. His house is basically a blank canvas so that's a major plus! The first room we are concentrating on is the family/ tv room. I think it always helps to have some sort of inspiration when designing a room. Whether it's a fabric you really like or a wallpaper or a painting, it's always good to have something that you can base the room around and have a good jumping off point. In my brothers case it's his vintage monster movie posters. He has them in some nice black frames and they are a great inspiration for this room. What I'm most ecstatic about for this space is this absolutely beautiful and absolutely AMAZING wallpaper by Barbara Hulanicki (pictured below). Who knew that skull wallpaper could look this classy and stunning?? I am in love with it. It is a pricey paper so I'm going to use it on an accent wall but it will add a lot of impact. I'm so excited to get started so stay tuned for updates!!

The fabulous  Barbara Hulanicki wallpaper! 

A couple of the posters my brother has that will be displayed and have become the inspiration for the whole concept of the room.

Jewelry Organizer

I have been searching and searching trying to find the perfect thing to organize all of my jewelry and I finally found it!! I haven't been this excited about something in a really long time (it's the simple things, right?!) My jewelry was starting to become a mess on top of my dresser and I was forgetting about some of the beautiful pieces that I had cause they were all over the place. Yes, there are some very pretty and very fancy jewelry armoires out there and although I love them, it's not what I want right at this moment. I need something that doesn't take up a lot of space yet is still practical and holds a lot of jewelry. So my solution? This over the door jewelry organizer from The Company Store. I just got it the other day and it's amazing in my opinion! It holds the jewelry that I have and there is still plenty of room for more. You can never have too much jewelry! :)

Message Board

 I finally got around to finishing this project. It started out as me wanting to make something to hang my jewelry on but I soon realized that I have waaaay too much jewelry for this 18x24 inch frame. (I also found something completely amazing for all my jewelry which I will share in a later post!) So my next idea was to make a message board and it turned out better than I thought and was way easy to make! Here's how I made it:

I found this picture frame and painted it a fun bright yellow.

Next I cut some foam core board to fit inside the frame and spray glued some thin batting to it.

I laid out my fabric (cutest fabric ever!) and positioned my frame on it so that I knew what part of the fabric I wanted to use and where to cut.

I used thumb tacks to attach the fabric and batting to the foam core board.

When I got to the corners I pulled the corner up tightly and pinned it...

and pulled the sides up tightly and pinned them. I did that all the way around the board and cut off the extra fabric so that there wasn't so much bulkiness. After that I fastened the board into the frame like a normal picture and...

ta da!!!! A custom message board!!

Seriously... how cute is this??! I love it! Perfect to add to any room in your home.

Pin to-do lists, photos, messages, and whatever else you can think of! It might be too cute to cover up with anything though! :)