I'm DY(E)ING to tell you about my new shirt...

So a million five years ago, I picked up this light grey shirt at Target.  I LOVED it.  I bought it out of necessity because on one of my early days of grad school when I was still commuting from Benton to Conway, I spent the night at Katie's on a whim and didn't have any clean clothes to wear to school and work the next day.  So I went shopping before class and found this beauty:

It felt a bit hippie and a bit classic, and while the color was kind of a wash, I liked it because I didn't own too much grey.  And it was so comfy and carefree.

(This photo was taken after Zach and I created our first cake together:  Zach envisioned it, and I carried out the vision.  We've been doing that since 2008, folks.  :)

Fast forward a few years to when my beloved shirt somehow got some bleach stains on it.  :(

I tried bleaching all of the color out:

But all that did was make it a mottled peach-pink-grey color.  :*(

I kept trying to bleach it to one shade, but it never worked.  I had almost given up hope...

...until this TWENTY-FIVE CENTS clearance miracle came into my life!

For a long time--basically since I discovered New Dress a Day--I have wanted to try my hand at dyeing.  (Or is it dying?  I just never know; I only teach English.)  But I was so nervous to do it, and even though dye is cheap, I still didn't want to spend money and then have to spend more because I destroyed something else.  Until Zach and I swooped down the clearance aisle last week.  I thought this baby was a buck, so I was pleased as could be when it rang up for 25 cents.  I wanted to go back and buy a few more boxes!

Here is what I did:  I washed my shirt.  Then I dissolved the entire box of dye in water I heated on the stove.  (I used an old Cool Whip container so I could throw it away.)  I set the washer on the regular wash cycle at the hottest temp and let it fill up.  I added about 3/4 cup salt and a Tbsp. detergent while it was running.  When it came time for the agitation to start, I turned it off and poured in the dye.  Next, I rinsed my shirt in hot water in the skin, squeezed the water out, and uncrumpled it.  After adding it to the dye, I let it sit for 30 minutes, stirring it with a plastic knife every 10 or so minutes.  At the end of the 30 minutes, I turned the washer back on and let it run.  I rinsed my shirt in the sink after the washer cut off, and I dried it in the dryer.  During that time, I added detergent and bleach to clean the now speckled washer.  It came right off for the most part!

I've learned a bit about dyeing/dying now.  For example, you use salt if the material is a natural fiber, and you use vinegar if it's not.  And not all fabrics are created equal.  I also need to invest in some color remover, rather than using bleach because it weakens materials.

And now I have this lovely bluish-grey/purple blouse!  Since the temps have started to fall a bit, I decided to put on a scarf for the first time in months, and this one matched perfectly!  You can still notice where the bleach stains were, but the dye definitely improved the mottled look.  I love the shade--it's so unexpected!

Lazy Weekend and Sleeping Beauty

I had another low-key weekend, but it was nice.  I've been rubbish with this blog lately, and I thought about posting Thursday night after my class and then Friday when I wasn't doing anything.  But I just didn't.  Friday night, Zach had a guys night, and other than brushing the kitties, my butt stayed on the couch allllll night!  I wasted time on Pinterest and watching Extreme Couponing.  Oh, I lied...I did get off the couch when I made popcorn for dinner.  ;)

*I tell Zach about my night when he gets home*

ZACH:  How domestic of you!

ME:  What's so domestic about sitting on the couch all night?

Cue laughter.

Saturday was a bit more happening.  I was supposed to meet Katie for breakfast/brunch then lunch then lunch/snack time.  She had to bring Tommy up for a conference and was bringing Ella Kate along with her.  That meant I finally got to meet Miss EK, who is now two months old!

If you know Katie, you know she is the latest person in the world.  (Hey!  She admits it.)  So I can only imagine how late it must be now that she has a baby.  ;)  But I was just glad to see them for a little bit.  Zach and I ended up eating McNuggets for lunch and had what we fondly call a DipFest.

(I hate myself.)

So I just planned to have a snack when I got to meet up with the (Ella) Katies.  We met at Briar Rose, Katie had lunch, I had dessert, and Miss Ella Kate napped and got photographed by moi.  :)

She is absolutely beautiful with the loveliest eyelashes and lips.  Ella Kate also has such a funny little personality (at least, the little bit I saw when she woke as they were leaving).  I told her all babies have this reaction to me (see tri-photo collage above).  :)

After visiting with them, I stopped by Target and got some Cheez Its on clearance!  Then I picked up a shirt on clearance with a $10 off coupon at Kohl's and popped into Sam's and got gas.

For dinner, I made Eggs Florentine, and it was sooo good!  I made my Hollandaise sauce too soon, and my butter had cooled, so it wasn't quite right.  Still yummy though.

Today, we lazed about for just about all of the day.  I did pop down to Harp's to pick up some blueberry muffins and a paper this morning.  For lunch, I thawed some bolognese and planned our meals for the week.  I was so proud of the haul I got at the grocery store tonight!  I spent just over $21 for 2 family-sized boxes of Cap'n Crunch, 2 boxes of Honey Grahams, 1 jar of pickles, 1 box of Texas Toast, 2 boxes of scalloped potatoes, 1 Cool Whip, 1 4-pack of Greek yogurt, and 1 box of cheesecake pudding.  (I volunteered for office snack time this week.)

Looks like that Extreme Couponing is rubbing off...

How did your weekend stack up?

Zach's Birthday and Weekend Update

Thursday was Zach's 29th birthday!  Every year, I cook him a birthday breakfast, and instead of surprising him this year, I asked him what he wanted.  He chose pancakes with berries and bananas, a poached egg, and bacon.  YUMMY!

At lunch, the Advising Center had a birthday celebration with a cake, and Roseann invited me over.  She said she wanted to put something that screamed, "Zach!" so she went with "It's Zach Day!"  It was a very relish marble cake with chocolate whipped frosting.

We got off early and headed to McAlister's for Free Tea Day!  Then we went to the carwash to vacuum the car out really well because that's what Zach wanted.  *haha*  After a nap at home, we headed to Fayetteville for dinner at the Greenhouse Grill.  We drank Ruby Roses (a gin-based drink), I had a bison burger, and Zach went with the quesadilla.  This was the first time in a long time that we had such a good conversation that I forgot to take any photos of our food!  *HA!*  Following dinner, we drove through the U of A campus, and Zach pointed out where he lived and places he remembered.  This was the honors hall, Pomfret, where he lived the first two years.


Zach got his birthday present last week--a Kindle Paperwhite!  But I did save this super funny card from Target for him.  (Inside, it says, "Haters gonna hate."  *lol*)
On Friday, I planned to get up super early and bake his Black Forest cake so it could cool with plenty of time.  But I wasn't feeling too well, so I got started late.  Then I started to frost it with the whipping cream before the cherry filling had completely cooled.  I didn't hollow out the top of each layer, so the layers weren't going on level because of the cherries in between.  Once I got the top layer on (which ended up being the thickest layer--total fail on my part for not noticing) and started to frost, it started to buckle and cracked in thirds.  That caused it to slide off.  Our friend Amy arrived by that time, and she tried to help piece it back together, but it was a no-go.  BUT IT TASTED GREAT!!  :)

I should have known then to get out of the kitchen!  Zach ordered a cast-iron griddle for me, and it came on HIS birthday.  So he gave me a reverse birthday present!  We had planned to have grilled cheese and tomato soup with Amy, so I was able to use my griddle for the first time.  BUT I ended up burning Zach's grilled cheese!  Then, when I went to blend the soup in the blender, somehow it was attached to the base correctly or I wasn't holding the lid on tight enough, but it EXPLODED!  It landed on my left wrist, my right big toe, and my right arm!  I had a cardigan on, but I ended up with a blister the size of my thumbnail with a smaller one next to it.  Thankfully, it's not third degree, but it was crazy.

Saturday, we had to work orientation, which threw a wrench into the day's plans because we slept ate, grabbed breakfast, and then had to work when we were hungry for lunch.  We grabbed Subway on the way home and watched Cloud Atlas, but I wasn't too into it because I was still feeling badly, I guess from the blister.

Today, we've been lazing about and cleaning the floor because someone (*cough* DINAH *cough*) is now in her terrible twos, and for some reason, has started pottying on the floor.  HELP!

Any ideas for how to stop our kitty?

What I Wrote This Week

 Of course, I wrote this stud a little Valentine's message last week.  I'm too private to share even the front of the card, but I have to say that his card to me beat mine by miles.  He MADE his card:  It's a photo card with a picture of us on the front and this sweet message inside.  :)  I took it to work to put on my desk.  It makes my heart melt every time I see it!  I took this photo when testing out my new camera over the weekend.

Tomorrow will be celebrated by two special kiddos:

 Three years ago, Mr. Drake Ryder Lockridge was born!  He is the youngest of one of my best friends (Tasha) and baby brother to Briley Renee.  I actually didn't get to be there on the day he was born (unlike Briley, who got me to the hospital at 2 in the morning!) because I had a night grad class, but I made it up there the next day to meet the little man!  It makes me sad that I haven't gotten to watch him grow up like I did with Briley because I was in grad school the first few months of his life before we moved away.  :(  But I am so thankful for this little boy!  He is a BIG blessing (and a handful)!!

I have this photo on our fridge.  :)

Drake's first birthday at Gammy Renee's

Briley was being a little stinker with the icing!

 Drake's First Birthday

 Drake's Second Birthday

This was after I had been sick and was recovering, which is why I have steroid moon-face.  (My hair was super thin, my face was super fat, I had just gotten glasses.  Blurgh.  I cut my hair off that following week!)  We missed 3/4 of the party because we had lunch with Zach's family, then drove two and half hours to visit my sister Amanda who was down from Michigan, and finally made it to Drake's party after driving another hour.  Then we had to drive four back home!  I'm sad we are missing his party this weekend, but I know he will have a great day at Larry's Pizza!  Happy birthday, Mr. Drake!  Aunt Byrdie loves you!

Tomorrow is also Miss Zoe Alexandria's birthday!  Our dear friends Rob (who has been Zach's friend since Zach was, like, fifteen) and Mechelle (who is actually Tasha's Aunt Tay's best friend) adopted these kiddos last year after much prayer and problems over the past few years.  They have been HUGE blessings to all who meet them, and I'm thankful we will probably get to see them next month at the LEGO meeting.  :)

Zoe with her younger brother D.J.

Zoe with the throne she built during the LEGO club meeting

Happy birthday, Zoe!  We are thankful you are in our lives!

Until we can see these kiddos, I'm sending them some cute cards to tide them over.  :)  I love the kids cards at Target--they are so colorful!

Be Grateful #4

Hobie has found a new sleepy corner. :)

1)  I am thankful that our Buick was dead when Zach was preparing to leave on Friday.  Although I had to put dinner on hold to go pick him up, it meant he was in our Veloster when a terrible storm rolled in.  The Buick has not been so reliable lately, and it could have been very dangerous on those flooded streets.

2)  I am grateful we sold the Buick on Saturday after it started when we went to pick it up from school! We didn't get as much as we hoped, but we got enough to pay off the scooter, and the man who bought it made it safely home.

3)  I am thankful for those who make me feel like I know what I am doing when it comes to teaching because, honestly, half the time I am feeling things out as I go along.  Last week (I think), I had one of my program's mentors say I was his favorite teacher he had never had.  Then this week, my best friend's little sister posted a quotation from The Notebook, and I told her how I used the scene the quotation came from to talk about introductory paragraphs and thesis statements (her quotation was from the opening of the movie); she said she wished she had a teacher that explained those concepts in terms she understood and cared about.  :)

4)  I am happy I have discovered the comedy that is Community.  But, as Zach says, sometimes it hits a little too close to home  *lol*

5)  I'm pleased as punch that I had some fun money this month to buy a new cardigan at Target.  It is green with white polka dots and was on sale for $15!

6)  I am glad I can share my freebies with those who can use them more than me.

7)  I am relieved that I am closing in on finishing my first stocking.  It will be Zach's, and it is cream and pine green.  :)  I also did a happy dance that I got to make my autumn wreath this weekend.  Thank you, Lord, for my talents!  I love making our home home.

8)  Oh, and I wasn't mad in the least that I finally got to try a crepe from Crepes Paulette at the Farmers Market. Oh, pecan pie (la tarte aux pecans) crepe, you were amazing on that cool Saturday morning...

Please say a prayer for the son of a couple who went to high school with me.  Easton Begoon is three and has been fighting cancer since July of last year.  He was admitted to the ICU at our Children's Hospital this weekend because he is septic.  This little fighter is hanging in there, but we are all so ready for him to be WHOLE, HEALTHY, AND WELL!

Leibster Award--My FIRST Award!

THANKS, CARRIE, FOR NOMINATING ME!  (It's the first time I've ever been nominated for anything.  :)

1. If you could invite any 5 people (living or dead, real or fictional) to do something, who would it be? And what would you do?

I would invite the poet T. S. Eliot (I wrote my undergrad thesis on The Waste Land), style icon/actress/humanitarian Audrey Hepburn, my favorite Beatle George Harrison, Raziela "Razi" Nolan from The Mercy of Thin Air (my favorite book), and Harry's best friend Ronald "Ron" Bilius Weasley.

2. Coffee or tea? Or neither?

sweet tea, no ice (unless it's just been made and is hot)

3. If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, it would be ...

Cheez-Its

4. A bad habit you have ...

When I yawn, I turn it into this long, drawn-out "AHHHHHHH..."

5. A good habit you have ...

If you are on my side/my team/my friend/my relative/whatever, I am extremely loyal.

6. You can't resist ...

Ben and Jerry's Dublin Mudslide ice cream (or, as I once called it, Mudlin Dubslide)...or cream on my snow cones

7. If you could go back in time and tell your younger self one thing, it would be ...

you need to read more, Ashley!  Don't waste so much time on AOL...

8. Something that made you happy today was ...
having a yummy lunch and dessert and talking for four hours with a friend at the cutest little cottage bakery

9. One book you haven't read but have always wanted to is ...

Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings

(I'm reading The Hobbit for the first time now.  :)

10.You have $50 to spend on yourself. What would you do/buy?

I would probably go to Target and buy some cardigans and dresses and random stuff.  I love Target! (In fact, I LOVE it so much that it was the first place I visited after being released from the hospital in December--I also had to finish up Christmas shopping since it was the Friday before Christmas.  Here I am in all of my motorized-cart-and-surgical-mask glory!  I was smiling under that mask, but you can't tell.  *lol*)

NOMINEES -- TAG!  YOU'RE IT!  Answer the questions below; then dream up your own question set and tag how many bloggers you wish. :)


1.  Craft | Cook | Create
2.  From L.A. to LA
3.  In Passionate Pursuit

4.  Life After . . .

5.  The Sandefur Family

I hope you can all participate!

QUESTIONS

1.  What did you do on/for your last birthday?

2.  What Olympic sports do you like to watch?

3.  Do you have any special routines before bed?  What are they?

4.  Are you more of a caramel-choolate person or a mint-chocolate one?

5.  Describe (and/or share ;) the most FUN/SILLY embarrassing picture (not truly embarrassing) you have posted/had posted of yourself on a social media website.

6.  Who did you have a crush on when you were ten?

7.  Do you have any surprising hobbies or talents?

8.  How many states have you visited?

9.  What is the best joke you've heard lately?

How much does a hipster weigh?

An INSTAGRAM!  

(And, y'all, I love me so Instagram, so I am probably sorta hipstery, so don't be offended!) 

Photo a Day in July #23

23.  Mirror

Zach and I had a lovely little shopping trip today.  :)  We both slept in, but I got up a bit earlier to finish his cake.  After he got up, showered, and dressed, we head to Arby's for 64 CENTS roast beef sandwiches!  Over the weekend, they sent out a coupon for cheap sandwiches to celebrate their anniversary.  (I guess the business was founded in 1964?)  We split a large fries, and it was more than enough because these were the full-sized sandwiches.  I like Arby's every now and then.  :)

Then we headed over to the Promenade, stopping in for some serious cereal sales at Target and for some iTunes gift cards that were on sale at Bed, Bath, and Beyond before going to Old Navy.  When I went on my shopping frenzy a few weeks ago, I got some Super Cash--$10 off $25.  Zach has needed some more shorts for awhile, so he looked for them while I tried on their colorful skinnies.  I have been in the market for some for awhile now, but I missed them when they were at F21.  I really want some RED ones.  I think they will be perfect for the fall!  I tried on one size larger than I usually get since they are Super Skinnies, but those were too small.  So I tried the next two sizes; thankfully, the next one up fit.  My only concern is they may shrink awfully fast with my Skinny Long Legs (this was my cousin's nickname for me in college).  I have seen some at Walmart (L.E.I) that I am going to try, too, and I may see if F21 has them in store again since both theirs and Walmart's are around $15.  Old Navy's is $30-ish, but they have 31 (THIRTY-ONE!) different colors online.  I had to try on the emerald green ones because they didn't have the size I needed in red.  I did like these a lot, too, but since I am out of fun money for the month, I will have to wait until August to buy.  That's why I want to make sure I have the right ones because we only get $30 each in fun money, so I could get two pairs instead of one depending on where I go.  *lol*  I also found two dresses (one purple striped one and one pink buttery one), a cute grey and yellow flowered shirt, and some yellow polka-dotted leggings for Briley's fifth birthday.  (This is my best friend's little girl, so she is my best niece. :)  I'll probably add another thing or two to her present--some kind of toy or book.

Finally, we popped into Petsmart to get Dinah a birthday present--she's ONE today!  We got her a Martha Stewart catnip mouse that rattles; it's in the cutest purple plaid material.  We didn't get it just because it's cute though; she is TOUGH on her toys, and we needed something she wouldn't chew through.  We also grabbed some Sunchips on sale at Walgreens, stopped by the credit union, went through the carwash, and came home for a piece of cake (I did promise a picture, so here's a few!):

This was right after I started assembling the cake--I had unwrapped my Kit Kat's and gathered everything I would need (except for the homemade whipped cream that was in the fridge).

 side view of the ice cream cake

I didn't do a very good job of leveling the ice cream in the cake pan.  *lol*  Thank goodness for icing/whipped cream to hide that!

 I had him close his eyes for the big reveal.  I needed to touch it up a bit because somehow it melted a bit in the freezer after I decorated it!  He was so surprised by how I decorated it! He is a HUGE fan of Kit Kat's!

 up close

Here, you can see that it is a little rough around the edges.

Happy birthday cake day, Baby!  I love you!  Now let's go collapse into a sugar coma!  (We quickly learned that a two-wafer-wide piece is the limit.)

Bathing at The Owlery

Hey, folks, today I'm linking up with Kelly's Korner to show you our bathrooms!  (Yes, we have THREE for two people--there's a half bath upstairs for guests.  :)

Aren't bathrooms hard to decorate?  I've always found that to be so...  I feel like the bathroom is typically the forgotten room, but there is so much you can do with it once you get started, and a lot of it is really simple.  I've been working really hard to finish decorating our bathrooms, so let's get started, shall we?

First up, we have our half bath:

 I got the little green birdie panels (on clearance at Target--where else?)  when I was in grad school.  I love the different fabrics and textures on them!  I also got the mini vases at Walmart to decorate my grad school appartment as well.  (I broke a red one.)  I love this green towel!  It was one of my Twelve Days of Christmas presents from my mother-in-law.

I got the owl nightlight when I was in grad school, too.  *lol*  Can you tell I was very excited to decorate my first off-campus apartment?  That picture is of Zach and me--it is the first one ever of us, and I love it.  We had been dating about a month and a half, I think, when it was taken.  The fabric giraffe, which is hard to see, complements the colors in the bathroom; it was a get well gift from our friend Holly; she sent it after my surgery along with some other goodies.

And I promise I straightened that one panel several times today!  Geez...

Remember how I said I have been working hard on finishing our bathrooms?  Here is the BEFORE:

 

And the AFTER!  I hate how this picture turned out, but I'm too lazy to take another.  I designed this custom curtain to hide our clutter.  Now I just need a basket for the paper towels...

Up next is my bathroom.  Since we had so many bathrooms, we decided to have separate ones.  I think this is great for marriage.  :)  Plus, my bathroom is in the hallway and stays warmer because it is below the heater; Zach's bathroom is on the outside wall of the house and is freezing in the winter.  Actually, the whole bottom floor stays freezing in the winter, so we have to use a space heater AND a heated mattress pad.  It's true what your science teacher says:  heat rises.  (That also means our upper floor is toasting us right now.  ;)

 I have three collages I made after my study abroad trip--one each of Ireland, Scotland, and England.  (This is the England one.)  I want to find two more gold frames that are different from this one to hang up the other two collages.  I paid nothing for the collages because I got them over time with Walgreens free collage coupons.  (Look out for them, folks!  I pay next to nothing for photos with Walgreens, Shutterfly, and Snapfish.  ;)  And I got the frame half-off from Hobby Lobby!

 My bathroom is travel-themed (at least when it comes to pictures).  The one on the counter is the first picture I had taken of me in Ireland--isn't it sooo green?  The one on the wall is from Oxford, Mississippi, when we visited our friends when they worked there and went to William Faulkner's house, Rowan Oak.  Can you spot the LEGO jeep?  I built it!  I like to imagine it is for our imaginary trips around the world.

This is another of my decorating projects.  I changed out the shower curtain for something that better matches our decor.  :)  I love how it looks now!  The BELIEVE artwork was from my roommate Emily for Christmas one year--it reminds me that nothing is impossible with God!  For example, I had dreamed of going to Europe since third grade, and I never thought I would make it after many failed trips.  And there is the whole saving-my-life-and-my-soul thing.  ;)

The pictures on the wall are also from my study abroad trip, but I am going to trade them out for other travel pictures once I get my collages framed.

Finally, Zach's bathroom is left.  I won't show much of it (even though it's clean--we just cleaned them yesterday).

 The Paris frame came from my roommate Monica; it would probably be more appropriate for my bathroom, but I felt the pictures of Zach's "groomsmen" looked great in it.  There is a picture of us in the heart-shaped frame; it was taken right before we walked down the aisle after Zach's Momo passed out and scared us to death; it's hard to see, but our foreheads are pressed together and our eyes are closed because we were trying to collect our thoughts.  It was "a momentary stay against confusion."

Of course, there are lots of LEGO pieces in Zach's bathroom.  I tried to class it up with some Chinese cat figures and a ceramic box in blue and white, but they got ousted by the Star Wars.

I hope you enjoyed viewing our toilets (pronounced in the FRAHNS-SAY way) and got a few ideas to decorate your own water closet.  :)