Fabulous June

I won't lie, June was a rough month. I have been crazy stressed out as well as super busy. But that doesn't mean there aren't some fabulous things about the month of June!

1. The Return of ErinDoyle
Ok, so it wasn't really the return of Erin, but she did come visit from Atlanta during the first week of June. And on that Saturday she was surprise baby shower. She is popping out her first little munchkin in October and I am so super excited for her!!

2. Tiger Lilies

Tigerlilies are my all time favorite flowers. You've probably seem them on the side of the road or around your neighbors mailboxes. They bloom in the middle of June and to me it is the offical beginning of the summer when I see them sprouting on the side of the road!

3. The Hangover

Funniest movie I have seen in a long time. I cannot wait to go to OBX chocked full of quotes.

Am I missing a tooth?

4. Jon and Kate +8

I am such a sucker for this show. I know it technically premiered in May, but I'm adding it to my June post because I didn't get to start watching it till June (i heart on demand). I fell in love with this show in the second season. I loved watching the day to day tasks with a family of 8. I thought it was amazing how well organized everything was! I bowed down to Kate, Queen of Organization. By Season 4 I was totally over the show, as you could tell Jon was. Watching them going on trips and then home to their multi-million dollar mansion got old really quick. They weren't a humble family anymore- they were super stars. Now it's a guilty pleasure as I watch Kates fall from grace. You have to admit, she is kind of a bitch. And really, what is with that hair??? JK+8 Jon - 9

4. Birthdays and Anniversaries

June is a month chocked full of birthdays and anniversaries in my family. My birthday was on the 13th, Mommacitas on the 7 and Daddy-O's on the 18. My brother Tim and his wife Bryn celebrated their 2nd year of wedded bliss (and about to celebrate their second bundle of joy too!) as well as Erin has 3 years under her belt on the 24th and my friend Whitehall tied the knot two years ago today. And although it's not a wedding anniversary, JEGs and I celebrated 8 years together- but who knows.. maybe there will be a wedding in our future soon!
So there you have it, another month gone by. See ya next year, June!

Always & Forever,

ME

Buffet Rehab

You all remember my Bone Of Contention, right?

I originally wanted the Cabria Buffet from Crate & Barrel, but let's be honest, I don't have an extra $700 to throw around. I was willing to spend $150 (before supplies) and maybe to $200 if I found something I loved. Then, I found this little gem on Craigslist:


A pine cabinet with really good bones and loads of potentional. Last Saturday JEGs and I drove to Depford, NJ and I picked this up from a nice family who was moving to Florida and didn't want to move the furniture with them.

The price?

$60.

Hell to the yeah.

We loaded it up and headed back to PA.

Work Day One (aka Monday) JEGs and I sanded it down.

Originally I wanted something about 36 inches tall and this was only 29.5 inches, so JEGs and I took off the old legs and added new ones from Lowes.

old legs vs new legs

you've got new legs Lt. Dan!

After we attatched the legs we started staining. I decided on Minwax's Aegean because I wanted it to really stand on its own and not blend in with the other woods that were in the great room.

after a couple coats of stain...

those empty kitty litter boxes were perfect for us to put the shelves on while they dried

I bought new hardware for the drawer and doors. I picked out Targets Double Beaded Knob for the drawer and the 3" Pull for the two doors:

We headed over to Ikea and picked up two of the LACK shelves. At $19.99 they were a total steal, and we found one in the "As Is" department that had a scrape on the top, but was otherwise fine for $5.99. I was so elated that I was practically like the woman in the commercial screaming "START THE CAR!"

Anyway, the final product:

We went with the darker shelves and then I popped some freshness in with white frames and accessories. I just love the way it flows with the rest of the Great Room:

The final cost breakdown:

Buffet: $60

Stain and supplies: $31.27

Hardware: $33.18

Shelves: $27.53

Total Cost: $151.98

about $2 more then I was going to spend on just the furniture.

I. am. the bomb.

It took a week of sweat, tears, bug bites and a lot of hemming and hawing about the stain, but I am soooo happy with the way it came out. Also, many thanks to Joey and Connie for letting us hijack their garage for a week.

Always & Forever,

ME

CoverGirl you fail me again. When will a girl ever learn?

My girl Carly over at Three O'Clock Coffee tested a new beauty product and we decided to post about it on our blogs. So, without further ado, I give you my first guest-blogger, Madam C:


Hello all Lizzie in Progress readers! WAIT! I should start by addressing all the men in the audience: if you are from the male variety (and do not wear make up), this article does not concern you. In the mean time, feel free to peruse, my blog, 3 o’clock Coffee (http://threepmcoffee.blogspot.com/).

Now ladies, have you ever dreamed of the perfect lipstick/gloss. Something that goes on easily, wears all day, and doesn’t have any taste? Something that will gently accentuate those luscious lips of yours? Personally I am not the best lipstick wearer. I usually start out strong: lip liner (the same shade as the lipstick!!), lipstick, and finally top it off with a nice shot of gloss to keep it smooth. But I can never remember to reapply. Also, I had to limit my lip enhancement material to NONE in the summer due to my convertible. I know, I know, Amy is probably crying blasphemy about now but seriously; I can’t rock lipstick or gloss with my hair flying about.

And that’s when I saw it. It was like a mirage, an answer to my prayers. CoverGirl Lipstain claimed:

“…give lips a beautiful, lightweight flush of color that won't come off, lasting for hours without the heavy look or feel of an ordinary lipstick…”

I thought this product would be perfect for me, especially when I roll with the roof down in my car. I stopped at the local Rite Aid, and purchased a tube of Everbloom Bliss (#400).

It was anything but “bliss.”

First let me start with the positives of the product:

• The Color - Reviews on the CoverGirl website state that the color “none of which resembled the colors advertised” or “color was harsh” or “It is NOT a "flush" of color.” This I disagree with. I really like the color that I purchased and thought it was true to the label and bottle.

That is it. There was only one.

Yet, there are so many things wrong with this product:

• The Applicator – It is like a felt tip pen. It goes on smoothly yet it seems to dry out as you are applying it to your lips. WTF?
• The Taste – OK so now you lippies have been officially stained and the first thing you notice is the harsh chemical taste. For me it is almost like a burning sensation on the tip of my tongue. Yuck!
• The Sustainability – I am calling shenanigans on CoverGirl. Shenanigans I say! There is no staining involved. It goes on and looks great for about ½ hour, that is, if you don’t lick your lips (but why would you, it tastes like crap). There are no staining qualities about this product. And heaven forbid you try to put a gloss over it to give it a nice sheen, it will just take the stain off completely.

So in the end, save your $8+ dollars and don’t buy this product. There are no staining qualities in this product. All in all Lipstain is a wonderful concept, but a poorly executed concept.

Thanks for reading Ladies. And good luck in your quest for the perfect lipstick/gloss!

Your Daily Barista
of 3 o’clock Coffee
http://threepmcoffee.blogspot.com/

Adventures in Gardening... and Spray Paint.

It all started with this pot...


Seems innocent enough, right? Oooo no no no. My mother gave me this pot because she had killed whatever was in it originally. I thought it was pretty and planned on tranplanting my bamboo into it. But then I realized my patio needed some work so I decided to stop over at my neighborhood Lowes (still lovin the Metroplex) and check out their variety of flora.

Here comes the part where I have no idea what I'm talking about.

As much as I would love to say I'm the next Martha Stewart, I really don't know much about gardening, and it is about to become totally evident. As soon as I got there I saw these beautiful yellow flowers. How beautiful would it look with the yellow and the green of the flowers agains the blue of the pot! I am amazing! I want it to look full and beautiful so I'll grab two, no make it three just in case. WOOOO!
This would be a good time to mention that this pot that Mommacita had graciously given me was about 9 inches wide. These flowers that I bought (that I decided were azaleas- they were not- there were zinnias) were easily 7-8 inches wide. Nooo way was I fitting more then one in that pot. Oh yeah, and I didn't have any potting soil. Or a spade. Good job chief.

Now that I have a small jungle of zinnia and no place to put them, I went to the Wal-mart by my office later that day. I got some potting soil and I picked up a larger pot thinking I could get two flowers in there, and one in the original pot.

When I got home I realized I could fit all three in one pot, and the original blue bot was still empty. As you can tell, size and space mean nothing to me in the visual sense.

that's all three azaleas, I mean zinnias in one Wal-mart sized pot.

Enter, stage left, the My Little Pony trashcan:

A friend of mine bought this for me as a practical joke a couple years back and for some unknown reason I have kept it. At this point I have so many pots and not enough flowers, why not add one more pot, eh?? So I had JEGs hammer a bunch of holes for drainage in the the bottom and I began my first spray painting experience.

I picked a blue spray paint (as soon as I remember the actual name and brand I will edit this) and covered the whole can with two coats:

Then I got some stickers from my scrapbooking supplies and spelled FLOWERS across the front:

Then I spray painted the whole can white (again, I'll edit this when I remember the name and brand):

When it dried, I tooke the stickers off and voila!:

Adeu childhood equestrians, hello... um... spray painted can. Hm.

This is not exactly what I thought it was going to look like. What the hell, I'll plant flowers in it anyway. So I did. After a few hours I realized I didn't like the look of it so I went over it with another coat of white paint, and was a little more pleased with the outcome.

and yes, I did spray paint a leaf. 'Cause I'm awesome like that.

While I was out today I grabbed some smaller, um, white flowers (pansies maybe? I don't know) and put them in the big pot with one of the zinnias, and took the other two zinnias and put them in the original blue pot and my new flower can. I added my free rug from Craigslist and here is the patio:

Not exactly out of the pages of Homes & Gardens, but I'm getting there. And I've got a list of other things I want to try to spray paint too (that means you, rug ;)

Always & Forever,

ME

For JEGs

Tomorrow, June 20th, is my anniversary with JEGs. I would like to take the time to introduce the world to the most amazing person I have ever met, and tell you a little bit of our story.


 JEGs and I met in October of 2000. I was a sophomore at Aracadia University (then Beaver College) and my roommate Susan was a transfer student from Kutztown University. She and JEGs knew each other while attending KU. He came to visit Susan for a weekend and our dear friend across the hall, Kristin, was single. Susan and I conspired to set the two of them up.  JEGs wasn't interested in Kristin- he actually had his eye on me! I had a boyfriend at the time, but while visiting he and I exchanged AIM screennames and kept in touch.

In May of 2001 my boyfriend and I broke up and Justin offered to come visit me. I would like to take the time to mention that JEGs  lived about an hour down the turnpike me. So on June 11th (two days before my 20th birthday) JEGs and I hung out for the first time.

We went mini golfing (ask him about the sap in his hair) and then to Nifty Fifties for lunch. After lunch we met up with Connie and Joe and went to see Shrek. Afterwards we hugged and he went home.

Two days later I called him up to see if he wanted to hang out with me for my birthday. An hour later he was at my parents house. We packed into my little Hyundai Sonota with my cousin Tara and strolled down South Street for the afternoon.

Unfortunatly I had already decided to move to the shore for the summer to get away from the messy breakup with my ex boyfriend.  He came to visit me in LBI and we spent the first day at the beach sunning and chit chatting. We had dinner together, strolled around the lighthouse and walked the beach at night. I had told him I had never seen a shooting star so we laid out a blanket on the beach and looked at the stars. He showed me some constellations and I made up some of my own ( I never could find "The Kite" ever again). And there, laying on a blanket under the stars, we had our first kiss.

The past 8 years haven't been easy for us. We have definatly had our ups and downs, but he is my world.

No one can make me laugh the way JEGs does. I wish everyone could see the silly side that I get to see ( then again, I like that that is just for me :). He is my best friend and my confidant. He takes care of me and (sometimes) lets me take care of him. He deals with my stubborness with a smile on his face. He knows how crazy and mixed up my mind works and loves me anyway. And he puts up with the nicknames JEGs.

So happy anniversary to my friend, my love and mostly importantly, my cuddlebunny.

a ma vie de couer entier

you have my whole heart for my whole life.

Always & Forever,

ME

Bric-a-Brac

About a week ago, JEGs and I got the motivation to finally hang artwork up in our place, so we went to work ( and by we, I totally mean he while I sat back with a beer and pointed where I wanted things...).

First was my four pictures that inspired my lime green kitchen:

JEGs wanted to hang his Yuengling tin..

...the picture I bought him for our first Christmas went over the dining room table.

Murphy napped...

...and a picture Aunt Marlene painted went next to the window.

Of course JEGs couldn't resist the urge to make fun of me...

...jackass. :)
Nothing too excited, but we feel like we are finally settled. Feel free to stop by and visit us now ;)

Always and Forever,

ME

BREAKING NEWS!!!!

My foundation bottle broke today.

I know, you are thinking the same thing I am: SONUVABEESH!!!

Here is the damage:

It is a pump and there used to be a tube attatched here.

You can see the offending tube inside the bottle.


Look how much I have left too!

Sooo not happy about the situation.

Obviously I am going to have to resort to doing the 'ole flip-it-over-and-shake routine, but gosh dang it, that is so inconvient! I'm totally writing Maybelline a letter.

Always & Forever,

ME

This weather sucks.

... and that's all I have to say about that.

Always & Forever,
ME

Got my mind on my money..

I guess the first thing I should address is the new look to the blog. I decided to dress it up a little. What do you think??

Since I've moved into the a.p.t I've realized my dollar needs to stretch a little more. I have become a coupon-clipping, deal-finding maven, and I think the best way to prove this is to show you the reciept from my last grocery trip:

See all that dark type? That's savings baby!!! Between the coupons I brought and keeping an eye out for the items I needed that were on sale, I saved $10 on the 20 items I bought.

What? You don't believe me? Well here is the proof:

BOO-YAAA! 10 smackers baby! In yo face!

Ok, maybe you aren't excited as I am, but that's 10 dollars I can spend elsewhere, like finally getting plants for the outside.

And in the spirit of saving money, check out my new fav blog You Paid More Than Me

Always & Forever,
ME

Birthday Weekend Recap

I had such a wonderful birthday weekend. Let's start at the beginning:

Friday

My brother Andy was in from L.A. and surprised me with tickets to the Phillies vs. Red Sox game that was sold out. I went with JEGs and my two brothers Andy and Tim. We had really good seats- Section 109 which was right along the first base line:

The view from our seats

Andy, JEGs, Me and Tim

right after Ryan Howard hit a homer to tie the game

...and by the 13th inning I was getting tired.

It was a long game. They played until 11:30pm and lost in the 13th inning. It was a still a great game though. On the way home I was so proud of myself for being able to get from Citizens Bank Park back to aroud apartment, until I pulled off 476 and have no idea where I was. I think we went up and down a 1 mile stretch of road about 4 times until we figured out what direction we had do go. We didn't get to bed until almost 2 am.

..and I had to be up at 5:30 am (0r at least that was the plan. My actual awake time was closer to 6:15 am) to help my sister-in-law at a community flea market.

Saturday

I decided that since it was my birthday, and I can do whatever the hell I want, I was going to wear a tiara all day. And I did. So when I pulled up to the flea market at 7 am, I was rockin' my tiara.

me and my younger niece, Bridget. And the aforementioned tiara.

I actually made out pretty good at the flea market. I had a couple knick knacks, curtians, microwave, clothes ,etc, that I just wanted to get rid of stuff and, as JEGs said, it was NOT coming back into the apartment. I left with and extra $40 in my pocket and anything that didn't sell was donated to the Langhorne Open Space Society (or something to that effect).

I did pick up these little jems while checking out other people's stands:

a fabulous cocktail ring for $3, a bracelet that I haggled down to $1 and $1 earrings that I am totally wearing right now as I type. They are so much fun.

Anyway, I drove back to the apartment about noon to begin my day with JEGs. When I got home there were flowers waiting for me:

he knows I love purple

JEGs promised to take me to this place called "Cosign-it" in Kennent Square because, as some of you may remember, I have a vision and really want a buffet (Remember my bone of contention?) . We figured instead of shelling out 300 clams for something new, we would find something old and rehab it. We saw a couple things that we liked, but nothing we were ready to jump on. I did see a chaise lounge that I would have LOOOVED to put in the boudoire, but there just isn't enough room. Dang it.

After we left Cosign-it, I realized that I hadn't really eaten anything other then a Bagelfull all day. JEGs friend Mike had recommend this place in Kennent called Half Moon so we checked it out:

They served a lot of wildlife game like Elk and ostrich, which I would have normally ventured a taste, but I wanted something a little lighter and familiar. I got a delish swiss and gorgonzola quiche and JEGs was the crazy adventurer and got gator gumbo (soup with alligator, shrimp and sausage) and crab nachos. He enjoyed them.

The best part about the lunch was the actual dinning room. We sat upstairs in the "atrium" and it was amazing. The walls were brick about halfway up, and then the top part was glass garage doors that were opened. It was so cool because it was storming but we weren't getting wet!

still rockin' my tiara at lunch

JEGs got a chalice of beer.

Behind him you can see the garage doors that were the windows

our view of the stormy weather

After lunch we headed to a birthday celebration for JEGs' grandfather ( well if I have to share my birthday with someone, it might as well be him ;). As soon as we walked in, everyone wished me happy birthday, and his Aunt Brenda gave me a cookie on a stick that said 'Happy Birthday'.



I thought that was so sweet of her, especially since we really don't see that side of the family that often. To be completely honest, I don't think I've seen them in about 2 years. So the fact she took time out to do that for me was very touching.

Unfortunatly that storm that was sooo cool to watch from Half Moon was not that cool to drive home in:



For months I had been talking about dressing up as Holly Golightly for my birthday. I was so excited, and this is how it turned out

We headed out to Manayunk to this place called Bourbon Blue. I met up with my bestest, Connie and her boyfriend Joey, and old friend from high school Julie, and Zac and his new lady friend, Allison (AMO, as I call her) around 10. We had such a blast drinking and chatting and watching Julie hit on some dude in a suit upstairs. Around 11:30 we moved downstairs to listen to the band. Around midnight some other friends joined up and I was preeeeety tipsy at that point ;) I think Jules and I danced most of the night (her mostly because she thought the lead singer was hot). We left around 1:30 and JEGs made me peanut butter toast cause I had the drunkie munchies.

Connie and I. You can tell I'm getting tipsy because my eyes are WIDE open

this is my favorite picture of the night. It looks like I'm having such a blast

Sunday

The original plan was to chillax and hang by the complex pool all day, but JEGs friends Bonnie and Andy called us and invited us to her mom's pool. I wish I had taken pictures of her backyard. It is so beautiful, like something you would see in a magazine. We always jump at the chance to hang out there. So we grabbed our suits, popped out the T tops in JEGs' firebird and hopped on the turnpike to their place

it's a good thing I didn't try to style my hair that day

We spent a couple hours there swimming with friends and then we headed to my parents house for a family dinner. June is a busy month in our family; other then Father's Day, my mothers birthday is on the 7th, mine on the 13th and my dad is on the 18th. Plus my brother Tim and his wifes wedding anniversary is on the 16th. So we did one big Happy-Birthday-Fathers-Day-Anniversary Dinner for everyone. My momma made pork loin (which I looove) and we all hung out with each other and watched the kids play. I have to say the cutest moment is when my 20-month old niece Bridget gave my 14-month old nephew Owen a kiss. Too cute!

In conclusion, I had the best birthday weekend. I really want to thank JEGs for treating me like a princess. Not just today, but all year round. Love you so much.

Always and Forever,

ME