Tonight

The best part, so far, about football has been sitting on the field, catching the last 30 minutes or so of practice, breathing in this end-of-summer air. The air that is still warm, but has that growing crisp edge to it. It's getting darker earlier and earlier these days. Practice ends 8pm or Dark. It's 8:10pm as I type, and still light, tho the alpen glow is starting to peak through the trees. A sure sign darkness is coming soon. I wonder how many weeks it'll be till dark comes before 8pm comes. 

DIY ~ Easy Industrial Plumbing Pipe Shelf

This is one of my favorite things I've ever made. And all and all, sooo simple to make. I've walked into Tristen's room about 20 times since installation and say out loud every time "dang, that is an awesome shelf". 

Many, many, many rolling waves of gratitude to Saul, (an older Hispanic guy that reminded me of my dad) working at Home Depot that day, for helping make my vision a reality. Saul and I sat on the floor in front of the plumbing piping for over an hour until we had figured out exactly how much of what was needed. Then Saul helped me pick a board and cut it in thirds. Some stain and holes, and voila! An industrial shelf was mine. 

Inspiration for this is found EVERYWHERE. I'm always sneaking photos in stores and such. I didn't look for DIY steps, but they're likely found somewhere on the great big web. It's easy to replicate, just takes a little sit down with piping in Home Depot. I knew the dimensions of the wall I wanted the shelf on and worked from there.  And cherry on top:  Tristen loves it too.  

Football Returns

1st practice was tonight! CYO promises to be a MUCH BETTER league. We are getting excited for the season.  Most importantly, Bird is getting excited!

DIY ~ Big Framed Cork Board

(weird lighting in photo due to iphone)

Tristen had started to tape things to the walls .. Magazine rip outs, sport event tickets, photos .. Anything he wanted displayed, and I had the genius idea while walking the many many aisles at Home Depot that I could make him a cork board to satisfy this need to put random things on the wall AND make it something I might actually be okay looking at. And so this was born. The cork board came in one big piece, with no trimming. I stained Three 5 foot by 5.5 inch cedar fencing boards. Rhett cut the boards to size perfectly around the cork board.  And then we air gun nailed that baby right onto the wall, each piece separately. Simple as pie! Actually, wayyyy simpler than pie. And nice to look at too. Kinda super proud about it.  :)  

Total cost: $25 bucks. (Very small amount of stain and 10 air gun nails were on hand)

And now I'm 34

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Rhett and I spent most of my birthday day working on.. Tristen's room. !!!!! So much fun. 😝  I really wanted to have the "bones" in place before he returned, to make it easier for him to transition into the new room. We finished up and had time to jump in the shower just before Jake and Karley arrived. Kar presented me with a gift from her, my mama, and my sister Melissa... It was a dress I have been COVETING for months!! Since dress shopping for Kar's 21st birthday in fact! I'm still so surprised and elated that they remembered. I threw it on and we were off to pick up Tristen, and head to dinner. Dinner was at the fun family friendly Brix, and then we classed it up a bit and had dessert at the Urban Farmer in The Nines. Perfect birthday evening. And now. I'm 34. ☺️

My Biking Man

Rhett rode FIFTY-TWO POINT TWENTY THREE MILES today. !!!!!! Craziness! He's found a new bike group that has met his no-nonsense epic bike riding needs. Super proud of him! 

Pallet Wall Número Dos

My dreams are coming true. For my birthday, I asked Rhett if we could do another pallet wall and he said yes. I am SO excited. The Pinterest photo is my inspiration.. We'll see how close I come. 

Materials: 55 cedar fence boards: 6 feet long by 5.5 inches wide. $1.88 each at Home Depot. Planning to test Classic Gray stain on them. Boards are currently drying out in the garage before sand and stain. (Lesson learned from wall #1. Those boards do and WILL shrink if they go up damp!)