Saturday Sip

Memorial Weekend Margarita

 

2:3:1

Tequila:Sweet&Sour:OrangeJuice

 

simple nuf, right?!

[dont forget the SaLt tho, mm mm!]

 

"Aw naw, somebody just bought a shot of that Patron

hang on, i just might have to stay"

-Chris Young, AwNaw

 

by the way: check that song out on iTunes!

its definitely a new fave of mine and catch myself playin it on repeat!!

 

 

 

 

 

America the Beautiful

I'm so obsessed with this I can hardly stand it.  We've had a huge bare wall in desparate need of something since we moved in almost 2 years ago.  Everything I put there just seemed to be too small, insignificant, or just not quite right.  It needed something BIG.  something that made a statement and made you want to shout "holy crap i love it!"  [i get a little excited about finding the perfect peice for my house sometimes]  lets be real here- something BIG that makes you say that, usually comes with a pretty chunky pricetag, and I dont have a pretty chunky bank account to match that.  what's a girl to do?! make it herself, of course!

have i ever mentioned how much i LoVe wood? let me tell you : i LoVe WoOd! with a passion.  If every piece of furniture in my house could be made of wood, i'd be happy as a clam.  and the great thing about it? my hubs also loves wood. sCoRe! we agree on wood :)  SO i decided the perfect thing to be on that huge empty wall was going to be made of wood.  i considered a large family portrait on wood, a cute quote, or even a large mirror with thick wood around the edges.  nothing really made that glory *AuHhHhhHH* sound to me though. 

UnTiL: this bad boy here.  the perfect addition - seriously.

and knowing that i made it myself?  even better!

the whole thing was made by hand, plank by plank.

i drew the map {free handed it, hence the imperfections of the east coast.  but i've never even seen the east coast, so i still like it!}

painted, sanded, and stained the whole thing.

hanging hardware: screws and an industrial chain the hubby had in the garage.

 

detail of Arizona: a lil heart to mark {HoMe}

 

my 4 yr old keeps calling it our treasure map, and the heart is the "X"

:)

i definitely see a future of some more of these planked signs in my house!

i'll be sure to keep you updated!

Saturday Sips!

orange juice

grapefruit juice

sweet&sour mix

southern comfort

Equal parts of each

This tastes just like a Caribbean Passion Jamba Juice.  no joke.  [only more fun!]

eNjOy!

 

ps: today is the King's birthday.  Happy birthday Mr. Strait!

61 years old and 59 no. 1 songs, not too shabby ;)

 

 

Sunday Funday

Sunday morning we decided to take a drive out to the lake.  It's super close to home and we obviously seem to forget that, because this was my first time going to Apache Lake [its only 30 miles from home AND you pass Canyon Lake to get there! what a beauty!] It couldn't have been a more perfect day to take the top and doors off the jeep, and cruise through the canyon and on to the dirt road. 

 

Just some of the gorgeous views along the way

Loved the windy drive

Don't let those faces fool you - they were lovin every second of the wind in their hair!

 

Oh yeah and lets not forget how amazing the actual lake was!  Me and the hubs soakin it up! [the kids preferred standing on the shore/rocks and covered their faces when I tried to take their picture.  boys....] 

Hope all you Mom's out there had a wonderful and relaxing Mother's Day!

 

"I wanna take a lil ride with you"

-Jason Aldean

Cutoff Tutorial

Well guys, tonight I'm gonna teach ya how to make bad ass cutoffs for next to nothin. I'm obsessed with mine and literally am caught wearing them every weekend. No joke. It's a good thing I'm usually the one behind the camera so there's no evidence of this.  So- here's what ya need:

Jeans

Scissors

Optional Items:

Bleach

Fabric Markers

Studs
Rit Dye

....any other random add-ons your ❤ desires.

Take your jeans and try them on. Pick the length you want your shorts and make a small line with a pen. Take the jeans off, turn them inside out and fold the pockets up. Nothin worse than pockets cut in half! Anyways... Cut your pants, one leg at a time. Now... This is important: TRY THE SHORTS ON AGAIN TO MAKE SURE THEY ARE THE RIGHT LENGTH! It's better to have to cut them a lil shorter than to end up at the point of no return and havin to trash what had been a perfect pair of jeans.  Easy peasy!

 

Now the fun part- customizing them! I really love the bleached out look, so on mine I bleached out just the bottom half (dip dyed). For this, you use the same technique as tie dying. I put an elastic around the center of the shorts and sat them in a mixture of mostly bleach diluted with a little bit of water. I left them there for about 10-12 min, monitoring the process to make sure it didn't start to eat away at the denim.

 

Once that was done, I cut the elastic from the shorts and ran the shorts through the washing machine and dryer. Result? Perfect color and perfect fray! Woot woo! I wanted to a lil more pizazz to them tho [yes, I just said pizazz] so I got some Crayola fabric markers and made one side striped and the other stars. I wanted them to have a more distressed look {man are those markers bright!} so I ran them through the washing machine again with a lil bleach. I couldn't be more pleased with how they look! I also have a pair of just dip-bleached. Check em out! which do you prefer??  The possibilities are endless.  I foresee a summer of me in cutoffs everyday.... sorry!  {no I'm not}

 

 

 

PS: my sister found a similar style to the flag shorts pictured above at Kohls in the girls department for $30. I like my free and hand-made ones :)

"Brought to you courtesy of the red white and blue"

Toby Keith

Cut em off

We all know that trends make their loop.  Something comes in to style, it fades away, and 20 or so years later its back again.  Let me just say - I absolutely am loving that the late 80's/90's are back!  The high waist cut offs, the crop tops, dip-dyes, studded jeans, and lets not forget the colored skinny jeans.  Something else that I'm loving right now?  It's cool to be redneckish.  That's right.  COOL to be redneck.  And when I think about it, I'd say I have the bearded fellas from Duck Dynasty to thank for that.  Or maybe its the producers who decided these hilarious men needed a show that I should be thanking?  Nah, I'd like thank the ones who are just out there bein themselves...  Thanks Robinson brothers!  Anywho...... Cowgirl boots, jeans, and tanks are three main staples in my wardrobe, and have been for as long as I can remember.  Lately, everytime I scroll through my instagram feed I'm tickled pink to see that major retailers are now marketing this look.  I have noticed though, that to appeal to that teenager within us {or literally to the teenager} they haven't quite branched in to calling it "western" or "cowgirl" and especially not "backwoods" or "redneck", ha!!, but rather its called the "festival style".  I don't care what ya'll call it, I'm diggin that its in!! AZ temps have already been at the top end of the 90s {yeah... its barely May.  its gonna be a toasty summer!}  so I'm loving that I get to rock the cutoffs without gettin dirty looks.  I'm not tryin to compete with Daisy Duke, no one will ever be able to rock the Dukes like that lady!  [except Jessica Simpson of course, admit it - she kicked ass in those shorts in DOH.  You can refresh your memory here  *girlcrush*] But we can have fun trying, right?!  Later this week I'll post a lil tute on how to make the perfect cutoffs for yourself.  No need to spend $40 on those ones in the boutiques.  I've made some fab ones that I'm literally obsessed with and wear any chance I get.  I need to hit up Goodwill and find a few cheapy jeans to convert.  Dont Forget though ***Keep it redneckish ladies: take those perf pair of jeans that are barely hangin by a thread, cut em up, personalize em, make em fun, and wear em out!  I'll help ya out with the details and give you some ideas to get them creative juices flowing!

"Can I get a hand clap

For the way I work my back

with my Daisy Dukes on"

-Jessica Simson, These Boots Are Made For Walkin

This is me

I've decided to start a blog.  Yes, I'm going to be just like every other girl I went to high school with.  Except for one thing: I'm not like every other girl I went to high school with... I'm a lil bit redneckish!  What is redneckish? Well, I'm here to show you.  It's a perfect phrase my friend Toni Sue came up with.  And, I couldn't be described in a more perfect way!  Thanks Miss Toni! For any of you folks out there who are from Arizona, when you hear the words "Apache Junction" or "AJ" you immediately think trailer park and white trash.  It's horrible to say, but all you Arizonans out there know it's true.  Its a stereotype the city has been given for years.  As long as I can remember.  Guess what?  I live in Apache Junction.  Guess what else?  I'm not white trash... I'm just a lil bit redneckish! :)  Here, I will be sharing my adventures in fixing up our house, hair tips {IDOHAIR}, fashion, crafts, and whatever other random thing my heart desires that day!

 

"You've got to be your own man, not a puppet on a string"

-Aaron Tippin, You've Got To Stand For Somethin