Birthday Girl, Shake it for me, Girl

Hey friends...It's my Birfday! :)

Sean's out of town for the basketball state tournament in El Derado so it's me and my poops for a while. But my birthday celebration took place over the weekend.

Jason's My Kinda Party tour made a stop in Tupelo, MS, Elvis's birthplace, a little under 2 hours from home.

We missed the Jonesboro show for a game night, so I wanted to go. I mentioned it once but we never discussed it again. The time drew near and with my birthday approaching, I asked for a pair of work gloves to protect my hands from wood work and lifting during my projects. But they had to be cute. We got them at Home Depot and I was happy...

Then, Sean did me one better and revealed that he had gotten tickets and a hotel room for the show in Tupelo on the 25th, 3 days before my birthday! He had also talked with Jessica, Jason's precious wife, about us coming, who left meet and greet passes at will call for us to see Jason before the show. I couldn't wait.

After a quick stroll in Tupelo's adorable downtown, we ate, got ready, and went to the venue to pick up our tickets at will call.

But they didn't have them.

Sean checked his confirmation, which said they would be available for pick up at will call 1 hour before the show. We waited around until that time, but still...No tickets in our name.

The box office kept assuring us the tickets were a scam and did not exist, but Sean said, "I did my research, I know they're legit...there's got to be a mix up."

"You didn't buy them from us, we can't help you."

So we were helpless. We stood with another couple who had bought their tickets from the same place. They had gotten 2 of theirs but not the other 2. We stood around, in the cold, on hold with the company...listening to the same stupid "you're on hold right now and we're telling you you're next in line but who really knows" song replay for 45 minutes.

No answer.

Time was running out to find a way in. Sean walked around to the fence where the tour buses were parked to see if he could find Jason.
And he did!

But he was too far away to hear Sean calling out and never turned around. He asked several security guys to see Jason's body guard that he knew, but no one seemed to believe this guy who swears he knows Jason.

Another hour in the cold passed and droves of concert-goers flooded through the doors while we stood at the ticket window for tickets that seemed to not exist. Everyone stared like we were losers. We had Meet and Greet passes but they wouldn't let us in without tickets. Sean sat down on the bench next to me and looked at me like a lost puppy.

"I've just gotta call Jessica. That's the last thing I know to do."
We so hated to ask for help. He got our tickets for the last concert and we didn't want that again. But we were literally stuck 2 hours from home with no way inside.

We knew she wasn't there, but he called to see what she could tell us to do. No answer.
He sent a last ditch text message asking if there was anything she could do.

Meet and Greet time was about to be over, so as a last resort, I wrote a note to Jason on the back of our pass and we prepared to give them away to 2 lucky fans with the promise to show it to him so he would know that we were stuck outside. Sean walked from the ticket booth around to the door to pick the lucky winners. Just as he was about to make a hand off, his phone shook in my hand.

"Jason is sending 2 tickets to will call for yall. Tell Katie Happy birthday!" from Jess.

My heart flipped and with a huge crowd staring at me like a nutter, I hollered "Seaaaaaan!! Waiiiiit!!" while sprinting in my stupid Jessica Simpson pumps. Dumb decision.

"SEAN! Don't do it!! We're gooood!!"

I caught him just in time. When the tickets arrived, we promised the couple who was dealing with the same thing that we would get them in somehow. We felt kind of guilty, but the deadline to make it through meet and greet doors was...now.

Again with more sprinting, 'Run Run Rudolph' played in our heads as we ran around the arena to get there. "I'm sorry, you're too late. Doors are closed."

No! "Just tell him who it is please." (There goes that 'I call BS' look again.)
"No really!"

"Ok, I'm going to be nice."

We made it in.
My hands tingled with numbness from the cold and my makeup was smeared.
I was out of breath.
And thirsty.
I had to pee.
My hair was windblown.
My legs ached.

Any more complaints I can think of? Let's see...no. We were finally inside!

Sean received a delayed text from Jason telling us he sent tickets for us and asking if we needed anymore. We knew we had to try to help those other people if we could. Everyone circled around the room for their turn and finally we were the last standing.

He looked over...we just shook our heads and smiled.

"THANK. You. THANK. You," I said as I walked over.
"Seriously, man, thank you so much," Sean said.
"Hey! I didn't do it for you! he said pointing, "I did it for her!" We hugged. "I did it for her."
I buried my head and totally could have cried from relief if I let myself.


We told him about all the craziness. He set us up with a guy who gave us 4 more tickets and took back the original 2.

"Go find your friends and yall can sit together. These are...these are good," the man said.

With the 18th "thank you" to come out of our mouths, we went back outside to find the couple whose tickets were also "missing". They weren't there anymore.

Sean found another couple who could not get in because their seats were sold twice. They were in shock. We just made their night!

After contacting the couple with the same problems we had, we found out that the tickets finally arrived or were found at will call an hour after the show started. How ridiculous!?

We made it in time for the second half of Luke Bryan.


Who would be a really fun dance partner for me!

We were seated in the 3rd row of the back floor section, what seemed like a football field away from the main stage, just behind a tiny deejay stage.



They said they were on the floor in a good spot. All the way back here? Who cares.
We had cabbed it to the arena so we could really enjoy the show but couldn't even get a single drink because of having to deal with just getting through the doors.

Then, after EVERYTHING we'd been through, finally...Mr. Aldean entered the stage to a roar.


We were so glad it worked out in the end. I just kept envisioning driving 2 hours home in silence. We couldn't help but still wonder what the show would be like with the 18th row from the stage, center of the floor tickets that had been purchased but evaporated in thin air. UNTIL this happened.

Guitars and mics were discreetly set up on the wee little dj stage and Jason was aided through the crowd by security...until he was directly in front of us, just a few feet away. Ok...It makes sense now! He called out his buddy Luke for an acoustic set played to the back of the crowd.

A little Burnin' Love by Elvis and Sunday in the South by Shenandoah.

And Luke's "We Rode in Trucks".

Happy Birthday to me...And Mr. Jason Aldean:)

~Katie

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Moss House Number

I'm really into crafting with moss lately. I love it for it's cottage in the woods, secret garden, nature-inspired look. I've seen wooden letters covered in moss for a big moss initial in the home and instantly wanted to make our house number that way.

I hot-glued moss to the wood numbers piece by piece.


I re-purposed my hand-painted wedding sign for this project.


Wood glue to the back...


And a little weight to dry.


I added butterflies from a craft store.
And it was done!



Too cute:)

~Katie

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Let me check with my secretary...

This little secretary desk was my Meemaw's.

Since she always called it "the secretary" that's what I've always called it. So that's what Sean always calls it. We don't just have a desk in the kitchen. We have a secretary. And we don't know what we'd do without her.

"Hey KK, have you seen that bill we got in the mail...?"
"Um, check the secretary."

'Seany, that shower invitation I got the other day...?
"It's on the secretary."

Our secretary is old and was a chain smoker, so she had lots of wear and ash burns. She has still done a good job for us but was just not as pretty as she used to be in her younger years. So I gave her a makeover!

I really like the look of a kitchen desk area that matches the kitchen cabinetry, so I primed with Zinsser's oil-based Cover Stain then spray painted with Krylon's Ivory, and finally lightly coated with Minwax Water-Based Polycrylic to seal. I removed the center drawer and added knobs I already had to the large drawer.

AFTER:


She now has a chic and timeless new style. She looks so much younger. And she has quit smoking!


Soon, she was back to work taking care of this very busy couple's very important business.


If you don't have a secretary, I think you should invest in one. It will make you feel important. :)

Take Care,

Katie

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Artificial Hanging Baskets

We've probably still got a few frosty nights ahead, but springtime is not too far off! As last year was my first year to have a porch just ASKING for colorful hanging plants, I bought 4 gorgeous and bright baskets to dress up the front of the house. I thought they might appreciate being rescued from the nursery to really stand out on my porch. They showed their appreciation by...dying. In just a few days. What could I have possibly done or not done in a matter of days?? I watered them. I think.

I couldn't stand the look of the bare porch without bursts of color with flowers cascading beside the beams. So I bought 4 more. And since the title of this post is "Artificial Hanging Baskets," you can guess how that story ended.

I don't do well with something that is alive, but non-verbal, I guess. Plants are a living thing, but they don't tell me when they need something, so I forget them. If they talked, I might listen. Then check myself in.

They served no purpose but for a mama bird to lay her tiny eggs in my basket. But how was I to know until I took it down? Tiny, creepy-looking baby birds with their wide open mouths and bulging eyes squawked at me, looking like something from Land Before Time, and I almost dropped that basket to surely kill them all. But I kept cool...running like a bird myself flapping my wings on one side and high stepping while holding the basket at arms length on the other to sit it down on the end of the porch. They were just baby birds. But they caught me by surprise.



Hence, I was DONE with these short-lived, money pit hanging baskets. UNTIL the stroke of genius. Fake ones will never die! And surely no one would notice driving by or maybe even walking up to the house with them hanging up high. Yes, I may still have to contend with the nesting birds, but this time, I'll be prepared. So at the end of spring last year, I made these cuties, and held onto the pics to share.


I dumped the baskets (Don't worry, I didn't dump the birds. Remember I had 8 baskets to choose from!) and brought them inside with my assorted artificial floral stems I picked up from Micheals. I wanted hanging amaranthus the most.

I used plastic bags to fill the basket and placed a flat styrofoam circle on top.


I stuck the stems and leaves in one by one with the hanging amaranthus on the outer edges to drape over the side.



Then, I used mulch leftover from doing our flower beds to fill in all around the flowers, covering the styrofoam. This immediately worked wonders for how real they looked!


They looked so pretty and bright hanging in the sunshine!



When floral goes on sale, I'll stock up to fill it in even more. Think anyone will notice when my springtime hanging plants look the exact same every year?? If they do, I might have a stalker on my hands.


If you can support the real thing, yes please do. But until plants learn to say "Feed me!" I'm sticking with these guys.

Until Next Time,
Katie

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Houndstooth Stenciled Rug

I'm a big fan of the graphic, classic, Bear Bryant-esque, Houndstooth pattern. My all-time favorite hat is a brown and white houndstooth knit newscap.

I looked all over for a houndstooth rug for our living room. Online they were priced between $120-$180 for roughly a 6x8. No thanks.

I bought this beige rug with cream border at Walmart for $49 and decided to stencil it. I also saw this houndstooth rug that had been stenciled.

Before:



I made my own stencil because, of course, I didn't find one. I just traced a houndstooth pattern from my laptop onto a blank stencil I bought at hobby lobby, then cut it out with an exacto knife on top of last night's pizza box.


I used a mixture of brown and tan acrylic paints with a paint brush until the center was covered.
And fell. in. love.


After:




Not complicated at all! Just took a little patience.


Thanks for checking it out!

*Update: If you're reading this from The Nest, the rug didn't photograph any better than it is in real life. If it had turned out crappy, trust me, I would have said it! I share the good, the bad, and the ugly. The trick is using only a tightly woven rug, almost like an indoor/outdoor rug and stippling the paint on lightly so that it's not thick. The painted sections feel no different than the other sections. I don't give tutorials; just share ideas. Fuzzy Peaches, thanks for the sweet comment and for the referral:)

~Katie

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Another Kitchen Cabinet Makeover

My Mother-In-Law, Pam, claims that I have created a monster in her. (Monster-in-Law?) No. She's sweet as can be, but what she is referring to is the fact that my ever-revolving carousel of project transformations and "can-do" attitude for DIY'ing has become contagious. She's now been bitten with the diy bug and her first BIG project is complete!

She's been wanting to update her early 90's kitchen cabinets for a while. I knew she might think I was crazy. But I offered my advice anyway.

"If you're going to re-do your cabinets, you should definitely take down the upper peninsula cabinets. They block the view and make it more outdated."

Just a few "before and after" inspiration photos later, and she was on board.

Here's what the kitchen looked like

BEFORE:



And...

AFTER



I know it can be overwhelming picking a paint color, as I lived with 10 paint chips taped to my cabinets for a week. So I picked 3 almond/putty colors for her to choose from and she picked SW "Bungalow Beige" right away. Perfect, because the design changes she's been making lately in her house make it feel like a warm and cozy bungalow.

Before, I was the only one in the family that could see into the dining room and living room from the kitchen! For every other average to tall member, the cabinets blocked the view. You had to duck down (except me:) to have a conversation.



NOW, it's airy and open all the way through two rooms.


The color is urban and contemporary. A bit more of a "putty" taupe/gray than it appears in the pictures. Perfect! Now that the cabinets are updated, she'd like to give the counter top a facelift as well.


She used Sherwin Williams' Oil Based Multi-Purpose Primer after Liquid De-Sander and light sanding on the cabinet fronts. I spray painted her hardware Krylon's Brushed Metallic Nickel.

And now she's off to take on the next big bang. I'd say she's off to an amazing start!!

Thank you for stopping by!
The Grays

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