Friday, November 30, 2012

happy friday!

the week following a holiday tends to last forever.
especially when the weather is beautiful,
and especially when you have a cute puppy waiting for you at home.
one: sweet raider and his giant rope. that boy loves to chew, and i'm grateful it's not my shoes!
two: we didn't win the lottery jack pot,,,,did you?
three: my favorite christmas cd: chris tomlin, glory in the highest.
four: my mom found these super cute gift tags, looks just like raider with a santa beard!
five: i love my family! great photo op at the tech/baylor game last weekend. according to my brother, the bears don't kill their opponents, they only bruise them, because the Bible says murder is wrong.
#privateschoolproblems
 
how was your week?
 
 
Photobucket

Thursday, November 29, 2012

thankful thursday


today, i am thankful for:
a loving bub-hub that makes yummy chili,
a sweet puppy that doubles as a perfect cuddle buddy,
the charlie brown special on tv,
ugg boots and sweatpants.

what are you thankful for?

BLOG TITLE



Wednesday, November 28, 2012

ode to the christmas tree

as i shared yesterday,
christmas trees are my favorite holiday decoration.
i love seeing how each family's personality comes out in the way they decorate their tree.
 
this year, instead of giant christmas tree, bub-hub and i have decided to keep it simple, but that doesn't mean i can't have fun pinning right?
there are so many fun ways to decorate using christmas trees!
 
christmas tree brownies:

christmas tree crafts:

christmas tree pins:

christmas tree place cards:

and of course,
christmas tree cake pops.
duh

what is your favorite christmas decoration?

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

o christmas tree

this project is the perfect combination of my two favorite things:
my favorite christmas decoration: christmas trees
my favorite christmas song: o holy night

my dad built the base, and i painted the letters.
raider helped a little too.
[inspired by this pin]

what christmas project pins have you recreated this season?

Monday, November 26, 2012

so thankful for a lovely thanksgiving

our thanksgiving weekend was a fabulous one.

raider enjoyed playing in the leaves, 
and long walks in the park.
we had a little too much fun with my dad's decapitated life-size singing santa,
and decorated the christmas tree.
 my mama and i baked a yummy apple pie, 
and raider helped clean up the floors.
 bub-hub and i enjoyed two family thanksgivings, complete
double servings of mama's sweet potato casserole and homemade rolls.
and we cheered on baylor and tech at cowboys stadium. 

how was your thanksgiving?


Thursday, November 22, 2012

thankful thursday


today, i am thankful for:
two loving families,
a sweet puppy that loves to cuddle,
beautiful blue skies and cool mornings,
sweet potatoes and homemade rolls,
taylor swift and eli young on road trips,
the freedom to gather around a table with family and friends,
sweet friends from near and far. :)

what are you thankful for?

BLOG TITLE

happy thanksgiving y'all! :)





Tuesday, November 20, 2012

how to make a headboard

i would like to introduce you to my dream bed:
 everything about it is lovely, with the exception of it's price tag.
somehow, bub-hub allowed me to convince him that we could do this ourselves. for way less.
after i convinced him, and gave myself a pep talk
we headed off to lowes for our supplies.
 
 a level
measuring tape
wood stain
(we used 2 cans of spray-stain)
3 1in x 6 in x 6 ft boards
4 1 in x 8 in x 6 ft boards
(precut from your local hardware store)
14 2 inch dry wall screws
electric screwdriver
 
a few tips:
tip #1 - measure the width of the boards yourself.
for example, the 6 inch wide boards were actually 5.25 inches wide and the 8 inch wide boards were actually 7.4 inches across.
tip #2 - you can have boards cut for you at the store.  if you only want your boards to be 5 feet long, or if you need a 10 foot board cut down to 7 feet, they can do it for you! all you have to do is ask.
tip #3 - make sure your electric screwdriver is charged. :)
 
before you head to the store, measure how wide and how tall you want your head board to be.  we have a queen sized bed and so a 6 foot long headboard was perfect.
i also knew i wanted it to be be around 48 inches tall, so we used a combination of boards that was close to it.  the final height was 50 inches.
 
[step 1]
pick out your stain. 
you can go the traditional route and paint it on, or you can spray paint it on.  we chose the spraypaint.
 
[step 2]
prepare your work area.
we laid our boards on packing paper to protect our patio.
 
[step 3]
follow the directions on the stain and apply carefully.
i could hear my dad's voice in my head the entire time...
go with the grain!
i guess you never know which life lessons are going to stick.
whatever you do...go with the grain.
 
[step 4]
let everything dry!
 for me, waiting is the hardest part.
i love seeing the end product.
i knew that i wanted this to be a success and not a disaster,
so i waited 5 hours for everything to dry before moving on to the next step.
 
[step 5]
lay out your boards in the order you want them to hang, and mark place on the wall.
we alternated 6 inch boards and 8 inch boards.
 
[step 6]
initially, we decied to try using 3m velcro strips.
it was working just great, and the boards were holding just fine, but i just couldn't get the vision of boards falling down on me in the middle of the night out of my head.
we inserted 2 dry wall screws, 1 inch from the outside edge in the center of each board. i am definitely sleeping better and am nightmare free.
and easy and simple solution. 
 [step 7]
step back and admire your work.
you did it! :)
 the lamps and yellow pillow are from the always lovely target. i believe the bedding is from target as well. i've had it since high school.the nightstands are simply crates that previously served as wedding props, and were found at a flea market. easy peasey.
 
what i love most about this project is how easy it is to personalize. you can change the stain, the number of boards, the space between the boards, the width of the boards, anything and everything can be adjusted. such a simple project that can make such a big difference in your room.
 
 

Monday, November 19, 2012

meet raider chastain

i would like to introduce you to the newest member of the chastain clan:
raider!
saturday afternoon, we decided to take a trip to the animal shelter to play with some puppies.  it was a beautiful day, and definitely one we did not want to waste indoors. so we headed over to the houston SPCA and stumbled across this little guy!
we weren't planning on getting a dog quite yet, bub-hub was going to surprise me for christmas, but he was too cute and too perfect for us. we just couldn't pass him up! 
#meanttobe #mfeo
he's a six year old american cocker spaniel.  
cutest dog ever right?
#crazydogmom #puppylove
he's super spunky, barely sheds, likes to play fetch and even knows a few tricks. he's the perfect fit for us and for our apartment.  i still can't believe he's ours! :)

if you wanna see photos of raider pop up on your instagram feed, follow me @mrschastain.
you know you can't resist the cuteness....



 

Friday, November 16, 2012

happy friday! :)

[one] thursday night we had dinner with some sweet friends at my new favorite restaurant, adair kitchen. sooo yummy. i thoroughly enjoyed my yummy dinner and scrumptious cranberry almond tart. that's right folks. be jealous. if you live in houston, you should check it out! :)

[two] bub-hub surprised me with winter oreos. that boy knows the way straight to my heart. yummmm.

[three] we had our annual thanksgiving pot luck at work, and i might have stolen a few of the table decorations to decorate my office. #notreallyfeelingguilty #pumpkinsarecute

[four] i think kari jobe's version of "you are good" is my favorite. i adore all of her songs, but when this one comes on my pandora playlist, i melt in my chair. just so packed full of encouragement and truth. 

[five] i am so excited about the christmas swap i'm participating in with laura and amy!! today is the last day to sign up, so make sure you don't miss out on the opportunity to share your christmas traditions and meet new friends! :)

do you have any big plans this weekend?

happy weekend guys! i hope it's relaxing and full of fun! :)
Photobucket

Thursday, November 15, 2012

thankful thursday


today, i am thankful:
for a husband that encourages me and my crazy ideas,
that the weather in houston is finally cooling off,
for james bond movies and giant boxes of junior mints,
for sweaters that keep me warm when it's 74degrees outside,
that next week, we will be at home in dallas spending time with our families,
thanksgiving pot luck extravaganzas at work.
 
what are you thankful for?
 
BLOG TITLE