Wow! It's been too long!

I can't believe it's been a month since I last blogged! Things have been a little crazy around the Stafford house, plus with the new job and all, I haven't had much time to put my thoughts together.

I'll try to catch you up in a quick and concise way... well, as concise as I can be! hehe. There are three main things going on in my life right now.

1) My wonderful cousin is having a baby in October and I'm throwing her a baby shower. I know it may seem a little early to throw a baby shower, but we've decided to have a little fun with it and make it a "gender reveal" party as well. This is a fairly new thing in the baby shower circles (well, new to me at least), where the parents resist telling everyone they know what the sex of the baby is when they find out, and then reveal it at the baby shower in one way or another. For ours, I'll be making a cake that will either be pink or blue on the inside. During the party they will cut into the cake and reveal the sex of the baby. What I was thinking when I offered to bake the cake I'm not really sure!!! hehe. But it'll be fun!

She's a big Dallas Cowboys fan, so we've decided to use the Cowboys star as the inspiration for the party. The colors are going to be Navy and Fuchsia like this..

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and there will be stars everywhere! I'm in the process of making 3D paper stars to hang around the park pavilion, and I'm really happy with the way they are turning out.

I found this image and template online and they are turning out to be easier than I expected. I'm sure I'll have lots of pictures to share after the party next weekend.

2) I've joined Weight Watchers online. I've been unhappy with my weight for a long time, but this picture from my friends wedding was the last boost of motivation I needed!

It's now 5 1/2 weeks later, and I'm 8lbs lighter! I expect to hit my first goal of 10lbs by the weekend! Then it's on to the next 10lb goal until I'm at a more reasonable weight for my build. Hopefully that will be somewhere in the 130's-ish. A part of me wants to be the 110 soaking wet that I was in high school, but that's unreasonable (or so I keep telling myself). Right now I'm just taking it 10lbs at a time and focusing on learning a different way to eat! I want this to be a lifestyle change and not a diet. I feel that the weight watchers points system is helping me do that. Plus I love work sheets and fill in the blank opportunities!

3) I've become addicted to Craigslist thanks to my new favorite blog, Design*Sponge. So my new favorite thing is "upcycling". Design*Sponge's before and after blogs are teaching me to look for the potential in furniture I would have otherwise turned my nose up at. So, yesterday I bought two end tables/night stands and a coffee table for $60. Here is my inspiration:

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and

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I love the neutral color of the furniture itself and the contrasting drawer pulls. Before becoming addicted to this site the first thing I would have done was get rid of those awful pulls. But when painted a contrast color, they really make the piece pop.

So here is my raw material purchased off Craigslist for $60.

I love delicate shape of the legs, and the scalloping around the edge. Jay and I were talking last night about whether to try to restain them or paint them. They are beautiful as they are (with a few scratches and dings), but truthfully, they are way too traditional for my tastes and I don't think I would ever be happy with them as they are.

So, I'll be splitting up the set. The coffee table I'm going to paint an eggshell black to match the rest of our decor in the living room.

The side tables I'm going to put in our bedroom. We already have a tall chest of drawers that we painted a dark chocolate brown about a year ago. So, I'm going to paint these the same color and then paint the drawer pulls a delicate blue to match the accent colors in our room. Haven't settled on the exact color yet. I'm so excited! Now I'm on the hunt for a dresser that I can paint the same color. The awesome thing is, by painting everything, it'll look like it goes together even though each piece is unique and will cost us a fraction of what a bedroom suite would have cost!

So, to borrow a phrase from my favorite paper store (Paper Source), I challenge each of you to "do something creative every day"! What's your newest passion? We'd love to hear!