Stay-cation!

This past weekend one of my best friends and I had our seasonal Stay-cation. We began doing these last Winter, so this has been our 4th one so far. Basically, the two of us have combined our desire to have a vacation with our desire to save money and formed a day every season where we pretend like we are on vacation, without going anywhere.

Our stay-cations typically begin with a sunrise hike. Now, I am not an up at dawn sort of riser, but knowing that naps are common on this day, it is much easier to be up at sunrise.  Holly picks me up with coffee packed in a thermos and a snack (1st breakfast, if you will…). We drive out to Hueston Woods, a gorgeous state park only ten minutes from town. There is a trail along a lake that is pretty much perfect for sunrises. When we start it is still dark and we haven’t fully processed the coffee, so we are quiet. As the light begins to filter in and the caffeine begins to kick in, we start to talk. Going on hikes has been a lifelong thing with the two of us. We talk about anything and everything, though usually (and today is no different) it is our current hopes and dreams. Little goals that we can hold each other accountable for and help to make happen. It is crisp and cool morning and an absolute perfect way to start stay-cation.

We get back to my house. I have made an apple-cinnamon steel-cut oatmeal dish (recipe can be found here: http://www.theyummylife.com/Slow_Cooker_Apple_Cinnamon_Oatmeal) in the crockpot overnight, knowing that a hot (2nd) breakfast would be nice to come home to after a chilly hike. It is warm and delicious. We make another pot of coffee and change into our stay-cation uniform (aka: pajamas). We have prepared lots more delicious meals (on stay-cation we eat like hobbits, 1st breakfast, 2nd breakfast, brunch, luncheon, afternoon tea, supper, etc…). Today we have decided that we most feel like watching Harry Potter and doing spa things.

We spend the day watching the 6th and both parts of the 7th movie. We have foot baths and we put drops of mint in them and soak til they are wrinkled. We do our nails and put various masks on our faces and hair. We have a delicious lunch of home-made wheat tortillas with sauteed peppers and onion and a mixture of black beans and cheese. We have guacamole and chips. Oh and Holly, who has become a master infuser of alcohol, has brought some strawberry and vanilla infused vodka which we mix with ginger ale to make a lovely little cocktail that goes just perfectly with our vacation atmosphere.

Other friends we have, know about our stay-cation and drop by for visits sporadically. These visits break up our movie marathon quite nicely and keep us from turning into zombies. Towards the end of the day we realize we haven’t packed a dessert (mon dieu!) so we head up to Starbucks, grab a latte and some chocolate and settle back in to finish the movies. At the end of the day, we feel refreshed and energized. The spa has restored our need to pamper ourselves, watching movies all day feels like an indulgence, a throwback to when we were kids, the conversation has us re-energized and ready to take on those goals that we hope to accomplish. The fact that we did it all on no budget and with minor planning feels like a bonus.

What would be on your schedule for the perfect stay-cation?

Ashley

Kiddie Cuts

Heyo!  It's Friday!!  Couldn't be happier about it after all the not so fun things that happened this week!  But guess what? I have a pretty funny "not so great" that I wanted to share, just to give you a giggle before the weekend!

Well, my little princess, Brooklyn, has a love for all things girly!  If its hair, nails, or makeup, she's totally down.  It's not uncommon to see her in front of the mirror primping herself. However, this Tuesday she did the unthinkable!

Okay, I may be exaggerating a bit by saying unthinkable and actually it's quite common among her age(5 years old).  I thought that I had properly explained that scissors were to only be used on paper.  That's it.  Paper.  Only.  However, I guess she took that as if there was no more paper she could cut other things.  She chose her hair....and when I saw I was almost in tears! Luckily after I had calmed down, I realized that it actually could have been much worse!

One day this will be a great picture to show all her future friends and boyfriends!!

Obviously this is something that happens often among little kids when they get curious. So, I got a little curious and found some of my favorite shots other parents had taken! Have a wonderful weekend and enjoy!

Pinterest Junkie

HI, my name is Courtney and I’m a pinterest junkie. I’m not only a pinner, I’m a doer. One of my favorite projects thus far has been our pallet wine rack.

It only took us a couple hours and about $10. (Not including the price of the wine it took to fill it. Side note: only the small bottles ((750ml one)) of wine will fit. ) Thankfully my boyfriend supports my DIY mania and was willing to help with the measuring and sawing. Here’s how we did it…..

What you’ll need

*pallet *wood glue * foam brush

*stain  *measuring tape  *saw *hammer *sandpaper *wine

* wine glasses

Step 1: Prep pallet. Clean it off. Measure a foot from one end and cut through support braces. This will be your wine rack so choose the better end.

Step 2: Pull a “good” board off what is left of the pallet and attach to the bottom with nails. This board will hold your wine bottles in your rack so make sure it is firmly attached.

Step 3: Measure the bottom of your wine glasses. (Side note: if your wine glasses are mouth blown like ours, make sure to measure the one with the largest bottom. They will all be different sizes.)

Step 4: Mark your spacing on the bottom of your wine rack, try to leave an inch between where your wineglasses will hang.

Step 5: Pull two more “good” boards off what is left of the pallet. Cut 9 1inch pieces as your spacers. Glue into the 1inch spaces mentioned above.

Step 6: Cut 7 3inch pieces and 2 2inch pieces. These will be the supports for your glasses to hang on. The 2inch pieces are for the ends of the rack. All the 3inch pieces will go between these. Glue into place on the spacers. Make sure to leave enough room for the stem of your wine glasses to fit.

(notice placement of spacers and supports)

Step 7: Let glue set. Once dry, sand down any overflow of wood glue and any rough edges and dust off.

Step 8: Now you’re ready to stain. You may have to stain it a few times to get your desired color. Also, you may want to wipe it down after staining to soak up any leftover stain.

When hanging you’ll want to make sure that you find the studs in your wall because this thing is HEAVY… not to mention it’s not loaded with your wine bottles yet. Make sure there is enough room above and below it to get your wine bottles in and out and to hang your glasses on the bottom.

Hopefully this project will bring you as much fun as it did for us. Happy building in 2014!