BEFORE and AFTER: The Big Ballerina's Nightstand

The Big Ballerina has never had a proper nightstand. She'd been using a square pillow cube as a stand in. It wasn't practical. Or pretty.  Practical is one thing. But if it ain't pretty. It's got to go.

I posted a few weeks ago that this beat-up old nightstand called my name from the trash heap. 

I loved the bow-front shape of the top and the drawer. And that big honking drawer pull made my heart go pitter-patter. With BSD's help, we dragged it home. 

When I got a good look at it the next morning, I realized it had a lot of issues. There was a huge circular ring mark on the top. The thin veneer was popping off in many places. Missing completely in others. BSD glued up what he could, but it was still in bad shape. It sat in the garage for weeks. Maybe months. I considered sending it back to the curb. But I decided to go ahead and just paint it to see what would happen.

She's definitely not perfect, but she sure is cute! That blue paint is just so happy. 

I was most excited by how cool the handle cleaned up. We were convinced it was brass. If so, I was going to spray paint it silver. BSD took his dremel tool to it, rubbed it with some kind of compound, and when he brought it back to me. Perfection! Satiny and matte.  Just the finish I was after.

Now I just need to change everything else in the Big Ballerina's bedroom to go with it. I've got this super fun fabric to use as inspiration.

Maybe a green color for the walls and a Dash and Albert rug on the floor? Because you know I don't have enough Dash and Albert rugs in my house already.

NOTE: MC, I am working on my master. I promise! I will post about that soon. :)

Skinnamarinky dinky INK: An Anniversary Tale

BSD and I celebrated our wedding anniversary last week. Not sure if it was 13 or 14 years. That's the problem when you don't get your rings engraved. You never remember when the date is. Let alone how many years it's been.

This year we celebrated with a night out in our favorite local hotel, The Cavalier.

It's been around since 1927.

And I don't think they've changed the chair cushions since then.
Can't you just see Baby hanging out here reading a book waiting for Johnny?

Or taking a dip in this pool?

There's old school charm at every turn.

The original windows in the rooms even open.

We had fun kicking back. Sharing a favorite beverage.

Enjoying the view. Before our fancy dinner.

The clouds to the left started to look a little sketchy.

The rain began to fall.
 

We sat by the window listening to the thunder crash right over our heads. Until we got hungry. Appetizers before our fancy anniversary dinner sounded like a good idea. Until we got to the swanky beach side bar. And it was closed. Because the power went out. And the power was out at the next restaurant. And the next. And the next.

Finally, we found a dive that had power. And margaritas. All was good again.

Until we got back to the hotel. And the power was out there too. The room we chose on the 6th floor suddenly didn't seem like such a great idea anymore. Now that we had to use the dark stairwell to get to it.

And that fancy dinner we had planned. Not such a great idea anymore either. Now that we had no power. To use a hair dryer. Or to iron the dress I shoved in my suitcase minutes before being whisked away on this little adventure. Or to see my reflection in the tiny mirror. In the old school bathroom. With no windows.

Nope. The fancy anniversary dinner was slowly slipping through our fingers.

There would be no sexy anniversary dinner dress. No smoky eye makeup recreated with help from Carmindy's book. No shiny, flowing locks.

Instead there were the sweaty clothes pulled on early that morning. There was a slick ponytail working overtime to contain frizzing hair. Bangs escaping in their best interpretation of Farrah's famous "feathered wings." And there was a face without makeup. Shining in place of the sun. That decided to take a break on our anniversary.

Yes. There I am at our fancy anniversary dinner. On the romantic outside restaurant deck. Surrounded by fine art. From all over the country. Watching BSD scarf down a plate of buffalo wings in front of me. And tourists get tattoos behind me.

We decided that the old saying, "If you can't beat em. Join em," was definitely in order. So we trolled through the tacky tourist shops. Considered bringing home pet hermit crabs for the ballerinas.

Got our fortunes told by Zoltar just like Tom Hanks.

 

Tried to decide if this dude was real or not. 

And finally, caved... 

and got tattoos. 

I heart you too, BSD! This one's for you, sweetie.

Sew Cute

Remember this photo from Saturday's Ten on Ten?

Well, today it looks like this...

Isn't it adorable? The Big Ballerina made it in a sewing class today. This is her second sewing class. 

Last week she made this...

She's having sew much fun! This time she took the class with 3 other little girlfriends. They all came home with the cutest purses. She said, "I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it."

"Why?" I asked.

"Because I don't have a cell phone," she replied with a smirk. Uh oh! 

I retorted, "Well, I do. I'll take it!"

She didn't oblige. :(

I need some new bedroom curtains. I wonder if they offer a preteen curtain class. Since her sewing skills are quickly surpassing mine.

Ten on Ten: July 2010

It's Ten on Ten time again.  Ten pictures over ten hours on the tenth of each month. I love this project.

Today was a hectic day so it was fun to document. Can't wait to see what everyone else shot today. If you haven't joined in, I hope you will next month.

2nd coat of paint

Breakfast

Groovy swim meet

Backstroke

Wrong Turn

Class

Research

Dinner Games

Big Ballerina's funky new fabric

Sweet Dreams, Good Night

A Couple of Before Pictures

The holiday weekend sucked the life out of us. We were busy, busy, busy. It was lots of fun. But...

We're all still yawning four days later. The heat and humidity soared back up and our energy plunged as a result. These past few days were definitely the lazy days of summer.

But we're getting motivated to tackle some new projects around the house. I've had some old pieces eating up valuable floor space in the garage. I've started on one and hope to crank the other one out soon.

This Craigslist chest is going to be BSD's new night stand. It's pretty big, but he likes it. Bigger is better in his book. I hope it looks right once it's done because he'll kill me if I don't wind up liking it after all this effort.

And this little puppy that we dragged out of the trash heap is going to be the Big Ballerina's night stand. It needs quite a bit of TLC. I think it has the potential to be super cute. I just need to decide on what color to paint it. 

And that will probably take me about six months to figure out.

BIcycle Birthday Bash: 2010

Every year on the first day of summer, we hop on our bikes and head to the boardwalk to celebrate my friend's birthday.  This year, feeling pretty smug about my growing photography skills, I toted along my tiny pocket camera to document the tradition. Luckily, nobody was expecting much of me. Because it's impossible to take a decent picture when you wait until you're one and half beers, one pineapple downside up martini, and two bottles of wine into the evening to pull out the camera.

So, the big bicycle birthday bash of 2010 scrapbook has no pictures of bicycles. No pictures of presents. And no pictures even remotely in focus. I guess I'm not grown up enough to be a professional photographer just yet.

And since I'm still immature, I'm going to take you along for the ride anyway. Grab your helmet.

The party starts off with dinner. In a nice restaurant. On a night that happens to be half price wine night. So, of course, we have to order twice as much wine. But not before BSD knocks over his martini. And is immediately brought another one. That he doesn't need.

After dinner, we ride over to an outside bar. Where we sit around the fire pit. As I'm enjoying the view and the fresh air...

our friends order a round of Lemon Drop shooters. Our friends who are all members of the Lemon Drop shooter professional team. Lick, Down-the-hatch, Suck. Or is it the other way around? I have no idea. Because they are so quick. And I am trying to take pictures. For the birthday girl. But everyone is moving so fast. 

See? They wouldn't sit still! 

Seconds later the team captain is paying the bill. 

And I still haven't figured out how to play the game. In the end, I went with lick, sip, suck. Lip, sip, suck. Lick, sip, suck. And I took a lot of crap for it. I don't think I made the team.


Back on our bikes for a long ride down the boardwalk to a bar called Waterman's. Famous for their gift shop. Their cool chandeliers. 

And their Orange Crushes. I don't know why they're so famous. They taste like St. Joseph's baby aspirin to me. At that point, it would have been much more helpful had my cup been filled with crushed baby aspirin and soda water. 

But still holding out hope of making the team, I had one Orange Crush. I'm pretty sure everyone else had two. I couldn't keep track. Everyone kept morphing into hyperdrive. I guess you get that super power once you've been on the team for a few years.

From there, we go off in search of dessert. Like flies to a bright light, we land at Dairy Queen. See the neon Dairy Queen sign? You don't need glasses to make out those letters.

I was too busy scarfing down my extra large peanut butter cup Blizzard to take any pictures of it. Sorry. But I did manage to get some GREAT pictures at our next stop. 


Check it out. See my friends riding the Fun Slide? You can totally make out the smiles on their faces.

And here. Look at the birthday girl waving her arms in the air on the ferris wheel.

Maybe I should be a photographer when I grow up after all. I'm not going to cross that one off my list just yet. Nope. I think I have real potential.

                       What Am I Going to Be When I Grow Up? 

                                      8.    Professional Lemon Drop shooter team member
                                      9.    Spokeswoman for the responsible drinking and riding coalition 
                                    10.    Photographer