Refashioned Dress

First I want to thank everyone for your patience! I know things have been funky being in this new make-shift place, but I promise we are working on getting things figured out. I also don't have consistent internet in my new apartment, so everything has been wonky. We were hacking into a neighbors internet, but it hasn't been working the last few days so who knows. The good news is, Our internet will be turned on  by 5pm today. So thank god for that. Until then I am writing you from my local Starbucks, where they have gotten to know me too well. 

In between unpacking and other things, I decided to finally do something about a dress I have. 

It is a super cute dress from Lane Bryant that I love except for one thing. The bottom is weird, and doesn't really fit right. It's too big in the wrong places and too small in the wrong places. I can't really explain it, but it wasn't working for me. It was such a bummer because I love the top! So I decided to make a change. I started by chopping off the skirt at the waist band. I was careful to only cut the threads so the fabric is still usable. Then I went shopping for a new fabric. I found this white flowy fabric that I loved and the ruffles it has is a great for hiding all the parts I don't quite love about my midsection. 

Next I had to hand pleat the fabric and tack it to the elastic waist band to be sewn. After it was attached, I topstitched it to completely attach the fabric and it was complete. 

Aaahh much better! I wore it to see a play last night and it was perfect!  I love the new look of it, and now that it fits better, I will wear it way more often! 

Refashion anything lately? Thank you again for sticking with me during this crazy time, I promise things will be figured out soon! 

Well, we did it

We moved! Now our lives are centered around unpacking and finding a place for everything. We keep downsizing, so we need to get rid of some extra stuff this time. We went from living in a 3 bedroom house with a full basement and two car garage, to a 2 bedroom condo with a 1 car garage, to a 1 bedroom apartment with a tiny storage closet off the balcony. See where I'm going here? We don't have enough space to fit a 3 bedroom house worth of stuff into a 1 bedroom apartment. So as we unpack, we are purging. I will leave you with a few Before shots of the new place!

 Our Living Room

The kitchen/ dining room

Our Closet

Guess I didn't get a pic of the bedroom. Anyhoo there ya go. Now if anyone wants to come help me unpack, I will hug them :)

Lust List

Rhino Bust- Anthropologie- $68.00

King Size Pavilion Canopy Bed- Crate and Barrel- $1400

(It's a LUST list, not a SHOPPING list)

Atlas Tapestry in Teal- Urban Outfitters- $39.99

Atlas Pillar Holder- Z Gallerie- $16.95

Hemnes TV Storage Combination- Ikea- $665

Hawthorn Patio Set- Target- $199

Trunks Full of Taste Salt and Pepper Shakers- ModCloth- $12.99

Active Duffle Bag- Old Navy- $22.94

Navy Blue Wayfarer- Ray Ban- $129

On the Cheap- Striped Bedding Edition

On this week's On the Cheap, I am featuring two seemingly identical products. They are both grey and white striped duvet covers. Big chunky stripes are very in right now, and I am a huge fan.

This little number from West Elm would look great on my bed,and at $69 for a queen, it's not unfairly priced.

But then I saw this very similar duvet cover from target for only $25 for a queen.



I love to save money, and if I can get something for $25, I have a hard time spending $69 for it. So while $44 doesn't seem like a huge savings, you are saving almost double what you spent on the lower priced duvet.

So after this week, I have saved you all a total of $1421. Not too bad :)

Make It Monday- Mooooolah!

Yep, this week for Make It Monday, I am planning on making Money! Cash, dough, beans, peas, moooolah, whatever you call it, I am making it! In prep for our big move on Sunday, I am selling everything we don't need or have room for on Craigslist! So on Sunday, I will give a run down on what we made :) Who doesn't LOVE making money :)

 

Show Off Sundays

Sorry if you came by to see if I made the swimsuit cover-up. Things got a little crazy this week so I didn't have the chance to make it. But I will as soon as I can :)

In other news, we did re-paint the bed today. It is the same color it was, we just touched up parts that got scratched in the move. We can't wait to move into our new place next sunday!

Peach Cobbler

Is it really summer without peach cobbler? I say no. I came across a berry cobbler recipe on one of my new favorite blogs Living a Changed Life that only had 3 ingredients and is WW friendly! Count me in! I was craving Peach cobbler, so I modified the recipe to use peaches instead, and It was awesome!

*** I apologize for the crappy photos. My camera is packed so these are iPhone photos...

3 ingredient Peach Cobbler



What you need:

1 box white cake mix

1 can clear soda (sprite, sierra mist, diet is best)

Frozen Peaches (two bags)

Pam

 

1. Preheat the oven at 350. Pam the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Dump the frozen peaches into the pan.



2. Mix the box  of cake mix and a can of Sprite. I bought a bottle because it was cheaper, so fun fact- 1 can is 1 1/2 cups.



3. Mix well and pour over peaches.

Please excuse the shadow of my hands lol

4. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until top is firm and golden brown.

5. Enjoy!

This cobbler is easy and it was pretty delicious! The frozen peaches became soft and sweet, but a little tart. The top was fluffy and good. Not quite as "cobbler" like and crumbly like I like, but it had a good flavor. Maybe next time I would mix half and sprinkle the plain cake mix on top. That would create a streusel like topping. The best part is that one serving (1/12 th of the cobbler ) is only 4 WW Pts +! That is great for a dessert!

Best part is, you can make it with any type of frozen fruit! Please, try this recipe. If you do, please tell me what you think!!

On the Cheap- Chevron Rug edition

I am back this week with another edition of On the Cheap! Last week I saved you all $1000 by showing you how similar the Ikea Karlstad was to the Crate and Barrel Vaughn sofa are. I hope you spent it wisely ;)

This week, I am looking at rugs. As you know, I am a fan of chevron patterned things, rugs being no exception. I found this beauty on Pottery Barn. It will cost you $599 for an 8x10.



But this rug from rugsusa.com, (which comes highly recommended by many, including my sister in law) will give you the same look but only cost you $222 for an 8x10.

Am I saving you thousands? No, you greedy ladies. But those $377 will add up fast!

So far in two weeks I have saved you all $1377. You're welcome.

Running

I don't love running. I am not very good at it. For as long as I can remember I haven't been very good at it. I historically have a dysfunctional relationship with running. This makes me want to conquer it. I know running is one of the best all over exercises. I really want to run, but it is something I both don't know how to do, and don't really enjoy. Quite the conundrum.

I have had past experiences with couch to 5k. It is hard. I think it probably too hard for me at my current weight. I really need to start slower, and more basic, than C25K. That is where this new program I found comes in. 

This program starts off a little slower, and really works up an endurance. I think I am going to do this program before I start C25K again. I think once I do this, I can really succeed with running.

Make it Monday- Swim Suit Cover Up

Sorry this is so late today! I woke up and holycrapitsmonday! I am so happy about the hot weather and sunshine! This is because I LOVE swimming! I have a super cute swimsuit, but all I have to wear over it to the pool is shorts, which is not cute. So I have been craving a new cover up! Specifically this one:

 



It just looks so easy! I think I will follow this plan.



I will make sure to take lots of pictures and share how it goes on Sunday!

 

Show Off Sundays: DIY Chevron Glasses

If you remember way back to Monday, I posted a link to a tutorial on Hi Sugarplum to make DIY frosted chevron glasses.

I love these glasses and her tutorial seemed easy enough to follow, but I planned to make a few tweaks. I was going to use glass etching cream instead of frosted glass spray paint, so it was more permanent. (She mentioned that the spray paint is not dishwasher safe).

So I went to Ikea, and picked up some glasses, went to Michaels to get the painters tape and glass etching cream, and went to town.

I taped a chevron pattern starting at the bottom of the glass.

Then I brushed on a thick-ish coat of the Etching Cream.

Per the instructions, I let it sit at least 60 seconds to cure. After 60 seconds, you wash it off with cold water. I took off the tape and this is what I got.

Crap. Clearly it didn't really work. So I tried another glass, same procedure, but I let it sit for 5 minutes before I rinsed it off.

Marginally better, but still unacceptable. I really was hoping for a result like those above, a clean even frostiness that looks awesome. But it wasn't. I am not sure if more cream would be better, or maybe letting it sit even longer, but I am not confident even then I would achieve the results I was hoping for. So it looks like maybe spray paint is the way to go. And really as long as you don't put them in the dishwasher, they will look great.

So stay tuned for part 2, where I try again, using spray paint.

** Update** 7/8/12- A friend of mine recently etched her Pyrex's and left the cream on for 15-20 min and she said it left a very clean etch. I am determined to have dishwasher safe glasses, so I will be giving this method a try! Thanks Cyn!!

Sloppy Tacos

Do you love Sloppy Tacos? (who doesn't???) Well get the exclusive recipe over at Good Girl Gone Wife!

 

Blogger of the Month!!

I am so excited! One of my favorite bloggers ever made me Blogger of the Month on her blog! She asked me a bunch of questions, and I am guest posting a family recipe over there this weekend! Check it out!