Happy, Happy Birthday to My Love!

Tomorrow is my hunny's birthday! I'm pretty excited for him to turn the big 2-3! Partially because I'm 6 months older than him, so I feel even older when I'm 23 and he's only 22...Haha.

So, a little sneak peak on his birthday present... let's see how selfish I am.

Alex's absolute favorite show is Supernatural. Who else is a fan? He's pretty much got our entire group of friends addicted to the show... even my mom! Last year for Christmas, I made sure that he received all of the seasons on DVD.

I'm pretty sure he knows that he is getting this. He keeps saying things like "If you got it for me, you should just give it to me now so we can watch it." It was so hard, but I've stuck it out and haven't told him that I got it for him! It was even harder when him and a friend were talking about splitting the cost of the Season 6 Dvd's.

I will say though, I do really want to watch it, because I only saw a handful of episodes last year.

I also bought him an orbit sander. I am kind of surprised he wanted one. He had never even mentioned one before I talked about refinishing that ladder I talked about in my Barnfest post.

I picked one of up for him today, and I will say it was partially because I will need it to do the ladder. We also need to refinish his desk at some point as well. But I figured this would be a good gift that I could pick out myself, because some of the other tools he wants I'm afraid of buying the wrong thing.

Has anyone tried this sander? It was between this one and a Black & Decker one. This one had the pressure sensor and the canister to collect dust.

I hope I did good!

Perfect October Saturday Night

I don't know about the rest of the country, but I think that in Northwest Ohio, October finally arrived. I ran into a friend from high school yesterday evening, and she was home visiting from North Carolina. She was telling me how it was 80 degrees there when she left! Up here, it was cold, dark, and windy. Perfect fall weather. :)

Anyways, last night, the wonderful Mr. Alex, a friend of mine by the name of Andrew, and I decided to make Apple Pie (the drink, not the food). I think this is becoming a yearly tradition for us, as this is the second year that Alex and I have made it. We also carved one of our pumpkins last night as well.

 I used one of those pumpkin carving kits from the store to make this one. I think it is officially the best pumpkin I have ever carved! (Even though it is hard to see anything but the carving in the picture. It just didn't look as good inside!) The hardest part about the process was that the tools were so tiny, that my hand was cramping up, especially when I was etching the template onto the pumpkin. We have one more pumpkin to carve, and I'm really hoping we can do the Grim Reaper design! Maybe I'll do a post about it in the future...

Anyways... Apple Pie.

If you don't know what Apple Pie is (and I'm surprised by the number of people who have had no clue what I was talking about!), it is a delicious, extremely alcoholic drink that's perfect for fall. There are a lot of variations on the recipe, so here is the one that we use:

Apple Pie

• 2 Gallons Apple Cider
• 1 Quart Apple Juice
• 2 1/2 Cups Brown Sugar
• 7 Sticks of Cinnamon
• 1 Liter of Everclear

1. Simmer the Apple Cider, Apple Juice, Brown Sugar, and Cinnamon Sticks for about an hour. When the cinnamon sticks uncurl, then the mixture is finished. Make sure to stir often to help the sugar to dissolve. 
2. Let the pot cool. This part may take awhile. 
3. Stir in the Everclear.
4. Pour into canning jars. This mixture makes quite a bit, so make sure to have plenty of jars! Ours filled about 10 4-oz jars and 10 1-quart jars. Pint sized jars are perfect, as well. We left the cinnamon sticks in some of the larger jars, it is up to you.
5. Let sit for at least 2 weeks, the longer the better. The longer the jars are able to sit, the more the flavors will meld together making the flavor of the Everclear disappear. 

**You can use other types of liquor for this, especially since Everclear is not available in most states (We have to drive to Indiana to buy ours). Regular vodka would work, and a spiced rum would also taste delicious. 

 

Happy October!!

Ladder Decor

If you remember, I picked up a ladder when I went to Barnfest a couple weeks ago. I knew I had been wanting a ladder, but I had no idea what for. I was thinking something along the lines of using it in our future living room to hold blankets on (I am a blanket whore), or in the bathroom to hang decorative towels on.

Here are some pictures I found on Google to inspire me in my future ladder decorating ventures. Which one is your favorite?

Also, the one I got is covered in layers of paint that have mostly chipped off. So I'm trying to decide if I want to keep it as is, or if I want to repaint or stain it. Hmm....

15% Off + Free Shipping at Shabby Apple

Hey there everyone!

I just wanted to let you know about an exciting sale going on at Shabby Apple. Shabby Apple is an online boutique that I recently discovered, and they have some of the cutest clothes! They offer women's, maternity, and children's clothing!

To celebrate their new back-to-school line "Academia", they are offering 15% off their entire website + free shipping on standard domestic orders. Very exciting!

Their new line features feminine collegiate styles. Here is just a preview of what Academia offers, so make sure to check out their website for all of their styles plus some of their other lines.

Extra Credit; $82

Dorm Room Blouse; $38

Scholar Skirt; $48

To take advantage of their 15% off offer, use codeword "Ivy" during checkout! Remember: This offer is available for purchases on their entire website, not just the Academia line!

Barnfest

One of my favorite events held in my community this afternoon. Every year, we have an event call Barnfest/Fall Fest. Its basically a large craft show, to say the least. But the atmosphere of this event is great. I wish I would have taken some pictures. All of the volunteers dress very traditionally, in long dresses. Outside of the event, you can order homemade food. Every year, they sample a different soup, which they actually cook outside of in a very large kettle. This year was vegetable soup, and it was DELICIOUS!

Inside, there are a number of different vendors displaying their crafts. I picked up a few different purchases, which I'm super excited about! My first purchase was a 90 yard ball of alpaca/llama wool yarn, which is dyed brown and pink. I think I'm going to make a beautiful scarf out of it. My second purchase was a Corion cutting board. And then my third purchase was a ladder that, once we buy a house, I'll either use in the living to hang blankets on or in the bathroom for towels.

My #1 rule when walking around Barnfest is:

If I Can Make It Myself, Then I Won't I'm Not Allowed To Buy It

 I have some great inspiration now for some awesome projects! Oh, and there was a vendor selling Redneck Wineglasses. I make those! I'll have to do a tutorial on that particular project, because they are so super easy. Does anyone know the best glue to bond glass to glass? That's what I'm still trying to figure out.

There were two vendors selling one of my favorite creations! The one lady referred to them as Slub Wine Bottles, although when I tried to search for it to find y'all a picture, I didn't find what I was looking for. 

They are simply wine bottles that have been melted in a kiln. The reaction of each bottle is slightly different. They usually used as serving trays for cheese, but they have other uses as well. The best part is that my grandmother has a small kiln, so I'm thinking I can make these! I'm pretty excited. :)

My second favorite project was the lighted bottles that we found. 

They are simply empty bottles with a hole drilled through the back and Christmas lights stuffed inside the bottle. Some of the bottles we saw had a transparent paint, which was a super cool effect, and others were decorative liquor bottles. I'm really excited to make some of these as well, because I think they would look really neat, and give a nice effect in the evenings when you don't want the house all lit up.

One of the biggest projects being sold were fall wreaths. One of my favorites was decorated in black and white! I can't wait to make some wreaths. 

 Another project that you see all over the place were painted blocks of wood with cute quotes stenciled on. I bought one of these last year, and it looks really cute sitting on a table. A project like this would be really easy.

Maybe someday, I'll have enough projects to have my own stand at Barnfest!!

**please note that the pictures on this post were found via Google Images and were not taken by me at Barnfest.

Barn Wedding = Fabulous!

So, since I haven't been blogging recently, I haven't been able to tell you that me and my wonderful boyfriend are looking for a house. There is is this beautiful brick farm house that I am absolutely in love with. ... I'll get back to this in a minute.

I was on Facebook last night, and the clothing website Ruche had an article on their blog, something about barn weddings and a lightbulb went off .... FABULOUS! (And no, this is not an announcement that I'm getting married).

This old barn house that I really Really REALLY want us to buy has a barn! And its not one of those barns that are falling over either. I really wanted to get a cow, but I think it will have to wait until I can have a wedding reception in my barn. 

Here are some pictures I found on Google that can show you exactly what I'm talking about...

And the picture that started it all, straight from Ruche's blog...