Bye Bye Google Reader

Sad to see Google Reader go tomorrow! If you are a Google reader, there are a couple ways you can continue to follow me. On the right side of my blog you'll see a "Follow this blog with Bloglovin" button that you can click to follow me over on Bloglovin. You can also sign up on the right to subscribe to have my posts delivered right to your inbox. Hope this helps!

Have a great night!

The Most Random of Posts

I'm pretty sure this is going to be the most random post you've ever read in your entire life. But, if it helps you out, you'll thank me. Haha!

The other day, I had a painful case of hiccups and was dying to get rid of them. I hate getting the hiccups! I tried all the old tricks (ya know, drink water or hold your breath until you explode?) but nothing was working. So, I googled it, of course! One site mentioned that sticking your tongue out will get rid of the hiccups. I tried it and of all things, it worked! The next time I had hiccups, I couldn't remember what exactly I had done before, so I stuck the tip of my tongue to the roof of my mouth for about 10-15 seconds and that worked, too! I've had the hiccups multiple times since and I do the tongue on the roof of my mouth trick and they are instantly gone! Mind blown. So apparently I came up with my own way of curing hiccups. Ridiculous.

Anyway, we have some house projects in the pipe right now that I'll be posting about soon! But for now, enjoy a hiccup-free life. Haha! Told you this was random. ;)

Digging It #4

Time for another installment of things I'm diggin'. Oh yeah, Baby. :)

Speck iPhone CandyShell Case. When Hubby and I first entered the new age of smart phones last year, we bought cases from the cell phone store. Unfortunately, those cases only lasted a few months then broke all to smithereens. Such a waste of $25. After my case broke, I spotted this Speck case on clearance for $10 at Target and snagged it. I love love love it! I  have dropped my phone (even face down on asphalt!) many times and my phone has been totally fine. Love this case and it comes in so many cute colors! I did put one of those protective screen film things on it in addition to the case, to prevent screen scratches.

Chick-fil-a Ice Cream Cone. It is swelteringly hot here. Like the kind of heat that makes me wonder what the point of moving away from Florida was? But, nothing cools you down like an ice cream cone. And no one makes them better than Chick-fil-a! 

Dwellings By Devore's Cozy Coupe Makeover. I know, I know... I've already pinned this and posted it on facebook, but it's just way too cute! Find out how to do it here! 

Photo from Dwellingsbydevore.com

IHeart Organizing's Front Door. Jen over at IHeart Organizing recently painted her front door a beautiful shade of teal/blue/gray. I love it! 

Photo from Iheartorganizing.blogspot.com

Thirty One Organizing Bags. I got both of these bags for Christmas and LOVE them! The Large Utility Tote is great for just about anything from corralling my return pile in the car to using it as a beach bag! I love it! The Organizing Utility Tote is a great because it has multiple pockets on the outside of the bag. No more digging for your keys, sunglasses, phone, or Little One's cup! 

That's all for now! Happy almost weekend, everyone!

Color My Home

Ashley from Simply Designing asked me to guest post today for her Color My Home blog series. Check out my post here!

Playroom Progress: Gallery Wall

Just popping in really quick to show you our finished playroom gallery wall! It's been a slow process to get it hung just right and all the frames filled, but we can finally check it off the list!

 Confession time... I've seen a bajillion tutorials on how to hang a gallery wall using templates, etc, but didn't bother. I laid out the frames how I wanted, took a picture, and had Hubby wave his magic wand. This worked great except for the set of two side-by-side frames. He measured and leveled, but they still came out crooked. Turns out, the hooks on the back of the frame were in slightly different spots. Grrrr. I finally figured out if I put a flat thumbtack in the hook and taped it into place, I could get the frame up exactly where I wanted, then press in the tack. It left I nice little hole that I used as my guide to put in the nail. Next time, I'll save myself the patching and repainting and create a template!

I purchased the alphabet artwork at a craft show. The elephant art, fingerprint art, and paintings were done by Little One. The photos are matted with colorful scrapbook papers.

I love how it turned out and am so glad to be one step closer to finishing this room!

Southern Style Porch

I'm SO excited to have our front porch finished and checked off of our to-do list! I love, love, love the way it turned out! I don't really have any before pictures...but just picture a big empty porch! Our porch runs the full width of the house, with the front door in the middle. On one side of the porch, we put our freshly painted rocking chairs. On the other side, we decided to hang a porch swing!

My grandparents (Dad's side) had a swing on the back porch of their mountain cabin. I have great memories of swinging on the swing with them while chatting and watching the squirrels in the back yard and gazing at the mountains in the distance. When I saw our new house, I knew I wanted to put a swing on the porch, just like my grandparents used to have.

The swing is from Porchswings.com. We were going to order one from Lowe's or Home Depot (they both have a white swing for around $100), but they had a 300lb weight capacity...for a two-seater swing. I don't know about you, but that is completely unrealistic that a husband and wife's combined weight would only be 300lbs! Maybe they intended for an adult and child to sit on the swing? I don't know, but it just wasn't going to work for us.

I did some searching online and the only swings I could find were around $450-$600 for a larger weight capacity. Um, no. We didn't budget for that much moolah and we're way too cheap to pay that much anyway. After a little more searching, I found this swing that could hold our entire family's weight, plus some. It was listed at $159 with free shipping, but they had a special promotion going when I ordered, so I got it for $129 shipped! Score! It's a very well made, quality swing! Very happy with it!

My hubby and his dad hung it up while his parents were in town visiting. Way to make 'em work while on vacation right? Haha :) The instructions just say to drill a pilot hole into the rafters and then screw in the hardware to the ceiling. Of course, I wanted the swing hung diagonally, so it was a bit more difficult for them. Sorry guys! I'll get hubby on here to write a tutorial on how they hung it if anyone needs the info!

Here's our finished porch! The cushions are from Pier 1, I made the wreath, the flowers and pots are from Home Depot, and the rug is from Target. We've been enjoying the porch so much, especially now that the flowers are blooming out front. So pretty!

Linking up to Thrifty Decor Chick and East Coast Creative!