Re-Framed

Shortly after our wedding pictures came in, I decided I wanted to try to make frames myself to display them in instead of paying wads of cash to have someone do it for me. I knew I didn't want them to be too fancy, because our house isn't fancy, so it didn't seem like it would be that hard. And it wasn't.

We used 1x4 and 1x6 pine boards to make the main body of the frame and then added some decorative trim to give it a little something extra. It was all very simple. I painted them and distressed them, had some glass cut, and we had them hanging above the fireplace in our bedroom in no time.

Mark that project off the list of things to do! Whoo!

This past winter we got a little bit more colder weather than we usually do. Our fireplace downstairs is wood burning and we love it, but our living room also gets a draft from our front door. So this year we started using the gas fireplace in our bedroom a little more. It made our room nice and toasty.

So one night after we'd had the fire going for a while, we turned it off and headed to bed. Somewhere around 2:30 that morning, Doc and I both shot up in bed after hearing the loudest popping noise ever. "What was that!?!" we asked each other. I thought for sure it had gotten so cold outside that our window pains had busted. But we inspected all the windows and they looked fine.  After a few more small pops, we finally realized the frames were making the noises.

Long story short, it turns out that extreme changes in temperature cause wood to expand and contract. I knew that, but I never thought the temperatures in our house were that extreme. But, because the frames were right above the fireplace while it was hot, and then hanging against the chimney when it was cold outside, they definitely experienced some changes in temperature.

And so all the seams split.

Grrrrr. Back at square one.

This time, we got smart. We decided to make the frames out of mdf. Sure, they'd be heavier, but at least there wouldn't be any seams that could split!

Round two of this project was a little bit easier. We traced the size of the original frames, centered the glass inside it, and cut out the center hole.

Next up, add some decorative molding around the hole.

I wanted to go with the distressed look again, so I started off with a coat of dark brown paint.

And then covered them with my white paint.

Once that dried, I sanded away until I liked how distressed they were. Slapped on a coat of polyurethane and they were done!

I'm so glad I can mark this project off my list of things to do again. Learn from my mistake and do it right the first time. Trust me, it is not fun having to re-do a project.

The NB Diaries: Chapter 3

Chapter One: hereChapter Two: here

Last Friday afternoon, NB wandered over to my cube less than an hour before quittin' time. She seemed excited that the Bigger Boss and Even Bigger Boss had already left for the afternoon and that she could stop thinking and just count down the minutes until the weekend. My brain had already started wandering to the sunshiny weather outside, so I was just glad she wasn't bringing me a project. She sat down in my cubicle guest chair and we got to chit-chatting about flowers, and plants, and who knows what else when we were suddenly interrupted by my coworker in the next cube over.

Coworker: O0h, NB, I bet you know that song! Me and NB: Huh? What? What are you talking about? Coworker: Do you know that song that Other Coworker is singing? NB: What song? Coworker: You know, the apple bottom song. NB: Of course I know that song! Who do you think I am?

NB (singing): Shawty got low, low, low...the baggy sweatpants and the reeboks with the strap, she turned around and GAVE THAT BIG BOOTY A SMACK...she hit the flo', next thing you know, shawty got low, low, low...

We were laughing hysterically. Other Coworker was not around for the first rap episode, so she had no idea this was coming. But none of us realized how LOUD she was going to get!

Me: Oh my gosh! How do you know all of this music? NB: Well sometimes I have to google the lyrics and then I have to practice. Me: Do you rap in your car? NB: I don't have a very long commute to work, but yes, I rap in my car. Me and Coworkers: Office Space!! You're the guy from Office Space!

We continue on for a few minutes about how she is totally the guy from Office Space and we are completely cracking up.

NB: What is Office Space? Me: What?! You've never seen Office Space?? Anyone who works in a building with cubicles has to see Office Space. Why do you think we have all these TPS Reports?

So we end up leaving for the afternoon still smiling about all the Office Space scenes we've just reenacted and in the back of my head, I have a feeling I know what NB would be doing over the weekend.

Fast forward to this morning, when I find this little gem in my inbox:

To: lucy@workemailaddress.com From: NB@newboss.com (YES - first name [at] firstnamelastname - her personal email address) Date: Saturday, 4:09pm

Subject: Lucy, clarification is needed.

I've been watching clips from the movie Office Space. Yesterday you compared my presence in the cubicles to that movie.

Which character do I remind you of?

Consider your answer carefully.

Love,

NB

P.S. Have a nice day!

Crap! It's probably been over 3 years since I have actually seen the movie in its entirety and the one Coworker that can recite every line from it is on vacation this week. Readers, help! Which character is she? We were originally thinking the guy that raps in his car in the opening credits, but he's also the PC Load Letter guy. Is that the best fit? What do you think? My job could be riding on this...

Starving Artists

Last Wednesday night, I met up with some friends - Mary Elizabeth, Meghan, and Stephanie - to enjoy a night of painting together. I don't remember how we found out about this, but we immediately signed up for it. I was veeerrrry excited a) for a night out with the girls, b) because I love all things crafty, and c) because I was kinda curious to see how a real artist painted a canvas. The class was very relaxed - we were able to bring wine and snacks to have throughout the night. So maybe the "starving" part of my title to this post isn't necessarily true...

After snacking for a bit, it was time to get to work! We started by painting the background orange.

Don't forget to get the edges!

Our next step was to paint randomly sized and spaced white circles and then outline them in blue (or red, in my case). Then came the tricky part - attempting to paint two straight-ish lines across the top. Our teacher showed us how to use our paint brush to mark it off before we painted it.

And while we had our little paint brush out, we also outlined our circle flowers.

Steph wasn't so sure about this part...

And Mary let the instructor take over while she had more wine. (We discovered that more wine = better looking painting.)

This was probably about the time I dropped my paint brush and it rolled all the way down my canvas.

The last step was to add birds to our wire. We were pretty nervous about those birds. I mean, you can't really mess up flowers. They can be any shape you want. But birds? Well, they should probably look like birds. The instructor told us we could just freehand them OR she had some stencils if we wanted them. Yesssss! We cheated - no free-handed birds for us.

After a few last finishing touches, all we had left to do was let them dry!

Ta daaa! Our finished masterpieces. So similar, yet so different.

I, personally, can't wait to go back again. Anyone want to come with me?

Felix's, Faux Hawks, and Fairies

The first two parts of our NOLA trip can be found here and here. Saturday night got kicked off with dinner at Felix's. The wait was long and the restaurant was freezing cold, but the food made up for it all. It was yummy!

What's a Saturday night without a couple of mohawks faux hawks??

With our bellies full, we headed to the Old Absinthe House to try the Green Fairy. It's so fun to watch the bartender prepare an absinthe drink. They place a sugar cube on top of a slotted spoon that's placed over the glass. The water and absinthe are poured over the sugar cube making a milky liquid, and then the sugar cube is set on fire. Here is a very, very blurry picture of it.

Cool to watch, but the drink itself tastes grody. Veeeeeeerrrrry grody.  It's like liquid black licorice. Blech. And this is what happens to you if you drink it.

And awww, look...24 hours and a glass of absinthe later and they're still engaged. So sweet.

We stayed at the Old Absinthe House for a couple of hours before deciding we were hungry again. So we walked to Bourbon Street to find some pizza. At the time, I thought this was the best piece of pizza I had ever eaten in my entire life.

I don't remember the name of the place we were at, but I do remember that they had awesome music.

It was so good it deserved a chest bump.

************

Our trip was short and sweet. On Sunday, we really only had time to check out of our rooms, grab something to eat, and then head to the train station. We did have one little snafu...apparently our return tickets home were actually for Saturday, not Sunday (as in, we should have departed around the time we were chasing after the proposal carriage). The train was sold out so things weren't looking good. After lots of phone calls (on Amtrak's end) and nail-biting (on our end) they finally told us they could squeeze us in on the lower level. Turns out, the lower level is like first class on the train. Not a bad way to end our trip.

Goodbye, New Orleans! Hopefully we'll see you again soon.