St. Augustine, FL

Our adventures in pictures... 

Our trip a couple months ago

Mosaic Stairway

Flagler College

We stopped in a coffee shop, to dodge the rain

While others just stuck it out...

Artichoke hearts, tomatoes, mozzarella and cilantro piled high. Oh yum.

Look at that hot momma!

Future hopeful home :)

 St. Augustine Beach

The gorgeous sea shell covered beach

Playing on the shore

Sea Shellin'

 

She didn't want to get her coach shoes wet...

I guess I didn't mind too much...

Hello Gorgeous 

Sally Sells Sea Shells by the Sea Shore

Our finds of the day!!

My proud find was a piece of sea glass (in the left side of the picture!)

The Best Stain Remover EVER

 

This stuff is magical, magical I tell you!

My step mom shared one of her little secrets with me, and I'm sooo glad she did, I have been stain free ever since.

Dawn dishwashing detergent, it's the stuff made by stain fighting gods. I've only used the green kind, so I can't tell you how the blue, yellow, or any other colored Dawn soaps work. But I can tell you that this stuff has made grass, blood, food, and coffee stains vanish right before my very eyes.

If you still don't believe me, listen to this story (It's a true story):

On the first day of 11th grade, 2 Mondays ago, I was all dressed head-to-toe white shirt, black jeans, and white shoes, and 5 min. away from leaving home and embarking on my first day of junior year. After having my morning cup o joe, I was walking to the kitchen, coffee in hand, and suddenly felt something warm on my stomach. Yes, that's right I spilled coffee all over my solid white shirt and narrowly missed staining my white shoes. About ready to cry, I stripped my shirt and immediately soaked my shirt with water and then dribbled Dawn dishwashing soap all over the stained area. Between massaging it in and rinsing repeatedly with water, 95% of it came out! I threw it in the dryer and 5 min. later taa-daa! The stain was gone.

 

 

How to have your stains magically disappear:

(works best with stains that haven't gone through the dryer yet)

 

1. wet stained area

2. dribble small amount of Dawn Dishwashing Soap

3. massage into stain or scrub it with a toothbrush

4. repeat and add water until stain is gone

5. throw in the washer as normal or throw in dryer for quick wear

 

Have a happy stain free day!!

 

 

Washi Tape Note Card

I have found a new love, washi tape. Its sticky paper like adhesive that comes in all colors and prints! There are a million things you could do with this fun stuff! Cards, decorating, hanging pictures, or adding a little color to everyday items (phone chargers, pencils, pens, etc.)

Materials:
Card
Washi Tape
Pencil (optional)

Directions:
I didn't do this, but it may be easier to write out the message you want to spell out in washi tape in pencil first.
Then simply just rip small pieces of wash tape and start placing it on the card, layering it so it has that artsy shabby-chic look.
And that's all!
So simply and so cute!

Here are some other ideas...

How cute is that keyboard?! I wish I had the patience for that!

Natalie's Style: Possibly The Perfect Dress

 

My incredible Aunt Beth sent me this simple but gorgeous maxi dress. When I pulled up to my house yesterday afternoon and saw the yellow package sitting on my door step waiting to be opened, it instantly made my whole day.

She told me a few weeks ago that she had seen this dress on another lady and just had to have it. She ran into Forever 21 to see if they had any left, they did thank goodness, and she instantly fell in love {I can see why} and bought a black, green, and blue one.

Usually when I purchase things at Forever 21 {even though I adore the store and the clothes it beholds} you can feel the cheap fabric the moment you slide it on. But that wasn't the case with this dress, it has a light but stretchy fabric that is breathable but not too sheer where you need a slip, it's comfortable and moves with your body not against it. It's perfect for the upcoming fall months, where you can stay warm with the long sleeves but also roll them up in the spring and summer months. If that doesn't have you convinced, just wait till you see the price {such a steal}. 

Grab this dress before it's gone! As my Aunt said to me, it's timeless and you'll be able to wear it for years to come.

You could really wear this dressed up or dressed down. Add a Moto Jacket , scarf, and boots, for a fall time look, that will also keep you warm! Or wear it with sandals and a long or chunky necklace.

Just add your own personal style! You can't go wrong with this dress. 

Soda Brand Wedges

I couldn't find the exact ones online but these are similar:

here

Polish: Essie Butler Please

Nope, you're not reading that wrong. That is the actual price!

Buy Here

Renovation Part 3

WE'RE FINALLY DONE!!!!! Halle-freakin-lujah

After painting on and off for the past 2 weeks, renovating the old wallpaper and lifeless paint, we are finally done!

I know you're probably soooo over seeing renovation posts, and to be honest I'm soooo over writing about them, so I will make this last one short and sweet! 

 

 

#1: Entry/Foray

What was once a boring white paint pealing entry...

Is now gorgeous and welcoming...

#2 Dining Room

 

#3 Kitchen

Before...

After...



#4 Master Bath

We used the same color green in these 4 renos but somehow it looks way different in the pictures of the bathroom :(

Ugh there's that wallpaper again...

Now there is officially no more (visible) wallpaper!!!

#5 Ceiling





Some old water damage... poof it's gone!!

Isn't Carey amazing (she's the super hero popping up in these reno pictures), a HUGE thank you to her!!! We couldn't of done what we did without her!

Color Code A Crowded Key Ring

There's nothing worse than getting to your front door and fumbling around for what seems like hours to find the one key that will unlock the door ahead. Not only is it annoying but it's probably not the safest way to go either. To help you spot your house key, car key, or office key in a jiffy, just splash a few dabs of colorful nail polish on the ends of your keys and let dry. Not only it super cute, it's also super helpful! Hopefully this will make your day a little less hectic!

FREE PAINT SATURDAY AT ACE HARDWARE

If you're out and about today {which you should be, 'cause it's Saturday WHOOP WHOOP}

and have been wanting to try out a new color in your home stop by an Ace Hardware and get a free quart of paint TODAY ONLY!! Let me repeat, FREE. The best part is, its not just one or 2 colors they're giving away here, you can bring in a paint chip or tell them the color you want {even if it's not a Clark + Kensington Paint} and they will match it to the exact color you want AND IT'S STILL FREE!

And as If it couldn't get better, there's primer already in all of the paints you get so you won't even have to buy primer!! This deal just couldn't get any better

*It's one per person per store

Today is the last Saturday they are running this promotion EVER, so take advantage of it while you can!!

Wanna hear a secret?

We got the grey paint we used to paint the master bedroom in our new house seen HERE

for free {last Saturday, when having another free paint Saturday}. We saved $75 on paint by going into 3 different Ace Hardwares and got a total of 6 free quarts or paint. Is that bad?

Well I hope not, 'cause we are doing the same thing today! Ha Ha Ha

So grab some friends or just some random people you find in the parking lot and get them all to ask for the color of paint you want and you'll paint a whole 1, 2, 3 rooms for free!!

Hey, in the long run you're just trying to support your local Ace Hardware and take advantage of the nice deals they're offering ;)

Have a great weekend!!

Renovation Part 2

 { If you missed the Renovation Part 1 click HERE }

It has been a full week, between painting, and packing, and mentally preparing myself for the start of a new school year happening in 1 1/2 sad short weeks... I'm pretty dang exhausted and stressed, and school hasn't even started yet-go figure.

Anyway, enough of my complaining, while we continued on our no-wallpaper-allowed escapade, we actually took a quick detour and hit up the weird light pink painted second family room. Yes, it was actually light pink, a dingy light pink.

To help you get this visual in your head here is a close resembling swatch to what the god awful color looked like:


Now, you're probably thinking "Oh my gosh it's not that bad, it's actually kind of pretty" and that I'm over exaggerating. But to be honest, this is a pretty color, it would be splendid as a nail color but not a room color. 

So we got to painting...



For this paint color we actually mixed 3 neutral tans together and came up with this color. If you want more info on the color click HERE and scroll down!



Here, you can see the contrast between the old & new paint, but this doesn't accurately show the gaudy cotton candy pink... I couldn't quite picture it correctly.

This was once we had completed the room, but the paint hadn't dried yet.

I will post after pictures by the end of the day of the completed room {hint: It looks sooooo much better}

Next up on our redo list was this yucky looking light fixture...

This thing looked like it had taken a beating in the last 70 years...

Can you believe that's the same grey paint we used in the master bedroom?!?!

That's the cool thing about painting is it's like your wiping away a whole other decade{or in this houses case almost 7 decades} of chapters in the houses life,

and starting a whole new one.

In the last house we lived in we didn't do any updating or painting, we just left the house as we found it. So this whole painting renovation process has been new to me and I have to say I love the power of paint! It transforms a room, or in our case most of the house, into a completely new house with completely new memories to come.

Phewww, another round of renovations done and a few more to come, stay tuned!