Thursday, May 22, 2014

I’m Your Huckleberry Free Printable

In honor of our recent trip to Tombstone, I created this Doc Holliday printable for you today. 


It’s one of the most famous lines from the movie Tombstone. If you’ve never seen the movie or don’t remember that part, you can check out the YouTube clips here (at 1:34) and here (at 0:17).
 

Did you know there’s a debate about whether or not he actually says huckleberry? You can see the argument in the comments section on pretty much every Tombstone video on YouTube. Some people claim he actually says hucklebearer. However, the script says huckleberry and Val Kilmer’s official website says huckleberry, so I’m Team Huckleberry. 
 

Anyway, I printed and framed a copy of the print to hang on my boyfriend’s side of the office gallery wall. That space has needed something for awhile, so I’m happy to fill it with something the represents one of his favorite movies and reminds us of our trip to Tombstone.  


If you would like to print a copy for yourself (personal use only), click on the picture below to open full-size, then right-click Save As. It’s currently cropped to fit an 8x10 frame, but you can always crop/resize it to fit a different frame size.  You could also print it on a different color or patterned paper if you want to jazz it up a bit.  


If you have any problems saving the file, leave a comment or send me an e-mail and I’ll e-mail you a copy of the file.

Enjoy!



Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Exploring AZ: Tombstone

If you’ve been following my blog for awhile, you know that I love to travel. Two years ago my parents and I went to New Orleans, last year my mom and I spent two weeks in London and Paris, and in July my boyfriend and I are going to Alaska (I can’t wait!). I would love to travel more, but I only get two weeks of vacation from work a year plus I’m not made of money...which brings me to my new series: Exploring AZ!  


Sometimes I forget that I don’t need to take a full week off of work or spend thousands of dollars to travel. There are so many great places in Arizona that I’ve never seen and I want to start enjoying more of what the state has to offer. Today’s post is more of a weekend getaway, but I also want to include day trips and attractions around the Phoenix area. Hopefully you’ll enjoy seeing more of my home state. Or for those of you who live in AZ (or plan to visit), maybe it’ll give you some ideas.
 

OK, so I’m kicking off the series with a trip to Tombstone!  


I’m sure you all know about Wyatt Earp and the Gunfight at O.K. Corral…or you’ve at least seen one of the many movies based on the events (Gunfight at the O.K. Corral/Tombstone/Wyatt Earp). Actually, I’m pretty sure I only got my boyfriend to go with me because Wyatt Earp is one of his favorite movies…although he prefers Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday (Tombstone).
 

Anyway, Tombstone is about three hours southeast of us, so we decided to make a weekend of it. We headed down to Tucson Friday night after work (it’s about a two-hour drive). While in town we had to try a famous Sonoran hot dog (as seen on Man vs. Food). It was good, but not great. I don’t understand the hype. 


The following morning we headed to our first stop of the day: Kartchner Caverns.


Kartchner Caverns is a “living” cave (living means the cave is still active and formations are still growing). Because the caves are still active, tour groups are limited in size and nothing is allowed in the caverns…which is why I don’t have any personal pictures from inside to show you. The average temperature inside the caverns is 72 degrees and near 99 percent humidity. The caverns were pretty amazing and I really enjoyed them.  


After we finished touring the Caverns, we headed to Tombstone.  


Founded during the mining boom, silver brought wealth to the town, but lawlessness and violence brought notoriety. Once the epitome of the Wild West, Tombstone is now mostly a tourist destination.  


One of the highest-rated attractions in Tombstone is the Goodenough Mine. It’s a 45-minute walking tour through the original silver mine. We thought it was awesome! It was our favorite part of our whole trip. If you ever go to Tombstone, you must take this tour! Someday we’d like to go back and take the longer tour that takes you further into the mine.



Of course we had to watch a re-enactment of the gunfight at OK Corral while in town. They perform three times a day and it’s $10/person. 


We also toured the Bird Cage Theatre. It’s the only building in Tombstone that’s still completely original from the 1880s. It’s also supposed to be haunted and has been featured on all of the TV ghost shows. We didn’t see or hear anything, but I wouldn’t want to be there alone at night.


We spent the rest of the day exploring the town: shops, courthouse, and Boothill Graveyard.   


We had originally planned to spend the night in Tombstone, but ended up driving home Saturday night instead. Although it was a short trip, we had a great time. It was nice to get away, even if only for a couple days. 

What are your favorite places to visit in your home state?




Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Shopping Trip: Goodwill

Today we're going (virtual) thrift shopping together! 

We'll be stopping at two different Goodwill stores today. I'm lucky to have four within five miles of my house (two of them are less than two miles away), so I spend a lot of time at Goodwill. Every other Saturday is 50%-off everything, but it's always crazy busy in the morning/early afternoon. I usually don't go until later in the day, but I still find some good stuff (like my ironstone score a couple weeks ago). Does your Goodwill do half-off Saturdays too?

I always start at the clothing racks. The "better quality" section is my favorite. Sometimes I disagree with what they consider better quality, but there's usually some good finds on those racks. Although everything considered “better quality” is priced a couple dollars more…



After stopping by the fitting rooms, I usually head to the linens section. Here are some pieces that caught my eye:

I love this black and white damask valance. The pink accents are so cute and would be perfect for a girl's room. They even had a pair of them! $2.99/each. 



I also love these handmade knitted blankets. They would be so cute in a nursery (thinking of you, Vel). The pink one was the softest, most delicate blanket I've ever touched ($3.99) and who doesn't love white, pink and purple chevron ($4.99)?!


Next I like to look at all of the dishes, knick knacks, artwork, and furniture. Here are some of my finds:
 
This set of white canisters would work in almost any kitchen. If you wanted to jazz them up a bit you could add vinyl lettering, chalkboard labels, paint stripes, paint just the lids, etc…so many options! It would be $18.96 for the set of four. 


I really liked these coffee cups ($1.99 each). The pattern is Blue Willow and these were made in England. There was a set of four and I’m pretty sure I saw the matching saucers in the next aisle.


I didn't find any white ironstone on this Goodwill trip (you can see my collection here), but I did find a couple of other pieces for reference. Here are a couple examples of ironstone pieces that aren't white. The dinner plate was $1.99, the smaller plate was $0.99, and the creamer was $1.99. Actually, I think the cups above are ironstone too!

This picture could use an updated mat and frame, but I like the artwork. It's a large piece, but I still don't think I'd pay $49.99 for it, but I'm also cheap. I'd definitely wait for half-off day for this piece.
  

This dresser was in pretty rough shape, but I've seen some really cute makeovers on similar pieces, such as this mint green one. It was only $19.99 and I thought about buying it, but I don't really have a place for it.  

After all of that, here's what I ended up buying:

I'm kind of a book buying addict (one of the reasons I'll never get a Kindle), so of course I brought home a few books. The Pride and Prejudice "sequels" were $1.99 each. Bossypants and the Nicholas Sparks book were $2.99 each.  


I also found a dress ($9.99...ugh), 2 Lucky Brand shirts ($6.99 each) and two shirts for work ($5.99 for the purple ruffled shirt and $4.99 for the other).

So, do you shop at Goodwill? Any good finds lately?

 You can check out previous shopping trips here


Thursday, May 8, 2014

Laundry Room Reveal - ORC Week 6

*Spoiler Alert: I didn’t finish the counter top…

Anyway, before we get to the pictures I want to thank Linda for hosting the challenge and allowing all of us to join the party. I’m pretty sure my laundry room would still have a hole in the wall otherwise. The challenge really was the push I needed to get started on this room. Oh, and don’t forget to check out all of the other room reveals here!
 

OK, let’s start with the before pictures. Six weeks ago this was the only room in the house that hadn’t been painted, not to mention the hole in the wall… 



And now here’s my laundry room today!


We started by hiring a local company to repair the drywall. Then I painted everything in the room – walls, ceiling, trim, shelves, and doors. My boyfriend replaced the boob light with a new drum light.



As I already mentioned, I haven’t built the counter top yet. Life and work got in the way…I really don’t have a better excuse than that. I’m still planning on adding it and will share all the details once it’s complete (hopefully soon). I'm hoping Ringo and Abby's cute faces will distract you from the missing counter...


Anyway, I also made a lot of small updates throughout the room. I installed a rack for my ironing board (plus a new ironing board cover) and bought a hamper for the corner…no more throwing dirty towels on the floor!


I also updated the light switches and outlets in the room to new white ones. It’s a small change, but makes a big impact. Who wants a shiny new room with old, off-white light switches?! Oh, and I finally hung some artwork on the walls.


I added baskets to hide some of the items on the shelves plus chalkboard tags. It’s not like I don’t know what the baskets contain, but I thought the light baskets needed something dark to tie everything together. I didn’t try to hide the laundry detergent because I don’t want to have to pull it out of a basket every time I need to do a load of laundry. Once the counter is built I’m going to add a jar for change found in the wash and I’m waiting for my trash can to arrive from Amazon. I’m currently working on a source list and budget breakdown for this room. I hope to have that post for y’all in a few weeks when I finish the counter.  


And with that I’m ready to call this room “almost complete” and cross off everything on my to-do list except the counter! Although I wouldn’t mind adding a bench in here someday…


Repair Drywall
Paint Walls
Paint Trim and Door
Paint Ceiling
Paint Shelf and Replace Bracket
Install New Light Fixture
Update Light Switches to White
Add Wood Countertop
Hang Artwork
Install Ironing Board Hanger
Add Accessories/Final Touches



Tuesday, May 6, 2014

My Ironstone Collection

I started collecting ironstone about three years ago. I remember seeing Marian aka Miss Mustard Seed’s amazing collection of white dishes and serving pieces on her blog. I had no idea what they were at first, but I loved them and knew I wanted to start collecting them. Luckily she wrote this Ironstone 101 post that described what ironstone was and how to spot it.
 

So I started searching thrift stores for ironstone pieces, but wasn’t very diligent. A few months later I found this ironstone bowl at Goodwill for $2.99.  


It was my only piece until I found another bowl at an estate sale a few months later. I ended up finding the matching platter at Savers a few weeks later…I was hooked and started searching thrift stores regularly. I refuse to pay a lot of money and I’m not too concerned about matching sets. I just buy what I like and what I think looks pretty. 

My most expensive piece is this Independence ironstone casserole dish. I bought it at an antique store for $19.99. It was my first casserole dish and I was so excited when I found it. I found a similar piece on eBay for $29.75, so I feel like $19.99 was a decent deal.   



I think my next most expensive pieces are this small tureen ($12) and this gravy boat ($10). I found the tureen on sale at an antique store and the gravy boat at the parking lot flea market outside the same antique store (different days though). 


Aside from those pieces, everything else was bought at thrift stores. My most recent finds are these plates and cup and saucers sets from Goodwill. I bought them last half-off day around 5 p.m. It just goes to show that there’s still good stuff left later in the day! I was bouncing in the aisle when I found everything. The plates were $2.99/each, the cups and saucers were $0.99/each, except for the Independence ironstone cup and saucer. That was $5.99 for the set. After the discount, I paid $11.50 for everything. I was definitely feeling a bargain high.  


My other recent finds (and probably the best deals) are these two pieces. The one is a smaller version of my Independence ironstone casserole dish. I think I paid $2 for it. The other piece is the only unmarked piece I’ve felt comfortable buying. Usually if it’s not clearly marked ironstone, I don’t buy it. But I knew right away that this piece had to be ironstone without even checking or needing the marking. It was $3. I’ve seen similar ones selling on eBay for $70! I found both of these pieces at the same small, local thrift store. I think a lot of older people donate there, so they usually have really nice stuff.  


My china cabinet is almost full of ironstone now and it makes me so happy to look at. Soon I’ll need to find another spot in the house to expand my collection! 


OK, now tell me: what do you collect? I only collect ironstone now, but in high school I collected pineapples. I had the largest, most ridiculous and amazing collection of wooden pineapple bowls.


Thursday, May 1, 2014

Laundry Room Lighting and More Paint - ORC Week 5

Welcome to Week 5 of the One Room Challenge! I have a lot of progress to share this week…which is good because the final reveal is next week! Eeeeek!
 

I’m so happy to finally have this room painted! It was the only room left in the house unpainted (because I was waiting to fix the drywall). The color is Cumulus by Behr (eggshell finish) and I love it. It’s the perfect shade of light blue for a small space with no natural light. 


We also installed the new light fixture! I like this one so much more than the previous one I bought. It just fits the room so much better. 


Moving on to smaller changes - I finally got the ironing board up off the floor. It might not seem like a big deal to you, but SO much dog hair used to collect behind it and I’m so happy to cross this off my list!


I also finished my Laundry Today or Naked Tomorrow sign. The wood is from Michael’s…it was the exact size I needed. I painted it with some leftover white paint and added the vinyl (from this Etsy shop). Seriously, it makes me laugh every time I see it! 


So my last big project is installing the countertop. I’m not going to lie. I’m nervous about being able to finish it in time…But anyway, let’s review the to-do list and see what else I need to finish this week...and don't forget to stop by the linkup and check out the rest of the room makeovers!
 

Repair Drywall
Paint Walls
Paint Trim and Door
Paint Ceiling
Paint Shelf and Replace Bracket
Install New Light Fixture

Update Light Switches to White
Add Wood Countertop
Hang Artwork
Install Ironing Board Hanger
Add Accessories/Final Touches