Liebster Awards!

Over the last few months, I was nominated for 3 Liebster awards!  Thank you to Brenda at Chatting Over Chocolate, Abby at Just A Girl And Her Blog, and Kae at Englishrose2 for the honor!  What is a Liebster Award?  It's given to up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers.  In German, Liebster means:  sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome - or at least, that's what I've been told.  ;)  

The rules:  
1)  Tell 11 random facts about yourself
2)  Answer the 11 questions the nominator has asked you
3)  Choose 11 new bloggers (with less than 200 followers) to pass the award to & link them in your post
4)  Create 11 new questions for the bloggers you pass the award to
5)  Go back to their page & tell them about the award
6)  No tag backs

Now, I'm going to be a very bad blogger and not do #3-5.  It's not that I don't appreciate the award, but most of the blogs I read/follow have more than 200 followers and the ones I thought about giving the award to, have already received the Liebster and more than once!  Because I don't have a ton of time right now to search for 11 nominees and already too much time has passed since receiving these awards, I'm going to cheat.  I will say that anyone who takes the time to blog and share part of their lives and talent with us are wonderful!  Is that overly cheesy?  ;)  Yes, but it's true, though!

11 Random Facts About Me:
1)  I'm 1/2 Thai, 1/4 Italian, and who knows what else (I've heard I'm also part Cherokee).
2)  I have lots of siblings, but I'm technically the only child of my mom & dad.  All my siblings are technically half-siblings or step-siblings, but I love them all just the same.
3)  I love to travel!  I've been all over the US and various places in Canada, Mexico, Thailand, and Italy. 
4)  I have A LOT of family in Thailand (aunts, uncles, cousins), including my grandmother.  I met her for the first time when I was 25, but not able to have a conversation with her since I don't speak Thai.  It was very emotional meeting her though.  I also have family in Italy, although they are more distant relatives (my dad's cousins, etc) who I've never met and they probably don't even know I exist.
5)  I love Disneyland and would love to visit all the Disney parks all over the world one day.  So far, I've made it to Disneyland and Walt Disney World.  I almost made it to the Hong Kong park, but it didn't quite happen.
6)  I hate coffee & don't like tea.  I wish I liked tea though.
7)  My "coffee" is Coke.  It's very bad, I know, but it keeps me going.  If I really need a pick-me-up, Mt. Dew it is.
8)  I was in both NYC and Washington DC about a week before Sept. 11th.  It was a total shock when I woke up that morning to the news that both the World Trade Center & Pentagon had been crashed into by terrorists knowing that I had been inside both buildings the week before.
9)  I'm a picky eater.  I absolutely hate it, but can't help it.
10)  I'm a true California girl - born and raised.
11)  Supposedly, I'm related to the infamous gangster Pretty Boy Floyd and one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, William Floyd. 

11 Questions from Brenda at Chatting Over Chocolate:
1)  What has surprised you most about your blogging journey?
That I've actually stuck with it for so long!

2)  If your life had a theme song, what would it be? 
I think this was the hardest question of the bunch since there's no song out there that completely is "me".  But, for the sake of answering this, I would have to pick "Under Construction" by No Doubt.  There's actually lots of No Doubt songs that I can relate to - Gwen Stefani truly writes from the heart.  When I'm in a truly happy place, I think "Three Little Birds" by Bob Marley sums it up.

3)  If you were given free airfare, where would you travel?
I've actually won airfare from work before!  Since I was limited on where I could go and when, I chose Florida - the Keys & Miami.  I always wanted to go to the Keys (I'm a Jimmy Buffett fan), so I was able to check that off my list.  But, if I was given free airfare with no restrictions?   I would choose England & France.  Or maybe Australia.  :) 

4)  What is your biggest fear?
I have a lot of nightmares about my teeth falling out, so I'm guessing it's that. lol

5)  Where would you be most excited to receive a $100 gift card from?
Home Depot, Target, Amazon, Lowe's - any of these 4 places!

6)  What hobbies do you enjoy?
DIY, crafts, crocheting, scrapbooking (I have way less time for this now, though), traveling - pretty much all the stuff you see on my blog.  :)

7)  Which movie could you quote nearly every line from?
"The Nightmare Before Christmas"

8)  What does your ideal Friday night consist of?
Depends on what's going on.

9)  What was your favorite Halloween costume growing up?
I would say it was my Ewok costume in elementary school.  Do you remember those cheap plastic costumes - the masks were just the face with the elastic around the back to hold it onto your head and the actual costume was plasticy too?  Ahhh, memories!  It's too bad I don't have a picture!

10)  What's one of your most cherished memories?
Going to Disneyland for my 6th birthday.  I still have vivid memories of it.  My mom & dad were still together and we all went with a family that we were close to.  I rode with them in their car on the way there and they gave me my present - a Mickey Mouse Colorforms set.  Do you remember those?  I loved that set and it got a lot of use!

11)  What have you always wanted to learn how to do?
Carpentry!  And I plan on learning this year.

11 Questions from Abby at Just A Girl And Her Blog
1)  Why do you blog?
The reason I started blogging was as incentive for me to get projects done around the house.  So far, it's worked very well for me - I've gotten a ton of things done around here and love to share it on the blog.  

2)  What is your color crush right now?
Aqua/Teal/Turquoise - I've been loving these colors for the last few years.  When I first started incorporating it in my decor, it wasn't as popular and harder to find things in these colors, but they're everywhere now and I'm loving it! 
I also like Coral and it goes well with the aqua/teal/turquoise.  So far, I haven't had too much of this color incorporated into my decor, but I plan to do more with it.

3)  Who do you look up to most in your life?
My mom.

4)  What is your favorite childhood memory?
Trips to Disneyland.

5)  What were you like in high school?
I was shy & an introvert.  I'm very different now - if I had my personality now while I was in high school, I would have probably had a whole different high school experience.

6)  Describe yourself in 3 words:
Funny, easygoing, organized

7)  Who is your celebrity crush?
Easy!  Johnny Depp - 29 years and counting! (Holy moly!)  I was 9 when "Nightmare on Elm Street" first came out and saw him in it (seriously, why was I allowed to watch that at that age?).  All I could think was "why does the cute boy have to get killed?!?!".  And watching him in "21 Jumpstreet" when I was a teenager sealed the deal.  :)

8)  If money were not an object, describe your dream home.
A rustic, beach cottage.

9)  When I'm not blogging, you can find me DIY'ing or crafting while watching Netflix.

10)  I cannot live without my ??.  I really couldn't answer this!  I have no idea!

11)  What has been your proudest moment in your life so far?
Being able to buy my own home.

11 Questions from Kae at Englishrose2
1)  What's your favourite season & why?
Fall - hands down.  I like it because the summer heat is just starting to die down and it means the start of winter is soon to come.  The leaves turn pretty colors.  And most of all, my favorite holiday, Halloween, is in the fall!  

2)  If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
I wish I was taller.  :)

3)  Who inspires you?
Lots of people and all for various reasons. 

4)  If you could go back in time and spend 24 hours with one person, who would it be?  Why?  And what would be the first question to them?
My mom - she's no longer with us and it would be nice to spend another day with her.

5)  What did you want to be when you was a child?
I wanted to be an archaeologist.  I'm still very interested in it and history and some of my favorite vacation outings are going to ancient ruins (I got to do this in Thailand and in Italy when I went to Pompeii).  I also made sure to visit the King Tutankhamen exhibit when it was out here in L.A. years ago. 

6)  As I like to blog about anything and everything, whose blog would you recommend I follow?
There's lots of great blogs out there, but here's a handful of my favorites:  Thrifty Decor Chick, I Heart Organizing, The Lettered Cottage, House of Smith's, The Ugly Duckling House, Thrifty & Chic

7)  What do you dislike the most?
Hmmm, I don't really have an answer to this.

8)  If money was no object, what is the one thing you'd buy that you've always wanted?
I would probably buy a bigger house with more property and for sure with an in-ground pool.  I would also buy a truck so I wouldn't have to bug other people to help with large purchases.  :)  But, mostly, I would help out family and friends.

9)  Did you have a nickname at school?  What was it and why?
My nickname is Chrissy - my real name being Christine.  Most of my family call me "C" or "CC" and a lot of friends call me Chris.   I have various other nicknames that usually start for random reasons.

10)  Why did you start to blog?
The reason I started blogging was as incentive for me to get projects done around the house.  So far, it's worked very well for me - I've gotten a ton of things done around here and love to share it on the blog.

11)  What's the most significant change you've made to your blog?
Not too long ago,  I started allowing ads to appear on my blog.  I've also started to include more recipes.

Wow - some of those were really hard questions!  Thanks again to Brenda, Abby, and Kae for the nomination - it's truly appreciated!

Originally posted by Adventures in DIY

Linen Closet Reorganization

One of the projects on my 2013 list was to re-organize the linen closet in the hallway.  For the most part, it was decently organized, but some things still needed a bit of tweakin'.   Also, whenever I finally remodel both bathrooms, I knew some things would need to be moved into the linen closet, so I needed to make a bit of room in there.

Since I recently bought and installed this 5 tier metal shelf in the garage, this kick-started how I would be able to re-organize in a few different areas of the house & garage.

I started out by taking a look in the linen closet and deciding what didn't belong or what I could move out of there.  Even though bed sheets are technically linens, I decided to move them out of the closet.  I only had one set in there anyways - all the others are in my old armoire that is in the guest room closet.  Also, there were some office supplies in there, house decor not in use, utility type items (lightbulbs, etc).  I decided that all of those would get a new home in a more appropriate spot.

Then, I went through all of the items and got rid of anything that was expired or that I hadn't used in a long time or that I would never use.   Everything else that I knew I would keep, I put them into like categories and got to organizing.

***Please don't mind the bad pictures.  The hallway that the closet is in gets horrible lighting (which resulted in having to use the *gasp!* flash).   It's also in a small hallway, so hard to get straight pictures (you can see in the pictures below how the wall across from the linen closet is very close, so it's hard to take pictures).  I really, really tried!***

Before:  Some baskets and bins helped to organize the space, but I needed more.

I also used wire shelving to allow for more use of the space.  But, as you can see on the 2nd shelf in the below picture, it was hard to get to the sheets under the towels because of the legs on the wire shelves.  Such a pain to get to them!

After:  I moved the beach towels & summer gear to the top shelf.  They get used, but not as often as most other things in the closet.  I also moved one of the wire shelves to the 3rd shelf to fit more items there and not have to move all kinds of things just to get to the items.   I left the home decor basket on the 2nd shelf for now - it will eventually get moved probably to the garage, but there is enough space left right now, so it stayed.

I also made a label for my basket of medicines/first aid stuff.  You can see how I made these labels here.  And yes - I'm aware that "MEDS" is crooked and looks like it's walking down stairs.  :)

The top shelf of the bottom cabinet held all of my candle & Scentsy items.  I had some in a shoebox and the rest were just sitting out in the open on one of the wire shelves - it made it tricky to get to things without knocking other things over.  I had some extra wooden handwoven baskets, so I used two of the smaller ones to put all my good-smellin' stuff in there - it also makes it easier to just pull out the baskets and grab what I want.
I also travel a lot and all of my travel items are right next to the candle baskets on the top shelf.  I just grab it and go.

On the 2nd shelf, I stacked all of my bath towels on the left.  I utilized one of the wire shelves for all the smaller towels - hand towels and wash cloths.  Since it's used for the smaller towels, the towels are easy to get to without the wire shelf actually being in the way.

I have lots of little items that I've gathered over time that would come in good use, but I never used myself - toothbrushes & floss from dentist visits (I prefer specific brands), lotion, shampoo, conditioner from hotels, etc.  I gathered all of these items together and put them in a box for guests (bottom shelf)  - this way it would be easier for guests (and me) to find in the closet without them having to dig through everything.

Here is a quick before & after...

BEFORE (top cabinet)

AFTER (top cabinet)

BEFORE (bottom cabinet)

AFTER (bottom cabinet)

It's not super cute like other linen closets I've seen online and on blogs, but it serves the purpose and is very functional.  I was aiming not to spend money and use what I already have - mission accomplished!  I'm sure that I will eventually find that the linen closet may need more tweaking, but for now these have been very useful changes for me and will save me a bit of time and frustration.

Originally posted by Adventures in DIY
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Amazing Brownies!

Yes, I'm aware that I've been slacking on the blog posts.  I have a couple of posts in the pipeline that still need to be finished.  And I've been going back and forth between projects, so they're not ready for sharing yet.  All in due time...

But today, I want to share the most amazing brownies I made the other day.  I got the recipe from my  friend, Brenda at Chatting Over Chocolate.

I took them to work to share with my co-workers and they were a big hit.  So, so yummy!  Pop on over to her blog to check out how to make them (and you'll see her version is much more chocolatey than mine - apparently I'm not good at drizzling chocolate so I gave up after the 3rd time getting chocolate on my shirt).  I think these will be my new go-to item for bringing to potlucks and parties.  :)  

Originally posted by Adventures in DIY

Reorganization: In Progress

Hello and Happy March!  (How in the world is it March already?!?)  I had a super busy February, so not much got done around here as far as projects go.  But, I'm back into the swing of things!  In between other projects, I've been in the process of re-organizing.  For the most part, I'm usually pretty organized, but there are lots of things that can use a bit tweaking.  I don't have a ton of storage space, so it was a matter of figuring out where to start.

A couple of weeks ago, I saw that Target had their 5-tier wire shelving units on sale, so I snagged one up.  I instantly knew that this would be my "starting point".  Once I got that up and installed in the garage,  I could move some things out of the house and out into the garage and therefore freeing up storage space inside the house.  This way, I could also store things in more appropriate places and where it makes sense for them to be.

I got this puppy up over the weekend and now am in the process of re-organizing the linen closet, cleaning closet, and pantry.  Once I have this done, I'll be sharing more here.  It may come in small stages, but stay tuned!

Originally posted by Adventures in DIY

Reorganizing Under the Kitchen Sink

Oh boy - all of my project plans went out the door this weekend.  I've been fighting a cold, so didn't end up getting much on my list done.  I did manage to get a small project done - I reorganized under my kitchen sink, which was spurred on by my idea to "reorganize" my trash & recycle bins.

For the last few years, my trash & recycle bins have been living right here in the kitchen, next to the archway that goes into the dining room.  This was the only real "free" spot for them in the kitchen and while the trash can is nice, the recycle bin isn't.  They weren't in the way too much since the archway was big enough, but sometimes they managed to get in the way.

Then, I discovered this.

Via Bed, Bath & Beyond

It's exactly what I was looking for, but with a $179.99 price tag (even with a 20% off coupon, it would still come out to be just over $145!), there was no way I could justify shelling out that much money for it - there's just way too many other things that I could buy with that!  So, I started thinking of alternative ways of placing my trash & recycle bins.  I had previously thought of putting the recycle bin under the sink, but for whatever reason, I didn't.  It's possible one of the reasons is my ant problem.  I considered  this again and decided that in all the time I have had the bin out in the open, I've never seen ants in the trash (KNOCK ON WOOD!!!!).  I'm always really good about rinsing any soda cans out and most other things that go in there are cardboard or paper or bottles with lids.  So, I decided to give it a try.

But, first things first - if I was going to put it under the kitchen sink, that meant reorganizing under there.  This is what it looked like "before".

Not too bad, but definitely no room for my little recycle bin.  So, I took everything out and wiped the bottom of the cabinet clean.

Since I already kept it pretty organized under there, I didn't need to do much purging.  However, the black watering can & red hummingbird feeder got the boot.  They will be moved to the garage with the other garden stuff (that will get reorganized once I put together the metal shelving unit I bought - that was supposed to be my other project this weekend, but I didn't get to it).  I first put the recycle bin in the only spot that would fit - the only spot without pipes.  Then, I put everything else back.

I bought that big lazy susan at the Container Store years ago for the sole purpose of using it under the sink and it's worked out perfectly.  You can see that there's a piece of black wood in the middle (between the doors) and the lazy susan is perfect for the spot behind it because all I have to do is turn it to easily reach what I need.  That bottle of bleach will mostly like get moved to garage once I rearrange my laundry area in the garage.  Baby steps, people.  Baby steps.

Also, I've had the recycle bin under the sink for a couple of days now and so far so good - no ants (KNOCK ON WOOD!!!).  I'll continue to rinse out any cans and keep as much non-food & non-drink residue out of there.  That's the last thing I want to do is clean up a bunch of ants under the sink where it's hard to get under.  Ugh.

Once I moved the recycle bin, the trash can was all by it's lonesome.  I decided to move it next to the dishwasher.  Yes, it's blocking that little bottom cabinet, but I don't get in there that much.  I do use 2 appliances in there sometimes, but when the pantry gets reorganized (baby steps, remember?) at least one of those appliances, if not both, will get moved to the pantry.  I do use that little drawer often and it still opens without hitting the trash can.  Also, I can open the dishwasher without hitting it either.  Score!

So, here's a before & after (let's face it, these aren't the prettiest pictures, but it'll show you the difference a quick rearrangement will do):

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

I think this post took me longer to write than to actually do it.  Seriously.  And it's an awfully long post about moving trash cans and stuff under a sink.  But, it's nice to have those out of the way now - gives the kitchen a cleaner look.  Thanks for stopping by and I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Originally posted by: Adventures in DIY

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Smells Like Disneyland in My House!

Life is starting to get back to normal - I had house guests for most of the last 2 weeks, so I decided to halt all projects until after they left.  I will be starting up with some small projects soon and am a bit anxious to get those started.  Sometimes I just want to be done with all projects, but if there aren't any projects for too long, I get the itch to get things going again.  :)

Today, I wanted to share this with you.  My brother got me an awesome popcorn machine for my birthday last year.  I didn't want to deal with the clean-up, so I didn't use it right away and next thing I know almost a year has gone by.  Yikes.  My awesome bloggy friend, Brenda at Chatting Over Chocolate inspired me to use my machine with her super cute Popcorn & Pixie Dust post and I thought that it would be the perfect time to try it out while my guests were here.

Like that action photo?   :)  In addition to getting me the machine, he also got me popcorn bags and packets of popcorn kernels & oil (yep - he's an awesome big brother!).  Now, my favorite popcorn of all time is Disneyland's popcorn.  I love me tons of butter on my popcorn at the movie theater, but Disneyland's doesn't use the extra butter poured on and it is still somehow the best. One of my best friends works at Disneyland and she found out that they use coconut oil when they make it, so we figured that's what made it special.

So, I noticed on the kernel packets, it says the oil is coconut oil!  Oh. my. word.  This was the best popcorn I have ever made at home.  It tasted just like Disneyland popcorn!!  In fact, I had gone outside for a second and when I went back inside the house I said "it smells just like Disneyland in here!".  Sooooooo yummy!  I would suggest you try that brand of popcorn if you get a chance.  You don't have to have one of these machines to make it, although using it is very fun!

And in case you're wondering, the metal kernel popper inside the machine is a bit of a pain to clean, but not too bad.  It takes a bit of work, but you can get it clean - just follow the directions.  :)

Originally posted by: Adventures in DIY

French Doors

It's been been far too long since I last posted - I've very busy with "life stuff" over the past couple of weeks all the while trying to finish up painting the french doors.  I did finish them and am just now getting around to posting about it.  I'll tell you what - it's been a BIG improvement to have them painted, even if it's just in plain 'ole white.

About 1 1/2 years ago, I made the first transformation with the french doors - the hardware.  Most of the hardware (hinges, knobs) were brassy gold & the others were silver/nickel.  I don't care for brass or gold at all, so I spray painted them.  To see how I transformed the hinges, click here.

BEFORE

AFTER

To see how I transformed the sidelite knobs, click here.

BEFORE

AFTER

Taping off the windows and hardware was an adventure - with 2 sidelites & 2 doors, that's a total of 30 little windows, people!  I finally got a system down for taping off the windows, but the hinges & some of the hardware were not so easy.  The hinges had these little tabs on them, so there was no way for me to tape them off without going crazy.  I did tape off the main part of the hinges, but had to hand paint with a little artist's brush around them.

And the locking mechanism for the sidelites are pretty small, so it wasn't worth taping them off either.  I did the same thing and hand painted around them.

Once I got to painting, it was smooth sailing.  Until, this happened.

Yep - the paint peeled off the muntins (the window pane trim) once I took the tape off.  So frustrating!   I only had problems with the paint peeling off the muntins & right around the deadbolt & doorknob (it was minimal around the hardware though).  It just happened that while I was working on painting my doors, so was Bon Temps Beignet and she was having the exact same problems.  So, I scraped it all off, sanded the muntins (I used Bon Temps Beignet's suggestion of roughing up that trim), and painted again.  It didn't peel so bad this time, but it still peeled.  I came to the conclusion that it was the cheap plastic muntins - the paint peeled on the doors and not on the sidelites and I noticed that the sidelites had a different type of plastic muntin.

A quick note:  after I painted my doors, Censational Girl did this post about painting her french doors.  First of all, after seeing her doors, I immediately wanted to re-paint mine in the exact color she used - so lovely!!  (but I didn't - maybe later on down the road!)  Second of all, I wish she had posted before I started painting my doors - it would have saved me tons of time from taping off all those windows!  ;)

You can see what a difference the white paint makes in the picture below.  The left doors are painted and the right doors aren't.  Already looking much better!

After the doors were painted (I ended up doing 3 coats and used a small roller), I could really notice that now the casing around the doors really needed to be painted again.  Against the freshly painted doors, they looked kind of yellowy.

So, I painted the casing pretty quickly.  Just one coat did the trick.

I also touched up where the paint peeled around the door knob and dead bolt - I just used a small artist brush and hand painted and then used a sponge brush to dab and even out the paint.  Then, I cleaned up any paint that got on the hardware and windows and I am all good to go now!  Here's a few pictures of the doors all freshly painted and cleaned up.

I'm so glad the doors are finally done.  It really does brighten up the living room.  Even though it took me over the course of a few months to finish, it really can be done in a weekend or even in one day if you start early enough in the day.  The holidays came and I did a lot of starting and stopping on this project which is why it dragged out.  Sometimes that's just how I roll.  :)

Originally posted by Adventures in DIY
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