Throwback bench re-do

Summer times as a kid was always fun. No school, running around with my mom, and being kids. One of my favorite things to do with my mom and aunts were GARAGE SALES! Other peoples old toys were my new toys and it was always a surprise! I needed things to decorate my house with and so I set off one summer for the deals. I figure I have a garage and friends with power tools I can fix it up. I started off with no tools of my own. Lucky for me I have friends so much like my other projects they love to help! That bench I found at a Garage sale across the street from me for $5. I saw it and saw potential. 

I spent a few afternoons removing the pieces of wood and sanding all the ugly red color off. 

When my husband put the bench back together we got some help from a small helper :) Yes he has his own Black and Decker tools, he loves to fix his "car".

The Monogram I ordered from a local gal that had a Vinyl machine. I designed the monogram myself and sent it to her. It was easy to apply and fit perfectly! Look at the great details on the sides of the bench. For five bucks and a bucket of paint and some sand paper. What a great investment!

Ayden - 2 1/2 years old

This is how I know this kid is mines! 
Yes that part of me giving birth to him shoulda tipped me off but from the minute he was born he looked like his Dad exactly! To this day people, by that I mean RANDOM strangers, all say "Wow ayden is Will's mini me!" True, in fact if we were at a store and he got lost if people saw Will they'd know oh it must be that kids dad haha! Back to the picture. We were at Will's friend's wedding and Ayden and I weren't even trying to smile the same it just happened. He's got this bubbly personality like his mom but the shy reserved personality for the first five minutes-like his Dad . He's now two and a half and talking a mile a minute. Asking tons of questions and answering questions even if they aren't directed towards him. What's funny is that even if you try to "trick" him and say it in another language he'll STILL answer hahaha. He's on four languages right now. English being the main, Teochew being second, third Vietnamese, and fourth is Cantonese. He'll answer in the first three languages the most but he hears Cantonese the most when he's out with my in-laws. 
My sister loves talking to him and when he visited her in Texas I think he talked her ear off. She got stuck riding next to him in the car and he kept showing her all the bells and whistles of the rental van as if he were some hot shot or something. He still amazes me every day. He's a great big brother and is very helpful... or at least he tries to be. I'm proud of both my kids. I'm thankful to have two kids, one of each, one "mini-me" of each I really couldn't ask for more. As long as our kids are happy - WE are happy. Our family has grown so much and as our story is being written each chapter gets better and better. 

Aria's first time eating

This is a belated post on Aria's first time eating since she technically started eating a couple of weeks ago. I forget when we started her brother on food but she had recently really been interested in food. Once in a rare time she sits on our laps while we eat food. She started to use her own hands to try to guide our hands with our spoons into her own mouth! We took that as a sign, so we got out the baby food! First up was sweet potatoes.
















She is such a sweet girl and so happy all the time. She rarely gets upset or fussy and we are so blessed at that. When she is upset her crying isn't even that loud...well thats what other people tell us haha. She's now six month old and we cannot believe that much time has passed. I swear some days I its like "wasn't I just pregnant?" Aria is my "mini-me" she loves to talk, looooves jewelry, sings in the car, and pays attention to detail (i.e. she correlates people with glasses to not be nice aka like her Aunt Stephanie -yeah you know its true steph!)

Aria still hasn't gotten the whole "using your tongue during food eating" thing down yet. We'll try more food soon and good thing her aunt Sam gave us a ton of free baby food score! I love her reactions she's so funny. We're happy that she's happy, and well you can tell in the pictures :)

My new venture

Jennifer Tran

I can't even begin to tell everyone how excited and thrilled I am to be part of this AMAZING company. From day one the women in this company have opened their arms and welcomed me to an amazing group and in the short time that I've been in this company only good things have happened. I had my doubts thinking "It can't be that great?" Yup I was scared and doubtful and was proved wrong FAST and met my first goal days after launching my business. And boy was I glad to be proven wrong. I currently work a part time corporate job, a webdesign freelance business on the side, and I am now a Stylist for Stella & Dot (plus I'm a mom of two wonderful kids, a wife, a daughter, a sister, blogger, and an aunty I'm friggin busy) When I say I can do it that really means YOU CAN too. Doesn't have to be a stylist!!! I mean this in any and every aspect of a dream, ambition, and goal in your life. It's so easy to say "I'm too busy, I'm too broke, I'm not ready" but when will you ever feel that ready? Take life as it comes, don't back down. Set a goal, DO IT, and success will change you. That misery that loves company, well that company doesn't have to be you so don't let it be. That's my two cents. Thank you to everyone who has helped me in this chapter in my life. My success would be nothing without you! So spread the word :) 

http://www.stelladot.com/jennifertran

Baby shower gifts

First off I love baby showers! This super cute party celebrating a tiny life thats not yet even here yet. A new mom especially needs to be showered with the cutest/usefull things. Me being a mom twice I know this very well and with each kid I was SURPRISED with a shower and the most beautiful gifts. I have been so blessed with amazing friends/coworkers that I want to "pay it forward" and give good gifts. Of course parts of it are so related to how much I know the mom. I try to be considerate and think of what they would need the most and if time permits I try to be as crafty as possible, try being a key word haha. I will also attempt to guide you through good gift giving through the eyes of a mom and crafty girl.

Key things to remember for a good gift

1. Yes it is absolutely the thought that counts not the dollars spent.

2. Gift registries are great to go off of so that the parents dont end up with four baby bath tubs. They only need one lol! 

3. Giant stuffed animals...NOT so great. why? Cute yes, but where am I going to put a 3ft monkey that collects dust for the first year of my childs life? So put the monkey down...just put it down.

4. Diapers are always ALWAYS a safe great gift EVEN if your mom/dad friend is planning on cloth diapering the first month its usually disposables or when they are on the go. Cause folks babies make the gift that keeps on giving...poop!!

5. YouTube will teach you the ways of creating unique gifts.

6. Gifts of babysitting, cooking food, and or cleaning house are the best FREE gifts a mom could get! My sisters give me this gift and I can't tell you how much I love them for it. So even if you are broke and want to give a good gift a card with a note promising one or all of these items and you will be genius!

All pictures seen on this post were MADE from by JennKnowsIt.com

The diaper cake above was made for baby Isabella, I worked with her mom and she was one of my first friends to have a baby and I had always wanted to make a diaper cake. BTW this "cake" was made like 3 years ago and was one of my first attempts at a baby shower cake so not bad for a first try. But I also had help from Trish and Sara on this baby. 

Super cute baby sleeping cupcakes, tutorial found at http://justjennrecipes.com/ she has some awesome recipes so go check her site out! 

 

This beautiful basket was taught to me by the beautiful Trishy, my friend and former coworker. She can work some magic because she used to work at a gift-basket-making place lol. Tons of baby items rolled into little roses and tucked into nooks and crannies were tons of things for Baby London. Items included onesies, mittens, pants, wash clothes, a bib, hats, baby lotion, and many others. It really was like putting together a bouquet of flowers!

And finally the "Welcome Wagon". This one was all my idea. I had already gifted a diaper cake and a beautiful "Flower basket" so I couldn't give something like that again. I thought way in advanced for this gift because Baby Samantha's parents are good friends of my husband and I. We both know the mommy and daddy from back in high school!! So I looked around and saw these "mini" little tikes red wagon and a light went off. A welcome wagon to welcome a little baby how perfect :) So we ordered the wagon from Amazon and bought all the items to go into it. This wagon was made very similar to the way the flower basket was made but less tissue paper. I did a small bouquet of "flowers" made from baby wash clothes. Rolled onesies into a cupcake roll, and randomly placed all the other items including two blankets, bath towels, more wash clothes, mittens, a hat, pants, and baby lotion. The sign in front I made with my vinyl cutter, hehe an excuse to make vinyl awesome! Plus when Baby Samantha gets older and wants to pull her baby dolls around her parents can remove the vinyl if they wish. So you get the size a toddler could very well pull this wagon..I know because my son pulled it lol!

I've somehow earned a reputation for good baby gifts, in fact some people have told me they want to specifically invite me to their baby showers hahaha while I'm flattered I really want everyone to know that a good gift is really the thought. I really wanted to give Baby London and Samantha very special gifts because their mommies were amazing to me when I was first pregnant with Ayden. I had to wait a year and two years to be able to show them how much I care. I think they loved it and thats all that matters. Have questions on a baby gift just ask me!

iPad2 case makeover

Oh my electronic gadgets its my weakness...well among other things in life haha. I did not get the original iPad i actually somehow gathered strength and waited for the iPad2! Right I know the 3 is probably around the corner. Doesn't matter I wanted it and I made it happen. If you want it, it will come. Its my motto. Goals people goals!!! So here I am with this super cool new toy but I needed to protect it. I went online looked at several cases, some of them over priced and ugly...some just plain ugly. What's a girl to do? Whala be CRAFTY! I actually found an online site that would custom color the case I want and they quoted me 2-4weeks. That seemed reasonable *sigh* fast forward 7weeks and countless emails to the production people and at 8weeks I FINALLY got my case.

First things first its a beautiful color but I had to add the vinyl....heck yes gotta put my initials on it!

But the interior lining was a complete grease attracting lining. When you have two kiddos with grubby hands yeah its not a good thing. I had to do something to the inside. Hello Martha Stewart and Michaels craft store with the 40% off coupons! Never buy something full price there, NEVER you hear me?? I bought the stencils, paint, brushes all with coupons and will reuse them again and again :) 

Stencils!!! love love love it. Took literally less than five minutes to finish it and than voila! 

Completely customized just for ME! And now you can't tell if there would be hand prints plus my handy hubby installed the protecting film cover over the actual screen as well. Super easy and you can do this to practically anything.

light organizing

One of the big that changes in your life after kids is your stuff. Now its your stuff + their stuff + plus stuff ya didn't even know you had. So you now have to find a new place for allllll this STUFF! Easy answer would be "just get rid of it" hmmmm easier said than done. I tackle crazy unorganized areas one corner at a time. Don't try to kill yourself and clean your house or reorganize an entire floor at once cause with two little monkies jumping around it just doesn't get done. Plus if you're like me at all you get easily distracted by some awesome forgotten treasures (which BTW best part of cleaning). So here are some areas that I recently hit up and changed around. Thank you Ikea for being a part of my life hahaha! So some tips to follow:
1. Pick a section to focus on. Don't over do it and pick the whole kitchen on your first attempt...cause that's kind of scary. Pick a section of cabinets instead of ALL of the kitchen or just the pantry.
2. Don't spend a ton of money buying containers (i.e. container store cause its a rip off) to make things pretty. Chances are you have these materials on hand or hello dollar store!!!
3. DRAG everything out of the space. The goal is to put back into the space the actual items you are going to need and use. If you haven't used it in a couple of years please do everyone a favor and toss it or donate it depending on the item.
4. Trash bags are your friend, keep one close by to help you be encouraged not to hoard. Remember no hoarding!!
5. And finally a picture helps you remember where everything went!

My makeup station at the top. I know its horrendous but it had been awhile since I touched it. I have two small children its hard to look mac-tastic everyday hahaha. Well that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it! It so badly needed to be reorganized so those hanging "jars" are displayed at ikea for like kitchen space. Hmm I look at it and say no thanks but its great for my makeup brushes! Voila it looks beautiful and off the table and away from grubby little hands!!






Girls with straight hair want curly hair and girls with curly hair want straight hair. Silly but its true. Alas it takes a lot of tools sometimes to make these things happen. My sink cabinet looks like it vomitted hair supplies everywhere. Graphic but true. It desperately needed some organization. I used all my extra tubs for other projects so I did purchase a tub from Ikea but all the little boxes I had on hand from previous *cough*ikea*cough* trips in texas.






In the end it looks a million times cleaner. While I may not whip out a curling Iron at the drop of a dime I also don't need it so often where that skill set would benefit me. The last picture that is one of the clear organizers for holding TEA packets but not any more. I used this baby for every day hair accessories aka hair ties and clippies. These short organizing tips have just helped me not feel so overwhelmed about disorganization. I love a clean house but I know that I can't kill myself over it. One day at a time, or section at a time. I hopefully can encourage someone else to better organize the small areas in their lives :)

Regular Couponing...Extreme savings!

Yes that TV show Extreme Couponing has caused everyone to attempt to do the same. I say more power to you cause guess what SAVING MONEY is AWESOME!! I don't know about you but I don't have a money tree. I'm a mom and a wife and money can't be thrown away (hmmm much like I threw it away in my early 20's). So for awhile I've been saving money. I seldom buy things full price unless necessary...for example my iPad2 heehee. So since I need extra dough for stuff like that I save money in everyday items by using coupons. Let me CLARIFY I use ONE NEWSPAPER a weekend. Not 12, not dumpster diving....ONE! In one month on just everyday household items I kept a log on what I spent just to see how it is. People are quick to generalize "oh coupons are for junk food." So here it is couponing on NON FOOD ITEMS!! Everything above was bought at either Walgreens or Target.

HERES the breakdown...

Dove men care bodywash retail $3.99 clearance $2.78 after BOGO coupon $1.34. (x2)
Dove men deodorant retail $2.99 sale $2.39 coupon $1off = 1.39
Dove women's deodorant retail $3.99 clearance $2.78 BOGO coupon $1.34
Pert plus retail $4.99 sale $3.99 RR -3 =99cents -1$ coupon = free
Revlon nail retail $4.99 sale $3.99 RR -3 =99cents -1$ coupon free (bought 2)
floss and tooth brush retail $2.99 each sale 2/5 RR -3 =2/2 -1.50 = 50cent for both
9month size Jeans retail $8.00 clearance $2.00 -$2 coupon = Free
Herbal essences shampoo retail $2.99 clearance $2.24 - 1$ = $1.24
Keri lotion retail $4.29 sale 3.99 RR -3 =99 - 2$ coupon + 1$$$ (MADE A DOLLAR)
Colgate toothpaste $2.74 sale 2.32 coupon -$1 =$1.32
Colgate toothpaste $2.50 each sale 2/4 RR $2 2/2 minus two $1 off = free (2 items)
Paper mate pens retail $1.49 sale 99 - target coupon $1 =free (2items)
Gain dish washing soap retail $1.78 sale 88 coupon -50cents = $0.38cents
Lysol touchless soap dispenser retail $11.99 RR 5$ -3coupon = $3 for entire system (a reg just refill costs 3.99)
3d crest white stripes retail $23 -$10 manufacture -$7 walgreen coupon =$6
Oral b toothbrush retail $1.99 2/2 sale coupon -2$ off 2 = Free. (2 items)
Venus razor retail $7.99 sale 6$ -RR 3 - 3 coupon = $1
Expo markers retail $4.39 sale $3.99 RR 3 =$1
Tictac retail $1.19 coupon -1$ = 19cents
Mentos retail $0.88cents - 1.00 =+12cents profit

Total retail = $117.11 Cost $19.92
Savings $97.19 PERCENTAGE SAVED %83.0

Entertainment Center turned Play Kitchen

Summertime is coming to an end and every summer I always finish some DIY/re purpose project. Last summer I did a run down bench turned brand new and a run down picnic table turned perfect table for Ayden. This summer was finishing our daughters nursery and Ayden's play kitchen.

Ayden loves to play chef. Last year during a visit to my sister in Texas we went to Ikea and bought him all the pots and pans and felt foodies. He plays with those toys more than anything. Originally I thought oh I'll just get one of those used fisher price/little tikes play kitchen on craigslist or something. Um have you seen how much one of those things cost brand new and or used? Upwards of 50$ and more. That and they all look the same :/ not knocking anyone that has one but I had more in mind. Especially after seeing a couple of blogs with FANTASTIC entertainment stands turned into play kitchen. Remember back in the 90's when everyone had one. Well folks now its not good interior design so now it needs a new purpose a new life. I am not one to waste so hey I started checking craigslist every now and than in the FREE section. One day I saw a FREE one in the exact size/style I wanted and BEST of all it was disassembled meaning we could pack it into our small car whoohoo! It was meant to be! Below is the actual photo from the craigslist ad.



If you've read my blog before you know that I work at a pretty awesome place. Maybe not awesome to you but to me it is. I have some of the most awesome co-workers EVER. So I started telling them my ideas for this DIY play kitchen. Immediately they all wanted to pitch in and help. I had my friends husband cut the perfect hole for the sink. He also cut the hole for the oven see through door. The sink itself was a silver mixing bowl given to us by our good friend Jenn. See where I am going with this? Ask and it shall come!! The before....



I worked on it slowly. I decided to prime with Kilz Primer Spray took a couple of cans but it needed it.



Not bad. Time for paint. Lucky for me I had a half gallon of SwanWhite primer/paint in one left over from our daughters nursery so I decided that would be the base. I know didn't I just say I primed the unit well better to be safe than sorry! I had to put like 3 coats on that sucker though. Hmmm maybe next time I'll just spend the time to sand it down...hahaha next time (dont think so!) I also was smart in that since I used the white as primer and white I only had to buy a sample container of blue paint for the backsplash!! its like less than 3bucks!!! And the backing on the original unit was that cardboard. I needed some plywood. Enter in another coworker Colette who donated two big pieces of plywood!!! See all done with the main paint!



Just as I was getting all the paint done Ikea Centennial was OPENING! Whoohoo that means all the handles I needed and knobs I needed would be cheap and easily available. So I bought 2 sets of handles two for the bottom cabinets ($4.99) and oven and a set for the fridge ($7.99) Than finally the knobs for the stove top ($1.99) and lastly the "faucet" I dragged my friend Stephanie and she helped me look all over ikea for something that resembled a faucet and at the very end we found a Garage hook that upside down was the perfect sized faucet. Whopping price $0.99!
Total of $16 at ikea for the kitchen!

Hardware was coming together nicely now for the decorating. I needed curtains. But I was not going to get big curtains and cutting them down. Instead another talented and crafty coworker of mine (Jeanne) sews a lot and offered her sewing skills to me. All I had to do was buy fabric. I ended up only needed one yard of fabric at JoAnnes for $4.00! The fabric was perfect it had lots of little "kitchen" items on it. I found the pattern and directions on a fellow blog The Crafting Chicks. Perfection to cover the space underneath the sink to cover the metal mixing bowl. All I needed was a tension rod to fit the space (Lowe's for $2.99) She also used the leftover fabric to make two small tieback curtains for the faux window. The other pieces of fabric used she already had and it matched perfectly. I'd like to also add this was my first time in a fabric store looking at fabric and it was like a kid in a candy store. Ayden was with me and picked his own fabric for his apron and hat (coming soon). Also the oven door I needed plexi glass for, pshhh i found an old frame i didnt want any more and used the plexi glass from that and had my husband score it down to size!

I needed "burners" and found at the dollar store these red cup coasters perfect for burners!! I also found food shaped sponges for the sink there too! Yay $2 I decided to paint on a faux flat top stove and just glued on the burners. Paint again left over from another project of mine. Helps to be crafty folks.








Whala Ayden loves it! Why wouldn't he. I wish my kitchen could look that awesome ;)



Lets run down the costs....

Entertainment center = Free
Sink = Free
Backing to unit = Free
Primer = $15.00
Paint = $3.00
Curtains = $4.00
Faucet = $1.00
Handles/knobs = $15.00
Burners/sponges = $2.00
Tension rod = $3.00
Sealant = $10.00

$53.00!!!!

Yes lots of man hours were put into this but it was a complete labor of love. I mean is it picture perfect maybe not but is it perfect for my kids heck yes! My neighbors all were like wow this crazy lady is dedicated to this white thing in her garage. Little did they know it would be this cool. Pretty sure my husband was hoping I'd give up half way through since it took up my garage for a month! It was all worth it. Anytime anyone comes over that hasn't seen his kitchen he drags into his play area and shows them ALL his goodies. All thats left is a play dinning set since Grandma gave him a dinning table/homework table. The fact of the matter is this. If I can do it you can do it too!

Notes if you do it:

Don't rush it. Rushing it costs you more money! I took my sweet time with this finding the right parts and you know what so many people were excited to help me. They were more than willing to come over and help and let me borrow tools etc. All i did was provide the food. Ask around for stuff and you'll be surprised how many people want to give you stuff that doesnt. The labor parts like cutting the hole I left to someone more experienced with a jigsaw and that worked out well. I let my husband bash out the glass after taping with ductape (to hold all the tiny pieces. Posted it on facebook and got fabulous comments.

I'm featured!

Did you know I'm featured on Bridget Marquardt's website? Look Here

See!


love my watch :) Gift from my hubby for my 26th birthday! I also got to meet Bridget in person at an event at the Palms in Las Vegas, super sweet :)

We've been busy

We welcomed our newest family member our little girl Aria. She completes our little family and we love love love her so much. Everyone tells us she looks just like her mama and how perfect is it that we have one of each :) She's already 3 months old and showing lots of personality. Aria loves to chat it up just like her momma. Ayden is the best big brother always helping. He gets clean diapers, throws away dirty ones, gets towels, gets binkys, and whatever else she needs. He absolutely is in love with her and we couldn't be more proud of him.



So yes like the title says we've been busy. I am back at work. Working at my day job and doing side projects. Finished decorating Aria's room and working one room at a time to refinish our house. We moved in we changed out a lot of hardware but we didn't personalize it much after so now that our family is complete its ready for more work. This blog will be my way of showing the hard work as well as random things inbetween. I'm calling it JennKnowsIt.Com - not to be confused with "I know it all" but just a random stuff I happen to know.

The concept and name is a funny story that started at work. I've become the gal that knows random things. My coworkers all urged me get back to your blog and blog about random things it would be awesome. Hey why not HAHA!



She's our beautiful daughter.

Spring changes

We are just days away from meeting the newest member of our family and we couldn't be more thrilled and excited to meet her. We just celebrated Ayden's second birthday and always our friends and family were there to join us in celebration and we had a grand time!!!

My coworkers were so thoughtful and loving they threw myself and a fellow soon-to-be new mommy a surprise baby shower!!!! Very unexpected and just so wonderful. Our baby girl was truly showered with gifts and I'm thankful to be working with such a great group of people.

Everyone asks are you ready for the second baby? There's never one single answer. Can you truly ever be "ready"? Life is constantly changing and you learn to adapt to the changes and try to prepare. That's what we've done is tried to prepare as best as we could. But we cannot see the future so we'll take it day by day and see where this journey takes us. We're blessed that we've got our big boy and our new baby girl soon. For us this is what we've dreamed of and we couldn't ask for more.

We'll have our hands full very soon :)

Winter Greetings!

Wow last post back from the summer time! Crazy how fast time has flown by! I don't think a lot of people follow my blog which is fine but I do know I have the occasional troll and what not so hey heres my update for those folks haha. Rumors are true we're expecting our second baby next MAY!! Ayden will be 2 when his SISTER arrives. That's exactly how far I wanted to space our kids. Ayden is great with babies and when his cousin Lexi was here he was great with her and they were partners in crime. I didn't want to wait too long in between kids because it worked great for my family.

We celebrated a year in our house, Ayden had a great Halloween as Super Man and went trick or treating like a big kid. However once he realized there was candy in his Spongebob bucket well he wanted to eat every piece that went in. Silly boy will do tricks for candy. He is such a sponge right now. He points to everything and will learn the word for the item. Sometimes he knows word we didn't even teach him. Sponge I tell you. He's also learning 3 languages on a daily basis and so sometimes its hard because both my husband and I only speak 2 of the 3, Ayden is the only one with all 3!!! He'll ask me for things in Chinese and I just think its babble until his Grandma or his Dad translates...who knew?!?!? He loves to go out and about. We are very fortunate that he is so well behaved especially in public. We have never had to experience a store meltdown or horrible tantrum, mind you the pediatrician office is a diff story. Keeping my fingers crossed that this does not change once we hit the terrible twos.

We've had such an amazing year filled with tons of milestones and great friends and family. We are so blessed to live around our supportive family. Without their love and support we wouldn't be where we are today. Seriously could not ask for more.

I'm in a great STRESS FREE job. I leave work and never think twice about the days work. I'm surrounded by awesome co workers that don't create drama. Its close to home and best of all the perfect schedule yessss!!! Its nice not to worry about work or dread going. I actually enjoy going to work and I'm thankful for it.

Here's to wishing you and your family the best this holiday season. We hope that everyone stays warm and full!!



Happy Holidays

Loving the summer time!

Summer already! I love the summer months in Colorado. There is just so much to do and July is always a fun month for our family. We have our annual family BBQ for the Fourth, my birthday, my husband's birthday, and our wedding anniversary. A lot to celebrate and be thankful for.

Summer months also means Garage Sales! My sisters and I loved going to garage sales in the summer with my mom and aunts. It was fun running around picking out toys. Of course now that we are adults we'd rather look for fixer uppers and things for the house. My sister is the super crafty creative one. Me I'm a little bit like that but not as extravagant. I don't sew and I don't think I'm planning on doing that. I do however sand, paint, and re-new! Because this is our first summer in the new house I'm more looking for things to accent our home. I found an adorable picnic table ($5) for Ayden and fixed it all up for him. Found a lovely bench ($5) that I'm currently working on and of course I found a good condition FREE clothing drawer that just needs a little TLC to bring it back to life. It is nice side projects but the big project is my yard. I'm adding flowers, fighting weeds, and pruning trees lol.

Re-capping June through July: Celebrated best friend Val's birthday, my sister and her family visiting Co for two weeks, BACKSTREET BOYS CONCERT with VIP MEET AND GREET (DREAM COME TRUE), Twilight Eclipse, July 4th with my extended family, my birthday WEEK celebration with Golf-dinners-the zoo-presents-shopping! I have such wonderful friends and family who are all so amazing. Especially my husband who continues after all these years to still spoils me on my birthday, thanks hubby! He also got an early birthday present a new set of rims for his car. If you know my husband you know he is a car fanatic and this is what he wanted.


Yes we're one of those families that match, red white and blue baby

Ayden checking out the sparklers

Feeding the giraffes at the zoo

Me and the Backstreet Boys

Me and my new BFF Brian from BSB

The Backstreet Boys concert was absolutely amazing. The whole VIP experience was worth every penny. I've been in love with them since I was 13 and I always dreamed of one day meeting them and hanging out with them and I got to do that on June 22nd. Words cannot describe how happy I was that day *sigh* It was like I was 15 all over again!! Hey you may not understand and I don't need you to this is my blog not yours :P