Its been WAY to LONG

So it's been forever, darn near a year since I last posted...let me catch you all up. My amazing husband has a slight crush on the state of Oregon, I think he loves the state more then me and the Murph combined...which is an insane amount of love! So for our "yearly vacation" we headed out west to check out the sites.


We started our road trip in Portland and headed down the scenic HWY 101...

We stopped at every turn off to scope it out... total tourist style!

 I was caught in awe more than once in the middle of the redwoods. We also camped out here for a few day with some good friends of ours, best weekend ever!

 After the Redwoods we headed up to Bend and did it up nicely in the desert...

 

 

 

 

 

 It was by far one of the best trips I have taken, not only was I with the love of my life, but I was able to breath that fresh Oregon air and relax!

 

 

Also this year:

 

I've learned to be a farmer...well Josh has...I tend to kill everything, so let's just say I'm working on that green thumb. :)

 

 

 

I totally got schooled several times in tetherball. Josh is so Napoleon Dynamite about his tetherball. You know, like he doesn't care that I'm a girl, he just wails on the ball, meanwhile I'm ducking and dodging. It's quite hillarious!

 

I managed to stop and smell the roses a few times...

And I picked a pack of pickled peppers...

 

 

So for now you are caught up with the ever interesting life of Abbey Jay. I hope to me more diligent with the blog, so stop by again soon and check it out!

The lychee nut tree

I grew up on, I guess you could call it a lychee nut farm.  Every summer our lychee trees would bear this luscious reddish pink fruit and as a family we would pick the fruit and sell them.  So this year would not have been complete if I would have missed out on the family tradition!  This was my 4th of July weekend, and I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

A few of these were picked.

A few of these were drank.

A few of these rolled in...

which were followed by a few of these.

And some of these were spotted in the night sky.

How was your long weekend?!



Get your project on

I totally am a project lady and love having to scavenge for new items to create my projects. But sadly I fail to complete half of them, I'm not sure why but I usually end up with odds and ends that I never get around to bringing together. So this summer is a new summer and I am going to complete, finish and display! 

 My biggest goal to complete this summer would be making my very own  handmade quilt! This is a huge project to take on but I am so up for the challenge. I have been keeping my eyes peeled for ideas at thrift/ antique shops around here. These two beaut's were found on my Arcadia birthday hunt I took last weekend. I absolutely adore the stitching on them. You can tell its all hand done which just adds to the uniqueness of the quilt.

Goal number two is something I have wanted to complete for a few years now, so this year is the year! I found this

wood grain rug via Elsie. Its so fun and unique but I think I am going to add a little personal twist to it and do chevron, although the wood grain is pretty beautiful too. So maybe two will be in the works!

I have a ton of cute ribbons sitting in my closet, and happened to stumble across this on one of my rainy day blog searches and thought what an awesome way to display all the cuteness that is hiding in the closet!  

And the last item that I have on my list is learning/ making some homemade jam! For some reason I feel that this is a good skill to have, I mean who wouldn't want to have homemade jam on demand! My sweet grandma has already agreed to teach me, and I think apple butter and blueberry are on the to do list.

Photo by Hannah Persson

So do you have any projects lined up for this wonderful summer season? 

Ps. Happy Independence day!

the day I began 27 years

Hello Again!!
I just wanted to stop in and share my amazing day with you. Not only did I turn the big 2-7 today, but it was Murph beach day! One of my most favorite days of the week :) and to top it off  and make it an out of this world awesome day, frozen custard and pizza were thrown into the mix!! Mmmmm... deliciously perfect!

 He gets so pooped out after the beach, its great! He cuts logs all night long (snores)!

PS. Tomorrow Josh is taking me to Arcadia ( a.k.a antique heaven) for a shopping day! I have the best husband in the world, let the birthday weekend begin :)

Frame it DIY...

So I decided to get a little crafty this weekend and I made these two frames for my oh so bare wall.  I had some old frames hibernating in the closet, that I had picked up from the thrift store months ago, so I decided to put them to good use! They were missing there glass so to get a new piece they wouldn't have been worth it, nor nearly as creative :)

 First I decided on a color, I went basic, cream. It took a few coats to get them fully covered.

 I picked up a piece of chicken wire from my local feed store and cut it to the size of the frame. I just eyebaled it, but measureing is a good idea :)

 After you have your chicken wire cut, it needs to be fastened to the frame.

 My frame had screw holes in it so I just attached the wire via the screws. Other wood frames you may have to just nail the wire in. In this case make sure your nail heads are big enough to hold the wire down.

 Then youre done! :) Find a cool photo to attach the the frame and hang it up!

 I found an old photo of my grandfather from 1961, he was a big fisherman and this was one of his big catches. I attached the photo with some twine, I wrapped the twine around the wire 2x and then tied it in a knot, allowing the knot to be seen.

This was super fun to make, but I think my favorite part was going threw the old photos of my family, you never know what you are going to find in those boxes of photos! Let me tell you I found some pretty hillarious stuff!

Some inspiration...

Hi! I hope you all have had a super Thursday so far! So I was thinking, what can I post today, and well I always come across super cute decorating ideas, so I figured I would share some with you!

Styrofoam balls painted with acrylic paint, and strung up with yarn. SO CUTE! I will for sure be doing this one sometime soon :)


(photo by http://sunshineandcarousels.blogspot.com/)

I am loving the different light bulbs strung on the back wall, also the different chairs!

(Via  Fleamarketstylemag.blogspot.com )

 


The little paper signs, ADORABLE!


(photo via: http://www.flickr.com/photos/denbow/5728357887/sizes/o/in/photostream/)

Gentlemen start your engines...

I have always been taught that "honesty is the best policy," so here we go. I have wanted to start blogging for about a year now but it is super intimidating and scary!  I'm that girl that screams and runs when scared! So now it is time to face my fears and put them in there place.

So I guess I should start off by sharing a little bit about myself. I am on the verge of becoming a 27 year old kid who would do anything for something sweet. I have been married to the most handsome man in the world Joshua Brett-Daniel Schmitt (fancy name, I know!) for one whole year! Its been the best year of my life :)

(photo taken by http://hannahperssonphoto.com/)

We are the proud parents of a cute little fawn pug, Murphy Lee, or as we like to call him "the murph." Murph is a firecracker! He loves food, car rides, the beach and hanging out with his cousins (my parents and my in-laws dogs).


I love sharing new ideas and bringing them to life, I would say that that is my ultimate goal in this blog. I hope that it inspires people to create and be unique in there creations! I hope that threw all of this creating joy and excitement can be brought into peoples lives. :)

Talk to you soon!