I spent my Sunday stripping. AKA "The Front Door Makeover"

Wanna take a guess at how many times I had to run to the sink on Sunday because I had splattered paint stripper and it was burning holes in my skin? If you answered "a bazillion, wear gloves next time dumbass", then you are correct.

My awesome parents spent nearly all day Sunday at my house helping me strip 40some layers off paint off my front door, sanding it down and painting it again and reinstalling all the hardware.

I would be flat out lying if I said I wasn't head over heels in love with my new teal door! I had been talking about painting it since I bought the house, and even picked out and purchased the paint but just never could find time to tackle that project.

 Before: 

 After:

I still need to add my house numbers to it, but it sure does make me smile every time I catch a glimpse of it!

(If you are curious, the colors is Valspar Woodlawn Valley Haze in exterior satin latex)

 

Drool.

Can I revert back to 8th grade for a moment.

You know, when you had a "notebook" with your friends that you passed back and forth and wrote notes in, doodles, taped pictures of your crush in and all that. Well this picture would go into that notebook. With pink glitter gel pen doodley hearts ALL over it. Sigh.

Yea... once upon a time I let it slip that a scruffy fella in a plain white tshirt and ripped up jeans may be the hottest thing ever.


LT showed up to my house after work yesterday in just that. (Dear universe, I am not sure what kind of good juju I put into the world to be rewarded with such a handsome fella, but I'm not even mad)
 

Once I picked my jaw up off the floor and wiped up the drool, he escorted me out the door, into his truck and whisked me off to the state fair where we enjoyed a lot of fried food, a little bit of country music, and a whole lotta kisses. It was the perfect midwestern summer night.

Revisited: Boots & Shorts

Way back in early July I was lusting over the 'boots with shorts' trend I had seen pop up a few times on the web.

Source: Uploaded by user via Sienna on Pinterest

I wanted to rock that.

There were two major problems holding me back though.
1) All the boots I owned were tall, super winter-y, or cowboy boots (boring - been there, done that)
2) We were having a serious streak of 100+ degree days. Hello ankle sweat!

Well I kept my eyes out, and scooped up a couple pairs from Poshmark a few weeks ago.

And immediately threw them on to wear out to dinner with my girlfriends. And then the next day when I was out running errands.

[Silky Tunic: TJMaxx, Shorts: AE, Belt: AE, Necklace: F21, Booties:Poshmark]

[Sheer button down: TJMaxx, Shorts: AE, Belt: AE, Necklace: Nordstrom Rack, Watch: MK, Booties:Poshmark]

What do you think? I loved the edginess of it and I'm eager to play with this trend some more!

Race day, a first

I'm not a talker in the mornings. I prefer silence as my mind shakes the slumber and wakes up to the world. So I sat quietly, enjoying the scenery as we headed south on I-65, listening to the chatter of every one else in the race toter.

It was my first time going with LT to one of his races. I have been a spectator at many of them, showing up just before race time, enjoying track dogs and beers in the stands watching from afar but never spent the whole day with him, in the pits, in the middle of the action.

A few hours later we arrived at the track and the day began. It was a constant flurry of moving equipment, getting things set up, working on the car. I basically stayed my distance and watched from pit wall. The last thing I wanted to do was get in the way and mess something up!

It's funny how much the atmosphere sucks you in. I shared the frustration when practice times weren't what LT was hoping for. I held my breath every time a car wrecked hoping he would avoid it. I was mad as hell with him when his tire popped with less than 10 laps left. And I was so excited when he finished the race 6th.

I loved being down there, meeting everyone, experiencing it all firsthand, spending an entire day watching him do what he loves.
 

Apply Within.

I stumbled upon this (literally) as we were walking to Scotty's after the Colts game yesterday. My heart giddy-upped when I stopped to read it, and I had a renewed sense of love for this silly city I live in!

It's not stalking if it's public property

Last weekend, some genius planned to have a Kenny Chesney / Tim McGraw concert a few measly hours after the ColorRun.

I hurried home from the toga madness and rushed through a shower where I scrubbed and hoped and scrubbed and prayed that all that color powder would wash off. Thankfully, it did.

After morphing from a Greek Rainbow Brite into cowgirl barbie, we headed back downtown for a little tailgating before the concert.

We fixed a few cocktails at the car bar then went to wander around, lo and behold as we near the stadium we stumble upon this sight

No big deal. Just a shirtless Tim McGraw getting a lil pre-concert workout sesh in.

[drool] But then he disappeared behind the trailer and we all pouted. Another guy with him said "oh don't worry guys, Tim's just changing... he'll be back!"

So we are standing around chitchatting when out of the corner of my eye I see a group of guys come jogging out of the gates.

No.freakin.way.

Tim and his band decided to take it to the streets. Literally.  We caught it on video, got high fives, all that jazz. It took everything in me not to take off jogging next to him. Hah, who am I kidding... that's about the only way I would EVER be interested in running.

And that's when I decided I wanted to be Faith Hill when I grew up.

 Once we finally gathered our composure and picked our jaws up off the sidewalk, we proceeded into the stadium.

Jake Owen rocked it barefoot, some chick who I can't remember played a meh set, Tim McGraw KILLED it and Kenny... .well I think Kenny was a blast.

After a couple limearitas that rivaled the size of my head I was dancing my booty off and singing at the top of my lungs.

I'm a tried and true Kenny fan, we go see his show nearly every year he's ever been in Indy but... phew Tim McGraw just took the cake this year. He really put on a great show.

Oh, and I'll leave you with this hot piece of manmeat to perk up your Tuesday morning!

The things you learn from Man's Best Friend

(My sister-in-law will surely kick my butt if she finds out I'm sharing this story... and if my blog is still lurking on the internet when my niece grows up, she will kick it as well)

Yesterday morning after our weekly family breakfast, we were all hanging out in the front yard when my niece suddenly became fascinated with the dogs doing their business in the yard. She kept asking "what are they doing? why? why?" and would squat down to check out their rear ends after they finished their business. We were all cracking up at her curiosity and just laughed it off.

I stuck around my parents house after they left to help my mom paint my brother's old room and my old room. As the afternoon turned into evening, my brother & sister-in-law came back over to cookout. We were wrapping up dinner when my sister-in-law mentioned how Liv hadn't used the, ahhem, restroom in a few days.

My mom cracked some joke about how she goes everytime she plays in her little pool in the backyard. Naturally, this escalates into full blown discussion and before you know it my niece is in a diaper in her little pool in the backyard.

You already know where this story is going.

A little bit of time passes and little curly-cued girl proclaims she has to go poopy. Before anyone could say anything, she jumps out of her pool, whips her diaper off, and runs out into the grass where she proceeds to start squatting like she had seen the dogs doing earlier.

Lord help me if I ever have children. I would have abs of steel from laughing at their shenanigans

(Note: she did not go in the yard, her efforts to be like the furry four-legged pals were intercepted... but the sheer audacity of the situation had us all laughing our butts off)