DIY coffee table.

As much as i wish that i came up with this idea, i didnt. I found it off of pinterest of course and thought it was too ingenious to not do it myself.

We were in desperate need of a coffee table. I had searched on a daily basis every thrift store imaginable, hoping that i could find one that was short enough to be proportionate with our couch. I never had any luck, or i was being too picky so thankfully i happened upon this fabulous tutorial.

I headed to Ikea with the $39.99 'Lack' coffee table in mind. Found the table, gathered a few other nick knacks that I definitely didnt need but you cant just get 1 thing at ikea, its way too tempting, and headed towards the check out. Each time before i leave ikea i always have to look through the 'as is' section. havent heard of it? its always by the check out, where they put items that have little breakages, scuffs or tears for mostly 50% off. it is honestly my favorite part of ikea. I walked over and guess what i found? the exact table i had in my cart that was going to be $39.99 for $24.00. WHAT?! i was one happy girl and asked the random shopper next to me to help load it on to my cart.

okay so here i am at $24 for this project. Next i went to Lowes to get the wood. I gathered 5 pieces of 1x4x8 wood. side note: did you know that if it says that the wood is 1x4x8 it is ACTUALLY 1x3.5x8? it will always be a half an inch smaller in width than what it says on the sign. just keep that in mind :)
each piece of wood was only $1.48 which is a steal of a deal. I had them cut each piece directly in half, which they did for free, then next I had to deal with the legs of the table. The table was too tall for the couch, thank heavens ikea furniture comes apart so i took each leg off. I brought them with me to lowes and had them cut each leg 1.5 inches off. They were super skeptical because i guess they arent allowed to cut 'outside wood'. i wasnt about to be okay with that so i just kept saying 'okay, will you do it anyways?' and they finally did, they also did that for free. The inside of each leg is hallow, so it really doesnt cause any problems if you decide to have them cut an ikea piece.

 finally, i took everything home and painted each piece of wood lightly with a hand brush and white paint that i've been painting everything in my house. Let it dry for about 15 minutes then i used wood glue and nails to hold each piece of wood in place. I bought the small size of wood glue and almost used it all. I nailed 3 nails in to each piece of wood then i stacked a bunch of heavy items on to the top of the table to let it set and dry. I let it dry for about 24 hours then took everything off. I lightly hand sanded the top of the table then i used a circular handle sponge from hobby lobby to put on the polka dots. 

FINISHED! the total project cost was $38.00 not too shabby, right? I am so happy with the ending result. This coffee table looks so perfect in our little place and it was also a project that only took me a total of 2 hours, labor time.

please excuse all of the extra business going around in these pictures. There are lots of projects under way that i'm also having a good time with. 

Cayman 2012

I call Cayman my second home. My family started going when I was 5 and I have been lucky enough to go back multiple times a year since. We have a home there on the outer skirts of the island where the tourists are far away so that we can go and do absolutely nothing except relax and put the real world behind us. literally we do nothing, it is bliss!

Each of the homes on the island has a name and a color, any color you could ever imagine. Our home is named Kailypso and it is light blue. This year I got to introduce Landon to this dreamy place that I love so much. I cannot tell you how excited I was for him to experience what I have for so many years. I hold this place so close to my heart, I know that sounds totally lame but I really have so much passion for this little island and for our cute little house. It gives me the goosebumps just talking about it! I wish for each and every person to be able to go spend some bit of time in this perfect place.

Now that our family is complete, meaning we are all married, we were able to go to Cayman as a whole. Each person in my family + their spouses + children were able to go except 2. On July 31st we were off for the most perfect 10 day vacation.

We got there in the middle of the day, so naturally I didn't hesitate to show Landon around, but couldn't wait until we had spent a full day there so he could really see what I'm always talking about. That next day we did what we do each and every day; eat breakfast, lounge around, swim, make lunch, go out on the boat, stingray city, snorkel, lounge/play some sand volleyball, eat dinner, play games and on this trip particularly..watched the olympics. Now, that may sound like a lot of stuff and not a whole lot of relaxing but seriously it is such a trip that will recharge you in many positive ways.

We do the same things every single day but maybe add a little bike riding, visits to rum point and kaibo, the pig farm and going to see the mango lady. All things that are a must on our side of the island but not every day sort of things.

We swam in the ocean for uncountable hours, Landon is still shocked by the incredible temperature of the water. It was almost not refreshing with its 90 degrees and our 85 degree + 90% humidity days. but i'm definitely not complaining. I LOOVE the hot hot heat and the warm ocean water, there's something about salt water that I just cant get enough of..I think I must have been a fish or a mermaid in my other life.

We ride on the boat to stingray city on a daily basis to go feed none other than..well...the stingrays! I was anxious for Landon to interact with them because every ones first reaction is always soo entertaining and hilarious. People aren't used to these weird/cool looking things that are slimy and soft and all up in your business. I guess thats the most surprising part, that they literally press up against your body once you get in the water because they are too friendly and just want some dang food! So, we gave them food and after the first day Landon was already pretty used to them. He wasn't being totally aggressive or anything but he would welcome them with open arms. haha. They are really just like dogs but live in the water and are a lot softer..mm I just love it.

The ocean water is also very clear and there is some amazing snorkeling. Landon thought it was a pretty sweet gig. Snorkeling on the reef with colorful fish and coral. Its like being in a real life Finding Nemo movie.  And then there's the eel that after too many years of tour guides feeding the guy, he got really aggressive which caused the tour guides to stop feeding him for safety purposes. He still sticks around in the reef rocks so whenever we find him its always a good time because he just slithers his way out of that rock and freaks people out. Landon swam back a few feet once he saw him, he said he was not expecting that at all. it was funny. The eel is a pretty fish but very intimidating with his very long, sleek green body and sharp teeth. Thank heavens none of us have ever been bitten but I guess thats why we still hunt him down whenever we are there..

Each night while the sun is setting we would board the boat and head out to watch the sun set with slight hopes of seeing *the green flash* which we have yet to see but maybe someday.. the sunsets in Cayman are gorgeous and never disappointing. Landon and Kelsey would fish while we just bobbed in the water.

a few other highlights from this trip: the massive rain falls that would happen in the afternoons,The rainstorms in Cayman are ridiculous so I was really happy for Landon to experience them.  My brothers iphone case can go under water so we took full advantage. my sis and I had an underwater photo shoot and did a little bit of recording, olympics style. it was pretty fun! The ice cream man came by, of course we couldnt pass that up!

all in all this trip was SO great. Landon said he would go back in a split second, I was relieved that he loves it there (almost) as much as I do. He loved our little Kailypso ocean side home, playing horseshoes and beach volleyball every evening, swimming, night time card games, the water and all things Cayman.. and I am one happy gal. I am so happy that I got to take my husband, the love of my life, to Cayman and to have such a great trip with my whole family.

cayman's incredible sunsets.

my #1 pet of choice.

ophelia's eyes are cracking me up

why cant i spin this picture! grr. 

itty bitty pumpkin ice cream cones. some of the best ice-cream i've ever tasted!

too bad its hard to see the rain, its unreal.

[IMG]http://i1076.photobucket.com/albums/w453/22brie/Cayman%202012/P8011711.jpg[/IMG]

one month & happy 24th!

Another week has come and gone and boy is time flying by. People had always told me that once you get married time flies but now that I'm actually living it, I totally believe it. We had a pretty fun week with getting quite a bit done, the 24th of July and our 'one month anniversary'.

For the 24th my family went boating. It was my first time boating this whole season due to wedding plans and work. It felt too good to be out there, I just love it so much. It ended up being a pretty windy day, too windy to actually drive around the lake, even a boat capsized because the waves were pretty wild. So along with many other boats, we anchored in the arena and just bobbed. well, people watched and bobbed. It might sound boring to some people but with my family, as long as we are on a boat we are happy. The next day Landon had a work party with the bank. It was at Castle Park here in Orem and they had all sorts of delicious treats and some incredible fireworks. I'm talking the huge, Is my face going to get sizzled by these massive ashes, kind of fireworks. It was pretty awesome and an overall great time.

On Saturday Landon and I both had to work until the afternoon so we went on with our day as usual. At work I looked and the date and WOW! it was one month from that day that we had gotten married. I couldnt believe it. Because I'm a little bit crazy when it comes to special dates, we did a wee bit of celebrating. We ate at Cubby's for our first time and man was I totally satisfied. I actually really loved it, including the fun atmosphere. Landon didnt love his sandwich too much but he did enjoy the french fries so maybe that made up for it. I would highly recommend.

Overall we got a lot done. My oldest brother and his wife just moved back from living in Colorado for 3 years. While they decide what their plans on house hunting are, they are living at my parents house. Because of this, I was forced ;) to move every teeny tiny little thing out of my bedroom at home. I was definitely not planning on taking everything out of there so now our little apartment is stuffed full of boxes. All of which is my stuff. Its going to take a really long time for me to go through and sort them out especially because I dont know how I'm going to decorate my apartment, and also because I have separation anxiety. haha. I love home decor so much that I have quite the load of it. On the plus side, we did start and almost finish our faux fireplace. It looks pretty dang good if i do say so myself. I am totally pleased and cant wait to get our TV mounted on the wall so that I can get the living room all decorated and feeling like home!

Landon made me breakfast in bed this week, isnt he the best? yeah, I think so. We did have a silly argument about what side of the bed we get to sleep on. I like the right, he likes the right. so every night we have to figure out who gets to sleep on the right. its quite the dual we have going on. All I have left to say is that we better figure out what we are going to do about it soon. oh and that I think I deserve it more than him, being the lady in the house and all.. and lastly, We went on a drive last night to enjoy the incredible nights we've been having here. There was a stunning sunset that I couldn't help but take a picture of, such a good way to end our week and a beautiful way to start a new one.

this week

we are still moving stuff in, we probably will be for the next month. This week Landon brought over his first gen. x-box. Within 20 minutes of bringing it in to our house he was on the couch, glued. I guess it might be a good thing to have around so that Landon can play it while I'm working some nights. Maybe I'll take up being a "gamer" or something. Not like I dont have enough on my to do list which is continually growing day by day, I need to get a kitchen note pad or something.

We made all of our returns and have been getting the home basics. I never thought that picking out which vacuum to get would be such a dilemma. We finally chose one. And boy are there lots of little things that you don't ever think about. Like some matches so that I can light my new candle, or a basic pen and paper so that I can write down items that we need around the house. I keep getting side tracked by the things that dont matter most for example, finding cute magnets to put on our fridge. Why? I dont know.

We went and saw the new Batman. I was worried going in, thinking that I would definitely be disappointed. I walked out pleasantly surprised, they did such a fabulous job. I even bit off my long, overdue acrylic thumb nail. It was THAT intense, I would definitely recommend it.

Cleaning..I've never been the cleanest girl when it comes to my bedroom but I knew that once I got my own place I would treat it differently. I cant handle it when the living room and kitchen are dirty so I clean those on a daily basis. My bedroom on the other hand, once I get done cleaning the living room and kitchen I decide that tomorrow I will clean the bedroom.. that never happens. So this week my goal is to REALLY clean the bedroom, mostly just put away the clean clothes that have been left in their hamper.

My oldest sister Brittany announced that she is PREGNANT! we could not be any more thrilled. She always always always said that she was done having kids, that 2 was enough. We always told her that she would change her mind after a few years but as her youngest turned 3 we were starting to believe what she was saying. You can only imagine the excitement when she told us the great news. 

Landon has been such a trooper with helping out around here. I know I'm starting to sound like some old house wife or something but seriously, I'm pretty surprised with how much he is stepping up. He always volunteers to do the laundry, my least favorite thing to do. He always does the dishes, aka, loading and unloading the dishwasher. And he WANTS to go grocery shopping. He's pretty sweet if I do say so myself.

All in all, it was a pretty uneventful week. Just trying to get everything situated so that our house can feel like a home. I'm very anxious to start my house decorating, I have some pretty big and fun plans that are patiently waiting. Hopefully I will be able to start them this week! 

And now I'm a Johnson

I've been nearly dying to start blogging again now that I have a new life to lead..as a Johnson. We did the whole wedding thing, hello! So much fun but man I was so ready for it to be done. Just the planning anyways. Our wedding day was beyond perfect, everything I had imagined plus more. I'm still waiting on the photographer to give me the pictures of the big day but to sum it up in very few words I would say that is was the perfect mix between simplicity and Tregan. Yep, my wedding day screamed out my name and portrayed my passions in life but not too extreme. Landon and I soaked in each and every moment of that day and had such an unforgettable time, to say the least.

After leaving the reception in the most dreamy way possible and counting down the minutes to when my day of being a true life princess and Landon my prince charming, we were off to start our life together. But wait, we had the next 10 days to keep reality out of reach and pretend that real life was sitting on a ship drinking margaritas, sleeping endless hours, eating ridiculous amounts of food (seriously), having each and every little thing cleaned up for us, seeing beautiful sites and participating in unforgettable adventures. It was bliss.

Of course there were negatives. Like how on the night of our wedding day we were cruising through Midway to get to the Park City Hotel when we get pulled over and the mean, heartless officer gives us a $90 ticket. Really? How can an officer feel good about himself at the end of the day? Ugh! and, how on the last full day of the cruise we were at sea and it was all black clouds and 60 degrees outside. which meant we had close to nothing to do and to top it off the self serve ice-cream machines weren't working (yes, I ate ice-cream and a lot of it). But I'm really not complaining, I just had to mention those for memories sake.

We got home and that evening we moved our bed in to our new little place. The Johnson residence. That night as we laid in bed, no sheets, just a million blankets until we got everything freshly washed, Landon leaned over to kiss me and said "welcome Home." And home it is, As we still are slowly moving things in I've been going mind crazy by thinking of the endless fun I'm going to have with this place. Last week the first thing I did was work on the balcony. The outside tells a lot about the inside, right? So I gardened some planters and thrifted a bistro set for two.

On Sunday we purchased our first ever couch. I must say that it was pretty fun walking out of ikea, having purchased a couch and knowing that it was going to be in my home, it felt like Christmas! But then again, I get excited when gifted a toaster. That night I turned off the A/C, opened up the porch door and let the cool breeze run through while Landon and I got close on the couch with popcorn and a blanket in hand and watched 21 Jump Street. I got the chills while sitting there, looking around me as I thought about how long I had dreamed for this and now it was reality. It was the coolest feeling ever, I even took some pictures.

The following day (Monday) we set up our tv (we had been using my sisters until they needed it) and got a little more settled. One step at a time, I keep telling myself. I keep hopping from room to room when I realize it's probably not saving me any time by doing that so just focus on one room. There is still a lot to be done but we really have no dead line so who knows how long it will take us.

One of my main thoughts that I think about on a daily basis is truly how great life is at this time. I swear Landon treats me like a princess x100. We both have our fabulous families nearby that help with whatever we need. And we both have pretty great jobs that some what allows my money spending craze to be upheld (although I have had to cut back quite a bit, so I've been thrifting a whole lot more!). Don't get me wrong, I know that life isn't full of butterflies and rainbows but I'm just focusing on the positive here.

So that is it! Our life The past 2 weeks summed up in a few paragraphs. Mostly just the high lights and moments that I specifically want to always remember. And here's to being a Johnson! (clink)

Alpine Coaster

about to board our ship!

buying mangoes from the locals

snorkeling at Pelican Beach

zip lining in Puerto Vallarta

private beach in Cabo

first formal night

rope swing at a natural spring pool in Puerto Vallarta

famous arch and private boat ride in Cabo

lovers beach

kissing at lovers beach, naturally.

planters--before we got the bistro set.

just bought our couch

watching a movie on our new tv. in our new place. on our new couch.

aren't words such a powerful thing? a persons words could change someones life. Or in a more settle way, a persons words could change someones day. whether it be in a good way or a bad way. you know, i laughed just a little to myself when i thought hard about this today..i can decide whether i want to hold on to words, or if i want to let them go. I can decide, it is MY choice. but yet, words still have such a huge influence in a persons life. for example, today i was talking with a few girly friends and some words that came out of one of their mouths have not left my head. i cannot stop thinking about them and it totally turned my night around. and no, these words werent good words, but they werent said in a way that was meant to be bad. I guess i just took them in a way that i really shouldnt have because i'm sure if she knew that it totally impacted my night then she would feel horrible. and thats when i giggle. i giggle because to me, those words were very bold but to her, they were light. and this is why i decided to write this post. because i feel that if i write out my feelings and let them out, then i wont hold them in any longer.

I am the type of person that bottles things in. I bottle them in until i just cant anymore, to where i am having such a good day, then bam, i just feel like crying. but i hate crying, i dont know why but even when i'm all by myself i still talk my self out of crying. its really a horrible thing. i have to sit here and tell myself over and over, it is okay to cry. JUST CRY ALREADY. if i dont cry then i'm going to get more zits and that would make me very sad. so just cry now so that i can get it out of my system and once i cry everything will be okay .. sometimes (after about the 20th time) it works. but never a stream of tears. just a few here and there. dont get me wrong, i can definitely have myself a good cry, but most of the time its when i'm with someone and i HAVE to speak words but without those words come tears. because you know those times where you are having a conversation or something and during this conversation you keep telling yourself to not cry then all of the sudden its your turn to talk and as your first word starts to come out you cry. you cry to the point where you can hardly even get the words out. or even better is when you cant even remember what you were about to say. oh yes. i know that feeling well. but i occasionally think about how i wish i was the type of person that could just get in my car, turn on a really loud and good song and just cry cry cry then be done. but thats just not how i am. and i'm okay with that.

i dont really know how i got on to the subject of crying. i didnt mean for this post to be totally and completely blubberish but i just needed to write. i needed to write to let out my words and feelings so that i dont bottle them in.

even in saying all of these things, i am a very happy person. I am going through a time in my life where i am incredibly thankful for the love and life that i have. and yep, i'm about to say it, i am SO unbelievably blessed!! i have a great family that i am so close to and a fiance that is by my side no matter what. everyday i get more and more excited for my future and what it has to bring for me.

that is all for tonight. xoxo.