NC Beaches Subway Art

I just got back from a trip to Wilmington with my family and my BFF (I wrote about my thrifting/shopping there here!)

Before I went, I made this sign for my BFF!

We usually hit up the NC coast, beaches and cities a bit inland around 2-3 times a year. She's much closer since she lives in Charlotte, but I still try to make it as much as I can even from far away Nashville!

I had a vision of this sign before I made it, and it surpassed my expectations!


Here it is:

And here's how I did it!


- 11x14 wood board from Home Depot
I got a huge board from Home Depot cut down into 6 11x14 pieces, plus a few small leftover pieced I kept for other projects! I can't remember what this board was called, but it was right by the MDF boards.

- Drilled small holes in the top to string jute (didn't take pics of this!)

- Sanded around holes to make them smooth

- Painted board White

Why are my fingers covered in paint? Oh I left out a step!

- Clean up the mess that happens when you shake a bucket of paint that has the LID ON LOOSE!!!

Have to say, I'm kinda glad that it was a cold day, and I painted inside! At least everything I spilled on was already white or almost white! It actually was trim paint that I used so I put it to use by touching up some spots in the house. Don't think the dishwasher needed that new coat though! Ha!

- Used Silhouette machine to print out beaches/cities onto vinyl, used "weld" tool to make each word one piece- makes it easier to transfer in my opinion! You could use stencils or lots of other things too!

- Applied vinyl letters to board.

I *could* have done this reverse, painted the board black and applied the white vinyl on top, but I wanted a more finished look.

- Spray painted flat black over the top, didn't want a glossy look for this project. Home Depot carries a basic flat or glossy black for $.99!

Yeah, that *blinding*white may be some leftover paint!

- Peeled off letters with tweezers.

I thought it would benefit me to work quickly before the paint dried, but turned out that the letters at the end were actually easier to get off because I didn't smear any paint. (easily wiped up where I did smear though!)

Oh yeah, these are my Revlon tweezers that I cannot live without for my eyebrow plucking!! I should get some ones I can get paint all over! I did give them a good scrubbing....when I went to pluck my eyebrows the next time!

Let's add some black paint on the hands to those leftover white flecks!

- String jute through holes, tie knots and hang!

I originally purchased sawtooth hangers to put on the back, but changed my mind. So glad I did because I love the look of the jute, and it was much easier! I was just gonna wing it and hope the sawtooth hangers would work on the thin piece of wood!

- Debate over actually delivering this to BFF cause I am in loooooove with it, but give in when I realize I can do it all over again!

- Take lots and lots of pics of it, outside and in!

It's safe to say I WILL be doing this again!

I have plans for a bigger black and white one using vacation spots for me and the hubby (it'll go on the wall next to those black and jute apothecary jars you see above!!), and another one with these same beaches for me, but blues, tans, and shabbied up which will match our guest room! At least thats the plans I have for now!

I'll be linking up here!

Wilmington Thrifting/Antiquing Trip

We just got back this week from vacation in Wilmington,NC, visiting with my BFF, her sister and their little girls! It was a blast!

I'm soooooo blessed to have a hubby who puts up with my love for shopping! But perhaps its because instead of visiting all the expensive botiques, I'd rather go to the little antique shops (and mostly just browse!) and hit up all the thrift stores!!

We made out pretty well!! The hubby even picked out some stuff!!

We hit up several adorable antique stores, BUT we went to the thrift stores first!! That made the prices of some of the adorable antique stores seem outrageous!

Here's some of my cute antiquing finds, that I loved but didn't purchase!
(click on the names of the stores for more info on them!)

Shop of Seagate

This was my favorite store. On the small side, but gorgeous stuff, some expensive, some super affordable! I wanted to buy almost EVERYTHING there!!

Adore everything in this window display!

Gorgeous, chunky, shabby blue frame! (Hubby thought it was a mirror at first glance!) I could totally see this surrounding some starfish, sand dollars, or something else beachy/nautical! I might even have to make something like this for myself! And there's a peek at a cute bench to the right of it!

They also have a separate room of just furniture that was fantastic! I loved this cute little writing desk!

Thrill of the Hunt

Wish I'd snapped more pics, but I was sooo busy looking! They had amazing displays plus areas you really had to dig through to see all the great stuff! They had tons of brightly colored furniture with starfish on the knobs! So much gorgeous and funky stuff!!

The Ivy Cottage

This place has THREE buildings plus a warehouse, jam packed with gorgeous vintage and antique stuff!! Sorta pricey but some stuff was definitely affordable! There's soooo much to look at! Lots of china, glass, furniture. Beautiful stuff!!

I adored the chippiness of this multi-colored cabinet, and saw several pieces like it!

And here's what I did purchase!

Shop of Segate

I loooooved this little bouy bird house!! The hubby was actually the one who pointed it out! It was way up high on a shelf! The shopkeeper actually said she had just noticed it and marveled herself at the $9 price tag! It's worn, chipping, rusty, and just wonderful!! That cute rusty plaque on the back says "BARNSTORM."

Goodwill and Salvation Army finds

I noticed Goodwill prices in Wilmington to be SOOOOOO much cheaper! While they seemed to have less homegoods stuff to go through, and it wasn't that organized- it was MUCH better selection that my stores at home- or else no one in Wilmington has my taste like it seems people in Nashville do!

Here's the breakdown:

Salvation Army

• $3 -Elephant picture frame (great chunky frame that I'll prob whitewash)
• $1.99- Teapot (can anyone tell me what this is? my mom has bowls like this which is why I loved it but I don't know what it is!)
• $.49 ea Milk glass vases (eeewww dirty, but cleaned up perfectly! I saw the same ones at my Good will for $1 more!)
• $.29 Widemouth Ball jar (hello cheapo!)

Goodwill

• $1.99- Cream and sugar pots- that perfectly match the teapot! What luck!
• $1.59- Wine bucket
• $.59- Halloween candy bucket- perfect for Baby Girl this fall!
• $.69- Snowman bucket
• Lighthouse welcome sign (a little rusty painted part but cleaned up great!)- $2

Vintage Values Finds

This store was GREAT!! It's Goodwill-ish looking and prices on vintage stuff!! Some stuff is a little more expensive because they KNOW it's vintage, but it was still a much better deal than true vintage/antique shops! These stores in Wilmington benefit domestic violence shelters, so that makes it even better!

While I liked all of the stuff from Goodwill and Salvation Army that we bought, I LOVED all of these things!

I'm not sure what the cute little boats are made of, aluminum? They are really cute though! They say Nina and Pinta, but there was no Santa Maria or I would've bought it too!! I just saw bigger boats like it at my Goodwill for quadruple the price! The books are old and amazing- good tiltes even! The little coke canister is from 1992- so practically vintage and it was a steal! The hubby picked out the beer stein- much better than the $40-$65 ones we saw at antique stores! And I think I will shabby up the wooden shell candle holder!

Price breakdown:

• $2 each- Vintage books from 1945-1952 (there will be no tearing up of these! They are still readable classics!)
• $1.99 each- Nina and Pinta boats
• $4.99- Beer stein (steal!!)
• $1.99- almost vintage Coca-cola tin
• $1.99- wooden shell candle stick

I'm sooooo happy with all of our purchases! I really feel like I got more bang for my buck too with finding things in thrift stores vs buying from antique stores! (They just may have had to wipe up more of my drool over all the antique stuff!!)

Most of these things were unusual purchase for me, but they were all things that I loved! I picked up so many more things that I liked, but if I didn't know what I would do with it or if it didn't go with stuff I already had, I put it back! I think I made out pretty well, what do you think?!

I'll soon show how I'm using some of these things!

Linking up!!

Honeymoon update!!

Ray and I booked our honeymoon hotel awhile back at Los Altos de Eros in Costa Rica. (see the link for my previous post on that hotel!) While we'd still LOVE to stay there, reality has been setting in that staying there would probably put us into debt starting off our marriage! At $395-$495 a NIGHT...it's not cheap.....but it seems to be out of this world!! It's slightly all-inclusive- smoothies, beer, wine, breakfast and lunch are included.

I was especially excited about staying in Tamarindo, Costa Rica because the week we booked the hotel, I had shown all my classes a Travel Channel Samantha Brown video on her trip there! After 10 times of watching her surf, ride dirt bikes, relax in infinity pools and lay in a hammock in Costa Rica, I had to do it to!

By the way.....If I could pick ANY job in the world, it would be HERS! But I think I'd do it a little better- at least in the Spanish speaking countries she visits! Her Spanish is pretty bad! But at least she tries!! I think she's the coolest chic ever though!! I know her job can be tough and fast paced, but she gets PAID to see the world!!! I soooo want that job!

But back to the point........We've changed our hotel in CR! Actually, we're now booked for 2 places but will eventually cancel one! Good thing about hotels here- you pay when you leave, so no one has our credit card # right now!! They finalize your reservation when you send them your airfare info.

My mom and dad are SUPER amazing and got us our plane tickets into Liberia, CR for FREE! Yes, that's right- FREE! Well....nothing's free I guess! There was about $180 worth of processing fees- so silly! But amazing compared to the fact that we would be paying well over $1200 for 2 tickets there! My dad's been flying so much lately that he's earned tons of points- obviously enough for 2 tickets! And my mom was great about finding us a flight that would actually work with our schedule and the airline's (they only allow so many free passengers per flight!) Too bad we'll get hit with American Airlines new $15 per checked bag fee!

So you'd think that getting free air would make us think we could splurge a little! Nope! As we're seeing how much $$$$$ this wedding is going to cost- and the fact that we'll probably have zero left to put on the honeymoon, we're seeing we need to cut back!

(oh the memories of Honduras! These things are not my friend, but animal life is abundant in CR!!)

So we found a fabulous little hotel- Hotel Capitan Suiza, which we are quite happy with. Los Altos only had 6 rooms and was very intimate, but the Capitan only has 30, so it's not a huge commercial hotel either. It's not all-inclusive, but like I've said before- I've heard good and not so good things about all-inclusive. Breakfast is included, and the restaurant looks fantastic and isn't too expensive! We've read nothing but good things about the hotel too!

Wish I could put better pics of the hotel on here, but I can't copy the ones on their page....so go look at them here- Hotel Capitan Suizo Photos. Amazing!! The restaurant all lit up, reminds me of the one in the recent movie - Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Looks like fun!

It's also right on the beach, which seems to be pretty clean and pretty private. Los Altos is up in the mountains/jungle over looking the ocean (they take you there whenever you want). But there is something about waking up and throwing on a bathing suit and heading straight to the beach, then wandering back every now and then for a dip in the pool, etc. :o)

We're spending less than half what we would spend a night at Los Altos (around $175 at the Capitan), so that should give us lots of money to play/eat/drink with! We even decided to book the honeymoon suite for the last 2 nights (the last, not the first so we don't get too spoiled and hate our smaller room!), and it's even cheaper than the small room at Los Altos!

Trip Advisor was an invaluable resource for us! Yes, I know that on many travel review sites people only post negative experiences. Well at both of these hotels there were almost nothing but RAVING reviews because everyone loved them both so much! Although, you should take the negatives with a grain of salt, it's still a great resource!

So- if you have LOTS of money after throwing your fabulous wedding- head to Los Altos de Eros. If you are throwing a "Fabu-less" wedding- head to the Capitan! Whatever you do- definitely put Costa Rica on your "must-see" honeymoon list!!

Honeymooon in Costa Rica!!!

It has been decided!!! We are going to COSTA RICA for our honeymoon!!!! We booked our hotel last night for 7 days in beautiful Tamarindo, Costa Rica!! All that's left to do is book our flight!! And actually go!!!

We spent LOTS of time looking into all-inclusives in Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic. It was hard at first to decide. There are so many pluses and minuses about all-inclusives. Plus- you don't have to worry about other expenses while you are there except for shopping and extra activities. Minus- you probably won't get to eat anywhere but the resort or experience true cultural food because why go out and pay when your food at the resort is already paid for. Having food taken care of is great, but some all-inclusive food is just so-so.

We found what may be a perfect combination. Our hotel is almost all-inclusive- but doesn't include dinner except for 2 nights during the week. That means we get to go out and explore the town of Tamarindo and eat wherever we want!

Our hotel is Los Altos de Eros, and it is a small inn that only has 6 rooms!! There are way too many amazing details for me to include them all here! But they have included breakfast and lunch every day, Dinner on Tues. and Sat., complimentary transportation to beaches, activities, shopping, restaurants, complimentary smoothies, beer and wine, indoor/outdoor showers (gorgeous!), infinity edge pool, and offers an amazing view with beautiful sunsets overlooking the jungle and the ocean.






We are sooooooooo excited about going there!! If you are interested in more info, read up on the reviews on Trip Advisor- they even link to it from their website! And read all the info on their own site. The guest pictures on Trip Advisor and reviews of food, location, etc. are what sealed the deal for us!

They were even quick to respond to our reservation requests via email! It's a little less formal than most hotels and a lot more personal since they only have 6 other rooms which means max 12 guests at a time!

I'm also doubly excited because it just so happens that this month I am teaching my students about Costa Rica (we study a different country each month!), and I've been showing them a video of Samantha Brown's Passport to Latin America from the Travel Channel. I highly suggest watching ANY of her stuff! She's just so darn cute and goes to the best places! Her job=my dream job! Although, I'd do it with much better Spanish! Haha! In the episode we've been watching, she goes to Guanacaste, Costa Ricaand then takes a trip to the town of Tamarindo- where our hotel is! She even goes to and suggests going to Lola's, a restaurant right on the beach the hotel suggests visiting! I'm soooooo excited!! I can't wait to tell my students that I'm going there too!! More importantly, I can't wait to just go!!! :o)

Honeymoon locations!!

 

I absolutely ADORE traveling around the world! It's one of my absolute most favorite things to do! I love the excitement and the learning experiences involved- seeing new sights, experiencing new things- I love it all!! I've traveled a lot, mostly on missions trips, and I've loved every country (except for one-I won't say which, where I got HORRIBLY ill!!) I am so looking forward to new experiences on my honeymoon!! Oh wait.....that didn't sound right!! :o) Well...looking forward to that, but also the TRAVELING experiences!!! :o) Ray loves to travel as well, but has so far just been to Mexico (lots! he even lived there for awhile!) and Canada. He can't wait to go all over with me!! I'm so glad I found someone who is a smitten with travel as I am!! I couldn't stand to stay at home all the time!!

One of my major goals in life is to travel to every Spanish speaking country. I also want to travel all over Europe. Lots of other places I'd love to go, but if I can do those, I'll be a happy gal!! Since Ray and I are so comfortable with Spanish, and speaking to natives wouldn't be hard work for us (although my real work is Spanish! haha!), and since he's as into my goal of visiting every Spanish speaking nation as I am- we thought it would be a good idea to go ahead and knock one out while we are on our honeymoon!

All that to say, we are considering the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica for our honeymoon....maybe even Puerto Rico.


DR- ohhh so pretty!! I want to set up a hammock right there!!


And I want to live in this sunset in Costa Rica!!

I've been consulting TripAdvisor.com for reviews of some hotels in DR that I've been looking at....some seem good....others not so great!!

And as far as CR goes....well, haven't even begun looking there! We will probably consult a travel agent in a few weeks, since neither of us know any one who has been to either country (We've just heard fabulous things about both for honeymoon destinations!!).

I don't mind that the DR is such a poor country. I do know it quite a bit about it and CR (from teaching my students!) I know that DR shares the island of Hispanola with Haiti- this hemisphere's poorest country.  Seeing and learning about the people there is part of what makes the experience so amazing! I do however, want to feel like I'm living in the lap of luxury! Most of the time when I visit other countries, I stay in the cheapest places- or even a hut or dirt floor in the jungle! I want my honeymoon to be AMAZING but don't want to forget about what life is really like! This will probably be the only extravagant trip I'll ever take- as far as hotel/food/drink wise! I'm normally an easygoing, eat off the side of the road at some little stand kind of gal!

If you have any advice, ideas, or travel information that you can offer, I'd be glad to hear it!! In the meantime, check out these pics from my other trips!! (please forgive the ones of little me with the bad hair!! :o) )

PERU

 
Stuck in the mud!(I'm in the red shirt with the early 90's permed hair! and we ALL had fanny packs!!)


Performing a skit at a school in Peru (Do those pants make my butt look big?? :o) )

PANAMA


We did this skit about a thousand times!(I'm the China doll!)

ECUADOR


On the "equator" (I'm at the top! And I say "equator" because the monument was built at the wrong spot! The real one is just a little ways away!)


Train ride to Cotopaxi- one of Ecuador's most famous volcanoes


Eating.....umm...Cui....ummmm...guinea pig!! I swear I only had a bite!!

CAMEROON WEST AFRICA





MEXICO


Oh how I loved those flowers! (and apparently permed hair!)

Look what I caught in Cozumel!!


Dancin with my girlies (and future bridesmaids!) at Carlos 'n Charlies in Cozumel (and apparently with the cabin boy too??)


With my sweetie on his abuelo's farm


Coolest picture I've ever taken! It's real!! Valle de Guadalupe

HONDURAS 


With  my students (and Max the monkey- our class "pet"


Mayan Ruins in Copan with Cesia and Karla


Overlooking Copan