Alice in Wonderland Birthday Party

My best friend is one of the most creative people I know. When she got married, she had a grand plan that involved quite a few DIY projects. I was fortunate enough to be able to show up a few days before the wedding and got to help her and her family bring it all together. It was a beautiful wedding. She had a vision and it came to life with all of her decorations the day she married her husband.

Well, earlier this summer I noticed she posted some pictures on Facebook of her daughter’s 4th birthday party. As the title to this post suggests, it had an Alice in Wonderland theme. I was impressed with her creativity and thought that instead of sharing the latest book I have read, I would show you some of the fun stuff this mommy, who works full-time, put together.

First, strung throughout the house was this Alice pennant banner (that my friend made) along with fun paper balloon lanterns.

Next, she made use of the “Eat Me” . . .

and “Drink Me” pivotal moments of Alice’s adventures in Wonderland.

She also made sure the other characters in the adventure were showcased as well on top of some . . . cupcakes! Perfectly sized pieces of cake for little hands.

In addition, she even thought about the straws and made sure there were some cute sticks for the kids to suck up their beverage of choice.

Finally, Alice herself made an appearance and decorated the kiddos’ faces and hands.

Hope her creativity inspires you!

Happy Monday everyone.

I Want to Go for a Walk

This afternoon as I was working at the kitchen table when this white and black face wandered into my field of vision. Very quietly she rested her head in my lap and looked up at me with that brown eye. It was as if she was saying, “Aren’t you done yet? I want to go for a walk!”

Hope your Tuesday is going well and you get to go outside and enjoy the outdoors.

Dark Places

My pick for this week is Dark Places by Gillian Flynn. I told you how I felt about Gone Girl. Well, I enjoyed this book even more. There were actually characters in this book I liked. For example, I liked the main character, Libby. She has some major issues (and who wouldn’t when your family is supposedly murdered by your brother) but overall, I liked her.

What would you be like twenty years after your family is gone from your life at seven years of age? Well, for Libby Day she is broke and going on interviews for a group called the Kill Club to try and make some money. These interviews include visiting remaining family members at a prison and a superfund site. They also include catching up with strippers and trying to reconnect with an estranged aunt who lives in a trailer park.

I am sure Libby’s trips down memory lane with such savory characters seem a bit well, dark. I agree, but while these people are a little dark, the mystery Flynn has set on this stage is too interesting and tantalizing to close the book. So, if you have a summer vacation on the horizon, take this little whodunnit along with you. Was it Ben, Runner, Trey, Diondra, Len or maybe even the Aunt? I am pretty certain you will want to find out just like I did.

The Lot

Image from the Charleston City Paper

Last week The Southern Gent and I went out to eat at a restaurant on James Island called, The Lot. We had never heard of this restaurant until I read my August/September issue of Garden and Gun. The City of Charleston had taken out an advertisement section and it featured “The Local’s Guide to Charleston.” Inside, one local recommended The Lot. Since it is only a ten minute drive from our house, we decided to give it a try.

The Lot prides itself on locally sourced meats, veggies and fruit. As such, the menu changes daily and if for no other reason you should go to hear the impressive wait staff recite a new menu each night. However, not only was our waitress’ memory skills impressive but our meal was pretty darn good too.

I had a salad of greens with a six minute fried egg on top. It had been fried in some tasty batter and the yolk was still runny. Definitely an eating experience and one I would recommend. The Southern Gent had the strip steak with seasonal vegetables and a hollandaise -type sauce. He said it was delicious. The two people we went with ordered the pasta and the risotto dish. The pasta dish had some local vegetables and a red sauce. It was very hearty looking. The risotto dish had more of a white sauce base with a few leafy vegetables rounding it out. Both of our friends said their food was very good.

So, since the weekend is almost upon us, I would say you should stop by here one night. The decor is inviting with vibrant art work and eclectic seating (they will even bring you crayons to write on your butcher-block paper table cloth) and if you time it right you might be able to hit a show at The Pour House next door after dinner.

Almost done with Glueing

This dresser needed some serious help. All of the veneer was about ready to peel off of the front of the drawers. I thought about pulling it off but . . .

I liked the detail on the drawers.

So the glueing began (not only for the veneer but also other parts of the drawers as well) and now the drawers are operable again without fear of ripping off the veneer or something worse happening.

The last thing left is the veneer on the top.

As you can see there is quite a line on the top that will need some work to blend.

I am certain though that I can get that veneer on top to lay as flat as the veneer on the drawers below.

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Putting the Upholstery on . . .

After travel and the traveling, family flu struck I finally got it together last week and made some progress on the Office Chairs.

Well, I continued on with that last night and not only did I put the foam on the second chair, I started putting on the upholstery. Click here to get an idea of how I did this.

I even put the fabric on the second chair.

Next up is working on getting the fabric snug around the legs. I went back and did some more research on this today. I want to be sure that when I start cutting the fabric I know what I am doing. Stay tuned.

Happy Tuesday everyone!

The Wolverine

When The Southern Gent and I were still dating we went to a Halloween party together and he dressed up as Wolverine. We dressed him in a wife beater and good jeans, put some claws on his hands, gave him a disheveled but styled hair-do and of course shaded in his stubble to look like Wolverine. I am probably biased because I helped design his costume but apart from the person dressed up as The Big Lebowski, The Southern Gent/The Wolverine looked the best.

With that little back-story, you can imagine that we both were looking forward to seeing the new movie, The Wolverine. So, on Saturday we went to the local theater and enjoyed watching Hugh Jackman and a red-haired Rila Fukushima fight bad guys during some great action scenes. My favorite was the one on top of the bullet train.

I will stop there though before I give too much away. I love the X-Men movies and can’t wait for the next one. You know what that means? Stay until after the credits roll for a sneak peak of the next in this series, X-Men: Days of Future Past (5/23/2014)!

Hope you had a great weekend and your Monday is going the same way.

Wild Olive

Photo courtesy of Wild Olive’s website.

I usually do out on the town type posts on Fridays but it occurred to me that people might make their Friday night plans on Thursday. With that in mind, I give you Wild Olive. Located on John’s Island and just down the road from one of my favorites, the Fat Hen, Wild Olive serves up some excellent Italian cuisine.

This spacious restaurant features a good size bar, a communal seating area near the bar, a small room off to the front of the building with a nice view of the outdoors and two other larger seating areas. With warm colors, hanging grapes and comfortable seating options, you will feel right at home.

Photo courtesy of Wild Olive’s website.

Of course though, I must not forget about the food. Last week when we went we had some warm olives for an appetizer. I do not like olives but I decided to try this novelty and was glad I did. The various olives were tasty and the cloves of garlic they had marinating in oil along with the olives were yummy too.

For dinner I had chicken parmesan, a friend had the fish special and another friend had one of their signature pasta dishes. We all pronounced our food delicious and can’t wait to go back and try something else.

So, if you are looking for a good dinner place this weekend, whether you have been before or not, Wild Olive should be on your list!

Happy Thursday everyone.

Glueing

One project I have had a bit of stamina to work on lately is this dresser. This is an “after we brought it home” picture but a “before I hosed it down and scrubbed on it in the front yard” picture.

Once I cleaned it up, I brought it in the house to let the moisture and musty smell dissipate.

Next on the list was glueing the veneer back to the dresser drawers and on the top. I am currently on drawer number three and it is coming along quite nicely.

I bought these Bessey clamps at Lowe’s and they have been wonderful! I originally had only one clamp, the one in the middle and it was slow going. With the new 4-pack of clamps though I have been able to glue more securely and a little quicker too.

The best feature of these clamps is that the plastic feet come off. This makes it easier to get a grip on a drawer like this when you are glueing the sides and the  bottom of the drawer is in the way. Without the orange foot, you can get a better grip. You can see this pretty well in the picture if you look at the clamp all the way on the left.

So, if you need clamps for simple glueing projects, I definitely recommend these Bessey clamps.

Happy Wednesday y’all.

Padding

Sorry I have been missing my posts. I have still been under the weather a little and working on furniture has not been in the cards. Today I had a bit of pep though so I worked on one of the Office Chairs. Now that they both have been painted, distressed, waxed and buffed, I decided to add some foam to one of them.

It was slow going at first but then I got the feel for it and stapled my way around the chair and cut the excess foam.

Next will be to cover it with upholstery.

I am looking forward to doing this. My only concern is in the back of the seat where the ribs of the chair . . .

bow inwards. It is hard to get the nose of the gun in there to staple stuff down. So, I will be figuring that out next.

Happy Tuesday!