Just a Little Something Extra

My father in law gave me his old desk and the lamp he used for it. I haven't finished painting the desk yet, but I did make a change to the lamp.

Obviously I'm new to blogging my "process" because I forgot to take a before picture. :)

Here's after I started painting it:

Here's the base of it so you can see it was just a tan metal, kind of scratched up:

One coat on the top--I didn't even sand this. Its not going to be touched a lot, I'm not worried about the paint getting scraped off. Maybe if I get sick of the color it will be good and the paint can come off easily! haha

It took about three light coats to really cover it, super easy. I thought it really added something extra fun to paint it turquoise. Honestly I love it!

See you can get something from the thrift store or something old laying around in your parents basement and make it into your own awesome lamp no one else in the world has! :)

Beach Life

I just got home from a trip to the Oregon coast, and can I just tell you: the beach life is the life for me! When we lived in Utah, there were so many things I loved about it. I loved the weather, I loved the mountains, I loved the canyons, I loved all the different places you could visit... but the one thing Utah didn't have that I missed terribly, was the ocean.

My sisters-in-law put together a girls weekend (along with my mother-in-law and two nieces) about four hours from where we live. I sat every night looking from our balcony out at the amazing view of the ocean, and I wondered if the people who live there ever get used to it and stop looking--don't even notice it anymore. It was so calming, so beautiful; I can't imagine ever thinking it was "blah" or just "whatever", it was amazing. Period.

I could sit with my toes buried in the sand, staring at the ocean for hours. I could pick through the shore looking for shells until its dark out. I could splash through waves (even if they're freezing) forever. I just love it.

So to cap off this tribute to the ocean, I'll show you the amazing beauty I was able to enjoy this last weekend: here's some pictures for your own viewing pleasure. :)