Category Archives: family

thirty years strong

Today my parents have been married for 30 years. With the divorce rate where it is today, I would say that 30 years is definitely something to celebrate. Their love and commitment for each other is unparalleled by any other couple I know. They have been through many hardships, and have always come out on the other side stronger than ever.

What better way to honor my parents love for each other than to get married the same year they reached such a monumental anniversary? I’ve always looked up to them and hoped that one day I would find someone that makes me as happy and can be as silly as they have always been with each other.

Mommy and Daddy, I love you more than anything in the world and I’m so grateful to have such strong parents to look up to. I hope that you have a wonderful anniversary with many many more to come!

weekender

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As I mentioned on Friday, this past weekend I journeyed up to the Dallas area to visit my parents and knock some long overdue to-do items off of the wedding list. I’ll go into more detail on that during this week’s Wedding Wednesday, but for now here’s a little recap of the weekend according to my iPhone.

If you follow me in instagram, you may recognize a lot of this, and if you don’t my username is @catharines

After six hours of driving, it was definitely cherub and nectarine time.

A little early morning tennis on Friday with my mom. We were both a little rusty.

Friday was dedicated to thrift stores, junk shops, and antiquing. The first junk shop we stopped at was one I’ve been dying to pop in for hmm probably 10 years, but I’ve always just been passing through. We finally stopped and it was a little terrifying how much stuff this guy had, and how many boxes in the back that were probably filled with rats. Eeesh! But I found this cool vintage wrapping paper [some of which is hand painted] for .50c a pop! I have lots of plans to either line the backs of shelves, drawers, frame, or even wrap gifts! SO excited! I love the cobalt blue and white one, its a little Jonathan Adler meets Tory Burch, no?

Our destination for the day was downtown McKinney. If you haven’t been there yet it’s a must. They’ve completely restored all of the original shops, and are all filled with fun boutiques and tons of antique stores. I never did go inside this one to see what the “other classy stuff” was. What a shame!

I’m still kicking myself for not getting this tea set. There were six total and each one was a different color. It’s hard to tell here but each one is a little translucent. Very pretty!

I was loving this chair, if only it was a navy velvet instead of a leather. Oh well!

After hours of shopping we came home and started making the first of [literally] thousands of paper flowers for the centerpieces and pews for the wedding. Let’s just say it has been a labor of love.

Saturday my mom and I went to Knox St. and Northpark Mall in Dallas for a little shopping. We started out at Crate & Barrel so she could see everything we had registered for [more on that soon!] And yes, we were both rocking the horizontal stripes that day.

I was so excited to finally go into the new Jonathan Adler, it was colorful 60s goodness. I ended up buying this candle, which after it all melts I’ll turn into a vase. Yay versatility! Derek was very impressed that I didn’t come home with any of his ceramic animals. He is the mecca you know.

After Northpark, we hopped over to the new Shops at Park Lane which has some pretty excited shops like Bloomingdales outlet [what??] and an underground HomeGoods! I shockingly didn’t buy anything. I know.. I was surprised too.

On our way back home we drove by our old neighborhood only to find my old elementary school has been knocked down. Sad day.

Sunday afternoon my mom and I headed back to San Antonio, where she’ll be visiting for a week! But before we left we had to say goodbye to the cherubs and this is what Rupert does when he knows we’re leaving. He hides behind a corner and crouches as small as he can with his ears down so maybe we won’t see him. It’s very cute/heartbreaking.

I continued making paper flowers all the way to SA..

But at least I had a nice view! We decided to take the backroads rather than I35 because let’s face it, that highway is a nightmare.

How was your weekend?

there’s always a way around power tools

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This past weekend Derek and I went to northeast Texas to visit my parents. Of course my mom had loads of projects lined up for me, one in particular was to help her arrange and hang some floating shelves in their bathroom. They’ve been undergoing a huge renovation on their master bath for a couple months now. I’ll be showing the before and after pictures once the final upgrades are complete, but for now just imagine the walls being covered in an intensely patterned orange tribal wallpaper from floor to ceiling, on every wall. It could easily send anyone into a panic attack. Walls were painted, countertops were replaced, etc. One of the biggest feats was removing a HUGE mirror that ran the entire length of their sinks. They ended up replacing the large mirror with two smaller mirror/medicine cabinet combos to keep their countertops clear of products. This however left a huge 4′ gap in between the mirrors of complete nothingness.

My mom wanted to have floating shelves there to put all of her “pretties” as she likes to call them. So I found four small white shelves [similar to these] at Target on sale for $6 for all four shelves. What? I know. I found them at the beginning of the year after all the new college kids had finished buying everything to setup their dorms, so Target was just marking down the leftovers like crazy. Anyway! there was a reason these babies were so cheap. The mounting hardware on the backs is very precise with two small keyhole type hooks placed at each end. I knew that we’d need to screw them in rather than nailing them for extra support. Which meant one thing: power tools.

If you’re like me, you’re easily intimidated by power tools. 1. They have a lot of power [go figure], 2. I might do more harm than good, and 3. I’ve watched a little too much Home Improvement. And this project required a drill AND a screw gun. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve used my fare share of power tools, and I’m still not a fan. My dad was against this project from the get go so he didn’t want to help, and Derek just likes watching disasters so my mom and I decided to come up with another solution!

I cut templates out of wax paper the same size of each shelf. I labeled each template and shelf A, B, C, or D because I had a feeling the mounting hardware wasn’t in the same place on each shelf. Then I marked where the screws would go on each template, using the mounting hardware as a guide.

We decided to arrange the shelves in two rows of two, keeping them each 3″ away from the edge of the mirrors. Then made sure that each template was perfectly level.

Now comes the anti-power tool method. Drive a long finishing nail straight through each mark you made on the wax paper until you feel it punch through the gypsum board and then remove it. This creates nice and even pilot holes for your screws to fit into. Be sure to drive the nails perpendicular with the wall just as the screw would be placed, rather than an angle like a normal nail would be placed.

Once all of your pilot holes are “drilled” take your screws and hand screw them in with a phillips head screwdriver. The pilot holes make this part much easier and cleaner with less damage to the walls. For our project we wanted the screws to be very close to the wall so that the shelves would hang level, but living in Texas means that walls are bowed and never level so be prepared to do some tweaking. But be careful because the more the tighten and loosen the screw closer or away from the wall, the weaker the gypsum gets.

After all four shelves were up we started adding some of the pretties that were taking up valuable countertop space. The arrangement isn’t 100% done yet, but it’s definitely a jumping off point.

See? You don’t always need power tools. Yes they’re faster and manlier, but who will have the last laugh when you’re in the middle of a project and the power goes out? That’s right! Even my dad was pretty pleased with how everything turned out, and we didn’t even need to patch any mis-drilled holes. There are still a few art pieces to hang, and other accessories and linens to buy before the bathroom is complete, but when it’s ready I promise to show the before and after. It’s unreal!

thrifting for the holidays

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As you all know, whenever my parents come into town we always go thrifting. Well the holidays don’t make this any different! Rather than fighting all of the crazies at the mall we like to head out to all of our favorite thrift/junk shops to find some real deals. In case you’re unaware, Texas Thrift has a 50% off sale every holiday, as in the ENTIRE store is half off! The lines are mega long, but when you find two $25 bags of pillow batting for $6 total.. you wait! Here are some of my fab finds from the past six days of thrifting.

This little guy was $1 at Texas Thrift. It was the first thing I picked up and I told myself that I had to find at least two more items to make it worth standing in line. So I also grabbed two bags of pillow batting for $6 total, and these two pillows..

Don’t be scared. I know that they are ugly, but they are filled with 100% down feather inserts. So I plan to remove the striped covers and use the inserts for my next pillow making project. They were only $2 each. I mean $2 for down inserts? Sold!

I actually found this lamp about a month ago at HomeGoods and it had a matching mate, both of which were $30 each. The shades were super damaged and coming unglued so I passed on them. I’ve been kicking myself ever since because I knew I could easily repair the shades and that price was crazy cheap. So when I saw that one was still left when I popped into HomeGoods this weekend I had to have it! When I saw that it was marked down to only $15 AND it came with a lightbulb I grabbed it and held it like a baby as I walked around the rest of the store. Am I the only one who does this? I felt like if I didn’t hold on tight enough someone would steal it from me.

These little guys were only $1 a pop at Crate & Barrel outlet and they look smashing on my Christmas tree!

So I saw this pattern on some china from Villeroy & Boch outlet which retails for about $45/plate and $75/cup. I loved the colors and whimsy of the birds, but I knew that I could never pay that much for dishes. The next day we went to Texas Thrift on the 50% off day and I snagged the whole set [4 plates + 4 cups] for $7. I just about screamed.

So these Calvin Klein frames weren’t actually scored this weekend, but they were such a deal and I can’t believe I hadn’t shared them with you yet! I found them at the HomeGoods in Rockwall when I went to see my parents [the same weekend Derek asked for their permission to marry me apparently!] And you can’t tell from these photos but the larger one was originally $90 and I got it for $10, and the smaller one was originally $70 and I got it for $5. They’re super heavy and look like concrete or something, and I love that texture!

I scored these pillows with down inserts from HomeGoods for $16 a pop and they’re going to look really cool with the other pillows I’m in the process of making.

I found this lamp at Goodwill for $10. The cord was still wrapped and protected so I assumed it was brand new, and I knew that it was currently $50 at Target. So I figured $10 without a shade was a deal! Plus I have several extra shades at home [surprise surprise] which I plan on covering with fabric soon.

I found these pillow covers buried in the clearance pile at West Elm outlet for $7 each. It’s hard to tell but they’re a great metallic textured cover with a buttoned canvas fabric on the reverse side. I think I’m going to use them on my bed. They’re the same size as my flower pillows I found so I can also switch them around when I get tired of one or the other. You can honestly never have enough pillows.. right?

These are also an old find, but I kept forgetting to share it with you guys. And I honestly think they’re the best deal I’ve ever found. I was in San Marcos on Columbus Day weekend so of course I had to pop into West Elm outlet just in case, and I’m SO glad I did! They had a .97 cent table, and anything on the table was.. you guessed it .97 cents. It was covered in these little shelves that were originally $50 each. I found this way too good to be true, but I grabbed three just in case and headed to the register to confirm. They rang them up and said that they were actually a set of three so all three of them were .97 cents TOTAL. What? I saved $149. Craziness. They’re hanging out in my bathroom for the time being. I’m not sure if I should let them just be little shelves, or put something on each of them.. but what?

We also headed to Half Price Books, because that’s also a Stevens tradition. I wanted to find some Wedding planning books because I’m a tad bit overwhelmed at the moment and I found exactly what I was looking for, which hardly ever happens at that place. I usually just buy a bunch of things I wasn’t looking for at all. Anyway, I really wanted a book on etiquette and I found the mecca. Emily Post’s Complete Book of Wedding Etiquette for $7. Bam! Guess who knows how to formally address an invitation for a guest who has been remarried, and his spouse kept her last name? THIS GIRL!

I mean seriously! Aren’t these deals awesome? Okay okay, there are a few large retail stores mixed in there but they were such a deal I couldn’t pass them up. I honestly can’t remember the last time I paid full price for anything. What’s the point? Have you guys found any steals lately?

officially robbing the cradle

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Derek turned 26 on Saturday which now makes me younger than him at a measly 25, crazytown. Anyway, we had a jam-packed weekend to celebrate! Derek’s parents came in town for the weekend so Friday night we decided to let the birthday boy open his presents a day early.

We were craving hummus [as usual] so I whipped up a batch for the “grown-ups” to snack on while Derek put together his Star Wars Millennium Falcon Lego set. It took 5 hours..

I was only allowed to put the people together, which took me about 5 minutes, so then I got bored and started putting together my own creations while he worked on the ship.

This is Darth Vadar lounging in his pool, under an umbrella, while Hans Solo serves him beverages in a cabana.

This is Chewy’s sand cruiser slash hand glider. Princess Leia is on the phone [duh], Luke is fixing things [typical], while Chewy is the only one equipped for actual battle. It’s hard to see but he has a blaster gun AND a bow and arrow. He’s also the only one in an actual seat while Luke and Leia have to hold on to those bars.. hence the whole slash hand glider thing.

Here it is from the side so you can really see them in action.

I started to run out of pieces [because Derek was almost done] so all I had left were a thousand weird triangle pieces. So this is a dog. He’s rather abstract.

Saturday afternoon we went on the AIA Home Tour where we got to stalk six homes around San Antonio. We really weren’t allowed to take photos, but here are a couple. This first house was our fave. And yes, that man is doing yoga while we waited for the doors to open ..what?

This house looked really cool on the outside but the interiors drove me nuts.

Saturday night after the tour we had cupcakes before our next venue. These cupcakes were insane. They were homemade by his mom and half were chocolate with cream filling and chocolate ice cream, while the other half were strawberry with strawberry icing. Sorry Crave, we have found a new love.

Then we headed down the street to Beethoven’s for Oktoberfest, a now tradition because we did it last year for Derek’s birthday too! It was crazy packed with people but we managed to find a huge picnic table to fit everyone.

Sunday was nice and relaxing because it poured most of the day which if you live in SA know how much we needed a good rain. It’s supposed to keep raining until Thursday so cross your fingers! Derek spent most of the day working on his studio project while I wrote/caught up on blogs and played with puppies. Overall it was pretty much a perfect weekend!

Your Modern Couple