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Flavor of the Week (with a tutorial!)

I have a new obsession, folks.

Wreaths. To be specific, yarn wreaths.

They're inexpensive, not too hard to make and completely precious! Just look at some of my favorites from Pinterest!

I have definite plans to make the American flag, candy cane and Halloween wreaths and I already tried my hand at the argyle wreath (because you know I love me some argyle) a couple weeks ago. Take a look.

I'd say the hardest parts of the project were picking out my color scheme and cutting out the diamonds. I learned that night that I am AWFUL at drawing and subsequently cutting out both diamonds and triangles. I'm also awful at taking tutorial pictures. But here's what I did...

Argyle Yarn Wreath Tutorial

What you will need:

Yarn

Felt to make diamonds

Foam wreath form (or plumbing tubing formed into a circle and duct taped in place)

Cardstock (for making diamond stencil)

Push pins

Glue (hot, super, tacky, fabric...choose your weapon)

Ribbon

What to do:

1. Choose your color scheme. I chose charcoal gray, heather gray and that bright, sunny yellow. Happily, I have leftovers I can use on the Halloween wreath.

2. Tie one end of the yarn around the wreath and secure with a knot, then wrap the entire thing until it's all covered without any holes. I took my time so that I wouldn't have to do second layer. Tie a knot at the end.

3. Cut out your diamonds. Like I said before, I'm awful at drawing and cutting. So I folded a piece of cardstock in half and drew a small triangle. Then I cut it out, unfolded it, and had a diamond. I used that triangle to trace the rest of my diamonds, half yellow and half gray.

4. Pin your diamonds to the wreath where you want them. This helps to prevent them from going all over the place.

5. Wrap your yarn around the wreath once more to create the criss-cross pattern. Do one diagonal first and then the other.

6. When everything looks the way you want, remove the pins and use glue to permanently secure the diamonds.

7. Loop a ribbon around the top so you'll have something to hang it by. I still haven't done this to mine but plan to...someday...

Sources:

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqSlq_LJrMx1y3lkeMHVqYVPR9zeN8pxCqrWq7uYzLMfbVmSfEkKLaaVFvxT8gtYMzgBlXR5g57vChSZEdTOdcjKIzUtr-mYlOG4KimAlF3Cd71JPGI2SjwLfml3oD1KgJEApMKxmQHBU/s1600/IMG_9198.JPG

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi87dUQxFDLhLfnPtP5dwloxuE9-o-UDTarkxbthLuDsWDHWWUdkscXiDPUpzB8AwryVVC2HX12TFPwR5A1cQ-LteFSsHzX-1-urDADxCQMNzFOQSTbpxD2niVKmbitxLJVymvP4tSmxJ99/s1600/010.jpg
http://ny-image2.etsy.com/il_fullxfull.171564218.jpg

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuXT6leMXG4m-HaEMf28_jnOLR5peojuJgCe-DtfB6ed5b30hpS8laG6b3DXVMsOR2LlNxThU0lk2P48Mxb17jr24YqkZLSmDcCUX9YFAcg6kCaWU2p-2DO_rb6OOig2BYVjzLsXp9gzo/s320/knockknocking+hostess.jpg
http://ny-image3.etsy.com/il_170x135.210243019.jpg

Blast from the Past

I was perusing Pinterest on my phone just now and one of the first items I saw was shoe clips. I guess I'd seen them before but I forgot about them. Basically, you just clip the little bow, flower, whatever, on your shoe to jazz them up a little.

http://www.designcrushblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Shoe-Clips_Design-Crush.jpg

Cute, right? But this post is not about shoe clips. This post is about what shoe clips made me think of...

http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110401004625/muppet/images/1/19/Bowbiters-misspiggy.jpg

I'm pretty sure I had this exact pair. I loved the squeaky sound they made when they "bit" down on my laces. I also had a more rubbery Treasure Troll version but stuff always got stuck in their hair. I'm pretty sure my brother had Ninja Turtles. I only hope that one day when I have kids I'll be able to find bow biters for them.

Thank you Pinterest for this little walk down memory lane. Did you have bow biters when you were a kid? Did you love them as much as I did (and still do)?

What I've Been Doing Lately

Lately I've been feeling pretty crafty. And I've been super-inspired by pinterest .

First I worked on a project for my gallery wall. Inspired by this little beauty:

I created this:

All it took was one trip to Goodwill, one trip to Michael's and a final trip to Jo-Ann Fabric. I spray painted the frame and the letter was already white. I used spray adhesive to attach the fabric to a piece of cardboard then super glued the letter to the fabric and set a Yankee Candle on the letter for a few days so it would be good and stuck. Admittedly, I'm not the best planner when it comes to projects, hence the trip to Jo-Ann's and the slightly-off-center Y, but I like the way this one turned out.

The second project was inspired by this, another Pinterest find.

I started with this drab, pretty plain coffee table that we've used for the past two years but don't really need anymore since we got a super-sweet ottoman/coffee table combo. Conveniently, the legs screwed right off so I was left with a giant easy-to-work with slab. First I laid my fabric on the floor with the underside facing up. Then I laid batting on top of it. I was originally going to use foam padding too, but as I said before, I'm a bad project planner and I didn't have enough foam. So I just used batting and fabric. We likely won't have many people sitting on it so plush-ness isn't a huge concern. Plus, that helped this project come in at just under $20!

Next I laid the table on the batting, bottom side up.

Next I pulled the fabric and batting tight around the side and secured it with a staple gun. Fun fact though, "universal staples" aren't universal. Universal staples do not fit the staple gun that I purchased, despite the fact that they were 6mm and the gun is supposed to take 6mm staples. But the kind Lowes employee in the door department had me covered.

Then all I had to do was screw the legs back in and flip her over. I really like how it turned out. I still need to paint the legs brown since it was raining today, but I'm doing that this weekend.

Before my little makeover this table was sitting across from the front door and was where I threw my purse and mail when I came in the door. It will still do that, it will just look snazzier doing it now.

Flavor of the Week

I'm absolutely obsessed with gallery walls these days.

Seriously people, how awesome are these?

There are some out there that are made up of lots of frames of the same color, but that's really just not my style. I love how these include signs and graphics and not just photos. There are still some boxes to be unpacked, an office to organize and a guest bed to put together (stop judging me), but this is one project that I'm looking forward to tackling someday soon.

Photos borrowed from: http://www.andreasteed.com/node/1174, http://www.houseoftorquoise.com/, http://iammommahearmeroar.blogspot.com/2011/08/gallery-wall.html

Flavor of the week

Isn't she beautiful?
Please ignore the papers scattered everywhere. There's no time for being orderly in this cubicle.

My Weekend

How was my weekend, you ask?

Paul bought this:

He called it an investment in the future.

That's how my weekend was.

Flavor of the Week

Y'all, I have a new music obsession. And it kind of makes me look like I'm in middle school and like I wear black and pink checkerboard print accessories like I did in high school when I misguidedly thought they made me look cool. We're talking beanie, belt AND non-functioning sweat band here. Anyway, I digress. The band is called Hot Chelle Rae.

Seriously? Didn't I tell you it would make me look like I'm in middle school? They're from Nashville and all their dads write country music. And that one on the left with the red hair? His brother is Cord Overstreet who plays Sam on Glee. Oops, I digressed again. Their current single is "Tonight Tonight" which is currently all over the radio and their sophomore LP is out this fall. All their music is exactly what I need to get me through long days in a grey cubicle.

Feel free to make fun of me. I'm used to it. I used to be really into Good Charlotte, too.

In an aside, in an effort to blog more, I think I'll make this Flavor of the Week thing a regular post and feature one of my current favorite things every week. Stay tuned.

Before and After

My night started like this:

Three hours, a couple blisters and some swollen hands later, my night ended like this:


And I did ALMOST everything by myself! Paul helped me line the bottom and top up with the body and attach the doors. Those definitely required four hands. You can't see it, but there's a leave on the back that you can pull up when necessary. And it's on wheels so I can have stove-side counter space when necessary.

This was pretty much the only thing that I was smart enough to approach with before and after pictures. So eventually I'll have some semi-before pictures and lots of after pictures of Paul's parent's old house which will be transformed to our new house.

We close today. How grown up is that?!

Making Big Brother Proud

This is me and my big brother, Ric, on my wedding day.

We grew up in Hokie Country, just 30 minutes from Virginia Tech. I grew up not caring about sports. My brother, on the other hand, was obsessed with football from a young age. But, for whatever reason, he wasn't crazy about the Hokies. Nope, he was a die hard supporter another team who no one in our family and none of our family friends supported. For some inexplicable reason, his football devotion was with Florida State University's Seminoles.

http://www.usflags.com/images/products/Product-4261.jpg

He wore his FSU Starter jacket OUT and downloaded what had to have been the world's most annoying screensaver from their website (this thing came complete with sound, y'all!).

Today, for perhaps the first time in our lives, I made my big brother truly proud. I got into Florida State's School of Library and Information Studiess. Not only do they have a football team, which is more than my undergraduate college had, but it's his favorite football team since childhood. Today is a good day. Love you big brother!

Instagram

Instagram is one of my new favorite Apps for my iPhone. I just made this picture:

Do this:

Obsessed? Not quite yet. Enamored? You betcha!

Super Saturday

Most Saturdays I don't do too terribly much. I sleep in, I eat a mediocre breakfast, I watch tv, and wait for Paul to get home. Or I work overtime.

Today is different.

Today I woke up well-rested and, on a whim, threw together breakfast tacos. They tasted amazing and all it took was a handful of Yopp kitchen staples. All it took was taco-size tortillas, a few eggs (with or without yolk, mine was half and half), turkey, leftover roasted potatoes, salsa and cheese. It was super-easy and SUPER delicious!

Today I'm going to get a haircut thanks to a very lucky, well-timed groupon purchase.

Then I'm going to get a much-deserved and needed pedicure while I wait for my car to be inspected, since I saved so much on the haircut.

Tonight I'll have dinner with my wonderful husband who brought me, "I'm glad we met two years ago" flowers yesterday.

And then we'll go to celebrate his best friend's little sister's confirmation. From what I understand about Catholicism, which isn't much, mind you, she's about as Catholic as she could possibly be until she gets married, which is exciting!

Happy Saturday everyone!

Two Years Ago Today

Two years ago today I stayed home from work at the Department of Veterans Affairs so that I could get a filling.


Two years ago today I went to the gym. I spent some time on the elliptical machine, lifted some weights and did some crunches.

Two years ago today I went to Olive Garden and had Venetian Apricot Chicken for dinner.

Two years ago today I went to Starbucks and ordered a grande skim no whip mocha.

Two years ago today my name was Trista Wilkins.

Two years ago today my life changed forever.

Two years ago today I met this guy...

Today I went to work for a separate government agency.

Today I will go to the gym and spend some quality time with a treadmill.

Today I will cook baked salmon, roasted red skin potatoes and green beans for dinner.

Today I will try to remember to bake peanut butter brownies.

Today I will give water and kibble to this little lady...

Today my name is Trista Yopp.

Today I am a wife, an aunt, a daughter-in-law and a sister-in-law.

All because two years I met this guy...

Things that make me happy today

This is my friend Ally. She's reading "I Like You" by Sandol Stoddard Warburg at my wedding. She is one of my dearest friends and recently got engaged (!!!!!!!) to her boyfriend of 4 years. I'm going with her to try on wedding dresses next week and I absolutely cannot wait to begin celebrating such an exciting time in her and Patrick's life with her and her mama who once cooked me some of the most delicious ribs, ever!

On the same day that I get to celebrate Ally I get to celebrate my niece, Gracie. She is turning 2 years old and I absolutely can't wait to see her eat cake, open presents and be the birthday girl. Let's all keep our fingers crossed that the shipping industry is on my side and her present arrives in time for the big shindig.

I'm reading Water for Elephants right now and it's so good! Why in the world did it take me so long to read? Thanks to a Target giftcard I picked up this one and Something Borrowed and Something Blue for next to nothing out of pocket!

I'm teaching myself how to coupon and it actually is a lot of fun! You won't see me on any TLC shows any time soon (a girl can dream though, right?) and I'm not creating stockpiles of things that I'll never use (why would someone without a cat buy cat treats, even if they are free?), but I've saved about $30 off my grocery bill the last three times I went to the grocery store. And that's money I can use on something else like a pretty pedicure or a haircut, both of which I plan on treating myself to this weekend.

Finally, because my break is almost over, Pinterest. It's an amazing website that sent me an invitation to joint about a week after I sent my request. You make boards and "pin" different pictures to them. I currently have "new house ideas," "holidays," "A girl can dream...." and "You look delicious" boards. The first two are self-explanatory. A girl can dream...is devoted to things that I want/want to do to the new house but just aren't feasible right now (in-ground trampoline, anyone?). You look delicious is devoted to recipes I want to try. I'm obsessed, I tell you. OBSESSED!

What makes you happy today?

How I feel today

http://chalicaa.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/angry-puppy.jpg

Bad Title

The closer Paul and I get to buying his parents’ house the more excited I’m getting to get in there and make it mine. It finally started to feel real the other day when the replacement windows and our new door were installed. We have this door:

http://www.lowes.com/

And this hardware, which I’m obsessed with:

http://www.lowes.com/

Something about it isn’t quite right yet, though. Maybe the door is just too white and I’m used to wooden doors. But the contrast is just too much.

But nevermind that, because what I’m REALLY excited for is the inside. Specifically, I. Can. Not. Wait. To get my hands on the built-in-bookshelves in the hallway and in the smallest bedroom/office. Right now they’re wood but I plan to go at them with paint, using this as my inspiration:

http://www.younghouselove.com/photo-gallery-2/our-current-house/

Since my parents aren’t the redecorating sort and I’ve lived in rentals since I moved out, I don’t have a lot of experience with renovation, but I’m confident that I can get a handle on painting fairly quickly and creating a scaled down version of these shelves.

For a few minutes today I fantasized about painting the fireplace white because there’s few things that set my heart aflutter quite like white painted brick. That was before Paul informed me that the fireplace is stone, not brick. I’m not sure why I thought the fireplace was made of brick all of a sudden, but I was convinced. But seriously, how gorgeous can painted brick be?

http://dhomeinteriordesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/White-painted-Brick-Fireplace-Design-by-Angelo-Surmelis.jpg

High Five, America!

We're Buying a House!

And we're not just buying any house, we're buying Paul's parents house after they move into a maintenance-free condo. I've fallen in love with the white/yellow/stainless steel kitchen and I knew I wanted to do something very similar to the kitchen before we move in. But then I saw this:

Source: http://www.myhomeideas.com

I don't want this kitchen. I don't think it would be nice to have. I. NEED. THIS. KITCHEN!!! Just look at that aqua/yellow/stainless steel/wood floor comibination. It's beautful. This is the type of kitchen to make me say, "Hello Lover," as if I was Carrie Bradshaw seeing the perfect pair of Louboutins for the first time. I would just throw in some nice faux granite countertops and bing, bang, bong, you've got perfection. The only problem? Paul doesn't seem to think that I NEED this kitchen. He is sorely mistaken.

This One Goes Out to Taylor Wilson

You Know What Really Grinds My Gears?

People who cheer for a team solely because they are playing against a team that they don't like. Last night was the Orange Bowl so my facebook was covered in posts that said some variation of either "Go Hokies!" or "Go Stanford!" Now the Hokie fans? That's normal and I'm used to it. It comes with the territory of having lived within 30 minutes of the school my entire life. But Stanford? Excuse me? When did an Ivy League football team garner so many fans from camo-wearin', tobacco spittin', southern drawlin' southwest Virginian? Oh yeah, since they're playing against Virginia Tech who, for whatever unexplained reason, they hate. What's the point in acting like you like a team just because they're playing against a team that you don't like? Why not just not watch the game? With 60-some odd channels in the standard cable package, it's not like there's nothing else on.

Just as annoying as those people are the fair weather fans who only stand by their team when they are winning. One of my facebook friends/real-life acquaintances apparently can't hold his alcohol because whenever he has a drop in him he turns to his smart phone and becomes belligerant. Last night, not only did he seem to be attempting to will the plane carrying Stanford's players back home to crash, but he even said that his beloved Hokies suck. I've never rolled my eyes toward him more dramatically.

Some fair weather fans are also the ones who, when talking about their team of choice, refers to them as "we" and "us." Excuse me, but you are not a member of that team. You are a fan (when it's convenient for you), which is admirable, but you spend game day drinking beer and eating greasyy food while the actual team is, you know, competing.

On another note, here's a picture of Ginny eating a doggie cookie:

**High five to you if you picked up on the title reference.**