Lovely Tuesdays...

It's a lovely Tuesday night.  I somehow "forgot" my work binder at school today, so OOPS, I can't write lesson plans tonight.  :)  That is leaving me reorganizing my HOT MESS of a craft room and cleaning for our Modern Family Premier watching party slash my 29th bday fiesta tomorrow night!



Recently I made my wonderful friends a name sign to hang in their new home. They are gettting married in November and have recently purchased a new house.

I built and stained the wood sign awhile ago and have been wondering what to do with it.  I decided my dear friend and her beau need a very newly-wed gift.  I'm going to paint the metal hooks black for a sleeker look.   

Also please note the awesome lamp my sister bought me as an early birthday gift!!

If you would be interested in a personalized family name sign for your home or as a gift please contact me @ adrienneleigh83@gmail.com 

It's been awhile....

since I've been gone....


 LOADS of work and little play leaves little time for blog updates.   But I've managed to squeeze a little building and painting in between the craziness of life. 

This below was part of an old fence my dad rescued from being burned that I cut, rebuilt and painted into this cute little sign.  I was thinking of a special person when I made it.  A sweet friend that used to be one of my Young Life girls...she's now away in college and her life, light and love makes me so proud to know her. 

Val, this one's for you:

If you blog it, He will build.

well.....so as I mentioned in my last post I've been dreaming of a bookshelf wall in our house.  Things in the living room seemed very blah. Basic. Boring.  

Well...I showed the Mr. some of the pic ideas for a bookshelf wall and he went crAzy. The idea of a bookshelf wall was just great to him. You see, I consider myself an avid reader, I've gotten book reviews published for goodness sakes, but Cole out-reads me 3 to 1.  No joke. The boy is a reading machine. 

We spent Sat getting all the supplies and Sunday building.  It was all done way quicker than we anticipated.

If you remember here is my before view of our little apt: 

Then we began the building process....(please note we are watching hgtv as we build)

Which Cash wanted NO part of :

 And ended with this:

And got so excited we had to put SOME stuff of the shelves....but it is by no means finished....: 

We couldn't be more thrilled with the results. It gives the room height, and the picture truly does not capture the difference it makes. There are still more changes we will make to it, I'm contemplating staining the shelves. And the biggest issue with this room, despite what it looks like in the picture, is there is NO light! So more lighting is the next project to tackle.

  But all in all, loves it. 

 

School supplies, bookshelves and all things September

"Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me want to buy school supplies." 

~You've Got Mail

September is here in full force....in Houston we've had a break from the scorching heat with some rain and cooler temps.  It's amazing how 92 can feel cool...

September has always been my favorite month.  It's a month of new beginnings.  New school year.  And of course, it's the month of my birthday...:)

I wanted to take a moment to look at a few things I'm thinking about right now...we still have some decorating to do in our apartment, the two biggest projects being doing SOMETHING.....ANYTHING with our master bedroom! I'll save that debacle for another post.  It's just not flowing right.  

And second, building a bookshelf wall in our living room

This is my dream:

.   

But this is my reality: 

I think this is the compromise I'm looking for, simple shelving that can fill in the space. (however sad face for low ceiling and no need or space for a ladder.)

 

Hope you have a great weekend.....enjoy some football,  September weather, and new beginnings..and let me know what projects YOU are working on this weekend!

What I wore Wednesday

Just kidding.  I won't take a picture of myself and make you tell me how cute I look. 

But apparently Wednesday is the day that most bloggers do that as I glance through my rss feed.

I'm not judging.   I'm just not participating.  Unless Cole let's me have another wedding and  I can buy a new pretty dress.  

Until then, how about pictures of what I WISH I was wearing:

Can't you just see me and Cole in this sweet number?   This isn't serious. But I do wish I was in my jammies in bed. I'm tired.

Have you googled swimsuits lately?  Well, me's couldn't find an appropriate pic so here's a picture of a beach in Hawaii.  Where I wish I was....IN MY SWIMSUIT! 

But I would choose to wear THIS dress again any day!  wedding memories... :)  

We did it.  We made it over the hump. Have a great rest of the week! 

My Classroom

This year I have a portable building....our school is only six years old, so to me, it is all new and pretty and fresh.  However, a portable building....is a portable building.  

I love as the school year goes on getting to fill the room with life with the kids work.  However,  Monday is parent night at school so with a little lot of work these past two weeks, (beginning of year routines, testing, paperwork, and adjusting to an amazing school that does things quite differently than I'm used to i.e. even more paperwork), I had to stay late on a Friday so that I could enjoy the weekend and be ready for kids...and parents come monday.

So here are a few snap shots of my room! 

 Notice my name sign and cute little Sasha's refurbished side table?! :)

 Cole's Mimi made Uncle Sam!

No, I did not go to Ole Miss.  But long story short, we had to pick a university for our classroom and I chose Ole Miss.  Hotty Toddy.  

Library!

 See I told you I stayed late for a Friday.   :)

Hope you're having a great weekend....and if you're in the Houston area, can you believe this amazing weather?! Cheers!

Gig'em!

                            Here is a sign inspired by the Mumford song posted previously....

It's gameday in Aggieland and we're headed up to tailgate and see the Aggie's play in the SEC for the first time!

Have a great weekend y'all!

Awake My Soul

If you're a mumford and sons fan here's some good listening for you while you read my Thursday night rambling post.  It's also a little hint about my most favorite project I've been working on yet to date.  But you don't get to see that until Saturday.

Simply because tomorrow is Friday and I promised my husband I would hang out with him instead of grading papers, painting, tutoring or writing lesson plans.  

But also because I spent most of my night tonight trying set up the etsy shop of Adrienne Leigh Designs. 

Ain't as easy as it sounds.

There more projects I do the more I NEEEEED things.  Like a new pretty camera so my barn wood paintings can look like all the pretty pinterest pictures you see.  Ok that's mostly the one thing I need.

And I use need loosely.  I have a camera.  I just want one.  ;)

I hope you're listening to the youtube video right now.  Otherwise I'm 97% sure you stopped reading two paragraphs ago.  

Here's to a happy week, a happy friday, and investing your Love and Life into the things that matter.  :)

Coffee table pt duex

I've embarked on another coffee table adventure. 

Apparently, the craigslist gods know when I've found a treasure because, just like when I picked up the first coffee table, the heavens opened up into a good old Houston downpour just as I arrived to pick it up. Yikes! 

 This time I remembered to take a before picture. 

Next,  I decided to use a coat of killz after a good sanding, because last time it took too many coats of the expensive chalk paint I wanted for covereage.

We (Dad helped, he has the cool tools) tightened the legs,  did some more light sanding,  and got to work turning this is to something way fun.

I am so delighted with how it turned out!  

This coffee table is a great! It's on the smallish size and would be perfect for an apartment or smaller tv area you have.  The color is neutral, with a tint of gray. 

Please email adrienneleigh83@gmail.com if you would be interested in purchasing :)

There's Nothing You and I can't do...

Hope everyone had a wonderful Labor Day weekend!