Shopping For Gallery Frames...

I have spent the last several days scouring the earth for affordable gallery frames and below are my results so maybe I can save you all the leg work! I checked Pottery Barn, West Elm, Walgreens, JoAnne's, Target & Old Time Pottery. You will be surprised to learn the best looking and cheapest frames were at Wal-Greens... and I wasn't even looking there on purpose! They were made really well, looked like the pottery barn ones and were about $5.99 & $7.99. I found it much cheaper, and easier to buy the frames and mats separately. You can but the pre-cut mats for $1.49 & $1.99 At JoAnne's. It is more work, but saves a lot of money. If you are looking for the easiest solution , try Pottery Barn. Theirs look the best and are currently on sale for 20% off. They also carry the odd 4x4 size which is nice for really old pictures that are standard.


West Elm Frames below. I had a gift card here so I bought some, but was VERY disappointed in the quality. The Dollar Store probably makes better frames.

Old Time Pottery had hardly any selection and their prices were no good.
JoAnne's has a good selection, and they are currently 40% off there.
Target didn't have a great selection and their prices were neck and neck with PB & West Elm!
Typical Price Comparison Chart:
Gallery Frame for 5x7 Print (means you need an 8x10 frame or larger so you have room for the mat)

Pottery Barn $20-$25
West Elm $19
Target $19.99
Walgreens$7.99 + 1.99 matt = $10

Can you tell the difference? The Pottery Barn one is on the left and the Wal-Greens version on the right. The only difference is the size of the mat, which you can change.
Below is showing which frames came from where so you can see how they look next to each other. I already had most of these on hand and just added the mats.
Happy Framing!
xoxo

The Process of Transformation!

While not done with the hallway makeover, we have made some major strides in the past few days. Below is an idea of some of these changes.
Pic 1: The new paint color:


Pic 2: The old collage. Ya'll know I love collages...
Pic 3: The New Collage. Large framed photos with mats. This was alot of mental work. Price checking, research, driving all over town, enlarging old photos etc. That layout was very thoughtfully designed by GroutHaus. Lots of measuring and thought goes into this, like are you hang the pics in order of oldest to newest, or have the grooms side of the family on one side of your wedding photo and brides on the other etc. Like I said, nothing about this was simple.
But dang it looks good! Need new light fixture, which I could change for about $20 if I knew how! Notice that stair rail below:
I painted it yesterday. It looks a million times better because the spindles had never been painted, just bought primed and had glue on them, and the rails were an awful cheap looking wood color.
I still have a lot to do, but to be honest I am kind of worn out! I have been VERY busy lately getting this house ready for Bro and Shauna's wedding shower and all these projects so I need a day off. Growing a human has me working at about half speed! I plan to do a post about all the gallery frames and costs and shopping around soon, hopefully to save you all the trouble I went through! More to come.... stay tuned.

** Paint Color Sherwin Williams Nashville Collection "Cumberland"**
Staircase primed with Kilnz Odorless Paint. Final coat has not been applied yet

Your Good Deed for the Day!

I was just speaking yesterday about how Charity should be a choice and not a Government mandate! Here is an opportunity for you all to make the choice!
There is a family in OPELIKA, AL ( a town near and dear to my heart since I lived in Auburn for so many years) who is on Extreme Makeover and the show needs some paypal donations for a wheelchair accessible vehicle. I can't watch this show because it always made me cry, but I do believe in the work they do and I definitely want to support a project down there in the AU.
So if you guys want to help you can read from my bloggy friend's story ( she volunteers on the project) and you can click HERE to make a donation. Even $1 will help!

WAR EAGLE THAT!

Trey Anastasio Band @ The Ryman

Last night Erik, CB, Justin and I went to see TAB at The Ryman. It was a great show, and Trey really looks great these days, ... Happy & healthy which is nice to see. It was probably one of the more interesting Ryman shows I have been to because of the crowd, who apparently are not aware of all the strict rules at the Ryman. I did see one Hippie trying to dance with an older lady usher and she was.not.having.it. Pretty funny.
I love horns with any band and he had a great horn section, and one chick who played trumpet and could SING... oh my lawd could she sing. Jennifer Hartswick is her name and she sang some crazy loud Led Zepplin last night. Del McCoury band also came out and played some bluegrass which was awesome.
We were there till almost midnight and woah Momma is TIRED!
Here is a Video ( from another show) so you can see the band.

Part of The New Project: Family Photos

Part of the new Hallway project involves old family photos! We finally got some of Erik's baby pictures and they are pretty fun. Look how CUTE he is. I love this "Harvest Festival" picture. Rakes make awesome accessories!

Here he is with Granpa!
I LOVE this picture. All his other pictures he makes an almost evil grin in.... he looked like a handful!
I hope our booboo gets his pretty mouth and eyelashes! I think we are 100% surely gonna have a blue eyed baby since we both have blue eyes!
He also has some great pictures I liked to call " The microsoft years" that I would love to show b.c he has a TERRIBLE baby picture of me on his phone that he torments me with frequently. The Microsoft years pics are my payback!

One Good Project Always Leads to Another....

Today was a VERY productive day over in Grizaland! I checked off some major To Do's:

• Called BCBS and expressed my hatred toward them and how much baby Griza is gonna cost!
• Had the windshield in my Bubs car replaced cause it was CRACKED for like EVA and I am quicker to handle things than he is.
• Moved the curtains from the living room into the dining room
  
• Met with Jennifer of GroutHaus Design for some consulting. Stay tuned for the results!

Basically, after painting the nursery the perfect shade of green and loving it, we realized when you looked down the hallway into that room the contrast of that green and the hallway color was pretty dang obnoxious and made the nursery look kind of Frog green, and not Griza Green.
So then I needed a paint color for the hallway. The hallway touches EVERY room in the downstairs so I needed a color that complimented each room and it was NOT EASY...... enter GroutHaus.
When I show you all the end result, you will likely be shocked cause I'm not gonna lie, I didn't know what to think about this color till it was on the walls, and now Bubs and I both love it. The thing with color ( and design), you have to remember most average humans don't know about this stuff, and thinking you do, is like all those fools that try out for American Idol and *insist* that they sound great and should be famous ( while we all roll our eyes at home) ... I knew after all her hard work on our kitchen renovation that she has impeccable taste so I am not scared to trust her, and it always ends up benefiting me in the long run!
(*Natosha I can send you a card if you want for your new house**)
We spent the afternoon painting and getting the "step one" of our hallway done. I will post more pics later but for now, a little hallway history:


When we first moved in:

My family came to town and helped me style it a little:
Then I finally found some runner rugs at heaven on earth TJMAXX....

Then some color testing:
and one heck of a cute painter/good sport/husband face:
Now just WAIT till you guys see what GroutHaus does with this space ! It's excitin.. like so exciting I cant wait to get up tomorrow!

American Idol Season 9: The Ones to Talk About

Are you guys watching American Idol anymore? I have not heard anyone talking about it! Dang! I am gonna make my predictions based on the top 24. If you read my last year's predictions I was not too far off !



I circled their faces in yellow below, which is kind of hard to see! Maybe you can click on the Image to see it enlarged?
My all-time fav so far is Momma Sox, the hippie chick. I really like her and so does the bubs. I think that cute blonde boy will be in the top 5 or so because I think he will be a fan favorite! I also like the dude with the funky black rimmed glasses. I loved his Paula Abdul remix. Who do you guys like?

Menu Monday!

Monday: Chicken and Cheesy Rice Casserole
Tuesday: Creamy Tortellini with Red Bell Peppers and Peas

Wednesday : Chicken & artichoke Casserole with Asparagus & mashed taters

Thursday Night : Trey concert so eat out somewhere before hand.

Friday: Sundried Tomatoes Pasta!

Bump Pics Week 16

We had dinner with the Holders last night and had chad snap a picture of us together since we NEVER get any pictures together ( one of us is always behind the camera). They were a little blurry but you get the idea! Wed will be 16 weeks, and I can say things are not as easy to do as they once were. Getting up and out of the floor and bending over, moving stuff around... I can see how this will be very inconvenient in the next few months.....


PS. ( for sus) We will try to find out the sex this week or next week. I want my momma to be able to go and she will be back March 2nd.

We saw Shutter Isalnd Last Night!

I think the bubs are kind of going back to our dating life with seeing movies lately. We used to see ALOT of movies, and then when we moved to Nashville we hardly ever went anymore! Yesterday we went with some friends to see the new Martin Scorsese movie and I really enjoyed it. I am not a DiCaprio fan, but I thought this movie was like Beautiful Minds, meets The Village. I didnt ever think it was scary, just thought provoking and interesting.
It's one of those movies that kind of sticks with you when you walk out you know? So grizas say 7 out of 10. Has anyone else seen it, Please comment if so!

Nursery Sneak Peek!

Today was "work day" and work we did! Mom and I spent one bajillion hours trying to find just the perfect shade of green paint for the walls. Below you see the obnoxious tinted primer in sea foam green, then some of our trial shades of green. Sherwin Williams has sample paints for $5 and they are a very generous size! We have PLENTY of those!
We settled on "Great Green" as the final color.


Here you see the man corner. My dad is very under the weather and at his Turkey Conference. Erik's work partner was Uncle Sean -y-Bug. He helped put all the furniture together, offer moral support AND he baked me cookies! What a good dude!...
Wall color complete. ( designs on the wall are from chandelier reflections)Trim will be repainted because it is kind of messy from other paint colors. Furniture has been assembled and is in the room.
Now we will be at sort of a stand still till we find out the sex, pick out a name and get everything monogrammed. I cant pick out accent colors till then either. Not real sold on this furniture placement yet, so that will be worked on as well.

For now I must put up my feet and watch re-runs of law & order because I am SO tired and my legs and back ache! Good Day!

The Baby Bedding Has Been Purchased!

Well today turned out to be rather productive in a surprising way! I was taking mom to one of my favorite discount stores, and you guys will NEVER GUESS what they had in there! A very prestigious brand of nursery bedding: "Sterling AnaBelle Baby".
The Plaid Rabbit in Green Hills carries this brand ( and this exact set), and let me tell you it is OUTRAGEOUS but made really well, and oh so sweet. My mom, is still in shock I think, over my liking something so traditional and it surprises me as well, but most baby stuff is just so busy and this really appeals to me for unknown reasons. I saw in online HERE and copied the pic because I liked the style, but never dreamed of paying such a ridiculous amount for baby bedding.
We got the set you see below, in the color "new green" which is kind of a spring green. I cant get anything monogrammed yet until we know what this booboo is and have a whole name picked out. Scroll down for my full price list, it will blow your socks off!



4 Pc Bedding Set ( bumper pads, sheet, 2 sized bed skirts) Retail $ 699.00 ( we paid $84.99)
Curtains Set ( set online includes valance, mine does not) Retail $ 735.00 ( we paid $60.00)
Fitted Crib Sheet ( I got 3) Retail $85.00 each ( we paid $9.99 each)
Pillow Retail $105.00 (We paid $9.99)
Duvet Retail $ ? ( We paid $9.99)

So basically we got about $2000 worth of beautiful nursery stuff for $250. Pretty dang awesome!
Now I will need to jazz up the room with some cute artwork and stuff. Tomorrow will be a work day! Erik primed the room today and tomorrow mom and I will get to work painting and let bubs put together all the furniture so you all may be getting a sneak peek! Stay Tuned!

2010 WeeWares Sale In Franklin with Momma & CB

Yesterday for the first full day of my mom being in town we hit up Franklin. CB was along for the ride and we all had a really good time. We had lunch at Pucketts and checked out a few kids consignment stores and the WeeWares Sale. Let me tell you, we all learned a very valuable lesson. These kids sales, are NO JOKE. One should prepare and strategize like a football player. Mom, CB and I got basically trampled. We did get there right when it opened, but we didn't realize how cut throat these ladies are!
Next time, I will be prepared and be much more productive. You have to shop fast, and come with your own big bag or basket to put your stuff in ( most of these ladies had strollers and stacked them to the hilt and used the stroller to block the aisle so you would not be able to browse that section till they were done!) I am telling you it was really crazy, and it was early in the morning and I was not mentally prepared! Lucky for me, I am not into all that sweet southern smocked-ness because that was what they were all after.
It was all VERY impressive. There is no way, a bunch of men could have organized such a thing. It was a HUGE warehouse full of every baby and kid thing imaginable. Moms are pretty impressive in their thrifty-ness. I bet I volunteer next year!

Below are my scores ( Thanks Momma!)

A Brand New baby Bjorn! It was $35 instead of $120. You can see that Erik and Boppie both enjoy it. Erik would not stop dancing around for a good pic so this was the best I could do.

Here are my outfit choices. I had a dream before the sale, that the baby was a boy and he was really tiny with dark hair and very cute! ha SO call me crazy but I only shopped for boys. My baby style is Pajamas. I just like for babies, to look like babies.
You can see they had a lot of stuff that was new with tags! This is the one little girls outfit I bought because it was so sang cute and it was $5 , I though why not? Plus I we had a God-daughter, a niece, and Nicole is having a girl so I know it will get worn!
My BIG steal of the day, was some Citizens of Humanity Maternity jeans for $8.50 ... WHAT? You read that right. I think they didn't realize they were designer! ha Thank you very much! I got these at Once Upon A Child.

While we were out all day, I just knew deep in my heart since bubs was off all day that he was at home steadily working on that nursery and priming the walls, until i noticed the paint was in MY CAR the whole time :(! Hopefully we will get that room primed and ready this week!
More on days with Mom later, gotta get ready for our outings today that will be fabric stores, thrift stores, and one Tajmahal Baby store in GreenHills.

Iphone App Review: Water

Water is an app that I have been using a lot for the past few weeks. It basically tracks and notes your water intake. I am having all sorts of issues that I cant take medicine for, such as sinus stuff, and who knew that all this time if I had only been drinking enough water I would not have needed medicine! Everyone would ask me if I drank enough water and I would always be like YES i drink a ton of water, well it turns out it felt like I drank a lot of water because I was sipping on the same glass all day. This thing figures out how much water I need and constantly tells me.

I measure mine in 8 oz glasses.
and then you have a graph with your water grade on it. Actually seeing it in writing makes you realize how much you need, and then once you start drinking the proper amount you feel so good you wanna keep it up.

Menu Monday: A little Late....

Monday: Not gonna lie, it snowed and we ordered Pizza! ha and it was delish!

Tuesday: BBQ Chicken, homemade mashed taters, asparagus and green salad

Wednesday : Mexican Beans and Rice

Thursday: Easy Jambalaya

Friday: Sheppard's Pie

I have realized that having food around and prepared all the time, leads to a lot of eating! Before we never had many options for food at home, and now we have a whole BUNCH of options and they are tasty and so I am eating more than I ever have. Oops...
But I will say it was so nice to actually have food around when we had coco in town. It probably shocked the socks off of her when she came in and saw dinner, in DISHES and not take out boxes! ha She even asked me for a recipe.. that is huge. Sister Juliel also ate something I made this week and I cant say that has ever happened before! So all of this must mean I am getting better in the kitchen! ( other than the Fondue Fizzle )

Be Still My Heart.......

Feast your eyes on THIS beauty! I was on Bed, Bath & Beyond today buying a birthday present for me madre when I stumbled upon this huge aisle display all devoted to the Cuisinart Coffee Maker.
Over Christmas, every.single.member. of my family had these Keurig single serving coffee makers that I fell in love with, and probably would have bought one with my Christmas cash had they not all been sold out. You can make all sorts of fabulous coffee and teas for individuals which would be really nice now that I am on the decaf train. They use little pods or you can use regular ground coffee. I also love the idea of them holding water so you don't fill them up every time you use them.
This is the Cuisinart version of the Keurig. The Cuisinart one is much prettier and I am now product loyal to Cuisinart after my Auntee gave us the rice cooker and steamer combo made by them for Christmas. It has a retractable cord for crying out loud! Anything that has a retractable cord, is the bomb. It also cooks really well. We use it a ton (almost every day) cause it steams vegetables perfectly!
Anyway, pretty awesome and straight to the Birthday list this goes! Along with this, this and this!

Here is the Keurig one if you wanna check it out! Does anyone else use these machines?

Our Valentimes Recap

This is the Valentimes card I should have given Erik! I didn't know about it in time though! It does make me laugh out loud every time i read it !
We had a Fondue Dinner Party on Valentimes night with some friends and it was such a disaster you would have thought it was an act. Starting with the first course ( One bajllion dollars worth of European cheeses) totally burned b.c I didn't use the double pot ( newbie mistake) and then the pot cracked, and then the fire went out, then I exploded a bottle of fire gel trying to refill the fire pot, then a small fire.....
You get the Jist. Basically it was entertaining but not filling, and no food for this preg lady = the fierce madness.
What I can say I happened to have out, and was a hit, and was basically all anyone had for the first hour, was Sourdough bread from publix bakery, dipped in Olive oil with these flavored spices that come premixed ( also from publix). It is one bottle, with 4 dividers and 4 types of bread sprinkles over in the bakery area. Rosemary Garlic, Tuscany , and 2 others I cant remember. Absolutely fantastic. Immediately made me think of my neighbor Chad, who enjoys a loaf of french bread dipped in oil and spices every day!
So kibbers, from here on out, Fondue is at ya'lls house and I will start taking better notes! ha

Other than that, we had a lovely Valentimes double date with the Holders at The Acorn in Nashville! We both got coupons for a free entree so that was pretty rad!

Courtney Hindman was in town ( Thurs - Monday) so we had a great time visiting with her and my parents get here Thursday - Sunday of this week so that will be tons of fun too! Lots of shopping and baby prep!

Iphone App Review: Words with Friends FREE

Our new family game obsession is Words with Friends. There is a paid version and a free version and you can have several games going at once playing different people. The Davis clan started the tradition of having your game name be something witty with WORD it in it, so my username is Martha SteWORD and Erik is Clark GrisWORD! If you download the game add us and play!
Oh yeah, it is basically a scrabble game. Nonnie too bad you refuse the iphone because you would be really good at this!

TJMAXX Find of the Week: Herb Keeper

I had these on my Christmas list as part of my , learn to cook project but Santa said they were all sold out, which is just as well because they were half price at TJMAXX. Hooray!

So instead of this:
I have This:

they extend the life of herbs for 3 weeks! You can find them online Here & Here or at TJMAXX or $7.00!!