Crafty Update

Yesterday was a productive day:

First, I finally sold the 64 cylindrical vases from our wedding for my asking price.  They had been sitting in my parents' basement for over a year, and am glad that they have a new home with an enthusiastic, soon-to-be bride.  Now to just write up an ad for the winter tires L has sitting in the garage and we'll have a little more fun money to play around with.

Next, J and I took an adventure to a thrift store, craft store, and a hardware store to gather up the supplies we needed to create our craft.  We went to the Uptown Art Fair last weekend and were inspired by one of the booths to use vintage silverware to create functional pieces of art.  We saw the utensil wall hooks and decided to give those a try (despite us not having the recommended torch to help flatten and bend the silverware).  At the thrift store, we each found two larger silver spoons with ornate patterns on the hand piece for between $.69-.99 each.  Then at Michael's, we found small unfinished wooden blocks with beveled edges for less than $1 each, so we each picked up 2 of them.  Finally, we stopped in at Home Depot to pick up some small nails to use to attach the spoons to the wood blocks. 

This project went a lot more smoothly than we had originally anticipated it to go.  The hardest part was waiting for the paint on the wood blocks to dry between layers.  We used a hammer to pound the heads of the spoons flat, and a rubber mallet to shape the spoon into a hook.  Then, we used a 1/16 bit on an electric drill to make two small holes in each of the spoons to make sure that the nails would go through easily.  The final step was to place the spoon on the block and hammer in the nails to keep the hook in place.  Here are the final results:

The plan is to hang these in the kitchen, as the white paint contrasts well with the red on our walls.  Now all we need to do is either drill a small hole in the back or add on mounting hardware to finish them up.

Overall, this was a very easy and fun craft to make and am thinking of making these for family and friends, so if you would like to request one, let me know and I can customize the colors :-)

What I'm Reading

As of right now, I'm out of coffee, so my ability to critically think and write has gone out the window and I'll try to update with a review on Percy Jackson and the Olympians- The Lightening Thief asap.

Our Best Friends' Wedding

We had quite the whirlwind of a weekend and are proud to say that our best friends were hitched this past Saturday and couldn't be happier for them!  The wedding took place at the gorgeous and historic Saint Paul College Club with an outdoors ceremony and a rocking reception with amazing food.  M and B had hired the same photographers that we used at our wedding last summer, so it was fun to reconnect with Bryan (and second shooter Joey) at Studio Blue Photography.  Anyways, I'm still surprised that it's over already and that we're trucking our way through August!

And now for the pictures:

3/5 bridesmaids at the Groom's Dinner

My bridesmaid gift- pretty necklace in an antique box

Groomsmen gifts- personalized wooden baseball bats

M with her flowergirls/nieces

Wedding day!  M looks beautiful :-)

Just chilling in the bathtub, no biggie.

M&B were out taking their couple's photos, and we were able to see them out the window, and since we were watching The Lion King while waiting for them to be done, it seemed only fitting to blast "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" at them.

These next photos were all taken by my sister in law since I didn't have my camera on me for the rest of the evening.  Eventually, I'll have a link to the professional photos once those are done!

The 'maids

The 'men

The 'girls

M and her Dad walking down the aisle

Vows

Chilling in the 90 degree heat with humidity with L's sister

L with his brother-in-law

M dancing with her new niece at the reception.

Woohoo!

Hooray!  It's wedding day for our two very best friends- M and B!  Wishing you guys the best, and thank you for allowing us to be a part of and play witness to your special day.  Love you guys!

What I am Reading Wednesdays, Part III

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The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, Stieg Larsson, published 2009,  576 pg.

In Stieg Larsson's final novel in the Millennium Trilogy, the characters pick up right where we left them: in the emergency room of the hospital with Lisbeth fighting for her life, and Mikael sitting in handcuffs at the property where the epic fight between Lisbeth and her father went down.  The conclusion to the trilogy centers on the time that Lisbeth spends fighting for her life in the hospital with her biological father just down the hall from her.  The general public still believes that Lisbeth is responsible for the murders committed in the previous novel, but Mikael's sister agrees to represent her as her lawyer in the upcoming trial.  Mikael knows that Lisbeth is innocent, and spends the majority of this book investigating and creating another media frenzy to show the world what actually happened, and uncovering and exposing to the world one of Sweden's most kept government secrets.  Just as the first book did, the last spends a relatively long amount of time within the courtroom, but in a more engaging fashion.  This novel also gives one of the side characters (Erika Berger) more time in the spotlight as she forges her way into a new position at an esteemed magazine, but finds herself being harassed along the way.  Again, this is another great book, and doesn't let the reader down.  I would recommend this book to anyone who has read the previous two books, especially if they enjoy crime dramas.

What I am Reading Wednesdays, Part II

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The Girl Who Played with Fire, Stieg Larsson, published 2009, 503 pg.
In his second novel in the Millennium Trilogy, Stieg Larson focuses mainly on the storyline featuring Lisbeth Salander.  In my opinion, this book is better than the first, the reader really gets to know Lisbeth better and has a more rounded understanding of why she is the way she is.  After returning from some much needed time abroad, Lisbeth returns to Sweden just as some very high profile murders are committed in connection with the revealing of the country's sex trade industry.  Lisbeth's prints are found on the murder weapon, and she becomes one of the most wanted women in Sweden.  Her face is plastered everywhere, but no one can seem to find her.  It has been a long time since she had had any contact with Mikael Blomkvist, but he finds himself connected to her once again.  In Played with Fire, we see more into Lisbeth's past and her relationship with her biological father.  This book ends on a major cliffhanger after Lisbeth engages in a nail-biting battle with her father and half-brother, gearing the reader to jump right into the third and final novel in the Millennium trilogy.  If you have read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, there is no excuse not to read Played with Fire, and I wholeheartedly recommend this novel.

Catch Up... What I am Reading Wednesdays.

So, one day a family of tomatoes went on a walk.  There was a Momma tomato, a Papa tomato, and a Baby tomato.  While they were walking, the Baby tomato started to lag behind.  A frustrated Papa tomato turned around to the lagging Baby tomato, squashed it and yelled, "Ketchup!"

To "ketchup" (or catch up) on my book reviews, I thought that I would start with the Stieg Larsson Millennium Trilogy.  The three titles in this trilogy include: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. 

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The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson, published 2008,  572 pages.
I started out reading Dragon Tattoo for an online bookclub, and was at first put off by the start of this novel.  The first 60-100 pages were dull and hard to get through.  Had I not been reading this book for a bookclub, I'm pretty sure that I would have put Dragon Tattoo back on the bookshelf and wouldn't have considered picking it up again.  Luckily I pushed through the first part and then the book finally started to pick up pace.  This book follows journalist Mikael Blomkvist while he is trying to solve a 40 year old missing persons/murder mystery for a wealthy elderly man named Henrik Vagner who is hoping to finally have some closure regarding his niece, Harriet's disappearance.  Along the way, he gets to know the strange, tattooed Lisbeth Salander, who is an advanced computer hacker working for a security company.  With her help, Blomkvist continues his life-risking investigation.  This book doesn't end on a note where one can just walk away from the trilogy, and leaves you excited and ready for the next one!  I would definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in mysteries and crime dramas, with the warning that to really enjoy this book, you MUST push through the first 100 pages, and you'll be happy that you did.