Updated Shorts

When I found this picture on Pinterest a few weeks ago I knew exactly what pair of jeans I was going to use to make myself a pair of these fabulously updated, recycled, repurposed summer shorts.

Via

So when I was out running errands and found the perfect eyelet trim I came straight home to chop up those old jeans; ones than were worn in the heals, had faded and actually had a big rip along the inseam (the reason I was forced to stop wearing them in the first place).

I absolutely love the result!

I left the edge of the jeans unfinished over the lace in hopes that it might fray just slightly and add even more to the cuteness of them. I attached the lace with a simple zig zag stitch and literally put them on as soon as they were finished. It took a total of 1.5 yards of lace for the project just so you know incase you want to make some for yourself.

I've always been a big fan of lace in general and I think these are put together while simple with a bit of a country-style to them. Perfect for this girl!

Thanks Pinterest for another great find!

What We've Been Up To

It's summer time. The weather in San Diego has been in the 80's. Days are long and nights are warm. Our stress levels have been relatively low. And we've been spending a lot of quality time together....

Like.... trips to the park. Which includes bringing two frisbees to throw in hopes that one will entertain Ollie while we play with the other. Realizing that is not going to happen because he only wants what we have. Tying him to the tree while he chokes himself to get at us. Untying him and trying to teach him to catch a frisbee. Laughing at his pathetic yet enthusiastic attempts that even include getting hit directly in the nose. Then laying in the grass together as a family enjoying the warm weather, our well behaved pup and a wonderful Saturday afternoon.

Like.... stealing Ollie's collar in the evenings and cracking up laughing at his attempts to get it back. It's like he knows it's his and doesn't want us to have it. And more specifically, doesn't want J to wear it. But given the fact that he's our submissive, mild mannered dog his only defense is showering J with kisses.
Like.... laying in bed together as we settle in for the night. Sometimes the boys will wrestle, sometimes Ollie brings a toy up to chew on but mostly the nights are filled with snuggles and kisses and smiles. And a few moments where Ollie rolls around burrowing in the blankets and almost tumbles off the bed. To which we laugh and then comfort our frightened pup from his near-death experience.

Life is good.

Saturday Morning Wake Up

J had a meeting early this morning so he was gone before either Ollie or I woke up for the day. I was happy for the time to sleep in and snuggle with my pup when we both woke up. However, this is not how the morning went....

The reason I woke up when I did is because I heard an odd rattling of hangers coming from my side of the closet. At first I thought that somehow the fan was blowing air in that direction making my empty hangers move about. Then it happened again and louder and I started to freak out thinking there was a bird or some big bug flying around in there. I carefully walked up to the closet and pulled open the door...

And this is what I found.

Yes, that is my big dog squeezed into my tiny side of the closet, right under all the hangers, sitting on high heals and everything. What you don't see is that my closet door was only open about a foot and a half so I still have no idea how he got in there. See, even though Ollie is 85+ lbs and you'd think he'd be big and strong and barks at things... That is not the case. He is a big, furry baby and a scaredy cat! And what might you ask prompted this fear? Nothing.

Nothing except the fact that we sleep with a fan in our bedroom window and when the door gets shut and the ceiling fan is on in the kitchen it creates sort of a vacuum in our bedroom. Because of this the bedroom door sometimes rattles in it's frame and apparently scares the beegesus out of our dog.

I think he needs to get out more, face his fears.

Pinterest + Food = Love

If you haven't jumped on the Pinterest wagon I highly suggest you do. And follow me while you're at it... jaymeeryn. It's a great place to find inspiration for your house, fashion, travel, photography, DIY/crafts, and much much more.

But one of my fullest "Boards" has to do with one thing we are obsessed with around here and I seem to constantly be mentioning...

Fooooood

Pinterest allows you to see pictures of amazing food and then what's even better, it provides you with a link to where that gorgeous picture came from. And a lot of the time that link will also take you to a recipe. Well J and I have tried three new recipes all found on Pinterest and I thought I'd share the links so you can get inspired in the kitchen as well.

(The following pictures include the one I pinned on top and one I took of our attempt on the bottom.)

#1 No Bake Cookies

With it being summer the thought of turning on the oven to bake seems like crazy-talk around here so these bad boys have hit the spot for dessert lately. They were easy to make, required only a few ingredients and when placed in the freezer have been absolutely delicious and cool on these warm summer nights.

#2 Taco Soup

Rebecca, the author of the blog where this recipe is from, calls Taco Soup trashy and Frito worthy.... a perfect combination around this house. It's spicy and hearty and full of simple ingredients you might already have in the pantry. It was absolutely a breeze to make and we're gong to have left-overs for days with this meal.

#3 Chicken Taquitos

These goodness-in-a-tube treats are probably going to be made many times in the coming weeks because they have turned into our top mexican meal because they were so delicious. They're crunchy, flavorful, and easy to make. We used some shredded chicken we had frozen in the fridge and all other ingredients we already had. They were great for a full dinner meal served with some tortilla chips but they'd also be good as appetizers for a party.

I have many more pins related to food that I hope to show you once we make them but for now I'm very happy with this start.

Happy pinning!

My Week In Phone Pics v2

I know its sort of odd that I'm posting a "my week" update on a Wednesday but 1. I've been busy working and celebrating this weekend 2. this is my blog so I can do weekly updates on a Wednesday if I please and 3. I didn't have enough pictures to show you until now.

But I digress. Here's what I've been up to...

+ If you follow me on Twitter you probably saw this picture last week when I was craving something sweet after dinner but we had nothing and I was forced to be creative with what we had. Yes that is peanut butter on a spoon covered with chocolate chips and yes it was delicious.

+ Ollie acts like a teenager in the mornings still and sometimes has a harder time waking up than I do. But, once he does get on his feet, stretches and shakes, he's all about cuddling. To the point that if you move away a few inches he creeps back to you. I love my snuggles with him in the AMs.

+ This is my first attempt at a waterfall braid. If you're on Pintrest (follow me! jaymeeryn) then you've probably seen a few of these hairstyles going around and I had to give it a shot. I'm all about braids in the summer heat and this one is awesome although I might need some more practice.

+ I had the time to make myself breakfast last week which doesn't happen that often. So instead of a yogurt or PBJ on the go I went all out. Blueberry french toast and an iced caramel macchiato.

+ As an early anniversary treat I picked up some fro yo on the way home from volunteering on Thursday night. What can I say, I like toppings almost more than the actual yogurt itself.

+ Another new hair trial: the sock bun. I'm all about trying new things and since I don't have a lot of expendable money for new make-up/fancy clothes all the time what a better (and cheaper) way than playing with hairstyles.

+ A star shaped bowl filled with hot tamales candies just screams 4th of July doesn't it? Oh well, maybe not. But hey it's festive (and delicious) if nothing else. And seriously, goal for next week, don't take so many pictures of food. This is like #4 isn't it?

+ A touch of red, white and blue for the apartment. Thank you Dollar Tree for having the right colors of youth t-shirts for me to cut up while I watch trashy TV one afternoon.

+ This was Ollie's first 4th of July and we were a bit worried about how he would be with the fireworks. When we decided to walk up the street to a local lake that was putting on a show it made more sense to us to bring O-dog with instead of leaving him alone to freak out. He did amazingly well after realizing the loud noises weren't anything but that didn't stop him from basically sitting in our laps for a little while.

+ I just love fireworks and I wish they were more appropriate for other times of the year as well. And by the way, this isn't too bad of a picture given that it was taken from my phone and not a fancy camera.

Hope everyone is having a fabulous week enjoying the summer.

Our Anniversary

This past Friday was J and my four year dating anniversary and it was so amazing to be able to celebrate yet another year with my love. In case you missed it, I did a quick look back on the past anniversaries we've shared as well as a "getting to know you" post about us as a couple.

I unfortunately had to open at work on Friday which meant I was up at 4:30am! (That is a ridiculous time, I agree.) But thankfully, I was done by 1 and we were able to start our fabulous day together. We started with lunch and games at Dave & Busters. Nothing says fun to a competitive couple like us than trying to be the one with the most tickets.

I got J addicted to these games where you try to knock coins off different levels, we battled in basketball shooting and ski ball and eventually walked away with two plastic cups and two laffy taffies from our winnings.
We came home to shower and get ready for the rest of our evening which ended up turning into a quick power nap for me. I'm actually really surprised that I didn't fall asleep at the dinner table that night with the little sleep I got the night before and the busy day we had. (I'm definitely an 8+ hour sleeper.)

Then it was off to dinner, Mongolian BBQ to be exact! One of our first dates together was to a similar place in downtown Denver so it made for the perfect choice. And boy was it delicious. You help yourself to meats, veggies, etc etc and build a huge bowl of whatever you please. For me it was chicken and beef, carrots, peppers, water chestnuts, bean sprouts, tomatoes, and peas. Top it off with a heaping portion of noodles and create your own sauce combination depending on your spice preference. Then you hand your bowl to someone standing around a huge round grill top and they cook it right there in front of you. Once it's perfect you take it to your table which has already been served with rice and bread and you eat!
Tell me how that doesn't look amazing to you!? It's an all-you-can-eat place so you aren't limited to one bowl but my eyes were bigger than my stomach with the first one that I couldn't even clean my plate. If we go back I'll start small and have the option to try something completely different for bowl number two. It was great trying something newish with J while talking about our fun memories together and enjoying spending a night out.
We finished the night at a country line dancing bar sorta near our apartment. We've been meaning to go there for a while now but hadn't because we didn't know what to expect. Like I mentioned in a previous post, our first date was to a similar place but it's interesting how different things are in different states.

It took us a few Bud Light Limes little while to get confident enough to attempt the crazy California dances but eventually we were out there kickin up our heals and as J calls it "cutin the rug." J thinks that every person who owns a cowboy hat in San Diego was at the bar that night (CA is very different than CO in that sense) and we spotted many tight pairs of jeans, big belt buckles and even a handle bar mustache.
We laughed and smiled and truly had an amazing night! Being out on that floor together showed us a fun side of our relationship that it's sometimes easy to forget about with the regular stresses of life. We connected, fell in love a little bit more, and I couldn't have asked for a better night of celebration.

Here's to 60+ more years together!