IT'S FRIDAY... SO THAT IS WHAT I'LL CALL THIS POST

This is my "It's pouring rain but also 95 degrees outfit" outfit.

I wanted to post the other day, but then I found this apartment. This apartment that was PERFECT. And I allowed myself to get excited. And then... we found out that the internet and cable it had was super crappy and slow and was not up-gradable. Now if you are married to a gamer like me... that is a DEAL BREAKER! It was a very depressing afternoon after that and I couldn't bring myself to type. Womp womp. And of course I have also been slacking majorly on my projects but I think I might wait until the blog is done to show them. In the meantime... remember this vinyl lettering piece I made a while back? Well I decided I hated how dark the blue was and I'm now working on re-doing it with my favorite color... white! HA! I'm also working on making a runner for my friend Laura's table {sorry it has taken so long Laur} and hopefully I will do a tutorial on that too. 

Also Spencer and I have been trying to hit the gym a lot lately and we've been pretty good on our goal. We are going to Lake Tahoe in a little less than a month and since I will be living in a swimsuit, I'm feeling a little like this sad Sally below. 

And here are some texts that made me laugh: 

I bought a coffee table book with pictures of dogs (which we call doogs)... then I also bought some shoes. This seemed like the appropriate time to slip that info in.

You know when you're in high school and your parents go out of town and leave you money for food? Well I left this note for Spencer when I went to California and I thought I was just soooo funny {and yes I know I have boy handwriting}...

...which was made more funny when he sent me this text while I was gone. 

And with that said... it's FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Do something irresponsible {like drinking a Dr. Pepper}! 

PARDON THE CONSTRUCTION...

(Picture does not represent those working on this site... but close.)

So my baby is getting a little work done right now. A friend of mine and I are working on the design process of everything and then will start implementing it on the blog. Bear with me as things start looking weird. You will also notice that my URL is different. Unfortunetly both the URL's "adashofash" dashofash" and "alittledashofash" were all taken so I had to settle with one that legitemitly had the dash (-) symbol in it. Even though ALL of those blog URLs are currenly old and not being used but apparently Google doesn't believe in telling people to give up their URL's when they are 4 years old and that person never posted a single post on their blog, and they also don't give you any contact info to email that person and say "Hey! Give me your freaking URL since you are wasting it!" Can you tell I'm super calm about this? Anyway, I kept The Skuttle & The Stink URL to redirect people here so hopefully all of you found your way. I'm way pumped about having a "big girl blog" that doesn't look like someone slapped it together in the dark after 5 shots of Vodka. So depending on how fast I can get this up and running, I may continue to post if it takes me a while but we shall see. Stay tuned!  

WEDDINGS, PIGEONS, AND A SEEDY SEX SHOP {HOW WAS YOUR WEEKEND?}

Last weekend I went to Vegas and it was hot as hell! Seriously, it was still 105 degrees AFTER the sun went down! I'm not a sweater... but let me say Vegas made a believer out of my body. We originally just went down for a wedding, but it was nice to have it fall on the 4th of July weekend since neither of us had to work. We pretty much lived in the pool and the only way to get me out was the occasional Dr. Pepper, or the promises of a nap under the AC vent. 

Besides being able to ring out my clothes from sweat, my other fondest memory is equally is "hot." Spencer and his fellow groomsmen decided that they wanted to give Spencer {Olsen}, mangerie... as in lingerie for men. So, where else do you find the best mangerie in town besides a seedy Vegas sex shop in the heart of the old downtown that's managed by an over-eager 65 year-old woman? Lets just say it was quit the bonding experience for me and 5 giggly/blushing guys that we will all never forget. With out over sharing, the highlight was when the manager asked "where did the couple get married?"  and immediately half the guys turned around to hold in their laughter and embarrassment, as none of them dared to say "the temple of God of course!" I'm sure God had left that place a long time ago! If you ever want the full and very hilarious story, you know where to find me. 

On a side note, for those of you who don't know, we have big trees outside our apartment, and since spring the birds like to start talking to us at 4am and will not shut up. We were luck enough to enjoy the comforting and familiar sound of this in Vegas as well, as Spencer's brother's guest bedroom, is currently near a spot on the roof where a family of pigeons have deemed their new home. Except  for they liked to sing to us all day long. Spencer said the birds followed us there so we would still feel right at home. His brother Jonathan wanted to catch them with bags and then stomp on them, and being the animal lover I am I didn't want him to, but by the end of the week I was ready to punch them, stomp on them, drowned them, light them on fire, and then throw their ashes in rat poison for good measure. Too much? On a more positive note, here are the few pictures I took in Vegas: 

^^Fireworks on the strip

 ^^There was a huge forest fire nearby while we were there. 

^^Missy and {the other} Spencer. Congrats!

I'm still keeping one eye open for apartments, but Spencer and I did talk about tweaking some other finances and staying in our current place. We shall see. Everything's up in the air. Tomorrow I hope to post about the "dry" bar tray I made, and the Ikea hack I've recently done on a shelving unit. Love you all and once again, if you feel so inclined (especially if you are family) hit the follow button on your right! 

A NEW APARTMENT AND AN OLD FISH

So if you haven't heard... which you probably haven't because I haven't really told anyone but family... my rent is going up. Which kind of sucks because Spence and I are already paying more than we wanted to, but it was worth it because {if you haven't been in our apartment then you may not know that...} it is 1100sq ft of awesomeness and high ceilings. BUT alas we are but poor students and I'm about sick and tired of watching half our income go to our landlord, because mama needs a new pair of shoes occasionally! So for the last 2 weeks I've been looking for places for rent, which is hard because Utahns are about the cheapest people you will ever meet and all the places are total dumps, and totally over priced. Come on people! Slap some paint on your basement apartment and add a freaking dishwasher and watch them come flocking to you!

Besides that, Spencer and I have been spoiled living the high life for the last year, so we are very picky about where we move. A washer and dryer are a MUST have. Never again will I live with out one! So is a dishwasher, which is MIA in more apartments then I thought. AND the place needs to be pretty updates. Nothing scares me more then a kitchen that looks like these:

...which is surprisingly a lot of apartment in Provo. The other thing is that there are hardly any married apartment complexes (or at least new ones) here so the majority of what we looked at is basement apartments. These however bring a few problems. All of the houses in Provo are old, and the basements have been transformed into apartments (although that wasn't their original purpose). Therefore, you get a LOT of these apartments with either, no living room, no AC or AC that is only controlled by the main floor tenants, extremely low ceilings, tiny bedrooms, barely any light coming in from outside, and less than 600sq ft. Yikes! AC and ceiling height are especially important to my taller and much warmer other half. 

Yesterday we saw a pretty good basement that was being renovated and had all new paint, carpet, and will have a whole new kitchen. The ceiling height was great and there was AC {however controlled by upstairs} and there is going to be a washer/dryer and dishwasher. However, the place was only about 500sq ft. We are seeing another basement today with the exact same perks (minus the dishwasher) and the same square footage. So far these have been the best {when factoring in the price} but I layed up all night thinking "How the heck are we going to fit all our crap in there!?" "Is this the right place for us or is there something better that will come along with the same price and perks, but a little more space?!" Maybe this is God telling me I need to live the humble life and get rid of some of my excess stuff. I mean, these to basement apartments would save us around $300 a month, which is a lot of shoes! Space... or money? And what if we get one of these and something amazing comes along!?? I'll have to vow never to look online for apartments after the decision is made! Well these are the questions that keep me up at night and I pray we will find a solution fast, because I've become obsessive about checking for apartments online {like refresh the page ever 5 minutes obsesive} which is not a good look for me. 

To add to my stress, one of our little Beta fish {Kenneth Waterman} jumped out of his bowl somehow last night and died alone and afraid in the kitchen sink. I pray he is in a better palce where Beta fish can swim in the same bowl in peace and harmony. Whether a replacement fish will be purchased has yet to be determined at this time. 

8 YEARS IN THE MAKING

On Friday my brother-in-law {Greg} and his gorgeous gal {Rachel} were married, and man was it sweet. They have been dating on and off for 8 years and as they put it, everyone had "written them off" and gave up hope that he would pop the question. I don't know what changed, and we on the outside may never know, but I was glad they waited until I joined the family so I could witness it. I'm now at that age where friends are getting married right and left and therefore I have just discovered I'm a wedding crier. I've always thought of myself as one tough cookie, but apparently happiness just makes these blue eyes soggy. For those of you who don't know, I have a 6th sense. I can look at someone and usually feel whatever emotion they are feeling. This is why I'm also a crier in movies because I ALWAYS put myself in the characters shoes and am overcome with the emotions that they are feeling. So it was no surprise to me that when I made eye contact with Rachel during the ceremony, I just lost it. I was overcome with how much relief and joy she was feeling. Have you ever waited for something for 8 years? Well if you haven't it makes the payoff that much sweeter, emotional, and unbelievable. Those happy tears were also due to the fact that she has overcome a really rough childhood and hard family life and yet has turned into one the funniest, and most talented people I have ever met. I can't express how happy I am for those two, especially when it comes to the future family vacations that are in store! Anyway, I didn't get many pictures, because I was too busy having a good time, but here are a few gems I managed to sneak, {and a few I stole from Rachel}.

^^Classic

^^This is not a photogenic moment, but it was the only one that showed the detail in her dress.

^^Their dog Chancho (represented by the Monopoly dog} was there at the wedding wearing a bow tie. He can be seen pacing around them during the first dance video at the end.

^^Me and my blurry sweety.

^^And of course no Greg and Rachel wedding would be complete without a musical number by them.

^^ Greg is 39. Hence "almost."

I tried to post my first Instagram video but I had no service and it didn't work and the video disappeared and of course Instagram won't let you re-post/post videos from your phone that are already recorded so I guess I'll just have to settle for posting it here. 

And I'm giving everyone a virtual hug to help you all get through Monday!! 

HOW TO SEW EASY PEASY DRAPES

So I'm no sewing expert, but if you can thread a machine and sew a straight line, then you are in luck because you can make these curtains. But seriously this may be a horrid tutorial that makes Tim Gunn himself want to jump off a building but if you have little to no sewing skills like me, then this is the tutorial for you!
Also, I promise I ironed them afterwards but the one on the left just didn't want to listen to me. 

 The curtains I needed were long and skinny. I didn't really want to be able to close them so they are just decorative drapes. Since I didn't need anything really wide, I folded the fabric in half to double it {at the bottom I tell you what to do if you don't have enough to fold in half}. I folded it inside-out {wrong sides together} and sewed a straight line down the side to sew them together likes so... 

 

If you are folding them in half like I did and are worried about your "straight line" skills, then you can also make this seam the back as well. Once that is done, flip it back the right way and it should look like this: 

Iron it so that this seam favors the back {if you are doing a side seam}, or if you are making the seem the back-center, then iron it according to that as well. 

After I sewed the side seam, I serged all the edges. You do not have to do this step. This is just so the material doesn't fray but your curtain shouldn't experience much wear and tear so you are fine to skip this step. 

 Now as far as hanging it I was debating whether to do the individual loops, or just fold it over and make one big loop. I went with the later because it sounded like less work. Evenly fold your fabric over on the top {based on how big you want the opening} and don't forget to make sure your rod fits through it. 

You may need pins to help you keep it in place but once you are done, press it really good with an iron. Now you have a nice crease and can simple sew the two pieces together with a simple straight line stitch. I'm sure you can use all kinds of fancy stitches. A double needle hem might look nice, but I just went for an old straight line again because I was using an old machine and "fancy" on it is too hard for me. Now, basically you would do the same thing for the hem, but lucky for me my curtains fall behind my couch and no one can see them so I didn't hem the bottom.

If your fabric is just barely wide enough for your window and you are not folding it in half like I did, just make a tiny hem running down both sides of the curtain and sew it so that you have clean edges. If you don't want a stitch showing, then use fabric tape. And for those who don't sew at all, you can really use fabric tape or fabric glue in place of stitches on the drapes and they will look almost as good.

Ta-Da!

P.S. I lied about Google getting ride of the "join this site bottom." I found it! So sadly if you followed my last post and entered in your email address it will still not add you to the site. So be a friend and click that blue botton on the right hand side and follow me! I will be eternally greatful!

COMING SOON...

Alright so I'm way excited to announce something that probably wont happen for another month. My blog is getting a face lift. I'm doing a redesign on the whole thing {aka paying someone to design it}, including a name change. My blog has been in need of some formatting for quite some time but I just haven't had the time or the skills. I also hope to be posting more and {fingers crossed} I hope to have a nice camera by the end of the summer so that I'm not just posting camera phone pictures every post. I'm also very excited to start posting more often because I always feel like I have so much to share and say. Anywho, if any of you have any ideas or cute color schemes or blog titles {although I think I already know what I'm going to name it}, or want to suggest blogs that you love the style of so I can check them out, please post below. There are so many formats and ways you can set up a blog so picking and choosing which tabs to include and how to lay it all out can be stressful. 

Also, if you love me please follow me. There is a little "join this site" button on the right side where you can follow this blog. I mean come on... NONE of my sisters follow me and yet I know they all read this {and several of my best friends} haha. But in all fairness I wont get mad at you for not following and just stalking, I'll just give you death stares... thats all. Welp, here is to the future and to the future or my re-designed blog coming soon. 

In the meantime, I hope this sexy picture of Spencer can get you through the next few weeks until my blog is also equally as sexy. 

PARADE OF HOMES: PART 2

So I may just have to make 3 parts to this because I spent this entire post talking about one house. This house one one of me and Spencer's top 2. It was open, gorgeous, and had impecable design. Ladies and gentleman, I introduce you to dream house number 2:

^^I didn't get a picture of the back but it's actually bigger then it looks because the back of the house drops off a small cliff/hill so that the basement floor is level to the ground and has a walk out patio. 

{This picture stolen from Kristen Krason's Instagram. Undecided it was much better quality then the picture I took} 

^^Amazing deck and view out those glass windows.

^^Even though I would probably change the lighting in the living room, the one thing I loved about them is they were totally DIY. They were made of wood and cardboard and similar pendants were through-out the whole house. 

^^I'm obsessed with exposed brick so naturally I was in paradise!

^^Behind this fridge was a tiny hallway with a giant custom made magnet board and pin board {below}.

^^Don't worry, those are protective booties Spencer is wearing and not the new style of shoes. 

Let's go back to the main level for a second now:

^^The master bed was phenomenal. Definitely not every one's taste, but the design of it was breath taking and you could tell it was totally custom. 

^^Floating fireplace in the master

^^The door dividing the bathroom and master, was a fun sliding barn door that doubled as a giant mirror! 

^^Another cardboard DIY light, and a tub that I envy.

^^Laundry/Craft room

^^Cute wood half-bath

Now let me take you to the basement for a bit: 

^^On the landing of the basement stairs was this cool/giant window that went to the floor. 

^^Now two kitchens is the new trend but I only really like them if there is a theater {because who wants to go upstairs to get your movie snacks}! Luckily this house did have a theater but it was sadly unfinished so I didn't take any pictures :(. Womp womp. But once again, notice the open shelving! Such a nice touch to a small kitchen. The cool thing about the house though, was that the basement mirrored the main floor. Notice the kitchen, and the living room below...

^^... the fireplace mimics the one above as if it is coming through the floor and the mantel is one giant piece. 

^^And another table mimicking the one above.Most of these houses are just set up with "staged furniture," while others have already been bought but not yet moved into, and their furniture is already in the house {usually picked out by an interior designer}. I think this home was staged {but I don't know for sure} because obviously no one needs 2 living rooms and 2 dining tables. If I was to design this, I would leave the kitchen but turn the rest of the area into a game room with a pool table, ping pong table, Foosball table, and whatever else my heart desired. This way the kitchen would prove more suitable as a "snack" station for when your kids have friends over. 

^^Obsessed with this paneling. I love that they keep with the wood sub-theme all throughout the house but use different types and shades. 

^^One wall in the downstairs bedroom of just brick.

^^The doors to every room were also cool and unique.

Alright... back upstairs we go:

^^So this is right when you get upstairs. They made a little homework/lounge area out of wood. I wish I had taken a closer picture but under the homework sign, are fun hanging terrariums and a homemade corkboard. You could tell the the designers did a lot of DIYing in this house which was cool. 

^^On the left is this fun little reading nook.

^^Another bedroom

Alright, so my favorite part was a total surprise. After we went through the house, we had to exit out the garage, and low and behold on the other side of the garage {see picture 2 of exterior} there was a guest room with it's own bathroom and mini kitchen! 

Anyway it was an awesome house and I highly recommend going to the parade of homes. It's such a fun date night. For all my Salt Lake friends, the Salt Lake one is in August so watch for that. There are around 20 homes and it goes for 2 weeks so if you don't have time to go to them all, then make the ones over $700k your priority because those will wow you the most. There is still a week left for the Utah Valley Parade so go check this house out and buy it for me for a cool $950,000 {but that includes the lot price if that makes you feel better}.