Reader Spotlight - Stephanie Arango

This year I have met one of the most athletic people ever.  Stephanie Arango is on a mission to do 50 marathons in 50 states and she blogs about every step of the way on Steph's 50 Marathon Challenge.  Thus far, she has completed 55 races in 49 states and will cross state 50 off her list soon.  Her last race... the Boston Marathon on April 18th.

 Stephanie

I am not a runner, nor do I have any interest in training for marathons, but this is amazing to me!  Stephanie typically travels most weekends out of the year flying around the country to run a marathon on the weekend.  Then she flies back home in time to make it to work on Monday morning.  Last week, Stephanie ran in DC on Saturday AND then in New Mexico on Sunday... wow!   Now, that is true motivation.

What is even better is that fact that Stephanie dresses up for each race. Check our her Disney Princess attire from the Walt Disney World race she completed.

Tinker Bell

Recently, Stephanie highlighted Simply Sarah Style on her blog discussing her love for my personalized water bottles. Of course, pretty runners need pretty water bottles!

I  would suggest visiting Steph's 50 Marathon Challenge for more on this amazing accomplishment as well as tips for training.  Enjoy!

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Wordless Wednesday

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Posy Floral Designs

My friend, Holly Schweitzer, owns her own floral design business and pretty much does every single wedding in town.  Most of my friends have used her as a vendor for their weddings and have been thrilled with her work. 

Check out one of the latest weddings to be featured on her blog, Posy Floral Designs, below. The pictures below are from my friend Heather's wedding.

Enjoy!

 

Notice how well the pink pops with the black and white color scheme. 

Gorgeous and elegant!

  

Here are some of my other favorites designs by Holly:
 

Love her work too?  

You can contact Holly at PosyFloralDesigns@gmail.com.

Holly's own wedding day

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$4 Art

Below you will find pictures of my patio door.  First of all, I hate (and I mean absolutely despise) the ugly white blinds that cover my patio door.  I have tried to come up with an affordable option to cover this, but have gotten nowhere. What makes this design delimina difficult is that I have two windows close to the patio door.  I couldn't imagine putting drapes in front of the patio door when they already line my windows. I considered using just roman shades on the windows and then doing a curtain window treatment over the patio doors, but haven't made the leap of faith yet. Have suggestions? They are definitely welcomed! Please comment below.

In the meantime, I thought I could at least jazz up the wall space above the door.  Initially, I cut a vinyl quote on my Cricut for the wall. Not too impressive. At the time, I only owned one font cartridge for my Cricut and this was it.

I got bored with the quote so I decided to paint some burlap to make art for this space.  I used leaf stencils I already owned to paint brown leaves on the burlap I already owned.  Then I framed the burlap pieces with four dollar store frames. You could really do any pattern or any color and it would look great.

Tada!  Cheap art!

You may have noticed that the last frame is slightly thicker. I accidently picked up the wrong one.  This calls for another trip back to the dollar store.

Easy as pie.  Hope you enjoyed the quick, cheap way to instant art for your home.

Happy day readers!

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Michelle's Monogram Necklace

I'm totally addicted to the Bachelor/Bachelorette seasons.  Most girls (and some fellas) I know are too.  In case, you didn't watch this season, Michelle was the in-house mean girl everyone loved to hate.  While she was full of competitiveness and harsh comments, I couldn't help but admire the necklace she wore on every episode.  It was the biggest monogramed necklace I have ever seen.  Ever since she first premiered it on the show, I have been dying to find one.  Well guess what?  The search has ended.  That gorgeous necklace can be yours (and mine)!

Max & Chloe gold necklace - $180

Marley Lilly silver necklace - $165

So excited to finally track this down.

Happy shopping! 

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Wordless Wednesday

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The Art of Gift Giving - "Simply Sarah" Style

If you know me, you know I am a sucker for personalized gifts.  I am truly southern girl with a love for all things monogrammed!  I've been working on some gifts lately... some I have given and others for friends to give.

Here is a sneak peak...

The totebag I gave my Grandma for her birthday

(The flower is even a removable broach.)

An Easter bucket for my friend Becky's daughter, Emerson

(It's Emerson's very first Easter.)

The personalized water bottle I gave to my 12 year old cousin for her birthday.

(She plays numerous sports so this was a gift she could use daily.)

The personalized art caddies I created for my friend to give to her nephew for his birthday.
(Go CATS!)

Want something personalized? Call (or email) me!  I would love to help you design the perfect gift for your upcoming party or occassion.

Want to see more personalized gifts, click here.

Enjoy! :)

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I'm Unofficially Irish

May your blessings outnumber

The shamrocks that grow,

And may trouble avoid you

Wherever you go.

~Irish Blessing

What a beautiful day! Sunny and 77 degrees. Wow, loving this St. Patrick's Day. 

I hope everyone is having a wonderful day celebrating!

P.S. I had to include a description for yesterday's "Wordless Wednesday" post -That beautiful baby girl is my dear friend's daughter. She is wearing the purple tutu and headband I bought her off of Etsy. One word: precious!

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Wordless Wednesday

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The Stripes I Always Wanted

I have always been a lover of thick stripes painted on walls.

Exhibit A:

photo via Elle Decor

Exhibit B:

photo via Elle Decor

Yesterday on a whim, I decided I was finally going to add these to my house.  I have played with the idea of painting stripes for the past year so yesterday was the day.  I decided to add subtle stripes to the little niche in my hallway.

Here is my tutorial.  It's not very scientific or technical. I just went with it:

1) I used a book, level, and pencil to start taping off straight lines:

2) I began to paint every other line with the lighter shade all the up the wall.

3) Notice the faint pencil lines (pictured below) after taking the painting tape off. I used an eraser to rid my walls of all evidence of cheat lines.

4) Lastly, I removed the painting tape and erased the pencil lines. Ta Da!

I'm pretty "house proud" as Nate Berkus would say.  I love how these stripes turned out! They definitely add some interest to my hallway.

Has anyone else tried this in their home? I would love to see the final result so please share! 

I'm considering adding the same stripes to a short corresponding wall in this hallway.

Want to see more tutorials? Visit my "stripes" post and other DYI tutorials by clicking on the button below...

 

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Go GREEN

Here is a little green inspiration to kick off St. Patrick's Day week!

Happy St. Patty's Day Week by sarah90301 featuring beading necklaces

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