Refurnishing Furniture: Before

Taylor and I decided it was time to make our apartment a home. We've been living in limbo since we got married (even longer than that if you count all the years spent in student apartments) and we got tired of it so we started looking for furniture and decorations.

We started with a Walmart desk, but it was just looked and felt cheap so we returned it and started hitting up all the thrift stores.  We decided to find a wood desk and paint it black, all thanks to the personalized guidance of my sister-in-law's experience painting furniture.

 We found this desk for $20, the side table for $10 and the mirror for $15. 

Taylor's been busting his butt sanding, painting and sealing and it's looking incredible. His mom and sister have been a lot of help in making things look professional. If we had more space I might consider making and selling some.

We finally feel comfortable and homey in our place. I was really kind of sick of our apartment, but now I love it. Stay tuned for the "after" pictures later this week.

Across the country to Atlanta

Continuing the epic, cross-country story:
After a six-hour nap, and a stop at the famous ice cream shop, Ted Drewes, we made the final leap into Atlanta where Taylor’s family lives.

Ted Drewes is awesome, and somehow famous. I'm not sure how a little ice cream shop gets to be nationally recognized, but it is. My parents lived in Saint Louis 30 years ago and they ate there then. Watch how an exhausted Hilary eats her ice cream.

p.s. I love ice cream.

We did finally make it to Atlanta where we spent a week with my in-laws. I like those crazy people a lot. My mother-in-law has a juicer so we drank beet/carrot/celery/apple juice everyday, which does amazing things for your body. My nails started growing super fast and you start to crave the stuff. Now I'm sans-juicer and I'm not happy about it.

We spent most of our time watching the Olympics and driving around looking at Taylor's old stomping grounds. This was at the old drag race track. Doesn't it look like we stepped into Jumanji?

The other item of note is my sister-in-law's furniture business, Furniture by Maria. All summer she's been buying old wooden furniture, painting and antiquing it. She's really good. So good, in fact, she's spent most of her time completing custom orders and she has them lined up for Christmas and next summer. So, while she and my mother-in-law were at their finest, I pulled out my camera.

Are your visits to the in-laws this fun?