stream of consciousness: summer edition

If you're new to these parts, stream of consciousness posts are just random things that are going on in my little life! 

This has been a summer of traveling and fam jam time for me, with Mother's Day, Memorial Day, Dewey's wedding, Ma's Bday, Father's Day, the 4th, and coming up dad's bday! PHEW! For Fourth of July, I went to Auburn for a night before heading to the lake. I stopped by AuburnArt to check out the new Toomer's Tree replica! It's amaze balls! 

Do you spy my string art?! Prime location, yall! 

Binky and I decided to be festive on the 4th by dressing up all 'merican-like. First we both had on eagle shirts.. 

Then Binky let me borrow an epic blue jean, cut off sleeve, button up shirt with American flag pocket flaps and collar. I wore it with pride! 

I went to the lake shortly thereafter, and if you were anywhere in the Southeast, you recall that it rained FOR FOUR DAYS STRAIGHT. All day. Barely any time with the sun out at all. We tried to go on a quick boat ride when we got there..

But it started raining after 3 minutes. The pups were thrilled. 

Dad, Toni, and Don stayed at the back

while Murray and I endured the rain pelting us. 

I think I've scarred the pups with the rain ride. The only reason they got on in the first place was that dad put a towel on his head (like when you get out of the shower) and they didn't recognize him! Just jumped right on the boat. Below you can see them staring him down since he had removed it by this point. 

If you're new here, they are TERRIFIED of my dad. He scared them when they were pups by jumping at them, and they've never recovered haha! 

That night, our slough was full of people shooting fireworks! They pushed the big Kowaliga fireworks show back until Friday night, so we just had these to enjoy. 

At one point, one flew over our heads, and a piece of it landed on the dock. Crazy!

iPhones aren't the best for capturing fireworks.. 

The pups were terrified of the noise, so we let them inside. You know their scared when they'd rather be in the same room as dad than be outside. I guess they haven't been acclimated to fireworks.. Did you know that more dogs run away on 4th of July than any other day because of the fireworks? Secure your pups, people! 

This was pretty much our view the ENTIRE time. 

So what did we do? We ate. and ate. and ate. 

Steaks, burgers, shrimpies, oh my! 

Don't worry, the string art and invitation orders are still rolling along, however I haven't done many new states so I didn't think yall would want to see another blog post dedicated to a location I'd already done. Texas is still the #1 ordered on Etsy, along with lots of Auburn stuff for AuburnArt. The dated one below was Auburn with a date for a couple who got married. 

The week after the Fourth of July, the some of the family on my ma's side met up down at Panama City Beach. I drove to Dothan and we rode down together. We went out on the beach once we arrived, and it was gloooorious (especially after about 9 days of rain in a row).

I present to you some typical beach scenery pics:  

The fam leaving the beach.

We discussed getting matching airbrushed tshirts, and for some reason we waited until the last night before going to look. They were going to make us wait overnight, and everyone was leaving the next day so we opted out. SAD! 

Aren't these couples shirts hilarious?!

"Why do you go on so many family vacas, Rachel? Can't you opt out of some?" Well, yes, I suppose I could, but do you know what one of the best perks is? My parents feeding me. I know you agree. It's like you're still their baby bird, and they're not going to let you go hungry.

And what comes with these feeding frenzies?

LEFTOVERSSSSS! For the last three weeks, my fridge and tum tum have been full. BBQ from mom's bday party, steak from the lake, and fish, corn, etc from the beach. Dad's steak lasts about 3 meals. Just tonight I made steak nachos with melted cheese and salsa from Mexican Connection in Dothan. YUMMM!

I may die from too much red meat.

In a totally off-vaca-subject...

Look at these awesome chairs I scored off Craigslist last week! I LOOOOOOVE THEM! 

 I'm going to paint/dye the fabric, so get ready for a tutorial on that coming up! There are a few stains on them that I need to get out, but that shouldn't be too hard. I love the pattern on the fabric, which will still be evident after the dye. I'll do a better close up once I start so you can see just how awesome it is. And these are LEGIT mid century, yall. Most chairs I've run across have been recovered, but this is the original! EEE! 

They'll be replacing these guys below, which I've already sold on Mountain Brook Trading on Facebook. It's an awesome/hectic/crazy group on there where people can post items they want to sell, and the first to comment gets it. Awesome! I've posted a couple of things, and I've had good experiences overall. If you live in the Birmingham area, you should join the group! There are several other groups like this in the area (Vestavia Trading, Homewood Trading, Resale 280), but I think MBT is the biggest and gets the most action. 

The reason I'll be dyeing the new ones is that the couch and loveseat in the den are both off white, and the colors clash. I'm thinking navy, or maybe a goldish yellow, OR I had a moment where I thought ORANGE! yesterday while I was looking at tutorials online for painting fabric. 

WHAT DO YALL THINK?! You can click at the "living room" tab at the top to see the colors in there with better lighting. If I did orange, I'd have to redo the room, sooo that's a big negative. But a change could be good.. 

decisions, decisions.