the original fish

I have had several people ask where the fish logo came from, and I just tell the same little story every time. I just KNOW yall are wondering too, so here it is!

I had a portfolio class at Auburn for my interior design major, and we had to brand ourselves. Like cattle.. 


Kidding! We had to have a cohesive design that carried through from our portfolio to our website to business cards to resume. NATURALLY I chose a fish. 

Herring like the fish. 

That's what I say whenever anyone asks my last name. I have to clarify because people tend to think I say Harry.. (awesome).

ANYHOW! My dad has a business, and the logo is a Herring fish. 

The picture is small, but you get the gist. Isn't he cute? I wanted to use something like that for my fish, but my teacher said it needed more movement.. so I did some research, and found some jumping fish, which prompted me to sketch out my little buddy:

Do you love him as much as I do?! He needed a lot of photoshopping to get where he is today! He wasn't that big when he was conceived.. 

Only as big as a key. I just scanned him in, and worked some Adobe Creative Suite magic. 

Here he is after! 

I use him allllllllll the tiiiiiiime, as I'm sure you noticed.

Interior Design portfolio cover: 

Biz-nass card:

Stationery card: 

And of course, the bloggie header:

He's always been red. Maybe I'll switch it up sometime soon.. 

barnwood bama

As you recall from one of the last posts, I have entered an art show! Let the art show pieces commence! 

Remember the wood I brought back from Dothan? It's been hanging out in my carport. 

Until this past weekend. I actually had this idea in my head when I was loading up my car with all this glorious weathered wood. 

I attached them together with some leftover plywood from the bathroom renovation and drew the great state of Alabama on there with chalk. This piece is made of 100% reclaimed materials! Eat your heart out, Al Gore! 

I bought a new toy for this creation. A jig saw! JEALOUS?! 

Psst: I know the above picture is fuzzy, but it was the only one with schweet baby Cotton ball napping! 

It is part of my Ryobi One + set, so it's cordless and fits with my fancy cordless batteries. 

I actually had to break out the ol' circular saw as well, and I cannot tell you how awesome it is to be able to switch back and forth with the cordless batteries. I'm just gonna say it: AMAZEBALLS. 

Here she is!

I put it on facebook right after I finished and got a very good response, so I'm in the process of making a couple more. They'll be on sale at the art show at Avondale Brewery on May 11th here in Birmingham. It's from 7-11pm, so if you're in town, come check it out! A percentage of the proceeds go to benefit children with Autism. Woo! 

And just so you don't think I hang out in my paint clothes all the time, here's a pic of Richard and me in our fancy get ups on the way to a wedding! 

I had three wedding weekends in a row, so this weekend, it's back to biz-nass! 

Linked to:

Addicted2Decorating

CURSES!

OH MY STARS,

LOOKWHATWASATMYFAVORITETHRIFTSTORE!!!! 

AND IT WAS SOLD!! I freaked out when I saw it. The way my favorite thrift store is laid out is as follows: 

Walk in and go to the left. Dining furniture. Doodads. Electronics. Beds. Couches and Chairs. Then dressers. 

Basically this bad boy was at the back of the store. I was going through the couches and chairs when I saw him. I almost ran to him, and then I noticed the bottom half of the tag had been removed (that means someone tore it off and took it to the front to pay). This actually happened to me when I was purchasing the sideboard table that's in the dining room, so I had some hope. I quick stepped it up to the checkout counter, and the lady said "oh girl, I just sold that". DAMNATION. I walked back to it, took a picture, and went back to the front to show it to her to make absolutely sure it was that one she had RUDELY sold to someone else. And it was. 

Let's have a moment of silence. 

Did I mention it was only $35 and came with a mirror! GAH I would've sang "Hold Me Closer Tiny Dresser" to it like Lionel Ritchie. All night long. 

In other news, I found this picture on the interwebs. And I have been sending it randomly to people on facebook or text. 

Hide ya kids, hide ya wives, because I'm sendin' this pic to errybody out there!

PS: I found it on this site: http://whatshouldwecallme.tumblr.com/ 

It is HILARIOUS. Check it out! 

decide what to be and go be it

Gah, if you aren't listening to the Avett Brothers, please open a new tab and youtube some videos STAT.

I have a bit of exciting news: 

I have entered an art show! WOO! It's at Avondale Brewery here in town, and I am super pumped. It's May 11th, which is a Friday, so if you're in town, you should definitely come on over! I'll have some string art (more than Auburn related), some prints, some stationery, and some other ideas I have swimming in my head. I just whipped up this poster, because this song has been in my head for months whenever I think about making things:

And I will, Avett Brothers. I. will. 

a sign of good taste

I made it back to Bham with the Coke sign! Remember it riding in my car? I feel like this angle doesn't really show how big it is..

WAPOW! 103 inches! 

At first glance, it doesn't look like it matches anything, but it actually goes with the Double Cola sign that hangs in the kitchen. 

I didn't take a picture of the back of the sign, but it had pieces of wood (like 4x1") that went around the inside perimeter of the sign. I nailed only three 1.5" nails into the wall. You can barely see them below.

Then I just hung the sign on them! 

What did you say? You want me to pose in front of the sign to show you the scale?! 

OK! 

Ahhh, I love it. 

He looks lovely with his star friend. 

The front of it says Sign of a Good Taste, and the sides say Sign of a Good Taste Bulletin along with the dimensions

I googled it to see if I could find others. This one popped up, and it is actually for sale on Etsy. It looks like the same as mine (except the colors aren't as faded), and this one is a few inches bigger at 108" x 44". 

AND it looks like it was folded a few times. Rut roh. 

I still dig the green. 

It really makes me want to base an entire room around it.. (I am out of control!)

it's tea dye for!

So I was suppose to post this last week, but I got side tracked a bit. OOPS. I mentioned in the ottoman post that I tea dyed the shower curtain that I used for the top cushions. Here is the fabric beforehand:

The lighting isn't that great, but you can see it's bright white. It doesn't look as bad in these pictures, but in real life, it was too "new" for the look I was going for (with the dark painting and the old 7up sign that's on the other side of the room).

SO I decided to tea dye it. Here is a picture of her hanging up in all her glory. This is how she would've looked had she followed the path to shower curtaindom. 

Naturally to tea dye, you need tea. I read some tutorials before I started. I remember one said to use 40 tea bags, but I didn't want it to be super dark, so I just used one pack of about 24.

I used all of them! 

I used a big ol' pot for all of them. I let it boil about 15 minutes or so. I initially thought about putting part of the fabric directly into the pot (like cutting what I needed before dyeing it), but I ultimately decided to put it in the sink.

Have I ever shown you my sink? IT IS GLORIOUS. Huge farmhouse number. I'm in love. 

I filled it up with some water. I was a bit worried about diluting it, but again, I didn't want it to be too dark. 

I pulled the tea bags out of the boiling water..

then poured it into the sink.

I immediately slapped the shower curtain in there.

I felt like I was making soup. I poked it down into the tea with a fork. 

The house smelled amazing. It was like we were in sitting in a tea pot. Wasn't it Cotton?

After about 20 or so minutes, I flipped the fabric since parts of it wouldn't stay under water. 

It looked pretty nifty, eh? I let it sit for another 20 minutes or so, before I removed it from the sink.

I rung it out, and then threw it in the washing machine. I briefly thought about not washing  it, because it smelled so good.. 

The sink also got tea dyed. 

Here she is in all her tea dyed-ness! 

Here is a comparison for everyone! It doesn't look much different, but I think it looks much better next to the more antiquey-y pieces in the room.

It turned out just lovely! 

I can't wait to finish the room so I can do a great big room reveal! EEE! 

Jackie's Wedding and Easter!

Ello! I had quite the whirlwind few days traveling this past weekend! I didn't bring along my fancy camera, but I did get pictures with my trusty iPhone. Of course it was Easter weekend, but it was also the wedding of my dear sweet friend, Jackie! She asked me to be a bridesmaid (spoiler alert: I said yes), and I was super excited to be there for her amazing weekend! 

This is from the weekend before last. I dropped by the lake house on my way back to Bham after visiting Binky in the hospital. My dad was itchin' for some of Oskar's cheese balls, and you know I can't turn down a free meal! Here's one of his cars. He built it himself. The ultimate DIY project, eh?!?

I snapped an Instagram shot on the way there. 

Btw, I changed my Instagram name. It's now ilikewhatimherring. Easy peasy! 

Now onto the Wedding/Easter weekend extravaganza! I drove down Thursday night and stayed in Dothan before heading down to the beach for the wedding. I was driving right ahead of a big ol' storm. It looked like this one minute..

and then this the next. CREEPY! I am on high alert during tornado season, so I was a bit nervous. All was fine though!

I had to stay all by my lonesome at the house in Dothan. Mom was still with Binky & the broken leg in Auburn. Luckily, I had the pup pups to keep me company. 

TEENY! 

I ate breakfast with my dad before I headed down to the beach, and I saw this awesome billboard afterwards. Kym must be soo thrilled with Buda-Boop for gettin' her a big ol' sign, y'all! 

Onto the Delta Wedding!

I spied this little ode to DDD in the decorations. 

The wedding was at Bentley's on the Bay, and it was beautiful. We got ready in a big room upstairs, and it was one of the best bridal suites I've ever been in! Mimosas, comfy furniture, big mirrors. Cheese. I think I ate an entire cheese plate while I was up there haha. 

Dresses! Jackie's dress was gorgeous. I loved the lace. 

Everyone getting ready! 

I just so happened to have left ALL of my toiletries and makeup in Birmingham. Who does that?! I had to go "shopping" in my mom's bathroom in dtown to gather the essentials (toothbrush, contact case, etc.), and I was quite lucky she had some Clinique bonuses laying around. I found pretty much all the makeup I needed! The other bridesmaid's helped me out with what I lacked. Thanks, everyone!

Jackie gave everyone these awesome monogrammed shirts to wear while we got ready! Button downs are very important if you've got a fancy hairdo you don't want to mess up. I'm gonna wear the letters off this thing (I like it that much). 

In addition to forgetting my makeup, I also burned the shizz outta myself. I was laying out reading the Hunger Games, and the weather was just too nice that I didn't realize how bad it was..

Wear sunscreen, y'all. The dress PERFECTLY covered it up, with all it's one shouldered glory.

How pretty is this?! The bay was the backdrop to the wedding. 

The actual wedding was held on the sand with the chairs on the grass (to the left of the picture below). The reception was right behind it with a deck area, cornhole in the grass, and the band inside! 

Ahh, it was glorious! 

This truck was sitting in the lawn and was the perfect picture prop.

How gorgeous is that dress?! 

I can't wait to see the professional pictures!!  

Cornhole was a big hit! The boards had big C painted on them for Mr. & Mrs. Tyler Cummins (you can't see it for the lighting in this pic). 

There were so many cute touches all around! How awesome is this window frame?? And the photo book that also doubled as the guest book?! I loved it! 

Aw wee!

As a wedding coozie connoisseur, I'm here to tell you that these are some of the best I've seen! They had a margarita bar, so I displayed both of them for you here:  

Bridesmaids! We got to choose between three different styles of dresses (which is why we don't all match). 

Deltas!

HAHA! 

Dance floor! 

Tyler, the groom, is in dentistry school. Naturally, the groom's table was dentist themed! Hilarious! There was this giant tooth for people to leave Words of Wisdom (get it? wisdom teeth!?! HA!). 

Then the cupcakes had teeth, toothbrushes, and toothpaste on top. There was also a tree with dental ornaments of floss, toothbrushes, and toothpaste. So cute! 

I stayed at my bff Caroline's condo. I've shown you her view before, but I'm showing it again because it is that glorious.

Instagram shot!

I didn't edit the picture below at all. That's how naturally beautiful it is. I didn't want to leave the porch..

Caroline is testing her green thumb with a little garden! I sang to them while I laid out, so I'm sure they will flourish. 

I headed back to Dothan on Sunday morning for Easter! I immediately went to work helping the injured party. Here she is telling the story of how it happened. To recall, it happened after she was on a rope swing, and landed on some rocks wrong. The fibula is broken in two places, tibia in one, and multiple shattered ankle bones. EEK! 

Look at all those pins!!!! When I arrived home, it was NOT wrapped up. Staples and pins in all their glory. 

Binky has won the Annual Easter Egg Hunt for the past three years I believe. She was NOT just going to sit by and watch. Dad was enlisted to roll her around.

Hilarious! 

She even hunted a bit on her own! 

But guess who won this year? ME!!! 

BOOM.

 "Take me inside."

"Ok, seriously. Go get my meds."

NEANIE!!!!!!! The matriarch of the Newman clan.

Note Neanie's shirt. She looooves golf! Here we all are piled up watching the Masters.

I ran back home to scoop up the pups before I headed back to Bham. Here Cotton and Diesel's mama and sister. Dixie (the little mama) to the left, and Puffin at the top. 

I also brought back the huge Coca Cola sign since I was Lone Ranger-ing on my trip. It is HUGE.

It just barely fit. I wish someone could've seen me struggle to get this thing into the car by myself. I'm sure it was quite funny.

It's inside the house now, so I'll show you where I've placed it in the next couple of posts! 

I'm still have some sleep to catch up on from the weekend.

The pups feel the same!