High Five for Friday!

Happy Friday, friends! I'm linking up with The Lauren Elizabeth for High Five for Friday!

1. On Sunday we started watching Revenge on Netflix and we're already halfway through the first season. It’s sooooo good! Each episode leaves us saying what the whaaaaa???

2. I’m usually not a big fan of flavored k-cups because they’re too sweet. If it comes out of the keurig looking like I already put creamer in it---no.  Don’t get me wrong, I use creamer. I just like to put it in myself… in moderation. Folgers Vanilla Biscotti is subtle and comes out looking like normal coffee! Paired with a caramel creamer-YUM!

3. I read a series from A Typical English Home on organized blogging and time management. I don’t consider myself a super organized person, but I’m not total chaos. I find that most of the work is getting organized; after that, staying organized is fairly easy to maintain.

As far as the blog goes, I’m trying to plan posts ahead of time and have several in the works at once. I have plenty of topics to write about, but coming home from work and finishing a full post from scratch sounds stressful. However, sitting down and writing for a while, maybe editing some pictures without the pressure of hitting “publish” at the end is really nice. I have more time on the weekends to plan and start posts, so I can just tweak, proofread and add pictures to publish content during the week. This is the first week of this plan and so far I love it!

4. I ordered this Tahari coat on Hautelook and I can’t wait for it to come in! I love Tahari, but you gotta catch ‘em on sale. The light color is pretty casual so I know I’ll get a ton of use out of it.

5. I’m loving IOS7 on my iphone and ipad!! It feels like a totally new phone. I’ve heard some complaints about it, but I think it’s user friendly and pretty. I don’t know all the technical differences, so I’m mostly just going off looks and basic functionality. I especially like the new weather app. It makes me feel like I’m outside.

Happy weekend!

DIY Industrial cabin sofa table

Industrial cabin? Yep, that's a thing.

This project is the epitome of quick and easy and can be made to fit in any space. We needed a long, skinny sofa table and when we saw this fabulous piece of mesquite ON SALE at Clark’s Hardwood we went for it! 
Yes, lumberyards have sales! Who knew??

This is a really fun statement piece, and everyone who comes to our house asks about it.
I originally envisioned it with a fancy wrought iron base and wasn't too keen on the industrial pipe look. It took some convincing, but I decided to give it a try—and I LOVE it! It’s also a tiny fraction of the cost of a custom wrought iron table base (holy $$$). 

Materials:
Wood for top
Galvanized pipe for legs
Tee fittings (X6)
Floor flanges (X8)
Fine sand paper
Minwax Polyurethane
Rustoleum Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint
Screws

I had some "during" pictures, but I've lost them. Thank goodness it's so easy, pictures aren't required!

First, we lightly sanded both sides and cleaned them off. We also cleaned up the edges a little by pulling off any pieces of bark that looked loose or scraggly. Rhett applied a clear coat of polyurethane in a satin finish on both sides to seal it and bring out the natural colors. When applying poly, use long continuous strokes and follow up with a rag to smooth out any bubbles. Each time you lift up, small bubbles form, so you’ll want to avoid lifting up as much as possible. He used a foam brush to press some poly into the edges to seal those as well. Let the poly dry according to the can—we left ours overnight.

Next, assemble the base! The big box stores sell pre-threaded pipe in various sizes. If you can’t find the size you’re looking for, Lowes will cut and thread pipe to your particular dimensions (more on buying pipe here).  We also got floor flanges and tee joints for the bar across the bottom. I wasn’t super particular about height—I just wanted it to come to about the top of our couch, so the pre-made worked just fine for us.

Put the base together however you like! There are so many ways to connect the pipe--just search pipe table on pinterest for some great inspiration! 
Spray it down with Rustoleum Oil Rubbed bronze spray paint (or don’t to make it look even more industrial). When the paint’s dry, screw the base onto your top and you’re good to go! Make sure you use the right length screw—if they’re too long, they may poke through the top of your table!
Note: In order to connect the base to the top, you have to put floor flanges on the top AND bottom of your base.

Once the top is dry, this is definitely a 1 afternoon project! Which means it's less likely to be 80% finished and sitting in the garage until you get back to it--someday... (I'm talking to you, kitchen table)! 
Gotta love that!

Linked to:

The Shabby Creek Cottage

Miss Mustard Seed

Tatertots and Jello

Backyard orchard: take 2

It has been crazy around here lately, folks! Do I start every post with that statement?

The past two weeks have been especially busy, but I think things are settling down a bit so hopefully more frequent posts are headed your way! I have some projects that I’m dying to share and even more that I can’t wait to pick back up.

For now, how’s about a mash-up of what we’ve been up to lately?

First things first—remember the little backyard orchard we planted in the spring? At the end of that post, I made a comment along the lines of I hope they don’t die immediately. Well, I come bearing good news! They are not only living but thriving—they all have tons of new growth, especially the avocado. I got a bit more proactive in taking care of my little orchard and, in my research, found this amazing citrus forum (and tons of other garden/home/nature related forums from this site for all your plant & yard needs!). You can search by your particular plant and save threads that you like for later reference. In fact, I felt so empowered by the knowledge gained from this database that I expanded my orchard from three (blood orange, page mandarin, lula avocado) to six (+rio red grapefruit, meyer lemon, & mexican lime)! As the end of summer neared, all citrus went on major sale, but since it’s still relatively hot here and we don’t expect cold temperatures for quite a while, it’s fairly safe to plant this late in the game (I searched the forum first just to make sure-ha!).
This is my Rio Red Grapefruit--It may look sad to you, but that's only because you didn't see it when I first bought it. This little guy is on the up-swing!

My meyer lemon and Mexican lime are in pots on our patio for now—planted in a homemade gritty mix. They may end up in the ground eventually once we decide on a master plan and start a major backyard overhaul. For now they are both happy in containers, and if we have a freeze this winter, I can easily bring them in the house or garage for safe keeping.
Left:Meyer Lemon, Right: Mexican Lime

My lime tree is very happy. It bloomed and has fruit of varying sizes all over!

I have been hit pretty hard with Citrus Leaf Miners this year. Nearly every one of my new baby leaves has some damage. From what I’ve read, the damage is mostly cosmetic, but I’d like to get a better handle on it next year. I bought a spray, but it didn’t work at all. I need to go talk to my friends at Wabash Feed Store for their recommendations. Anyone have a fool-proof cure for CLM? I’d love to know your tips & tricks!

Moving along… We went night fishing in Kemah with some friends a few weeks ago and it was a total blast! I’ve never considered myself a fisherwoman, but it was a lot of fun AND, as an added bonus, we caught a ton of fish! We fished into the wee hours of the morning (we got home at 5am) and spent the rest of the day lounging around and taking naps. I think I enjoyed the lazy day with my man just as much as our night fishing excursion! Those are the best sometimes, amiright?

I said we caught a ton of fish...I didn't say they were huge :) Sushi for one?

My little brother and my cousin got their Aggie rings last Friday! This is a HUGE day at A&M—I think I looked forward to my ring day more than my graduation day! We went up to celebrate with everyone on Friday and went back for the game on Saturday. It’s so nice to be on campus and NOT have to go to class! I don’t miss college at all (if you couldn’t tell from this post). I’m very happy with my big girl life :)

One last thing: Our 1 year anniversary is in October!! I can’t believe how quickly it's flown by, but at the same time, I can’t believe all we've done in one year’s time. Since our wedding photos came in during my blogging hiatus, I’m going to be sharing them (and other wedding/1^st year related bits) throughout the month of October to celebrate!

Happy fall, y’all!